Ethnos Review with the Game Boy Geek

The art direction on this is the main reason i'm gonna pass on it. Hopefully they do a better 2nd printing. Graphic design is super uninspired and sloppy. Feels like a print n' play (although a lot of print n' play is actually better) I mean... they literally traced (or used) a map of Slovakia for the board.

I have see this game, and the grafic designer of the map and i think, "naaa", but i have played yesterday and i fall in love, im a heavy eurogamer, but this "gateway" is awesome, its a lot of fun, there is luck, but the game take less than a hour.
Its magnificent, play before any decision.
I love Tikal, but the downtime its sometimes boring, in this game there ir no downtime, its very pace. If you look, a simple, fun, and very tactic area control, this is awesome.

Dan it seems you described a rule incorrectly, or at least not clearly. You can always play a band of any size. You don’t get to place a token unless the band is larger than the number of tokens you have on the space but you can always play the band for straight points. I made the same mistake the first time I played.

IRL we all ended up liking the graphic design. Much, much better in person. Reminiscent of his work (with others) in Ares’ War of the Ring.

I enjoy the game for the most part, and was quite enamored with it from the get-go. But, after repeated plays, I don't think it holds up as well as, say Ticket To Ride(which I group both these games in that "family-weight" category). Plus I will be shocked if we ever see an expansion to this since it's a Paolo Mori game...Still waiting on that expansion to Libertalia :(

Great review Dan :)

If I just bought 'Small World', should I still consider this?

awesome analysis... i like everything about this game except the art and theme... just does nothing for me... seems about 14 years out of time.

maybe they can do a deluxe version, yes... count me in !!!

This needs a reprint with more family friendly theme. And get rid of that Slovakia map, seriously.