In Amyitis the players are rival architects competing to earn the most prestige building one of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The game is named after the daughter (or granddaughter) of Cyaxares, the king of the Medes, who married King Nebuchadnezzar II, ruler of Babylon. The myth says that Amytis' homesickness for the forested mountains of the Median Empire led to the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as Nebuchadnezzar attempted to please her by planting the trees and plants of her homeland.
The players embody noble Babylonians in quest of prestige. All along the game, they strive to raise their status by building gardens and their irrigation network, and by trading and recruiting. At the end of the game, the player with the highest prestige is the winner.
In this game the players compete to build gardens, acquire plants, hire craftsmen, build irrigation and trade with ancient cities. Points can also be gained from building your palace and controlling the temples. On a turn the players chose one of the following actions: a) Recruit a craftsman, that grants an action (priest on temple, resource, irrigation or camel) b) Move the caravan (to purchase plant or court card or trade) c) Pass to potentially gain income. It is an interactive game where a player's actions directly affect the other players.
- well balanced and cohesive design
- strong and varied strategies (quick grabs vs long-term planning)
- tight budget and resource management
- engaging tension due to turn angst and limited action choices
- pace heavily dictated by players, can slow down
- potential grind due to resource timing constraints
- no resource carryover between rounds, causing waiting periods when tokens moved
- resource management, irrigation, economy
- Ancient Mesopotamia - Gardens of Babylon
- tight, tense planning with turn-based tension
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection via character sets — choose one of three characters in a set; free first, then increasing coin cost for subsequent picks, introducing budget pressure
- board movement and tech trees — tech trees allow faster movement or income/trip benefits, with limited cards available
- endgame trigger via garden tile counts — final round triggers when enough Garden tiles are claimed
- Engine Building: Triggered/Cascading — final round triggers when enough Garden tiles are claimed
- resource placement and irrigation — place resources on the main board and irrigate tiles by aligning faces on garden tokens
- Tech trees — tech trees allow faster movement or income/trip benefits, with limited cards available
- tile claim and majority control — aim for a majority in bottom-edge zones to generate income and resources
- tile placement — place resources on the main board and irrigate tiles by aligning faces on garden tokens
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the gameplay is really strong and it feels quite different to anything else out there on the market
- the game is Rock Solid
- I was blown away with the way this game was designed
- this is a Hidden Gem
- Chairman's Commendation
References (from this video)
- cool drafting system with varied character powers
- high variability across plays
- grindy feel due to slow resource collection
- can drag if rounds are long
- Gardens of Babylon-inspired drafting and worker deployment
- Irrigation and resource management in a stylized ancient setting
- Euro game with thematic backdrop
- Gardens of Babylon
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area control / majority bonuses — areas on the map grant points and end-game multipliers
- drafting — selecting characters with varied powers from groups
- Resource management — collecting resources to deploy huts and temples
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the coolest thing about this game was that sometimes when you choose a card the cards that you didn't select would end up impacting damage on your ship which would end up costing you negative points
- grossly underrated I can't even believe this game isn't talked about is so well put together
- Woodcraft is my favorite game of the month