Torres Fan Site

Rating:	7.3 Good
Popularity:	15
Difficulty:	Easy
Year:	1999
Players:	2-4 players
Playing time:	60 minutes
Age:	12+

Official Site: Torres game page at Rio Grande Games

Created by: Michael Kiesling, Wolfgang Kramer, Alessandra Cimatoribus, Franz Vohwinkel

Published by: ABACUSSPIELE, F.X. Schmid, Ravensburger Spieleverlag GmbH

Description:

A series of devastating tornadoes, unleashed by enemy mages in the recent war has left all the king's castles in ruin. Only the foundations of these once magnificent monuments remain.

The war not only robbed the king of his castles, but also of his youth. The now elderly king must choose a successor from among his sons. He has charged them with rebuilding his castles and promised the throne to the one who can rebuild the tallest and largest castles.

Tired of war, the king requires that the building be done in peace and a spirit of cooperation. Thus, the princes may not attack each other or the castles being built. Each prince has 6 knights to supervise the building.

Two or more princes may work together on a castle with their knights competing to control the highest towers of the castle. The king will spend each year in a castle and will reward the prince whose knights are guarding him.

Once each year, the king will tour the castles, to judge the progress of each son. After he finishes the third tour, he will choose his successor and prepare for his own death.

Torres is an abstract game of resource management and tactical pawn movement. Players are attempting to build up castles and position their knights to score the most points each turn.

Players have a limited supply of knights and action cards that allow special actions to be taken.

Efficient use of pieces and cards, along with a thoughtful awareness of future possibilities, is the heart of this game. Torres is considered by many to be an informal member of what is referred to as the Mask Trilogy.

Prices:

Retail Price:	$398
Amazon:	$751

Awards:

Spiel des Jahres Winner 2000
Spiel des Jahres Nominee 2000
International Gamers Awards - General Strategy; Multi-player Nominee 2000
Games Magazine Game of the Year Winner 2000

Check these Posts:

Torres Game Rules

Components

1 game board,
92 tower blocks,
24 knights
4 scoring markers
1 King
40 Action cards
4 Codex cards (action summary cards)
3 Phases cards (description of the phases and scoring)
8 Master cards (to be used in the master version)

Object of the Game

The board has a scoring track circling the outer edge and an 8 x 8 area for castle building. The starting locations for the 8 castles are marked within the castle building area.

The players earn points at the end of each of the three years for every castle where they are represented by a knight. The score is the product of the surface area of the castle and the level where the knight stands. The player who collects the most points over the three years is the winner. â€¦

Master Version of Torres

When you have become acquainted with the action cards, you may want to add additional challenges to the game. The master version does just that, adding the following rules to the basic game:

Initial Placement Of The Castles

Instead of placing the starting castles on the spaces shown on the board, the players choose the starting positions.

Beginning with the youngest player and continuing in clockwise order, each player takes a tower block and places it on an empty space on the board until all 8 starting castles have been placed. Each new castle must have at least 2 empty spaces between it and any other castle. â€¦

Torres Cards

The Action Cards

Jump one of your knights two levels up to an empty adjacent space, e.g. from level 1 to level 3.

The new space must be an orthogonally adjacent.

Place a tower block from your supply under one of your knights. You may not use this action to make the castle taller than its surface area.

The tower block may come from any of the stacks in your supply. The knight can be on any level, even 0. If the knight is on level 0, you can even use this action to create a new castle. To create a new castle, the space must not be orthogonally adjacent to another castle (diagonally adjacent is allowed). â€¦