As a member of the Sherpa community, you build base camps for explorers on the Nanga Parbat-mountain in the Himalaya, while trapping animals to use for food and clothing.
2 players, ages 14+
Playing time: 30 minutes
Designer: Steve Finn
Artwork: Ossi Hiekkala, Julián Tunni
Publisher: Dr. Finn’s Games
https://www.doctorfinns.com/
Each player starts the game with 15 hikers, 12 camps and 6 scoring markers in their player colour.
On your turn, you take an animal out of the region where the yellow guide meeple currently is located, and place it in the matching area on your player board. In the now empty spot on the game board you place one of your hiker meeples, and you move the guide to a new region corresponding with the number where you took your action.
Optionally you now may place a scoring marker in the points chart, either by removing adjacent hikers to build camps, or by trading sets of the same or different animals. You advance your marker on the score path a number of steps equal to the value shown above and below the column where you placed your cube.
At any time during your turn, you may also activate your trapped animals to perform a special action by sliding them to the bottom section of your player board; these allow you to switch the position of hikers or animals on the game board, or move the guide to a different region.
The game lasts until both players have placed either all their hikers or all their scoring cubes, after which the player who advanced the most on the score path wins.
Nanga Parbat is a little 2 player abstract game that combines area control and set collection with a bit of push-your-luck. The game is easy to set up and to explain, plays very quick but definitely has more strategy than may initially appear, as the spot you take an animal from also determines which region your opponent will take his next turn.
Altogether it’s a very elegant design with no luck, that comes in a nice package with tons of cute animeeples and beautiful art. If you’re looking for a 2 player-only strategy game, for example to play after a long day of work, be sure to check out Nanga Parbat!
Tabletopping 