The Architects of Amytis

This is a 2-player game about city building, where you compete for the same pool of resources to build your individual cities. 

You each have your own player board, which is a 3x3 grid. On your turn, you place one of your four pawns on the common board, which is also a 3x3 grid. The common board has stacks of tiles. When you place a pawn, you claim the topmost tile, and you must then place it on your own board. You can place it on an empty space, or you can stack it on top of another tile. The tile colours are for you to complete missions. You start the game with some missions, specifying configurations you need to achieve - specific combinations of building colours (regardless of building type) in a certain layout. During the game when you claim a certain building type you can take more missions. Completed missions are one of several ways you score points. 

Buildings come in four colours, and also six types. The colours are for completing missions, while the types help you score points during building placement. So while working on your missions, you try to claim buildings that help you score points at the same time. One building type scores points based on how many pawns you have on the common board. Another scores points based on building types visible on your player board. 

The positions of your pawns when you place them on the common board can also help you score points. You want to place three in a row, because whenever you manage that, you get to place one of your discs on the bonus board. These are called the king's favour. These give you additional ways to score points, for example at game end each stack on your board with exactly one tile scores 3 points. Or every staircase configuration (three stacks in a row of 1, 2 and 3 tiles) giving you 6 points. While trying to place your pawns in straight lines, you also try to stop your opponent from doing so. 

The game mechanism is pretty straight-forward. You are just placing a pawn to claim a tile in order to place it on your player board. However there are multiple scoring opportunities you need to think about - the missions, the building abilities, and also the positions of your pawns. The game ends when two stacks on the common board run out. 

The Architects of Amytis is smooth. I like how simple each turn appears to be, but there are actually several considerations behind that simple turn. Some elements feel tactical, for example if taking one particular building is going to score you many points now, you probably can't resist the urge to take it. Also if your opponent is almost making three pawns in a row, you may just want to block him. However there is also long-term strategy to think about. One thing I deliberately tried to do was to keep as many single-tile stacks as possible. I decided to do this about mid way through the game, when I noticed that I had many such stacks. The king favour which rewards single-tile stacks gave 3 points per stack, which was lucrative. The Architects of Amytis is polished, well balanced, and provides plenty of player interaction.