Azure

 

This is a game I have been keen to write about since I played it. In recent months, my to-do list of blog posts to write has been hovering around 15 to 20 items long. I generally write in a first-in-first-out manner, but sometimes some blog posts cut queue, for example when I write about exhibitions I attend. I have heard a little about Azure, and I thought it was just another flavour of the month thing. In the past year there were several hugely popular games which I found uninteresting. Azure took me by surprise and it will be one of my favourite new-to-me games in 2026. 

Azure is a two player game. To describe it in the most boring way, you take turns placing stones onto the board until one of you win by reaching 25 points, or until one of you lose by being unable to place a stone. Let me describe how the game works in more detail for you to see the beauty. The board is randomly set up using four pieces. Each segment corresponds to one of four heavenly creatures - dragon, tiger, phoenix and tortoise. The creature piece is placed on a mountain in the section belonging to the creature. Players compete for the creatures, which give various benefits. 

Notice that every space on the board has one or more icons. To place your stone in a space, you must pay cards in the colour of the segment, and you must pay as many cards as the number of icons. You start the game with 2 or 3 cards, which means in the early game you don't have many options. When you place a stone, you gain the benefits on the space. Most of the time it is points, or cards in a specific colour. You must make sure you have enough cards to keep playing. If you are unable to place a stone, you lose immediately. 

The importance of a placed stone is it gives you a discount for any space in the same column or row, unless blocked by a mountain. You notice some spaces have as many as 6 or 7 points. That means you need to pay 6 or 7 cards in the right colour. Spaces that give you cards only give 1 or 2. To place a stone on a 6 or 7 point space, you must rely on discounts. 

Every time you place a stone, you are building your network of discounts. To get to those high valued spaces, you need to have placed stones in the same rows and columns. You must plan ahead. You will be competing with your opponent for those juicy spaces. Can you beat your opponent to those spaces? 

You claim the creatures in a similar way as those discounts. For the dragon and the tiger, as soon as one player has two stones in the same row or column as their mountain, that player gets to claim the creature. The other player can win the creature over only by exceeding the influence of the current controller. The dragon and the tiger are worth 3 and 2 points respectively. You win the phoenix not by placing stones in the same row or column as its mountain, but by placing stones in its segment. When you claim the phoenix, you gain 2 more cards. If you lose it, you discard 2 cards. Claiming the tortoise also works a little differently. You claim it by having placed stones in serpent circles, and these serpent circles are scattered around the board. The tortoise isn't worth points either, but it allows you to place one stone on its mountain. This stone works just like your other stones. 

This is a confrontational game. It may look zen, but every space that you manage to claim is a space you have prevented your opponent from using. Other than the initial card draws, this is a perfect information game. You know which cards your opponent has taken, because which cards to take are listed on the board. You have to fight for the creatures. Allowing your opponent to dominate puts you at a huge disadvantage. You must constantly pay attention to your control over the creatures. Placing stones must be done strategically, helping you towards those high valued spaces. Sometimes you place stones for the sake of getting the right cards. You do still need cards to place stones in specific spaces. You need to build a good discount structure across the board, and at the same time you try to prevent your opponent from doing the same. You fight a multi-front battle, competing for the four creatures and building your power structure. The rules are pretty straightforward, but the game is strategic. You must think ahead.