Published by Game Brewer, with art by Nastya Lehn, Franz Couderc's Delta is a steampunk-themed eurogame which mixes worker placement with hand management in a fascinating world of mech animals and robotic dragonflies.
Players are competing to score the most points through engineering, exploration, scientific progress, animal set collection and lots of endgame scoring. Over six rounds, the 2-4 players take turns sending a worker to each of the three action areas of the board. The workers in this game are characters on cards with different specialisms which determine the resources they provide and the abilities they have. Players start off with the same deck of ten character cards and they gradually add more cards through a draft at the end of each round, while also trashing cards to increase the value of animals collected.
The first of the three areas is the Workshop, where engineering resources can be stockpiled to reach rewards or spent on Inventions that give powerful one-time bonuses. The second area is the Map of the Delta, with three areas to explore yielding greater rewards the further players go from the starting city. Finally, the Research Library allows players to improve their score for animals by trashing a card and/or spending science resources to 'study animals' and publish a scientific paper that will bring an endgame scoring bonus. This reminded us of the research options in Holy Grail Games' Encyclopedia.
There are many paths to consider in Delta, and priorities and opportunities will develop throughout the game so you need to keep a good balance of short-term and long-term strategy. Even the order in which character cards are played is significant, as the hot air balloon on one character sent to the Workshop might be essential for the exploration carried out in the Delta, and the character exploring the Delta might produce science resources needed for the Research Library...
Tho' there is no 'take that' interaction, players need to be very aware of what others are planning so as to prioritise and respond effectively. It feels quite friendly tho', and the luck factors and swing factors are not too big. There's a lot going on but most aspects are relatively easy to pick up, tho' a player aid would have been useful to help remember which actions are standard and which need a special character, and which resources apply wherever they appear and which only apply when played in a certain location. Nevertheless, this is a beautifully presented, well-balanced, engaging game with plenty of replayability that fans of steampunk eurogames will surely be very pleased with.
(Review by Matt Young)