Calliope Games | SKU: 27633577537

Running with the Bulls

Name: Running with the Bulls
Brand: Calliope Games
SKU: 27633577537
Price: 26.64 EUR
Availability: OutOfStock

€26.64 EUR

This item is available for pre-order. Orders will be fulfilled in order received. We will contact you if the item is unavailable.

Delivery and Shipping

For more details, please refer to our Shipping and Order Information.

Description

Designer	Paul Peterson
Publisher	Calliope Games
Players	2-6
Playtime	40-60 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up
Additional Info	201305/running-bulls https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/201305/running-bulls/forums/63

Get ready to embark on the craziest vacation ever! A herd of mischievous bulls has taken over the quaint town of El Toro, and players must outrun & outwit them in order to get to the fabulous destinations on the coast! Skillfully play cards to dodge the rascally bulls as they chase you through the streets! The dice themselves are the Runners, and you must maipulate them to determine both their paths & those of the Bulls themselves! It's all a bit like strategic pachinko! With a bit of planning & lot of luck, you’ll reach your spectacular getaway while Running with the Bulls!

In the game, players use handfuls of dice as runners, starting them at the top of the game board and playing cards to reroll those runners or influence opposing runners, with your goal for each of the three days being to get your runners to the fancy destinations (which are worth differing amounts of points) at the bottom of the board while avoiding the bulls that are chasing you.

bring on the theme

This really adds to the fun when playing the game

Ultimate Guard - Boulder™ 60+ Deck Case (Emerald)

Awesome game

Nice abstract

What I liked:
• Visually, the game is stunning. I'm usually more into mechanics and don't get swayed by aesthetics alone, but here, I found myself enjoying the artwork and the fact that the tokens aren't just circular, but uniquely shaped.
• The player’s board is quite small, so you face interesting decisions about how to squeeze in as many animals as possible and maximize your score. That said, it could potentially lead to analysis paralysis.
• I enjoy 3D abstracts like Santorini, so I really liked the mechanic where you can build mountains, trees, and buildings on multiple levels. It adds another layer of strategy. In Cascadia, you're just rotating a landscape tile to expand similar terrains, but in Harmonies, you think, “Okay, I’ll use this 'one-level' mountain for this animal, and then I’ll build a second level to score even more.” Or, “This building is here, so I need to surround it with different colors, and if I can fit a field near it, that’s an extra five points.” The scoring for terrain feels more engaging.
• I love that there are combo opportunities here. In Cascadia, you populate an eagle, and maybe you get extra points from a fox. But in Harmonies, you could have parrots that need to be near water, and then you draw a fish card and manage to place six of them because everything was already set up with the parrots. When the puzzle clicks into place like that, it’s incredibly satisfying.
What I didn’t like:
• There’s little player interaction, and the draft always has alternatives. Taking animals your opponent needs doesn’t make sense since you can only hold four cards, and you don’t want to be stuck with a useless one. This is why I like Splendor Duel—there you have to pay attention to your opponent and disrupt their engine. Harmonies feels more like a friendly family game where everyone just focuses on their own board (which is a matter of taste).
• There’s no way to discard tokens or cards. You can make something work with almost any card, but some fit better in certain combos. You end up with around 20 cards in a two-player game, and I missed having something like a wild token in Cascadia to refresh the row.
• I feel like they could’ve improved Harmonies by printing some instant bonuses on the player’s board—maybe tokens for discarding, an extra tile of any color, or the ability to hold a fifth card.
Final thoughts: It’s a solid abstract game. We played three games almost in a row. I’m not sure if I’ll keep both Cascadia and Harmonies in my collection, as they leave a similar impression. In Cascadia, I enjoy rotating the tiles, while in Harmonies, it’s more about solving the puzzle of fitting in the animals.
My rating: 8 out of 10

Exactly as seen.

Good card and fast delivery

Running with the Bulls

Delivery and Shipping

Description

Footer links

Choose options

Let customers speak for us