In a world covered by sand, adventurers and traders try to brave the harsh deserts on the backs of their loyal silkworms to travel to cities and settlements, trade goods, write songs about their journeys, and reveal the secrets of the sand plains. They try to sell flowers, seeds, plants, and even artifacts for the best price while mapping out the most efficient routes to gather as much money as possible. Will you throw sand in the eyes of your opponents to earn the most, or will your earnings bite the dust?
Background
Sand is part of the Kemushi Saga. The Kemushi Saga is a series of board games by publisher DEVIR. A shared world, similar elements, and a central story form the common thread of the games in the Kemushi Saga. The games, with their design and magical setting (inspired by Japan, but also other imaginative settings like Dune), would not be out of place in a Ghibli film. Those films have clearly been an inspiration. The silkworms from the introduction? They appear not only in Sand but are where it all began.
The first game in the Kemushi Saga is Silk, where players take on the role of silkworm herders. These herders try to protect their worms from corrupted forest spirits. In Bitoku, players take on the role of spirits, but those pure of heart, and try to compete to become the new great spirit of the forest. In addition to these games, Bamboo, Yokai Sketch, and Daitoshi are also part of the series. Each game reveals a small piece of the world to the players in a series of unique games by different game authors.
Just like in Silk, the silkworms play a central role in Sand. They are not only the player’s best friend but also their means of transportation in this pick-up-and-deliver game. In Sand – set in the future of Kemushi – the world has been turned into a large sandbox by a catastrophe, and players try to survive by transporting plants and other goods.
Setup and gameplay
At the beginning of the game, the game board is set up, and players receive all the game components in their color. Various tiles (camps) are placed on the board, making the game board slightly different in each game. Goods are placed, mission cards are shuffled and placed above the game board, and players place the correct components on their personal board. The personal board is used to keep track of delivered goods, the status of the worm, and companions of a player, but players also keep track of their skills and actions on their personal board.
All players start in the harbor and go on an exploration. Due to the limited rounds and actions, players must plan well and efficiently. During a turn, a player can use their available action tokens. Action tokens are available if you are not transporting a good of the same color. Action tokens correspond to the dice rolled for a round and placed in a central rack. The value of a die affects the strength of an action. Additionally, at the beginning of the game, players can use up to three action tokens during their turn, but as they improve their worm, more options become available.
Players can travel with their worm (if their worm still has enough water, food, and health), collect goods by using the corresponding action token (this color token is unavailable as long as they carry this good), deliver plants, or replenish the various status effects of their worm (food, water, health).
Delivering goods is the best way to collect money (and thus points). Some goods yield more money at certain locations and sometimes even bonuses if delivered in combination with other goods. Goods also limit you because certain action tokens are blocked, and the goods take up space. Once you deliver goods, you place them in the indicated empty spots on your game board, and by slowly filling your board, you unlock various things. Your worm gets better, and you may even get companions who unlock new skills or even actions.
The mission cards and the order of choice also determine the player order during a round. Players can use mission cards as a one-time bonus or as a way to earn points at the end of the game.
Sand also includes an interesting solo mode where the player faces Alhazred.
Verdict
Sand is an exploration that is actually surprisingly simple and intuitive, despite what the rulebook suggests. This rulebook is also the big silkworm in the room. Context: I am a lawyer and work with rules all day. What do I do as a lawyer? I spend days drafting contracts, policy documents, and other texts clearly and understandably with the goal that as many people as possible can understand them. I understand better than most that writing a rulebook is not easy, especially if a game has many different layers and exceptions. Writing a rulebook is an art, and not every game author is always good at it (or even expected to be good at it to be honest). Game authors are often mathematicians who have nothing to do with language or they are creatives with chaotic minds (and I understand that better than most as well). Often, I can easily see through the (chosen) structure of a rulebook. In the rulebook of Sand, some unusual choices have been made. At the beginning of the book, there is also a disclaimer explaining why they structured the rulebook this way. The developers probably knew that it would be difficult for many to understand. The rulebook is all over the place and full of (back)references and no comprehensive summary. And that’s a shame because Sand is actually a great game.
In essence, Sand is a very streamlined game, but the rulebook might hinder the experience a bit, and I think this has contributed to the reception of this game. On BGG, the average score is lower than the other heavy hitters from DEVIR, and the reception was fairly lukewarm. However, while playing the game, I was very impressed with how intuitive the gameplay actually is. Players have a limited number of actions, must make choices, use the value of the dice for the chosen actions, and have clear goals but sufficient strategic options. Players must pick up and deliver goods but have limited space, and by transporting certain goods, you block certain actions, forcing you to make choices as a player. In the harsh desert, not everything is possible, but that makes you work creatively, and that’s exactly how it is in Sand. It’s all about choices. Players try to use their limited number of actions and time as efficiently as possible. Mistakes in Sand are unforgiving, but well-combined actions are extra satisfying, especially if they also yield a healthy bounty. The artwork is fantastic, and the world of Kemushi is still as interesting as in Silk and Bitoku. Don’t be put off by the rating on BGG, watch an explanation video, and let yourself be taken into the soft sand.
