Petrichor Review

Image: Mighty Boards

INTRODUCTION

Did you know that a raindrop can create the actual scent of a summer storm? This phenomenon is known as Petrichor, “a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather” that I am sure many of you have experienced, as the air following a rain storm suddenly feels a bit more pleasant and vitalised. The term was originally coined by Australian researchers Isabel Bear and Dick Thomas, who in 1964 published an article in the journal Nature where they described the correlation between an oil exuded by certain plants during dry periods and how the aforementioned oil is released into the air as a result of heavy rain. Petrichor also happens to be the title of the board game designed by David Chircop and published by Mighty Boards, a game where players are trying to “manipulate clouds above the fields and influence the upcoming weather” which is an intriguing thematic proposition to say the least.

Full disclosure: a review copy of Petrichor was kindly provided by publisher Mighty Boards.

COMPONENTS

I truly believe that board games can and should be viewed as pieces of art and in the case of Petrichor this statement is definitely applicable, as this is undoubtedly one of the most visually stunning productions I have had the good fortune of experiencing in person. From the custom moulded plastic insert that neatly organises and stores all the components, including sleeved cards, to the first-player marker that is shaped as a fluffy nimbus cloud, Petrichor has a certain “je ne sais quoi” which makes it very appealing. Amongst all the included components, my absolute favourite by far are the rain drop tokens. The tactile satisfaction one derives from adding these brightly coloured glass beads to a cloud or crop tile is difficult to accurately convey in written form. The clouds are made of thick cardboard, they even have little slots where the lightning bolt tokens fits perfectly without intruding on the space to which the glass beads are placed as a way for players to denote “ownership” of the cloud in question. Everything about Petrichor just looks and feels… beautiful for lack of a more refined delineation, in terms of component quality publisher Mighty Boards have every reason to feel proud and rightly so.

In terms of production quality and table presence, Petrichor is undoubtedly quite spectacular. Photo: Fredrik Schulz

OVERVIEW

“Now, you are ready to begin your new life as a cloud”.

As I am typing away at my keyboard I can hear thunder in the distance, only drowned out by the sound of heavy raindrops smattering like machinegun fire on the metal roof of my house. A rather fitting scene given the thematic representation of weather in a board game.

In the game of Petrichor players assume the role of clouds, gently floating in the skies above Mother Earth with the goal of having the most influence i.e. rain drops on the various fields come time for harvest. This is achieved by manipulating and influencing not only the clouds but also the upcoming weather to your advantage and, hopefully, the other players detriment. In terms of game mechanisms, players are trying to exert dominance through area control whilst simultaneously managing their hand of cards which are used to perform various actions. Petrichor features a modular set up, at the start of the game a number of crop tiles will be seeded at random thus creating the main playing area known as the Fields. Each crop tile represents one particular type of plant, also indicated on the tile in question are the number of raindrops i.e. player tokens required for the plant to start growing and in process of doing so being eligible for rewarding victory points during the Harvest phase(s) of the game. Some plants, like cotton or grass, are fairly straightforward where points are rewarded based on majority of player tokens on the tile in question. Others, like for example coffee, will only provide points if a certain weather effect is triggered as a result of the end-of-round voting.

It is not always advantageous to have the most amount of raindrops on a crop tile, as certain fields like the potato reward more points for coming in second. Photo: Fredrik Schulz

Which segues quite nicely into one of the aspects about Petrichor that I find truly fascinating, and that is the way the game design manages to marry strategy and tactics into a coherently smooth experience. For it is the case, that in order to populate the crop tiles with their raindrops players need to take into account several factors which could potentially have a positive but also a negative effect on their plans depending on the actions performed by their competition. Each round of the game is divided into two main phases, where actions performed in the former stage will have a ripple effect on the latter. On their turn players are going to play cards from their hand in order to perform various actions which will level the playing field in their favour during the upcoming Weather phase. Each card has a corresponding action which relates to one of the four weather conditions. Frost allows a player to create a new cloud containing one of their raindrops and position it on any unoccupied crop tile. Then there is the Sun action which when played adds two raindrops to an already existing cloud of which the active player has presence. The mighty Wind card transports a cloud to an orthogonally adjacent crop tile, which can result in two clouds merging into one known as a thundercloud. Finally, the Rain card will cause up to two clouds to rain down a single drop each onto the crop tile of which they are positioned above.

But the cards also serve a secondary function, where players are placing votes on which two meteorological conditions that will take effect during the upcoming Weather phase of the game. Much like the cards, the actual game board consists of four spaces that correlate to the previously mentioned weather cards. Each card allows the player to either place one of their tokens onto the space which matches the icon on the card, for example playing a Rain card would grant you the option of adding a vote to the Rain space. Alternatively, players have the option of casting a vote to the Weather space that is next in order going clockwise as indicated on the board. The third and final option when resolving the vote aspect of a weather card is to manipulate the three Harvest dice. Each die shows 1 – 4 votes whereas the remaining two die faces depict the harvest symbol. By choosing this third voting option, players are able to decrease the value of a Harvest die by one, earning them an immediate bonus of a single victory point. If all three dice show the Harvest symbol, then there will be a mid-game scoring session at the end of the current round. By choosing to manipulate the dice players are essentially forfeiting the possibility of influence which type of weather effects that will trigger during the later phase of the round. But it might be the case that given the current board state it will prove to be more advantageous to sacrifice your vote in order to activate a scoring phase, particularly if you have managed to get all of your ducks in a row.

Over the course of the game, by manipulating the harvest dice players will be able to score victory points. Photo: Fredrik Schulz

Because make no mistake about it, at times Petrichor can be one vicious board game experience resembling a knife fight in a phonebooth. This is a result of the design where many of the weather cards and spaces affect not only yourself but also other players. You may have spent several turns positioning a cloud and making sure it contains just the right number of raindrops, only to have someone else at the table play a Wind card and re-position the cloud in question. Or watching one of your raindrops being removed from a crop tile and in the process being cut-off from earning victory points during the Harvest phase. In terms of player interaction and being cutthroat, Petrichor is very much a “I drink your milkshake” kind of game and if you or anyone that is part of your gaming group is uncomfortable with the idea of actively going out of your way to screw people over, then the multiplayer aspect of Petrichor might not be your cup of tea.

THE SOLO MODE

Fortunately for all of us care bears, playing Petrichor solo eliminates this “issue” of direct conflict whilst simultaneously retaining the core aspects of area control and card management. The Southern Winds module, designed by none other than Dávid Turczi, introduces a mysterious, automated opponent that is actively trying to push you away from the fields and who gets progressively stronger over the course of the game. When playing Petrichor solo, the central playing area will be composed of six crop tiles arranged from lowest to highest numerical value indicated by the compass symbol. On the “neutral turn” you will reveal the top card of the solo deck, the card will indicate what action the automated opponent is trying to perform. In order to decide which crop tile to target, you simply roll a standard six-sided die and then check to see whether the result is valid based on the prerequisite of the action. After resolving the action, each solo card also indicates how many votes and to which weather space the automated opponent will add.

The neutral player’s action are managed by a deck of nine solo cards. Photo: Fredrik Schulz

Unlike yourself, the Southern Wind mode allows the neutral player to cast several votes on a single turn thus creating more tension as you try to decide whether it is worth to compete against the automated opponent or not. In fact, because ties are always resolved by the human player you can play a very mean-spirited tactical game of blocking the opponent from gaining additional victory points at being the one with majority of votes when the weather phase is resolved. Playing Petrichor solitaire will last four rounds, including a final Harvest phase which is resolved in the exact same way as the multiplayer design as mentioned by the rulebook: “If you do not have more points than the neutral player, you lose. Otherwise the plants bloom happily, and you win.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Anyone who has played board games with me will tell you that I am not prone to gravitate towards game designs that feature direct conflict as a core mechanism. The idea then to have a board game that allows me to enjoy the positive aspects whilst stripping away the cutthroat elements makes Petrichor the best of two worlds. That is not to say that the neutral player in the Southern Winds solo module is a pushover, far from it. There have been numerous occasions where I have spent a great deal of time and mental energy pondering over how to best line up my ducks in a row as to score the maximum amount of points during harvest, only to have the automated opponent perform an action that totally throws a wrench into my best laid plans all thanks to the (un)lucky roll of the die. And yet I am completely fine with the prospect of being torpedoed by a neutral player as opposed to another player of flesh and blood sitting across the other side of the table, wearing a wolfish grin on their face. I have enjoyed the previous creative output from designer Dávid Turczi and his work on the solo mode for Petrichor is no exception. If the proposition of being able to solo play a medium weight area control board game combined with gorgeous production values appeals to you, then I highly recommend taking a closer look at Petrichor.