Clans (board game)

Clans is a German-style board game designed by Leo Colovini, first introduced in 2002, centered on the founding and growth of villages. Two to four players place and move meeple-like clan pieces across a landscape of colored terrain tiles, trying to found villages of their own clan's color in favorable positions and later trying to be recognized as the largest clan present in as many finished villages as possible when the surrounding terrain is fully built out. Because a village's eventual size and the mix of clans present in it are only settled once the tiles around it are filled in, players must watch the shape of the whole board developing and time their moves to end up dominant in villages that will turn out large, rather than only building up whichever single village they already occupy. A full game runs about thirty minutes after a five minute setup, is aimed at players ten and up, and rewards reading the board and quietly out-positioning opponents over aggressive direct conflict, reflecting its low reliance on chance and requirement for restrained bluffing about a player's real intentions.