K2 Board Game First Impressions
K2 is in tents!
It’s two tents!
K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth as well as the second deadliest. It’s known as the Savage Mountain, as it kills one person for every four who have reached the summit…
And K2 has never been climbed in winter.Now your team stands in its shadow, ready to climb for fame and glory.
You know the dangers of K2 all too well. Extreme weather with frequent and deadly storms, exposed, steep, tricky routes and lack of oxygen await you on your way to the summit. You will test your climbing skills to death, try to outsmart the ever-changing weather and always worry about the acclimatization of your 2 mountaineers. Also there are the other teams ready to take the glory for themselves.
This is a very nice hand management game. Reminded me a little bit (and only a little mind you) of Road Rally USA.
You have two climbers and you need to get them as high up on K2 as possible, using movement cards from your hand. The higher up you get the more movement points every single space takes to move on to.
A Turn
You’re picking 3 cards from your hand and moving either or both of your climbers a certain number of spaces up the mountain. Once those cards have been used you won’t use them again until you have used the rest of the cards in your deck. Then, the deck is reshuffled and you start again.
The highest point your climber reaches determines how many points you get, so if both your climbers get to the top, you get 20 points.
Assuming they survive.
See flying up the mountain is quite easy, staying alive is the hard part. It’s all about getting acclimatised.
Acclimatisation
You start off with one point of acclimatisation and gain points by ending your turn down the bottom end of the mountain. But, as you get higher and conditions get tougher, you stop becoming acclimatised. Then you start to feel the cold and the hard work.
Midway up the mountain, you stop gaining. Then, towards the top of the mountain, you start to lose points each turn.
You can gain more by playing cards from your hand which allows you to become acclimatised. But as these cards are part of the 3 cards you play you sacrifice movement. This means if you become acclimatised you’re moving slower, and if you’re moving quickly you’re taking damage.
K2 Summary
It’s a good game. I like the options you have and the balance you have to make between taking a breath and moving on up the mountain.
There are other things like the weather which can hinder you, causing extra damage to be taken. Also, tents which you can plant on a movement point to shelter you from a point of damage.
I look forward to giving this one another go, and not killing off all my guys this time!
Jesta ThaRogue
