Rebirth

• Designer: Reiner Knizia
• Publisher: Mighty Boards
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 60 mins
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3EpP4J5 
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Following a series of calamities that left civilization in shambles, societies around the world are being rebuilt anew in harmony with nature. Scotland lies in ruins and the ancient clans have taken it upon themselves to restore the land. As clan leaders you will compete for strategic control of the land by rebuilding its prestigious castles.

Rebirth is a new, tile-laying game from Reiner Knizia. The game revitalizes this classic genre by combining Knizia’s elegant mechanics with Mighty Boards’ evocative world building. The result is a eurogame with smooth gameplay, set in a lush and hopeful future.

Each turn, players draw a tile from their supply and place it strategically on the board. These tiles represent your clan’s contribution to rebuilding the land. Rebirth rewards strategic foresight and clever tactical play, with tougher decisions emerging over the course of the game.

Rebirth has a double sided board – you use the Scotland side for the basic game and the Ireland side for the advanced.  I’ll start by explaining the basic game.  Place the Scotland map on the table and the Mission cards in the bottom left corner. Each player chooses a clan, takes the clan board and all the pieces and tiles of their color. These tiles are shuffled and each player draws two tiles, looks at them and places them face down on their board. These tiles will not be used this game.  From the remaining supply, each player draws one tile as their starting hand.

Turns are simple – place the tile you are holding, score it, and then draw a new tile to use on your next turn.

In slightly more detail… When you place a tile, you must place it on an unoccupied space that matches the symbol shown on your tile (leaves for food, lightning bolt for energy, houses for settlements).  Note that food and energy tiles can also be placed on the rare hex that has no icons.

Scoring for a tile depends on its type

• Farms – score 1 point for every contiguous Food tile of your color in the area you just placed in
• Energy – score 1 point for every contiguous Energy tile of your color in the area you just placed in
• Settlements – only score with all the spaces in the Settlement are occupied.
  • Small settlements (1 space) – score 1 pt per house icon on the tile placed
  • Medium (2 spaces) The player with the most icons scores 5 pt, 2nd scores 3 pt
  • Large (3 space) – 8/5/0 for 1st/2nd/3rd most icons
• Port spaces – these are found in settlements, and as shown on the board, immediately score 1 point for placing here

You can also win control of Castles and Cathedrals based on your tile placement.

• Castles – if you place the first tile adjacent to a Castle space, you place one of your castles onto the Castle space. Going forward, the player with the most tiles adjacent to the Castle hex controls the castle, and places their color castle piece.  Ties broken in favor of the player with the most food and energy tiles adjacent.  If a tie cannot be broken, the current holder maintains control
• Cathedrals – if you place a tile adjacent to a Cathedral, mark this by placing one of your cathedral pieces onto that Cathedral space, on top of any previously placed pieces.  For each of the 8 Cathedral spaces that you occupy, you draw a Mission card from the deck which gives you end-game scoring opportunites.

Your turn ends when you draw a new tile from your supply. 

The game ends when all players have placed all their tiles.  There is some endgame scoring

• Incomplete settlements are scored – each tile is scored separately as if it was in a small settlement of its own
• Castles on the board score 5 VP each
• Mission cards score if you meet the criteria on them

The player with the most points wins (generally).  If there is a tie, the tied player who controls Edinburgh Castle wins.  If this does not create a winner, then the player who controls Stirling Castle wins – even if they are not amongst the tied players with the most points!

The Ireland board uses many of the same concepts, but honestly has enough changes that it has its own description in the rulebook.  To play this advanced version, use the Ireland map, and the yellow Public Mission cards – dealing 8 face up above the board.  Round Tower bonus tiles are placed on every Round Tower space (bright yellow) on the map. Each player takes their Clan board and all the tiles of their color. Four are drawn randomly, looked at, and then placed in a stack on the player board.  From the remaining supply, each player draws one tile as their starting hand.  Each player also has a Doubling Marker that starts on their board.

Turns are simple – place the tile you are holding, score it, and then draw a new tile to use on your next turn.

In slightly more detail… When you place a tile, you must place it on an unoccupied space that matches the symbol shown on your tile (leaves for food, lightning bolt for energy, houses for settlements).  Note that food and energy tiles can also be placed on the rare hex that has no icons.

Scoring for a tile depends on its type

• Farms – score 1 point for every contiguous Food tile of your color in the area you just placed in
• Energy – score 1 point for every contiguous Energy tile of your color in the area you just placed in
• Settlements – only score with all the spaces in the Settlement are occupied.
  • Small settlements (1 space) – score 1 pt per house icon on the tile placed
  • Medium (2 spaces) The player with the most icons scores 5 pt, 2nd scores 3 pt
  • Large (3 space) – 8/5/0 for 1st/2nd/3rd most icons
  • Sprawling (4 spaces) 12/8/5/0 for 1st/2nd/3rd/4th most icons
• Offshore farms – shown on the board, immediately score 1 point for placing here

After you place a tile, also check the public mission cards. If you are the first to complete a card, place your cathedral below the higher number on the card to note that it has been scored, and scores that higher number.  All players who score this card later will get the smaller number, also marked with a cathedral piece of their color.

Additionally, if you place next to a Round Tower, you can activate the associated bonus: placing a second tile, drawing 3 tiles to choose 1 from on your next turn, placing a doubling marker on any public goal you have not scored, getting a Mission card for private scoring, etc.

The game ends when all players have placed their tiles.  Endgame scoring is a bit simpler:

• Incomplete settlements are scored – each tile is scored separately as if it was in a small settlement of its own
• Any player with a private goal cards scores it with the higher point value if they are able to meet the criteria

The player with the most points wins (generally).  If there is a tie, the tied player who controls Blarney Castle wins.  If this does not create a winner, then the player who controls the most spaces adjacent to the Hill of Tara wins – even if they are not amongst the tied players with the most points!

My thoughts on the game

Interestingly, this is one of my favorite games from SPIEL 2024, but it is also one of the last ones for me to write a review.  Why?  Well, first off, because there are essentially two different games in the box, it took awhile to get enough plays of each side to write about it.  Also, the game took a bit of time to grow on me.  My first game was kinda pedestrian, and frankly, it took a long while for the game to make it back to the table.  Repeated plays have really grown my love for the game, and it’s now a definite keeper.

Regardless of which side you choose to play, Rebirth has a really simple game flow – look for the best place to place your single tile in hand, then score it.  Draw a new tile and wait for your next turn. While the map gives you plenty of different possible places to play a tile, the circumstances of the game really keep those options narrowed, and each turn usually moves along quite rapidly – especially since you’ve had all the time since the end of your last turn to consider your move.

Generally, you’ll be playing to maximize your own score, but there are certainly times when it will be worthwhile to make a defensive play in order to stop the growth of a large area of an opponent or to finagle settlement scoring.   Rebirth is definitely a game of tactical maneuvering, and much of your decision making process is determined by the random order that you draw your tiles in.  While some gamers I have played with have complained about the luck inherent in this blind draw, I find that it keeps the game fresh as I never know what my next turn is going to involve until I see what tile I have to play.

The Scotland game feels a bit more straightforward, and that is probably the reason why it is explained first in the rules as the “basic game”.  It is mostly a combination of area control (for settlements and castles) with scoring based on your larger contiguous areas.  There is a nice rhythm to the game, which I somewhat liken to a game of Go, as each player only places one piece each turn.  Though a player might be fighting for area control on three or four fronts at once, each turn only allows a single tile to be placed, and more often than not, that piece placement will only affect one arena.  I like this ebb and flow on the board as the game progresses.  

The Cathedrals in the Scotland game do allow you to generate some end-game scoring cards, and I feel that I want to gain these earlier in the game. It’s a random draw to see what scoring criteria you get, and I feel like I want as much time as possible to be able to work towards the bonus scoring.

As you would expect, with so many different things to work towards, you’ll likely have multiple places where you want to play on a turn.  Again, the game tends not to devolve into AP because you will likely need a certain type of tile to play in particular spots, and as such, your options will be naturally limited given the tile you are holding.

The Ireland board is a bit more challenging in play.  While many of the map features are the same, the race for the public missions really pulls you in even more directions on your turn.  Further, the special abilities granted by the Round Towers really can give you a great boost if you’re able to time them well.

Though it might never come into play, the tiebreaker conditions for the game are absurd.  I’m sure that if the last placed player managed to win only because they controlled Stirling Castle in Scotland or the Hill of Tara in Ireland – it would be a game that would be truly memorable!

The board and components are beautiful, though I don’t understand the single steampunkish inclusion of blimps as your scoring multiplier marker.  The rules are concise, though I do have one quibble with them.  The rules in full are given for the basic game (Scotland) and only changes are noted for the Ireland game.  I have found though that first-timers to the Ireland game sometimes have issues getting all the rules right because they have to look in multiple places.  I would have preferred a full set of rules for each game so that there wasn’t so much cross-referencing.

As I mentioned at the start of my comments, my first game felt pretty plain-jane – everything worked but it didn’t capture my attention.  As it returned to the table, I really have found that I enjoy the slow but steady buildup of play; improving my board position one tile per turn as I fight for majorities on the different areas of the board.  I honestly like both boards included in the game, and would happily play either.  This is one of those rare games that was rescued from the sale pile to become a keeper!

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Mitchell: Rebirth is like a greatest hits of many recent Knizia tile layers. It lacks the strategic depth of Babylonia, and it lacks the uniqueness of Havalandi, but it is an interesting game in its own right. I think the special scoring cards are a bit hit or miss, and I don’t think it works with two as the board is so wide open.Three was better and I imagine four will be better still. Nevertheless, it’s a Knizian attractive tile layer and that is my jam! I’m always happy to play and as Dale suggests, it does improve with multiple plays. Unfortunately most of my gaming is with two. 

Ben B: Surprisingly, this game has come out more than any other since its fulfillment before Christmas. It has become my go-to gateway game for gamers and non-gamers alike. It’s great for introductory gamers who want a quick game or just want to try something or thinky-gamers who are constantly min-max’ing. It gets requested alot and it’s just more than a filler with those crunchy decision points. 

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Dale Y,  Ben B
• I like it. Steph H, John P, Mitchell T, Craig M.
• Neutral. Mark Jackson
• Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link:https://amzn.to/3EpP4J5