Tapestry, for us, has been one of the most played games of 2020. It was a game that was heralded with a lot of hype at release, but seems to have not lived up to that hype in everyone’s minds. Yet, it’s eye catching table appearance, easy rules, and fairly scalable play at all player counts has made it easy for it to make it to the table.
Since the first expansion, Tapestry: Plots and Ploys was announced, we have been hyped up to get our hands on it. With anticipation since we ordered it we are now finally able to get it to the table and out of the box. Let’s take a look at the components and what this really adds to Tapestry.
- Players: 1-5
- Playtime (with Setup): We find it between 90 and 180 minutes
- Publisher: Stonemaier Games
- Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Breaking Down the Components
This expansion is a small box with a lot of content. There are plenty of new civilizations, space exploration tiles, cards, and monuments. The expansion seems to put more emphasis via the Tapestry cards on ways to change up conquering tiles. The new space exploration tiles all look like they are cool. Most importantly, the expansion offers new ways for players to obtain monuments and place them on their Capital board. All in all, this seems pretty exciting.
New Monuments
With 7 new monuments to play with there are now even more ways to fill your capital board! All of these monuments have the same look and feel of the original game. In fact, the production quality here is stellar. While the art style may not be for everyone, I really love the fact that the Game Store and the Monolith make their appearance in the game. These are cool references to our geeky culture and I love it.
With all of the monuments in this game now, one would need a monument to the monuments!
Civilization Cards and Other Components
On top of the monuments, there are a number of other cool things in this box. The first thing that caught our attention is the draw bag for exploration tiles. This was our only component let down from the box. The bag is extremely useful in game, but the material it is made out of is slightly transparent. While we didn’t find that an issue when we played, the quality here was a bit of a let down.
The new Civilization Mats on the other hand are the same amazing quality as before. Not only that, but one of the things I look for in new cards in an expansion is if there is a color difference on the cards from the originals. In this case, I couldn’t see a visual difference between the new components and the old. This also goes for the new Tapestry cards in the expansion.
All of the punch board components are great. There are 4 new space exploration tiles and one replacement for the original game. Again, the art on the backs of these tiles matches the art from the original. Same color tones and everything so players can’t fish for the new tiles easily. They also provided round punch outs of all of the monuments you can earn by advancing on the appropriate tech tracks. You can place these on the game board instead of the monuments to trigger players to remember to grab their monument when they advance!
More Cards!
15 new Tapestry cards! That’s a big addition to the game. Most of these tapestry cards provide new ways to impact conquering. The cards are the same great quality and you can’t tell by the card back if they are an expansion or base game. Great job keeping the colors and components set up to match the original.
The 5 new Landmark cards add not only a new aspect to the game, but correspond to 5 of the new monuments. These cards add a cool new mechanic and direction for players at the beginning of the game. Not only that, if you complete the goal on the Landmark card you earn a monument for your Capital mat. The cards themselves are the same great quality stock that the other cards in the box and game are.
Is Tapestry: Plots and Ploys a Must Add?
I don’t think it is. Nothing in this box changes the game in a way that I feel makes the game dramatically better or fixes some core flaw. What this expansion does is give you more of what Tapestry does well. For it’s smaller box and lower price point it’s not a bad way to add to your existing Tapestry game.
I find that if you play Tapestry as much as we have then this gives you more game to explore. I really like having the new Landmark cards and Civilization mats to select. The additional Tapestry cards are great and make conquering more interesting as you encroach on your opponents territories.
If you love Tapestry then make sure you pick up Plots and Ploys!
If you enjoyed this review, make sure you check out our other reviews of board games!