Dewan
Don't be put off by the imposing box or the unfamiliar title. Dewan is actually a very accessible game for 2–4 players that delivers that commendable combination of being easy to learn and play but with enough depth to keep players coming back for more. Tho' the game is designed by Johannes Goupy and Yoann Levet, and it's published by French publisher Space Cowboys, Dewan is actually an Indian term for a powerful government administrator. It's relevant here because, in this game, players are directing their respective tribes; placing out camps and completing objectives.
The game is played on a modular board that can be varied in different ways but which scales appropriately for the number of players so that there's always potential for interaction springing from the healthy competition for terrain and resources. In order to place camps out on the board you need to move to your intended location by paying a terrain matching card for your starting hex and each hex through which you pass. Your turn involves either drafting any two adjacent cards from the market display or spending cards to place out a camp. As you place out more camps, you get to add more objectives for which you score when you satisfy their occupied region and/or adjacent symbol requirements.
If the idea of turns where you're either drawing cards or spending them feels familiar it's because it mirrors the core mechanic in Ticket to Ride (Days of Wonder). For many people, Ticket to Ride has been the go to 'gateway' game for introducing non-gamers to modern board games. Dewan fulfils a similar role but, in keeping with the out and about theme, everything in this game is out in the open: objectives aren't secret or hidden, they're open information. If you're going for an objective that requires you to have three camps in mountain regions and there are only three such regions on the map then I might claim one just to deny you your objective...
Not all the interactions in Dewan are negative, however. Camps don't block other players' movement, tho' if you move through a hex housing another player's camp you have to pay the card for that movement to them rather than to the general supply. And the game offers card-tucking workarounds for players who might otherwise have their objectives blocked by an opponent.
It's a streamlined design with quick turns so that even at four players no-one is going to have a long wait for their next turn. Our plays at Board's Eye View have all come in at around 30 minutes with two players, rising to 45 minutes with four players, which has been our preference because we've enjoyed the extra interaction. And despite the relative simplicity of the basic gameplay, Dewan packs in oodles of replayability because it comes with a range of optional scenario rules, including a flood that extends the river areas and a lava-spewing volcano...
