Faction Strength: 3
Faction Summary:
Ability
You always pay exactly 2 Spades to transform a Terrain space into your Home terrain – even for Mountains and Deset. (A single Spade will be forfeit when gained in Phase II as a Cult bonus.)
Stronghold
After building the Stronghold, take an Action token. As a Special action (once per Action phase), get 2 free Spades to transform a reachable Terrain space into your Home terrain. On this space, you may immediately build a Dwelling by paying its costs. Use the Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
Faction Overview:
The Giants main weakness and benefit is that they need two Spades to transform any terrain to their home terrain.
This benefit and restriction means that:
- They must always try to gain two Spades at a time (single spades are wasted unless they can be supplemented)
- They need their Stronghold as soon as possible (provides a two-Spade special action)
- Placement near other home terrain squares is less important, although initial adjacency is beneficial for the cheaper Trading Posts
- They don’t care who they are playing against, as it doesn’t matter if opponents’ home terrains are close to theirs on the terrain-wheel.
Giants’ Strategy
The Giants need to be played aggressively, taking other players’ favoured terrains away from them, and blocking others’ ability to expand favourably. They need an early Stronghold, and to expand quickly after that, and getting a decent worker income. As the Giants have no special ability to gain them points, they must take points whenever possible, via Round Tiles or otherwise.
One good idea is to locate yourself where you can reach other Wasteland (red) tiles, so you can expand without having to Transform terrain. There are lots of hexes that can be reached by water this way, on the borders of the map (A-6, A-12, D-9, G-6 and I-5):
Favourable Round Tiles
- First or second-turn bonus for building a Stronghold
- Transform for Victory Points tile
Critical Bonus Tiles
None; the Giants aren’t dependent on any particular Bonus Tiles to be effective.
Advantageous Bonus Tiles
- Stronghold Points Bonus + 2 Workers
- Six Coins: Because you’re building a Stronghold early, you will likely be low on Coin income. This tile helps a great deal to overcome early Coin deficits.
Situational Starting Locations:
D-6 & E-3
A-9 & D-11
D-6 & D-11