Buy this first
- Our take
- BGG rates it 8.4 from about 4,600 ratings (about 14,000 owners). A Karma Games reviewer on BGG calls it 'pretty much the best of all possible Terra Mystica worlds' and says the new factions are fun, the new map and endgame scoring add variety, and the auction helps balance factions; he warns the auction only really works for experienced players and that Shapeshifters look very strong. On Reddit (r/boardgames, 'Fire and Ice or Merchants of the Seas?') several commenters pick Fire & Ice first: one says the variable turn-order track alone 'transforms the game from good to great' and another says 'Fire & Ice just for the new factions' makes it the superior expansion; others say Merchants changes the game more and both are worth it. A Reddit poster separately calls it 'an expansion many (myself includes) consider essential'.
- What you need first
- Just the base game