Altiplano is the next ‘bag-builder’ from the creator of Orléans – and it has alpacas

The designer of Orléans has announced the next game based on his ‘bag-building’ system, Altiplano.

Reiner Stockhausen’s 2014 title was essentially a deckbuilder translated from cards to a bag of tokens, with players gradually acquiring more powerful tiles, adding them to their collection and randomly drawing them from the bag on later turns.

The game went on to pick up a nomination for the 2015 Kennerspiel des Jahres (‘Expert Game of the Year’) and currently sits within the Top 25 in BoardGameGeek’s overall rankings (it’s 19th in the strategy category).

Altiplano swaps Orléans’ medieval framing for a competitive trading game set in the highlands of the Andes.

Players grow their stock from simple resources to include silver, corn, cacao, fish and wool from alpacas, all of which play a different role in advancing their production.

Building extra production sites and roads help, too, as players fulfil orders and store some of their goods for future rounds, as certain resources will be in demand at specific times.

Altiplano plays with up to five people – one more than Orléans – and takes between an hour or two to finish a match. There's even a 3D cardboard alpaca that serves as a first player marker!

After launching at Essen last month, Altiplano should be getting a wider release later this year or at the beginning of 2018.