Halali! / Tally Ho!

The Humans are doing a bit better as four of the eight hunters have already appeared. Unfortunately most of them are pointed in the wrong direction and until recently have been trapped behind trees. With a move just finished, the Human player has his first chance to target a fox, the hunter in D2 being able to capture the one in F2.

However, it is the Animals player turn. What should the Animals player do? One idea would be to move the threatened fox a space south to avoid immediate capture. On the other hand, this might be merely delaying the inevitable. Is there no more profitable move to make? Perhaps it would be best to flip a tile in a location such as E5 and hope to finally find the bear who can threaten the hunters? Or perhaps this is not certain enough to be worthwhile.

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
1	UNKNOWN TILE	UNKNOWN TILE	UNKNOWN TILE					1
2			UNKNOWN TILE					2
3								3
4						UNKNOWN TILE	UNKNOWN TILE	4
5					UNKNOWN TILE		UNKNOWN TILE	5
6	UNKNOWN TILE			UNKNOWN TILE		UNKNOWN TILE	UNKNOWN TILE	6
7	UNKNOWN TILE	UNKNOWN TILE		UNKNOWN TILE	UNKNOWN TILE	UNKNOWN TILE	UNKNOWN TILE	7
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G

Finally, the Animals player decides to use the threatened fox to capture the pheasant in G2, taking comfort in at least scoring 3 points and preventing the hunter from scoring these points, thus a net transaction of 6 points. While the hunter will probably claim the fox, the Animals player notices that as the board currently stands, using his foxes in B6, D5 and D3, he can probably manage to safely corral three of the hunters into the eastern board edge for quite some time. The fourth hunter is no threat since his orientation permits him to make captures only by traveling in a western direction. In the meantime, the Animals player will hope to find one or both bears before the hunters can escape or wreak any more havoc. If finding the bears takes too long, the Animals player may flip tiles as fast as possible to trigger the endgame. In that situation, the foxes may still be in a better position to exit the board than the hunters are.

General Strategy Thoughts: Even though there's a lot of luck in the draw in this game, there are still some strategic considerations by which you can improve your chances.

1. Hunters can move quickly and strike at range. For this reason, when playing the Humans, attempt to clear out a large open area in the center of the board as soon as possible. Chop down trees and kill birds whenever you can safely. In addition, choose your early tile flips from those near the board center or next to your revealed lumberjack, hoping to find trees.
2. The opposite goes for Animals. Bears move slowly, so try to preserve the maze of passages by which you can inexorably bear down on hunters. Use birds and your foxes to create the mazes and hem in hunters as the game goes on. Make your initial draws from the corner areas rather than the center.
3. If the Animals player turns up a fox, it may be a good idea to turn up some adjacent tiles in hopes of getting some cheap bird captures. Even if a Hunter is turned up, it's only a 25% chance that he is oriented in a dangerous direction.
4. When a Hunter appears, the Animal players should try flipping up tiles behind and to the side of him in hopes of finding a Bear, but never in front of his gun of course.
5. For the Human player, it's a good idea to establish space between a Hunter and an unknown tile. Only after such space has been established, flip up the tile and then shoot. Otherwise, a revealed bear is likely to prove fatal.
6. Once the Bear has been found, the Animals player should feel fairly safe in turning up tiles adjacent to it since it's unlikely that the gun will be pointed in the bear's direction.
7. The Human player should keep in mind that a Bear is worth twice as much as a Hunter in pure points, so an equal exchange is to the Human player's benefit.
8. If a Bear is beset by several Hunters at once, it's a good idea to move as far as possible in the direction toward which the Hunters cannot shoot. For example, if they can only shoot left and down, try to reach the top right corner.
9. If the Human player is unable to come to grips with a bear, it's at least a good idea to setup hunters in mutually supporting positions so that the bear cannot devour any without putting itself in the line of fire. Then maneuver for points in other ways such as trees and escapes.
10. For either side, if you have a decent lead in the midgame, it's a good idea to consider covering the exits and driving the game to a faster conclusion.

Also ...

• Game published by Kosmos and Rio Grande Games
• Superfred Fan Page for this game including Collection of Links
• Discuss the latest issue of Moves at Consimworld!