Tangata Manu - Further Development

I realized the first board was way too big and I think the changeable tiles were not necessary at this point so I made a new board...

This new board is designed for 2 to 4 players instead of 2 to 6 players. I also changed the move generator from just cards to cards and trail tiles. This method of movement is almost dialed in and seems to work well but I'm still not happy with the boulders. As it is I've included boulder cards in the same stack as trail cards and I feel there are too many boulders taking out every tribesman that is scaling the cliff. If I just make less boulder cards then one person might control them all with the luck of the draw... that would not be good. I'm considering that the boulders should be a separate pile of cards and something should generate the ability to release a boulder from above. Perhaps each player gets 4 boulders and can choose to release them at any time - one per turn... ?

I will be play testing different methods all week and will meet with some gamers on Friday to get their unbiased input.

Here's a close up of some of the trail cards.

Here's a close up of the start zone on the board.

Here's a close up of the end zone... You can click on these images to make them bigger. These are just mock ups still. The artwork should obviously change. I just feel much better play testing with something that actually looks like a game. It's hard for me to get a feel for a game when it's just notes on paper or note cards.