In the world of board games, Harmonies stands out for having a beautiful blend of strategy, abstract thinking, and a touch of luck. With numerous ways to score and several viable paths to victory, Harmonies has earned a place in my short list of favorite board games. Through dozens of playthroughs and careful analysis of scoring trends, I have developed a list of what I feel are the most important keys to success. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a new player looking to quickly improve your game, I’ll help you make the right choices to notch a harmonious victory.
Build mostly ‘wide’, but selectively ‘tall’
The debate I see most often when it comes to Harmonies strategy is whether it’s better to build ‘tall’ or ‘wide’. In my experience, it’s possible to win with either strategy but the most reliable path to victory is to focus on building wide.
By building mostly wide, you control the pace of the game because you dictate how many turns are likely to remain. Your opponent will feel the pressure as your empty spaces quickly disappear because they might not have time to execute their plans. If your opponent is also building wide then you won’t feel pressure from them since you’re keeping pace.
Here’s a link to a game (final result picture below) I played on BGA where I built ‘wide’ and my opponent built ‘tall’. It’s a good example of how this strategy can put your opponent in a bind.
Of course, you should also pick and choose your spots to build tall. I like to pick one or two Animal Cards that require some ‘tall’ building to give me a little flexibility. Look for cards that require tall mountains or trees but let you place cubes on terrain like water and fields, since they combo well with a ‘wide’ build strategy.
It’s certainly possible to win with a ‘tall’ build strategy, but it isn’t as reliable because you rely more on the order of terrain tiles. Building tall opens up the possibility for a higher total score, but only if your opponent gives you enough turns to do so and you get the right combination of tiles and cards. Personally, I like to build tall in solo play when there’s no ‘race to fill your board’ element.
Have a plan, but remain flexible
You should have a general idea of what you’d like your board to look like from the very first turn of the game. Once you choose your first Animal Card and tiles, try to envision what your ideal complete board will look like. Place your early tiles with that vision in mind to give yourself the best chance for long term success.
The most important aspect of this vision is your water tile placement. Whether you’re building a river on Side A or islands on Side B, you should have a general idea of where you’d like to place your water tiles in the future. If you don’t always have this plan in mind then you can easily box yourself in and limit the scoring potential from rivers/islands.
Having a plan is nice (and necessary) but it will inevitably change as you have to draw less-than-ideal tiles and cards. On every turn, reshape your plan as necessary to accommodate the resources you’re currently working with while maintaining a vision for your board’s future.
Score in as many ways as possible
Harmonies is a bit of a ‘point salad’ game, with many ways to score. It can be hard to keep track of the scoring opportunities, and even harder to balance them all. Based on the data from BGA, scoring tends to be very evenly split between Cards and Terrain, and my experience over dozens of games validates this:
| Average Player’s Score | Average Winning Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Points | 88.34 | 94.56 |
| Points from Terrain | 42.70 | 45.34 |
| Points from Cards | 45.64 | 49.22 |
When I first started playing Harmonies online, I found it useful to keep a short reminder list of how to score with each terrain type next to me:
- Tall trees
- Long rivers
- Tall, adjacent mountains
- Small (size 2) fields
- Buildings surrounded by 3 terrain types
In my experience, no terrain type is significantly better than the others. This is a sign of a well-balanced game! All of them have the potential to score big, but none of them are necessary, either. My best games come when I score with all terrain types, with no predetermined focal point. Try to work your terrain to suit the Animal and Nature’s Spirit cards you draw and you’ll probably end up scoring roughly equal amount of points between them.
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Track how many turns you have left
In multiplayer games, keep a mental countdown in the back of your mind so you always know approximately how many turns you have left. According to the stats from BGA, the average game lasts 9.5 turns. Therefore, you should start the game assuming you’ll only have 9 or 10 turns to work with. If, like I suggested above, you play ‘wide’ then you’re more likely to have only 9 (or sometimes even 8) turns.
Keeping a turn countdown is critical because then you’ll be able to avoid starting structures/areas with no chance of completion. You can be more selective with what Animal Cards you take, and potentially block your opponents by taking cards that would benefit them. Most importantly, you can prioritize the completion of existing features and higher scoring Animal Cards before time runs out.
Take tactical scoring opportunities
Most games of Harmonies between experienced players end up being pretty close in score at the end of the game – usually with 10 points. The winner is almost always determined by who can spot and capitalize on short-term, tactical scoring opportunities. Chances like these tend to come up a couple times a game, and can end up scoring you big points.
To spot these tactical opportunities, you can’t be married to your long-term strategy. I know I said that it’s important to have a long-term vision for your board, but I also said to remain flexible. This is the flexible part. If a perfect Animal Card and tile combo pops up on your turn and it can score you a lot of points over 1 or 2 turns, do it! There is no guarantee that your long-term plans will ever come to fruition, so it’s best to take short-term wins when you can get them and then adapt your future plans from there.
Work separate areas of your board
I see many new players concentrating their play in only one area of the board early in the game. It seems that they want to leave the majority of their board uncluttered for subsequent turns, but that’s often a mistake.
I usually like to work at least two areas of my board at the beginning of the game. This is usually a river (starting in a corner) and then whatever Habitat patterns I draw on the first and second turns. It feels like this ends up being a lot more flexible than cramming all of my tiles into one area even if they don’t make sense together.
End the game quickly when you’re leading
This is a seemingly obvious tactic, but it can be difficult to do in practice. It requires that you be playing ‘wide’ for the majority of the game so that your board is at least as filled as your opponent and, perhaps more importantly, that you know you’re ahead.
With the ‘point salad’ scoring mechanisms and close ending scores usually found in Harmonies, it can be extremely difficult to know when you’re in the lead. However, with some experience you can do some quick scanning of everyone’s boards and do the mental arithmetic to figure it out. You don’t need to do it on every turn, but beginning around turn 6 or 7 I find it useful to do a quick scan and figure out if I’m winning or not.
If you are winning, then you should do your best to fill your map and end the game as quickly as possible (while still scoring what points you can). This puts pressure on your opponents and denies them opportunities to close the scoring deficit. Conversely, if you’re behind then you should try to build tall where you can and score as efficiently as possible before your opponent ends the game.
Interfere with your opponents’ plans
Harmonies definitely falls into the ‘multiplayer solitaire’ category of board games because there is very little player interaction. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to interfere with your opponents to increase your winning chances.
Keep an eye on what your opponent is doing on their board and always know what tiles they want and what Animal Cards they’d like to draw. For example, if your opponent has started two trees that you know will help them complete a valuable Animal Card, it may very well be in your best interest to take any green tiles from the pool. This tactic is especially effectivel late in the game when your opponent is essentially locked into their plan and they have no chance to pivot.
I confess that I don’t use this strategy very often, especially at higher player counts. It’s most effective with 2 players because any points you deny your opponent are as good as points you score for yourself, and because there is less opportunity for beneficial tiles to be put into the pool before your opponent’s next turn.
Don’t be too picky about Animal Cards
With only ~9 turns in a game, you have very few opportunities to draw and complete Animal Cards. Therefore, you should almost always take an Animal Card if you have an empty slot. Even if none of the available cards look particularly useful at the time, you can take one that has potential in the future while you concentrate on working on your other cards.
I find that I usually complete some Animal Cards throughout the course of the game, allowing me to draw more in the middle and late rounds. According to BGA, players draw an average of 5.2 cards in a game. With only 9 turns to work on them, it’s best not to wait for the ‘perfect’ card and instead just take the best of what’s on offer at the time.
Look for synergistic Animal Cards
That said, some Animal Cards are certainly better than others at any given time. Taken independently, the cards are very well balanced, but there will always be some cards that work better for your current board than others.
Look for Animal Cards that jive with the cards you already have and the current layout of your board. Cards that require the same color/height of tiles for their Habitats but let you play cubes on opposite colors are the best for this. For example, if you have one card that requires a two water tiles to play a cube on a building, look for an Animal card that requires an adjacent building to play a cube on a water tile.
Animal Cards can also synergize with your big-picture strategy. As I suggested earlier, if you plan on playing ‘wide’, you should favor taking cards that don’t ask you to build ‘tall’.
A long river is almost always worth it
All terrain types have big scoring potential, but I have found that water tiles are particularly reliable and valuable on Side A. A long river is almost always worth it if you can manage to collect enough water tiles. Beginning with the 6th tile on a river, every water tile you add to a river is worth 4 points. This is tremendous value – especially if you’re playing ‘wide’ and trying to fill up your map. Combine it with some Animal Card or Nature’s Spirit cards that require water tiles and you have a winning recipe.
The added benefit of hoarding water tiles is that you deny them from your opponent. If you’re building a long river then your opponent can’t, and that’s often the difference between victory and defeat. Just make sure that if you employ this strategy you plan for it in advance. You need to have a path laid out in your head for your river so that you don’t box yourself in while creating other Habitats.
Thanks for reading! Did I miss something, or do you have your own tips to add? Drop a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!
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