Beautifully Abstract: HARMONIES review
I wrote recently about one of my favorite awards, the As d’Or from Cannes, and I noticed that a game we have been playing a lot lately was one of the nominees from 2025. Serendipity? Or just tracking? Probably a little of both.
In any case, my wife and I have been enjoying playing Harmonies, a game designed by Johan Benvenuto, published by Libellud. It’s gorgeous, by the way, especially that bright, cheery, striking cover. How many times does a cover of a game give a false impression of what the game play really is? Too many to count, but fear not, Harmonies is exactly as advertised. Look at the cover again. It’s an abstract rendition of a savannah, with the king of the pride resting majestically atop a small hill. The cover itself is beautifully abstract, and that’s the theme of the gameplay of Harmonies:
Beautifully abstract.
The game itself is surprisingly simple. Players have a small board with empty space that will be filled with round tiles, each representing a different landscape: mountains, trees, fields, etc. That part we have seen before. Once per turn, players will grab three tiles and place them on the board following the prescribed method. Fields and water will fill up your board fast, because they can’t be stacked, while little bushes and hills can eventually become tall trees and mountain ranges if you squint hard enough.
And then, players can optionally grab a card from the market or place “animals” (i.e. little colored cubes) on their habitats to score points on those cards. Some cards have more spaces for animal cubes, some cards have less. Some cards call for an alignment of tokens that is easy to do on your board, but score less points. Some of them are very tricky but payoff handsomely. That’s the entire game, choosing tiles, placing them to match your animal habitat cards, and rinsing and repeating until the tiles are gone or one player has only a couple of open spots on their board.
Clearly, Harmonies could have been about anything, which means it’s an abstract. But it’s not about anything, it’s about something. I cannot put my finger on how the designer did this, but there is a joy that builds in a crescendo in each game as you build out the little animal areas and cap them like the topper on your Christmas tree with your own tokens. Dropping your head closer to the side of the game table tickles the joy factor even more, because from that perspective, the habitats stretch out before you in true 3D fashion. Game after game, the little enclosures take on names. They are mountain ranges, and forests and fields, not greys and greens and golds.
There’s so much to like about Harmonies, if playing essentially solo abstracts are your thing. The artwork on the cards is a mix between Mary Blair style angular figures and hues that make each animal on each card pop. The puzzle of trying to match the layout of tiles on your scoring cards is delicious, especially since each card has two or three or four levels of scoring. Am I going to go for a bunch of disparate colored cards in different habitats, with easy to reach marks and lower points? Or build just two or three cards that mesh well together with big bonuses if I get all of my cubes out on the board? I can be king of the jungle either way.
There are some downsides. There’s the obligatory ‘take this card and not that one’ factor, which means you might want to keep an eye out on the other player if you’re that kind of a player. And sure, there’s some very unfortunate analysis paralysis that inevitably sets in for some players — you can only plan out your turn while waiting for other players so much, because the market of tiles and market of cards changes with every action of the other players. Some people struggle with this, while I do my usual “take the first, best play”.
Normally, that is one of my weaknesses. I hate downtime and I hate AP, so I rush through my turns, which means other players wipe the floor with my score. But something about Harmonies has clicked for me in my half-dozen plays. I’ve been able to see the board a turn or two ahead of where I am at, and plan out some strategies to maximize the board in connection with the cards I have. I’ve even introduced my wife to the advanced variant, which brings in a unique “spirit” animal card for each player that provides extra points that can stack up if you plan for it all game.
Harmonies may not be the most unique game in my collection. If you’ve played Calico or Cascadia, you’ll have similar vibes (with maybe even a hint of some of the best elements of a shorter version of New York 1901). But, Harmonies is staying in the Gumbo Pot because the designer has balanced out three things (beauty, puzzle, time) well. Color me cozy.
Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler.
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo