‘Pandemic: Iberia’ Board Game Review
The original Pandemic is one of the four pillars that support modern board gaming (alongside Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride) but for fans who have played the game over and over again, it can be a little bit easy and dare I say it, lacking in variety. There have been numerous spin-offs since the original Pandemic, and we even have a concept now called “The Pandemic System” which underpins these games, and today’s review is about one of the first of these variants; Pandemic: Iberia.
Pandemic: Iberia was first released in 2016, and what made it stand out in comparison to the original game was the fact that it could be configured to be anywhere between “slightly tougher” than base Pandemic to being “absolutely ridiculously hard.” For reference, I’d have used a swear word to describe how hard Pandemic: Iberia can be, if only I felt it were appropriate to do so. Why you ask? Well, in addition to the usual method of seeding more Epidemic cards into the player deck to make the game harder, Pandemic: Iberia also includes two variants – the first being that of patient migration and the second being the addition of historic viruses which are all slightly nastier than the standard ones.
And if all of those things weren’t bad enough, let’s consider the setting for Pandemic: Iberia – which just happens to be 19th Century Spain (and Portugal.) During this period, of course, there were no aeroplanes and worse still, diseases couldn’t really be cured – only understood and managed. Mechanically, this means that players cannot access fast movement via aeroplane (although they can travel along the coast by boat) and rather than curing diseases (as in the base game) to stop their spread, they can only be researched (which adds to the end game condition, but does not stop the virus.) As a slight mitigation, the players can spend an action to build railway tracks in Pandemic: Iberia, and rail movement allows a player to go as far as they want up a connected line for one single action.
These basic changes to the standard Pandemic ruleset are fairly exciting in their own right, but what I really love is the way the two variants change the experience. The Patient Rush variant basically increases the importance of hospitals (which are otherwise only used to research diseases.) In this variant, each hospital releases two pure water tokens into the pool when it is built, allowing the players to access them – which offers a way to mitigate the spread of virus. However, hospitals also attract patients, and each turn a disease cube (now referred to as a patient in this variant) will move towards a hospital of the matching colour.
The other variant, introduces the idea of real, historically significant viruses – including Cholera, Malaria and so on. Each historical virus card matches a cube colour and introduces a new rule for that specific virus. For example, the virus may now add two cubes instead of one when it first infects a city, or it might outbreak in a more devastating way. Playing with all four historical viruses in play is very tough, especially with Patient Rush and/or more than four epidemic cards in play. The summary of both variants and the new rules however, is that Pandemic: Iberia is tougher, more variable, and arguably, more fun.
The good news for fans of the original Pandemic is that none of these changes feel like a material shift away from the base game mechanic. I remember when we reviewed Pandemic: Rising Tide a few years ago, and although I really enjoyed it, it didn’t feel much like Pandemic – and it was a bit of a stretch to link the theme even though the so-called “Pandemic System” was used. Pandemic: Iberia is very much an iteration of the original Pandemic, with the same theme and a similarly clear (and important feeling) objective.
Of course, there is an entirely new set of components and characters here too, but again most of these feel similar or iterative to those in the base game. The characters include the likes of the Politician (who can trade cards at distance) or the Sailor (who can travel up the coast for free.) My personal favourites however are the Nurse (who brings a unique token with her that works in a similar way to the pure water tokens) and the Railwayman, who places the essential railway track at twice the rate of other characters.
The colour palette in Pandemic: Iberia is slightly muted compared to the original, thanks largely to the era it is set in. A sepia tone gives the board a level of aged-authenticity, however the art design on pandemic, player and character cards is deliberately bold and bright as if to combat this. The card backs mostly use mosaic prints that look gorgeous, and the front-facing artwork is done in big, bold colours. The virus cubes, player pawns and hospitals all further bring colour to the board.
For me, Pandemic: Iberia may now be the go-to Pandemic game, in place of the original. With the ability to scale complexity and challenge from a baseline that is close to the original game, but much, much harder at the opposite end of the scale, Pandemic: Iberia is perfect for playing with more experienced players, as well as those who are relatively new to the hobby. My only cautionary note is that if you are the experienced player, it should fall to you to ensure the difficulty is set up correctly for your audience, as some combinations of Pandemic: Iberia are virtually impossible.
**** 4/5
Pandemic: Iberia is available online at 365Games.co.uk, or at your local games store. Don’t know where yours is? Try this handy games store locator
