Another 2 player Kosmos card game, this time with plenty of play linked to the theme -- or at least no-one can say otherwise, since no-one knows what druids get up to when they are in a circle! The game allows for a reasonable amount of planning and control, and usually produces tight finishes.

The druids have set up camp in a grove of 8 trees. Trees are either light or dark coloured and each colour is in a line a four. Completing the circle are two more cards -- one moon and sun. Players represent either the sun or moon cult of trees, trying to preserve them from their opponents' attacks. The presentation is standard Kosmos -- neat and tidy, good graphics and chunky cardboard tree tiles.

Each player receives an identical pack of spirit cards and most of these are distributed in four piles, one beneath each tree the druids are defending The top card of each pile is revealed to show a number between 1 and 5 and a direction -- either clockwise or anti-clockwise. The set-up is completed with three coloured druids on each side who tend the trees.

Players alternate turns until two of the four trees guarded by the druids are destroyed (subverted in druid-speak). Most turns players will play a spirit card, which results in the spirits dancing (moving position). The card is played onto one of your piles of spirit cards from your hand of such cards. The card on which the new one is played is turned face down to leave one spirit card visible on each pile. A yellow faerie ring is placed on the corresponding tree card to indicate which pile the card was played onto. The card played is then examined. All like-valued cards (from both your and your opponent's side, but not the spirit card played) will then take part in a dance. The direction that all the cards move is determined from the spirit card played; the distance each card moves is determined by the value of the tree card, which are numbered 1 to 4. Usually you will plan to move several cards, but when there is no matching number on anyone else's spirit cards, the pile you have played is just reinforced by one card. The fact that there is a known outcome of the cards allows some planning. What is uncertain is the cards that will be revealed through the cards leaving.

Following this movement, each pile of spirit cards must have one card visible, so the moving cards become the top cards of new piles, while piles with no visible card have one revealed. Conflict is resolved on trees with druids of matching colours. The visible spirit cards on these are compared and the higher card wins. This causes a `damage point' to occur on the tree defended by the lower spirit card. The winning card is discarded to one of the moon or sun cards. The placement of the faerie ring also precludes conflict between druids of the same colour who occupy this tree.

This sequence is repeated many times with a war of attrition on the trees. Once 6 damage has been caused to a tree it is subverted and dies. The balancing factor is that once a tree loses all its cards -- through a combination of winning and dances -- it is also subverted. The game is about planning how to keep trees alive through dancing and winning.

Instead of playing a spirit card you could move one of your druids to the empty tree. This is usually done to avoid getting a tree too close to 6 damage or if a tree is close to running out of spirit cards.

The wearing away of trees is quite involving and you develop schemes for how to cause pain to your opponent while minimising the damage to yourself. Almost inevitably, this boils down to timing as a tree being subverted on one side means that the other side either has a low number of cards in some trees or significant damage.

When I first played this there was a struggle to get inside the game. You don't get too many games on the subject of dancing druids and I have to admit I have no personal experience of this either. So while the theme seems to fit the game, there is a bit of distance on the game as it is outside daily experience. Overall I have warmed to the game after several plays. The mechanisms work, there are close finishes, so if you like two-player card games and are looking for something off the beaten path, you could do a lot worse. Unusual.