Bartosz Trzaskowski
Poland
Warszawa
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I love HABA.
So in my recent trip to Brussels I couldn't help myself not to look for some HABA games (very tough to find in Poland) and managed to buy the sequel to one of my favorite games: Tier auf Tier, das duell. Since my kids also love the base game we immediately tried it and these are my impressions after several games. Impressions of a game, that I was initially quite dissapointed with, but at the end like it for different reasons than the original game.
Components.
The box is small, more than twice smaller than Tier auf Tier, with a very nice and colorful box art:
and with the back showing a glimpse of the components:
Inside you will find two sets of four different animal figures/meeples, two dices and five yellow wooden tokens.
The quality of components is good, everything is made of wood and look nice. But the animals are a downgrade from the original animeeples, since they don't have any markings (apart from the octopus). I know that it doesn't feel like a big deal, but few simple lines showing their eyes and mouth makes them much more vivid. Why was it such a problem to add these markings to 6 meeples, when the original set has 25 animals, all with nice markings, is beyond me.
Also, the whole game is basically 8 animals (instead of 25) which cost more than half of the original game. I rarely brag about prices, but, well, you do the math...
Gameplay
If you know Tier auf Tier you should figure out by now that Duell is not really an expansion, but rather a standalone game, that plays quite differently. In the original version everyone was building the same, large pyramid by taking turns and placing animeeples on top off the crocodile, with the goal to use all your animals (6 in sets) as fast as possible. The game usually lasted 10-15 minutes and was usually quite tense and not too fast, since the key to victory was careful placement.
Here the idea is quite different. Each of the two players builds his own pyramid of animals by stacking them on top of each other. The game starts with throwing the dice which show which animal should go first (be at the bottom) and which should go last (be at the very top). Then the clock starts and the goal is to build the stack as fast as possible (both players are building the same stack). Since there are only four animals such round takes only a short while, so to make it a bit longer it is suggested to play in the best-of-five series.
At first I was quite dissapointed with this idea, the "new" game was very fast, too fast for my liking. But after a few games I started to like it, and you will probably too, if you forget about expecting an expansion to Tier auf Tier. It's fun, but a different kind of fun, where you replace careful planning with superfast and competetive stacking.
One more word about the meeples: they obviously introduce new shapes and quite interesting ones. The squirrel is of similar size to the hedgehog from Tier auf Tier, but a bit more round. The tiger is quite similar to the ape, but has different leg shapes. The goose doesn't have any analogue in the base game. And finally the octopus, definitely the hardest meeple to play with due to a very rounded shape - both as a starting and as an ennding part. To make it even more difficult, the rules have been adjusted so no part can touch more than two other animals (which means that meeples have to be stacked one on top of another and so on).
Gameplay with 4-years olds
My kids initial reaction was great, they love animals, they love Tier auf Tier, they immediately wanted to play this game. But they were also dissapointed that we can't play this game with 3 players as well as that we can't really mix new animals with old animals (in a 3-player game). The stacking of these foour animals provided quite a challenge for them, but after several tries they got it and played better and better. As expected, the octopus caused most problems. Despite it, Iga managed to win a game with my dad the next day, without any handicap.
I'm still a bit dissapointed with this game, mostly with the mentioned inability to mix it with Tier auf Tier in a 3- or 4-player environment. But if you forget about it (or do not have the base game) it's a lot of fun and definitely a nice filler suited for everyone >3 years.
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Thomas Chipman
United States
Nashville
Tennessee
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My little ones, 4 and 8, love this game as well. We have two sets and often play 4 player games. The adults take a handicap by adding a few additional animals to their stacks. The additional animals are taken from the original Tier auf Tier and are usually chosen by the children. The 4yr old has gotten to the point where she requests at least one additional animal for her own stack and even with the additional animal she sometimes wins. Taking additional animals levels the playing field a bit and really adds some interesting variety to this game.
We've also mixed these animals in with the original Tier auf Tier and it seems to work fine. Obviously, having two sets of Das Duell animals makes it easier to support up to 4 players. I do find that the kids much prefer to play Das Duell because they enjoy the race aspect.
I'd recommend picking up another set if you are looking to add these animals to the base game. It is also handy to have the additional set when you want to play 3 or 4 player Das Duell.
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Yu-Tung Lin
Taiwan
Fresh Meadows
New York
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wow the dual version also looks nice,
since I already have the regular animal upon animal , I think its time for me to find this version too 
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