Keyflower also uses the “each successive worker placement costs one more worker to place” mechanic (with the added wrinkle of having specific color workers for each tile).
Just wanted to comment here because I’ve been watching and subscribed for years and don’t think I’ve ever said anything ! I think you’re an amazing reviewer and have excellent taste. Really enjoy your videos
Your top 10 was truly shocking! FFO and Fields of Arle are my top 2 games of all time! Never tired of playing them! Agricola is also great but my friend group hates it lol. Picked up a copy of Caverna last week, hope to try it soon to see how it stacks up
Lancaster has worker bumping by higher powered workers (or spending some resource), but the bumped worker doesn’t get the action so it isn’t just a cost increase. Thanks for the review!
I'm glad you mentioned the other Uwe titles you like/dislike to give me some reference. I've played most of his titles, too (of the ones I'm aware of - maybe not his early works) but Bohnanza might be my favourite game of his just ahead of Agricola. But knowing your tastes makes me think Hallertau might not be for me. It's too expensive to just buy and try when I'm not confident I'll keep it. What you said about card play is the only thing keeping this on my radar.
Hmm, Glass Road is probably my favorite. I also really enjoy Bohnanza, though it’s very group dependent. Caverna is good, and I remember liking Le Havre, but haven’t played it in a long time.
Great review as always! I’m a big fan of this one! Minor rules clarification: when you clear the quadrants of workers, you only clear the top layer of each space. So over time some spaces can remain expensive from round to round
Yep. I caught that in edit. There should be text on the screen when that part goes (at 4:10). My brain got confused because I was showing setup at the same time :)
Great video! Fantastic game too. Other commenters have mentioned games that use progressive worker placement, but another one is Coal Baron (board game and card game) which I also love.
Great video as always Joel. I've not been excited about a Uwe in quite some time but this one has me very interested but slightly cautious. With Agricola and Caverna you really can score large points in a number of different ways. My question is do you feel this has potential to get stale as the main portion of points is always going to be moving the big building and it seems like you're always going to need the same goods to do so just more of them as the game progresses. Thank for the review.
Ya. I talk a bit about in the review. But, that's kind of the tension of the game... to balance the base scoring you get out of the building with all the various threads your card play will give you.
Rule clarification for folks learning how to play, the +3 point spaces on your board only count if they're exposed, not if your community center is covering them. So 70 is the most you can get from your board itself.
Surprised you’re luke warm on A Feast for Odin. Such a satisfying game to play, even when you’re losing. Feels great to get stuff, upgrade the stuff, and plop it all down to get even more stuff. With that said, sliding that giant Community Center in Hallertau is a good feeling too! Thanks for the review.
Great job, as always Joel. Quick question. What's better solo: Hallertau or Gaia Project? I tend to like solo's that have an automa opponent to beat and Gaia has that. But I love Rosenberg farming more than sci-fi stuff. So I was curious what you thought. Thanks, Rob (p.s. got my 2nd vaccine shot yesterday... I can see us playing in person sometime in the not-so-distant future.....)
Also, Nusfjord is terrific. And I'm sorry you found Fields of Arle boring. I love the idea that it's focused on 2-player and with a buddy who also likes it, it's fantastic. Feast for Odin is better than Arle solo, but Nusfjord is better than both of them solo. And, for me, Agricola is at the top b/c of the way the action choices increase (as opposed to Caverna where everything's available right off the bat) and the cards make each game so different. That's my take at least.
I like Hallertau better solo. I actually do not care for Gaia Project solo. I recently got it out again and gave it another shot (since I've been playing more solo)... and yep.. I still don't like it. Glad to hear it re: the vaccine. I'm supposedly getting my first one in early April. I like Agricola better solo, but Caverna is more fun for me with people. I like being able to just pick and choose how I want my little economy to work. I really need to try Nusfjord. This is like the 40th recommendation recently :D We getting together for some World Cup this year?
I love Hallertau. It and my wife's love for Le Havre is making me consider picking up the reprint of Ora et Labora. I used to have the original, but wasn't married at the time, so it never got played. Anyway, Hallertau is scratching a really great itch for me. Love the cards and the mechanics of it all. Quick point, I think if you look closely at the example in the end game scoring rules, they are only scoring the community center points and any bonus craft building points that are revealed to the left of each little building. So ones that are covered by the community center don't count. You can just barely see a little 3-point symbol that is covered by the community center and it's not getting considered for bonus points. Glad you're enjoying the game! I'm loving it, too.
@@adamkenney6932 It kind of makes sense I guess in retrospect. The 3s are like consolation points for not having moved all the buildings up. Thanks for the heads up!
Why is the Town Hall like a mobile home that seems to trundle across the landscape? I find this extremely odd. I am one of the few, from what I can tell, who will drag theme out of a euro game.
I don't think we're meant to see it as buildings physically moving, more that the movement (on your player board) represents the development of those industries in your Bavarian town. When each cottage industry has developed sufficiently, your whole community will benefit and more workers will be attracted to the area. In this scenario, the boulders might represent the capital investment you need to make (eg in buildings/equipment) to allow your industry to develop beyond a certain level. Theme!
@@markbutt9005 That’s a perfectly fine explanation, but the game still has me literally and physically moving a building across a landscape. At least in feast for Odin, I could pretend I was neatly stacking my possessions in a giant room. It made some minimal amount of sense.
Flipped it without playing it. I looked at A Feast for Odin sitting reassuringly next to Caverna on my shelf and said to myself "I'm good." I didn't really like Glass Road either, and was half-heartedly interested in Fields of Ayrle, but after your comments I think I'll pass. Caverna is still my favourite as well.
@@DriveThruReview I was actually a little worried that you might be sick. Impressive Joel. Or maybe it's a slick video software plug in you picked up. Haha.
Fields of Arle is the only decent game Uwe has made since Agricola, Le Havre, & Loyang...thanks for the review...great review as usual but looks like another turd. =) I'm pretty sure Billy would agree.
