Great recap on the Agricola Expansion! I think you captured why I haven't been in a rush to get it: I still am overwhelmed enough by Agricola vanilla... it's just not time yet. I will pick it up at some point, but honestly, it'll probably months/years from now. Especially since I just got so many new games. Speaking of which...
Through the Ages - or, OMG Civ in Board Game form, soooooooooooo awesome
Played 3 games of TTA this weekend. Yes, that's a lot of time, haha. The rules for this game are awesome. There are three modes of play, and it says you can pretty much read along as you play, and oddly, you totally can, especially if you do the recommended "graduation process" from the simple to the advanced to the full game, which we did.
Simple game just has you play through Antiquity and Age I (up to the renaissance or so). It ends SUDDENLY. It really feels like an incomplete game (and it is), but you get to learn the game without the hours of commitment, so it makes a great tutorial. Wife beat me here, because I was playing a much longer term game than I had time for.
Advanced game is nearly identical to the full game (especially 2 player), just one age shorter (ending in the 1800s or so?). Took us almost 2 hours. I won this one, mainly by virtue of the end-of-game bonuses.
Full game is where it's at though. Playing 2 players, it took just over 3 hours (we can cut that down significantly though, I think). Basic run down of concepts in the game:
- The card row: This is like the timestream or something. You can "purchase" cards for your hand, that you can then play later. These cards are techs, leaders, wonders, and actions. Techs can be either units, building upgrades, or just side techs that give special bonuses.
- Like Civ, you've got production, food, science, and culture. Culture is how you win in the end (it acts as VPs). Science is currency for techs. Resources for units, buildings. Food for population growth.
- Leaders and wonders provide huge bonuses (which can last many turns, even all game in some cases). They are among the biggest decisions you can make. I jumped to an early lead in the full game using Michaelangelo, who can provide a HUGE culture boost as long as he's your leader. I didn't maintain that lead though, because my science sucked, and the wife got much better techs than me, meaning she was making up a lot of ground in the end game.
- There are "events". The first four (all positive) are randomly placed, but after that, you seed the event deck from cards in your hand (from the military deck). So you can plan for upcoming events, to make them more likely to benefit you, since you put them there.
- You have both civil and military actions, in varying amounts based on your government type and perhaps leader, techs, and wonders. At least playing two player, it seems that most of the game is a bit of a cold war (in our plays so far anyway), but most of the events benefit the player with the strongest army, so you don't want to neglect it entirely. Colonization also depends on the army, and that can be pretty huge at times.
I see why TTA is in the top ten. I was intimidated by the length listed on BGG, but man, it felt like it was flying by. Really looking forward to playing it again.
Endeavor, So simple, yet so not
Got one play of this in. Four player. I tied for last
That said, I still really recommend it. At its heart, it is a territory conquest sort of game, though it doesn't feel like one, due to how limited the direct conflict is (I say, having been the only person that any other player attacked last night). Brief rundown of gameplay:
- 4 phases: Build, grow, salary, action
- Build: Based on your construction status, you must build a building. You'll get seven overall. Buildings give you actions during action phase and/or passive bonuses to the five statuses.
- Grow: Based on your culture status, new people come to your turf. More culture = more people.
- Salary: Based on your finance status, pay people to take them back from your buildings so you can use them (both buildings and people) again in action phase. Having no finance means your buildings will be seized by workers, and you can't do stuff. Woe unto the player who neglects finance.
- Actions: The bulk of the game. You place a person on a building to take it's actions. There are several choices:
--Ship: Place a person on the shipping lane in a territory, gaining a token that increases one of your four statuses.
--Occupy: Place a person in a city, gaining the token in that city, and a point at the end of the game if you still control the city. If you control two connected cities, you get the token off of their connection as well, plus another point at end game.
--Draw Card: Based on your politics status, you can draw a card from an available card stack. Cards give you bonuses to your status, or direct points, or both.
--(rare) Pay Salary: During the middle of your action phase, pay a worker to take him off a building, allowing you to use both again. Super powerful, as some buildings are way worth using twice in a turn. I managed this twice last game, giving me a huge early lead, and ultimately leading to the other players attacking me.
-- Attack: Conquer another player's city. This costs you a dude (sacrificed to the cause), and you won't get a token out of it, but it does swing points your way (and might net you a connection, which will get you a token).
That's it. Really simple. Teachable in about 5 minutes, playable in about an hour, and really fun. The game ended 61-55-54-54, almost as close as our first game.
Whew, This post got long...
