Nice read...
On Feb 3, 9:04 am, Sembiance <[email protected]> wrote: > So I've only been doing euro board games for about 1.5 years or so > now, first got started with Settlers of Catan. > This is my FIRST post ever to board game geek. > Posting here in the google group until BGG is back up :) > > One of my favorite games so far is Agricola. I almost never turn down > a game of that. > > I read about a new game called Le Havre that I think is made by the > same guy. > > Last night my future wife and I played it for the first time in a 3 > player game. > > It took a bit over 3 hours I'd say. > > QUICK 23 LINE OVERVIEW OF LE HAVRE FOR AGRICOLA PLAYERS: > Just like Agricola you have action spaces available from turn 1 > (standard) and you have additional action spaces that come out over > time. > There are only 3 'standard' spaces. These 3 spaces allow you to > 'Build' the additional action spaces. To build an action space you > need certain resources. > To take an action space come your turn you need to move your player > piece to an un-occupied action space. > Unlike Agricola your player piece doesn't leave that space until you > move it to another action space. > In addition there are 'resource' spaces that accumulate resources. If > you take the resources you don't move your piece (but it does count as > your action for the turn). > Since you can't go in an occupied building, action spaces seem to be > 'held' a lot longer in this Le Havre. > After taking resources or an action, your turn is done. > At any time during your turn (before action, during action or after > action) you can BUY a building with cash instead of taking an action > to build it. > The cool thing in Le Havre, you can buy the standard buildings that > the town has initially. > Over time the town builds buildings itself automatically if no one has > built it in a long time. > When you build or buy a building it goes in front of you. Players who > take an action on a building you own may have to pay you a fee if the > card has one. > At any time in the game you can sell one of your buildings to the town > for money (half of what you paid usually). > Resources are basic, but can be upgraded. For example Clay turns into > Brick. > To upgrade a resource you need to use a building that upgrades that > resource. > Upgraded resources are needed later in the game to build the later > buildings in the game. > There are like 18 rounds (changes with # players) and at the end of > each round you have to feed your family. > It's a set amount for each round, starts at like 2 and increases to > like 15 near the end. > Unlike agricola it's much easier to get food as several resources > themselves count as food and you can buy food at a 1:1 ratio. > Also at the end of some of those rounds if you have grain resource you > get another one (it grows), if you have two cattle they breed and you > get another cattle. > You can buy/build ships in the game, just like you buy/build a > building. > Your ship produces food at the end of each round. Better ships become > available later in the game. > There is a building that lets you use your ship to ship/sell your > resources you own and thus convert them into gold. > Taking certain actions, building a ship or shipping with your ship > cost 'energy' to do. Certain resources are worth a certain number of > 'energy' points. > At the end of the game each building and ship is worth money and you > add your money that you have. Highest money wins. > > THINGS I LIKED: > I liked that I didn't feel as forced to do things in Le Havre as I > usually feel in Agricola. > Lots of times in Agricola I feel forced to take food action spaces to > feed my family, or I feel like I'm forced to take reed because I need > to expand, or I need to take start player because I'm always last > because the player to my left always takes it. > In Le Havre I felt like each time I made a choice to take something, > it was to get to a goal I set myself, rather than something the game > forced me to do. > And Le Havre's automatic first player cycling is nice. > > I like how resources can be upgraded, it adds depth to the game. I > also like how resources are not just resources but some also count as > food and some also count as energy. Gives them multiple purposes :) > > I think the randomization of the order of the buildings is good too as > it will add variety for the game. > Sometimes more later high end buildings may come early if the stack > didn't have many low numbers, or certain buildings like the wharf > might be buried deeper down causing you to think about buying a ship > rather than build one. Will help keep the game fresh I think. > > I liked how well energy needs scaled. At the beginning of the game you > need very little or no energy. Near the end of the game it's much more > critical. It's a nice progression. > > I thought I would hate being forced to buy ships. I wanted the game to > be flexible enough that I wouldn't need ships if I went with a > different strategy. > In the end however I didn't have any such feelings anymore. The ships > work out great and help a LOT with feeding your family and can earn a > ton of cash near by shipping stuff. > > Some other reports on BGG said they had a hard time remembering what > the buildings did or didn't like having to 'look around' at the > players buildings. > I didn't find any real issue here. When the buildings become available > you read what they do, and they stick around the whole game so you > just kinda remember what is available. It's not that bad. > > I think once you know the buildings well, you'll be able to form more > complex strategies based on what buildings will be available when. > I think this will quickly separate novice players from experienced > ones which could be good or bad. > > THINGS I DID NOT LIKE OR HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT: > We printed out the player aide sheets from BGG and found them REALLY > valuable. I think they are nearly essential. > I couldn't imagine not playing with them. My resources/gold/pieces > would just be everywhere, I'd have to constantly look at that tiny > single shared card and decipher it to figure out what I need when. The > aides or something like them really should have been included in the > original game. We're gonna laminate them ASAP. > > I think the 'Special Buildings' that you get are not as powerful at > making the game new each time you play as the Minor Improvements/ > Professions are in Agricola. > Not a lot of the special buildings can come out and they didn't seem > to do a super lot. I only saw five so I could be dead wrong here. > > I feel like the Hides into Leather resource is kinda weak. I guess > it's meant as the 'money' resource but despite shipping 6 of the > upgraded ones I wasn't quite sure it was worth the efforts to get them > in the first place and then also upgrade them to leather. Maybe my > opinion will change after more plays. > > It's a little on the long side, which might make it slightly tricky > for a game to get going sometimes. > Agricola suffers from this a little bit too, but Agricola's "theme" is > so enticing it draws people in I think more than Le Havre will. > Still the length of the game I think is right, the pacing of the game > feels just right. > > The 'block a building' by sitting in it could turn into a way to > really tick off other players. > If two people are using cattle as their primary means of getting food, > and you take the cattle conversion space and then just take resources > from then on out, your really screwing up the other player pretty good > potentially. > Thankfully you can see that your being blocked and can pursue an > alternate food strategy. Also you can take out a loan which isn't that > bad. And eventually the other player will leave the spot. So it's > probably not that bad, but it *could* become a point of conflict > between players. > > CONCLUSIONS > I really liked it. > I'm going to play again on Thursday, this time a 4 player game. > I don't think it will dampen my desire to play Agricola at all, and I > think Agricola will continue to be more popular, but Le Havre is sure > to be a very popular game. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BGG Down" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/BGG_down?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
