Valerie Putman: Starting with the A’s—Agricola, Amyitis, and Antler Island

Asking someone to bring you back games from Essen is a huge favor.  They have very limited suitcase space and very strict weight limits.  Of course, if you brought them back a suitcase worth of games last year—they kind of owe you!  This year I didn’t make it to Essen, but I was very happy to get a few of the new Essen releases into Dale’s suitcase.  I’m also happy to help him try out all of his new toys as well!  So for the next few weeks I will likely be reporting on the new games as they hit the table.

Agricola
OMG—I love it.  First, it’s a “snowball” or engine building game and that’s my favorite kind.  Second, Dale and I were able to play through a 2-player game in an hour.  (More players might add about 15 minutes per player).  Third, the game offers a ton of variability.  For a more family friendly game, there are rules that don’t use any of the extra cards—just the actions that get revealed each round.  Then, if you do play with the cards they are split into three decks that offer different levels of interaction, conflict, and difficulty.  Finally, there is enough of each kind of card that Dale and I were able to play two full games and not reuse any of the cards that we had seen in the first game.  This game has replay value out the whazoo (in other words, a lot).  Now I just have to beg that please, please, please there needs to be an English edition.

Amyitis
I really don’t want to jinx the fine folk at Ystari, but seriously—can they do no wrong?  Caylus will always be my favorite of their titles (can we say “fan girl”?), but Amyitis isn’t far behind.  It’s chock full of agonizing decisions and tactical distractions (my downfall in these games as I can’t resist making impulsive decisions that veer me away from my intended path to victory).  While the game doesn’t have any one mechanism that feels particularly innovative, it also doesn’t feel (to me) like a mere combination of games I already have.  Each turn you can move a caravan marker in order to make purchases (or sell goods in one city), you can take cards (which give you one of four possible actions), or you can pass.  Sounds simple enough—yet the timing of these choices has a ripple effect that can win or lose you the game.

Antler Island
First, let me say that I’m not the target market for Fragor games.  I’m not really influenced by the cuteness factor of the game and I am just as happy with a beautiful abstract game as a themed one.  So for me, the most important thing that I can say about this game is that I’d be happy to play it even if it came with plain wooden cubes or cardboard chits.  It’s a very nice family game with clear rules and straightforward game play.  That said, this game is freakin adorable.  We had dozens of onlookers who couldn’t stop oohing and ahhing over the stags, the does, and (my favorite) the stag’s antlers displayed on your player mat.  There is a bit of that secret and simultaneous thing going on that I’m not so fond of, but it’s not excessive.  There is also a conflict element that might scare away some casual gamers—you can’t win the game unless your stag wins at least one fight with another player’s stag—but these encounters are few and really not very disruptive to the loser’s overall game plans.

So…if the B’s are next, that must mean Brass!  Actually, I made it through about a quarter of a game before realizing that we were missing rules buried in the reference section.  This one is going to take some patient fellow players to trudge through the first play.  I’m hoping to make another attempt at this one next weekend at Great Lakes Games.  (And a few more plays of Agricola, please?)

I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman

© 2007 Valerie Putman

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Comments:

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Valerie, how did you handle the text on the cards in Agricola?  Do you and Dale sprecken sufficient Deutsch or were you IMing Melissa Rogerson throughout the game? Posted by Larry Levy on Oct 28, 2007 at 02:19 AM | #

Larry, I can neither confirm not deny my sources, but my copy is mostly Anglicized… Thankfully most of the cards use common “gaming German”! More details in Wednesday’s column! ;) Posted by Dale Yu on Oct 28, 2007 at 06:46 AM | #

I really miss the ninja face when I am not on BGG. Can we just pretend there is one here too? -->:ninja: Valerie, great report on three games that I am itching to try. And that is the understatement of the century. With the number of games Dale brought back, you should be able to get through half the year at a letter a week :) Posted by Melissa Rogerson on Oct 28, 2007 at 08:32 AM | #

Thanks for a great report Valerie.  I’m really looking forward to all your upcoming Essen reports :-) Posted by Tom Rosen on Oct 28, 2007 at 05:57 PM | #

Looking forward to hearing about more titles, thanks!  And am especially glad to hear that Ag has a family friendly format - which moves it up another notch on my want-list. Posted by Jim Clapperton on Oct 30, 2007 at 07:59 PM | #

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