One of the things that has taken me some time to absorb in my re-entry to the board gaming hobby, is learning about the great designers. Stefan Feld, Eric Lang, Reiner Knizia, are a handful that I have come to learn about. On the art side, Klemens Franz and Beth Sobell are two I have also come to learn about. Between the videos and podcasts, I would always hear about these great designers and all about how this game or that game matched their style. I had never given much thought to the designer of a game before, but as the months went by, I began to greatly respect and appreciate their designs and what the individual designers seem to bring to their respective games.
Uwe Rosenberg is one such name that I have heard so much about. From the legendary worker placement game Agricola, to the Tetris-like Patchwork, I would often hear about this marvel of a game designer in reverential tones. Everybody seemed to have their favorite Rosenberg game or design. Like Isaac Childress and his love of Glass Road, or board gaming personality and two player aficionado Radho's love of Agricola. Needless to say, as I began to learn about Euro games and play some worker placement and other strategy titles, I began to become interested in Uwe Rosenberg.
Finding time to slot a new game into my gaming group is not always easy. The last three weeks we were supposed to get Castles of Burgundy to the table and instead we played Carcassonne, Zany Penguins, Barenpark and Azul. As such, I have been a little sad that I have not been able to get my copy of Uwe Rosenberg's Merkator to the table. Ever since I watched Radho's review of Merkator, I have been anxious to play it and finding it on sale for $35 seemed like a great deal as well. Instead, it would be another classic Rosenberg game that I would play first.
Le Havre is the second Rosenberg game that I had heard so much about. A game of shipping goods and buying buildings to upgrade the goods that you have. Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower, someone whose opinion I enjoy, has been raving about Le Havre for a long time. It currently sits in his top 5 games of all time, and while I don't like everything he does, I was interested in finding out whether this game was this good or not. I only recently picked the game up from Cool Stuff Inc when I saw that a re-print had been released. Paying $60+ for the game brand new, with the expansion and promo cards, was too much to pass up. Especially as I had seen some secondary market prices for the game in excess of $100. Receiving the game, I proudly unboxed it, punched cardboard and put it on my shelf, somewhat sad that I had no idea when I would play it.
Just a few days later, I watched Radho's runthrough of the game and saw that it was a fascinating and interesting game, but also saw that it looked like it wouldn't be terrible to get started. When I picked the game up off of my shelf, I noticed that the game could be played solo, at which time I remembered seeing posts about this very fact on BGG. I decided the time for waiting was over and took the game down to my table, determined to learn this game. First, Le Havre has an initial simplicity in its mechanisms, as there are really only a few things you can do on your turn. Secondly, while you can and will place a worker in Le Havre, you actually only have one worker. At one player, the game is far faster to get through and I think is worth playing at, if for no better reason than to learn the game, the buildings and how to make things happen.
I had so much fun on my first play through, despite the low score of 132, that I immediately played a second round, which I ended with an improved score of 164. I started seeing how to get my goods shipped faster, as well as the importance of getting the wharf and boats out early. I also discovered that unless my initial available buildings is favorable to getting the wharf and shipping lanes quickly, that I am unlikely to get to the higher level buildings within the 7 rounds of the game. I also began to see how beautiful the design of this game is.
When you play solo, you see how hard it can be to gain that advanced engine of production. The 2-5 player versions of this game will be far more chaotic as there will be so many more buildings available, that I would be able to get to the higher order buildings and therefore more end game points for my score. Le Havre has a mechanism where if you own a building, an opponent can place their worker there, they just may have to pay you for the opportunity. This creates all sorts of interesting scenarios, especially when you consider that some of the best buildings, getting placed with a worker, will limit what you can accomplish, at least until the last turn of the game, where everybody gets to place a worker, regardless of whether the building is occupied or not.
Needless to say, I was impressed with this game design, and enjoyed the game itself, even at one player. I still am anxious to get this game going at two or more players, but it is good to know that I was able to learn the game through actually playing it. That game of Merkator I mentioned earlier, I now know will support solo play and am excited to give that one a go as well. I have no idea how it will play, but even giving me a glimpse to help teach my group will be worth it. I am happy that as gaming becomes bigger, even these Euro strategy games include solo modes, allowing those of us with ever-growing collections at least the chance to experience some of the games we own.
Uwe Rosenberg, at least with Le Havre, seems to have earned his reputation in my eyes. I really want to pick up At the Gates of Loyang, but struggle with the price for a new copy right now. One of those things where I fear the moment I buy the game, it will return to print at MSRP.
Thanks so much for reading My Meeple Life Crisis. Let me know below if you have any experience with Uwe Rosenberg games and if so your thoughts on Le Havre or any of his other designs.
[poll=382943]
Uwe Rosenberg is one such name that I have heard so much about. From the legendary worker placement game Agricola, to the Tetris-like Patchwork, I would often hear about this marvel of a game designer in reverential tones. Everybody seemed to have their favorite Rosenberg game or design. Like Isaac Childress and his love of Glass Road, or board gaming personality and two player aficionado Radho's love of Agricola. Needless to say, as I began to learn about Euro games and play some worker placement and other strategy titles, I began to become interested in Uwe Rosenberg.
Finding time to slot a new game into my gaming group is not always easy. The last three weeks we were supposed to get Castles of Burgundy to the table and instead we played Carcassonne, Zany Penguins, Barenpark and Azul. As such, I have been a little sad that I have not been able to get my copy of Uwe Rosenberg's Merkator to the table. Ever since I watched Radho's review of Merkator, I have been anxious to play it and finding it on sale for $35 seemed like a great deal as well. Instead, it would be another classic Rosenberg game that I would play first.
Le Havre is the second Rosenberg game that I had heard so much about. A game of shipping goods and buying buildings to upgrade the goods that you have. Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower, someone whose opinion I enjoy, has been raving about Le Havre for a long time. It currently sits in his top 5 games of all time, and while I don't like everything he does, I was interested in finding out whether this game was this good or not. I only recently picked the game up from Cool Stuff Inc when I saw that a re-print had been released. Paying $60+ for the game brand new, with the expansion and promo cards, was too much to pass up. Especially as I had seen some secondary market prices for the game in excess of $100. Receiving the game, I proudly unboxed it, punched cardboard and put it on my shelf, somewhat sad that I had no idea when I would play it.
Just a few days later, I watched Radho's runthrough of the game and saw that it was a fascinating and interesting game, but also saw that it looked like it wouldn't be terrible to get started. When I picked the game up off of my shelf, I noticed that the game could be played solo, at which time I remembered seeing posts about this very fact on BGG. I decided the time for waiting was over and took the game down to my table, determined to learn this game. First, Le Havre has an initial simplicity in its mechanisms, as there are really only a few things you can do on your turn. Secondly, while you can and will place a worker in Le Havre, you actually only have one worker. At one player, the game is far faster to get through and I think is worth playing at, if for no better reason than to learn the game, the buildings and how to make things happen.
I had so much fun on my first play through, despite the low score of 132, that I immediately played a second round, which I ended with an improved score of 164. I started seeing how to get my goods shipped faster, as well as the importance of getting the wharf and boats out early. I also discovered that unless my initial available buildings is favorable to getting the wharf and shipping lanes quickly, that I am unlikely to get to the higher level buildings within the 7 rounds of the game. I also began to see how beautiful the design of this game is.
When you play solo, you see how hard it can be to gain that advanced engine of production. The 2-5 player versions of this game will be far more chaotic as there will be so many more buildings available, that I would be able to get to the higher order buildings and therefore more end game points for my score. Le Havre has a mechanism where if you own a building, an opponent can place their worker there, they just may have to pay you for the opportunity. This creates all sorts of interesting scenarios, especially when you consider that some of the best buildings, getting placed with a worker, will limit what you can accomplish, at least until the last turn of the game, where everybody gets to place a worker, regardless of whether the building is occupied or not.
Needless to say, I was impressed with this game design, and enjoyed the game itself, even at one player. I still am anxious to get this game going at two or more players, but it is good to know that I was able to learn the game through actually playing it. That game of Merkator I mentioned earlier, I now know will support solo play and am excited to give that one a go as well. I have no idea how it will play, but even giving me a glimpse to help teach my group will be worth it. I am happy that as gaming becomes bigger, even these Euro strategy games include solo modes, allowing those of us with ever-growing collections at least the chance to experience some of the games we own.
Uwe Rosenberg, at least with Le Havre, seems to have earned his reputation in my eyes. I really want to pick up At the Gates of Loyang, but struggle with the price for a new copy right now. One of those things where I fear the moment I buy the game, it will return to print at MSRP.
Thanks so much for reading My Meeple Life Crisis. Let me know below if you have any experience with Uwe Rosenberg games and if so your thoughts on Le Havre or any of his other designs.
[poll=382943]