by Tony Boydell
So*, I got an email on Wednesday evening, last, just as we were laying out Terraforming Mars all just so; it was from Grzegorz at Lookout Games imploring me to give some rules a quick sanity check for English grammar, spelling and wotnot. Imagine, then, my joy upon finding it was an MS Word document containing the re-vamped rules for one of my favourite expansions of all time: Agricola: Farmers of the Moor!I couldn't really give it my attention then-and-there, what with the complete lack of atmosphere, so I stowed it for the morning - the gap between arriving at work and the time everyone turns up for the Course I'm delivering...which is, naturally, twenty minutes after the time the Course was scheduled to start. However, just before I settled my weary head back at the Bed & Breakfast, I noted that it was 'going to the printers on Friday' so, actually, there was no time to be wasted with such piffling details as rest and recuperation! No, indeed, it was straight on to the laptop for some late night proof-reading...
...it was nearly 1AM when I finally clicked 'Send' and the satisfying Mail whooshing dispatch noise broke the Llandudno night (BTW that bloody owl was back). Come Friday morning - 36 hours later - 'the pretty version of the rule book' plopped into my Inbox and I gave an audible whoosh of pleasure myself:
Farmers of the Moor is an exceptional expansion and well deserves it's makeover; those new to it have yet to discover the joys of eating Horses (!), 'cutting peat' and 'slash and burn'-ing - by Jehoshaphat, it sounds more like a serial killer movie. I, particularly, like the way the Special Action cards naturally elbow their way in between the worker placement actions which completely changes the rhythm of the game - making it even better. Time to dig out the original edition before this shiny new piece of gaming scrumptiousness steals my Agricolean heart...
*I apologise for beginning a paragraph with 'So'.