by Moe45673
I am fairly new to boardgaming, only starting earlier this year. Have settled down in my buying habits and now have a selection of games I'm willing to replay multiple times.A few months ago, I ignored Gric because it looked dull and I really want to buy games I considered a must-have. Still, in all my research, the name kept coming up so I had to see if it was for me.
I saw this game and the great reviews and it got me curious. A quick version of Agricola that feels like the full game? Folks were saying their wives loved it... my wife only loved Carcassonne (liked other games, but loved that one), a game I can barely tolerate. Despite Agricola not interesting me, this seemed like a safe way to see what all the hubbub was about.
The opportunity for a great trade came up so I took it and got this game. Broke it out with the wife and we played. Then we played again. Then we played again. Next day, we played 5 more times. And dammit if the woman wasn't always winning.
Since then, we've played a number of times and have yet to play just one game of it in one sitting. It's currently the only game my wife asks me to play.
As I am someone who tends to think in a very linear fashion, I found the game a bit overwhelming until our very last game when it finally clicked a bit for me. I usually do better in games where you gain something and it helps you out. In this game, you have all those open spaces.... and you can do whatever you want with them. That kind of idea overwhelms me. In Through the Ages, a game with more rules, exceptions, and paths to victory, you can really only do one thing on each space of your player board so I weirdly find that game less overwhelming. But I digress.
In this game, the goal is to get the most points. You do this by having a large farm with lots of animals and plenty of buildings that give you points. If you expand your farm and manage to fill up those spaces, even more points! Only.... there isn't enough time to do everything. And your opponent buys up those buildings. And wtf, but I only have 3 horses so I lose 3 points? Noooooo, one more round and I would have had enough!
That last sentence is a common howl heard at the end of this game, btw.
My wife was always getting a ton of sheep and pigs while I was building up my pastures and optimizing their borders with stalls and other buildings. Usually, by the end, she mystifyingly has a farm with all 4 animals in droves and I'm scrambling for buildings with point bonuses. In our last game, I decided to go for a different tactic and build little two space pastures while nabbing sheep before they built up too much and whaddayaknow, my wife kept getting frustrated in her scripted plans. And I won!
I've seen folks say that this game is not easy to learn from the rulebook. I have to disagree. I had no problem learning the game, it made sense. Sure, some things don't before you play ("Wait, you can move your animals or get rid of them at any time?") but if you just accept it, once you start playing you see how it makes sense and isn't broken. The rulebook is small, colorful, and inviting to read with nice pictures.
So why is this game great?
[BGCOLOR=#DEDEDE]It gives you a full Euro experience in 30 minutes. You are playing a full boardgame that is strategic with multiple paths to victory, no luck, and completely open information. It's got excellent components and bits.
Finally (and obviously everyone is different), but this game is very wife-friendly. When I told my wife about what this game is and how it's a lite version of a full game, she told me to get that game next.[/BGCOLOR]
So why is this game not great?
[BGCOLOR=#DEDEDE]It IS a bit light. This game will not replace your favorite heavy boardgame. It is not a light game, don't get me wrong. There is definitely thinky strategy to be had here. But I can see this game coming down to maybe two optimal strategies after many plays and the players go for one of the two depending on what the other player does. Of course, I could be wrong as great games have subtleties that are not apparent until after acquiring sufficient experience. Whether this game will outlive its enjoyability or not, there is a reasonable amount of longevity in the box. It also offers some new stuff for Gric veterans, like the buildings and the idea that you can't just go for something else if you're unable to grow your animal engine, because that's all there is to do in this game.[/BGCOLOR]
Who should get this game?
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- Folks who love Agricola, who can't get enough of it. I don't just mean the mechanics, I mean everything: the feel, the tactileness, Uwe Rosenberg, everything. When you only have 30 minutes and want to play Agricola, this is the game to play
- Folks who are unsure about Agricola and feel overwhelmed by the stated rule complexity. This game is an excellent introduction to it
- Folks who never have more than 30 minutes to game and are looking for something heavier than 7 Wonders
- Gamers who are sick of their female partners only wanting to play light games with elements of luck. I say "female" because non-gaming men are a lot less likely to get interested in a game about building a farm with cute animeeples
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Who shouldn't get this game?
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- Folks who love Agricola and everything about it: and by this I mean the mechanics, the cards, the meatiness of each game. Folks who scoff at those who choose to play the family variant of Agricola.
- Folks who hate Agricola. Don't even bother (except maybe lacreighton
)- Folks who are in category 1 under the last heading only they always have the time to put into full Agricola
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Final Thoughts
This game did everything for me I asked for.
- It introduced me to Agricola in a non-overwhelming manner. I now own the full version of the game and, while I haven't broken it out, I read the rules and it looks fantastic. Even the family variant, which I will start with. It looks like everything I love about Agricola:ACBaS but has the real meatiness I missed in my fully fleshed boardgames.
- My wife is not a gamer. If she never plays another game again, she wouldn't miss it. Getting her to sit down for a game can sometimes be a chore and I try not to push her. But when she does play, she makes every effort because she's an awesome wife: She listens intently to rules explanations, doesn't play nice, and tries her best to maximize her endgame VPs. She also lives up to the old maxim: "Once begun is half done". This game is fun and quick and once it's over, she's immediately up for another game until the clock tells us we need to be elsewhere. However, while I now own Agricola and had the perfect opportunity on Saturday to play it with her, she wasn't in the mood. *Sigh* Had we started the game, I think she'd have been into it but the thought of learning new rules (even though they're fairly simple to understand for an ACBaS veteran) at that moment just made her not interested
I feel that Gric may be a game she'd be willing to play twice in a row, even though the game can take much longer (especially a first game).Having said all that, the only game my wife ever told me to get is Agricola and this is the only game we've ever played 2+ times in a row. For these two reasons alone, this game is special.
So why am I selling it?
Because I bought Agricola! But wait.... wasn't one of my earlier recommendations for folks who want a game of Agricola in a shorter playing time? Yes, it was! However, if I want to play Agricola, I will play it. If I want to play a tense game in a shorter playing time, I feel that there are others that I'd rather play. Homesteaders is one, I feel it's more satisfying (though it does play longer). There is little variability in that game, other than how the Auction 2 (and 3 in a 4p game) tiles turn up. Glen More is another that's caught my attention. The gameplay in ACBaS is fantastic, but like I said, full Agricola looks like it will give me that feeling and be much better at it.
An interesting thought: My wife and I were playing ACBaS wrong: we played you could put down as many troughs as you want. This led to stalls that could house 12 animals or one space pastures that could house 8. Only after reading the Agricola rules did I see the "1 stable in one farmyard space" rule. Going back to the ACBaS rulebook, I see the same rule there for troughs! I told this to the wife and she said "hmmmm, that does change up the strategy quite a bit" as it was something she exploited a bit in her strategies. I'd be interested to play this game a few more times, even ignoring the siren call of full Gric, to see how this plays out. I will edit this review then.