My wishlist on BGG had both Agricola and Caverna: Cave Farmers on it. I was back and forth with both and thought, whichever one presents itself down the road, then that's the one I'll go with. The theme is great with both, and I think they both have their positives for sure. However, I wasn't expecting what I got...
Late last week, Caverna: Cave Farmers was posted with several other games on Facebook Marketplace for $50 in my local area!! This game is $95-$100 CDN new. I couldn't pass this up!! Even if I get that look from my beautiful wife.... She loves me. ;) Better still, the gentleman said it was in "near mint" condition! I picked it up yesterday and realized when I got home that his definition of "near mint" is not quite the same as mine. To me I was expecting the game to be played a few times. But to my surprise things were still wrapped in plastic, and I had to punch out all the tiles and pieces... The only reason this game isn't "new" is because he took the lid off I guess. WHAT A DEAL!!! I'm still so excited about that!
After 25-30min of punching out pieces etc, this is what my table looked like. No wonder this game is $100! Unbelievable the amount of components you get with it (and notice I still have pieces in their bags... laying them out looks like even more). Check out the stacks of tiles too! Awesome!!!
I was at the table for 2.5hrs last night (it'll get quicker), learning the game and enjoying every bit of learning how to be a cave farming dwarf. As the evening went on I was understanding the game better, realizing moves I "should have made" and also realizing some things I just plain did wrong rules wise (which actually would've helped me).
In the solo version, you're trying to reach 100 VPs (gold points in Caverna) or higher. For my first foray with cave farming... I got 33. Kinda realistic isn't it?? When you first get into gardening or farming, mistakes are a given, it's how you learn. Well, I made mistakes. But loved every bit of it.
My only negative to the game is I'm not a huge fan of the instruction manual. It's very all over the place in my opinion, and no table of contents to be able to jump to whatever area you need to learn about. So that took some time up as well. The appendix book is somewhat helpful, but not to answer all questions I had. Thank goodness for BGG forums and videos. :)
This game is definitely deep (which I love). There's lots to learn although after one play I understand the flow of things now. The amount of decisions to make is amazing. There are so
many options each turn that you can take (some better than others). It's definitely a game where I feel having a plan B and C is a good idea.
I am so excited about having this game and can't wait to sit down at the table to play again. Although I didn't do so well score wise, I was pretty proud of my donkey pasture I have to say! Who doesn't love donkeys??! LOL
As I mentioned, I have many of those other Uwe games on my wishlist. I'm particularly looking forward to "A Feast for Odin", "Glass Road" and "Nusfjord". :)
Games like Caverna, Fields of Arle or even A Feast for Odin, to me are more about experimenting with strategies. I like Odin best as it gives you a starting profession - so a bit of direction for your play. And it has polyominoes. 😄
Games like At the Gates of Loyang, Glass Road and Nusfjord are not really BYOS. They have a target goal. Trying to reach that amount of victory points works the same as working towards a win condition in any other game. I prefer these to the other Uwe games right now, as they have variable set up, but are still very balanced. And the solo mode is brilliant: no automa, but the actions you take every turn, are blocked in the next turn. You are your own enemy. (Works the same in Odin, by the way.)
The Automa Factory made an automa for Patchwork. At first I liked it a lot. Then I got fed up with it as it scored so different than a human player.
BYOS is Beat Your Own Score. Apologies for assuming everyone knows this! 😊
Great! I own Caverna and used to play it years ago. I loved trying out different strategies, focusing on mining, or expeditions for example. But then I switched to his games that are a bit less sandboxy optimization puzzles, and more fun for me solo. At the Gates of Loyang, Glass Road, Nusfjord and recently A Feast for Odin.
This is what the shrine looked like last year. I've bought two more in 2020.
You got yourself a great deal indeed! JW is a die-hard Uwe fan but I've never played any of his games due to my 'fear' of BYOS. That said, I will take a careful look when his new game (Hallertau) comes out.