Agricola cards. New edition of the board game “Agricola. What can you do
Let me introduce our recent acquisition - board game Agricola from Hobby World:
A game from 1 to 5 players
Age from 12 years (and rightly so, children will eat all the components of the game from the sheep to the fence)
Time 1-2 hours
The game is very believable and visual, therefore it contains a lot of components:
1) 5 playing fields-estates, on which territory cells are drawn. Construction will take place on them and the entire game will take place. On the back of the fifth field there is a game guide.
2) 3 fields with time and actions, one of which is made for a simplified family game.
Improvement field.
3) 360 cards (169 activities, 139 upgrades, 14 rounds, 16 actions, 5 begging cards, 5 memos, 2 titles).
4) A bunch of wooden resource chips: 5 discs, a player marker, 4 barns, 15 fences per player (total 75), 33 wood, 27 clay, 15 reed, 18 stone, and also grain, vegetables, sheep, pigs, cows.
5) Tokens: houses, huts, food, multiplication tokens, guest tokens.
6) Notepad for scoring.
7) Detailed rules in Russian.
At first glance this is very difficult game with many nuances, but when you start playing, you gradually figure it out and imagine yourself as a real farmer.
What makes the game interesting?:
chips (they are very realistic)
cards ( good job artist)
idea ( great idea games and thoughtfulness)
moves (a limited number of moves are given, during which you must: complete the house, improve the house, sow the beds, buy different animals, build the last pen, buy them a stable, find yourself a job, take improvements, if possible, give birth to a child, feed your family)
feeding the family (oh how difficult it will be, everything is like in life - no food, eat an animal)
The game is more of a family game, measured, thoughtful, I don’t think it’s suitable for a party.
The game is not cheap, but also not at an exorbitant price, as always purchased from our beloved Mosigra.
We have a Mosigra store in our city, we often go there and buy games, regular customers discount card, the selection is of course small, less than on the website, but if you don’t have something, you can order it and pick it up from this store.
Like this! play for your health!)
G Deck is now available to play with!! (English and German translations available for this deck at this time)
End of the 17th century. Europe is recovering from difficult times. You and your wife will have to expand the estate, rebuild the two-room hut and turn the almost empty farmstead into a thriving farm. To succeed, you will have to sow and harvest crops, raise livestock and grow your family. In Europe in the 17th century, life was not easy for a farmer!
Agricola is a great strategy game for the whole family. Having quickly learned a few simple rules, you can safely begin an exciting competition for the title of the best farmer of all time!
Easy game
Agricola is a turn-based game consisting of six stages and 14 rounds. During a turn, players place family tokens on action spaces in the city to collect resources or perform actions to improve the farm. Members of the player's family can collect building materials such as wood and clay, plow and sow fields, or build fenced pastures to house livestock. At the beginning of each round, new actions become available and resources that were depleted in the previous round are replenished.
You will reap the fruits of your labor at harvest time, and then your livestock will bear offspring. However, at this time you need to remember to feed your family. After all, with its growth, you will not only have new working hands, but also additional hungry mouths!
Victory will ultimately go to the player who has the most productive and developed farm at the end of the 14th round. Points will be awarded for plowed and fenced areas of the farm, for the number of livestock and grain in the bins. Victory points are also awarded for expanding and rebuilding the house, for each family member, and for playing activity and improvement cards. And for every unused cell on the farm, points are deducted from the players.
The incredibly popular board game Agricola, which has won numerous awards since its release in 2007, is now being released as a universal gaming application.
Playdek's Agricola sets new standards in the world of iPad board games.
Game characteristics:
4 game modes
family game; main game; Single player game; series singles
1 to 5 players
Computer opponents
Possibility of turn-based multiplayer game on one device (from 2 to 5 players)
Online play in asynchronous and real time (2 to 5 players)
Universal application- buy once and play on any device
Ability to invite friends to matches via Game Center
Ability to set a timer for online games
Replay button for online and offline matches
Next Game button to switch to the next online game in asynchronous mode
Ability to create matches
Player ratings
Multi-player profiles (family)
Ability to select a picture for the family icon in the profile
Tutorial episodes introducing the game interface, gameplay and possible strategies
Game rules and card gallery for information about cards and their effects
Customize music, sound effects, game speed and animation, and settings dialog boxes
Game overview, progress log and game events calendar to support asynchronous play
Support Retina display
Support iPhone displays/ iPod 5
Multi-language interface support: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese
The game developer is Playdek, which has received various prizes and awards for the release and development of the following games:
D&D Lords of Waterdeep
Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
Summoner Wars
Tanto Cuore
Nightfall
Fluxx
Penny Arcade the Game: Gamers vs Evil
Can't Stop
Food Fight iOS
Imagine Central Europe, circa 1670, when the plague that had been raging for centuries had finally passed and civilization had slowly begun to rise to its feet and be reborn. The basis for this is farming families who could build simple huts to begin with, plow and sow empty fields, harvest crops from them, stock up on food, keeping in mind the recent famine, and, of course, have offspring. No one guarantees success, there is a lot of work and difficulties ahead, but that is what life is about.
Let's move into the world of Agricola...
About the game
Here is the strategic board game "Agricola", which is rightfully considered one of the best family games in the history of board games! For a long time, it occupied a leading position in the world rankings of board games, and it also has more than thirty (just think!) honorary awards. This is the second edition of the game, which is slightly different from the original in 2007: the number of cards has decreased from 360 to 120, starting action cards have been replaced with game pads, the maximum number of players has become four, the design has changed, and game resources in the form of wheat, vegetables, wood , bricks and stones received new uniform. After this work on the errors, the result is an improved and modified version of everyone's favorite "Agricola". Let's figure out what kind of game this is.
Translated from Latin, “agricola” means farmer and, as you have long guessed, we have to take care of and develop our own farm.
Each player represents a young peasant family, which at the beginning of the game has only a small plot of land and a house on it. Under the guidance of the player, this family will begin to run their own household: extract resources, raise livestock and build pens for them, plow and improve fields, grow grain and vegetables, improve their home, harvest crops, have offspring, but most importantly - strive to feed themselves! It’s incredibly difficult to keep track of everything at once, but just imagine how interesting it is to try yourself as the owner of a farm and organize all the work of this unit of society yourself!
The game is very detailed, you literally have to work out every little detail! For example, you can choose to engage in animal husbandry, farming or resource extraction, but it is impossible to succeed in everything at once, you need to think through your strategy in advance, almost like in life! At the same time, the game mechanics themselves are pleasant and intuitive, despite the fact that the rules themselves are quite large in scope for which you need to be prepared.
Each game in Agricola turns out to be truly unique, not only due to its variable gameplay, but also through special upgrade cards and professions that greatly modify or complement your strategy.
Will you be able to cope with all adversity and lead your family to well-being and prosperity?
Game process
At the beginning of the game, each player’s family consists of two people, with the help of whom they will develop the farm plot, represented in the game by a special tablet. The tablet presents you with a space of 5x3 blocks, and initially only two of them are occupied - this is your home.
A game of Agricola lasts fourteen rounds.
As the game progresses, each round players will send family members to various jobs, which will become more and more numerous with each round. So, in the first rounds, vegetables, pigs, cows, additions to the family and some resources are not available to players. At the same time, only one person can be involved in one job, so that one way or another, competition will arise between the players, although not directly. Because of it, players will have to adapt to the course of the game and look for new strategies in developing their farm.
During the game, your farm will grow, you will acquire animals, grain and vegetables will grow in the plowed fields, your house will become larger and will be able to accommodate new family members, who will also have to be fed. On the other hand, the larger your family, the more chores you can do! The family must be fed at the end of the round, which ends with Harvest. There are six such rounds in the game. During this phase, all players harvest crops from the fields, increase their livestock numbers, and feed their family members.
Your main goal in the game is to obtain food for your family and develop your farm - this is what will bring you the main victory points at the end of the game.
The structure of the move is as follows:
- Preparatory phase – each round a new available action slot is introduced into the game
- The Work Phase is the main phase in which players take turns placing one kin on an action space.
- Homecoming phase - when all players have placed their relatives, they return home to their rooms
- Harvesting – some rounds end with harvesting – you harvest grains and vegetables from the fields, feed your family, and also raise animals
Who has won?
The winner of the game is the one whose farm brings the most points at the end of the game. The game ends after the 14th round. You must be prepared for the fact that you will score not only winning points, but also penalties, this is almost inevitable. For example, you can get 3 points for each family member, 2 points for a stone house, points for animals, stables and pastures, but you will also lose 1 point for each undeveloped plot of the farm or for each missing type of animal.
At the same time, for a beginner it will be a good result to score at least 30 points, and a result of 40 points can be considered a reference.
Game Features
As you already understand, this is a truly unique board game. In addition to the above advantages and features, excellent design and High Quality components of the game, we can highlight a few more interesting points.
An important difference between Agricola and other resource strategies is its unique way of conflicting interests. All players face the same task - to master their entire area so as not to receive penalty points. Also, for this, it is desirable to develop your farm in all directions: you want to simultaneously have all the animals, sufficient supplies of grain and vegetables, it is desirable to have at least a clay house, but better, of course, a stone one; At the same time, players will want a large family, because this is a great bonus. And then the question arises, how to achieve all this? You will have to answer it and adapt to the game throughout the entire game.
Also, do not forget that only one person can be at work, and this may be a competitor’s worker. So, in addition to the fact that you will be torn between your own interests, you will also have to deal with the interests of other players. There is no intense competition here, since there is practically no direct interaction between players, but, nevertheless, the intensity of passions will be high...
Among other things, the game has rules for one player.
Impression
1. "Agricola" - a party of four with his wife, eldest (14 years old) and youngest (6 years old) sons. We played the family version (without upgrade cards and activities).
For the youngest, this was the first game, they gave him the right to make the first move until the 1st harvest and gave him 6 food (instead of 2 according to the rules); Of course, they prompted him, however, towards the end of the game he began to be willful and did not always agree with the proposed options for action (it is difficult for a preschooler to sit for an hour and a half). Periodically, he collected food chips (“fishing”, “wandering artists”), instead of actions to develop the economy, which in those conditions was less effective. One day he asked “how to mine gold” and was surprised that there was no way. Farm by the end of the game: 5 relatives, 4-room house, 3 types of animals, grains and vegetables, stove and well, 2 empty plots = 46 VP and first place.
The eldest son actively fought for the right to make the first move in order to cut down the trees. His first investment was in building fences and raising animals.
Farm: 3 relatives, 4-room hut, 3 types of animals, grains and vegetables, 2 empty plots, stove = 24 VP and fourth place (this was unexpected, but the lack of points for the hut/house and the small number of relatives affected it).
The wife did not take over the right to go first, but actively obtained wood to expand the house and increase the number of workers. In the end, she was faced with a shortage of food and had to feed grain and vegetables to her relatives.
Farm: 5 relatives, 4-room mud hut, 2 types of animals, clay oven = 28 VP and 3rd place.
I played fourth the whole game without intercepting the first player's piece. According to tradition, I didn’t have any wood for a long time, I built a stone stove and was engaged in plant growing, there were no problems with food (see stove). Then he purposefully saved up for 2 rooms at once, expanded, snatched 3 more trees, and built 3 barns.
Farm: 4 relatives, 4-room house, 1 type of animal, grains and vegetables (maximum), stove, pottery workshop, 4 empty plots = 30 VP and second place.
Sheep and pigs will melt the ice of your heart.
So much has already been written about this game, reviews and let’s plays have been filmed that will help you understand whether you need this game or not. I will try to describe my impressions after playing 100+ games in the base box.
Scriptedness. This is perhaps the biggest drawback for me, which became clear over time. Actually, there is one state that needs to be reached: 4 vegetables, 8 grains, 6 cows, etc. the only thing that is not scripted is the rooms. I can build 7 of them and get points for all 7 rooms. Yes, it won’t be possible to build everything to the maximum, the bias will still be in one direction or the other, but we will still follow the script: at the end of the game we need 4 vegetables, no more and no less, or any other resource. In this regard, I like Kaverna much better; my tablet always looks different in every game.
As a result of being scripted, in the last moves everyone begins to quickly close the holes and the last moves often look illogical.
Crisis. After time, it becomes clear where, how and how much food needs to be obtained, and the pursuit of the tree begins, and even over time it does not become clear how and where to get it.
Balance and combo cards. Instead of “deal 10 cards to each player,” it is better to use a draft; you can at least somehow level out the randomness in the cards that come in and decide on the game strategy.
Even after such a large number of games, I still enjoy sitting down to play Agricola, it is a wonderful game, thought out to the smallest detail.
I consider this game a gateway to the world of board games; I can share it with people who have never played board games and, from experience, most people like it. Cute figurines of sheep, bright design, simple rules, which are not presented in a bunch, but as new actions appear on the field. You can bring her to a company of hardcore Euro-lovers and she will very likely come there too. So far I have not come across a single game that would be aimed at such a wide audience.
Making from old Agricola => "New edition"
What am I talking about?
I liked the farmer tokens in the new Agricola. Grandma and grandpa and boys, some even riding a pig.
It gives it a zest, immerses you even more into the game, sometimes you take it “but with this dunce I’ll go into the forest”, “and my grandmother will go for the reed”.
Well, that's cool!
But I bought the same old Agricola. It’s just that a friend of mine in my city sold it for 1,500 rubles. I could not resist.
Now I’m thinking about how to add that same romance to the game.
Player tokens are round and large.
Maybe print out the same five workers from the new Agricola on sticky paper and stick them on these round tokens from the old Agricola.
Who thinks what?
I think there is no need to do anything with the basic round chips. During the game I don’t pay any attention to their form at all.
An alternative is to take meeples from any available game and play a game with them. Maybe he'll let him go.)
Even in the new edition, I decided not to put these images of peasants on the meeples. I didn’t really like that they decided to revise the original shape of the meeples in the form of a man in a hat with each sticker, playing with the shape different ways(that is, even managing to shove a pig there). There is some charm in this conventionality of forms. Unified peasants is exactly the borderline for me where Euro nicely balances thematic without falling into distracting toy-ness.
Questions according to the rules!
I recently bought second hand Agricola in an old edition.
So far, my wife and I have played.
To begin with, we played the family version.
Went in with a bang. We scored 32 and 34 points in the first game, respectively.
Then I think let's play with cards.
The “activities” and “minor improvements” cards were re-hung out. We gave each of them 7 pieces of both.
Yes, some cards are just the bomb.
Some aren't even worth a move to spend on it.
As a result, they began to send workers to “training” and “improvement.” We began to think longer before making a move, since there is a lot of text on each card.
As a result, the game dragged on and, on the contrary, we scored even fewer points: 24 and 28 approximately.
1. Does everyone play full version games?
2. Do you always deal 7 cards of both to each player? I was thinking. It may be possible to reduce the number of cards issued to 3 (3 classes and 3 improvements). So that you are less stuck reading your cards. Well, as soon as you play one card out of 3 = draw the same card from the common deck again.
3. I didn’t quite understand about the division of cards into E, I, K. E - basic, I - interactive, K - composite. What does it mean?
As I understand it, deck E is better to start with? Should we put the rest aside for now? Well, to better get into the process.
Deck I is interactive. What does it mean? Are there other abilities? Are they more complicated?
Deck K is a composite deck. What is it made of and why is it called that?
1. Not everything and not always :) In a family circle with children, I mostly play the family version.
2. So far I have tried to play only by the rules - there is also more choice.
3. E – basic deck (elementary, simple, for beginners, it’s better to start with it); I – influence deck (interactive, more interaction between players); K – composite deck (complex, complicated, for advanced). By the way, decks can be mixed.
1. Many people believe that it is the cards that make Agricola Agricola, so to speak. Experienced players, even before the first move, based on the cards received, are already able to plan their actions and the main strategy for the rest of the game. I personally like this key point, since each game gives you a unique mini-puzzle of how to activate and use your cards as efficiently and optimally as possible.
2. If you are interested, in the rules of the new edition you can look at several different options for distributing and exchanging cards at the beginning and during the game. As far as I remember, there were also “shortened” versions.
Have you read the following?.pdf)
Each player starts the game with a limited set of cards in hand: 5 professions + 5 upgrades. Every time a player
plays one of his cards, he immediately draws new map any type. At the end of each harvest, each player
clockwise can discard one of the cards from his hand and draw a new card of any type.
Rüdiger later reduced the starting set of cards even further, allowing each player to start the game with only
of 3 professions and 3 upgrades. But at the beginning of the game, each player can discard any card and take a new card
the same type, but no more than 6 times. Every time a player plays another card during the game, he draws a new one.
map as usual. Today, Rüdiger has completely abandoned card trading during the harvest.
Georg Deyfuss uses a variant in which each player starts the game with 6 regular simple upgrades and 1 transition
current card.
Michael Lopez gives each player 3 "1+" professions, 2 "3+" professions and 2 "4+" professions. Franz-Josef Petri in the discovery
Tuyu puts some cards on the table. Each round, one (and only one) of the players may skip their turn and take
one of these cards into your hand.
"Rüdiger later reduced the starting set of cards even further, allowing each player to start the game with only
of 3 professions and 3 upgrades.
As of today, Rüdiger has completely abandoned card trading during the harvest."
He really reads my thoughts)))
Personally, I can’t really advise anything, since I’ve only played one game by this author. It just seems to me that it’s fun to start getting acquainted with new games and authors with such accidents.
We also play by family rules. If you're going to play with cards, it's better to play with a draft. Because once there was a situation just like yours: one got the cards, the other didn’t. And when drafting, I think it’s useful to know the deck. Since we don’t often play Agricola, it’s easier to play the family version. Faster and no problem with texts for children.
Agricola/Agricola.
Welcome to agricultural paradise. This is a game for those who are partial to farming and for lovers of good strategy. "Agricola/Agriсola" It’s not for nothing that it is considered one of the best strategy games in the world and has been at the top of the ratings for several years. "Agricola/Agriсola" This the whole world, plunging into which, you don’t want to return to reality at all.
Don't like the topic Agriculture? Wait! Do not leave! Even the most notorious skeptics, having played this game, take off their hat to it.
Agricola doesn't have the largest box, but it is filled to the brim with components for the game, which give it a pleasant heaviness.
Let's see what's inside. A huge stack of cards (360), more than 300 wooden components: player figures, resources, animals. Over 50 game board squares, 5 farm yards, 3 game action boards, scoring pad. All components are of excellent quality, made of wood or good thick cardboard. The art is in the same style.
Now a word about the game.
17th century The plague that was raging at this time was finally defeated. Desolation reigns everywhere. People need to create new world. Peasants rebuild and build houses, plow land, and raise livestock. The birth rate is increasing. Life is finally, little by little, starting to return to normal.
This is where the game begins. Each player is a farming family consisting of two people. You need to build a farm and expand and improve it as much as possible. You have 2 rooms in a hut and a great desire to become the richest farm in the area.
Age: from 12 years old;
Game duration: 90-180 minutes;
Number of players: 1-5;
Approximate cost: discontinued.
Rules of the board game "Agricola".
A young couple purchases a two-room hut and a plot of land. Every day they perform actions to improve their possessions.
What can be done?
1)Plow the fields,sow them.
During the harvest season - collect harvest.
2)To breed animals.
There are 3 types of livestock in the game - sheep, pig, cow. In order to breed livestock, you need to purchase a couple of animals, then at the stage of offspring, you will get another animal. Animals need a place to stay - build fences and barns.
3)Study.
To do this, use cards "Class". By using the activity, you get additional benefits in the game. For the same purposes, the game has "Simple Improvement" And " Special Improvement". These actions help make life on the farm more comfortable, for example, you can build a Hearth or Oven, then hunger and begging will not threaten you.
4)Extension of the house and its reconstruction.
Every young family wants a strong, big, beautiful house. Your farmers are no exception. Add new rooms, cover the walls of the hut with clay or stone (at the end of the game, more expensive houses bring more points).
5)Addition to the family.
When an extra room appears in the house, it becomes possible to give birth to a new family member, who will be able to help you with the housework in the next round.
The game has 14 rounds. Each round consists of stages:
1) Start of the round.
Each time, a card is drawn from the stack of Round cards. The card is placed on the playing field. The Rounds card indicates what new action can be performed, or what new resources have appeared. For example, the Addition to the Family stage opens only on the 5th round, and the Stone can generally be obtained closer to the middle of the game.
2)Replenishment of resources.
New resources are placed on the playing field; if in previous rounds the resources were not taken by the players, then new resources are added to some of them (cells with a drawn cart). There are resources that remain unchanged (for example, cell 1 grain).
3)Working hours.
Each family member (relative) is a worker. One worker can perform one action per turn. Therefore, it makes sense to create another employee as quickly as possible. A born relative is a full-fledged worker, he can perform one more action. More relatives means more actions you can perform. You can do more things. But do not forget that all workers will have to be fed. But more on that later.
4)Homecoming.
When all players have done their actions and the worker tokens are gone, the workers are returned home - the tokens are placed in their dwellings.
5) At the end of the round there is Harvesting. Everyone who has something growing in their fields receives a harvest.
6)Family nutrition. All workers need food. Each relative needs 2 food chips. If there is a newborn in the family, then he is entitled to 1 food token. But in the next round he will already be considered a full-fledged member of the family, and eat accordingly, just like them.
This is where the fun begins. No food to survive? Get your card Begging. One missing food counter corresponds to one Begging card. It is impossible to get rid of them and when calculating points, they greatly spoil the result of your game.
7)Animal breeding.
If you have enough pens for livestock, you can get one animal offspring from each type of animal.
9) End of the game.
Once the 14th round is completed, the game ends. A notepad is taken out and points are counted.
Conclusion:
I played this game twice and each time it seems that the game has just begun, your farm has just begun to develop, and the end of the game comes. You think, well, they could have added a few more rounds. But in fact, this is what the game is designed for. In a limited number of moves you need to develop your farm as much as possible and earn as many points as possible. Those. It turns out that EVERY move is very important and should not be wasted. Look carefully at your Activities and Improvements cards. What EXACTLY do you need to introduce into your game? What will be useful and what will be a wasted move? Try to maintain the main line of your strategy, but do not forget about the rest. For the absence of something, a very large number of points are deducted. An addition to the family is of great importance. The more workers you have, the more actions you can take, the more chances you have to win. But here everything clings to one another, like a big mechanism. We need workers. To do this, you first need to build a room for each new family member. To build a room you need Wood and Reed, and food to feed the whole family. Therefore, you also need to have time to worry about this. Your head is spinning when you start thinking about how to manage everything and score the maximum number of points.
Important Note: To win you need to have EVERYTHING on your farm. At least to a minimum. Serious points are deducted for missing something.
Conclusion:
"Agricola/Agriсola" refers to games of medium difficulty level, so the first few games are for informational purposes only. But as soon as the rules are learned, a fierce struggle for winning ensues between the players. Due to the limited number of rounds, each worker's step is worth its weight in gold. If you take the wrong action, victory also becomes one step further. Due to the huge number of cards, the game does not get boring for a long time. The game has a simplified, family version. Coming soon Company Lookout Games plans to release a new edition of Agricola. You can read more about this on our portal: New
Ratings:
- Mastering the game - 75 POINTS
- Game mechanics - 99 POINTS
- Plot and atmosphere - 85 POINTS
- Ease of play - 60 POINTS
- Quality and design - 99 POINTS
- The resulting fun is 87 POINTS
TOTAL - 85 POINTS