In 2022, I was able to play a number of designer, strategy games and I have selected the following three games as my favourites.
1. Findorff
BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/360617/findorff
Designer: Friedemann Friese
What is the game about?
Set in Findorff, Germany, the game is essentially a race engine builder game where players build brick, rail and peat factories so that they can eventually buy cards from their hand, which requires brick, rail or money.
Players race against time, as action’s may result in rails being placed onto the board, which is the game’s internal timer; and it can race up on you very quickly.
Using a personal player rondel-like mechanic, players select 1 action; and perform said action depending on how many times they can execute the action.
At the end of the game, players score up their cards constructed, materials collected in their storehouse and remaining money to get an end-game victory point score.
What I like about the game?
The pace. Its an incredibly fast game. You can easily play this in 45-60mins, if not sooner (dependent upon players). As soon as you do your action, it’s your go again!
I also like that you can quickly pivot, but you must be careful as buildings can easily become very expensive, very quickly.
It’s also very easy for new players to pick up and play. Except for some cards where its not immediately clear how they work, the rest of the cards are pretty straight forward to understand.
Things I did not like:
All cards in the game are worth 50VP each, and it seems like not all cards are balanced. Some cards are very cheap to build, whilst others require multiple resources. There is a card that cannot be built until card number 8 is built; and the card number 25 has to be built/purchased multiple times.
The tiles that represent constructed buildings, placing them on the board, do nothing in the game. There are some outliers, and 99% of the building tiles have no game effect. Also, there is no logical numerical ordering in the way they are placed on the board. I wish the UX of the placement of numbers was more logical, rather than having players having to find them.
Other than producing money and consuming peat, houses do nothing in the game. There is a weird rule where it states you place houses on house spots on the board, until that is when they are all full; then it says just place them anywhere — where they sit on the board has no effect; it literally does not matter where the house is. We play with the rule you just group them in front of you.
There isn’t much variability in each game. You get about 25 cards in the game, and you see pretty much every card in every game.
The board is very big, and a majority of it is not used.
Things I would improve:
The game really needs more cards, more variability
I would have liked to have seen the cards grouped or staggered. So, some cards would be 15VP, 35VP and 50VP; where there are more 15VP and 35VP cards.
I would have liked to have seen some strategic decision about where you place houses on the map. Put them in the North for more peat consumption, put them in the South to sell bricks for money; etc.
Overall, I really like Findroff; it’s very fast, easy to play. I just wish there was more in it.
—
2. Tiletum
BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/351913/tiletum
Designers: Simone Luciani, Daniele Tascini
What is the game about?
Set in Tiletum, Europe around the middle ages (I believe), players draft dice to take actions that relate to taking contracts, resources, moving their merchant wagon, moving their architect, building cathedrals and other sundry actions.
Why do I like it?
The game is very interesting, players draft dice for their colour and pip value; the colour relating to a resource, and the pip value is the amount of resources you get. Then, players get a number of actions which is the inverse number of the pip value.
So, for example; if you took a 6 value die, you would get 1 action.
In addition, there are lots of little combo’s players can trigger.
You can make long-term, short-term plans; however, you may get scuppered if the die you wanted has been taken.
What I don’t like about it?
The game may take a long time to play with 4 players.
It’s been stated on the BGG forums that the first player has a big advantage. I haven’t noticed it yet, but I can understand why its been stated.
It’s been stated on the BGG forums that advancing up the King track can be very powerful, and if you then further combine this with contract actions; then your position cannot be competed against — however, I haven’t noticed this.
Things I would improve:
Player’s get powers, like the designer’s previous game Voyages of Marco Polo
Player’s get different starting powers and positions; there is a mini expansion that does this – and changes the way you play the game.
Perhaps more maps.
Overall, having played Tiletum four times now, I’ve really enjoyed the game.
—
3. Terracotta army
BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/350458/terracotta-army
Designer: Przemysław Fornal, Adam Kwapiński
What is the game about?
Players try to construct the famous Terracotta army statues and place them within the tomb in such a way that they score victory points.
Players use a 3-layered wheel in a rondel like display to take up to 3 actions; and use the benefits and outputs of an action to construct statues, position them in the tomb and try to score victory points or meet conditions to score end game goals.
What I liked about it?
It is very tight, and also focused specifically on constructing the statues; there isn’t any side game – and so, you can focus your attention on long-term strategies about what resources, actions you need to take and try to mitigate against rivals taking and blocking actions you wanted.
What I didn’t like about it?
During the game, players can rotate one of the wheels one space. This change of state can really hurt the player in last turn order position.
Further, the amount of downtime, and AP can be very long. Having only played it at 2 players, I cannot imagine what the AP is like in a four player game. I found it to be very painful.
What can be improved?
I’m not sure. I found the game to be very interesting. There are some minor actions that could be better. For example, there is only 2 ways to get a skill token. I believe that there should be a third, which is perhaps quite expensive; but is available to all players.
Overall, I enjoyed the game; though the AP and downtime may be very frustrating for others.