Author Topic: Agricola  (Read 4546 times)

Offline Yall

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Agricola
« on: February 28, 2015, 12:38:56 AM »
Couldn't find another thread about this so here goes...

I've been playing Carcassonne for quite a while now and got all the big expansions/most mini's, nothing of the rarer ones though. Me and my fiancé play regularly, but I've been looking around for more options to sometimes hit our table.

After looking around some (thanks boardgamegeek), I stumbled upon Agricola. It looks like a very in-depth strategy game, is very highly ranked on BGG, and it looks like it has a huge forum community there.
Has anyone played Agricola or knows anything about it? I've been reading it might be pretty hard to learn...

(PS: Another option might be Stone Age if anyone has any info regarding that?)
(PS2: Totally different game, but Zombicide looks pretty fun as well, although pretty expensive in Belgium!)

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=1569.0

Offline Whaleyland

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Re: Agricola
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2015, 02:32:05 AM »
Agricola is pretty fun but the games can sometimes be long and unsatisfying. It is all about resource management and fighting over resources, so you pretty much never get exactly what you planned for, especially when playing with more people. Caverna is the sequel to Agricola and the game doesn't feel quite as tight while giving players more to do on their turn. I prefer it but my partner likes Agricola better. Agricola also has a number of expansions already while Caverna only has a few small promos, if that matters to you at all.

Stone Age is okay, but gets old fast. If everyone has played it a bunch already, it will feel the same. I've heard the expansion changes things up quite a bit, but the base game gets old fast. I play it on my iPad sometimes in less then 15 minutes and get bored pretty fast.

No clue about Zombicide—I don't like zombie/horror/thriller games.

Offline Hounk

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Re: Agricola
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2015, 02:56:51 AM »
I can't say anything regarding the three titles you mentioned, but just as a question for clarification, which might be important to the people, who can: you write, you and your fiancé play regularly. So is it always just the two of you or are you sometimes playing in groups? Because the amount of players is something sure to consider, when choosing, which board game to play.

Offline Yall

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Re: Agricola
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2015, 05:19:36 AM »
Thanks for the reply whaleyland and Hounk.
To answer you Hounk, I'd day it's 70% the two of us and 30% is 4+ players. So it'd be nice to have the game satisfy both 'needs'.

Offline mas9dj

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Re: Agricola
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2015, 03:37:59 AM »
I own and have played agricola plenty of times. It's certainly one of my favourites. It never gets old because it has so many different options with the different decks, and also the game changes dramatically between 2 or 5 players, it scales so that there are more options with 5 players so the strategy may change a little overall. I played many 1 on 1 with my girlfriend and the game feels balanced, actually we tie many times at the end of the game, and mind it's not a matter of being kind to each other, we both want to win and make a fierce competition to win XD

What I like the most is that you can achieve the win in many different ways. Everyone gets to play up to the last round so even if you're not faring well, you can still have fun and do stuff in the game. Many times it's very close and several players have chances to win. Also the mechanic it has so that everyone plays at the same time on each turn, I prefer this over games where you have to wait for all the other players to take their turn.

I'd recommend it 100%. It's true it can get long, a good calculation is about 30' per player (so 5 player game, 2h30min aprox) Increase this duration for new players too, so the first games might be even a bit longer.

About learning the game, I think it is a bit hard at first but I have many other games with way harder to learn rules, like battlestar galáctica or game of thrones:. board game. I myself found an internet tutorial that explained all the stuff in a easy to understand way. Also the fact that the game contains a "family" version and an advanced one, makes it easier to introduces using the simple mode.

Also, I'd recomend checking "Caverna", as far as I'm informed, it's considered Agrícola 2.0, with more stuff added and better balancing. I don't own this one since it's almost the same game as agrícola but if I hadn't bought agrícola I'd be doubting about this two.

About zombicide, all I know is that game is crazy expensive here too. Both zombicide and Stone age seem to be highly ranked on boardgamegeek. As far as I'm concerned, that Rank is quite reliable and everytime I've made my choices it hasn't failed me.

I hope you find the information helpful and if you finally buy it and need some help, don't hesitate asking me!
Gotta catch 'em all

Offline Decar

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Re: Agricola
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2015, 11:52:03 AM »
Not played any of these :(

But I'm pretty sure zombicide is good with lots of players; two player is but more players is meant to enhance play.

Offline Yall

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Re: Agricola
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2015, 12:47:10 PM »
Thanks for the info mas9dj!
I think I'll go for... Both.
I can play Agricola 1v1 like you said, if it's really that diverse in strategies we'll both enjoy it. I might convince my group to play it as well, and if not, I'm pretty damn sure they'll enjoy a ZOMBIE SLAYING game (that's a bit more relaxed!)
Btw, WOW, Zombicide functions with "scenarios" to setup each game (so you do different tasks etc and play with a different gameboard), and there are TONS and TONS of those downloadable on their website. Sounds fun to mix it up!

Edit: Anything you have to say expansion wise for Agricola?
« Last Edit: March 01, 2015, 01:08:43 PM by Yall »

Offline SettlersOfMon

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Re: Agricola
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2015, 12:00:41 PM »
We have Agricola and two of the expansions. it is fun to play and has loads of variations, but it can take a while to get your head into the gameplay/strategy. it is one of those games you either love or hate, I think. My advice is to try it at a games evening if you can, or buy the ios version.

If you go for it, give ti a good few goes before you decide how you really feel. The beginners game is straightforward but tires after a few goes. it gets interesting when you add in the more complex decks,
Whatever I'm doing, I'd rather be playing Carcassonne!


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