Uwe Rosenberg is known all over the world as one of the best
game designers, from Bohnanza to Agricola, he either likes farming or
beans. Caverna: The Cave Farmers is what many people are calling
Agricola 2.0. The game itself not only makes you have your little farm
but now, you get to mine in a cave! Yes, sounds exciting but this made
me love the game that much more.
(Just look at it people, so many components)
If anyone has ever played Agricola or any worker placement game, you
will understand Caverna. If not, you do have to learn what each action
space on the board does in order to get resources, get fields or mine
and expand within your cave. Over the course of 12 rounds, you have to
feed your dwarves, gather some animals and try to aim for the most
points at the end of the game.
The game itself takes about 30 minutes per player so games can get
really long inbetween downtime but when you see what’s in front of you,
you wouldn’t want to stop (just don’t try to get 7 players to play, that
seems a bit long). Caverna replaces the cards from Agricola with the
action board, which changes depending on how many players are playing.
Rubys are a new component that allows you to trade them for wood, stone,
grain, pumpkins or anything else that will get you what you need to
feed your family.
A new part of the game is the cave itself. Now you can mine your cave
to make more to furnish your caverns to add new rooms to grow your
family or any of the other furnishing tiles that comes with the game.
You can use these tiles to gather more resources or give you more
victory points at the end of the game.
(This was the end of a 5-Player game and it was fun)
Another new feature is the expedition. Now you can use ore to forge a
weapon (between a level 1-8), then going on an expedition to find loot
based on your level. After that, you can level up before moving on. This
is a neat feature that makes get loot others might take on the action
board. You can also use a ruby to allow your weapon dwarves to go first
instead of allowing your weaker ones go first, a move that could change
the game.
Now, when it’s all said and done, the game is pretty pricy at $90.00.
However, you are getting 7 pounds of a great game and all the wooden
meeples too! From grains to pumpkins, sheep to dogs, ore to rubies, you
get everything in the box. Along with over 400 pieces of cardboard to
punch out, the box just closes (I went with two plano boxes to get the
job done to sort everything).
If you are on the fence about the game, wait till you can at least
get it at the 90 dollar price point because with so many components and
with a great game, Caverna is a hit for 2013 and I bet we will see an
expansion in the future.
If anyone has ever played Agricola or any worker placement game, you will understand Caverna. If not, you do have to learn what each action space on the board does in order to get resources, get fields or mine and expand within your cave. Over the course of 12 rounds, you have to feed your dwarves, gather some animals and try to aim for the most points at the end of the game.
The game itself takes about 30 minutes per player so games can get really long inbetween downtime but when you see what’s in front of you, you wouldn’t want to stop (just don’t try to get 7 players to play, that seems a bit long). Caverna replaces the cards from Agricola with the action board, which changes depending on how many players are playing. Rubys are a new component that allows you to trade them for wood, stone, grain, pumpkins or anything else that will get you what you need to feed your family.
A new part of the game is the cave itself. Now you can mine your cave to make more to furnish your caverns to add new rooms to grow your family or any of the other furnishing tiles that comes with the game. You can use these tiles to gather more resources or give you more victory points at the end of the game.
Another new feature is the expedition. Now you can use ore to forge a weapon (between a level 1-8), then going on an expedition to find loot based on your level. After that, you can level up before moving on. This is a neat feature that makes get loot others might take on the action board. You can also use a ruby to allow your weapon dwarves to go first instead of allowing your weaker ones go first, a move that could change the game.
Now, when it’s all said and done, the game is pretty pricy at $90.00. However, you are getting 7 pounds of a great game and all the wooden meeples too! From grains to pumpkins, sheep to dogs, ore to rubies, you get everything in the box. Along with over 400 pieces of cardboard to punch out, the box just closes (I went with two plano boxes to get the job done to sort everything).
If you are on the fence about the game, wait till you can at least get it at the 90 dollar price point because with so many components and with a great game, Caverna is a hit for 2013 and I bet we will see an expansion in the future.