2025-02-13T19:38:14Z
1 Like
I was excited about this one till the last couple of minutes of the review. Seems like a lot of neat ideas but not sure how well they come together.
2 Likes
I sold it after 6 or so plays. I think it’s an Uwe hit, but why not play Glass Road? Or Caverna, Arler Erde, Nusfjord, etc etc
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Apparently it’s a stock image with a filter clumsily applied:
Very, um, eldritch horror? Or maybe mushroom trippy?
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I saw this. My immediate reaction was “this is rather misleading for people new to the hobby”. But then I wondered “How does one arrive on the “HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO HURT YOUR PRECIOUS LITTLE BRAIN?””?
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Do you want to hurt your brain enough to figure out the answer?
(Legend says that if you really hurt it, you can reach Tangram City and the Fields of Arle…)
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I disagree with the flowchart.
Oranienburger Kanal should be included on the wheel.
Oranienburger Kanal should not be in the branch that says “no spatial puzzle”
And Planta Nubo is barely a co-design.
And it’s missing Cottage Garden and the sequels. And Fairy Trails (okay that one is minor but I love it)
Also am I overlooking Arle or is not there? edit: oh hidden behind the superhighway.
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As for Black Forest. It’s neat. I like it. But I like Uwe Rosenberg a lot. Probably more than SUSD does.
I have not played every single Uwe game in existence. I am missing a few big ones even. Others I have barely played. I have played Black Forest solo 3 times.
Do I recommend it over other Uwe games?
Probably not. I bought it because I live at the northern end of the Black Forest. I even liked the cover until I zoomed in.
So obviously this wants to be compared to the other big box games not to Bohnanza, Sagani or Cottage Garden. So in my case the comparisons would be: Nusfjord, AFFO, Kanal, Arle and–to a small extent due to low number of plays–Hallertau. Agricola is so long ago, I can’t name it in the same sentence as the others. I don’t consider Planta Nubo primarily an Uwe game and also I gave it away after learning the rules and playing a single learning solo.
So Black Forest has this personal village you build up like Nusfjord and the rest of those I named. You do some animal raising. You choose an action each round. There are unique spots to get or convert resources. You can acquire unique buildings for your village that give you some special abilities or bonusses, you have a bunch of resources on a wheel… a lot of the usual Uwe tropes are there. And by that I mean there are maybe too many of them there and nothing quite sticks out as super memorable.
Which ones would I keep more likely if I had to reduce my number of Uwe games?
- Nusfjord is probably my first Uwe big-box that I played quite a bit and I love the solo mode having you play yourself from the previous turn and the shares and it generally sticks to the resource puzzle and isn’t overloaded with too many pieces.
- Arle is just quite the cozy farming thing that has almost no random (if you keep a previous setup there is none) and still provides endless possibilities to strategize. Also it is built almost as a dedicated solo game (I always felt the 2nd player was superfluous). The solo mode doesn’t even require any blocking.
- AFFO sticks in my mind because of the tetris and the huge number of options that are on the board
- Kanal is probably my favorite these days for resource management and adjacency bonusses. Very low number of worker spots but quite a lot of options what to do with those. The variety due to the number of decks and possible building combinations is huge and yet it all remains quite managable because only a small number of buildings is ever in the running at any given moment. Same as with Arle this seems primarily designed for solo play.
- Hallertau just isn’t quite as cozy and has a very strong push to never fail to move your house making for a bit of a stressful puzzle and so limiting choices. Additionally, the card play introduces a lot more random than most other Uwe games in this comparison.
Of my current big boxes designed by Uwe Rosenberg I think they would leave my collection in this order if I had to reduce:
- Hallertau (almost on the sell pile)
- Black Forest
- AFFO (so very good with the expansion even better but the only person to play with me is on BGA)
- Nusfjord (very unlikely to leave, it’s my quintessential “theoretical” multiplayer Uwe)
I’ll stop here. Arle and Kanal won’t be leaving anytime soon.
8 Likes
I trimmed down to - in no particular order:
- Caverna
- Nusfjord
- Arler Erde
- A Feast for Odin
AFFO might be the candidate, as idk what really makes this one appeals other than the polyominoes. Cavern got Gric’s economy and timing (if you take that action, wood won’t recover to X level for N rounds)
Arler Erde got tools and changing seasons which are great for long term planning
Nusfjord? I just like the mid weight combo building of the buildings.
Sold the rest like Glass Road. With GR, can we just play Zoo Vadis or Lifeboats or other silly fun games that goes for an hour instead?
2 Likes