Monday, November 24, 2008

Agricola Gone Bad

I taught my brother how to play Agricola this afternoon, taking off a few hours of from working.

Two-player is certainly tougher than three-player. Wood and clay are in short supply. We proved that some occupations are simply better than others. I had the one that, whenever I took a wheat, I got a free plowed field. Come on. That's better than an extra clay or stone when taking the clay or stone action, without question.

I had a food supply chugging fairly early, while my brother had to struggle for food for most of the game. Partly this was due to my occupation, but also because at a certain point I took the fireplace he needed, and he didn't have the extra clay to take the other one. From his perspective of having played only one game, he blames that action for his inability to catch up the entire game. I'm not so sure about that. I think he just doesn't see the available options in the game, yet.

I ended at 46 to his 28, but he should have had more; we forgot that he was supposed to get 3 foods for free on the last three turns, which would have made quite a difference in his last actions. So give him another 6 points or so, and I still won, but after all, it was his first game and my seventh.

He seemed willing to try it again, at least. Despite being pretty sure that once you've fallen behind, you can't catch up. Which is not always a bad thing, although it may be frustrating.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I had that grain/plow card along with an extra grain with grain card, I also had go on family growth space even if occupied. Those are great cards, but I only won by one point. Certain cards make a big difference.