Thank you for highlighting Agricola, it truly is an amazing game and I wouldn't want newer players to miss out on it because of the cult of the new. I have my own pet definition of what good "modern board game design" is and it basically boils down to.. 1) thematic in a way thats fun and also helps teach the rules 2) good art and clear iconography 3) deep gameplay that rewards many plays 4) meaningful but not cruel player interaction Agricola gets nearly perfect scores on all of these counts and it feels extremely modern to me because of it. Agricola doesss have cutthroat player interaction but that is hidden enough behind cutsy farms and sheep pens that I don't think most playthroughs with newer players even come close to revealing that. The funny thing that happened to me after I learned Agricola was that my tolerance dramatically dropped for overly complex strategy video games that give you millions of choices that dont really matter and force you to juggle memorizing a bunch of convoluted systems. There is so much fascinating strategy in Agricola for how streamlined it is that the design of many strategy video games looks absolutely archaic in comparison.
Agricola was my first game in my collection, bought back in 2008. My first game of Caverna was 6 player and I needed to constantly get up and walk to the other end of the table to see the tiles for purchase which was a huge drawback. Agricola I’ve played over 100 times and I never felt it was too hard and loved the early game tension.
Major props for a tightly written, well delivered script that covers all the bases. I was bemused, though, by the several illustrations of illegal animal storage. 😁
Thank you for the video. I play almost exclusively at 2-p, and lean toward medium weight games. Between the Revised Edition and All Creatures Big and Small, which would you suggest? Can the Revised Edition be 'simplified' for the first few plays? Thank you.
Hi Aditya! Personally I'd still go with the revised edition over All Creatures Big & Small, as this is a more robust game that scales upward if you need it. The rules in this aren't terribly complex and the revised edition has simplified rule variants for learning the game or playing with younger/less experienced players.
@@TheCardboardHerald Thank you for the kind response. I am 12 and not very experienced with Euros, so it is great to learn about the simpler variants. Thanks again.
wow you have a beautiful copy, must be a deluxe edition? I love this game so much, my cousin gifted it to me and we played it exclusively for years before I actually discovered the hobby lol it will never leave my collection! do you have any favourite occupation or minor improvement cards?
This is the current "revised edition" that's available right now, certainly a bit more modern than the original release. Hard to pick a fave on the occupation or minor improvement cards but I suppose I like both the thematic and strategic implications of the Threshing Board allowing for free bread baking actions during a farmland or cultivation action.
Thank you for highlighting Agricola, it truly is an amazing game and I wouldn't want newer players to miss out on it because of the cult of the new.
I have my own pet definition of what good "modern board game design" is and it basically boils down to..
1) thematic in a way thats fun and also helps teach the rules
2) good art and clear iconography
3) deep gameplay that rewards many plays
4) meaningful but not cruel player interaction
Agricola gets nearly perfect scores on all of these counts and it feels extremely modern to me because of it. Agricola doesss have cutthroat player interaction but that is hidden enough behind cutsy farms and sheep pens that I don't think most playthroughs with newer players even come close to revealing that.
The funny thing that happened to me after I learned Agricola was that my tolerance dramatically dropped for overly complex strategy video games that give you millions of choices that dont really matter and force you to juggle memorizing a bunch of convoluted systems. There is so much fascinating strategy in Agricola for how streamlined it is that the design of many strategy video games looks absolutely archaic in comparison.
Agricola was my first game in my collection, bought back in 2008. My first game of Caverna was 6 player and I needed to constantly get up and walk to the other end of the table to see the tiles for purchase which was a huge drawback. Agricola I’ve played over 100 times and I never felt it was too hard and loved the early game tension.
Major props for a tightly written, well delivered script that covers all the bases. I was bemused, though, by the several illustrations of illegal animal storage. 😁
😆 gotta love that thumbnail. A pic of some sheep, and big-ass letters asking “GOAT?!”
Glad someone got a kick out of it.
Thank you for the video. I play almost exclusively at 2-p, and lean toward medium weight games. Between the Revised Edition and All Creatures Big and Small, which would you suggest? Can the Revised Edition be 'simplified' for the first few plays? Thank you.
Hi Aditya! Personally I'd still go with the revised edition over All Creatures Big & Small, as this is a more robust game that scales upward if you need it. The rules in this aren't terribly complex and the revised edition has simplified rule variants for learning the game or playing with younger/less experienced players.
@@TheCardboardHerald Thank you for the kind response. I am 12 and not very experienced with Euros, so it is great to learn about the simpler variants. Thanks again.
wow you have a beautiful copy, must be a deluxe edition? I love this game so much, my cousin gifted it to me and we played it exclusively for years before I actually discovered the hobby lol it will never leave my collection!
do you have any favourite occupation or minor improvement cards?
This is the current "revised edition" that's available right now, certainly a bit more modern than the original release. Hard to pick a fave on the occupation or minor improvement cards but I suppose I like both the thematic and strategic implications of the Threshing Board allowing for free bread baking actions during a farmland or cultivation action.
I was introduced with Caverna and missed Agricola entirely.
I've still yet to play either!
They are both great and as I say in the vid, my longtime preference was the latter game. I guess tastes just change with time.
Agricola just has so much more replay value
@@TheCardboardHerald yah I need to pick one or the other up. My wife seemed more interested in caverna so likely that route lol
@@TheCardboardHerald you’re the first person I’ve heard break rank from Caverna to Agricola. Provocative 😉