What are your thoughts on Agricola? *Rules Correction: Only SOME Major Improvements allow you to bake bread immediately, and the "Fireplace" is not one of them lol. Also, for the combined "Renovate + Major/Minor Improvement" spot, you must Renovate in order to do the improvements.
I blindly bought this game, all the expansions, upgraded parts, the works. I ended up spending over $300. After a couple of plays, I'm going to sell it all on eBay. Not one of my friends liked the game.
@@BeforeYouPlay Yeah, I've played it around 50 times now. Love, love, love this game! The app got me hooked, so I bought this game, and it's my mom's and my fave game to play. She calls it Farm 'n Starve, lol.
I see you are playing with the older version which is still great but the new revised edition has a extra tile for 2 player that gives you four extra placement spots and that makes things slightly less stressful👍 I know freinds who play this at least one a week. There are also a ton of extra cards you can buy that keeps the game fresh.
This was such an awesome walk through. Totally what I needed to get started with this game. You guys have great screen chemistry and ability to teach in an easily understandable way. Subbed!
With your Shepard's Crook, you can fence in a 2 x 2 square farmyard area (4 spaces total) and that only takes 8 wood to fence it rather than doing a long 4 x 1 pasture that takes 10 wood to fence in. On another note, I have the latest edition of Agricola (that only plays up to 4 player and has the "animeeples", etc. and Uwe recommended in the rulebook a tip that helps players keep track of which "accumulation spaces" have been restocked: when restocking those spaces, place the new resources on the "label" side of the space, then wait until all the spaces have thus been filled so you can see which ones are done. Then slide all of the new resources in the direction of the arrows to the area where prior resources were left over from prior round(s). We've been doing that method and it works well.
42:06 you cannot take a Major Improvement action WITHOUT doing the renovation first as the action designated AFTER Renovation ALSO Major/Minor Improvement. Moreover, Buying a Fire place didn't give immediate bake bread action (but those 2 Ovens do)
Ahhhh okay that makes sense! Thank you for those clarifications. So in that case, Monique should have just taken the other “Major Improvement” spot, and also waited to bake bread during the harvest since she had already played the baker as well.
I heavily prefer the tightness and stress of Agricola to the more "modern" point-salad designs. There are other modern designs which are also really tight - like Barrage (which also has more player interaction)
@@joshgeiger8942 Well ... I mostly play wargames where that's rarely an issue. (lack of tightness, that is). Some are of course more tight than others. For Euro-games it's different. It's feels like it's too easy to make a multiplayer solitaire, point salad game where you're never limited by anything. Such game can be OK, even with limited player interaction (like Tzolkin or Teotihuacan)... but I prefer those with a bit more player interaction. Games like Caylus or PowerGrid (or Barrage) I've hear good things about Keyflower, but haven't .had the opportunity to play it yet.
I learned the rules this weekend and played solo on BGA to understand the game, I was thinking "I need a playthrough"... Now my life is complete ❤️ hahahaha thank you! I really love your videos ⭐
@@BeforeYouPlay OMG guys! I watched your playthrough and then run to play another solo game on BGA... I scored 54 points!!! I know it's not the best achievement of my life but I'm really happy! My little victory is dedicated to you ❤️ (My past scores: Sunday 1st play - 27 / 2nd play - 9 / Today 3rd play - 54!!)
I came into the hobby after Fields of Arle and Caverna came out. So Agricola was not my first Uve experience. Working backwards in the line back to the revised edition of Agricola, I really do not enjoy the restrictions. Fields of Arle is probably my favorite as a solo and 2 player farming game. In a group I really like feast for Odin and Caverna better. But I can't disagree that Agricola is a rock solid euro with tons of replay, but just not for me.
32:19 He would only be able to turn one sheep into food, since he has no way to keep multiple sheep at his farm before cooking them, only one in his house the rest run away.
Okay, so your comment had me worried that I've been playing this wrong for a second. But you are wrong, you absolutely are allowed to take more animals than you can hold and cook the ones that otherwise would've run away. Which is lucky, early-game two-player Agricola would be s u p e r hard to survive without that option! (Sorry about posting this across two different handles, I have no idea what account I used to post my last comment).
I'm looking into getting Agricola and was just wondering whether you guys have any experience with the Farmers expansion, and if it's worthwhile or not.
Thank you for uploading this. I was definitely on the fence (pun intended) on buying Agricola, but your play through has convinced me to buy it! Looking forward to playing it with my gaming group this weekend :)
The greatest sub 3 hour strategy board game ever. Some cards need balancing but the replayability is massive. Drafting hands is important - it gives the game a little extra dimension and removes some element of randomness.
Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this playthrough, and all your playthroughs for that matter! I always assumed Agricola was super-heavy because of the weight rating on BGG, but you've shown me that it's actually pretty straightforward. I guess the complexity just comes from the huge number of cards rather than the mechanisms? I find all your videos really nice and relaxing to watch - the two of you have a really nice balance of enthusiasm and calm. The rules explanations are always really clear without being overwhelming with detail. The dynamic the two of you have is great to watch - healthy competitiveness without ever taking things too seriously. I mostly play with 2 players so all of your videos are ideal for me and my regular game partner. Having two players also makes the videos a nice length, especially with the more complex games, and it also means the boards are much more legible, especially in games like this with lots of tiny text. And dang it, shoot, and gosh if you two aren't the two wholesomest stinkers in the board game business! ;-) (oh and I really love when you play worker placements, co-ops, and "older" games)
I don’t like BGG complexity ratings. It just scares people away. This game isn’t that complex, but it involves a lot of future planning. Just like most work placement games.
During the game you built an 1*4 pasture instead of a 2*2 which would cost less wood. Are there any building limitations I missed? I also wondered why no one put 2 animals in the huts... Can they reproduce or only if they are in a pasture? I really like your video style and the gameplay. Gives a great overview and it is nice to watch you playing. But sometimes it is hard to know why you do something... is it just filming/explaining while playing may take away some contration or did I miss anything?
Hi Max! No, it just didn't occur to us to make a 2x2 lol. Just an oversight on our part. Also, you can only hold one total animal in your house (the huts are rooms of the house). Thanks! We usually try to explain our rationale for moves but I think we were afraid of giving too much of our plans away to each other haha. Apologies!
I have played Agricola (old version) at different player counts and it becomes different depending on how many players participate. Reed is a very scarce resource in 3-player game. Build room and family growth are very competitive spots in the 5-player game.
My favourite game, it's so satisfying to puzzle a way through the constraints. Plus the cards (with expansions) mean the puzzle is different every game. For me I much prefer tighter euros.
Great video! yesterday or the day before that, I had some questions about Agricola rules. In my country's social media, there's no proper playthrough video about it, only tutorials about how to play, but no one answers my question. Then I use tool to get on UA-cam and found you guys. This video helped me a lot. And makes me want to start my own channel dedicated to board game playthrough videos. Could I ask you what microphone are you guys using? The audio sounds very nice and clean. Looking forward to your reply!
In round 9, with 10 wood (and no reed required), Monique could have built 2 wood rooms with a single build action. That could have allowed her to gain a 2 worker advantage.
I don’t think you can bake bread at the end of the game. Approx 1:14! Because you didn’t take a bake bread action, I’m not sure if you can bake bread during harvest?😊
I for some reason had to copies of this game for years, finally got to play it, and was super disappointed. I was psyched for a stressful survival experience to keep your family alive, since some people had described the game that way. However, I didn't get that experience at all. In general it was a weird clash of simulation and total abstraction, and mechanically way too easy to get the food you need, no consequences if you don't (except losing a few points), and everything culminates in a boring scoring system in the end you have to meticulously study in order to maximize your point output. It's not like you need all the elements in the game to reach a goal, having all the elements are just lazy goals in themselves. For instance you can upgrade your house, but it doesn't have any in-game effect except points. No matter have many cattle you have you only breed 1 new, cause the creator couldn't think of why else you would want different kinds of animals and/or how to balance it through logical means. The seasons are somehow shorter and shorter, because the creator couldn't think of a way of keeping up the challenge after getting that cooking hearth. Etc. Great idea for a game, though.
For those new to the game, the newer Revised edition has shaped meeples for all player tokens and resources, count adjusted boards, revised decks, and a bonus modular segment for a more flexible 2 player game. Additionally, it reasonably reduced the maximum player count to 4.
Thoroughly enjoyed watching this playthrough and it helped me a ton in preparation for when I played this for the first time. Thanks :) Super excited to see y’all play Caverna and Feast!
I know this video is old now, but wow, ive never seen one single decision sway a game so hard lol. If only he didnt make the mistake of not taking the boar! Once monique got those it was over lol Well played!
I still love Agricola. It's incredibly thematic, surprisingly easy to teach, and absolute delight to see on the table, especially when you use custom FIMO components (which I made close to 15 years ago and which still hold up nicely after many plays). It *is* a rather harsh game though, but that's a part of its charm I think - I'm not a huge fan of the "everyone does whatever they want, everyone gets loads of points, one player gets more than others and wins" approach; here the short-term goal of feeding the family is very immediate and very personal, and the end game scoring feels almost as an afterthought - as long as noone was hungry and you have a nice-looking farm in the end, everyone feels like a winner. Also, the game is very easy to balance out for new players - just give them extra food in the beginning and it very quickly becomes much more "sandboxy", if needed. If I had some criticisms, it would be with some slight rule inelegance - it's weird that you can eat the animals whenever as long as you have a fireplace, but that baking bread requires an action and is not offered as an option during harvest (unless you have a Baker profession). I also never really cared for the exponential ways stables work, simply for practical reasons - the pasture spots fit only four FIMO animals, so we house-ruled that you cannot keep doubling this number up. Finally - the game is a bit of a beast to set up, although this might be a consequence of FIMO; I guess the abstract components that came with my first edition of the box are much easier to handle... but I wouldn't know, since I never used them. :P
Finally got this to the table today (well, sofabed actually, as it was too big for my table) and THANK YOU for this video, feels like I'd need a PHD to parse all the rules by myself. 😂 Although why vegetables are represented by pumpkins (a fruit) is still a mystery to me... 🤔 P.S. 'Fence deliveryman' definitely sounds like a Craigslist mix-up. Somewhere in Agricolaland, there is a thief who expected to sell their stolen goods, but instead now has a bunch of wooden planks in their collection too.
Your take on this game is spot on. I always describe Agricola as "tight"; it's not a punishing tight, but it demands timing and seizing opportunities. I think that Caverna is already a step towards being "looser" because it has more resources, more paths players can take, and the two sides of the board makes timing easier to manage during each round.
I never cared for Caverna. The theme was not as approachable (IMO), and the "looseness" actually detracted from what made Agricola good. Plenty of people who didn't appreciate the stress of Agricola lapped Caverna up though, and the reviews of the time almost universally called it an "improvement". In fact, I might say Caverna basically started the sandbox trend and is one of the bigger reasons why "point salad" Euros are so common today.
Hi there we have several other videos after this one as part of the series on the channel. Look under the "Playlist" tab to see some of the games you may have missed. :-)
I have to say I really enjoyed your english. New games are sometimes hard to understand in foreign languages (english is my second language) but for you guys I understood everything perfectly, both audible and logically
Good that you have finally played it. First of all this game is not a play once and feel good game, this game needs more plays and more you play, you will realize. I've seen most of the people stress on feeding being punishing, which has scared many people from get go.Why? The games is set in Famine what else you expect? The feeding is one of things that makes the game exciting (It's just like money which is quite tight in most of the games). Once you figure out your feeding engine then its all about how you maximise by scoring with the occupations and minor improvements at your disposal. If you want a new game just replace decks, play with new decks, you will get a completely new path. A simple worker placement game on farming made so exciting by the use cards. This is one of the reasons why I rate UWE so highly. With respect to player counts, its well balanced at all counts. The additional spaces make up for the balance.
Just wanna say that i really enjoy the content from your channel. Good job all round and there is this zen around all your playthroughs that made them so easy to follow and have fun with.
Love Rosenberg games and looking forward to watching this series, however I find Misery Farm(Agricola) to be one of the games I really dislike. In fact I think Uwe is one of the fewer designers' which has many games I consider to be great and also quite a few I extremely dislike.
Great Review, thank you so much. If we were to get a Rosenberg farming game, would you recomnend Agricola, Hallertau or Caverna? Is there maybe another top-tier farming game with better art? Rosenberg‘s Games seem great, but man are they ugly!
"It came out back in 2007 so I thought it might feel dated." That comment really agitates my rheumatism, whipper-snapper! Seriously, though, great stuff. I always come to you two first when I start learning a new game.
For someone new to Agricola, which version would you recommend? I will be playing almost always at 2-p and am considering the ACBAS Big Box and the Revised Edition. I lean towards shorter games but am wondering if ACBAS is 'too' simple, or if the original is too heavy. Thank you.
The open design of more recent games feels more positive but also almost always leads to multiplayer solitaire experiences. I feel this is definitely the case for Feast for Odin. The interaction in that game barely qualifies as interaction. We all just do our thing and sometimes accidentally I do a thing that ever so slightly influences you. In Agricola the impact of the interaction (though often unintentional) is more significant.
Agreed. It now seems crazy that one of the common complaints when Agricola was initially released was how "solitairish" the gameplay was, because the interaction was only indirect. Compared to modern Euro designs Agricola can feel as cutthroaty and in-your-face as Risk; turning an entire herd of cows into burgers just as another player painstakingly prepared a nice big pasture for them feels PERSONAL. "But.. but... you said you were gonna renovate!" "Chomp... chomp... I'm shorry you were shaying?"
I scored 48 in a game of two, but we didn't draft the cards, we just shuffled and randomly distributed our cards. Probably I got very lucky with my cards even though my opponent has played more cards than me. Next time I will try to draft the cards, sounds like a better way to get rid of luck.
I loved Agricola at the time, (have an OG Ed), but it fell out of favor as Uwe essentially fired this guy with Caverna. It's more of a historical artifact now than something I want to play.
While I very much enjoy the sandbox, combo-heavy designs in more modern euros, I have a huge respect for how thightly designed Agricola is. I've only played it a few times (I don't own the game myself), but they were all enjoyable, the theme's not really my thing, but considering it's a more classic euro (is it already a classic?) the build/farm theme is no surprise. I think there's only one other euro I've played where I get that timing feel as thightly, which is Tzolk'in due to the rotating calendar and only being able to place OR remove workers in a turn, there's a lot of planning ahead.
More players good. Less players less good. Both Agricola as well as my preferred Caverna at max player counts (5+7) really shine. Cole Wehrle wrote an excellent piece on why he prefers Caverna and I agree. I'd still happily play Agricola any time.
A couple of comments. I would say 4p is the sweet spot, I prefer the balance of spaces available. Also, the game is a lot better with Farmers of the Moor. The special actions really expand the choices - they tempt people away from the board spaces giving people taking a later turns a better shot at a good option.
Agricola is my all time favorite game and Uwe Rosenberg is my favorite game designer. Also, please get the meeples, animeeples and vegimeeples for this game to make it so much more fun and thematic. I have 100 logged plays on BGG. Thank you for another great review and play through.
I thought this game was all placing sheep on the squares and building fences but it's so much more! I'm glad I watched this video, I'll try to pick up a copy for myself now. Very interesting gameplay with lots of planning for resources and worker placement. You played great Monique!
Another great series. I'm actually thinking about getting another Rosenberg. I got Fields of Arle, Feast for Odin and Le Havre and love them all. Do I need another one? Agricola, Caverna, Nusfjord, Hallertau? I'm undecided...
Made several attempts to learn this game in the past, but the theme put me off every time. Finally got serious, read the rulebook and watched your playthrough. Then played it and had a blast! The game is really well designed, and the theme actually helps the mechanics of the puzzle make sense. Playing an "old-school" worker placement game after experiencing new-style ones (like Everdell), it took me awhile to come to terms with the fact that each resource can be collected only in one place, but I appreciated that this tight gameplay requires more precise planning... Anyway, thanks for yet another brilliant video!
I love this style of game that doesn’t shower you with points. The Farmers of the Moor expansion is excellent, and I think it really enhances aspects of the two-player game. I highly recommend it. There is less wood scarcity, less race for expanding your family, and you are able to do more each round.
Arrrgghhh!!! Time difference! I was 10 hours short! Nooooooooooooo Well, anyway another amazing playthrough and it's farming! I love farming games a lot so thank youuu so much so healing
You know what? As a Agricola-novice.. I would love to see someone cover the game, the versions, differences and revisions to gameplay (removed mechanics, changes, etc)
I really need a tight game like this. A lot of games have a very loose variance and that can lend to high unpredictability. I like that this game seems to have a readability that a lot of euros do not? Thanks for the great video, I always reference your videos for my wife and I.
Honestly I have always been scared of this game. Funny I have Le Havre, FFO and Caverna. But there is something about this game that scares me. So I don't have it for that reason. I think it is the feeling of cut-throat nature of it that has seen me avoid it.
Just Discovered your channel guys. I really like the full playthrough and rule explaination. With the holidays coming up ill use your videos to decide what to get for the family. We usually buy 2-3 new game a year. (subscribed)
I love Agricola! First hard Euro I got into!!!! What was everyone's favorite plays who's played it? Mine was with a wet nurse when I built 2 rooms in one turn and got 2 workers in like phase 3
I like this game, but not if I get stuck to the far right of the board. I need to read the spaces, that are active, repetitively. Try Fields of Green, see what you think.
Great playthrough. Was looking forward to this video from you guys. I , however, did not expect to learn that you were as new to Agricola as I am. Lol. I only just begun playing it this year as well and I am challenging myself to improve. Fingers crossed. Wish me luck!
Kids enjoy this too even though we dont play with any of the cards. Its fun making baby cows. This and Puerto Rico remind me of great times from the older games that still hold up pretty well.
Great walkthrough. It would be a great idea however, if you had a zoom feature when you are talking about cards, so that we could actually see the card close up. thanks for the vid!
Great playthrough, as usual! 👍 The game does seem interesting and a little bit lighter than A Feast for Odin and Caverna. I might have to check this one out.
Thanks for this! Just watched this and really look forward to play this week for the first time Have you decided in which order you will make playthrough for the unreleased clips of this series?
Getting plain food as an action is usually a last resort option. What you should have done is to plan for it before even starting the game. Agricola, baby:D
I just tried learning this game on my own to play in board game arena. I got crushed lol not an easy game to learn an mostly play on my phone. Thanks for this video. Maybe now I will stand a chance lol
me and my mates have a house rule that we need to have ways to keep the animals before we are allowed to grab them. this for us balances out the game to avoid someone over-abused using the fireplace to feed by killing the animals as well as creating various strategies. other than that, agricola is my number 1 game hands down
You mentioned the food problem and the somewhat tight gameplay because of this. Imagine you start playing with 0 Food like we did in for a couple of weeks till we realize our fault. :)
@@randothomas3733 @BeforeYouPlay we struggled but still loved every bit of it, low scores and all… then when we learned the correct rule it was like discovering a whole new game 😜💕
One of my favorites. No reason for me not to watch this video even though I already know how to play. I just enjoy this game that much and any content about would just be as good.
I haven't played Agricola for a few years. You've inspired me to pull it out at my next game session! Great playthrough! (The real "trick" with this game is to figure out the best way to use your occupation cards and minor improvement cards to give you more and more "free" and/or automatic actions.) Also, you two are adorable. One of my life goals is now for my wife and me (I?) to play a tabletop game with you... sometime, someplace.
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I really enjoy your playtroughs. I could watch it, even when the game doesnt interest me really that much. I like the light (and im sure painfully tedious) edit work. Waiting times and silent moments are nicely cut out. Videos feel very short and despite the edits, there is still plenty banter and whining left :) For games i am actually interested in, its really helpful to see how they play 2 player.
Thank you so much for doing this video. It has been hard to find a tutorial video of the older version which I have. You guys are awesome to watch because you explain things so well. 👍👍
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What are your thoughts on Agricola?
*Rules Correction: Only SOME Major Improvements allow you to bake bread immediately, and the "Fireplace" is not one of them lol. Also, for the combined "Renovate + Major/Minor Improvement" spot, you must Renovate in order to do the improvements.
I blindly bought this game, all the expansions, upgraded parts, the works. I ended up spending over $300. After a couple of plays, I'm going to sell it all on eBay. Not one of my friends liked the game.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the complex play possibilities especially with all the expansions.
@@EfrainRiveraJunior how wise of you to buy all that blindly 🤣
@@floodkevin4716 - I know right? Maybe I should think about making a career as a Guru, Shaman, or something.
How about a Stephen Feld series …designer of some awesome games !
This game gets better and better the more you play. Played it around 30 times and I still feel like a novice.
Wow, 30 times! That's awesome. It definitely does open up the more you play. We love designs that are like that.
@@BeforeYouPlay Yeah, I've played it around 50 times now. Love, love, love this game! The app got me hooked, so I bought this game, and it's my mom's and my fave game to play. She calls it Farm 'n Starve, lol.
I see you are playing with the older version which is still great but the new revised edition has a extra tile for 2 player that gives you four extra placement spots and that makes things slightly less stressful👍
I know freinds who play this at least one a week. There are also a ton of extra cards you can buy that keeps the game fresh.
Oooh that's good to know! Yeah we have older version, definitely. Your friends must know the game extremely well!
This was such an awesome walk through. Totally what I needed to get started with this game. You guys have great screen chemistry and ability to teach in an easily understandable way. Subbed!
With your Shepard's Crook, you can fence in a 2 x 2 square farmyard area (4 spaces total) and that only takes 8 wood to fence it rather than doing a long 4 x 1 pasture that takes 10 wood to fence in. On another note, I have the latest edition of Agricola (that only plays up to 4 player and has the "animeeples", etc. and Uwe recommended in the rulebook a tip that helps players keep track of which "accumulation spaces" have been restocked: when restocking those spaces, place the new resources on the "label" side of the space, then wait until all the spaces have thus been filled so you can see which ones are done. Then slide all of the new resources in the direction of the arrows to the area where prior resources were left over from prior round(s). We've been doing that method and it works well.
42:06 you cannot take a Major Improvement action WITHOUT doing the renovation first as the action designated AFTER Renovation ALSO Major/Minor Improvement. Moreover, Buying a Fire place didn't give immediate bake bread action (but those 2 Ovens do)
Ahhhh okay that makes sense! Thank you for those clarifications. So in that case, Monique should have just taken the other “Major Improvement” spot, and also waited to bake bread during the harvest since she had already played the baker as well.
I heavily prefer the tightness and stress of Agricola to the more "modern" point-salad designs.
There are other modern designs which are also really tight - like Barrage (which also has more player interaction)
@@joshgeiger8942 Well ... I mostly play wargames where that's rarely an issue. (lack of tightness, that is). Some are of course more tight than others.
For Euro-games it's different. It's feels like it's too easy to make a multiplayer solitaire, point salad game where you're never limited by anything. Such game can be OK, even with limited player interaction (like Tzolkin or Teotihuacan)... but I prefer those with a bit more player interaction. Games like Caylus or PowerGrid (or Barrage)
I've hear good things about Keyflower, but haven't .had the opportunity to play it yet.
I learned the rules this weekend and played solo on BGA to understand the game, I was thinking "I need a playthrough"... Now my life is complete ❤️ hahahaha thank you! I really love your videos ⭐
Hahaha that's awesome! Wonderful timing, thank you so much for your kind words! Hope you have a good time with the game =)
@@BeforeYouPlay OMG guys! I watched your playthrough and then run to play another solo game on BGA... I scored 54 points!!! I know it's not the best achievement of my life but I'm really happy! My little victory is dedicated to you ❤️
(My past scores: Sunday 1st play - 27 / 2nd play - 9 / Today 3rd play - 54!!)
I love these playthrough. Really being joy to my life, starting from that high-hand-wave "hello". So wholesome and so welcoming
I came into the hobby after Fields of Arle and Caverna came out. So Agricola was not my first Uve experience. Working backwards in the line back to the revised edition of Agricola, I really do not enjoy the restrictions. Fields of Arle is probably my favorite as a solo and 2 player farming game. In a group I really like feast for Odin and Caverna better. But I can't disagree that Agricola is a rock solid euro with tons of replay, but just not for me.
32:19 He would only be able to turn one sheep into food, since he has no way to keep multiple sheep at his farm before cooking them, only one in his house the rest run away.
I've never seen the game played this way, are you sure this is correct?
Okay, so your comment had me worried that I've been playing this wrong for a second. But you are wrong, you absolutely are allowed to take more animals than you can hold and cook the ones that otherwise would've run away. Which is lucky, early-game two-player Agricola would be s u p e r hard to survive without that option! (Sorry about posting this across two different handles, I have no idea what account I used to post my last comment).
I'm looking into getting Agricola and was just wondering whether you guys have any experience with the Farmers expansion, and if it's worthwhile or not.
Unfortunately we don't, we haven't tried any of the expansions. :-(
Love this review - convinced me to pick this up. Such great explanations and watching you two play is really relaxing! Thank you!
A classic one!! Love your game play and thoughts! We still enjoy Agricola and sometimes me and my wife go back to it. Awesome game
Thank you for uploading this. I was definitely on the fence (pun intended) on buying Agricola, but your play through has convinced me to buy it!
Looking forward to playing it with my gaming group this weekend :)
The greatest sub 3 hour strategy board game ever. Some cards need balancing but the replayability is massive.
Drafting hands is important - it gives the game a little extra dimension and removes some element of randomness.
Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this playthrough, and all your playthroughs for that matter! I always assumed Agricola was super-heavy because of the weight rating on BGG, but you've shown me that it's actually pretty straightforward. I guess the complexity just comes from the huge number of cards rather than the mechanisms?
I find all your videos really nice and relaxing to watch - the two of you have a really nice balance of enthusiasm and calm. The rules explanations are always really clear without being overwhelming with detail. The dynamic the two of you have is great to watch - healthy competitiveness without ever taking things too seriously. I mostly play with 2 players so all of your videos are ideal for me and my regular game partner. Having two players also makes the videos a nice length, especially with the more complex games, and it also means the boards are much more legible, especially in games like this with lots of tiny text. And dang it, shoot, and gosh if you two aren't the two wholesomest stinkers in the board game business! ;-)
(oh and I really love when you play worker placements, co-ops, and "older" games)
I don’t like BGG complexity ratings. It just scares people away. This game isn’t that complex, but it involves a lot of future planning. Just like most work placement games.
@49:00 why build a 1x4 farm that costs 10 wood vs. a 2x2 farm that costs 8 wood? Is this not allowed?
Yeah it’s been brought up several times in the comments. Just a geometry blunder on my (Naveen’s) part. The other way is MUCH more efficient.
49:00 A 2x2 block of pasture would only take 8 fences (square areas are always the most efficient)
LOL You are soooo right. I don't know why neither of us thought of a square
Yup Naveen you could have gotten a 3x2 area with your 10 fences and overall have 2 less empty spots.
Naveen, why didn't you take 4 food on Fishing on 4th round ? :)
LOL. Hard decisions!
Yeah, that's what I thought. It's such a mean game if you play it competitively. That's why my girlfriend and I love Caverna more.
During the game you built an 1*4 pasture instead of a 2*2 which would cost less wood. Are there any building limitations I missed? I also wondered why no one put 2 animals in the huts... Can they reproduce or only if they are in a pasture?
I really like your video style and the gameplay. Gives a great overview and it is nice to watch you playing. But sometimes it is hard to know why you do something... is it just filming/explaining while playing may take away some contration or did I miss anything?
Hi Max! No, it just didn't occur to us to make a 2x2 lol. Just an oversight on our part. Also, you can only hold one total animal in your house (the huts are rooms of the house). Thanks! We usually try to explain our rationale for moves but I think we were afraid of giving too much of our plans away to each other haha. Apologies!
I have played Agricola (old version) at different player counts and it becomes different depending on how many players participate. Reed is a very scarce resource in 3-player game. Build room and family growth are very competitive spots in the 5-player game.
My favourite game, it's so satisfying to puzzle a way through the constraints. Plus the cards (with expansions) mean the puzzle is different every game. For me I much prefer tighter euros.
You guys made me hook into Agricola, play 3 times and getting better to understand how the game works and better scoring as well 😊
The classic Uwe Rosenberg game! Personally I own A Feast for Odin and Hallertau, but this game seems fun!
Oh nice! Those are two great ones. We're really looking forward to covering A Feast For Odin.
@@BeforeYouPlay I have been looking forward to the video ever since your Uwe Rosenberg series announcement!!
@@ethicalzombiegaming ditto! :]
Great video! yesterday or the day before that, I had some questions about Agricola rules. In my country's social media, there's no proper playthrough video about it, only tutorials about how to play, but no one answers my question. Then I use tool to get on UA-cam and found you guys. This video helped me a lot. And makes me want to start my own channel dedicated to board game playthrough videos. Could I ask you what microphone are you guys using? The audio sounds very nice and clean. Looking forward to your reply!
In round 9, with 10 wood (and no reed required), Monique could have built 2 wood rooms with a single build action. That could have allowed her to gain a 2 worker advantage.
I don’t think you can bake bread at the end of the game. Approx 1:14! Because you didn’t take a bake bread action, I’m not sure if you can bake bread during harvest?😊
I think that Agricola is very thematic in the way it portrays the hardships of that era. Life was hard back then.
I for some reason had to copies of this game for years, finally got to play it, and was super disappointed. I was psyched for a stressful survival experience to keep your family alive, since some people had described the game that way. However, I didn't get that experience at all. In general it was a weird clash of simulation and total abstraction, and mechanically way too easy to get the food you need, no consequences if you don't (except losing a few points), and everything culminates in a boring scoring system in the end you have to meticulously study in order to maximize your point output. It's not like you need all the elements in the game to reach a goal, having all the elements are just lazy goals in themselves. For instance you can upgrade your house, but it doesn't have any in-game effect except points. No matter have many cattle you have you only breed 1 new, cause the creator couldn't think of why else you would want different kinds of animals and/or how to balance it through logical means. The seasons are somehow shorter and shorter, because the creator couldn't think of a way of keeping up the challenge after getting that cooking hearth. Etc.
Great idea for a game, though.
For those new to the game, the newer Revised edition has shaped meeples for all player tokens and resources, count adjusted boards, revised decks, and a bonus modular segment for a more flexible 2 player game. Additionally, it reasonably reduced the maximum player count to 4.
Which version is better though? 🧐
@@trojan403 new (revised)
Thoroughly enjoyed watching this playthrough and it helped me a ton in preparation for when I played this for the first time. Thanks :)
Super excited to see y’all play Caverna and Feast!
I know this video is old now, but wow, ive never seen one single decision sway a game so hard lol. If only he didnt make the mistake of not taking the boar! Once monique got those it was over lol
Well played!
finally got to see both of you guys play this game ❤️
I've been waiting for so long... thanks for making the video!!
Haha thank you so much for standing by! Sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoy the rest of the series =)
I still love Agricola. It's incredibly thematic, surprisingly easy to teach, and absolute delight to see on the table, especially when you use custom FIMO components (which I made close to 15 years ago and which still hold up nicely after many plays). It *is* a rather harsh game though, but that's a part of its charm I think - I'm not a huge fan of the "everyone does whatever they want, everyone gets loads of points, one player gets more than others and wins" approach; here the short-term goal of feeding the family is very immediate and very personal, and the end game scoring feels almost as an afterthought - as long as noone was hungry and you have a nice-looking farm in the end, everyone feels like a winner. Also, the game is very easy to balance out for new players - just give them extra food in the beginning and it very quickly becomes much more "sandboxy", if needed.
If I had some criticisms, it would be with some slight rule inelegance - it's weird that you can eat the animals whenever as long as you have a fireplace, but that baking bread requires an action and is not offered as an option during harvest (unless you have a Baker profession). I also never really cared for the exponential ways stables work, simply for practical reasons - the pasture spots fit only four FIMO animals, so we house-ruled that you cannot keep doubling this number up. Finally - the game is a bit of a beast to set up, although this might be a consequence of FIMO; I guess the abstract components that came with my first edition of the box are much easier to handle... but I wouldn't know, since I never used them. :P
You simply cannot have a ‘house rule’ which takes away a fundamental element of the farming in this game. Ewe Rosenberg, you are not.
Finally got this to the table today (well, sofabed actually, as it was too big for my table) and THANK YOU for this video, feels like I'd need a PHD to parse all the rules by myself. 😂 Although why vegetables are represented by pumpkins (a fruit) is still a mystery to me... 🤔
P.S. 'Fence deliveryman' definitely sounds like a Craigslist mix-up. Somewhere in Agricolaland, there is a thief who expected to sell their stolen goods, but instead now has a bunch of wooden planks in their collection too.
I've been playing this on BGA and am struggling. This helped it click a little better for me. Thank you!
Glad We could help!
Your take on this game is spot on. I always describe Agricola as "tight"; it's not a punishing tight, but it demands timing and seizing opportunities. I think that Caverna is already a step towards being "looser" because it has more resources, more paths players can take, and the two sides of the board makes timing easier to manage during each round.
I never cared for Caverna. The theme was not as approachable (IMO), and the "looseness" actually detracted from what made Agricola good.
Plenty of people who didn't appreciate the stress of Agricola lapped Caverna up though, and the reviews of the time almost universally called it an "improvement". In fact, I might say Caverna basically started the sandbox trend and is one of the bigger reasons why "point salad" Euros are so common today.
Naveen, why didn't you put fences around 2x2 area (you would only need 8 fences) ?
Do you guys have a PO box or address I can send you some animeeples to so that you can play with those instead?
1:09:59 😂 I love Monique's reaction "I've gone done dirty" haha, this is the beauty of this game.
Lol I missed that
Thank for the playthrough. When the Uwe Rosenberg serie is going to resume please?
Hi there we have several other videos after this one as part of the series on the channel. Look under the "Playlist" tab to see some of the games you may have missed. :-)
What a superb series! I’ve only played Agricola the once and would love to replay. That set with only cubes and discs though...nightmarish 😂
The fooood! Omg thats the most head blowing irritating aspect of this game LOL. 😅
I do hope that one of the next titles in this series will be Fields of Arle; otherwise it wouldn't be a Uwe Rosenberg series.
We are most definitely covering Fields of Arle! We're going chronologically though, so next up is Le Havre.
I have to say I really enjoyed your english. New games are sometimes hard to understand in foreign languages (english is my second language) but for you guys I understood everything perfectly, both audible and logically
Oh we're so glad to hear that! That is a huge compliment. Thank you for taking the time to watch our video. :-)
@@BeforeYouPlay rather thank you for making the video :)
Good that you have finally played it. First of all this game is not a play once and feel good game, this game needs more plays and more you play, you will realize.
I've seen most of the people stress on feeding being punishing, which has scared many people from get go.Why?
The games is set in Famine what else you expect? The feeding is one of things that makes the game exciting (It's just like money which is quite tight in most of the games).
Once you figure out your feeding engine then its all about how you maximise by scoring with the occupations and minor improvements at your disposal.
If you want a new game just replace decks, play with new decks, you will get a completely new path.
A simple worker placement game on farming made so exciting by the use cards. This is one of the reasons why I rate UWE so highly.
With respect to player counts, its well balanced at all counts. The additional spaces make up for the balance.
I've never liked Agricola. The feeding is so just too tight and not fun. Caverna is a far superior game imop.
Just wanna say that i really enjoy the content from your channel. Good job all round and there is this zen around all your playthroughs that made them so easy to follow and have fun with.
Hey thank you so much for your kind words! We really appreciate you. =)
I was just thinking whether to get this game or not and “boom”, there’s your video here 😂❤️
haha what timing!
Love Rosenberg games and looking forward to watching this series, however I find Misery Farm(Agricola) to be one of the games I really dislike. In fact I think Uwe is one of the fewer designers' which has many games I consider to be great and also quite a few I extremely dislike.
Great Review, thank you so much. If we were to get a Rosenberg farming game, would you recomnend Agricola, Hallertau or Caverna? Is there maybe another top-tier farming game with better art? Rosenberg‘s Games seem great, but man are they ugly!
"It came out back in 2007 so I thought it might feel dated."
That comment really agitates my rheumatism, whipper-snapper! Seriously, though, great stuff. I always come to you two first when I start learning a new game.
For someone new to Agricola, which version would you recommend? I will be playing almost always at 2-p and am considering the ACBAS Big Box and the Revised Edition. I lean towards shorter games but am wondering if ACBAS is 'too' simple, or if the original is too heavy. Thank you.
The open design of more recent games feels more positive but also almost always leads to multiplayer solitaire experiences. I feel this is definitely the case for Feast for Odin. The interaction in that game barely qualifies as interaction. We all just do our thing and sometimes accidentally I do a thing that ever so slightly influences you. In Agricola the impact of the interaction (though often unintentional) is more significant.
The main expansion for Feast alleviates that a bit by tightening the action board which is variable depending on player count.
Yeah you're right about the multiplayer solitaire feel. This type of design definitely forces people to clash. It's great haha
Agreed. It now seems crazy that one of the common complaints when Agricola was initially released was how "solitairish" the gameplay was, because the interaction was only indirect. Compared to modern Euro designs Agricola can feel as cutthroaty and in-your-face as Risk; turning an entire herd of cows into burgers just as another player painstakingly prepared a nice big pasture for them feels PERSONAL. "But.. but... you said you were gonna renovate!" "Chomp... chomp... I'm shorry you were shaying?"
I scored 48 in a game of two, but we didn't draft the cards, we just shuffled and randomly distributed our cards. Probably I got very lucky with my cards even though my opponent has played more cards than me. Next time I will try to draft the cards, sounds like a better way to get rid of luck.
I loved Agricola at the time, (have an OG Ed), but it fell out of favor as Uwe essentially fired this guy with Caverna. It's more of a historical artifact now than something I want to play.
Ooooo finally :) Can't wait to watch this playthrough! Thanks for your great videos!
Thank you!
While I very much enjoy the sandbox, combo-heavy designs in more modern euros, I have a huge respect for how thightly designed Agricola is. I've only played it a few times (I don't own the game myself), but they were all enjoyable, the theme's not really my thing, but considering it's a more classic euro (is it already a classic?) the build/farm theme is no surprise.
I think there's only one other euro I've played where I get that timing feel as thightly, which is Tzolk'in due to the rotating calendar and only being able to place OR remove workers in a turn, there's a lot of planning ahead.
The video really help we play it at first time! It's an awesome video. If have chance, Could you possible make Grand Austria Hotel video?
More players good. Less players less good. Both Agricola as well as my preferred Caverna at max player counts (5+7) really shine. Cole Wehrle wrote an excellent piece on why he prefers Caverna and I agree. I'd still happily play Agricola any time.
A couple of comments. I would say 4p is the sweet spot, I prefer the balance of spaces available.
Also, the game is a lot better with Farmers of the Moor. The special actions really expand the choices - they tempt people away from the board spaces giving people taking a later turns a better shot at a good option.
Agricola is my all time favorite game and Uwe Rosenberg is my favorite game designer. Also, please get the meeples, animeeples and vegimeeples for this game to make it so much more fun and thematic. I have 100 logged plays on BGG. Thank you for another great review and play through.
I thought this game was all placing sheep on the squares and building fences but it's so much more! I'm glad I watched this video, I'll try to pick up a copy for myself now.
Very interesting gameplay with lots of planning for resources and worker placement. You played great Monique!
Another great series. I'm actually thinking about getting another Rosenberg. I got Fields of Arle, Feast for Odin and Le Havre and love them all. Do I need another one? Agricola, Caverna, Nusfjord, Hallertau? I'm undecided...
Made several attempts to learn this game in the past, but the theme put me off every time. Finally got serious, read the rulebook and watched your playthrough. Then played it and had a blast! The game is really well designed, and the theme actually helps the mechanics of the puzzle make sense.
Playing an "old-school" worker placement game after experiencing new-style ones (like Everdell), it took me awhile to come to terms with the fact that each resource can be collected only in one place, but I appreciated that this tight gameplay requires more precise planning...
Anyway, thanks for yet another brilliant video!
I love this style of game that doesn’t shower you with points. The Farmers of the Moor expansion is excellent, and I think it really enhances aspects of the two-player game. I highly recommend it. There is less wood scarcity, less race for expanding your family, and you are able to do more each round.
Arrrgghhh!!! Time difference! I was 10 hours short! Nooooooooooooo
Well, anyway another amazing playthrough and it's farming! I love farming games a lot so thank youuu so much so healing
You know what? As a Agricola-novice.. I would love to see someone cover the game, the versions, differences and revisions to gameplay (removed mechanics, changes, etc)
I really need a tight game like this. A lot of games have a very loose variance and that can lend to high unpredictability. I like that this game seems to have a readability that a lot of euros do not? Thanks for the great video, I always reference your videos for my wife and I.
Honestly I have always been scared of this game. Funny I have Le Havre, FFO and Caverna. But there is something about this game that scares me. So I don't have it for that reason. I think it is the feeling of cut-throat nature of it that has seen me avoid it.
Just Discovered your channel guys. I really like the full playthrough and rule explaination. With the holidays coming up ill use your videos to decide what to get for the family. We usually buy 2-3 new game a year. (subscribed)
Thank youfor this review.
I'm a big fan of your videos.
Are you going to review Le Havre?
:)
I love Agricola! First hard Euro I got into!!!! What was everyone's favorite plays who's played it? Mine was with a wet nurse when I built 2 rooms in one turn and got 2 workers in like phase 3
I like this game, but not if I get stuck to the far right of the board. I need to read the spaces, that are active, repetitively.
Try Fields of Green, see what you think.
1:14:30 wow...that sounded close to an F-bomb..had to do a rewind on that one! Lol
Great playthrough. Was looking forward to this video from you guys. I , however, did not expect to learn that you were as new to Agricola as I am. Lol. I only just begun playing it this year as well and I am challenging myself to improve. Fingers crossed. Wish me luck!
Kids enjoy this too even though we dont play with any of the cards. Its fun making baby cows. This and Puerto Rico remind me of great times from the older games that still hold up pretty well.
I must admit I enjoy Agricola the least of Uwe games, because it feels so punishing of even the slightest mistakes and I find that very unfun.
Great walkthrough. It would be a great idea however, if you had a zoom feature when you are talking about cards, so that we could actually see the card close up. thanks for the vid!
I was feeling anxiety about the feed your people. I’ve played Caverna but not Agricola yet. Do you guys have the expansions?
Great playthrough, as usual! 👍
The game does seem interesting and a little bit lighter than A Feast for Odin and Caverna. I might have to check this one out.
you guys are great. i am new to the tabletop gaming world and obsessed. my only problem is i don't have any people to play with on the regular!!! :(
Naveen could have could have scored 2 more points just by placing fences more economically... :D
Thanks for this! Just watched this and really look forward to play this week for the first time
Have you decided in which order you will make playthrough for the unreleased clips of this series?
Getting plain food as an action is usually a last resort option. What you should have done is to plan for it before even starting the game. Agricola, baby:D
I just tried learning this game on my own to play in board game arena. I got crushed lol not an easy game to learn an mostly play on my phone. Thanks for this video. Maybe now I will stand a chance lol
Great game but I prefer Caverna for all the neat things you can do! Love how you have a Cave and a Farm you can build.
I've always wanted to play Agricola, but I think the stress will not be something that I enjoy, I look forward to the next games in the series!
me and my mates have a house rule that we need to have ways to keep the animals before we are allowed to grab them. this for us balances out the game to avoid someone over-abused using the fireplace to feed by killing the animals as well as creating various strategies.
other than that, agricola is my number 1 game hands down
You mentioned the food problem and the somewhat tight gameplay because of this. Imagine you start playing with 0 Food like we did in for a couple of weeks till we realize our fault. :)
we didn’t realize the spots with arrows have resources added each round for like a whole year of playing lol game changer! :)
@@kimoro9643 wow this is even better. How you finished a game with a score above zero then? 😁
Oh Noooo. Wow, that would be extremely tight. Glad you caught the error eventually!
@@kimoro9643 Oh noo! Wow, that is a humongous game-changer
@@randothomas3733 @BeforeYouPlay we struggled but still loved every bit of it, low scores and all… then when we learned the correct rule it was like discovering a whole new game 😜💕
This game is so good, but also really stressful. I have this and Caverna and don't know which I prefer.
My first time playing this game. My reaction: The game is SO SLOW! I agree with Monique.
One of my favorites. No reason for me not to watch this video even though I already know how to play. I just enjoy this game that much and any content about would just be as good.
Luna by Stefan Feld has a similar feel to Agricola for me, with its very restrictive timing.
I haven't played Agricola for a few years. You've inspired me to pull it out at my next game session! Great playthrough! (The real "trick" with this game is to figure out the best way to use your occupation cards and minor improvement cards to give you more and more "free" and/or automatic actions.) Also, you two are adorable. One of my life goals is now for my wife and me (I?) to play a tabletop game with you... sometime, someplace.
I really enjoy your playtroughs. I could watch it, even when the game doesnt interest me really that much. I like the light (and im sure painfully tedious) edit work. Waiting times and silent moments are nicely cut out. Videos feel very short and despite the edits, there is still plenty banter and whining left :) For games i am actually interested in, its really helpful to see how they play 2 player.
Only need two Uwe games: Agricola for the tight experience and A Feast For Odin for the sandbox one.
This game looks really fun. Should could use a bit more art/meeple love though.
Thank you so much for doing this video. It has been hard to find a tutorial video of the older version which I have. You guys are awesome to watch because you explain things so well. 👍👍