Haspelknecht: The Story of Early Coal Mining

GaGarfieldstar8,0

#54 The theme 'mining coal' is very good. I like the action disk choosing mechanism. [c] Theme: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Gameplay: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good amount of choices --> Interaction: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Only the races for achievments --> Artwork: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Nice --> Luck: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]No --> Strategy: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Mining is the main strategy --> Components: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Good --> Play duration: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Good --> Easy to teach: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok (30min) --> Rules quality: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok, missing examples --> Setup time: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok --> No downtime: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Little downtime --> Replay value: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Different achievments --> [/c]

EvEvanstar4,6

This is a game about running a small coal farm. The game lasts three sets of three action rounds. In each round, you select the actions you want to do by removing all the disks of one color from one of the action selection boxes. Then, everyone you adjust turn order based on the disks people took, and actions get resolved. I should note that the disc reset process is pretty tiresome. Every turn the discs return to the back, and then come out again. The color of the discs you draft determines which actions you can take. This is definitely one of those games where they set the clock to be one turn shorter than you'd like to comfortably achieve your goals. In general, you gather materials to pay the tax each round, farm coal out of your player board and buy discs on the hexagon technology tiles in the central areas. The experience of the game is quite good, but different plays of the game don't wind up feeling very different. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ☆ Clever or interesting mechanisms ★ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ☆ Multiple plays stay interesting ★ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★★☆☆ Raw enjoyment