Woodcraft

More or less your typical medium-heavy euro - resource optimisation and largely multi-player solitaire (with some interaction for key spots / cards). The action selection mechanic is very clever and all the mechanisms fit together very well and, with several approaches to take, there is a lot to explore here. You could probably say this about all of Suchy's games.

A game about contract fulfillment, but one that is fairly thematic with an enjoyable central mechanic and lots of thinky decisions.

The game is played over 13 rounds, so you have a total of 13 actions (unless you manage to get an extra action, which is difficult to do), and each turn you select an action strip from a selection of 8(?) strips. If you time it right, you may get some bonuses from taking and/or placing the strip; this mechanic is very similar, but perhaps improved upon, from Praga Caput Regni. The actions involve such things as: 1) hiring new helpers (there are decks of unique characters that give you abilities and production), 2) upgrading your workshop (you can add improvements that allow for manipulation of die, which represent types of quantities of wood, and also you gain income boosts when you do this), 3) buying and/or selling die for blueberries (which is the currency of the game), 4) buying woodworking materials, 5) gaining new contracts, 6) planting seedlings, which will grow each round into more valuable wood. There are several free actions you can do on your turn, mostly involving manipulating your die through using workshop, and fulfilling contracts which pay out handsome bonuses. At the end of your turn, you have the option of buying points at a fixed and ever increasing rate.

There are a few income phases during the game where you receive the income you've generating for blueberries and for points and there is another tracker you can boost for an end game multiplier for completed contracts.

The game seems to play very well for at least 2-3 players, it's very crunchy and seems to have very different ways you can play it. Lots of rules and lots of gameplay in a relatively shorter time period. One of the best so far by Suchy (and Arnold).

Own the [boardgame=400207]Spielbox[/boardgame] and [boardgame=402927]Boardgamegeek[/boardgame] promo cards.

Fully blinged out with 3d printed,- and polymer clay minis Love this game, even though my first attempt of explaining it had failed(that broke me for a while) we have had difficult, but still enjoyable games

It was good! Base game components aren't super great...would love to upgrade the bits. Otherwise the game play is pretty solid. I played solo and there was enough on the automa side to make it challenging. The action selection mechanic was interesting and maximizing that and resource exchange was a good enough puzzle to want to keep coming back to it.

Solo party only - bad feeling about few actions, free actions vs normal actions aren't easy to know, need rules opening. Very bad sensations.

First play impressions. Very engaging. I thought it'd feel like Praga, but it doesn't. The wheel is similar, but while Praga focuses on the wheel, this game is really all about dice manipulation. It is still an optimization game, but extra actions are not really the focus here... in fact, lanterns are probably better exchanged for choosing a better action than getting an extra action. The theme comes through in the splicing, gluing, and sawing of the wood. It's very much a Suchy game in that there's a lot to do and things are interconnected in interesting ways. The heart of the game is fulfilling orders and I like that the game doesn't let you just ignore that, but where you go from there can vary. Solid.

I liked it a lot even though I haven't solved it. The action economy is really tight and I decided not to get it because some of my playgroups would struggle with it because it's easy to feel stuck in this game. Requires pretty experienced gamers to enjoy or folks get mired in frustration.

Interesting design, a little all over the place though.