Photo by <PERSON>
At the Gates of Loyangis the latest release from <PERSON> and the first release from Hall Games, a new company formed to apparently pick up the leftovers from Uwe's creative genius that get declined by Lookout Games.
While fans of Uwe have been eagerly awaiting this game, it has not received the kind of OMG! buzz that Stronghold, Dungeon Lords, and Endeavorhave been receiving. But it’s been very high on my radar screen, and apart from Dungeon Lords and the Agricola expansion, it is the game I have been most eagerly awaiting. It is only now starting to hit the shores out here in the gaming backwaters of the USA, but I had a chance to play it several times at Euroquest and have since grabbed myself a copy to play even more.
In reviewing games, I prefer not to rehash the rules, but since it is new and scarce, I will cover the highlights. I prefer to address what I like or dislike about the game, while providing enough context for the reader to make sense of my meaning. For those who prefer the rules to set that context, they are available online here.
I. Gameplay Overview
Loyang plays over 9 identical rounds. Prior to the first round, players need to buy 1 of 3 available veggies to plant in their home field. Then the first round starts. In each round, there are 3 phases:
1) Harvest (players receive one new field and harvest vegetables from their fields),
2) Card phase (players each play 2 Action cards, then a new Starting player is chosen), and
3) Action phase (players buy and sell vegetables, then score victory points)
Photo by <PERSON>, Annotations by <PERSON>
In the Harvest phase you remove one vegetable from each planted field and “plow” a new field - a new card from your 8-card shuffled pile of private fields. Your first field, the “home” field, acts as a timer to countdown the rounds. You remove the 9th vegetable to signal the last round. Cards and actions can never affect the home field. Fully harvested fields get removed.
In the Card phase the deck and discards are reshuffled and four cards are dealt to each player. This is a confusing phase for some players, but it is essentially a card draft, something that many people wish had been incorporated into the official rules for Agricola. This is an important mechanic for the game.
At some point in this phase each player must “play” 1 card from their hand, and 1 card from the common pile. For the first player, the common pile is empty, so they must “discard” one of their cards to start the pile. Then, every subsequent player must either a) “play” (1 from hand, 1 from pile) or b) “discard” 1 to the common pile. Once a player has “played,” they must “discard” their remaining cards to the common pile. Once all but one player has played, the last player can no longer discard, and is forced to play. 118
This is where turn order is set. The last player to play is the new start player, and the second-to-last becomes the second player. IMO, this phase is really where the game is won or lost. If you miss out taking a valuable card, such as a specific customer you need, you can get can fall behind.
In his recent review , <PERSON> does a great job discussing the type of cards. Quote:
Before we move on, let's talk about the 5 types of cards:
1. Markets - These are the orange cards. Markets will allow you to trade any veggie for one of the three veggies displayed on the card. The rate of trade is either 1:1 or 2:1. When you obtain a market, place the 3 veggies available to you on the card to remind you of the supply. Once you have traded for all 3 veggies on the card, you discard it.
2. Helpers - These are the white cards. Each helper has a different ability. They are all one-time use, and are discarded as soon as they are used. Any helpers that reference "other player" mean your partner in the action phase. Helpers that affect other players also have a purple lantern symbol to remind you and others of that fact.
3. Regular Customers - These are the blue cards. Regular customers have to be supplied with their desired veggies every single round, for 4 rounds, or suffer a -2 coin penalty. All of them want 2 veggies every round, but the veggies they want varies as well as the cash you get. Whenever you get a regular customer, you also place on it a satisfaction token, on the happy side. 629