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viktor_haagThis Sunday, four of us tried out Uwe Roseneberg's recently published At the Gates of Loyang, a game about the economies of planting, harvesting, and selling vegetables. In tone, to a certain degree, this game feels a bit like a cross between Container, Antiquity and Agricola.
The game lasted much longer than it should have (first time, though) and the mechanical changes to accommodate four players seemed a bit weak. I suspect that this will be principally a three player game that can stretch to two or four. Not like Agricola and Le Havre which can genuinely be played with a different feel with two, three, or four players.
There are less moving parts to Loyang than to Rosenberg's later designs (though published before Loyang), but Loyang offers a clever economies game with a nice degree of interaction thanks to the action cards (specifically, the "helper" cards). Loyang feels more abstract, but also purer and simpler, while still presenting a bit of the crazy interactive variety that Rosenberg presents through "power cards" in the later two designs.
Loyang is available as an import in a quite small print-run. I suspect it's destined to become one of those collector objects that's overvalued much beyond its actual play value. It probably is not worth the cost unless you're a completist, or a huge fan of Rosenberg's designs and economic games like Container. It is a good game, but not as good as the two games Rosenberg went on to design afterwards: Agricola and Le Havre.
The game lasted much longer than it should have (first time, though) and the mechanical changes to accommodate four players seemed a bit weak. I suspect that this will be principally a three player game that can stretch to two or four. Not like Agricola and Le Havre which can genuinely be played with a different feel with two, three, or four players.
There are less moving parts to Loyang than to Rosenberg's later designs (though published before Loyang), but Loyang offers a clever economies game with a nice degree of interaction thanks to the action cards (specifically, the "helper" cards). Loyang feels more abstract, but also purer and simpler, while still presenting a bit of the crazy interactive variety that Rosenberg presents through "power cards" in the later two designs.
Loyang is available as an import in a quite small print-run. I suspect it's destined to become one of those collector objects that's overvalued much beyond its actual play value. It probably is not worth the cost unless you're a completist, or a huge fan of Rosenberg's designs and economic games like Container. It is a good game, but not as good as the two games Rosenberg went on to design afterwards: Agricola and Le Havre.
