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The core game plays exactly the same way,” Wallace says about the add-on. “So it’s pretty easy to integrate the expansion into the main game; you’re not having to take things out of it.” If you’ve heard anything about Anno 1800, I’m sure it’s the main tile display, a massive headache that is tough to set up because each of the 35 (!!) different industry tiles has exactly one match, and one space it has to sit on, and the storage solution isn’t ideal between plays. (By “storage solution”, I mean “empty cardboard box.”)
Talking of which: instead, you could look to complete one Population Card as your action. Like an Industry’s blueprint, these also have requirements, again on a purple banner. You move Population Cubes to the matching goods on your Island to complete the card. There’s Influence Points (3, 5, or 8) at the bottom of the card, for end-game scoring. This is a huge incentive for wanting to complete these cards! The Farmer/Worker cards are all worth 3 points each. They’re easier to complete than the Artisan/Engineer/Investor cards (hence the latter being worth 8 points). The end game condition of playing all the cards is also a bit weird, and from what I’ve seen, it promotes a longer game. Yes, there is a small bonus for being the first person to play all their cards from their hand (7 points), but thus far, in my games, the player who gets this bonus and triggers the game end has not been the winner. As you score points (as many as 8) for each completed card, and there isn’t a penalty for having extra workers – there’s no reason to not fill your hand with cards and keep trying to complete more and more cards. Despite my misgivings, I went out and bought it as soon as it was released. Don’t judge me, I’m weak. The first thing I should tell you is that it really does feel like an Anno game. Not only that, but it feels like Anno 1800, which is a game I’ve played a lot of on the PC. The game could easily have been called ‘Here’s a massive box of tiles’, because that’s what it is. There are a lot of tiles in the game, but more on that in a bit. The core of the game revolves around a concept of creating resources on your player board, and using them to upgrade and build new buildings (tiles) on that same board.
Designed by Martin Wallace (the Brass games, Age of Steam, Tinner’s Trail) and published by KOSMOS ( The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Cascadia), Anno 1800 was a hit right out of the gate. This was certainly due, in part, to the pedigree of the team behind the game, but getting a copy of Anno 1800 took months. Simon Neale : I’m afraid that I find this game overlong and tiresome. There is only so much of chaining “this to do that, to then do this, which then enables me to do that” I can take before I become bored with the whole process. I realise that some players really enjoy spending hours creating the ultimate chain of actions, it’s just I am not one of them. Splendor provides this experience but in a superbly streamlined form. Once any player has fulfilled all their population cards, the game ends after the current round plus one additional full round are completed. Points come from completed population cards, expedition cards (gained by exploring the new world), leftover gold, and objective cards. The player who empties their hand first also receives a seven-point fireworks token to add to their final score. The player with the most points is the winner. The main board is an eyeful but gets easier to distinguish over time. Game Experience: My buddy Kev told me about his first play of Anno 1800, on Tabletopia. It sounded like it took forever. That’s because it did: 3 hours for his first 2-player game.
In some ways, it’s a valid concern. You can play that way if you want to, but the reality of it is that this doesn’t really happen. Sure, I’ve seen some games dragged-out longer than necessary, but the worry about it turning into a never-ending slog doesn’t materialise. There comes a point where you are happy with what you’ve created, and if that doesn’t happen for you, it will for someone else, and the game ends anyway. Discovery Get aboard this unique expedition to the new world! Gather your crew and inspire your villagers to become the most prospering nation. In Anno 1800, you must develop your land, making it prosper and thrive by producing and trading goods to satisfy all your population’s needs. But be aware: too much of a promised land may be overwhelming, and your workforce may run out of control without access to the goods they want. Right: let’s whizz through the Explore Tokens (the crossed swords). You start with one, on your third ship. As an action, you can opt to spend this Explore Token to open up the Old World. This gets you an Old World Island, which sits next to your Island. It’s a 2×3 grid, with space for 2x extra ships, and 4x extra Industries. Every Old World Island has a printed bonus on one of those six spaces. It could be a random pre-built Industry, an extra Shipyard, or ship.cubes (Workers) and two red (Artisans). Place them in their matching districts. Each player then receives seven Farmer/Worker Cards, and two Artisan/Engineer/Investor Cards. This is your starting hand of Population Cards. Three player is certainly the sweet spot. At two players it doesn’t highlight the trading mechanism enough, whereas four players is just too long. With three players there’s enough trading to be had without the system overstaying its welcome. This also makes the end game trigger more dynamic as you’re not battling between two people to push for the finale. Final Thoughts: Remember those three ships you started with? Two of them have Trade Tokens on them. You can take advantage of another player who has built the Industry Tile you need. You don’t ‘visit their Island’, nor need to send a Population Cube their way. But you do pay attention to the colour of cube needed. You pay a cost in Trade Tokens in accordance to the Industry’s colour. I’ll also echo what Dale said about rules enforcement. We’re not playing in a tournament, and if there’s some accidental cheating, it doesn’t especially concern me, but I also can’t shake the concern that we’re each playing a slightly different game.
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