Uwe Rosenberg is one of the most celebrated game designers working today, and with good reason. His games are deep strategy games that, in many cases, are playable by both very small numbers of players (even solo) and larger groups, often up to 6 or 7.  Making a game scale properly and remain fun in groups of disparate size is a tricky design puzzle, but it’s one that Uwe has mastered. Mayfair is proud to have a number of Uwe’s games in print and we wanted to let you know about some enduring classics you might have never played before, as well as some brand-new games that are just ‘round the bend. Specifically, Agricola, Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, Caverna, Caverna: Cave vs. Cave, Patchwork, and the brand-new Nsfjord, coming late 2017/early 2018!

Down on the Farm: Agricola & Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small

In Agricola, players take on the role of a 17th century farmer, struggling to feed their family. Along the way, they’ll strengthen their family farm and score additional points in numerous ways. For example, a player might add amenities to their farm, such as a cooking hearth that allows them to turn animals and grain into food (cooked meat and bread). Players can also grow their farms to nurture their families, giving them more actions, but also more mouths to feed. 

In the two-player game Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, players are specialists in raising animals, thus they must concentrate on fencing in land, acquiring the widest variety of live stock, and building structures worth victory points. The game play is quite similar to the Agricola core game, but entirely focused on the animal husbandry aspects.

Delve Deep with Caverna and Caverna: Cave vs. Cave

Caverna is Agricola with a twist: the players are dwarves who are both farming and tunneling deeper into the mountain to build the perfect dwarven home! Players can still farm, raise animals, and acquire additional rooms for their cave, but they also have the option to explore deep beneath the earth to search for supplies and rare gems. These “adventurers” even gain levels every time they descend into the depths, gaining better treasure and allowing players to customize a family member and designate one as a “dungeoneer”.

Caverna: Cave vs. Cave is a head-to-head, cave-versus-cave, two-player version of Caverna. Players each have a personal cave display that they’re excavating to furnish rooms, and gathering classic resources with the addition of that most precious of metals: gold. Gold is used to purchase numerous items in the game and is especially important in the final round, when it determines whether or not a player can renovate one of the rooms in their cave. Cave vs. Cave adds actions the players can perform over time, and new rooms are introduced into the game as players excavate their caves. It also uses a tracker to collect resources efficiently, helping save space and allowing the game to be a truly portable version of its classic strategy predecessors.

Patch Up Your Differences with Patchwork

Patchwork is one of those games that seems easy — until you play it. This two-player game challenges players to construct the best quilt in a limited amount of time. As is often the case in Uwe Rosenberg games, each player gets the same amount of time to work, so it’s a matter of using your time most efficiently.

Patchwork employs a fantastic puzzle mechanic, forcing players to think ahead and fill as much of their board as they can. At the end of the game, players are penalized for each gap in their quilt (after all, who wants a quilt with holes in it!), so managing your board, along with the pieces available to you, is a key strategy to scoring the most points.

Go Beyond the Sea with Nsfjord

And, finally, we bring you the latest up-and-coming game from Uwe Rosenberg: Nsfjord – expected to hit shelves late 2017/early 2018! In Nsfjord, players are running fishing companies at the dawn of the modern economic age. As such, they’ll need to offer homage to the village elders and stock in their companies, satisfying both the old and new worlds of business enterprising. Of course, fish are their stock in trade and main currency for making everyone happy, but offering stock will also grant the players currency they can use to expand their corporations. As is commonplace for Uwe Rosenberg games, there’s a set time limit, which forces players to maximize every turn to score the most points within the time allotted. This strategy game is sure to be a favorite among those who like tight, tense games full of strategy and tough decisions.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our look at Uwe Rosenberg’s growing array of fantastic strategy games, from classics like Agricola to the latest and greatest such as Caverna: Cave vs. Cave and Nsfjord. And, if you can’t wait to see these games, be sure to come visit Mayfair’s demo area at Gen Con, where we host demos of these games and more!