Mayfair Games Caverna the Cave Farmers

I am a huge fan of Agricola which is precursor to this board game. Having left my copy to my home country I was looking for a similar experience but did not want to buy the same thing twice. Therefore, I felt that Caverna would be a safe bet and I was right. It is a deeply strategic board game with numerous ways to victory, which shares similar mechanisms with Agricola making it a familiar experience to someone who has already played this game before, while being different enough to feel like a different game.Opening the box it is obvious why it is so huge, heavy and expensive. It contains a plethora of wooden and thick cardboard pieces which is a pleasure to smell. The artwork is pleasing and a bit comic-y making it ideal as a family game. The setup and the rules require some serious time investing to make sure all bases are covered as there are plenty of details that can missed if someone hurries. It is supposed to take 20 minutes per player to finish but my experience has shown that it is more like 40-60 minutes per player (unless playing with experts) so make sure you have no other plans made for later.The idea is each player is managing a family of dwarves. Your play mat is split into two areas; the forest and the cave. The forest can be turned into a farm where you can grow livestock, grain or vegetables. The cave can be explored to dig for ore and rubies, or furnish different rooms (caverns) differently to acquire unique bonuses. In addition to that, each dwarf can be "armed" with a weapon and go on expeditions to gain loot (do not expect any fancy RPG elements here, this is as simple as obtaining certain items depending on the weapon level). This basic structure is common to all players. What differentiates each player's strategy are the numerous options available on a common play mat where actions, resources and caverns are waiting to be picked in turn order. All caverns are unique and open up different, never-ending strategies to pursue.This never-ending combination of things to go for is perhaps one of the two disadvantages of this game I can think of. For a beginner, this can feel intimidating (as he is faced with too many options without being able to appreciate their significance at first) and lose interest. Therefore, if anything this is a board game that requires commitment to repeated plays by the same people. The other disadvantage is the amount of time it takes to set it up. I highly suggest investing in some form of organiser (either tackle boxes or specialised wooden inserts). Unfortunately, I find that even with an organiser it takes time to set it up and can feel like doing too much work to play a game.In summary, this is a costly game that the more effort you put into it the better the results you gain out of it. It can appeal to anyone who is looking for a fun, strategic board game, which uses action-selecting, resource-gaining and engine-building mechanisms, and does not mind spending the time to arrange things around on the play mat. It plays solo or up to 7 players. Personally, I think it is mostly enjoyed by a group of 3-5.

Caverna is a great game for serious gamers. I won't describe the game since you can read that elsewhere, but will give our impressions after a few plays. Firstly, it comes in a compact but pretty heavy box, as there are a lot of pieces - loads of wooden animals and resources, player pieces, board sections, cardboard tiles, cards etc. In fact, it would be better if the game came in a slightly larger box with a plastic insert with compartments for all of these pieces. Instead, it comes with lots of little bags which is helpful, but it takes a surprisingly long time to get everything out of the bags at the start and back in them at the end of the game. I say surprisingly long, because there's very little in terms of putting pieces on the game boards, but just getting them out so that you can use them is a pain. I've bought a couple of plastic boxes with compartments from my local DIY store which helps, but then the lid won't close fully on the box. Not a big deal, but definitely something that detracts from the game.The game itself, however, is very good. It's quite complex, which is why I think it's for serious gamers. My sons and I really enjoyed it, but my girlfriend doesn't have the patience for this game (she likes games like 7 Wonders or Carcassonne). Therefore, for casual gamers you might want to try a simpler worker placement game (I've just ordered Stone Age, and I hope that will be more acceptable).The mechanics of the game are excellent, and although there are some basic elements that you really have to do (filling most - at least - of your individual game board, getting some farm animals...), beyond that there are a lot of different strategies that you can pursue. We found that it's important to use the cave furnishings and to build your strategy around those to accumulate a decent amount of points. There is no clear winning strategy (not yet, at least), and in our 4-player game last night the scores ranged from 78 to 86, so it was very close.The rules are quite confusing at first, and I don't think that the rule book is very logically laid out - whenever I have a question about something and I want to look it up, I have to search through the rulebook instead of knowing where to find it, but once you've played a few games you shouldn't really need to refer back to it very much.The game description claims that it takes about 30 minutes per person, and can be played with 1 to 7 people. We've found so far that it's closer to an hour per person, but perhaps we will speed up if we play it a few more times. At that speed, it would be rather too much with a lot of people, depending on your available time and patience, but with 2 to 4 people it's OK.I've criticised a few elements of it, but the game itself is really very good, with a lot of variety in the play and strategies. While there's no direct interaction between the players, it generates a lot of discussion about the approach, and other players will take actions that you wanted to take, so there is indirect interaction. Nothing depends on luck - there are no dice rolls or any other random element - so it's really down to your strategy.Quibbles aside, then, an excellent game for players who are willing to spend the time to learn and play the game. It's a little on the dear side, but well worth the cost for the quality of the game and all of the components.

Great euro game. With a variable set up and a wide variety of moves, this game is extremely interesting and has lots of replayability. The high number of players makes it suitable for different crowds. Love the different number of strategies to win, making it a must-have in any player's collection!Pros: tons of well crafted wooden playing pieces, more cardboard than you can shake a stick at, supports up to 7 players, plays well at all player counts (in my experience), easy to learn once you get going.Cons: takes a bit of work to set up, probably needs an insert or tubs to make this easier. Lots of wooden pieces mean it's very heavy too! Bit difficult for new players, it does have a lot of options to explore, but these are simple enough once you've played a couple of games. Play time is a bit long, about 30 mins per player (7 player games take a whole evening).

Excellent fun game, with amazing quality of content. You really do need a separate container for storing all the parts. My 14 and 16 year old teenagers enjoyed the game.

lots of bits, lots of tactics and dwarfs! great game a keeper.