Learning and playing the early history of German coal mining - that is all part of the fun in our next game, Haspelknecht! This game is another heavier euro game where you are trying your best to use the resources available to you to get the most points. There is tons of theme in this one as you need to build out the mine under your farm. There are also other strategies to get coal that can also work to get the points you need to win.
The game starts with a drafting mechanism to get the types of discs you want. They allow you to take different actions on your turn. Some of the discs let you farm for food while others let you work on getting the coal out from under the ground. This is one of the stronger elements of player interaction as you struggle to get the ones you want before they are stolen from you.
After the players have drafted their discs each of them individually plan out their actions for the season they are in. They can use their farmers, helpers, and technology to achieve everything you wanted to do. Some players need wood to build out their mine tunnels, helpers to pull coal out of the mine, or food/money in order to pay the lord of the land for the right to work it.
The tech trees are where the game can change greatly from game to game. How they are orientated and what players choose to get makes you adjust your strategy. Some of the technologies even make it so you can avoid digging out your mine entirely and just burn down your surrounding forest to get the coal. Coal is one of the main ways to get points but it doesn’t matter how you acquired it!
Definitely one of the headier games on our Top 100, soon to be followed by a few more, there is a lot to think about when you are playing Haspelknecht. The divergent strategies in ways to get coal makes the game a lot of fun as well as how interactive the game is for a euro game. Lots of times euro games are very much like solitaire but the drafting of action discs you definitely have an impact on your opponents. If you want to dive deep into a heavy game give our #16 a chance!