Travelling Through Tuscany: A Wine-Tasting Journey in 8 Parts

For 8 of the last 9 sessions at GCOM-Germantown, we have played Viticulture along with it's Expansion set, Tuscany. The Tuscany expansion consists of 11 mini expansions, designed at three tiers. The first two tiers are all designed to be played together, while the three on the third tier are intended to be separate. Rather than playing as the book suggests, by adding one expansion per session and restarting in a different order after you reach the third tier, we added two expansions each week, and then after all 8 tier one and two expansion were in, just played the three tier 3 one ofter the other.

Here are my thoughts on the base game, and each of the expansions.

Viticulture is a worker placement game where each game turn represents a year, and each season of that year (summer and winter) is played separately, but with the same workers (you do not get your workers back until the new year). At the start of the game, you have but three workers. Money and actions are very tight, and it costs money to get more workers and take more actions, so there is a lot of tension in the game right from the start. I thought things were a little too difficult in the base version of the game for players to get an engine going, but I think if I were to go back and play it again now, with the experience I have, I may feel differently. Still, a recommended game and one i would be happy to play again, even now when we have played it 8 times since January 1.

Tier 1 Expansions

Mamas & Papas: In the normal game everyone starts with 3 workers (one of which, the Grande, is special and allows you to go to an action site even if there are no more remaining placement spots available there), one Pinot Grape Vine Card, 3 coins, and 1 Summer Visitor Card. This expansion gives you two Mama cards and 2 Papa cards. You choose one of each type and get the items that your parents have bequeathed to you. Mamas typically give you 2 workers and three cards, often a vine, a visitor, and something else, while the Papas usually give a Grande Worker, some cash, then either more cash or a building. I think, since it takes an action to build a building that the building is almost always the better option on the papa cards, but only if it was one you were going to build soon anyway. The cards are all balanced pretty well and offer a way to guide your strategy in the early game. I rate this expansion a 10 out of 10 and consider it a must-use in future plays.

Property: In the base game, you have three vineyards in which you can plant vines. Even if you find you only use 2 of them, you still have three. With this expansion, you have the option of mortgaging one of them for a quick influx of cash, or, later in the game, you can buy one back when cash is plentiful but you need more room to plant. You have three fields, and their mortgage values are 5, 6, & 7 coins, so you have a choice of how much to get, and how much to pay back later. This is another must-use (10 out of 10) expansion for me, especially as cash is so hard to come by early on.

Patronage: This expansion introduces the Patronage card. Each player is dealt one at the beginning of the game, and it offers a spot to sell any wine worth 5 or more and earn 3 victory points (normally one must acquire an order card and sell the type(s) of wine listed exactly, in the value listed (or greater) to earn victory points. In addition, the card has listed on it an end-game condition that, should you fulfill, is worth 2 victory points. This gives another way to guide your strategy and is a nice benefit in that you can make some victory points without meeting the order cards more exacting requirements. It is not a must-use though, but it is still very good. 8 out of 10.

Advanced Visitors: There are 2 types of Visitor Cards. Summer and Winter. Each can only be played in the appropriate season. In the base game, some are good early, and some are good late in the game. With this expansion, they replace most of the cards like that and give them a choice of benefits, often one that is better early, and one that is better later on. This is a great thing, as there is a hand limit, and it hurts to have to throw away a card that was acquired with some amount of difficulty due to it not being useful yet. Must-use, 10 out of 10.

As you can see, I really liked the Tier One expansions. The next time I play Viticulture, I would rather play with all of them than play the base game alone, so much so that while I would like to play the base game one more time just to compare it mentally, I think the game without the Tier One expansions would be about 2 points lower on the BGG Scale than it would be with them. None of them are so difficult that, on their own, they would make it tough for a new player to add them to the game, though adding all 4 in a game with new players may be a bit much in the rules overload department, or would at least not give them a baseline of experience in which to make good decisions (I'm looking at you, Mamas and Papas).

Tier 2 Expansions

New Visitors: New Visitor cards are added in to the game in addition to the cards from the base game, and the changed cards, giving some new strategies and benefits. I liked all of them, didn't feel that any of them broke the game or anything like that, and if they were in the base game with new players, wouldn't be a problem. It also reduces shuffling and give more variety in what cards you can expect to see. Must-use, 10 out of 10.

Extended Board: Here is where things really get shaken up. The extended board changes the game from two worker placement seasons to four. They shuffle which season some actions are in, add in a spring and fall season, add a new mechanism for turn order, a trading spot to trade around cards/money/points/etc for other items, and a new influence map that can gain victory points at game end as well as cards and/or money during the game. This is really only for people with multiple games under their belt as you need some planning experience to be effective here. I think the added complexity is great, but it does add at least 30 minutes to the game. Recommended with players with 1-2 games under their belts, 7 out of 10 only due to the time addition.

Special Workers: This is really 11 different mini expansions in one. In the base game, and with all but a few combinations of parents you start with 3 workers and can gain only 3 more. With this expansion you can spend an extra coin when gaining a worker to gain one of 2 different special workers (chosen at random for that game) that, when you place them, give an extra ability. This ranges from bumping another worker out of a spot you needed, to getting a card if you place this worker last, to placing in a future season. Some of the powers of these workers were so clearly valuable that everyone took them in the games they were available, while others only had slight or conditional benefits, that favored certain strategic paths. I liked the variety, but wouldn't feel remiss if this were not included in a game. Moderate recommendation, 6 out of 10.

Structures: In the base game, there are buildings you can construct that give you benefits, allowing you to plant more valuable grapes, store and age more valuable wines, collect more visitors, get more money when giving a wine tasting, etc. This expansion adds cards that add even more types of buildings with a wider variety of effects. After playing several games with them, it felt like many of the card costs and benefits simply did not align. Many cards gave great benefits and were easy to build, while some were much harder to build and the benefits were not as readily useful. You must already be using the Extended Board expansion above to use this expansion. Slight recommendation, 4 out of 10.

Tier Two offered a more mixed bag. The New Visitors could easily be used in any game, and should be, I think. The Extended Board is needed for all the Tier 3 Expansions, and I like the Influence Map and the Turn Order Changes offer some variety but the added complexity lengthens the game. The Special Workers and Structures are both just OK.

Tier 3 Expansions

Mafia: The least complex of the Tier Three expansions, it basically involved blind trading of cards hoping to get the highest valued, or at least not the lowest valued, at the end of the game. Didn't do much for me. Not recommended, 2 out of 10

Formaggio: Adds cheese-making to the game. In addition to all the steps in making wine, it adds steps to produce, store, and sell cheeses. The biggest problem I found was that, while it looked like it could be lucrative, it involved a second path to points that required to ignore the wine-making path, at least to some degree. That made it seem to daunting and no one pursued it much in our game. I would like to try it again before rendering final judgement (as if any of my thoughts here were final), but I am in no great hurry to do so. Slight recommendation, 3 out of 10, maybe going higher with more plays.

Arboriculture: Adds apple growing/selling, tomato sauce production, and olive oil to the game. In contrast to the Formaggio Expansion, the path to making these generate Victory Points was integrated into the path to making victory points via Wine Production. That made it seem more viable, and more a true part of the game that everyone would make use of. Highly Recommended, 8 out of 10.

Thanks for reading, and if you are interested in playing Viticulture/Tuscany, please save a seat for me, I really enjoy this game.

-Dave

Germantown 05/04/15

Attendance:  16

• Leslie Barkley
• Dave, Noreen & Andrew Fair
• Nick Ferris
• Christine Fiedler
• Henry Ho
• Randy Hoffman
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob & Carol Jones
• Rich Parker
• Eric & Laura Reinhold
• Howard Wagner
• Chris Wottawa

Games Played (scores in order of place):

Toss It In the Trash - Nick 0, Laura -2, Chris -7, Eric -12
California Gold - Howard 12, Doug 10, Henry 10, Rich 7, Bob 7
AquaSphere - Christine 76, Laura 76, Nick 74
No Thanks - Bob 29, Howard 33, Henry 41, Doug 84
Castles of Burgundy - Chris 214, Eric 205, Noreen 156
Viticulture/Tuscany - Dave 41, Leslie 32, Carol 25, Randy 24, Andrew 17

AquaSphere image by Andreas Resch on BGG.

Posted by Bob on 05/21/2015.

Germantown 04/20/15

Attendance:  16

• Leslie Barkley
• Paul Czarnota
• Andrew & Dave Fair
• Nick Ferris
• Christine Fiedler
• Jennifer Glinzak
• Randy Hoffman
• Rebecca Holte
• Bob & Carol Jones
• Rich Parker
• Eric & Laura Reinhold
• Gordon Rotter
• Chris Wottawa

Games Played (scores in order of place):

Istanbul - Gordon 5, Paul 4, Bob 4, Rebecca 3, Henry 2
Shadows over Camelot - Knights won (Nick, Jenn, Rich, Chris, Eric, Laura). Christine (first time playing) was the Traitor
Uptown - Paul 1, Bob 3, Henry 3
Splendor - Henry 15, Bob 8, Christine 4, Paul 0
Viticulture - Kelsey 28, Dave 28, Randy 26, Andrew 24, Leslie 16, Carol 12

Uptown image by Ender Wiggins on BGG.

Posted by Bob on 05/17/15.

Germantown 04/06/15

Attendance:  7

• Leslie Barkley
• Christine Fiedler
• Henry Ho
• Randy Hoffman
• Doug Hoylman
• Bill Salvatore
• Alf Schupe

The Jones family was out of town so seven stalwarts met at the Wegmans cafe.

No scores were kept, but games played were:

Castles of Burgundy (twice)
Timeline
Bruges


Posted by Bob on 05/12/15.

Gemantown 03/30/15

Attendance:  17

• Leslie Barkley
• Andrew, Noreen & Dave Fair
• Nick Ferris
• Christine Fiedler
• Jennifer Glinzak
• Randy Hoffman
• Rebecca Holte
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob & Carol Jones
• Ben & Rich Parker
• Eric & Laura Reinhold
• Gordon Rotter

Games Played (scores in order of place):

Qwixx - Randy 84, Christine 60
La Isla - Andrew 75, Doug 57, Eric 50, Laura 25 (scores low due to missed rule)
Age of War - Doug 18, Eric 8, Andrew 5, Laura 4
Istanbul - Gordon 5, Christine 3, Bob 3, Noreen 3, Henry 2
Viticulture - Dave 35, Randy 23, Carol 17, Leslie 14
Francis Drake - Ben 92, Rich 83, Nick 67, Jenn 65, Rebecca 64
Bohnanza - Noreen 12, Doug 11, Henry 10, Gordon 10, Christine 9, Bob 7, Andrew 4

La Isla image by Ann Th. on BGG.

Posted by Bob on 05/05/15,

Gemantown 03/16/15

Attendance:  18

• Leslie Barkley
• Nick Ferris
• Christine Fiedler
• Jennifer Glinzak
• Ethan Goffman
• Henry Ho
• Randy Hoffman
• Rebecca Holte
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob & Carol Jones
• Rich Parker
• Gordon Rotter
• Alf & Cynthia Shupe
• Kelsey Smith
• Shayla Word
• Chris Wottawa

Welcome, Shayla and Christine!

Games Played (scores in order of place):

Werewolf Inquisition - Werewolves (Jenn, Chris) won. Villagers (Nick, Leslie, Rich).
Istanbul - Christine 5 (10), Doug 5 (1), Ethan 4, Kelsey 4, Randy 3
Concept - Jenn 14, Nick 10, Leslie 8, Rich 8, Chris 8
Sushi Go! - Kelsey, Randy 35 (tie), Ethan 30, Doug 22, Christine 19
Port Royal - Leslie 12, Jenn 9, Nick 8, Rich 8
Tichu - Jenn & Leslie 315, Nick & Rich 285
Caylus - Bob 60, Henry 56, Carol 44, Alf 39, Cynthia 34
Pandemic - Disease won.  Rebecca, Chris, Gordon and Shayla lost.
Splendor - Randy 15, Christine 9, Doug 8, Ethan 7
Uptown - Rebecca, Shayla, Gordon

Concept image by Ann Th. on BGG.

Posted by Bob on 04/12/15.

Germantown 03/02/15

Attendance:  18

• Leslie Barkley
• Paul Czarnota
• Andrew, Noreen & Dave Fair
• Nick Ferris
• Jennifer Glinzak
• Randy Hoffman
• Rebecca Holte
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob & Carol Jones
• Rich Parker
• Eric & Laura Reinhold
• Gordon Rotter
• Kelsey Smith
• Chris Wottawa

Games Played (scores in order of place):

Port Royal - Noreen 12, Chris 10, Jenn 8, Rich 8, Nick 3.
Mermaid Rain - Eric 62, Paul 59, Laura 48, Doug 46
Age of War - Jenn 12, Chris 10, Nick 8, Noreen 5, Rich 2
Blue Moon City - Bob 5, Rebecca 4, Gordon 4 (Rebecca should have won but misunderstood a rule)
Qwixx -Nick 61, Jenn 52, Noreen 48, Chris 45, Rich 36
Age of War - Rebecca 11, Paul 9, Noreen 6, Jenn 3, Doug 3, Gordon 2
Heir to Europa (Nick Ferris, author) - Bob 13, Chris 6, Rich 5, Nick 3
Port Royal - Bob 12, Chris 8, Nick 7
6 Nimmt - Paul 21, Randy 41, Doug 43, Leslie 58, Jenn 67, Carol 80
Viticulture - No scores recorded (players: Dave, Leslie, Kelsey, Andrew, Carol, Randy)

Port Royal image by Daniel Danzer on BGG.

Posted by Bob on 04/12/15.

Germantown 02/16/15

Attendance:  11

• Leslie Barkley
• Andrew, Noreen & Dave Fair
• Randy Hoffman
• Rebecca Holte
• Bob Jones
• Cynthia Lewis
• Erik Light
• Gordon Rotter
• Kelsey Smith

Games Played (scores in order of place):

Coup - Kelsey, Randy, Dave, Noreen, Andrew, Bob
Splendor - Bob 15, Erik 12, Cynthia 12, Noreen 8
Saint Malo - Bob 36, Erik 35, Cynthia 22, Noreen 21
Viticulture - Dave 22, Andrew 16, Kelsey 15, Leslie 13, Randy 11
Ave Caesar - Bob 15, Rebecca 9, Erik 8, Gordon 3, Noreen 2, Cynthia 1
Istanbul - Randy 5, Andrew 4, Leslie 4, Dave 4
6 Nimmt - Randy 6, Cynthia 14, Bob 31, Erik 46, Dave 52, Leslie 55, Rebecca 55, Andrew 69, Noreen 70, Gordon 76

Ave Caesar image by Nick Case on BGG.

Posted by Bob on 03/19/15.

Kosmos Two Player Series - Lord of the Rings: The Duel by Peter Neugebauer

Not a classic like Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, neither is it the uninspiring and confused Lord of the Rings: The Search by the same designer. Lord of the Rings: The Duel by Peter Neugebauer holds the middle ground. A fun card game of quick combat between Gandalf and the Balrog over a chasm, on the bridge of Khazad Dum.

Each player has a deck with twenty-seven cards. Four duels will be played, three preliminary and one final. For the preliminary duels, each player will draw nine cards from his deck, play six, and save the remaining three for the final duel. After three rounds, during the final duel, the players will play all nine remaining cards; careful planning is important so that you have some good cards left.

Scoring is done on the cool bridge on which stylish wooden figures represent Gandalf and the Balrog. At the end of the game, whichever piece is closest to the top of the bridge, wins.

First round card play

The cards themselves are pretty clever. On the right side is an attack strength, indicated by zero to four "magical symbols". On the left side is a defense strength, also indicated by a number of magical symbols. All cards are played next to each other in a line, so the card you are playing defends against the card played by your opponent, then attacks the other player's next card. For every undefended symbol, a point is scored, moving your cube up the energy track. After all cards are played in a round, the difference in the players' progress on the energy track determines how much the winner moves up the bridge, from one to three steps.

Each deck also contains a few special cards like the Balrog's Whip, which allows the player to pick up and reuse an already played card, or Gandalf's Magic which lets him discard a card played by the Balrog. A timely play with one of the special cards can turn around a duel going badly.

After the fourth duel, the player higher up the bridge wins. If both are on the same level, the winner of the final duel is the winner of the game.

The Balrog and Gandalf at two points each.

Carol, as Gandalf, started out by crushing me in the first duel and moving up two steps. I tied the game during the second duel. During the third duel, I went ahead by moving up a single step. Carol managed to win the fourth and final duel, moving up another step, and putting the game into a tie, which gave her (and the forces of good) the victory.

The end of the Final Duel

Coming up:  We recreate the War of the Roses in Rosenkonig.

Kosmos Two Player Series - Druidenwalzer by Michael Rieneck

I consider Druidenwalzer to be one of the most beautiful games in the series as well as one of the most challenging. The art by Andreas Steiner is lovely and the gameplay, based on Mancala, is filled with subtle strategy while getting tighter and more tense as the game progresses. Carol, on the other hand, hates it.

Please note that what is to follow are a lot of references to spirits, faeries and other flighty topics.

Each player represents one of the two Druid cults, The Suns and The Moons. Each cult has four trees it protects from subversion by the other cult. The player who subverts two of his opponent's trees wins the game.

Each player starts with Druids (colored cones) on three of his trees. Only trees with Druids may be subverted by the other cult. Each tree has five Spirit cards with a value from one to five below it. When a player plays a Spirit card from his hand onto a tree, the Spirits dance, and a tree or even multiple trees might be subverted.

The game is set up and ready to go.

On your turn you have three choices. You may play a Spirit card, discard a Spirit card, or Move a Druid. Moving a Druid is the easiest, you simply move one of your Druids to an unoccupied tree. Since only trees with Druids can be subverted, you are now protecting the empty tree. Of course, once you've lost a tree, you have a Druid on every tree, so moving a Druid is no longer an option.

Discarding a Spirit card from your hand or one of your trees is a way to get weak or problematic cards out of the way. Unfortunately, you have a limited number of cards so if you discard too many, you become vulnerable to losing a tree from lack of cards.

The main action in the game is playing a Spirit card. You place a card from your hand onto a Spirit card pile in front of one of your trees, then move the Faerie Ring onto that tree. Each tree has a number from one to four and the tree you choose determines how far the Spirits will dance. The card itself determines in which direction, clockwise or counter-clockwise, the Spirits will dance, as well as which Spirits will dance. For example, if I play a value 3 Spirit card with a clockwise arrow on tree number 2, all 3 value Spirit cards from both players will move clockwise 2 spaces. The idea of the dance is to get the higher value Spirit cards to move below your trees, while getting the lower value cards to move below your opponents trees.

One of Bob's trees has been subverted by the Sun Cult.

After the dance, Druid conflict occurs. Except for the tree with the Faerie Ring, you compare the value of the Spirits protecting the trees with like-colored Druids. Generally this means that at least two trees will be in conflict every turn. The trees with the lower value Spirit get a subversion token. The winning cards are discarded and new cards flipped up in their place. If a tree gets six tokens, it is subverted and flipped over to represent its new allegiance to the other cult.

If one of your trees is ever emptied of Spirit cards, you have until the end of your next turn to get a card down on that spot or the tree is subverted.

And that's basically it. It sounds confusing and can be for a couple of turns but you get used to the strange flow of the game pretty quickly. Deciding what value of Spirit card to play on which tree and being able to visualize all the moves that will occur and the ramifications of those moves is challenging. And as the game goes on, it gets tighter as you have fewer trees and Spirit cards left, limiting your options.

Carol started out strong, hitting my trees pretty hard and I was the first to lose a tree while having five subversion tokens on another. Frankly, it looked bad for me, while Carol's damage was more widespread across all four of her trees. With our options decreasing, I managed to subvert one of her trees, and then another before losing any of mine. As you can see below, one of my trees took no damage, while one of her tree's only took one.

Endgame.

I really enjoyed the game and its challenges. Carol still hates it.

Coming Up:  We return to Middle Earth for the final time in Lord of the Rings: The Duel.