First Take: Agricola: Farmers of the Moor

(image by the_pirate @ BGG)

If you've read my thoughts on Agricola you know that I'm fairly lukewarm on the game. I find it very stressful but not in the fun way other games manage; you are constantly beat down by the need to feed your family every few rounds and can easily get stuck treading water. I've discovered I tend to prefer games where you can specialize over those where you have to do a little bit of everything to be successful. Agricola is most certainly the poster child for diversification.

Given my feelings towards Agricola it is no surprise that I walked away from Farmers of the Moor with mixed feelings. Here are the main elements from the expansion and what I thought they added (or detracted) from Agricola:

Player mat layouts - Instead of having a blank slate for building your farm, each player is given a different setup with trees and moors dotting the landscape. Using new actions included in the expansion you can turn these into resources and clear them off your map, freeing up those spaces for building. This was my favorite part of the expansion as it gave everyone a different starting layout, forcing you to figure out how to approach your land.

Action cards - The new actions help you clear off your player mat and build improvements. To prevent these new actions from stretching players even more thin you may take an action card for free and using one of its abilities instead of placing a family member on the board. I found this added some really nice decision making to the game. Do you place a family member or take the free action? Will the normal actions you need still be available when it comes back around to you? My only real concern is that it adds even more options for players, slowing their turns further.

(image by mrbeankc @ BGG)
Horses - Yes, it comes with horse animeeples. Horses are like the other animals, even as a potential food source with the proper cooking equipment. You will want to avoid serving them up for dinner if possible, though, because they are the only scoring element with no upper cap on points. This has the interesting effect of being one of the few things you can specialize in to try and make up for other losses. Given my disdain for diversification you'd think I would welcome this addition but it felt a little odd having them score differently from the other animals.

Fuel - In case there wasn't enough pressure in feeding your family you now have to keep them warm! You need one fuel per room in your house come harvest time (clay and stone houses are more efficient and get discounts) or else your family members are sent to the infirmary for a round. Fuel generally didn't seem too difficult to come by, especially since wood doubles for fuel. Ultimately I felt like this didn't add much other than just being one more thing you had to deal with, as if there wasn't enough going on already.

(image by henk.rolleman @ BGG)

Major and Minor Improvements - Going into the expansion I thought the previous items would be the biggest part of the Moor but the improvements bring the biggest change to Agricola. There's a new deck of minor improvements that and many relate to the new action cards. The real bulk of the game - and my least favorite part of the expansion - are the new major upgrades. Each of the eight normal major improvements have a second counterpart that is only available once its corresponding original improvement is purchased. There are also four new random improvements available as well. It's a lot of new options and walls of text added to the game. I found it pretty overwhelming, especially because this expansion seems to put a serious emphasis on improvements. You will find it far more challenging to ignore them and still be competitive.

Ultimately I felt like Farmers of the Moor made Agricola different, not better. If you have played lots of the original game and are looking for some variety I think Farmers of the Moor may very well deliver exactly what you are looking for. As a more casual Agricola player - and admittedly not an Agricola lover - I found Farmers of the Moor made the game more stressful and overwhelming without making it more fun.