Am I done with Le Havre? It certainly seems like it (haven't played it in four months). While I agree that it's a better design than Agricola, the relative sameness of the buildings (from game to game) means that its easy to exhaust the novelty ... and since I think there is one true path to victory in Le Havre, well, there you go.
Should Automobile have won? All my concerns for Le Havre count double against Automobile, but I've only played twice, so I could be wrong. (Note -- that was rhetorical humility only. I'm not wrong. After a few more plays the strategic interest will be sucked dry).
Should Dominion have won? It's tough to argue against a game that I've played several hundred times (online). Clever design (and novel), lots of fans. Theoretically a worse design than either of the other two games, but enough variety to overcome it, and probably the only game of the three likely to hit 25+ hours of enjoyment.
Of course, BSG surpassed that before Pegasus came out, so that tells you who I would have voted for.
Speaking of BSG (and I am, now) -- I've been thinking about Variants. I think I'd like to play with random destinations ... you randomly roll between using the Kobol card and New Caprica card during the sleeper phase. And I'd like to see Pegasus ship enter and leave the game; this mirrors the show, to be sure, but as it stands Galactica isn't rarely threatened with destruction. Off the top of my head, I think
- Pegasus should show up the first time a "Ship" card is drawn. (This also helps balance a hard game versus an easy one ...
- You Pegasus damage chits equal to "Distance - 1" every time you jump (So, jump 3, Pegasus takes two damage). Anyone on Pegasus when it is destroyed winds up in Sickbay.
- Destroyed ships are only revealed to the cylons (so humanity doesn't gain info when things are destroyed).
- A "Basestars bombard" result adds a basestar in front of Galactica if there are none around (usually via a double nuke). Just to keep things tense.
Overall these change will make things harder for humanity, but given that our balance is at 50/50 that doesn't bother me (unless testing shows I've misjudged things).
I'm less certain about your critique of Automobile, even though it beat out Le Havre for the top spot on my IGA ballot. There's virtually no variety in the starting position, but despite that, my games have played very differently. I think the interactions of the players give this game all the replayability it needs, but I can't be certain with a small sample size. It also means that with the same group, groupthink might doom it to a static exercise. Still, I know some pretty intense gamers who are big fans of the game and it maintains a very high average rating on the Geek with over 900 ratings. So I'm hoping it will have staying power with us.
Oh well, sure hoping I like BSG as much as you do, just concerned that its length will prevent it getting to the table as often as I would like. That plus I usually game with 3...will be a challenge finding the other 2 players.
Sure it can. Caylus has only one way to win, and it's pretty high up there. A game can have only one way to win and make very good first impressions, which is a real key to high BGG ratings, but have lousy replayability. A game can also benefit from a connection to a much-beloved and much better cousin.
Le Havre's OK, but I sold it after maybe 4 plays. Agricola has only a few ways to win too, but at least it's much more interesting getting there, and at least it's shorter.
I am also thinking you are really harsh with Caylus, but I had seen that coming :)
@JeffG: As for an expansion, I don't know. Brian had a nice idea to create some instability at the beginning of the game with a die roll. I think what it really needs, much like Agricola, is more variability in the basic buildings (action cards in Agricola), as the semi-random order just doesn't affect enough, a re-costing of coke (to 3f), and more special actions in play (but that means removing some other actions, or there's just not enough contested space). So it would take some work. And that's all assuming it needs fixing: there's plenty there tactically, and if that's what floats your boat, it may be an instant 10 for you, too. ;)
Really? News to me. You may be thinking of the Agricola expansion (Die Moorbauern).