One of the most fascinating aspects of covering board games is realizing how many games there are and how many themes they are based on. botanicus Published by the German publisher Hans im Gluck, the English version is distributed by Asmodee. in botanicusPlayers play as aristocrats competing to create the best botanical garden for visitors in the late 19th century. This is a very random theme, but it works very well thanks to the thoughtful design of the game pieces and gameplay.
There’s a standard version that’s perfect for families (but still has a solid strategy!) and an expert version for those who want to get serious. botanicus It definitely brings the gardening theme to life.
What’s inside the box?
botanicus 1 double-sided game board for standard and expert games, 4-player tableau also double-sided, 120 plant tokens, 18 garden cards, 12 final scoring cards, 69 coin tokens, 16 flower tiles, 12 prize tokens , comes with 20 special tokens. Task cards, 32 wooden tokens in 4 colors (1 flower, 3 gardeners, 1 wheelbarrow, 1 shovel, 1 money bag), 20 small animals in 4 colors, and of course a rulebook.
What’s really cool is that this game also comes with 5 tuck boxes to fold the pieces into. I’m a big fan of this because I’m tired of having too many plastic bags. However, I wish it was bigger, as not all the pieces actually fit into the box very well. If you have a box and make it too small, it defeats the purpose of the box, and the rulebook says to mix the pieces, so why?
The work is overall very good, but there was some tearing in the printing when punching the tokens out of the slip board, so be careful with that area.
How about playing?
Another great thing about this game is that the rules are also available on the free Dized app. I usually review rulebooks based on the physical book, but since the app is recommended, I looked at the entire guide and found it very well done. Select the number of players, click to set up each part of the game and start the action. I’m a big fan of this setup. With other apps, the rules and guides end quickly and there’s no great way to pause or go back.
That being said, setup botanicus The first play will take a while, but after the first play it will be over very quickly. In reality, rather than placing the pieces on the table, we’re going to use a flat, wide box to hold them during play.
Set up the board by placing plant, coin, and animal tokens, then sort round prize tokens and square prize tokens. Remove the highest token from each stack in a 3-player game (or the highest 2 tokens in a 2-player game). Place 16 flower tiles by pattern (spots and stripes) in matching spaces, light side up. Each player gets 5 random special task cards and 6 coins from the bank and places the gardener on the fountain and victory point track. Stack flower tokens according to the player’s board in turn order.
Players grow plants by placing tokens in flowerbeds adjacent to the gardener. Gardeners can move at the beginning of each turn or through special actions. Tasks require a series of plant combinations, and basic tasks must be completed before special tasks can be activated.
Each turn has two phases. First, move your gardener (paying 1 coin per space) or play a garden card (2 coins). In the second phase, you place a flower in the next action column, perform the action associated with that space, and pay for the occupied space.
Players can perform five actions: plant (starting with a level 1 token or obtained from an action), water and upgrade to the next level plant, move freely, draw a garden card, or draw an animal. Place them in your garden and earn points based on their location. botanicus Round 2 ends (the flower tile is flipped to the dark side) and ends when the player reaches the last row. All players take one final turn and perform one action to score their garden pillars. The person with the highest score wins!
What’s the verdict?
botanicus It’s so much fun! With only 17 turns in two rounds (plus the final turn), this is a game that really requires you to strategize. As difficult as it sounds, the final scoring does not allow you to score each column. completely full! This means that players must decide whether to try to complete all basic and special tasks, or simply fill in the garden if they are unable to complete a task.
However, players probably won’t earn as many victory points if they don’t score on basic and special tasks. Fortunately, apart from tasks such as placing animals in the garden, earning points from flower tiles in the action area, and reaching the ends of tracks for money, water and shovels, you can also earn points as you progress through the game. There are multiple ways to earn them. do not have Moves the total number of locations on the track based on the selected action.
Since turn order depends on where players place their action flowers (higher rows are placed first, lower rows are placed later), turn order can change from turn to turn. Part of the strategy involves thinking ahead of your competitors and preventing them from choosing an action (in a two-player game, the neutral player’s token is also placed by the first player). Competitive players are love This side. You can now pay 3 coins to place your token on top of another token and move it in front of that token on your next turn. However, this is not always convenient, as the actions you receive are only displayed to the right of the token.
Moving the gardener is also a fun aspect of the game, forcing you to think ahead at every turn. Should I move the gardener and plant in a new location before taking action, or do I take action where I am now and potentially lose the opportunity to plant later?
Overall, I loved the art and complete design botanicus. that feel It feels like you’re in an aristocratic place, and Tusk’s character art is great. There is also a gardener on the back of the garden card. I wish everything could fit in the box!
In the expert version, each player board is completely different and the game board is also different, giving you even more ways to approach the game. I can’t wait to play that version soon!
Get your copy now. Asmodee!
Images and review copy provided by Asmodee
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