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Fulfilling orders for tinned Spanish seafood isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think of board games (probably not even the 100th thing), yet this is the challenge presented in Conservas. This solo only bag-builder will have players balancing profit with sustainability. Let’s hope it’s the catch of the day!
Cash and Conservation.
Conservas sees the player drawing tokens for each boat in their fleet. They may catch various fish tokens or the sea tokens. Fish are used to fulfil orders to make money, which can then be spent on expanding and maintaining the player’s fishing fleet, or to trade in for various upgrades.
However, fish stocks are limited and releasing fish back into the deep water will allow them to breed at the end of the turn, adding more fish to the bag. To win, the player must ensure they meet the minimum target of fish still in the sea, meet their money target and possibly ensure they have purchased enough upgrades, or their fishing fleet has a set number of boats.
This is where the key decision space lies in Conservas. It is not a complicated game, but an immensely engaging one. Boats with small capacities of 1 or 2 tokens will allow you to release more fish and increase fish stocks. On the other hand, boats with larger capacities allow you to land more fish to exchange for upgrades and make more profit. Get one of these too early though, and you could endanger your fish stocks.
Purchasing upgrades can further deplete your stocks, as some require fish tokens to be left on them permanently. The rewards can be more than worth it. You could find yourself earning more money from selling certain types of seafood, or gaining more control over the bag draw when fishing at sea. I find the upgrades to be well balanced. Depending on your game state, some will be more useful than others and there is plenty of variety in the deck.
There are 12 months (scenarios) to play through to challenge even the most ardent of board game fishers. You will want to work through them too. They’re fun, interesting and not just included for the halibut.
The Finest Fillets.
To start, everything about the production of Conservas is top notch. The wooden (yes wooden! No flimsy cardboard chits and tokens here!) tokens are all colour coordinated and screen printed; there is no danger of you mixing up your scallops and sardines in Conservas. The drawstring bag they go in is well made and has a good size opening to make drawing the chunky tokens easy and satisfying. Just as well, as it is that which is the core of the game.
The artwork is delightful and plentiful, with the bright, welcoming images being pleasing to the eye and the iconography is clear and intuitive. Cards are large and all the boats have unique art and boat names. It’s fair to say the design team had some fun with coming up with those!
Card money comes in clear denominations of €1, €5 and €10 and is also well made. I would have liked a few more €10s included, as I did find myself exhausting the supply in one scenario.
The rulebook is very well written, with clear diagrams accompanying the text. There is even a storyboard of an example turn included at the back that does a great job of taking new players through the flow of the game.
Terrific Tinning?
To get the most out of Conservas, you need to enjoy the core token-pulling gameplay. Yes, the scenarios provide variety in terms of restrictions, fish types and how you fulfil orders, but ultimately each round of each game you will be pulling 5 tokens per boat and choosing which ones to keep. I find this loop at Conservas’ heart enchanting. Just be aware this is a fairly light solo game.
The theme and charm of this game is as much of a lure to me as the core mechanisms and, if this does not appeal, you may be better off with another excellent solo bag builder; Warp’s Edge. This is a slightly more complex game with a sci-fi, space ship battling theme that may be more to your tastes.
Conservas is my bag (builder).
I’m an avid solo board gamer and Conservas is one of the best I’ve played. No part of the game feels redundant, the rules are not overwrought and the mechanisms and theme blend together seamlessly. Add to this some fabulous art and components and Conservas has quickly taken pride of place in my collection.
I don’t always want a 90-120 minute game that will tax my brain. Sometimes, I want a 20 minute game that will have me thinking just enough and that every decision, every instance of component manipulation is fun.
Ultimately, this is why we play games. To have fun. Conservas has that fun, feel-good factor running through its watery veins and guarantees me a good time whenever I take it off of the shelf. If you enjoy bag building, or lighter games, or simply want to dip your toes into solo gaming, then I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. Conservas lives up to the stellar reputation of its Spanish delicacy namesake.
