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When Agricola and Nusfjord are mentioned, people usually respond to say “Agricola – that’s a classic! Nusfjord – never heard of it!” This article takes you on a journey through these two, excellent, worker placement games, making comparisons and contrasting their different styles. They were created by the master of the genre, Uwe Rosenburg, and originally both published by Lookout Games, although Z-Man Games now produce Agricola.
The hope is that in reading this article, new gamers might be persuaded you do not need to be taken to outer space or delve deep inside dungeons in order for board games to fire the imagination. Worker-placement games have had a bad press. Like someone remembering being dragged around stuffy old museums as a teenager, the mention of worker-placement can induce a glazing of the eyes. There may be bad memories of over analysis or prolonged games that might be won or lost by the smallest of margins after counting a myriad of different victory points.
It does not have to be like this. Let’s expand our horizons and come on a continental holiday to look afresh at these Euro games.
In the Beginning
As we start our trip, I will say that I have a soft spot for Agricola. It is one of the two games (along with Forbidden Island) that got me to take gaming seriously. Agricola has been a popular game for years and has been ranked in the top 50 of the Board Game Geek hall of Fame ever since its release in 2007. The box depicts a medieval farming scene (probably from Central Europe), a few hardy souls eking out a miserable existence in an unforgiving world.
Fast forward about 300 years and things have progressed. Further north within the Lofoten Archipelago in Northern Norway sits the fishing village of Nusfjord -a similar sized box containing a few more components. If it was a boat it would certainly sit slightly lower in the water. Like a travel brochure, the front cover depicts a tranquil Scandinavian scene with mountains, fjords and traditional houses from the 19th century. This game has been in the shadow of Agricola for many years. It was published in 2017 but it has not had the exposure of Agricola. With time it might be seen as a good destination for a games evening. It is a good value game and its slightly lower BGG rating reflects its anonymity rather than its quality.
Setting Out
Once unboxed the similarities of these games continue. They are a little like twinned towns, sharing similar characteristics but each having their own identify. Both have a modular series of boards. The sets of A4 cards are well produced and printed nicely on both sides of thick card. This gives both games a premium feel. Any traveller visiting these games will enjoy what is on offer. Both Lookout Games and Z-Man have not skimped and there is nothing to choose between them in terms of quality.
In the second edition of Agricola most of the resources are just painted disks, but the animals are nicely carved, painted figures. Workers in both games are represented by large flat disks! In the same way as having cream on top of your Belgian hot chocolate gives you a feeling of fullness to what is already a satisfying drink, so you might choose to enhance your experience by buying upgraded tokens and components. Ultimately, these both are excellent in what they provide and most people do not need to look beyond what is on offer.
A visit to the farm in Agricola depicts a medieval scene with a farmer’s plot and worker-placement squares clearly laid out. Surveying the vista you can imagine the flat, expanse waiting to have life breathed into it. The soil is heavy. A damp mist lingers in the chill air. This is your blank canvas of land waiting to be filled with fields, crops, a farmhouse and animals.
Scenic Route
Each player has a single farm board. These 15 squares are their parcels of barren land to do as they see fit. Farm it well and you and your family will thrive, but poor decisions may mean you end up begging for scraps. Like life in the middle ages – this can be unforgiving.
The initial impression of Nusfjord is that the town has a very similar feel. The central playing area contains Scandinavian scenes with a fjord backdrop. The artwork is clear and font almost identical to that of Agricola. Each player also is given a plot of land, but it is softer and less harsh. This time there are already a few forests covering the western edge of your real estate, just waiting to be harvested.
The remaining spaces are there to be used – for building a harbour and town, re-foresting the land or a combination of the two. There is a helpful aide memoire in the top left corner to assist with play order. In Norway you get the feeling that this region is kinder. There is already some civilisation and life, it just needs to be managed.
Claiming Your Spot
For many gamers there is as much fun is setting up a game as there is in playing it. For Agricola the playing area surrounds two resource and action boards and an area containing innovations and improvements. These become vital for the farmer to survive and feed his family. This is where the locals jostle for the meagre resources on offer. The game is played out over 14 seasons with six opportunities to harvest. Each turn reveals an extra action space but future possible actions cards are laid face down. These are randomly placed, which gives some variability. But, as autumn follows summer so, within a few games it is easy to predict which actions are about to be revealed.
There are a number of action spaces or resource squares – but only one worker may occupy a single space. A farmer in medieval times needed resources – wood, clay, stone, reed and grain, and these are in addition to animals. These seem meagre and barely sufficient to survive, let alone thrive. With each turn these need to be laid out and replenished. Areas with previously unclaimed items gain more with each following turn so can become more attractive. There is no limit on the number or variety of resources that can be held by players.
A Bit Fishy
As you stand back and survey the scene in Nusfjord there is a similar feel and set up. Spread out the couple of A4, double-sided boards with areas for workers to be placed. In addition, there are buildings to be acquired, ships to build and elders to be encouraged to visit. This is where Nusfjord feels different from Agricola. Progress and change means people no longer starve or die young of disease! The Elders of the town are revered and useful. These characters come with a wealth of expertise and experience. Their presence at your “table” will allow you to better utilise your resources or acquire buildings or boats more readily.
However, unlike Agricola where innovations and improvements remain with a player for the entire game, these experienced craftsmen stay for just three turns, eat their fill and then return to the centre of the village. This mechanism gives others the chance to gain from their expertise. Living in a fishing village like Nusfjord, and doing well is all about maximising your catch. By upgrading your fleet you can increase your haul. There is a limit though on how many fish you can actually receive. It’s as though the European Fish Quota arrived early to maintain fish stocks!
The resources in Nusfjord are much more straightforward; fish wood and gold. These do not need replenishing between turns but can be taken by players according to their actions. This makes Nusfjord a more efficient village. These resources are needed to enhance the village and build ships. The type and scope of buildings available (indicated by drawn cards) will vary with each play. A limited number are laid out, face up, and they may be replenished during the game.
Putting Down Roots
The challenge of Agricola reflects the hard life of the peasant farmers of 500 years ago – getting enough food to survive and possibly raising a family (to increase the numbers of available workers). Every few turns (six in total) it is harvest time and the family and workers need to be fed. This might be by slaughtering animals, harvesting grain or baking bread. It is literally a hand to mouth existence.
The success (or failure) depends on having sufficient food coming through at just the right time. The need to feed will certainly distract you from great building plans. You might want to build a workshop (to earn additional resources) or upgrade aspects of your farm, but can you do this at the expense of having some of your workers going hungry (and then being less productive)? These are literally life and death decisions.
The Early Bird
Getting to the market first and securing the first player slot is a definite advantage. The issue with most worker-placement games (and Agricola in particular) is that initially, there are relatively few actions of significant value. Your choice of space is dependent on other’s selections. Therefore, it can become a reactive process, especially if you are third or fourth player. The skill in Agricola is to plan a strategy that will not be affected by other’s plans and this is where the improvement cards and upgrades can be very useful.
Nusfjord’s economy revolves around fish. As the world has moved on and with a bountiful supply from the ocean, hunger is not a concern. This town is about becoming successful and constructing a fleet of ships and distributing the fish to make money. There is no “harvest” or feeding of workers so players do not get distracted. The pressure on worker action spaces is less intense. A number of spaces will allow two or three workers to share a space. In the four and five player games there is the opportunity to “copy another action”.
The Scandinavians seem to have sorted out the apparent benefit of always being a first player. Depending on player count there are a series of tokens indicating the order of play for each of the turns. This seems so much more democratic. Nusfjord is all about maximising your returns and playing efficiently rather than reacting to other’s moves and taking the next-best option.
Going up in the World
In both Agricola and Nusfjord the variability and replayability comes from the differences in the cards laid out or those in the hand. In Agricola the farmers have certain inherent traits -players have the chance to assign certain occupations and abilities to their workers. At the start, seven occupation cards are dealt to each player and these will assist certain decisions that are made. Similarly, there are numerous improvements that can be made to the running of your farm. These give a player the chance to gain certain agricultural enhancements to help on the farm. These might improve yields or bring other advantages to play.
Their effect may even be dependent on other player’s activities or occupations. The standard game already comes complete with a huge number of cards and many additional cards can be added for complexity or interaction with other players. It is the use of these cards that lifts Agricola from a standard worker-placement game to a much more complex strategic puzzle. With so many extra options to consider, the playing time increases exponentially with player count.
Shipping Out
To get on in the town of Nusfjord requires you to choose to build a variety of ships and buildings. Most of these will enhance your town and assist your shipping line or catch of fish. The standard game contains three decks of 32 cards, of increasing complexity. The two games further diverge in that Nusfjord also offers players a share scheme. Players can choose to issue shares in their own fishing venture.
This will raise vital gold for other activities. Other players could then buy these shares. This does mean that profits from your fishing venture (that are paid in fish) get distributed to your opponents. This interesting dynamic does move Nusfjord beyond “just a worker-placement game” to more of a tableau building with an economic twist.
Returning to Reality
A visit to Agricola can be a brutal exercise in survival. The first few seasons are very hard. Progress is slow. The relentless squabbling over meagre resources can be as frustrating as getting up early to go for a swim and finding a set of German towels already placed on the best sun loungers. Initial impressions will be one of accepting second (or third) best is about as good as it gets.
However, about halfway through, things start to change for the better. It is as though whist on vacation you now have accepted that the neighbours are noisy, the tent flaps in the wind and that daily you need to fill up your water container from the tap half a mile away. Life seems to take on an easier existence. Your fields start to produce good yields of crops and your animals are multiplying so well you need stables and more fields to contain them.
A Good Harvest
You now have the hang of this medieval farming life and you start to use the improvement and occupation cards to good effect. You're more relaxed, and you know that you have plenty of food for the up-coming harvests. You are really enjoying being lord of the manor in your new stone farmhouse – but then reality sinks in. Like a timely reminder that the ferry leaves at 0800 the next day, so this happy existence suddenly comes to an end.
Despite playing for over two hours (for a 4 player game) it almost feels a little too soon! The final scoring needs a pen and paper as you tally up all the different permutations of victory points. It is like a frantic dash to break camp (before it rains again!) and then try to cram everything into the car and leave space for the children. But that is what makes a good holiday. You have escaped from the anxiety of living in a post-COVID world. Life was tough. You may have missed some of life’s luxuries like hot water – but you survived. Within a few weeks you will recall the good times of this simple existence and realise you have become the richer for it.
Spa Break
Your trip to Nusfjord was a more calming vacation. It is more of an all-inclusive city break as opposed to the rough camping of Agricola. However, this is not without its difficult decisions. Do I have muesli or a full-English for breakfast – or both? It is a shorter trip and probably more relaxing.
There is no mad-dash for the showers early in the morning - the resources are plentiful. You can consider your strategy and enhance your town and harbour as you see fit, rather than being determined by the “fag-ends” of what is left. The use of the elders for a few rounds are little like having your own personal city guide for a morning, but you know that others can benefit from their knowledge in the afternoon. This seems so much more civilised.
The end of the game (just seven rounds) seems to come at just the right time. You have explored all you want to and your town is about as developed as it can be with the space available. Packing up to go home is straightforward with a simply totting up of victory points. Your pre-booked taxi is waiting patiently take you back to the station – and as you board the Eurostar back to London, relax and reflect with your wife on your last few days together, you are already starting to plan your next European destination.
Final Thoughts
So which escape would I choose? Like everything, it depends. If I was able to have sufficient time with a group of like-minded individuals then Agricola can be a very fulfilling experience. The use of the occupation cards and improvements can make this game so much more. In order to get the most from the game does require a commitment to play it many times and being prepared to do badly, a bit like learning how to put up a tent the hard way.
You could choose to play without some of the minor improvements and occupations to simplify the game. This will make it more accessible but to continue the camping analogy, this is like driving to a registered campsite rather than being prepared to hike several hours to a wild campsite at the top of a mountain. Putting in that extra effort can lead to a great experience.
Playing Nusfjord has been a enlightening experience. It is an often overlooked gem of a game that is streamlined and plays so well for all player counts. It can be a much more pleasant experience, and as it takes about half the time to play or set up, is more likely to be played and enjoyed. Within the family our tastes have changed and the consensus is that we prefer the more refined shorter city-break vacation of Nusfjord rather than a longer excursion to medieval farming. For this reason Nusfjord has become our go-to worker placement game at the moment.