Hansa

Got around to playing Hansa again, this time with Grayson and even talked Tam into playing with us. I read the rules and played a trial solitare game a few weeks ago, discovered a pleasant little 60 minute game that has deceptively clever rules.

A famous trait of German games is their ability to frustrate deep analysis. They frequently introduce many agonizing decisions into each play, denying players the ability to concoct perfect strategies. All style multi-player games have a certain degree of this, but German game designers relish chances to give you many possible choices, almost as if this agony is the trill of playing all by itself.

And sometimes it is! Puerto Rico (currently #1 in the world) is like that a lot, as are games like Java that allow you to "purchase" actions with a limited number of points each turn. Area control games like El Grande would defy any computer analysis for this reason too.

There are 5 basic actions each turn in Hansa that I'm refering to. First, use (or don't use) one of your "actions points" to refill the supply spaces on the board. Second, move your trading ship to a new location. Three, four and five are: purchase a trading good, trade in a pair of goods for victory points, or trade in a single good to build a market location.

These 5 basic actions are the crux of the game. As simple as they sound, the analysis around these decisions can be amazingly complex. For example, where do I move my ship to each turn? Logic would suggest moving to where goods are pleantiful, so you can set up a trading route. But your opponents may be able to use your route more efficiently due to their market locations. Okay, I'll build more markets to make my opponents use my locations. No, they just bought up all the goods in the area, and are moving to a different area. Okay, why not delay your turn, forcing your opponents to refill the empty trade good locations. Instead, they choose to trade in their goods for victory points and now you are behind in points. Arrrgghgh!

I love this game! Picked it up for $20 at Fair Play, you won't see it in stores in the US, but it's published by Uberplay (New England is a recent highly touted release by them, as well as Tongiaki) and currently ranked 144 in the world according to the 'Geek. I look forward to playing this 4 player game with you sometime!