Hansa Teutonica: Big Box

Board Game Geek Reviews

1. 7.5 out of 10

   Bluedude303

   Explaining the game was tricky as the theme does nothing to tie in the rules. However, my first play left me fascinated to come back and keep digging at these interconnected systems. My score might grow if I can get it to the table more.

2. 8 out of 10

   blank_generation

   Played the Britannia map a bit and oh man does it feel like a slugfest! Much meaner map where your opponents can more easily upset your plans (for ex: its very difficult/slow to place tradesmen in Wales/Scotland and very easy to get cleared out if you aren't careful). Especially at 3p you can get burnt this way (I imagine at 5p the extra territory somewhat dissipates the effect of this). Upgrading your number of actions is also much harder to accomplish here. On this map at least, the game lives up to its reputation as a meaner euro. -- Phenomenal game. I've had about 8 plays of it so far and during each subsequent one my appreciation for this game goes up. This feels extremely economical in comparison today's favored kitchen-sink-style euros, while also having quite a bit more depth. Today's Lacerda/Feld school of euro drop a bunch of tracks and systems on players and direct them to optimize allocation across these separate paths. While Hansa has separate scoring categories, what you invest in during the game also presents you with very interesting tactical capabilities that are not strictly for the sake of scoring (for example, developing your "Book of Knowledge" track can be used to hedge your plans when you are blocked during route-building by allowing you to move more workers to a different route). This game is tight too, it truly lasts only about 45-90 minutes and presents you with interesting decisions throughout. What makes this a much more dynamic game than many euros is the ability of players to influence the tempo of the game. In Terra Mystica (a game which I enjoy and is probably the closest analogue to HT, but which is strictly inferior IMO), the game has a fixed number of rounds, which means there's never much drama or tension about the end of the game (except in scenarios where players are neck-and-neck with their point-scoring machines). In Hansa Teutonica, the game ending conditions are triggered by players (for ex: you can end the game either by getting to 20 points, by exhausting all the bonus markers, etc.). This makes it much more than just an optimization puzzle or a race for exclusive VP generators. Hansa Teutonica lets players push a certain development strategy in order to undercut their opponents long-term strategy by being able to end the game before they can capitalize on their long term plans. On top of this, the route building and track development mechanics present many interesting timing decisions (Do I leave tradesmen on a route I can claim the benefit for just to delay another player from being able to take it after? Can I develop an ability that I'll be able to make use of this turn?). One thing I'll say is I think the game has perhaps been oversold as a "mean" euro (perhaps it's a sign of how far down the rabbit hole we've gone w/ euro designs that only theoretically have people playing the same game together that people are calling this mean). Hansa Teutonic gives you lots of ways to hedge your bets. Did you get blocked on the route you were working on? No problem, move your tradesmen to a route w/ a bonus marker that you can take advantage of. Usually there's several ways to go from A to B in this game, and the ability of players to get in each others' way is more about influencing their opponents' tempo rather than outright cutting them out (though you can also do the latter in certain ways). Blocking in Hansa can also be a distraction, setting you up to get extra tradesmen during displacement on routes that aren't particularly valuable to you. I only have a couple negatives for this game: * Scoring might just be a tad too obfuscated. There are both immediate and end-of-game scoring capabilities in the game, which makes it a bit less cutthroat than games where player scores are more immediately legible (though it also likely avoids a tit-for-tat kind of feeling to the game). * It feels likely that opening moves will be scripted in different player counts, as there are trade routes that are clearly more beneficial to claim early on. * The lack of randomness in setup makes me wonder if this game has a somewhat diminished shelf-life before it becomes "solvable"? It's hard to say, the game seems so tightly balanced to me presently that it seems possible that I'll never get to that point.

3. 10 out of 10

   Ambrose

   Intensely interactive and surprisingly quick to play, Hansa Teutonica gives unbridled freedom to the players at the table to determine what is valuable in any given game. It accomplishes what auction games are built for (namely player-driven prices) but ups player interaction and auction consequences by difficult-to-quantify magnitudes. The game board is such a significant component in this game, unlike many modern board games. When the game is played by the same players again and again, what was valued or devalued in previous games shape the future games in an ever-evolving, legacy-like dynamic that forces you to play your opponents more than the game systems. So brilliant it is quite literally one of the best games ever designed.