DEFINING WORKER PLACEMENT
Board Game Geek (BGG) uses the following to define worker placement (paraphrasing some):
Players place tokens (typically the classic person-shaped "meeple") to trigger an action from a set of actions available to all players, generally one-at-a-time and in turn order.
Each player usually has a limited number of tokens with which to participate in the process, although these may increase as the game progresses.
There is usually a limit on the number of times a single action may be taken. Once that limit for an action is reached, it typically either becomes more expensive to take again or can no longer be taken for the remainder of the round. As such, not all actions can be taken by all players in a given round, and "action blocking" occurs.
If the game is structured in rounds, then all actions are usually refreshed at the start or end of each round so that they become available again.
IN A NUTSHELL
All of that sounds “scary” right? Let me put it in the simplest terms for you:
1) You take a worker and place it on a spot.
2) You do what the spot tells you to do which can be anything from getting resources to drawing a card or other game mechanics.
3) Leave your piece in that spot. Most often nobody else can go to that same place until you leave.
4) Typically, it is the next players turn unless a “turn order” or "action queue" took place (one of the games below does this which I will talk about soon).
5) At the end of the round, most of the time, you take you pieces back to your supply and repeat the process.
JUST A SMALL NUMBER
I did a search on BGG to see how many entries there are of the worker placement mechanic and the result is approximately 3,000 in their database. Keep in mind this includes base games, expansions, and promos. Just base games, if I did the filtered search correctly, is number at around 1,800.
Any guess as to how many are in the Top 100 on BGG? 10, 15, 20… the actual number is 28. More than 25% are worker placement games. Of those we own ten and have played five so far.
We own a lot of worker placement games because I enjoy the strategy of planning what you want to do and accomplish and taking the steps to carry out the plans.
My wife says that she doesn’t like playing them with my sister and I because we “take forever” to take a turn because we like to plan. What my wife won’t admit though is that she likes them too because more often then not she likes the “action blocking” aspect (and gets mad when she gets blocked).
MY FAVORITES
I want to share with you a handful of my favorite worker placement games from our collection. Even though we do own a lot more than this, I just want to provide a variety with you that have other mechanics mixed in with the games. Those with a number in parentheses are in the BGG Top 100 games list. Descriptions are from the game page on BGG. My list is in alphabetical order.
A Feast for Odin (21)
A Feast for Odin is a saga in the form of a board game. You are reliving the cultural achievements, mercantile expeditions, and pillages of those tribes we know as Viking today — a term that was used quite differently towards the end of the first millennium.
When the northerners went out for a raid, they used to say they headed out for a Viking. Their Scandinavian ancestors, however, were much more than just pirates. They were explorers and founders of states. Leif Eriksson is said to be the first European in America, long before Columbus.
In what is known today as Normandy, the intruders were not called Vikings but Normans. One of them is the famous William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066. He managed to do what the king of Norway failed to do only a few years prior: conquer the Throne of England. The reason why the people of these times became such strong seafarers is due to their unfortunate agricultural situation. Crop shortfalls caused great distress.
In this game, you will raid and explore new territories. You will also experience their day-to-day activities: collecting goods to achieve a financially secure position in society. In the end, the player whose possessions bear the greatest value will be declared the winner.
Weight: 3.85/5
Uwe Rosenberg is well known for his Euro/worker placement games; this one is one of his biggest hits. It is a very “busy” game in the sense that you have so many options in terms of placing your workers and this is the main reason it has a higher weight to it. Each round of play you have a set number of Vikings to place at variable costs. Some spots cost one worker others cost two, three, or even four.
The game does have multiple foci that can be overwhelming to some, however, with the more you play, the better you will get at balancing everything and finding the best way to score your points.
Cavern Tavern
Cavern Tavern is a worker (dice) placement and resource management game that is set in a fantasy world. Each player assumes the role of a worker in the tavern. Your job is to serve drinks, work in the kitchen, do chores, and on top of that try to keep every guest happy, including the nasty and greedy barkeep.
On each turn, a player can assign his dice to 1 of the 21 locations in the tavern.
These locations are divided in 6 sections. The Main area, where the guests are located and from where each player must pick up an Order, Cellar where all the ingredients that are used to complete the Orders are located, Kitchen where players can work to receive different rewards, as well as the Chores section. Also, the board features the Wizards workshop where the players can seek help for completing the Orders and Nasty the Dwarf's office where the players can go and try to suck up to the boss and badmouth a coworker.
The players will have to complete the Orders as soon as possible, because for each round they are late, they’ll receive less points than the Order's original value.
Also, for being late with the Orders, your reputation with Nasty the Dwarf is affected, something that is vital in the game.
To stand out from other workers and gain your employers favor, you’ll need to skillfully manage the orders from your customers and the resource ingredients. You’ll have to carefully prioritize your moves, and choose from what kind of work you’ll profit the most out of the situation.
So… do you have what it takes? Get ready for the biggest challenge in your life, and start working in Cavern Tavern.
Weight 2.42/5
This is one of my wife’s favorite worker placement games because it does not take that long to play. What makes this different from others is that you are rolling dice, which are your workers, and you are placing them according to the sum of the die/dice.
Each location in the Cellar gives you the option of two different ingredients and the number of players in the game dictates how many “workers” can be at a particular location. However, each ingredient does have two locations on the board where you can get them with the second costing you two or three dice to get.
Every player is trying to fill their orders quickly for higher points so fighting over ingredient spots is part of the game. Because each die and order is public knowledge, you need to plan to get what you need early on before you are “action blocked” by your opponents.
Everdell (29)
Within the charming valley of Everdell, beneath the boughs of towering trees, among meandering streams and mossy hollows, a civilization of forest critters is thriving and expanding. From Everfrost to Bellsong, many a year have come and gone, but the time has come for new territories to be settled and new cities established. You will be the leader of a group of critters intent on just such a task. There are buildings to construct, lively characters to meet, events to host—you have a busy year ahead of yourself. Will the sun shine brightest on your city before the winter moon rises?
Everdell is a game of dynamic tableau building and worker placement.
On their turn a player can take one of three actions:
a) Place a Worker: Each player has a collection of Worker pieces. These are placed on the board locations, events, and on Destination cards. Workers perform various actions to further the development of a player's tableau: gathering resources, drawing cards, and taking other special actions.
b) Play a Card: Each player is building and populating a city; a tableau of up to 15 Construction and Critter cards. There are five types of cards: Travelers, Production, Destination, Governance, and Prosperity. Cards generate resources (twigs, resin, pebbles, and berries), grant abilities, and ultimately score points. The interactions of the cards reveal numerous strategies and a near infinite variety of working cities.
c) Prepare for the next Season: Workers are returned to the players supply and new workers are added. The game is played from Winter through to the onset of the following winter, at which point the player with the city with the most points wins.
Weight: 2.82/5
A favorite game for both my wife and I. The game is pretty fast at the beginning due to the limited number of workers you have and the lack of resources to play cards. But as the game progresses each season takes longer because you are able to do more.
The expansions do add more to the game making replay ability endless. No two games are ever alike. We do enjoy that one person’s strategy may not work the same way each time due to the cards you are able to add to your city.
Most of the time while we play, we tend to forget about the special events that are sitting on the tree and focus on just the basics in front of us. The overall aesthetics of the game makes it enjoyable for one and all since you are not using cardboard tokens but well made pieces.
Fields of Arle (66)
Welcome to Arle
In Fields of Arle, created by Uwe Rosenberg, one to two players live as farmers in the small and peaceful town of Arle in East Frisia. The flax grown in the land surrounding the village makes it a profitable place to work and live. Fields of Arle takes players through four and a half years of this era of prosperity, with different opportunities available as the seasons change. Farm the land to capitalize on the demand for flax, or find other ways to make the most of the small town’s prosperity.
Work the Land
Whether you delve into flax farming or leverage other areas of expertise, always make sure that you have the land to build up your village. Construct dikes to keep the waters at bay and expand your fields. Dry out bogs to harvest peat and then clear the land for cultivation. Create more fields for your livestock, buildings, or future crops; after that, you can decide whether to house animals or cultivate a forest for timber. Perhaps you’d like to take up some flax farming for yourself, or diversify and try out a little bit of everything.
Tools of the Trade
At the outset of each half year, you’ll choose how you’d like to spend that time working. There are many ways to build your fortune. Use the Master space to increase the tools at your disposal, focus on the Cattle Trainer to make the most of your livestock, or build up your fleet of vehicles and ship out goods. Taking stock of your progress differs depending on the season. You may milk your existing livestock or care for a bunch of newborn animals. You could harvest your flax in the fall, and sheer your sheep in spring. At the end of each half year, you’ll need to take stock of your progress by unloading your vehicles and feeding your family and animals, so keep an eye on the season and do your best to keep the farm growing and everyone well fed!
Travel and Prosper
Once you’ve made headway in clearing fields and stocking up goods, it's time to make your products available to potential buyers. The more vehicles you have, the more goods you can ship. Send things into the wide world to increase your Travel Experience and grant you points over the course of the four and a half years of the game. Build up your farm and your vehicles and get your goods out into the world to make the most of every season. There are many roads to success in Fields of Arle, so pick your path, work the land, and enjoy the friendly competition as you strive to make your fortune!
Weight: 3.88/5
The second one on our list by the great Uwe Rosenberg. Even though this game is just a hair more complex than A Feast for Odin I feel that it is easier to learn and play. The base game is a two player game but the expansion does allow for a third player.
Yes, there are multiple areas to focus on in the game but, for me, the game is perfectly balanced in which no one area is stronger than the next. If you want to shine more in one area, you need the help from another to get there. Another item about the game I do love is that the seasons (summer and winter) are only four turns long so the game play is fairly quick (if you know what you want to do ahead of time and don’t get action blocked by your spouse).
Did I mention that this game from Uwe is all about his childhood home. He designed this game based on the actual area in Northern Germany that he was raised. That makes the game extra special for me because we know he put his heart and soul into designing it.
Istanbul
In Istanbul, you lead a group of one merchant and four assistants through 16 locations in the bazaar. At each such location, you can carry out a specific action. The challenge, though, is that to take an action, you must move your merchant and an assistant there, then leave the assistant behind (to handle all the details while you focus on larger matters). If you want to use that assistant again later, your merchant must return to that location to pick him up. Thus, you must plan ahead carefully to avoid being left with no assistants and thus unable to do anything...
In more detail, on a turn you move your merchant and his retinue of assistants one or two steps through the bazaar, either leave an assistant at that location or collect an assistant left earlier, then perform the action. If you meet other merchants or certain individuals at the location, you might be able to take a small extra action. Possible actions include:
• Paying to increase your wheelbarrow capacity, which starts the game with a capacity of only two for each good.
• Filling your wheelbarrow with a specified good to its limit.
• Acquiring a special ability, and the earlier you come, the easier they are to collect.
• Buying rubies or trading goods for rubies.
• Selling special combinations of goods to make the money you need to do everything else.
When a merchant has collected five rubies in his wheelbarrow, players complete that round, then the game ends. If this player is the only one who's reached this goal, he wins immediately; otherwise ties are broken by money in hand.
Weight: 2.58/5
The description sums it up really well. We enjoy this game because of how easy it is to play the game. The placement of the 16 locations changes with each game and the expansions add additional enjoyable content to the game play.
Getting the Big Box version is totally worth it.
Oh, just remember that it is Istanbul and not Constantinople.
Lost Ruins of Arnak (42)
On an uninhabited island in uncharted seas, explorers have found traces of a great civilization. Now you will lead an expedition to explore the island, find lost artifacts, and face fearsome guardians, all in a quest to learn the island's secrets.
Lost Ruins of Arnak combines deck-building and worker placement in a game of exploration, resource management, and discovery. In addition to traditional deck-builder effects, cards can also be used to place workers, and new worker actions become available as players explore the island. Some of these actions require resources instead of workers, so building a solid resource base will be essential. You are limited to only one action per turn, so make your choice carefully... what action will benefit you most now? And what can you afford to do later... assuming someone else doesn't take the action first!?
Decks are small, and randomness in the game is heavily mitigated by the wealth of tactical decisions offered on the game board. With a variety of worker actions, artifacts, and equipment cards, the set-up for each game will be unique, encouraging players to explore new strategies to meet the challenge.
Discover the Lost Ruins of Arnak!
Weight: 2.86/5
This game came out last year and has been a huge hit with gamers this year. The game combines multiple mechanics including card drafting and deckbuilding on top of being a worker placement game.
With a few areas to attend to in the game, each person can decide where they want to lay their focus in order to maximize their points. Each time you set up the game, the various areas on the board will be placed with different tiles so, once again, no two games are alike.
A much awaited expansion was just released at Essen Speil ’21 and we are waiting for distributors in the States to receive inventory.
If you are looking for a game that uses multiple popular game play mechanics, this game does it all. Very enjoyable and a new found favorite game for my family.
Teotihuacan: City of Gods
Travel back in time to the greatest city in Mesoamerica. Witness the glory and the twilight of the powerful pre-Columbian civilization. Strategize, accrue wealth, gain the favour of the gods, and become the builder of the magnificent Pyramid of the Sun.
In Teotihuacan: City of Gods, each player commands a force of worker dice, which grow in strength with every move. On your turn, you move a worker around a modular board, always choosing one of two areas of the location tile you land on: one offering you an action (and a worker upgrade), the other providing you with a powerful bonus (but without an upgrade).
While managing their workforce and resources, players develop new technologies, climb the steps of the three great temples, build houses for the inhabitants of the city, and raise the legendary and breath-taking Pyramid of the Sun in the centre of the city.
Each game is played in three eras. As the dawn of the Aztecs comes closer, player efforts (and their ability to feed their workforce) are evaluated a total of three times. The player with the most fame is the winner.
Weight: 3.76/5
One of the heavier game in our list and for good reason. It may seem pretty daunting upon looks alone, it is however, pretty easy to understand once you really understand the basics. Each game the tiles around the board are randomized so no setup will be the same. The third paragraph in the description sums it up.
The game is balanced so that you do not have to focus on one or two areas of advancement but all areas are achievable. I do love the rondel movement (going around the board in a set direction) so that you can plan out future moves with some pre-planning.
A couple of expansions are available as well which increases the weight of the game to 3.9/5 and 4/5. From what I have heard, people do like the increasing challenge to the game.
Now I challenge you to say Teotihuacan ten times fast.
Unsettled
Lost amidst the surreal and bizarre unknowns of the far reaches of the cosmos, your crew of explorers must pull together to discover the resources necessary to survive the long journey home.
Unsettled is a 2-4 player cooperative survival adventure set in the wondrous and unnerving fringes of uncharted space. There are no enemies and no combat, only an environment where every step, every breath, every particle around you could mean immediate, terrifying, death. Enemies are the least of your concerns.
In these incredible conditions you must complete a series of tasks necessary to your continued survival. Perhaps the water reclamation system on the ship needs repair, or (as usual) food supplies are running low. Before you lies a strange alien landscape - it’s up to you to complete these tasks using…whatever you find out there.
Each time you play you will have a different combination of survival tasks to complete and the things you discover (and their weird properties) will be different as well. So while you always start out knowing what problems you need to solve you have no idea how you’re going to use the world before you to do so (or what the world is going to do to you while you try).
As you explore the environment, encountering wild & unique opportunities along the way, you will work closely with the rest of your crew to achieve your goal of continued existence. The only thing you can be sure of is each other; lose that trust and you’ll lose all hope of survival.
Weight 3.1/5
Our newest worker placement game that we had backed on Kickstarter and it was finally delivered just a few weeks ago. One of the few cooperative games that we can either win together, die together, or even some crew stays alive and some dies.
With everything there is from the set up you might think that this is no way only a 3.1/5 game but be rest assured, that only the first setup of the game will feel that way. With all the Game Trayz organizers it makes setup really easy for each game after the first.
The game has the base framework box which you will need for each game and then you will choose one of the planet boxes to do the missions in it (as stated, after the first game setup is easy and adding the planet specific items is simple). As stated in the description, there is no combat or fighting, just exploration and tasks needed for survival.
Once the game hits retail, I am sure that the hype of the game will be matched at the same level all of us Kickstarter backers are loving it.
Vikings On Board
Vikings on Board is a family-strategy/worker-placement game in which your objective is to set sail with your clan of Vikings on board the ships best supplied for a successful voyage, while simultaneously placing bets on which clan you think will control each ship as they set sail.
Ships are divided into three sections: the front (bow), the middle (body), and the end (stern). During the course of the game, you will place supplies on the ships’ bows, while moving around their body pieces so that your clan has majority control of a ship when it sets sail. Stern pieces are used to show which ships have already set sail.
Each turn, the active player will perform one of the remaining available actions. Actions include: taking first pick of actions next round, rearranging ships' pieces (x4), placing bets on ships (x2), adding supplies to a ship (x2), increasing the value of supplies in the market, or setting sail.
When a ship sets sail, players will share its supplies in order of how many times their clan's shield appears on the body pieces of that ship. Starting with the player with the most shields, players will claim a supply token of their choice from the bow of the ship and place it facedown on their scoring circle. These supply tokens will score points based on their value in the market at the end of the game. Additionally, if a player placed a bet on the clan that had majority control of the ship, then they take their winning bet and place it facedown on their scoring circle.
The game ends after seven ships have set sail. Players calculate their final scores by adding together the value of their supply tokens with the value of their winning bets. The player with the most points wins.
Weight 2.14/5
This is the lightest weighted game on our list. What sets this game apart from others on the list is the action queue mechanic in which turn order is determined by the order of where you placed your workers the previous round.
Being able to manipulate the size of the Viking ships and the order the sections are in make the game fun and exciting. The aesthetics of the game complete the overall design and game play.
The game is simple enough for children to join in and beat the parents at. Who will be victorious and set sail with the greatest supplies from the market.
Wishland
Wishland is a worker placement eurogame based on the management of a theme park. Through a series of rounds players will purchase different cards from the board to create their own and unique theme park.
The game last 7 rounds. At the end of the game, the player with the most victory points is declared the winner.
There are 5 different types of cards in the game:
Restaurants: Increases the base income of players.
Actors: Add additional workers, happiness and visitors. They also earn victory points at the end of the game with a set collection mechanic.
Rides: The heart of a theme park. You need a minimum amount of rides in order to enlarge your theme park. They also provide victory points.
Hotels: Some allow you to ignore some game rules, while other give you end game objectives or direct rewards related to the other types of cards.
Mascots: Can make a big difference in the end game. All cards of the game have an icon on them. Each of the 12 different mascots gives you points at the end of the game for each card sharing icons with them.
Weight: 2.63/5
A well done game whose theme is very engaging. With a set amount of rounds, you can plan out some of your moves. As with most worker placement games, there is some variability in the setup based on the initial cards drawn during setup.
This game was another Kickstarter that we enjoy sitting together to play and introducing to others. What will your personal theme park look like?
(P.S. Our names are printed on the box as backers)
MULTIPLE WAYS & MULTIPLE PLAYS
One thing that I love about board gaming is that nearly all games have multiple mechanics that work together to make a game playable. This is very much the case with worker placement games. As you can also see from the list above, some games are not as complex to play and at the same time some games are geared towards advanced gamers.
For me, playing worker placement games over and over allows me to learn and figure out what strategies I like to use best for the given game. Sometimes it pays off and I can outsmart my opponents, sometimes they get the best of me (especially when I am action blocked from my wife).
I would love to know some of your favorite worker placement games and what you think about mine I listed, please leave a comment below.
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