Entry 62: Week 17- Glass Road

        This week we will look at a game that came out in 2013 by another of our favorite creators, Uwe Rosenberg. This game came out before A Feast for Odin and Fields of Arle, both of which are favorites of ours. 

BGG Description 

The game Glass Road commemorates the 700-year-old tradition of glass-making in the Bavarian Forest. (Today, the "Glass Road" is a route through the Bavarian forest that takes visitors to many of the old glass houses and museums of that region.) You must skillfully manage your glass and brick production in order to build the right structures that help you keep your business flowing. Cut the forest to keep the fires burning in the ovens, and spread and remove ponds, pits, and groves to supply yourself with the items you need. Fifteen specialists are there at your side to carry out your orders... 

In more detail, the game consists of four building periods. Each player has an identical set of fifteen specialist cards, and each specialist comes with two abilities. At the beginning of each building period, you choose a hand of five specialists. If during this building period, you play a specialist that no other player has in hand, you may use both abilities on that card; if two or more players play the same specialist, each of them may use only one of the two abilities. Exploiting the abilities of these specialists lets you collect resources, lay out new landscape tiles (e.g., ponds and pits), and build a variety of buildings, which come in three types: 

• Processing buildings 

• "Immediate" buildings with a one-time effect 

• Buildings that provide bonus points at the end of the game for various accomplishments 

Mastering the balance of knowing the best specialist card to play and being flexible about when you play it — together with assembling a clever combination of buildings — is the key to this game. 

The 2021 edition of Glass Road includes previously released promotional material: the Oktoberfest and Adventskalender tiles and the Harlekin card for use in the solitaire version of the game. 

Weight 2.97/5 

A Little More Info 

        The above description does a good job at explaining the game. I would add that the processing buildings provide you special actions that you can take each turn that can help with gaining resources needed to increase your production. 

        Also a little more clarity about the five cards specialist cards you pick for your hand is needed. At the start of the round (building period) each player will select one of the five cards and place it face down in from of you. Beginning with the starting player, they flip over the card and the other players will check the cards in hand (not the face down card) to see if they have it. If they do, they play the card and each person with it will take one of the two abilities. Then the next player will flip their card and the other players do the same thing and so on until everybody played their first card. 

        Take note, that you can only play a “copied” card twice because each round you will repeat the above process two more times with the remaining cards in hand playing a total of three cards facedown each round. 

What we like about the game 

        We really enjoy that the game play is simple and easy to understand and makes a great “introduction to Uwe.” It is a quicker play with the only real downtime is when you select your five cards each building period and selecting which card to play face down each turn. 

        We like that the production wheels are “self-managing” when it comes to producing your glass and bricks. This makes it easier to track what resources you need in order to increase your production of the two materials. 

        For those who like design of Uwe’s games, this game follows the same looks as most of his other Euro’s. This consistency in game design is what draws us to his games. Yes, he has other games that are different in style and looks but if you laid out the pieces to this game you should be able to immediately say “Hey! That’s a Rosenberg game!” 

        Like some reviews have stated, it is the specialist cards that do make the game. With each player having the same fifteen cards to pick from and doing your best to pick the five that would benefit you the most each round by using one ability (or both if you are lucky enough to not have someone match you). Another reviewer stated that you should pick the three you want to play the most and pick two that you could hope to play for “free.” 

What we don’t like about the game 

        I think that Tom Vasel said it best when he stated that the buildings in the game are not memorable or have the “I have to have that one” feeling. 

        The number of each type of building tiles does seem excess for being only a four player game. Now my view about this might change based on player count, but with only having a three player game in the books it seems that your more than enough buildings that you may never see unless you play the game dozens of times at the minimum. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

        Again, this game is great for introducing people to the world of Uwe Rosenberg. The game is very well done and easy enough to understand even for the novice board gamer. 

        We enjoy that Uwe creates games that are from easy and fast to play to complex and takes a whole afternoon to play. This game fits into the first category. 

        Right now I kind of have an itch and want to be like Pokémon’s Ash and “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” What are some of your favorite Rosenberg games to play?