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Seeland
Authors: Günter Burkhardt & Wolfgang Kramer
Publisher: Ravensburger
Year: 2010


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The Netherlands in the 17th century: large parts of land have already been surrounded by dikes. The only thing that remains to be done is to pump the area dry using the characteristic Dutch windmills, and the new land can be planted with cabbage, tulips and rapeseed. The players take turns in controlling the guildmaster, who walks around in the city to order windmills and buy crops. The first step in the city is always for free, each subsequent step costs one guilder, paid via a very original mechanism: a guilder is positioned on five positions of the circle around the city.

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All players start with their merchant on the last guilder, and if they have to pay they simply move their pawn forward, but they may not pass the first guilder. As soon as the last player leaves the last guilder, the empty guilders are moved to the front of the line. This way, the merchants can move further forward. If a player repeatedly chooses to take the free tile and thereby keeps occupying the last guilder, all other players will eventually get stuck on the first guilder, and they will not be able to spend any more money!
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The acquired windmill or crop tiles are subsequently placed on the board. Windmills may be placed anywhere adjacent to dry land, and crop tiles only adjacent to your own windmill. As soon as all six hexagons surrounding a windmill are occupied, the harvest of the fields surrounding this mill is determined. Each crop yields as many points as indicated on the tile, just like the active mill itself. Any other windmills on the adjacent tiles do not score any points. If crop tiles of all three different types are present, the mill owner receives five bonus points for his versatile farming policy, but if a monoculture of only one type of crop is present, no points are scored at all!

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'Seeland' can be played in three levels of increasing difficulty. In the basic variant, islands are placed face down on the board. As soon as a windmill is placed adjacent to an island, it is turned over. The other side shows either crops or a farm. In the latter case the active player may take a coin, which enables him to perform an extra turn. For those who have mastered the basic game, the Vogts can be introduced. As soon as an island with a vogt-symbol is turned over, the vogt figure is placed on the mill. When the harvest of this mill is determined, the vogt inspects whether the number of points scored is higher or equal to the number shown on the first free position on the circle around the city. If so, the player receives five bonus points, and he places the vogt figure in front of him. But if not, five points are subtracted from his total, and the vogt figure walks on to the closest mill on the board. The player that manages to collect the most vogt figures receives ten bonus points at the end of the game. In the even more advanced rules, the backside of the board is used, where the islands are already printed (face-up) on the board. This way, the players can already see where the vogt symbols and farms are located instead of being surprised at the moment the tile is turned over, resulting in a more strategic game.
The game is over when all mill or crop tiles have been used, and the guildmaster lands on an empty space in the city.

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When the bright red, yellow and green crops have gradually replaced the swamp, 'Seeland' is a truly cheerful and colourful game. But: why are there cows, sheep and carriages illustrated in the swamp? What farmer would send his cattle into this moist and dangerous area?! And it remains unclear why the mill and crop tiles are supposed to be placed face down in the city, and face up on the board; both sides show the exact same information. Another minus point is the board, which cannot be folded but consists of puzzle pieces. This is not practical since the board is printed on both sides. And the box: what happened to the beautiful Ravensburger inlays with a proper place for even the smallest game component? In 'Seeland', everything has to be thrown into four large compartments.

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'Seeland' can be played as a simple family game, where Lady Luck predominantly determines the outcome of the game. But for the experienced player there is much more: the fun part is trying to keep the score of other players as low as possible, without affecting your own score too much. This can be done by leaving the guildmaster on a very unfavourable position in the city, so that the next player will have to settle for a worthless tile, or pay up to get something more decent. In the swamp there are even more options to bother the opponents: tiles with a low value can be parked next to somebody else's mill, and by strategically placing the different crop types, you can deny other players the 'versatility bonus', or better yet, make sure they get stuck with a monoculture!

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'Seeland' has a lot more depth than the simple mechanism would suggest, especially when using the variants that make the game less random, and therefore even more spicy and strategic. Usually the adagium with multiple variants is 'why don't the author makes up his mind and do it right the first time', but in the case of 'Seeland' the variants truly add something to the game.
© 2010 Barbara van Vugt

Seeland, Günter Burkhardt & Wolfgang Kramer, Ravensburger, 2010 - 2 tot 4 spelers vanaf 9 jaar, 45-60 minuten


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