I am a village person. No, I don’t mean I have joined a 70s revival band. I mean, I love living in a small village. Technically we aren’t even in the village – we are nestled in a hamlet on the edge of an un-bustling, anti-metropolis in the wilds of County Durham. But rural life is most definitely for me. So Dorfromantik, which means nostaligia or a longing for the countryside is right up my farm track!

I should make clear that this is the board game version though. There’s a cool videogame of the same name which was the inspiration behind this tile laying wonder. But I haven’t played that, so will leave you to find out more from the console kings and queens here at Toy Street!

The board game is a very simple operation, but that doesn’t mean it is going to be easy to crack the countryside! Each turn, you and your buddies are drafting and deciding where to lay a single hexagon tile into your playing area. It must be adjacent to existing tiles and the objective is to create a lovely, point prolific village!

Tiles are either (a) landscape tiles or (b) task tiles. Task tiles are still landscape tiles, but they have an extra icon on them. They are the scoring objectives for the tiles adjacent to them. For example, a task tile with a 4 water droplet on it means that once placed, by end game, it must be connected such that it makes up a river composed of four tiles (including itself). But you won’t want to wait until end game to achieve it because, once a task is achieved, the token is immediately removed and added to your score pile. You must always have 3 active tasks in your village. So if you complete a task and remove the token, you will need to draft and place a new task tile (adding a randomly selected matching token), before resuming picking and placing regular landscape tiles.

There are a few placement restrictions, but overall the game flow is draft, place, (hopefully score), repeat! When there are no more tiles to add to your village, the game ends and then it’s time to see what goodies you get to open! Oh wait, sorry. Didn’t I mention that earlier?!

Yes, in Dorfromantik, every game is a precursor to new and exciting ways in which to score points! Because, whilst you play each game in its own right, your end game score will send you crossing off boxes on a separate but linked campaign trail! And box crossing means being entitled to open up sealed boxes that contain new tiles and even more tasks! But what is even cooler is that there isn’t just one way to complete the campaign. There are multiple paths that weave and wend so each opportunity presents another fun decision and direction!

Final Thoughts

I have a big confession. I know this game is a co-op, and it was my intention to share the experience with my husband. But I haven’t. I’m a #greedgamer and I have kept all the fun for myself! It’s so chill and thinky and lovely that I want agency over every move. I want to be the architect of my own success (or more likely demise!). That’s not to say that he can’t play a campaign himself, or even invite me to co-op a campaign with him. There are lots of sheets and truly I’d love to get stuck in with him! But my campaign is my campaign, and nobody’s muscling in! Plus he has a tendency to take charge (not that I am usually complaining) as his programming mind shifts into planning and plotting future moves whilst I’m still organising my player pieces. So for now I am keeping this game for myself.

Dorfromantik has romanced me. It has wined and dined me without a drop or a crumb passing between us. Placing tiles for immediate scoring and trying to set up satisfying multiple tasks simultaneously is key. And most turns it feels tantalisingly close. But as more and more scoring opportunities and tasks are added, you have to prioritise what you think you will realistically achieve in a single game. After all, your campaign progress depends upon it! I’m smitten for this box of tiles, and I can’t wait to finish the campaign so that I can start all over again!

This blog was written by Favouritefoe