Hamburg vs Bruges

Let’s check out 🕍 Hamburg! Because we have the earlier version ‘Bruges’, I wanted to quickly compare the two - mostly aesthetically 🎨 for now. Disclaimer: we have the retail version only - for us the deluxe didn't seem to worth it. On the pictures you can see Hamburg ◀️ to the left and Bruges ▶️ to the right (except on the last 2 pictures, those are Hamburg specific components). We never saw the expansions to Bruges for sale - ‘The City on the Zwin’ and Pets - but their elements and mechanics are already included in Hamburg, plus even more additional modules!

Let’s talk game boards - I love big boards that provide an amazing table presence. However I do feel like Hamburg went a bit too big for no reason. 🙄 Most of the spots are just for a few markers or the supply of workers and wall pieces. Also to me it’s a bit strange that it is just divided into parts that don’t really fit together visually.

The card art is a subjective matter. 🤔 But the problem with the new ones is that there are just a few unique drawings for each color that repeat over multiple cards, so you could end up with more of the same picture in your tableau. A thematic change is that instead of building houses and placing people in them, you are placing building sites to construct buildings on them.

I do like the old money tokens a lot more, but the chunky wall pieces are amazing compared to the cardboard canal-pieces. 🤩 I find the new worker meeple shape better, but the colors are less vibrant.

On a more positive note, check out that double-layered player board! 🥳 Instead of the old disaster slices you have a track where you slide tokens to check each type of disaster. You also build your walls here and collect statues and workers, and track the majorities.

There are actually multiple quality of life changes to the game and interesting additions, like 5 separate piles to draw cards from so the colors you draw are not random; or the black die that makes you draw negative intrigue markers and also moves clerics in the temple, adjusting end game scoring opportunities But more on those changes later. 😉