Planting colorful tulips
🌷Windmill Valley is the first of 3 ‼️ big games coming from @boardanddice this year. This first title leans more towards the simpler end of the spectrum. More than a gateway, but not too complex - a light-mid weight euro. 🤔 Inspired by the Netherlands 🇳🇱 and its world-famous tulip fields, you’ll be primarily building windmills and planting tulip bulbs with the help of your water wheels.
⚙️The water wheels are the central mechanic of the game. Each turn, you turn two interconnected gears, with the speed depending on the status of the floodgates, then pick an action the arrow points to (or possibly execute both if a gear tile has a plus sign). As the game progresses, you can buy upgrades to slot into your wheels, enhancing your choices. ☝️Interestingly, one of the wheels has six sections while the other has only five, so the action pairings will change over time.
The gears enable you to perform various actions:
👉🏻Most notably, you can place windmills on the board to perform actions in adjacent fields while also unlocking scoring conditions for tulips.
👉🏻You might want to get Farm Enhancement cards early in the game: you can tuck them above your board as a “Helper” for ongoing bonuses or below as a “Contract” for end-game scoring effects.
👉🏻Additionally, you can engage in foreign trade or use the local market, which acts as a rondel.
👉🏻Upgrading gears is essential as well.
👉🏻And let's not forget planting the tulip bulbs that you collect through various actions—tulips will contribute significantly to your end-game score! 🌷
👉🏻Finally, there is an action that lowers the water level 🌊 for some points or money. As players open the floodgates to spin their gears faster, water levels will rise, as does the amount of bonus you get if you choose this action.
The game’s length is entirely player-driven. As your big wheel completes full 360-degree rotations, you’ll progress on the calendar track. 🗓 The game ends after someone finishes their fourth rotation, then scores are tallied to determine the winner.
As usual, we’ll be back with more impressions, pros and cons soon!
