Anno 1800: The Board Game

Anno 1800 is a theme with goodwill behind it, and there was every reason to expect another interesting idea from its designer. Instead, this is a rather dry workforce-management game in a familiar coat. It looks respectable. So does a spreadsheet when there is nothing else on the screen.

The opening layout appears busier than it is, and the structure clicks into place quite quickly. You place and remove cubes, arrange your workforce, and keep moving; downtime is minimal, which gives the routine a certain pull even as it asks for the same gesture again and again.

Player interaction is almost entirely absent. Everyone tends their own machine, while trade provides the one meaningful point of contact and fails to create much pressure. It is multiplayer solitaire with a trading procedure that seems to have turned up merely to sign the attendance sheet.

It is not a bad game, and one exploratory first play is not a final conviction. But it ends with mild fatigue and the persistent question of whether that was really all of it, with no obvious source of the spice it needs. The price is sensible, but Anno 1800: The Board Game remains a smooth, dry machine that never finds a reason to catch fire.