Review
Bier Pioniere
Bier Pioniere is a tight, medium-weight worker-placement euro with properly connected systems and an ending that refuses to let engine building coast to the finish. It belongs firmly to the classic German school, for better and, occasionally, for older habits.
- Published
- 2023
- Designer
- Thomas Spitzer
- Publisher
- Spielefaible, 株式会社ケンビル (KenBill)
- Players
- 2–4
- Playing time
- 100 min
Spitzer is already one of my favourite German designers, so Bier Pioniere did not arrive at my table under laboratory conditions. The third edition, with the expansion, nevertheless confirmed something rather straightforward: this is a carefully made beer-themed euro, not merely a reward for having hunted it down.
At its centre sits medium-weight worker placement: place workers, establish the brewery, produce, fill barrels, sell. The sequence is lucid, and the systems connect without requiring cards to lob a random banana skin into the middle of a plan.
The interesting decision is how far to push your engine before the modified sudden-death ending catches up with it.
TheTrainSpotter
The interesting decision is how far to push your engine before the modified sudden-death ending catches up with it. That ending can give a player who is some way behind the means to check those building a substantial production machine; it has a little of Viticulture about it, but none of that game's card-driven randomness.
For anyone fond of classic German euros, Bier Pioniere is a worthwhile addition to the collection. For everyone else, its design may now feel a touch dated — though it remains solid, clear, and quietly effective.
For anyone fond of classic German euros, Bier Pioniere is a worthwhile addition to the collection.
TheTrainSpotter
Source: BoardGameGeek
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