Review
Heaven & Ale
Heaven & Ale is a stern, honest semi-rondel whose balance only becomes clear with repeat plays. As familiarity grows, its choices sharpen and its blocking starts to matter.
- Published
- 2017
- Designer
- Michael Kiesling, Andreas Schmidt
- Publisher
- eggertspiele, Arclight Games, Ediciones MasQueOca
- Players
- 2–4
- Playing time
- 90 min
Heaven & Ale was one of those games that somehow slipped beneath my radar, despite hearing it mentioned with considerable affection by other players. At the table, it earns that regard: there is a trace of Glenmore in the movement around a shared circuit, but its decision economy is strict enough that this is not merely a relative in different robes.
On each turn, you choose how far to move, with everyone needing eventually to complete the circuit of the board. Dash ahead to secure the thing you want, or move with restraint and retain more actions; the interesting decision is how much speed is actually worth paying for.
Dash ahead to secure the thing you want, or move with restraint and retain more actions; the interesting decision is how much speed is actually worth paying for.
TheTrainSpotter
Interaction does not need raised voices to be sharp. With more plays, you begin to see what the others are pursuing and cut off their routes or options before they can reach them, while they do precisely the same to you. The semi-rondel proves rather less gentle than it first appears.
Do not rush to call it unbalanced after a first play: like the monks' beer it depicts, it improves noticeably as you learn where its real edges lie. Honest, hard, and quietly excellent.
Honest, hard, and quietly excellent.
TheTrainSpotter
Source: BoardGameGeek
0 comments
Sign in to react or comment.
