Review
Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux
Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux is a refreshed chance to see where Garphill began. For anyone who came to the publisher through its later work, it is mostly a reminder of how far it travelled.
Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux
- Published
- 2024
- Designer
- Shem Phillips
- Publisher
- Garphill Games, Fever Games, Pixie Games
- Players
- 1–5
- Playing time
- 80 min
I came to Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux as a devoted fan of Garphill’s later lines, with the completionist in me finally demanding that this gap be filled. It was fortunate that I had played the others first; had this been my introduction to Phillips, I might have maintained a permanent safe distance.
At its centre is shipbuilding: gather what the construction requires, then turn it into progress on your vessel. The loop is easy enough to read, but so slight that it feels less like a developing plan than a chore returning for another shift.
It was fortunate that I had played the others first; had this been my introduction to Phillips, I might have maintained a permanent safe distance.
EdgyJellyfish
Turns amount to successive choices that move your own construction forward, while the other players serve largely as a comparison point rather than meaningful pressure. The interaction never grows teeth, the choices do not open out sufficiently, and the game remains moored in its very safe harbour.
I can see it finding a place in collections belonging to people who consider Wingspan complex and deep. Beside Architects or Wayfarers, though, Shipwrights is not an ancestor worth paying respects to; it is a suburb of Flotsenburg. Keep away.
Beside Architects or Wayfarers, though, Shipwrights is not an ancestor worth paying respects to; it is a suburb of Flotsenburg.
EdgyJellyfish
Source: BoardGameGeek
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