Harbour
Ship your goods, but beware the dock workers
- Designer: Scott Almes
- Publisher: Tasty Minstrel Games
- Players: 1 to 4
- Ages: 10+
- Time: 30 to 60 mins
Harbour is a card-drafting game for 1 to 4 players which takes place in the bustling port of Gullsbottom. A 2-player game will typically last about 30 minutes. Harbour also benefits from a short rulebook with an easy-to-grasp ruleset. The game comes in a small pocket-sized box (approximately 15cm x 10cm x 3cm), making it an ideal travel companion.
Components
Harbour comes with 36 building cards, 4 wooden player meeples and 20 wooden goods tokens, with accompanying stickers. The goods tokens represent the 4 goods that can be traded during the game: fish, meat, wood and stone. There is also a market board and a set of 20 double-sided player boards, meaning that there is a great deal of replayability built into the game. Finally, there are 4 bonus points cards which can be used if players so desire.
Building card
Player meeples
Goods tokens
Building Cards
The name of the building is found top centre, while to the right is the purchase cost in dollars and to the left the number of victory points earned if this building is in a player’s tableau at the end of the game.
The icons at the bottom describe the action to be taken if the building is activated. Slightly above and to the right of these action icons there will be one or more additional icons. There are 4 of these: a warehouse, an anchor, a top hat, and a coin. The significance of these icons is described below.
So, the Sushi Shop (above) costs $8 to buy and will grant 7 VP at the end of the game. If the card is activated during the game, a player may spend one fish to gain one meat, one wood and one stone.
Player Boards
These boards are double-sided. One side – The Wharfs – is common to all boards, while the other side differs from board to board. Players need to decide which side they are going to use. Typically, either all players will use The Wharfs or all players will use the board-specific side.
The left of the board consists of a building card offering 2 actions: draft a building or perform a goods / market action. On the board-specific sides, the middle of the player board details an in-game bonus specific to that player. Finally, along the bottom of the player board there is a goods track (warehouse). Players may hold between zero (i.e. the goods token is placed to the left of the board) and five units of each good. If, at the end of his/her turn, a player has more than 5 units of a given good, then tough. The dock workers will take the surplus home.
The building card on The Wharfs allows the player to either draft a building or acquire one unit of two different goods. The Alchemist allows a player to gain one stone and one other good, as well as the option to draft a building instead. The Alchemist also offers an in-game ability, as explained on the board.
Set Up
The market board is placed in the centre of the table and one of each of the 4 goods tokens is placed (at random) on each square of the price track. This indicates the initial values of each good when sold. Then, players need to decide which side of the player boards they will use. If all players are to use The Wharfs, then each player is dealt one card; if players are to use the other side, then each player is dealt 2 player boards. Players then decide which board to keep, and the other is returned to the box.
Players each receive a set of 4 goods tokens and place these in their warehouses such that each player has a total of 3 goods. For example, a player could place the meat token in box 3, or fish in box 1 and wood in box 2, etc. Players then take a player meeple of their choice.
The building cards are shuffled and cards equalling the number of players plus 3 are dealt out next to the market board; so, a 2-player game will have 5 buildings.
Setup is now complete.
Market board
Gameplay
On their turn, players place their meeple on a building and take the action described there. Unless allowed by a player’s special ability, there can never be more than one meeple on a given building at any one time. Players can use the building on their own player board or the buildings on the cards next to the market board. Players can also use buildings in other players’ tableaux or on other players’ player boards; however, in this case players have to pay the owner one good of their choice. There is an exception to this. If a player has a building with a top hat, then other players’ buildings can be used for free.
On their turns, players seek to increase their goods holdings in their warehouse and/or manipulate the market board. The aim is to be able to sell goods with a value of at least the cost of one of the 5 buildings available in the middle of the board. Once goods are sold, the building is drafted into the player’s tableau and the market is then revalued.
In the example in the picture below, the Inn costing $7 has been bought. To do this, meat was sold for $5 and wood for $4. A player must always sell all units of a good, even if this is not required to buy the building. The player now has $9 to spend and buys the building for $7. The remaining money is lost to the dock workers! The market is then revalued as in the picture. Of course, the player could have paid the exact money by selling (for example) the meat and the stone. But my friend was feeling flush and decided to splash the cash.
If a player has a building with a coin icon, then building prices are reduced by $1. This is a cumulative bonus. If a player has a warehouse icon on buildings in his/her tableau, then one unit of a good can be retained after the sale. Again, this bonus is cumulative.
Play continues until one player buys their 4th building. Then, all other players have one more turn. The player with the most victory points wins.
Inn card – this gives an in-game bonus of a warehouse
The player’s warehouse holds: 1 fish, 2 stone, 4 wood, and 5 meat
Market Manipulation
Market before the sale of goods
Market as the sale is in progress
Market after the sale of goods and repricing
Impressions
Harbour boasts delightful artwork and well-made components. The number of buildings cards and, especially, player boards ensures that this can be played many times and still remain fresh. This sense of delight is boosted by the speed of play. There is no great player downtime and the range of choice available to players is not so wide that players will need to mull over a move for long. My experience has been that I play once and then immediately want to play again.
This is one of my favourite games and I often take it down from the shelf.