Harbour is a worker placement game focused on humor and economy. Players run their meeples through town, using the special abilities of the buildings to earn resources, buy buildings, and ship their goods. Buildings have varying amounts of victory points, and each has its own ability. Once a player buys their fourth building, each player gets one more turn, and the game ends. The player with the most points wins.
Opening the box for the first time was an adventure of exploring the decks, abilities, and high quality parts. Players start with a player board, a meeple, and three goods of their choice. The meeple is the “worker” and travels along the harbor gathering resources, buying buildings, or triggering special abilities. Notes from Dockmaster Schlibble accompany many of the cards. Check out his notes for some laughs, which I won’t spoil here!
The harbor always has six buildings available. Each turn, the player must move their meeple to a new location, and use its ability. If the building they visit has a “buy building” symbol on it, they may choose to buy one of the six buildings. To buy a building, they must ship goods valued highly enough to pay for the building. If, for any reason, they earn more than they spend, the player loses that money.
The economy is dynamic, but easy enough to track. The Market board has four resources: fish, lumber, stone, and livestock. When someone ships a resource, its demand decreases, and is moved to a lower value. The more value the resource has, the cheaper it is after it ships. The Market board keeps everything organized for you. The upset comes when another player ships the goods you have been saving, making some of your inventory less valuable, and some more valuable. The inland traders are an optional feature, which allow you to sell just one of each good for $3, no matter their values.
The character cards grant a special ability only usable by their player. They also come with a building, which is usable by all players at a cost. Players who use your building pay you a good of their choice for the privilege. They may pay this fee before OR after the action is completed. Each character also has fun flavor text describing the character. On the reverse of the character cards are generic player cards, which can be used if you don’t want to play with special abilities. The generic player cards are identical. The player cards also host your warehouse, where you store your goods. A player may have between zero and six of any good, but never more than six, and never in the negative.
Each building has its own ability, cost, victory point value, and symbol(s). Cards cost between $6 and $12, and have victory scores between 5 and 13. There are four symbols which may appear on the buildings. Coins reduce the cost of future purchases. Anchors are a cumulative markers, which are triggered by the abilities on the buildings. Top Hats allow you to avoid the fees when visiting other players’ buildings. The Warehouse symbols are cumulative, and allow you to keep one shipped good per Warehouse when shipping inventory. Some cards have more than one symbol, making them more desirable to players.
Some strategy tips:
• Players can go straight for points, cashing in big and buying the most expensive buildings available.
• Players can go for many Anchors, increasing the income of goods.
• Players can collect Coins, making each purchase cost progressively less.
• Players who try to collect multiple Warehouses may suffer from insufficient inventory/savings.
• Players should never buy more than one Top Hat, as the effects do not increase.
• Players who prefer to play in a cutthroat manner will diversify, and remain flexible, since all 36 buildings are different.
• Synergy can make or break a game. See below.
Optimize your collection to take advantage of synergy bonuses, making your income grow faster. Always have plenty of at least two resources, to maintain a viable place in the economy.
For fun, TMG included the Harbour Master card! Take a selfie, and show the world who’s boss with @TastyMinstrel! Keep the Master card with you during the next game, so opponents know who to fear! Of course, Dockmaster Schlibble has something to say about this. Check out his note, attached to the card above.
Everything you need to play is included in the box, a big benefit in my book. There are 36 buildings in the deck, 14 characters, 4 quality wood meeples, and 20 resource counters. No outside scorekeeper is needed, as the points are printed plainly on the cards.
With a small, well-made box, it can sneak onto almost any gaming shelf, making it a low-impact investment. The cards are easy to shuffle and aren’t too thin. The character cards are pretty beefy, holding up to rough handling very well.
Harbour also has a single player mode, playing against the Training Dummy. The Training Dummy is actually a competitive opponent, follows easy rules, and players can build strategies built on his turn preferences. Play alone, or with up to three friends. Be prepared for economic chaos with four players. The game becomes a bit of a waiting game, waiting for other players to change the economy to your favor.
TMG suggests ages 10+, but there are a lot of features to track, as well as tracking the progress of opponents. Kids need to be prepared to lose track of the game, and everyone needs to be ready to wait it out when a player has to re-examine the tabletop. I’d suggest 14+ for the most fun play, unless you have young strategists who can keep up.
Harbour is $19.95 on Amazon. The high number of buildings and characters mean that every game is different from the last, providing value beyond the quality pieces and interesting mechanics.
Disclaimer: Tasty Minstrel Games provided a unit for review purposes.
