On Saturday morning, Julie, Matthew, and I left home at about 5am to drive to Camp Pioneer to get Jacob at summer camp (more on that in a future post).  We made it home by about 11:30am and after cleaning up and some rest and relaxation, I talked the boys into playing Hacienda with me.

Unlike some other new games that I’ve played recently (most notably Thurn & Taxis), I had no clue going into the game what was going to lead to a good score and thus had a hard time formulating any sort of reasonable strategy.  It comes down to the economics are various choices on your turn.  How important is income?  How much should I focus on blocking other players from markets?  Is harvesting a worthwhile action?

I figured that connecting to many markets would be a good thing.  Jacob and Matthew both had the lead over me at the mid-way point in the game, but I felt good about my position as I expected to be able to connect to 6–8 markets.  One mistake I made was laying down a water tile to block Jacob that in the end just gave him more victory points.  I over-valued income… if the block had prevented him from reaching a market, then it may have been worthwhile.  As it was, I just prevented him from getting some additional herd income.

Jacob forced the game to end 1 turn before Matthew and I wanted (good play on his part), preventing me from reaching my 7th market and giving him the victory.  I beat Matthew by one point.

Everyone enjoyed the game and the wide range of choices offered.  The rules and strategy are not trivial in this game – I would put it on the heavier scale for euro games.  We look forward to playing it again soon.