The first time I saw Fjords, I picked up the box, looked at the picture on the back & thought, “Is this just Carcassonne with hex tiles rather than squares?”. Anyway, I was offered a good price & so decided to give it a go. And I’m glad I did.

The game plays over two phases with each player taking alternate turns.
1. Tile placement & placement of farms.
- place a hex so that it touches at least two already placed tile in such a way that the landscape on the tile’s edges matches the landscape on the adjoining tiles.
- if desirable, place 1 of 4 farms on the just placed tile.
2. Claiming farmland.
- place field disks branching out from farms & previously claimed fields.

The things that I enjoy about Fjords are
1. Its balance – there is strategy & there is luck, there is simplicity & there are difficult choices.
2. Its length – it always feels that it plays for the right length of time – not too long, not too short.

I appreciate that it won’t appeal to all players, but for me, it’s just plain fun.

So far, everyone that I have played this with (except my wife – have to work on this) has enjoyed it.
Two friends are looking at getting their own sets, one has recommended it to his brother & I am looking at getting another set for a gift for some friends.