Sharon Khan
United Kingdom
Shefford
Bedfordshire
Games, games and more games!
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Shipyard is probably my favourite of all the heavier Essen games, although it's competing with Vasco da Gama for that title. I've now played it with 2, 3 and 4, and think that it's definitely best with 2 or 3 - the downtime with 4 makes it less enjoyable.
Rules - how are they different in a 2 player game?
The main rules difference is that you use all 3 people, instead of just one. 2 people mark your choice of two turns ago, and one person your last turn's choice. So on each turn, instead of picking up a person, moving the tile it's standing on to the front, then picking a new role, instead you pick up two people, move the tile to the front, place one man on the tile your third man is standing on, then take a new role. Sounds fiddly, and I thought it would be the first playing, but in practice it's really not that much work, and works very well.
The only other rules difference with 2, which is also the case with 3 players, is that the action tile "Take 2 cash" isn't used in the game.
In addition, the number of circuits played round the action track is equal to the number of players - this means that you get the same number of turns regardless of number of players. The timing of government contract discarding varies slightly with number of players a as a result - with 2 and 4 you discard two of each colour halfway through the game, with 3 you discard one of each colour per circuit.
All other rules are the same with 2 players as with 3 or 4.
How is the game different with 2?
The underlying game is identical with 2, 3 or 4 players. However, there are some subtle differences in strategy.
Firstly, the value of government contracts seems to change with different numbers of players - some are easier to do in a 2 player game, but hard in a 4 player and vice versa - for example ones that ask for a certain symbol on ship pieces (say lanterns), are harder to get large scores for in a 2 player game as the ship tiles don't cycle through as quickly with just 2 players and hence once you've bought all the lanterns available at the start, you won't get very many more - in a 4 player game these seem much more valuable.
Competition for certain action tiles is different too. With 3 players it is quite noticeable that the most popular action tiles are taken by each player in sequence. With 2, they tend to alterante between the two players. In the 4 player game this was less noticeable, partly becuase there seems to be slightly more cash in the game with 4 players, so people are more likely to buy extra actions to get the more popular actions, rather than wait for their turn in taking them.
The last major difference is length of game and downtime between turns. As you might expect in a game where each player has X turns, the length of game is a multiple of the nubmer of players - about 1 hour with 2, 90 minutes with 3 (less if you're quick players), and 2 hours with 4 players. The downtime between turns scales similarly, and if you have a couple of AP players, the 4 player game in particular can really drag, as they over-analyze their options (particularly when they have enough cash to buy extra actions, or on the last couple of turns of the game). This can spoil an otherwise good game.
Verdict
Shipyard is at it's best with either 2 or 3 players, and works equally well with either number. You might have to change strategies slightly with two, but the basic gameplay is unchanged, and so is the feel of the game.
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Henrik Lantz
Sweden
Uppsala
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Only one hour with two?!? That is much shorter than I thought it would be! You just put it up on my wishlist again.
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Steve Duff
Canada
Ottawa
Ontario
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This game is getting a reputation as a huge AP game, but having played it now, I don't think it has to be that way.
First of all, the game makes it so half your potential moves are unavailable to you on your turn, because the other players are sitting on those spots. So right away, your turn is reduced to the 4 open spots to place your guy.
And those spots are pretty damn easy to evaluate. If I choose the Equipment action, I get a cannon for free, or a smokestack for $1. Commodity action I get this railroad card for free, or that one for $1. Ship action, I can get 3 ship pieces.
Plus, money is so tight, that a bunch of your choices are eliminated for you. You can only afford 1 of the 4 pieces of equipment, the free ship pieces, etc. If you had money, you use it for an extra unblocked turn, so again you usually know what it is that you highly desire that was blocked for your normal turn.
I thought it was quite simple to keep a mental checklist in my head of what I needed during the other player's turns - "Ok, to sail, I need a captain and a stern, and I'd like a cannon and 2 sails." Once my turn arrived, again it was quick to rule out which ones were impossible to get. This was mostly done during the other player's turns as they took the spots I needed "Ok, Bob took the sails spot", "Ralph took the ship pieces so I can't do that, "Ok, all that's left for me this turn is Captain, so that's what I'll do".
Yes, our learning game took a long long time, but once you know the game, it should move along at a decent pace. Each player gets 24 turns in the game, plus some bonus turns. Call it 30. At a minute per turn each, that matches Sharon's estimated game length.
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Mateusz Sztrąf
Poland
Kalonka, Łódź
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I, on the other hand, was unable to reach such short game time with two players like an hour or so.
I've played about 6 times (mostly with people fairly new to the hobby) and the games took about
two hours inc. setup (I use small tool-box, so it is less of a pain and much shorter than staight of the
box setup). I think that with practice we could get down to 90 minutes but not much less.
In conclusion:
If you expect the game to play in single hour for two players - you will most probably be dissapointed.
It is a good game, but not an hour experience for most of us.
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Joachim Pehl
Germany
Daubach
Rheinland-Pfalz
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I think that 1 hour is quite reasonable. The last time I played it, we needed 2 hours, this was with three players including setup and rules explanation for the third guy. So if everybody knows the rules and has played it at least one time, I would say half hour per player.
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Michael Mehl
United States
Colorado Springs
Colorado
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Thanks for the review. I will definitly be researching this title further.
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