OUR REVIEW

Harbor Chess

Le Havre: Der Binnenhafen

Le Havre for TWO

Le Havre: Der Binnenhafen is a game for two players, based on the board game of Le Havre published in 2008, a game that is a favorite among gamers and highly praised by critics, in analogy to the two player version for Agricola, called Agricola: Die Bauern und das Liebe Vieh, which was published last year.

The topic – developing a harbor borough – has been kept, but transformed into creation of an Inland Port. The persons responsible for the creation of the game are the same, too: Uwe Rosenberg as designer and Klemens Franz as artist, with Lookout Spiele acting as the publisher, thus making sure that the usual high quality for rules, components and design has been kept up.

So, what does one expect from the two-player version of a successful board game?

To get to the bottom of this I would like to pose this question:

What is the allure of Le Havre?

The collecting mechanism, coupled to the permanent dilemma of “do I take now or do I wait a bit?”

The permanent rivalry for the best buildings?

The planning over the span of several rounds to use the last rounds as efficiently as possible?

The multitude of different buildings with their multiple combination possibilities?

The permanent supply problems which one needs to solve as efficiently as possible?

Well, nearly all of that has been salvaged for the two-player version!

The basic mechanism is similar. Players do actions in turn; the starting player has one additional action and changes every round. Possible actions are either to build a building or to activate a building.

If you want to build you can choose a building from a display, which is enlarged in every round with new buildings according to a given scheme. You pay the necessary costs and place the respective tile in the case for the current round on your action wheel. The action wheel is already familiar from Ora et Labora, which is also based on Le Havre, and replaces the rather cumbersome collecting of tiles in Le Have while providing a very similar mechanism effect. At the same time the wheel works as a counter for the game rounds. Each round the counter is advanced one section. This makes all buildings in the wheel more effective.

When a building is activated you move it onto the case for the current round and can no longer be activated in this round. If you pay one Franc you can, as an alternative, activate an opponent’s building. Most buildings yield resources when activated, mutate resources or yield victory points. In addition, each building has monetary value = victory points. As in Le Havre the board game this results in different combination possibilities, albeit not as many of them and not as many different possibilities to acquire victory points.

The only central element that is missing from Le Havre is supplies. Feeding has been completely eliminated as regards to length of play and which is the big advantage of Le Havre: Der Binnenhafen – the biggest point for criticism in Le Havre is the long duration and this has been shortened effectively and successfully, to at least half the time it takes to play the board game with two players. The access to the game is also noticeably easier due to the less complex mechanisms.

The drawback that I can see is that there is no chance or variation. The starting situation is always the same and only the choice of action by players results in different game play. In this point Le Havre: Der Binnenhafen shows similarities to classic abstract two-player games like chess.

And, in consequence, I can see two target groups for Le Havre: Der Binnenhafen: On the one hand fans of classic two-player games, to whom I can Le Havre: Der Binnenhafen without any doubt. And on the other hand fans of Le Havre or similar games who from time to time want to play a game for two and then appreciate a somewhat shorter game.

Markus Wawra

Players: 2

Age: 10+

Time: 30+

Designer: Uwe Rosenberg

Artist: Klemens Franz

Price: ca. 20 Euro

Publisher: Lookout Spiele 2012

Web: www.lookout-spiele.de

Genre: Development

Users: For experts

Special: 2 players

Version: de

Rules: de

In-game text: nein

Comments:

Familiar mechanisms

Well-structured, simple, easily understood rules

Beautiful, functional components

Flair of the original was kept and play was sensibly tautened

Compares to:

Le Havre, Ora et Labora, Agricola: Die Bauern und das Liebe Vieh

Other editions:

At Filosofia Edition, Hobby Japan, HomoLudicus, Uplay.it, Z-Man Games;

My rating: 4

Markus Wawra:

I’m not really a fan of classic two-player games and so Le Havre: Der Binnenhafen had a problem to get at me. But as a fan of the original Le Havre I can recognize the familiar feeling and so I had fun, too, with this downgraded versions. But I did never have problems with the duration and high complexity of Le Havre and so, in the end, I will stick to the original.

Chance (pink): 0

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 1

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 3

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0