The first thing that most people notice in a game is the theme and this often determines our initial interest in a new release. Whether it's exploring space or recreating a tug o' war or building ancient temples, such themes can greatly add to one's enjoyment of the game. Of course, there's an incentive to come up with something unique, after all, does anyone get excited by yet another art auction game? Still, you want to come up with something exciting and I must say that, for me, New England fails miserably on this count. Peacefully subdividing farmland? Raising barns and hiring pilgrims? Hardly the stuff that gets one's heart racing. Fortunately, the game itself is actually very good. Even if the theme holds no interest I encourage you to read on...
I found New England to be somewhat confusing at first; there seems to be a lot going on but it's much simpler than it appears. Each player owns three plots of land (one each of three colours) and starts the game with a special double-sized tile in each. Throughout the game, players will add tiles to these plots and then use them in one of two ways—they can either be developed in order to gain victory points or they can be used to hold a special figure. (There are three varieties; pilgrims, ships and barns and each has a special function.)
That's the core of the game and so it's pretty straightforward, the complexity increases due to how you accomplish these tasks. Obviously you need tiles to expand your plots but you also require specific cards in order to develop tiles or to place figures. These items are acquired using a somewhat unique method of bidding. On each round there will be nine items available in some combination of tiles and cards. (The exact composition is determined by the current "start player".) Then, each player, in turn order, will select one of the available bidding chips which are numbered from 1 to 10. This bidding chip determines both the order that players buy items (higher numbers choosing first) and how much each item will cost. So, if you want to go first you may decide to select the 7 chip but this means you'll be paying a high price for each item, can you afford to pay that much? Each player is allowed to purchase 0,1 or 2 items and so there is much deliberation about your choice of bidding chip. Should you choose high and go first or choose low and get a bargain? Maybe nobody wants the same items you do and so you can safely choose the 1 chip. On the other hand, you may be left with nothing useful to buy. Plenty of agony in this phase to be sure.
Once you've made
your purchases, they must be utilized immediately, for tiles this
means placing them on the board. Each player has only one plot in
each of three varieties and so you must add purchased tiles to the
appropriate plot. There is some competition for space on the board
and so adding tiles early can be useful but it is not terribly
cutthroat. There are placements you can make to hinder your
opponents but it's usually more of an annoyance than anything
else. It's usually pretty easy for them to alter their plans to
accommodate any such "attack". One of the reasons you
want specific spaces on the board is that the "development
cards" show a certain number of tiles in a specific pattern.
When purchasing these cards you must have undeveloped tiles
matching that pattern. If you do, you flip the tiles to their
developed side and place the card in front of you to record those
victory points. The bulk of your score will come from these cards
and so it's critical that you place your tiles so that they can
later be developed.
Figures must also be placed on the board as soon as they're
purchased and for the most part they can be placed on any
unoccupied, undeveloped tile. (The ship must be placed on a tile
that's adjacent to the ocean.) You're free to move pilgrims around
as you see fit so there's little concern when placing them but the
barn must stay put once placed. This can be very important as it
means there's no way for you to subsequently develop that tile. So
what do these figures do? Well, each one awards you with a single
victory point but they also have other, much more useful
abilities. 
Each pilgrim adds to your income. Normally
you receive 4 gold at the end of your turn but this is increased
by 1 for each pilgrim you own. Ships only help the player(s) that
have the most during their turn—prior to purchasing they may add
either a card or a tile to the items available. This does not
sound all that powerful but it can be extremely useful
particularly when purchasing last. The barns are a little more
subtle. Normally you must use a development card as soon as you
purchase it (and if you cannot do so you are prohibited from
buying it). If you have a barn you may buy such a card and then
temporarily store it in order to use it later. This can come in
very handy as you can develop more long term plans. For example,
if you have the "red 3-tile" card (see above picture) in
your barn you can bide your time until you acquire the necessary
tiles to develop it and gain those 6 VP's. Without a barn, you
need to purchase the tiles first and then hope the development
card becomes available. Since there's often an ebb and flow to
your supply of cash there's no guarantee that such a card will
appear when you're in a position to purchase it. All in all, I'm
quite pleased with how these figures work, each has a very unique
advantage that works quite well with the rest of the game. Finally
there are bonus points available at the end of the game for the
player that has the most of each type.
There does seem to be something of a learning curve to the game and it is not so easy to pick up the strategies right away. In the "real" game there is a set up phase in which players take turns placing their initial double-sized tiles on the board. I highly recommend you play with the stock setup the first few times as it will be almost impossible to tell a good placement from a poor one until you have a few games experience. These first couple of games featured a lot of "seat of the pants" playing styles. You don't really know what a good strategy is or what parts of the game are critical, once we had played a few times things started to gel. First off, we found that a winning score was usually around 32-34 points and knowing this helped considerably. Suddenly you could more easily visualize approximately how many tiles you would need to develop and how many figures you'd need to place. In short, it became much easier to formulate a long term strategy.
For me, the most interesting aspect of New England is the bidding system. There really is much to think about when deciding which coin to choose. This is exacerbated by the turn order to a degree—the first player obviously has full freedom of choice but she must also try to determine what the other players are likely to choose. It's heartbreaking to choose the 8 and then watch your opponents pick the 1, 2 and 3. On the other hand it can be devastating to choose the 4 but still end up purchasing last. I've found that it really pays to prepare for when you are the start player, being able to determine the mix of cards available for purchase can go a long way to knowing what coin to choose. Money is generally pretty tight in the game (even for those with lots of pilgrims) and so you'll need to purchase last a few times during the game. If you can ensure that you still get something useful then you're that much better off.
Another feature that I really like about New England is that it forces you work on several levels simultaneously—you need to add tiles at about the same rate that you use them and this can be quite tricky. I believe the game would be quite dull if the auction of tiles and cards had been separate actions, combining them greatly increases the tension and interest. The fact that the start player determines the mix of cards and tiles can really cause headaches. For example, if all your tiles are currently used or developed then you're forced to purchase more, but if the start player only adds three to the bidding (the minimum allowed) then they're likely to command a high price. Further, there are times when certain tiles or cards will be in greater demand than others and if you can manipulate things so that you need the less popular items you'll be well on your way to victory.
The production is top notch with high quality components all around. (Uberplay is a new company but this is a co-production with Goldsieber and is identical to the German version.) I was a little disappointed with the artwork on the tiles and cards though, it has a rather "clipart-ish" look to it. Now, everything is clear and readable but I've come to expect masterpieces from artist Franz Vohwinkel rather than mere functionality.
My appreciation for New England did increase each time I played it, having a greater understanding of how everything interlocked really helped. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's brilliant but it is a very solid game with much to recommend. Often I find that I'm dissatisfied with games that are "merely good" (why not just play the excellent ones?) but New England has a couple unique systems that I think make it a worthy addition to any gamers collection.
- Greg Aleknevicus
