Farms & Castles 1.2

Rural landscapes, tall peaks, scenic lakes, lush forests and thriving settlements. This the domain you've been entrusted to develop. With an eye for strategic expansion and a sense for the possible future, you will develop the land to its highest potential.

Farms and Castles is a quick to learn, hard to master puzzle game. You get a square board of 6 by 6 tiles, some occupied by terrain elements and others by either vegetation or construction pieces. In each turn you will need to chose from to available pieces to add to the board. The game ends when you have no more room. I know, it sounds extremely boring, but it isn't! Whenever you manage to create a connected are of 3 or more pieces of the same kind, they will merge into one piece, making more room. Of course, the new piece is totally different than the constituent parts. So in order to use it you will need to create at least two other pieces in the same manner.

There are two development paths as you might have guessed. Both farms and castles start from bushes and stones respectively and get to their highest form through 7 intermediary states. These are a lot of states for a 6 by 6 board. So the gist of the game is figuring out where and when to place pieces so that everything falls into place for the next merging. Easier said than done. Not only that you need to pay attention not create your pieces too far away from each other, but you will also need to deal with limited options offered by the 2 random pieces you get each turn.

There are some helping elements however. Farms generate goods each turn. The more the better. The bigger, the better. In any turn, you can spend goods to place a specific low tier piece instead of what's been given to you. The pieces are still relatively expensive, so you will not get to abuse this option. Spend your goods carefully. Conversely, castles generate gold. Gold can be spent on three kinds of magic orbs. These can clear paths, transform pieces and even act as joker pieces. They are also very expensive.

You can't have it all in Farms & Castles. You need to understand the game will eventually end by you losing. The things, how many turns can you withstand before filling up the board. After certain turn thresholds, you will be awarded with gold. So you should never lose hope.

Conclusion

Farms & Castles reminds me of a very good board game. The calming graphics and methodical gameplay makes this a winner.