Last night we got to play Hansa Teutonica TWO times and still finish before 11. We started at about 8, did a rules session and finished the first game by 9:30 ish. We agreed to give it another go. What was really great about this is that Hansa Teutonica has various routes to success and each player in the second game adapted and or changed how they where playing resulting in a whole different set of criteria being important between the two plays.
Hansa Teutonica has a few basic actions, at its heart its not a very complex euro, yet it works extremely well and at the moment (at least as far as im concerned) has a lot of depth. In our first game it was the 'bonus' tokens and there pursuit that brought about the end of the game. In game two it was the VP track and the board looked completely different.
Pete won both games, narrowly ahead of me each time. In the first game Pete went first and got an increased action point machine in gear VERY early. Pete was more successful than most of us at utilising the favourable blocking strategy that sees an alternative way of getting pieces on the board. In the second game I had the more favourable board position but circumstances conspired to having me fall short again.
Hansa Teutonica gives players the ability to improve most of their starting actions allowing players to be 'more efficient'. One of the only stable issues is cube placement which costs the same for everybody. Getting cubes on the map is expensive, so using them wisely is crucial. For the most part we are playing this game in typical euro style and I feel one of the great things about this game is its scope for alternative 'ideologies' or at least 'tactics'. Everyone knows I enjoy Caylus and without a big debate virtually all I like in Caylus is present in Hansa Teutonica but in a very different and engaging way. Yes its a resource managment game, but its also a game where every player changes the landscape so it cant be played in a vacume, unlike many games where an obvious path to success is contested. Two weeks ago when Rich, Pete and I DID compete over what appeared to be the obvious we came 5th, 3rd and 4th respectively.
Various members of the group have yet to play it and I still have the expansion to pull out after the first board gets 'overplayed'. Right now Hansa Teutonica is in my top 5 games and possibly will be in the top 3 after future plays.