Machi Koro - Harbor expansion

"It's election time in Machi Koro and your mayorship is in peril. The citizens are no longer wowed by Cheese Factories and Coffee Shops. Winning re-election means going big.

A harbour with fancy boats and sushi bars and a shiny new airport will surely bring more gold to town and more gratitude! Sure, the city might not have the money in its coffers to pay for all this, but that never stopped you before!"

Box text

Machi Koro was an instant hit when it arrived at the Club last year. Colourful artwork and simple mechanics make it quick and fun to play, the only downside being very predictable tactics making for stale replays.

The Harbour Expansion (or Harbor as all the printed material claims!) has now arrived and attempts to fix the issues found in normal play.
So what does this add-on bring? First of all, it provides for a fifth player as more people equals more fun. You also get some lovely purple "20" coins and each player starts with a city hall which grants a single coin to that player if they have no money at the start of their building phase.
Victory conditions have been increased with a player now having to build 6 specific buildings to win (instead of the base 4). The 2 additions being:

Harbor - cost 2 - "if the dice total is 10 or more, you may add 2 to the total on your turn only"

Airport - cost 30 - "If you build nothing on your turn, get 10 coins from the bank"

NOTE: the adjusted dice total for the Harbor affects all players but is necessary to trigger the Tuna Boat card (covered later)

These powers will be integral to the new styles of play, taking coins when there is nothing to build will enable building on the next turn and the Harbor, although cheap, will not come into play until the train station is built and 2 dice are rolled but will cause greater payouts and increased tactical thinking as your choice will affect all players.

Now for the big change, the Marketplace. We have become accustomed to a marketplace where all the buildings are available all the time from game start, prompting ranch warfare! In the new play style the marketplace is drafted until 10 unique buildings are revealed, with duplicates stacked to increase the pool of available buildings. This randomisation of the buildings means a monopoly of a particular building type is much less likely to occur and forces differing strategies as you will not have the same build options as your opponents. When a pile is exhausted, more buildings are drafted from the deck, again stacking duplicates, until 10 unique buildings are revealed.
With new tactical possibilities still reeling in your head, let's look at the new buildings and what they do. Listed as Name/colour/trigger/cost/ability.

Sushi Bar - Red - 1 - cost 4 - (food) if you have a Harbor, get 3 coins from whoever rolled the dice.

Flower Orchard - Blue - 4 - cost 2 - (produce) get 1 coin from the bank on any turn.

Flower Shop - Green - 6 - cost 1 - (shop) get 1 coin from the bank for each flower orchard you own, your turn only.

Publisher - Purple - 7 - cost 5 - (special) Get one coin from each player for each (food) and (shop) they have, your turn only.

Pizza Joint - Red - 7 - cost 1 - (food) get 1 coin from whoever rolled the dice.

Hamburger Stand - Red - 8 - cost 1 - (food) get 1 coin from whoever rolled the dice.

Mackerel Boat - Blue - 8 - cost 2 - (boat) if you have a Harbor, get 3 coins from the bank on any turn.

Tax Office - Purple - 8/9 - cost 4 - (special) Take half of the coins from each player with 10 or more, your turn only.

Food Warehouse- Green - 12/13 - cost 2 - (industry) get 2 coins from the bank for each (food) establishment that you own, your turn only.

Tuna Boat - Blue - 12/13/14 - cost 5 - (boat) on any turn : the current player rolls 2 dice. If you have a Harbor get coins equal to the dice total from the bank.


So, lots of red food cards now, lots of exchanges of coins between players and a fortune available with the Shopping Mall bonus.

Only time will tell if gameplay has been fixed, I worry that the new drafted marketplace could actually enhance the "nothing I want/can afford to build" issue or worse could interfere with Lizzy stopping Kes becoming the Cowboy Overlord if the draft gives Ranches out at the wrong time.

The last thing in the box is a little bit of paper confirming the next expansion "under construction for 2015" - Millionaires Row. That's all you get though, no date or info.
Maybe expensive buildings with high payout? Maybe an off-shore Island with a bank to negate the Tax Office? Who knows?

I can't wait to get this to the table and try out the new stuff, I will have it with me on Tuesday and will happily play several games with any takers.

Alex wrote:I worry that the new drafted marketplace could actually enhance the "nothing I want/can afford to build" issue or worse could interfere with Lizzy stopping Kes becoming the Cowboy Overlord

Cowboy Overlord! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! In his dreams!

Sounds like they've added a lot of new stuff, given it a good kick up the arse. Hopefully that'll sort a lot of the issues we had with it. If I'm not playing Imperial Assault on Tuesday I'm definitely up for trying it all out!

Sames.

Kes wrote:Sames.

You're the copycat