Fantastic Factories: From Manufactions to Subterfuge
Construct buildings and hire contractors while managing an engine and avoiding possible sabotage in Fantastic Factories.
As common as it may sound, there are simply so many games and so little time nowadays! With a little time to myself, I excitedly opened up some new expansion arrivals for Fantastic Factories. I knew I needed to get reacquainted with the rules, yet there were a couple of interesting pieces of new content to explore. Off to my little tabletop factory!
Game Overview
Game Name: Fantastic Factories
Publication Year: 2019
Designer: Joseph Z Chen and Justin Faulkner
Artist: Joseph Z Chen
Publisher: Metafactory Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
With a small pool of dice to represent workers, buildings must be chosen to create ways to produce goods. A variety of contractors offer unique bonuses, yet there’s always a cost to everything! Putting together a factory takes time, and the solo opponent is always ready to pull ahead.
First Play
August 18, 2020
Complexity
2
Latest Play
October 24, 2021
Expansions
5
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
14
Play Time
25 Minutes
High Score
30
Game Area
20" x 18"
Low Score
16
Dueling Factories
It’s the solo opponent that really puts a whole wrench in most plans! At the start, a number of cards form its starting buildings. These are arranged by color.
With a little planning and strategizing, it’s possible to have some control over which cards it will collect.
Having many of a certain color almost guarantees goods will be produced, which is not at all good! But a diverse tableau can also be problematic in some situations.
There isn’t a single way to manage the solo opponent, which makes for some very interesting turns!
Back at Headquarters
Dice act as workers with varying values that can be used in different areas. Buildings continue to add on new options as play progresses, but what to do at the very start?
A very sturdy board provides a trio of basic actions. There are always options to draw more blueprints, produce energy, or collect metal. Definitely some great options!
Even near the end, these choices can still be beneficial. Identical dice also produce extra bonuses in these spaces.
It all came back to me as I prepared to play and build myself a factory of the utmost fantasticness!
Creating an Engine
Buildings come from blueprints of all sorts. Many provide immediate action options or ways to manipulate the dice. Others are useful for final victory points.
I had some idea of what I wanted to do, but I could tell I didn’t have a cohesive plan. What I did have, however, was a really awesome trash compactor with a face! A FACE!
Allow me to digress for a moment to appreciate the art style. It’s very unique and simply fun to look at!
As my own factory crawled to a halt at the end, I had to take a closer look at what the solo opponent accomplished.
The Luck of the Draw
With this assortment, the solo opponent could never produce based on the red die since it had no red buildings. But everything else was fair game… Too lucky!
The blue and purple dice rolled low each time, helping to produce a vast quantity of goods. Stolen, most likely.
Grey monuments also showed up at an alarming rate, and I couldn’t keep them away from the solo opponent. They awarded extra victory points, much to my chagrin.
I didn’t fare too poorly, though I could see where I needed to make some adjustments to pull ahead.
Contractor Choices
Although blueprints form the foundation for most of the crucial gameplay elements, never forget the contractors!
This wide selection of people provides special bonuses, although they’re not free. All require a blueprint to be discarded, and some have additional energy costs.
For me, I often miss out on these hiring opportunities because I get so focused on choosing the right blueprints.
Yet it’s important to note that many contractors are worth it and may even be better than a lot of blueprints! And I finally realized who they remind me of… LEGO figures!
The Art of Subterfuge
Feeling reasonably confident in my skills, I decided to try out one of the new expansions. It included some take that elements that were also compatible with the solo mode.
Typically, I don’t enjoy aspects that interfere with my plans. Let me build what I want, please! Yet I could see some strategic choices here, rather than just attacks.
The sabotage element could disable cards, thereby taking away actions. Oh, my! Yet there were ways to manage it.
I actually quite enjoyed how it was implemented in solo, as I could also sabotage the solo opponent. Take that!
A Haunted Factory
Owing to how far behind I am with posting, this was actually supposed to be part of some Halloween fun! That was only… About 3 weeks ago. Fashionably late!
I had a Calico Critter stop by to reenact the proper way to sabotage another factory. Just send in a friendly ghost!
This was quite useful, though, as I could sabotage a specific color for the solo opponent. It cut down on the production possibilities, yet I still had to time it correctly.
Although I expected to be lukewarm on this expansion, it added the right kind of challenge and new options!
Sabotage Management
Despite the solo opponent rolling far too well and disabling some of my best action spaces, I still won!
This made me diversify my options more and make sure I was more focused on buildings that could convert into victory points. My fulfillment center, though. NOOO!
At the same time, I stopped the solo opponent from producing at least 2-3 goods. That was all I needed!
I also enjoyed the new blueprints and contractors. With more variety, there were more synergies to uncover. But first, why not add another expansion in the mix? Ha ha!
To the Gilded Guild
Without much pause, I added in all the components from Fantastic Factories: Manufactions. This had blueprints and contractors to simply shuffle in, along with more!
Vitamins act as a new resource that can raise or lower the value of a die before being discarded. Producing vitamins can offer more opportunities to manipulate the dice.
Unique factions offer different starting resources and abilities, too. I went with the Gilded Guild to start with!
This gave me extra bonuses for the headquarters actions and matching dice. This could certainly be very useful!
Phantom of the Dice
Don’t think I escaped from that adorable ghost from before! Without any haunting opportunities, it came down to finding the most appropriate new blueprint card.
And there it was! All the phantoms lined up in front of the dice. One of them wasn’t like the rest, but the attempt to blend in was so very serious. The tongue gave it away!
I played on with my new faction ability and really enjoyed it. The vitamins were quite useful, too!
With all of the expansion content mixed together, I felt like the experience was still excellent and even more fun.
Session Overview
Play Number: 9-14
Expansion 1: Fantastic Factories: Promo Pack 1
Expansion 2: Fantastic Factories: Promo Pack 2
Expansion 3: Fantastic Factories: Manufactions
Expansion 4: Fantastic Factories: Subterfuge
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Hard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 3 Wins and 3 Losses
It took plenty of hard work, but I managed to succeed even with all of the sabotage! This was a great introduction to the expansions, and I expect to keep using both of them.
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- There are a lot of ways to use the dice, especially as new buildings open up additional options in later rounds.
- Interesting combinations exist with both the blueprints and contractors, where there are many paths to discover.
- All of the cards feature a charming art style that brings all of the different buildings together in a fun way.
- Managing the solo opponent is an interesting challenge that’s based on a mixture of luck and strategy.
- The rulebook includes an appendix with details about each card to cover the rare instances of ambiguity.
- New expansions add more of the same content plus new elements that add to the challenge with new aspects.
– Cons (Negatives)
- With all of the blueprints in play from the expansions, only a small portion are seen which can limit the options.
- Bad luck with the dice can have an impact on gameplay, particularly if the solo opponent produces many goods.
- The original base game insert wasn’t designed for expansion content so fitting everything in one box is tricky.
- Gameplay is very fun but can get a little repetitive over a short period of time with the same general progression.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game as the Gilded Guild.
Win at least 1 game at the easy difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game at the medium difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game at the hard difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Fantastic Factories? Have you added in any of the expansions? This was a very pleasant surprise, especially since I didn’t expect to like the sabotage mechanic at all. Such a fun experience, though! There’s something awesome about rolling a few dice and watching a little factory turn into a bustling creation. Can’t wait to play again!
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