Into the Fields of Green with a Tiny Livestock Exhibition
Travel away from the busy city life for a bit of tabletop farming with Fields of Green and its simple enjoyment.
Nearly there with my exploration of every attraction in Fields of Green! After getting unusually frustrated with some subpar scores during my last session, I set to work thinking things through. Was I truly after a high score? Or did I just want to have some farming fun? This time, I embraced that relaxing environment a little bit more than usual!
Game Overview
Game Name: Fields of Green
Publication Year: 2016
Designer: Vangelis Bagiartakis
Artists: G. Bobrowski, T. Jedruszek, and N. Robinson
Publisher: Artipia Games
Solo Mode: Included in Fields of Green: Grand Fair
To build a prosperous farm from just a water tower and silo takes careful planning, and it all happens over just 4 rounds! That might sound stressful, yet it’s difficult to make horrible decisions. It’s about optimizing the cards and choosing locations that can synergize together.
First Play
January 27, 2019
Complexity
3
Latest Play
November 20, 2024
Expansions
5
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
40
Play Time
35 Minutes
High Score
89
Game Area
34" x 28"
Low Score
0
The Active Solo Goals
Perhaps the most impactful element is the trio of solo goals. I was pretty excited about this assortment!
Cereal fields would help me transform water into food. In turn, any dairy and poultry livestock would turn that food into coins to further develop my farm in later years.
I wonder if the setup of drawing 4 solo goals and choosing 3 might still be too random. Maybe it would make more sense to randomize certain types and not all of the cards.
Regardless, this was going to be an excellent farming adventure with plenty of animal variety: My favorite!
Showcasing Livestock
The livestock exhibition turned out to be amazing. At the end of each year, I chose a type and paid 1-3 coins for each matching card to move along the spaces.
Since I had a livestock-heavy strategy, this worked in my favor! And with all of the extra coins, it was affordable.
That final spot yielded me 20 victory points, although I had to subtract 10 for having a pair of attractions in play. Not bad at all, considering attractions don’t always work.
I loved this! It was simple but felt like it rewarded a cohesive strategy. Definitely one to use with livestock!
To the Milking Contest
It took me a moment to understand the milking contest, which allowed me to pay coins to use a harvest ability.
The trouble? This could be on any location, including fields. It seemed a little unusual to illustrate cows when the benefit might be water… Similar liquids? Sure. Ha ha!
I was certain this wasn’t going to help me. And then it did as I realized how powerful it could be at the right time.
Remember that I focused on livestock, thereby earning plenty of coins during every harvest. These costs were very reasonable for effectively using a location twice.
A Bountiful Harvest
I took the livestock exhibition to the next level! With some extra coins, a plethora of new Calico Critters showed up. There are rabbits and dogs in the game, of course!
This made me realize that there aren’t any cats, though. Barns and farms with no cats?! Preposterous. Ha ha!
Actually, these new additions have been arriving over the last couple of months. Many came from my husband, and there are likely more to arrive over the coming months.
The only trouble is storage, which needs to be overhauled. I think I need a large barn to fit them all at this point!
Attractions and Solo Goals as Complements
What I’ve seen happen several times is the important link between the attractions in play and the solo goals. I’m still enjoying choosing the attractions along the way to try them all out. However, I feel like the best option in the future might be to pair them together for the most synergies. Might this make the game much easier? Possibly.
Yet the -5 victory points for each attraction already balance out the benefits a little bit. It’s been frustrating when I had opposing attractions and solo goals. I had to choose between meeting the goals and actually scoring, or trying to make use of some suboptimal strategies with the attractions. Maybe this will help improve the overall experience!
Session Overview
Play Number: 20
Expansion 1: Fields of Green: Grand Fair
Expansion 2: Grand Fair: Kickstarter Promo Cards
Expansion 3: Fields of Green: Crop Circle
Expansion 4: Fields of Green: Kickstarter Promo Cards
Solo Mode: Included in Fields of Green: Grand Fair
Play Details: Livestock Exhibition and Milking Contest
Outcome: 86 Points (1 Win)
I earned my best score yet, making me an experienced farmer! Such excitement! This was an amazing play where things all came together. Let’s hope that will continue!
%
40 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
9
+ Pros (Positives)
- Each card only includes 3 duplicate copies and does something unique compared to the rest of the locations.
- There is a basic way to create an engine, yet choosing specific paths forward offers a lot of different options.
- Although the play area could easily get out of control, the placement of cards often lends itself to a smaller area.
- Finding and figuring out the best card combinations takes a lot of trial and error that feels quite rewarding.
- The theme, artwork, and mechanics work nicely together to create a relaxing and simple farming experience.
- Scoring is straightforward and may take several steps, yet the calculations are typically easy to figure out.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Although the coins are in denominations of 1, 3, 5, and 10, they are all basically the same size, shape, and color.
- Each attraction is generally easy to understand, but referencing the rules is often required prior to playing.
- It can be challenging to keep track of every location’s ability later on when there could be 15+ cards to consider.
- The equipment tiles can easily blend in with the cards, making it easy to accidentally miss them at times.
Victory Conditions
Score 70+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 67%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 70 points.
Score at least 80 points.
Score at least 90 points.
Continue the Conversation
What is your best score in Fields of Green? Are there any locations you prefer for their artwork or abilities? I’m still partial to the apple trees, although I tend to pick up lots of livestock. I love the animals! This new high score gave me a lot of confidence that I might continue to improve. Only a few more attractions left to try out and evaluate!
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