A Delightful Day of Seaside Fishing and Building in Nusfjord
Build a livelihood within a bustling fishing town where elders provide guidance and ships head out to sea in Nusfjord.
It appears I allowed Nusfjord to fall by the wayside, barely giving it any attention for over a year. What?! This is a fantastic game about optimization, yet it rarely plays out in a similar way. Buildings provide all sorts of bonuses and interesting ways to get ahead. I was also finally ready to try the 3-game campaign. Watch out, fish! Here I come!
Game Overview
Game Name: Nusfjord
Publication Year: 2017
Designer: Uwe Rosenberg
Artist: Patrick Soeder
Publisher: Lookout Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Such a pleasant little spot! Buildings may be purchased from a variety of tiers while actions must be carefully plotted. There’s an interesting mechanic where you’re the one blocking yourself! Fishing is paramount, yet several other resources must be managed for a fruitful outcome.
First Play
December 29, 2019
Complexity
3
Latest Play
November 20, 2021
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
15
Play Time
30 Minutes
High Score
44
Game Area
26" x 16"
Low Score
30
Fitting Everything
One of the fun challenges with the setup is finding a way to keep all of the boards within easy reach. I have a large table, but why not keep it all condensed? Success!
For some reason, I had the idea that organizing the play area meant there would be too many components. The silly notions I get after not playing for years.
I settled on this arrangement where I could see everything and only had to reach a little bit to feed the elders.
This color scheme is exceptionally pleasant to me, and I took a moment to just admire the lovely design. So nice!
The Wise Elders
Although buildings provide crucial abilities and bonuses, often adding on victory points in the process, the many elders are not to be forgotten. Lots of help from them!
The real trick behind each play is to find the optimal combination of buildings and elders.
It might also be the case that not many elders are utilized, owing to ongoing effects from certain buildings. After all, the elders need to eat plenty of fish and stay full!
In the solo game, the elders are more limited and can seem repetitive, but there are many distinct strategies.
A Complete Success
Like a sailor returning home from a long and arduous journey, I received a fantastic homecoming! Some early turns felt random as I tried to remember what to do.
I may have played the sailor incorrectly for extra gold, but that would have been a single occurrence. Close enough! Not like I’m going for anything other than a personal best.
The way the different discs blocked spaces was clever and made me think about everything I needed to do.
Yet it didn’t feel overly complex. I forgot how great this game is! Just the right amount of challenge in 30 minutes.
Building a Victory
In each play, only a portion of the buildings come into play. These differ between decks, and I still have yet to move up! The C-level buildings were also hidden early on.
I absolutely had to construct a theater, though, so I found ways to collect plenty of wood and fish. My little wood trade was also helpful in converting wood into gold.
One of my last moves was to build the castle because… Castle! And 11 victory points for lots and lots of gold.
My interesting combination was to build the wharf, then use the harbor master to reach a haul size of 10. Fun!
Evaluating Actions
Those final couple of rounds were important, but my earlier turns set everything up to run well. My reserve was teeming, so a transfer gave me all I needed to build.
Taking an elder also proved useful, while it was all about picking up those last few buildings.
Note that on the player board, cleared spaces without a building are worth -1 victory point. Clearing forests without a clear plan can be disastrous, but I did well!
Even picking up a very cheap A-level building worth 0 victory points can still help to raise the final score.
Sharing the Fish
I typically end up issuing all of my shares, guaranteeing 5 victory points at the cost of several actions and maybe 1-2 gold when timed correctly. Success again!
With an impressive fleet, I was practically swimming with so many fish! These helped with some building costs, but I also managed to put together some impressive feasts.
For each plate served, it usually yields 1 gold. I still can’t remember if I used the sailor incorrectly… Close enough!
Even if I took away 3 gold, this was a mighty impressive outing. Only one thing left to do: Try out the campaign!
Beyond the First Game
On the subject of the solo campaign, I never tried it before. No idea why not! It follows 3 back-to-back plays where the buildings cycle through and can be partially planned.
This play followed all of the rules. No double gold from the sailor! It wasn’t as good, owing to that large reserve I never used in the end. And so many abilities!
I still didn’t fail completely, thanks to the retirement home and manor for a total of 14 victory points. Nice!
My fleet was a little smaller than I would have liked, but the pair of schooners helped with fish and victory points.
Campaign’s End
No “schooner” had I started the final play in this campaign with an awful pun when it was all over!
Time absolutely flew by. A campaign usually makes me think of countless hours and endless scenarios. Not a bad thing in the right context, but I had it all wrong here.
With partial cleanup and setup included, this campaign lasted a little over an hour and a half. Awesome!
This last play was my worst of the bunch, although it was still relatively good. It was tricky to put together the buildings, but I tried to plan ahead for good combinations.
Session Overview
Play Number: 13-15
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Herring Deck at the Standard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 44, 39, and 35 (3 Wins)
Such a peaceful fishing village! My combined score was 118, which I was rather surprised about. It seems like games about optimizing the puzzle appeal to me, or at least click better than other mechanics. I have a small enough number of games I consider myself good at, so it’s nice to know this one appears to firmly be on the list! I expect to always play the campaign going forward. So fun!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
6
+ Pros (Positives)
- The mechanics are very smooth with plenty of decisions to make that don’t seem to be overwhelming.
- Alternating disc colors each round creates interesting situations where actions are blocked in a planned way.
- Play time is relatively quick and an entire 3-game campaign takes much less time than might be expected.
- Finding the best assortment of buildings and elders is a fun challenge that changes with every play and deck.
- Only the C-level building reveal introduces a random element, so the focus is on optimizing every action.
- There is lovely artwork to enjoy in many places, and even the text-based cards have a nice border and colors.
– Cons (Negatives)
- A custom storage solution is needed to keep everything organized in the box for easy setup and cleanup.
- With a lot of buildings that offer passive abilities, it can be easy to forget a special ability or bonus.
- Not all of the elders are used with the solo game, and the ones that are used tend to feel a bit repetitive.
- Arranging all of the boards and components to use for solo can be a little bit of a challenge during setup.
Victory Conditions
Score 35+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 80%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 40 points.
Win at least 1 game at the standard difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game with the herring deck.
Win at least 1 standard campaign with the herring deck.
Score at least 45 points.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Nusfjord? There is something so very enjoyable about it and I’m glad I got it back to the table again! Do you have any favorite combinations? I stumbled across some very interesting buildings this time, or maybe I was just finally paying attention. Lots more to explore here with additional decks and strategies in the future!
Nice review and score, Jessica! Solo campaign is definitely the way to go! Try out advanced solo next time using three colors for action selection.
Thanks, Derek! But whoa there… Still not sure if the advanced solo mode will be right for me next. Maybe I should try it out, though. Or a different deck? Definitely a few different options to increase the difficulty level here, which should be a lot of fun!