11th December - Le Havre

4 of us played Le Havre on Thursday - me, Keith, Andre & Nigel. Me & Keith had played it the last time I brought it to the Legion; both Andre & Nigel were new to it. After a rules explanation - the rules regarding only buildings proposal & only buying town buildings seem to confuse people at first - we got going.

Everyone apart from me got grain & cattle early on & soon began harvesting at the end of the Rounds; I had decided to build at least the Marketplace & buy the Construction Firm early on as these seem to be good early investments, as well as getting a Ship as soon as the first Wharf entered play (which was built by Keith). Andre was suffering by the end of the game, having to pick up as much as 4 loans in the last few turns & getting quite a few minus points. Poor Nigel seemed quite unsure & only built two buildings the whole game as well as having far too much grain & cattle to make good use of.

It is difficult to say if anyone was following a strategy; Le Havre is currently a game which I find I am still playing along the lines of 'depends what happens' at time, though as I played I definitely was thinking a few turns ahead, though there were some times when I did what I thought of as the best option available. So I won't go into too much detail here!

Special buildings (in play & ownership):-

Tavern, Coal Trader & Zoo (town), Farm & Bakery (Matt) .

Standard buildings (ownership that I remember of):-

Andre - Joinery, Abbatoir, Brickworks, Wharf, Steel Mill(?), Black market.

Matt - Smokehouse, Hardware Store, Grocery Market, Marketplace & Ironworks.

Keith - Wharf, Bakehouse, Arts Centre & Local Court.

Nigel - Fishery & Shipping Line.

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Final score - me = 119, Keith = 114, Andre = 67(?), Nigel = ??? but the lowest.

We all like this, though Nigel is unsure. But Le Havre is one of those games that will appeal to less players.