Greenhorn Your Way To Greatness In Nevada City

January 22, 2019 by cassn

Howdy partner! Y'all best pony up to the Rio Grande Games website by hook or by crook, cos them city-slickers done gone and got themselves a worker placement game to wet your whistle!

Nevada City has been in the pipeline for Rio Grande Games for nearly three years. This 2-4 player worker placement game from Alan D. Ernstein sees players take on the role of a nuclear family attempting to start up a homestead in Nevada among the Wild West wilderness!

Each player begins with a father, mother, daughter, and son, a homestead mat, one ranch, one farm, one mine, and various resources. During the game, players will produce resources, buy and construct new buildings, and contend with one-off events which may occur, such as drought. At the end of each year, the workers leave unless you marry them into the family, and that takes sufficient resources.

Victory Points are awarded for buildings constructed and through completing private objectives which are assigned at the beginning of the game. Unlike other games, the objectives in Nevada City are relative to the success of other players, so you really do have to be the best homesteader in the city to reap the rewards.

On the surface, Nevada City looks like any other worker placement game, however, on closer inspection, there's a lot more to this game than meets the eye. On top of those few unique base mechanics already mentioned, the game also includes advanced rules, a gambling subgame, extra sons and daughters, and a more volatile production market, reflecting the instability of life in the Old West.

Nevada City will be released in the Spring/Summer of 2019, but you can mosey on over to the Rio Grande Games website for more information.

Which worker placement games do you think stand out for unique rulesets?