This new series will look at my favourite mechanics in board games, the different ways they get implemented, and board games that feature this mechanic. What better place to start than arguably my favourite mechanic - worker placement.
In most worker placement games, players have a pool of players that they will be using to take actions. These actions are typically taken on a common player board and players will take turns placing their workers. One of the key things that make worker placement games stand out from typical action selection games is the use of workers to block other players from taking actions. For example, in Agricola there is a strict rule where each action space can only be occupied by one worker. In this case it may not only be a good idea to take actions that benefit you but perhaps it might be strategic to take actions so that other players are unable to take the same action.
This ability to block others is what generates a lot of the tension and interaction in these games. However, this can be a cutthroat mechanism and some worker placement games try to ease this restriction. In Viticulture: Essential Edition, the Grande worker is a special worker that can use any action that is already occupied. In some games of Mint Works, there is a building that allows you to use any action that is already occupied at the cost of an extra worker. In Kanban, the administrative workstation can be used to replicate any other workstation, but you typically will be able to take one action less than you would be able to at the regular workstations.
Some worker placement games put a twist on the traditional blocking. In Ora et Labora, players are able to use other players workers by paying the other player, but since workers are only returned at the end of the turn once all workers have been placed, this can cause a player's entire turn to be wasted. In Manhattan Project, players are able to carry out bombing runs against each other so that buildings become damaged and cannot be used until repaired. Caylus has the unique mechanism of the Provost, which is a piece that can be manipulated by players either through a free action or by paying derniers. By moving the Provost back along the road, it can prevent activation of buildings that are past the Provost, effectively wasting worker placements.
Another key feature of worker placement games is the ability to gain workers throughout the game, thereby allowing players to carry out more and more actions per round. However, gaining more workers usually comes at a cost as well. Back to Agricola, you can take a Family Growth action to gain new family members, provided you have already invested in the rooms for them to live in, but each harvest you now have more mouths to feed. Other games, such as Tzolk'in and Stone Age, also use this same mechanic of gaining extra workers but as a result having to pay more in upkeep. Taking actions to gain workers is quite powerful, as generally not only will you gain a worker to use for more actions in the future, but you also block others from taking that action, putting them further behind.
Some games have forgone the feeding aspect and allow you to just gain workers at no cost except for the extra action it takes, such as Viticulture: Essential Edition and Dungeon Petz. Others, such as Lords of Waterdeep and Everdell forego having to take an extra action to gain workers and instead players simply gain more as the game progresses. In addition to gaining new workers, some games such as Istanbul and Manhattan Project introduce the idea of temporary workers.
A couple of games have twisted the idea of using just a single worker on an action space. A Feast for Odin allows players to decide whether they want to use action spaces that take anywhere between 1-4 workers. Using the 1 worker action spaces means that they are able to more moves, but less powerful ones. If a player decides to use the 4 worker action space, that player will be able to use a very good action at the expense of multiple ones. This extra decision that needs to be made is why it has rocketed to the top of my rankings. In Dungeon Petz, each player creates parties of workers and coins at the start of each round. Then in order of largest to smallest party, players send their parties to action spaces. In this way, players who really want to use a certain action must use more workers and coins to create a larger party but at the cost of making smaller parties and therefore carrying out more actions.
Games recently have started to feature unique workers more prominently. Tuscany: Essential Edition, which is the expansion to Viticulture: Essential Edition, allows players to replace two of their workers with special workers that have unique abilities. In The Voyages of Marco Polo your workers are dice that are rolled at the start of each round and the numbers that appear will alter the effectiveness of each action taken. In a similar fashion, workers placed in Tzolk'in "age" as the wheel turns at the end of each turn, effectively changing the actions they are able to take. Caverna, the sequel to Agricola, features workers that increase in strength over time, allowing them to take better actions with the restriction that workers need to be placed in order from weakest to strongest.
As can be seen from some of the descriptions above, there is a huge variety of worker placement games out there. I have played many, more than probably any other mechanic, and there is a vast number of games that I haven't played yet that I really want to - Fields of Arle, The Gallerist, Russian Railroads, Yokohama, Charterstone, and Village are just some of many. There are so many that I might just need to start putting together a worker placement collection because almost any one of them would make the the Essential or Collector collections if I wanted to be a bit looser with my restrictions.
In most worker placement games, players have a pool of players that they will be using to take actions. These actions are typically taken on a common player board and players will take turns placing their workers. One of the key things that make worker placement games stand out from typical action selection games is the use of workers to block other players from taking actions. For example, in Agricola there is a strict rule where each action space can only be occupied by one worker. In this case it may not only be a good idea to take actions that benefit you but perhaps it might be strategic to take actions so that other players are unable to take the same action.
This ability to block others is what generates a lot of the tension and interaction in these games. However, this can be a cutthroat mechanism and some worker placement games try to ease this restriction. In Viticulture: Essential Edition, the Grande worker is a special worker that can use any action that is already occupied. In some games of Mint Works, there is a building that allows you to use any action that is already occupied at the cost of an extra worker. In Kanban, the administrative workstation can be used to replicate any other workstation, but you typically will be able to take one action less than you would be able to at the regular workstations.
Some worker placement games put a twist on the traditional blocking. In Ora et Labora, players are able to use other players workers by paying the other player, but since workers are only returned at the end of the turn once all workers have been placed, this can cause a player's entire turn to be wasted. In Manhattan Project, players are able to carry out bombing runs against each other so that buildings become damaged and cannot be used until repaired. Caylus has the unique mechanism of the Provost, which is a piece that can be manipulated by players either through a free action or by paying derniers. By moving the Provost back along the road, it can prevent activation of buildings that are past the Provost, effectively wasting worker placements.
Another key feature of worker placement games is the ability to gain workers throughout the game, thereby allowing players to carry out more and more actions per round. However, gaining more workers usually comes at a cost as well. Back to Agricola, you can take a Family Growth action to gain new family members, provided you have already invested in the rooms for them to live in, but each harvest you now have more mouths to feed. Other games, such as Tzolk'in and Stone Age, also use this same mechanic of gaining extra workers but as a result having to pay more in upkeep. Taking actions to gain workers is quite powerful, as generally not only will you gain a worker to use for more actions in the future, but you also block others from taking that action, putting them further behind.
Some games have forgone the feeding aspect and allow you to just gain workers at no cost except for the extra action it takes, such as Viticulture: Essential Edition and Dungeon Petz. Others, such as Lords of Waterdeep and Everdell forego having to take an extra action to gain workers and instead players simply gain more as the game progresses. In addition to gaining new workers, some games such as Istanbul and Manhattan Project introduce the idea of temporary workers.
A couple of games have twisted the idea of using just a single worker on an action space. A Feast for Odin allows players to decide whether they want to use action spaces that take anywhere between 1-4 workers. Using the 1 worker action spaces means that they are able to more moves, but less powerful ones. If a player decides to use the 4 worker action space, that player will be able to use a very good action at the expense of multiple ones. This extra decision that needs to be made is why it has rocketed to the top of my rankings. In Dungeon Petz, each player creates parties of workers and coins at the start of each round. Then in order of largest to smallest party, players send their parties to action spaces. In this way, players who really want to use a certain action must use more workers and coins to create a larger party but at the cost of making smaller parties and therefore carrying out more actions.
Games recently have started to feature unique workers more prominently. Tuscany: Essential Edition, which is the expansion to Viticulture: Essential Edition, allows players to replace two of their workers with special workers that have unique abilities. In The Voyages of Marco Polo your workers are dice that are rolled at the start of each round and the numbers that appear will alter the effectiveness of each action taken. In a similar fashion, workers placed in Tzolk'in "age" as the wheel turns at the end of each turn, effectively changing the actions they are able to take. Caverna, the sequel to Agricola, features workers that increase in strength over time, allowing them to take better actions with the restriction that workers need to be placed in order from weakest to strongest.
As can be seen from some of the descriptions above, there is a huge variety of worker placement games out there. I have played many, more than probably any other mechanic, and there is a vast number of games that I haven't played yet that I really want to - Fields of Arle, The Gallerist, Russian Railroads, Yokohama, Charterstone, and Village are just some of many. There are so many that I might just need to start putting together a worker placement collection because almost any one of them would make the the Essential or Collector collections if I wanted to be a bit looser with my restrictions.
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