Do you want early access to our giveaways? Do you want to read our reviews before your friends?

Join the COOL KIDS by subscribing to EverythingBoardGames.Com’s Email List Today!!

Quick Look: Farms Race

Designers: Daniel Dranove, Tom Weiner
Artist: Michael Zhang
Publisher: Medium Brow Games
Year Published: 2024

No. of Players: 2-4

Ages: 14+

Playing Time: 60 – 120 minutes.

Find more info HERE.

From the Publisher:

Disclaimer: The publisher provided the copy of Farms Race. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.

Disclaimer: Anytime you see a link to Amazon on our site, it is another way to get your product there for the normally listed price as well as a way to support Everything Board Games and everything we’re doing here, without paying any extra. We appreciate the support!

Review:

Let it never be said that I can’t appreciate a good satire.

In fact, there are times I might genuinely appreciate satire more than what it ascribes to deride. Case in point, there are some Weird Al songs that I might just like more than the songs they mock, precisely because of the truth with which the mockery resonates. 

But what, you might ask, does Weird Al have to do with board games. To that I might answer “Farms Race”.

Farms Race takes no shame in highlighting that it exists solely to trounce the idea of the idealistic Euro game. While some similarities may exist between Farms Race and the tropes it seeks to comedically replicate, note that you can expect the humor to blow the old clichés of the classic Euro Game straight to Kingdom Come. Perhaps quite literally, within the context of its ruleset.

In Farms Race, 2-4 players will take control of four animal races that are vying for total control of the world, and each of these begin with totally symmetrical powers. Chickens, Cows, Pigs and Sheep each respectively want absolute control.

However, this symmetry will quickly become obsolete, as each player faction will then gain unique special powers due to radioactive mutation. So you may have sheep with regeneration, or undead zombie cows that can rise from the dead as perpetual in-game abilities from there on out. 

Players commence their game positions relatively far from each other in a hex tile-based map of various proportions, and will likely begin the game amassing resources by forcefully taking land away from humans. Those with an aversion to the prospect of animals wiping out humanity in their efforts to take over the world may want to sit this game out. 

In laying waste to human colonies, the warring animal factions will acquire resources such as wheat, bricks, weapons, wood and yes, plutonium to further bolster their respective war machines and achieve dominance. The first player to acquire 10 Victory Points will claim reign as sovereign over all of the other entities on Earth. 

So ultimately, while a game like Catan may relish in such fancies as trade and bartering to victory, Farms Race immediately breaks with tradition in favor of all out conquest.

The review : 

What’s to Like :

—Components are all sound quality. The fact that all wooden animal meeples have distinct markings on front and back to symbolize full health vs damaged helps immensely. 

—A great, convoluted twist on classic formulae such as Settlers of Catan, with a lot more focus on combat if that is your sort of thing.

—Rules are straightforward, but have some nice quirks and idiosyncrasies to keep things interesting and varied from just plain old dice chucking. For example, the game has a mechanic where it does not necessarily do you any good to conquer an enemy base (which normally gives VPs) right after it has been nuked or raided. Thematically, this is due to the land being temporarily ruined due to nuclear fallouts.

—Conceptually, I find Farms Race to be a breath of fresh air, especially when one considers my usual (though not universal) aversion to Euros. While conquest is indeed a theme, it should be noted that they could have made the mechanics akin to any old dice chucker, but thankfully, there is more to it than that. This is done via the game’s nuking mechanics, which not only allow players to attack and easily wipe out an enemies’ forces, but also the fact that this triggers an immediate form of nuclear retaliation that other players can join in on with their host of nuclear arsenals.

—Mutant powers are abundant, funny, and unique. Enjoy hashing it out against chickens with jumbo-sized brains.

—It is nice that acquisition of VP’s isn’t static ; losing a barn that you own for example will cause you to lose VP’s and make victory that much harder. This forces players to also think defensively as opposed to just using pure aggression. 

—Spy Cards that are purchased when using certain resources break up what would otherwise be monotonous combat by shaking things up in humorous form with fantastic art and comedic abilities that can change the tide of battle.

—Highly portable, with a good duration of 1-2 hours. 

—Not overly deep, but deep enough to be satisfying. 

Negatives : 

—Farms Race is best at 3-4 players, especially given the way nuclear retaliation gives more unpredictable results. 

—It would be nice to use more than 1 mutant power per animal faction, since these seem to be one of the main highlights that contribute to the humor of the game.

—Cannot play with random distribution of map tiles, as equal access to resource types needs to be retained in map configurations. So not as much replay ability in this department.

—The theme may be a little too morbid for some

—This will not be something favored by less competitive types of gamers out there either!

Overall, I liked Farms Race quite well. While I can appreciate the historical significance of some of the games Farms Race derides, it for me remains just as valid when I invoke Weird Al Yankovic’s name in stating that  sometimes satire creates a superior product. Just as I personally know some people (myself included) that say that Mel Brook’s “Space Balls” is a better Star Wars film than its more modern sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, so it might also be said of Farms Race when compared to its forbears. One is of course free to disagree, but those are my sentiments.

While I did part with my copy of Catan years ago, Farms Race seems to be one of those cases where I can keep the game even just for its value in humor and If-You-Know-You-Know recognition. And ultimately, Farms Race remains a solid game that in my humble residence will be here until the radioactive cows come home.

Rating : 8 / 10

We’ve opened up a community discussion where you can share your rating, thoughts, or a mini-review:
👉 Join the discussion HERE!