Who doesn’t love some time in the garden? Planting and growing some of the most beautiful plants and flowers you can imagine, gardening can be a relaxing and fun experience. Today we are going to look at a game that does that and gives players a chance to grow some beautiful herbs in their garden!
Herbaceous: Pocket Edition is designed by Steve Finn, Eduardo Baraf and with art from Beth Sobel. It is published by Pencil First games and is designed for 1-4 players and plays in 20 mins for players aged 8 and up.
Overview
In Herbaceous, players are trying to score the most victory points they can by collecting and placing herbs from a general community garden into their own garden.
The game comes with a deck of Herb cards, 7 of which have nine copies and 3 of which have three copes. There is a also a set of four containers for each player, a Garden marker and a reference card.
Each player gets a set of Container cards and the Herb cards are shuffled to form a deck. Give each player space to make a private garden in front of them as well as room in the middle of the table for a Community garden.
The players take turns in order taking two steps, the first being optional and the second mandatory. Players will Pot Herbs and then Plant.
1-Pot Herbs. This is potions and here players take a set of their collected Herbs and tuck them in one of their four containers. Herbs may be taken from both the player’s private garden and from the community garden. Each container is only used once per game, so you need to make sure that you use them at the correct time. Each container can hold one type of combination of herbs such as one of each or different pairs. Here you really have to pay attention to what you have, your opponents have and what is in the center community garden as well.
2-Plant. This is mandatory, as players plant herbs into their private garden and the community garden. Each player will draw one card and decide if they want it in their private garden or in the larger community garden. The second card drawn must go in the area not chosen.
Once all the cards are drawn, players take turns collecting herbs. Once a player cannot pot any more herbs, play ends and scoring is done. Each Container has a specific scoring total that you follow to score the card. The Glass Jar card allows for special herbs to be scored. Most points will win the game!
Impressions
Herbaceous: Pocket Edition takes all the fun of the original and packs it into a small, portable box that is perfect for on-the-go gaming! The game is pocket-sized, not much bigger than a deck of cards. This makes it the perfect game to take and add into an already full game bag, your back pocket or even in the glovebox so you always have some choices ready to go whether on the road or on the run!
if you enjoy Herbaceous, this is an easy addition to your library to make an already good game easy to play. And if you haven’t played the original, this is a great way to get in to it! You can have a game that not only travels well but is a fun, relaxing time to play. The mechanics are simple to understand but still require some keen strategy and thought as you move through the gameplay.
Overall I have to recommend this one and suggest you take a look at the Kickstarter campaign and grab a copy for yourself. The stellar gameplay and relaxed aspects of this game will bring you to the table and the artwork from Beth Sobel is simply gorgeous. You will be planting a beautiful garden before you know it with Herbaceous: Pocket Edition!
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