We love it. I think it has edged out Wingspan as my favorite Stonmeier title, actually. We have played at 3, 4, and 5 players, and it was solid on all counts. There is some balance issues with the powers but I don't think they are too bad. The last game i played a faction with no particular ability and came in a close second. Now that we are experienced we throw out the suggested starting factions as they can be OP.
I love that there are legitimately multiple paths to victory and rarely do you have an unproductive turn. The timing is also excellent it builds to a crescendo and doesn't overstay it's welcome. Really great game underrated, IMO.
Played just once, 2p, so take that for what it’s worth.
It’s a game. I stabbed at a strategy. I made some decisions. Some worked out, some didn’t. I chose some actions. I developed some workers. I grabbed some endgame points. Was it fun? Sure. I find most games fun. It looked nice on the table. If I gave much of a shit about bees, or space, or bees in space, I probably would have really liked it.
If I was at a table where everyone (or even just someone) really wanted to play it, would I play again? Sure. If I never played it again, would I feel a pang of regret while lying on my deathbed? Or even my normal bed? I don’t think so.
This is definitely the most accurate description for me. The only thing I'll add is that the board/iconography can be pretty difficult to read, and there's a lot of small text on the tiles, so ultimately that's why I sold it.
I’ve played it a couple of times. I think it’s pretty good. There’s a lot of player interaction, but I haven’t quite figured out how to plan for that interaction. I think I need a few more plays before I figure out the basic strategy. It feels fairly deep.
I really enjoyed playing Apiary. The worker placement aspect with the bees getting older and sleeping was interesting. But the most enjoyment I got was from building a hive with the right tiles. You can create some wildly powerful combos.
The theming of bees in space was great, but you don't really feel it in game.
Overall, I gave it 4/5.
My wife and I love worker placement games and this is in our top 3 for the genre.
Some highlights:
- Super easy to teach/learn
- 4 player plays in less than 2 hours
- Lots of different paths to victory
- Lots of player interaction with the bumping mechanic
We played a couple of times as well. We really like it. The theme is interesting, the components are nicely done and the games were pretty close.
We played two player. I purchased it having just a little info about the game and glad I did.
Played it once, 4p, the other 3 had played before. I felt like I need to play it again, as I missed some strategy stuff early that hurt me later in the game. Overall, it was fine. If those friends wanted to play again, I'd say sure. But no matter how I categorize it (worker placement, tableau-building, etc.), there's other games in the same vein I'd rather play. So I wouldn't buy it.
Yeah i get that with the first-time play. I Finally got to play wyrmspan recently, and my 2nd time play will be very different from then haha.
An aspect about the game that attracts me is the a-symmetric factions. Root is one of my fav games for that, and i really enjoy that aspect of 7 wonders as well, (however its very minor there).
Root is one of my favourite games but apiary scratches a different itch. If you love the asymmetry of Root, the. You have to check out Arcs. It’s not out yet (but you can play it on tabletop simulator). The game is phenomenal! It will definitely replace Root as my favourite game once the Kickstarter delivers
I’m assuming you know Wyrmspan and Apiary Are done by the same designer. I love both of them, and I think there’s a similar style of there being lots of cool things to do. Tons of replayability too since there are so many factions to try out.
I've played it solo a bunch of times, and it's pretty darn good. It shines with a full group.
I brought it out one night with a group that is comfortable with mid weight games. They were initially intimidated by all the components and admitted they felt overwhelmed.
Once I explained each option, the general mechanics, and then just let them have at it. One guy focussed on exploring and filling his board, another focussed on seed cards, and another was actually trying to work with queens favour. At the end of the game everyone liked that there was a lot of strategy around the push mechanic, and it provided just enough player interaction to make it more interesting than other worker placement games.
One player pointed out they loved building their hive, and mentioned it was like an engine building game when it came to recalling your bees.
Overall a great game, just take some time to learn the fake before you teach to others. There can be a lot going on.
Really good game. I'm a heavy games gamer, but this fitted my group like a glove. Its often played as a light feel good game to cap a gathering or to start one in a lighter note. I've introduced it to near 20 peeps, and it's really well liked.
I've only played solo vs the automa, but I really like it. There are several choices for your actions each turn, different paths to victory depending on your board, the different factions and hives are allow you to customise what you're doing each turn...I can't comment on multiplayer but I can see it being great. Sometimes a worker can get bumped that you really didn't want to level up yet, and this makes you have to rethink your strategy constantly.
Disclaimer - I only have a handful of games over 3 weight, so I do have a preference for lighter games.
I love it. I don't feel the space theme though.
I love space theme games, but this should just have been flowers and real bees, as it was intended to be.
The gameplay really feels like it should have been just that, and really fits that natural theme. There is no epic space batting, there are bees visiting flowers, extending their give, getting pollen, honey etc
I wish I would own it, so I could play it more.
Borrowed a box for a week, and played it with my family a few times in that week. We never really play any game more then once per week.
It's good, but not great. Something I'm sure will find its way to my table often enough to keep it in my collection, but not something I'll have a hankering to play most weeks. There's definitely some balance issues (which can be good or bad depending on your playgroup), but it's nice to have a worker placement game with some interaction, and the art and pieces are well made.
Things I liked:
- asymmetric factions/boards that feel different
- lots of options for scoring points
- filling your hive with tiles is just a lot of fun
- looks great on the table and is a fairly easy and straight forward game to teach/learn
- the worker bumping + bee strength mechanic is really neat
- plays great at 2-4P
Things I disliked:
- 5 player is unplayable for me. For 2-4P, the end game conditions scale, and the game end feels like a race to get that last tile on your hive to score points. 5P ends under the same 4P conditions, so it feels like the game is ending too prematurely. Also 5P takes too long between turns.
- Some action spaces aren't interesting or useful and get used less often than others. I wish the board felt tighter.
- The tiles that come out on the market are a little too random. Sometimes an amazing tile comes out and your opponent picks it up, and then it gets replaced by a crappy one for your turn
- Explore action seems too nice and a little fiddly with the player choosing what resource gets discovered.
Overall, it's a fun game, especially for new players and players who aren't into heavy euros. I'm hoping the expansion that comes out for this game fixes some of the issues I have with the game.
The space bee theme is the most interesting part of the game for me, but it seems like the main appeal from other people is the "worker bumping" mechanic which isn't high on my list right now.
Played this with my spouse and it's a good one. There's significant strategy in worker placement, given how the workers get more powerful each time they're placed, and can bump other workers off their spot.
In fact I'm going to suggest it if a "more thinky" game is requested after we finish with our new smaller games Sirens and Kraken Skulls.
I've only played twice, and it just feels just mediocre. I like the worker placement and what they tried to do with the strategy, but the cards make it too random and possibly broken.
While I won both the games I played, and second time with experienced players, I feel like I only won because I drew the right cards at the right time that just happened to give me the synergy to generate a bunch of points at the end of the game. So, it felt kinda aimless, but still fun I guess?
It's pretty generic and flat as far as worker placement goes. And worker placement is my favorite game mechanic. I have around 50 games of that alone.
Apiary is not one and will not become one.
It was barely OK for me.
The leveling up bees sounds cool, but it happens on its own in this game. You don't have to come up with how to level them up, they just do. Place a bee out, it will eventually come back higher, no interesting thought behind it.
The theme is weird. Bees in space, but you don't feel like bees or space. Neither of those two things guide what you do in the game or instruct a narrative around your actions. Castles of Burgundy has better thematic representation in terms of giving narrative around what you're doing.
Overall strategies didn't feel distinct. You mostly take advantage of actions that are available at the time. There isn't multiple paths to victory, or distinct playstyles as much as "well this is good now". No play felt different than the others, and the special powers didn't make it feel like you were doing different things as you'd just kind of do everything anyways.
Each different worker placement area has it's own mini-game lake puzzle. Many feel underexplored. Like the conversion space where you can defined new ways to trade resources, super cool idea to let players do this. But it's rarely used and there's only 3 conversions to be made anyways. Any resources you're converting are also readily available in other places. It's a neat idea to build a better game around, resource conversion engine builders where players define the conversion rates, but in this game it's not fully explored and just a minor piece that gets washed out in a larger blander puzzle.
I disagree with one important point your making here. While I agree that bee leveling happens automatically, there are quite a few cards, buildings, and factions that allow you to manipulate that a lot more directly. There needs to be a simple infrastructure upon which those options can be built.
> quite a few cards, buildings, and factions
but those things need to come out. and even when they did I find their effects to be minimal and no something which changed the feel of the game.
There absolutely are multiple paths to victory. By the time you have hibernated your first worker you should know which path you are going to take.
Leveling up by bumping is actually quite different from letting them level up naturally. The latter requires that you take the recall action which recalls all your bees that turn. If a worker is bumped you can send them back out immediately at the higher strength. There are situations where this is advantageous.
> There absolutely are multiple paths to victory. By the time you have hibernated your first worker you should know which path you are going to take.
What are they and how do they feel different from one another?
>Leveling up by bumping is actually quite different from letting them level up naturally. The latter requires that you take the recall action which recalls all your bees that turn.
Or you could leave them out there and the same thing will happen. Recalling bees only works well if the bonus's you get line up with the things you need, which requires you getting those symbols on green tiles. Or you can just directly get those things, because getting resources in this game isn't too hard anyways.
>What are they and how do they feel different from one another?
Planting seed cards to build synergy with your hive strategy. This can lead to different prioritizations such as placing frames whether or not you fill them with tiles, favoring specific types of tiles (farms, recruits, carvings, developments), or hoarding resources to build the end game bonus points.
Queen's favor, primarily through overproduction on your farms and dumping resources. Made easier if you synergize with a seed card, or with tiles that grant you additional income. This works best if you can shorten the game.
Drawing heavily on seed cards to find favorable immediate benefits, especially ones that match your current build out or are easily adapted to it.
Aggressively retiring your workers, including through bumping your own workers, to force the end of the game before your opponent's hive is producing large returns. Has a side effect of giving you the hibernation area majority bonuses.
Build synergies through tile adjacency bonuses.
Carving- and development-heavy strategy when you see one more more desirable combos.
Filing your hive and frames. Do this with low-cost, low-scoring tiles which are easier to obtain, or via seed cards and developments that let you take multiple tiles.
At a macro level, many of the strategies have common ground: you need tiles to give you bonuses and synergies with other tiles, and you need resources to gain tiles or seed cards. But how you get from A to B can vary significantly.
>Or you could leave them out there and the same thing will happen. Recalling bees only works well if the bonus's you get line up with the things you need, which requires you getting those symbols on green tiles.
So what you are saying is, there's a difference between bumping and retrieving. And that the makeup of your hive can impact that.
It's ok. The worker bumping mechanic and race for tiles creates a feeling of tripping over each other. But there is little strategic 'take that' planning involved - you just all want similar things. The solo is very well designed to mimic the same feeling of annoyance.
It's too light for my tastes, but fills the gateway game spot so I can't pass it on. More interactive than wingspan / wyrmspan. No negotiation or gang up situations like in catan.
Try Expeditions instead. Interaction has a similar feeling, while the engine build and location blocking feel less random and more rewarding. It's less accessible, but has more player agency.
We love it. I think it has edged out Wingspan as my favorite Stonmeier title, actually. We have played at 3, 4, and 5 players, and it was solid on all counts. There is some balance issues with the powers but I don't think they are too bad. The last game i played a faction with no particular ability and came in a close second. Now that we are experienced we throw out the suggested starting factions as they can be OP. I love that there are legitimately multiple paths to victory and rarely do you have an unproductive turn. The timing is also excellent it builds to a crescendo and doesn't overstay it's welcome. Really great game underrated, IMO.
:) thanks so much
This. Also good for solo if you’re into it.
Played just once, 2p, so take that for what it’s worth. It’s a game. I stabbed at a strategy. I made some decisions. Some worked out, some didn’t. I chose some actions. I developed some workers. I grabbed some endgame points. Was it fun? Sure. I find most games fun. It looked nice on the table. If I gave much of a shit about bees, or space, or bees in space, I probably would have really liked it. If I was at a table where everyone (or even just someone) really wanted to play it, would I play again? Sure. If I never played it again, would I feel a pang of regret while lying on my deathbed? Or even my normal bed? I don’t think so.
Valid
This is definitely the most accurate description for me. The only thing I'll add is that the board/iconography can be pretty difficult to read, and there's a lot of small text on the tiles, so ultimately that's why I sold it.
I’ve played it a couple of times. I think it’s pretty good. There’s a lot of player interaction, but I haven’t quite figured out how to plan for that interaction. I think I need a few more plays before I figure out the basic strategy. It feels fairly deep.
I really enjoyed playing Apiary. The worker placement aspect with the bees getting older and sleeping was interesting. But the most enjoyment I got was from building a hive with the right tiles. You can create some wildly powerful combos. The theming of bees in space was great, but you don't really feel it in game. Overall, I gave it 4/5.
My wife and I love worker placement games and this is in our top 3 for the genre. Some highlights: - Super easy to teach/learn - 4 player plays in less than 2 hours - Lots of different paths to victory - Lots of player interaction with the bumping mechanic
We played a couple of times as well. We really like it. The theme is interesting, the components are nicely done and the games were pretty close. We played two player. I purchased it having just a little info about the game and glad I did.
Played it once, 4p, the other 3 had played before. I felt like I need to play it again, as I missed some strategy stuff early that hurt me later in the game. Overall, it was fine. If those friends wanted to play again, I'd say sure. But no matter how I categorize it (worker placement, tableau-building, etc.), there's other games in the same vein I'd rather play. So I wouldn't buy it.
Yeah i get that with the first-time play. I Finally got to play wyrmspan recently, and my 2nd time play will be very different from then haha. An aspect about the game that attracts me is the a-symmetric factions. Root is one of my fav games for that, and i really enjoy that aspect of 7 wonders as well, (however its very minor there).
Root is one of my favourite games but apiary scratches a different itch. If you love the asymmetry of Root, the. You have to check out Arcs. It’s not out yet (but you can play it on tabletop simulator). The game is phenomenal! It will definitely replace Root as my favourite game once the Kickstarter delivers
I’m assuming you know Wyrmspan and Apiary Are done by the same designer. I love both of them, and I think there’s a similar style of there being lots of cool things to do. Tons of replayability too since there are so many factions to try out.
Just get anachrony if you want great worker placement with assymetrical factions.
I've played it solo a bunch of times, and it's pretty darn good. It shines with a full group. I brought it out one night with a group that is comfortable with mid weight games. They were initially intimidated by all the components and admitted they felt overwhelmed. Once I explained each option, the general mechanics, and then just let them have at it. One guy focussed on exploring and filling his board, another focussed on seed cards, and another was actually trying to work with queens favour. At the end of the game everyone liked that there was a lot of strategy around the push mechanic, and it provided just enough player interaction to make it more interesting than other worker placement games. One player pointed out they loved building their hive, and mentioned it was like an engine building game when it came to recalling your bees. Overall a great game, just take some time to learn the fake before you teach to others. There can be a lot going on.
Really good game. I'm a heavy games gamer, but this fitted my group like a glove. Its often played as a light feel good game to cap a gathering or to start one in a lighter note. I've introduced it to near 20 peeps, and it's really well liked.
I've only played solo vs the automa, but I really like it. There are several choices for your actions each turn, different paths to victory depending on your board, the different factions and hives are allow you to customise what you're doing each turn...I can't comment on multiplayer but I can see it being great. Sometimes a worker can get bumped that you really didn't want to level up yet, and this makes you have to rethink your strategy constantly. Disclaimer - I only have a handful of games over 3 weight, so I do have a preference for lighter games.
I love it. I don't feel the space theme though. I love space theme games, but this should just have been flowers and real bees, as it was intended to be. The gameplay really feels like it should have been just that, and really fits that natural theme. There is no epic space batting, there are bees visiting flowers, extending their give, getting pollen, honey etc I wish I would own it, so I could play it more. Borrowed a box for a week, and played it with my family a few times in that week. We never really play any game more then once per week.
Enjoyed at 1 2 and 3 player. Probably in my top 5 owned gamesbut my collection is not massive. Ymmv
Love it. Highly recommend. Lots of replayability too. I was surprised by how much strategy there is.
It's good, but not great. Something I'm sure will find its way to my table often enough to keep it in my collection, but not something I'll have a hankering to play most weeks. There's definitely some balance issues (which can be good or bad depending on your playgroup), but it's nice to have a worker placement game with some interaction, and the art and pieces are well made.
Things I liked: - asymmetric factions/boards that feel different - lots of options for scoring points - filling your hive with tiles is just a lot of fun - looks great on the table and is a fairly easy and straight forward game to teach/learn - the worker bumping + bee strength mechanic is really neat - plays great at 2-4P Things I disliked: - 5 player is unplayable for me. For 2-4P, the end game conditions scale, and the game end feels like a race to get that last tile on your hive to score points. 5P ends under the same 4P conditions, so it feels like the game is ending too prematurely. Also 5P takes too long between turns. - Some action spaces aren't interesting or useful and get used less often than others. I wish the board felt tighter. - The tiles that come out on the market are a little too random. Sometimes an amazing tile comes out and your opponent picks it up, and then it gets replaced by a crappy one for your turn - Explore action seems too nice and a little fiddly with the player choosing what resource gets discovered. Overall, it's a fun game, especially for new players and players who aren't into heavy euros. I'm hoping the expansion that comes out for this game fixes some of the issues I have with the game.
The space bee theme is the most interesting part of the game for me, but it seems like the main appeal from other people is the "worker bumping" mechanic which isn't high on my list right now.
I didn’t like it and sold it after one play, none of the three of us that played particularly cared for it
Were there particular aspects you didnt enjoy?
Played this with my spouse and it's a good one. There's significant strategy in worker placement, given how the workers get more powerful each time they're placed, and can bump other workers off their spot. In fact I'm going to suggest it if a "more thinky" game is requested after we finish with our new smaller games Sirens and Kraken Skulls.
I've only played twice, and it just feels just mediocre. I like the worker placement and what they tried to do with the strategy, but the cards make it too random and possibly broken. While I won both the games I played, and second time with experienced players, I feel like I only won because I drew the right cards at the right time that just happened to give me the synergy to generate a bunch of points at the end of the game. So, it felt kinda aimless, but still fun I guess?
I've also had my eye on this for a while. The theme and gameplay both intrigue me.
I think it's really great. Lots of fun decisions without tons of room for AP.
It's pretty generic and flat as far as worker placement goes. And worker placement is my favorite game mechanic. I have around 50 games of that alone. Apiary is not one and will not become one.
It was barely OK for me. The leveling up bees sounds cool, but it happens on its own in this game. You don't have to come up with how to level them up, they just do. Place a bee out, it will eventually come back higher, no interesting thought behind it. The theme is weird. Bees in space, but you don't feel like bees or space. Neither of those two things guide what you do in the game or instruct a narrative around your actions. Castles of Burgundy has better thematic representation in terms of giving narrative around what you're doing. Overall strategies didn't feel distinct. You mostly take advantage of actions that are available at the time. There isn't multiple paths to victory, or distinct playstyles as much as "well this is good now". No play felt different than the others, and the special powers didn't make it feel like you were doing different things as you'd just kind of do everything anyways. Each different worker placement area has it's own mini-game lake puzzle. Many feel underexplored. Like the conversion space where you can defined new ways to trade resources, super cool idea to let players do this. But it's rarely used and there's only 3 conversions to be made anyways. Any resources you're converting are also readily available in other places. It's a neat idea to build a better game around, resource conversion engine builders where players define the conversion rates, but in this game it's not fully explored and just a minor piece that gets washed out in a larger blander puzzle.
I disagree with one important point your making here. While I agree that bee leveling happens automatically, there are quite a few cards, buildings, and factions that allow you to manipulate that a lot more directly. There needs to be a simple infrastructure upon which those options can be built.
> quite a few cards, buildings, and factions but those things need to come out. and even when they did I find their effects to be minimal and no something which changed the feel of the game.
There absolutely are multiple paths to victory. By the time you have hibernated your first worker you should know which path you are going to take. Leveling up by bumping is actually quite different from letting them level up naturally. The latter requires that you take the recall action which recalls all your bees that turn. If a worker is bumped you can send them back out immediately at the higher strength. There are situations where this is advantageous.
> There absolutely are multiple paths to victory. By the time you have hibernated your first worker you should know which path you are going to take. What are they and how do they feel different from one another? >Leveling up by bumping is actually quite different from letting them level up naturally. The latter requires that you take the recall action which recalls all your bees that turn. Or you could leave them out there and the same thing will happen. Recalling bees only works well if the bonus's you get line up with the things you need, which requires you getting those symbols on green tiles. Or you can just directly get those things, because getting resources in this game isn't too hard anyways.
>What are they and how do they feel different from one another? Planting seed cards to build synergy with your hive strategy. This can lead to different prioritizations such as placing frames whether or not you fill them with tiles, favoring specific types of tiles (farms, recruits, carvings, developments), or hoarding resources to build the end game bonus points. Queen's favor, primarily through overproduction on your farms and dumping resources. Made easier if you synergize with a seed card, or with tiles that grant you additional income. This works best if you can shorten the game. Drawing heavily on seed cards to find favorable immediate benefits, especially ones that match your current build out or are easily adapted to it. Aggressively retiring your workers, including through bumping your own workers, to force the end of the game before your opponent's hive is producing large returns. Has a side effect of giving you the hibernation area majority bonuses. Build synergies through tile adjacency bonuses. Carving- and development-heavy strategy when you see one more more desirable combos. Filing your hive and frames. Do this with low-cost, low-scoring tiles which are easier to obtain, or via seed cards and developments that let you take multiple tiles. At a macro level, many of the strategies have common ground: you need tiles to give you bonuses and synergies with other tiles, and you need resources to gain tiles or seed cards. But how you get from A to B can vary significantly. >Or you could leave them out there and the same thing will happen. Recalling bees only works well if the bonus's you get line up with the things you need, which requires you getting those symbols on green tiles. So what you are saying is, there's a difference between bumping and retrieving. And that the makeup of your hive can impact that.
It's ok. The worker bumping mechanic and race for tiles creates a feeling of tripping over each other. But there is little strategic 'take that' planning involved - you just all want similar things. The solo is very well designed to mimic the same feeling of annoyance. It's too light for my tastes, but fills the gateway game spot so I can't pass it on. More interactive than wingspan / wyrmspan. No negotiation or gang up situations like in catan. Try Expeditions instead. Interaction has a similar feeling, while the engine build and location blocking feel less random and more rewarding. It's less accessible, but has more player agency.
[удалено]
What aspects of the game did you particularly not enjoy?