Caverna: The Cave Farmers (2013)

How to Play Caverna: The Cave Farmers

Setup the Game

To begin, each player will choose a color and take the matching Home board as well as the 5 Dwarfs and 3 stables of that color. They will then place 2 of the Dwarfs in the Entry Level Dwelling on the Home board and keep the other dwarfs and stables next to the board as an additional supply. Each player will get one of each type of Overview cards. One player will get the Starting player token and receive 1 Food, along with the player to their left. The third player will get 2 Food and the rest of the players get 3.

Next, place the two one-sided basic game boards (with round spaces 1 to 3 and 4 to 12) next to each other on the table. Shuffle the 7 Harvest markers and place them face down on spaces 6 to 12 with one marker on each space. The “Harvest Events” card goes next to the game boards. The third basic game board will be placed to the left of the first two boards on the table and turned to the correct side based on the number of players as indicated.

The supply boards for the Furnishing tiles will be placed near the other game boards on the table. Place the Furnishing tiles on the corresponding spaces on the supply boards and keep the rest next to it on the table.

Shuffle the action space cards, keeping them face down at all times. Without looking at them, rearrange them with the Stage 4 cards at the bottom in descending order with the Stage 1 cards on top. Separate the landscape tiles by type and place them in their own stacks.

Gameplay

There are 12 rounds in the game and each takes place in 5 separate phases:

1. Add a new Action space. At the beginning of each round, players will turn over the Action space card and put it on the corresponding space on the basic game boards.

2. Replenish accumulating spaces. Next, place goods from the general supply on the Action Spaces that require them (these will show an arrow).

3. Work phase. In clockwise order, players will take turns placing 1 Dwarf per turn on an Action space on the game boards and carrying out the actions indicated on the space. Each of these spaces can only hold 1 Dwarf.

4. Return home: Once all Dwarfs have been placed on Action spaces, they will return to their dwellings.

5. Harvest time: At the end of most rounds there will be a harvest. When this happens, you will collect Grain and Vegetables, feed your family, and breed your animals.

Goal

The game is over when all 12 rounds of play have been completed. The object of the game is to develop your Home board to earn Gold points and become the wealthiest Dwarf. The player with the most Gold points at the end of the game is the winner.

There are many different credentials that will earn you Gold points. 1 Gold is awarded per farm animal, dog, vegetable, ruby, and Dwarf, and one half gold is given for every grain. Small pastures are worth 2 points, large pastures are worth 4, ore mines are worth 3, and ruby mines are worth 4. Players earn bonus points for parlors, storages, and chambers as indicated on the scoring cards. Players also lose 1 Gold point per unused space and 2 Gold points for every missing type of farm animal.

Caverna: The Cave Farmers Review

“Caverna still works. As the friendlier take on Agricola, Caverna is the version of these two games that will hit my physical table more often.

There are lots of different paths to victory, and the buildings really stretch how each play will turn out. I’m frightened by the idea of playing this with a full player count of 7 players, but it’s amazing that the game even accommodates this many players. The decisions are crunchy and the interaction is interesting, as spaces are blocked off, sparking other creative ways to score points.”

Justin Bell, meeplemountain.com

“Caverna is one of my favorite worker placement games. The gameplay is smooth, decisions plentiful, and the components wonderfully produced.

While there isn’t necessarily any huge innovation in terms of mechanics, it is definitely one of the most rewarding in terms of what you can create. I’ve spent an entire game packing my little community full of wooden animals and sowing seeds. Then next time I’ll find myself developing a complex system of generating wealth through expeditions (I’m British, it comes naturally to me).

Whatever path you choose, you’re going to need a lot of strategies.”

Joe Jones, gamecows.com

The content of this article is originally from Board Game Geek and dbldkr.com. For more information and a better understanding of the game, you can watch the videos below.