- Publisher : Matagot
- Designer(s) : Connie Vogelmann
- Artist(s) : Kwanchai Moriya
- Players : 1–5
- Playing time : 60 - 90 Min
- Weight BGG : 2.97
What's this?
In Apiary, each player controls a unique faction. The goal is to collect victory points (VP) by exploring planets, expanding your hive, researching technologies, and carving engravings.
How do you play?
Your turn:
➡️ Placement of workers:
Place an active worker on an action on the board to benefit from it. You must pay the associated costs.
If a location is occupied, the worker in place is “moved” or “pushed”, which increases its strength or sends it to its personal board.
➡️ Recovery of workers:
You recover all your workers from the board and from your landing zone. You also collect income from your farms for each worker you recover.
Workers earn income and increase in strength, unless they are at maximum (strength 4).
Workers of strength 4 must hibernate. This grants immediate bonuses or points at the end of the game.
Main actions
Explore: Move the Queen ship to an unexplored or already visited planet. Gain resources or benefits specific to the visited planet.
Evolution: Acquire and build tiles (farms, recruits or developments). These tiles offer abilities, resources or HP.
Expansion: Increase the number of your workers or expand your hive by adding frames.
Research: Obtain “seed” cards that offer immediate effects or points at the end of the game.
Transformation: Exchange your resources for others or teach a dance to gain advantages.
Sculpture: Add a monument to your hive to benefit from score bonuses at the end of the game.
➡️ The end of the game in Apiary is triggered when there is no more room for worker hibernation.
Is it good?
Apiary offers a clever mix of well-established mechanics: worker placement, resource management, tile placement and card management. While these mechanics are classic, their integration is fluid and efficient.
The real originality of Apiary lies in the mechanic of changing the strength of bees until they hibernate, subtly reminiscent of Descendance. This mechanic introduces an interesting strategic dimension, offering players multiple choices each turn.
The game offers a wide variety of strategies thanks to its many options: exploration, construction, development, etc. There is always something to do, without ever being overloaded. Although the randomness of the cards can sometimes strongly influence victory points, the many asymmetric factions and unique boards guarantee high replayability, encouraging players to explore all possibilities.
Apiary is positioned at an initiated difficulty level, offering an excellent balance between complexity and accessibility. The games are fluid and enjoyable, even if the end can come sooner than expected.
The original theme, mixing the world of bees with the conquest of space, brings a welcome freshness. The material, up to the standards of Stonemaier Games, is of quality.
In summary, Apiary is an accessible board game, offering a pleasant and varied gaming experience. Its original theme and well-balanced mechanics make it a title to discover for fans of management and strategy games.
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Review Apiary
Positives
- Interesting mechanics
- Original theme
- Strategic depth
- Fluid and dynamic game
- Replayability
- Quality material
Negatives
- alancing of some cards
- Little innovation in mechanics
Breakdown
- Components and illustrations 10.0
- Mechanics 8.5
- Theme 8.5
- Replayability 9.0
- Handling 9.5
- Interaction 8.0
- Originality 7.0
