Norenberc is one of the three games coming from White Goblin at Essen. It caught my attention because it is designed by Andreas Steding who created Hansa Teutonica – a game that didn’t catch my attention enough at Spiel last year but I discovered afterwards that is was very good indeed.

Norenberc is a worker placement game with some new ideas. Players commit to where they will be taking actions each game turn before simultaneously revealing their intentions. This sounds fun (Fresco did something similar) but there’s an extra twist: Each action requires a worker and if any players have workers left to place at the end of a game turn, then another game turn occurs until all players have used their workers. So, if you take lots of actions in one turn, you may have to wait a few more turns before everyone gets your workers back and you can perform actions again.

Actions take place at Guild Houses and are buying and selling goods as well as hiring craftsmen who give instant, on-going, or end-of-game benefits. There are lots of ways to score points at the end of the game mainly based on owning goods and craftsmen.

From reading the rules, it seems like a simple game but allowing lots of choices, none of the rules seem complex and there seems like there will be some thoughtful gameplay.  I really enjoyed reading the rules as they were clear, beautifully presented and every step had examples. (In fact, I think they must have been very good if they stood out so much that I feel compelled to mention them…)

I’ve pre-ordered the three games from White Goblin (plus Rattus expansion) and I’m now looking forwards to these games even more.

James.