When I approached my game-playing friends about a new game from the fine designer, Uwe Rosenberg, they appeared a little skeptical. They had played Agricola in its original German version with English rules and were not too taken with the long rules. Still, I had persevered by playing a two-player game with the flushing out of mechanics prior to the five-player effort.

The game begins with the understanding of seven-player turns to complete each round. We decided to play the long game (with my urging) instead of the shortened version. That consisted of 20 rounds instead of 15. First, I explained each of the round tiles as a way to secure resources (products) and francs. We were each given five francs at the beginning and one coal (an energy resource) that can be converted to coke by later turning over the tile and having some kind of coke-converting plant. I explained how each of the seven round tiles usually represents two resources, such as wood and cattle. At the beginning of any turn you have two main actions:

1. You take care of your supply action. That means turning over a large round tile that reveals resources or francs or both or, even, Interest.
2. You, then, take the main action, including the buying and selling (not considered part of the main action).

The Main Action could consist of entering a building and, then, if unoccupied, paying the resources to build (construct) the structure. If occupied, the entrance fee must be paid to the owning player. Buildings, at the game's beginning, can only be purchased from the town and consist of three types: two building firms and one construction (to erect one or two buildings). Naturally, one of the players opted to purchase a building early in the game, and the rest of us paid one franc every time we visited that card to construct. It is important to remember that you can construct standard buildings (three building proposals always available) or special buildings. Special buildings come into play at certain times of the Feeding Phase conclusion. I warned all the players in explaining the initial rules to be sure to construct ships, even wooden ships, to ensure they had plentiful food during the final part of the Main Action, called the Feeding Phase. That phase occurs at the end of the seventh turning over of round tiles.

The Feeding Phase is crucial to the game. Cards are arranged in order of zero food to at least five food for the five-player game. The cards in the game tell whether the group is playing a two-, three-, four-, or five-player game and how to arrange the food issues. Mr. Rosenberg has cleverly labeled a black pot as the amount of food needed. Further, he has taken the player action card explanations and placed a "buttery" on the back to keep track of whether a player has enough food at the end of each round.

Food requirements can easily be solved if one possesses grain or cattle during any round. One grain makes two at the end of any seven player turns. One cattle or two makes another cattle at the end of the same kind of round. What the construction of ships do for you is allow the reduction of one or more food when the Feeding Phase occurs.

I watched in horror (because of limited resources) while one of my gaming friends accumulated a Fishery and a Smokehouse. That allowed him to "smoke" six fish as a maximum and keep his food production high. Further, during the game he accumulated at least seven cattle, so this individual was never in trouble with food costs.

Let's digress for a moment and talk about someone who cannot pay the food costs. Then, you have to take a loan. The loan gives you four francs (only if you need to pay food costs), and the loan needs to be repaid before the end of the game with five francs. The comments on the Internet suggest it is not wrong to take loans, especially if food costs are eating you out of house and home.

The game went smoothly for all the players, and I, finally, acquired a shipping line late in the game. However, we had already paid the supposed winning player dearly for the opportunity to construct buildings, secure bricks (from clay counters), and substitute one lumber for five francs. I had constructed a wooden ship (Iron, Steel, and Luxury Liners exists in the game); therefore, my food costs with one reduction were reasonable.

However, the name of that game is also Francs. You need francs to purchase buildings. That's why most of us were accumulating and paying resources to construct buildings. It is an Either/Or situation: You either build or purchase. That leads to a pertinent question that was not sufficiently answered during the spirited game:

Why would anyone purchase a building when you can construct the building with resources?

As the game progressed, we all noticed the now winning player had achieved at least 56 points. Little chance existed to catch him before the end of 20 rounds. We had 22, 16, and so forth in points. Therefore, we conceded the game with the individual who had five buildings and was charging us every time we needed to construct or achieve resources or francs.

All in all, the players said it was a worthwhile game. Even though I like Agricola, I think LeHavre achieves more interest. Perhaps, it is my penchant for economic and trading games. Anyhow, if you are prepared for an evening of beautifully designed rules and terrific trading/purchasing decisions to make, then Le Havre is your cup of tea.

Do, always, think about the food costs.