Hagoth – Sail to the Land Northward

In Hagoth: Builder of Ships you compete to design and build the best combination of ships to sail to the Land Northward. You’ll have to take multiple voyages to get people to the Land Northward, but if you can get to 25 points before the others, then you’ll walk away (sail away) as the winner.

Take a look at how to play Hagoth and see what Jaden thinks of this family board game of building ships and sailing them to the Land Northward.

Can the whole family enjoy Hagoth?

Hagoth: Builder of Ships — The ships are ready to sail captain.

Yes, they can. There isn’t anything too complicated in Hagoth that would eliminate younger players from playing. All you have to do is layout your ship design, get wood to build it, then sail it across the ocean. And with how descriptive the cards are, it’s pretty easy to know what you can do.

And Caleb, our youngest, is the biggest fan. He loves playing cards to make the ship designs and always seems to roll high numbers when he’s collecting wood to build with. And he always likes to build the big ships to go for more points with every sailing.

The size of the game is great too. The board is simple and small which allows more room on the table for laying out the ship designs.

How much luck is involved in Hagoth?

As Jaden mentions in his review, there is a lot of luck in Hagoth: Builder of Ships. First are the cards. The ships you design will depend a lot on what blueprint cards you get. So while you may plan to go for the big ships (like Caleb) the cards you draw might dictate a change in your plans. And on the flip side, if you draw a couple Sail cards at the right time, it can help you cruise ahead.

The second play of luck is in the die roll. It has become the standing joke that dad isn’t a good woodcutter. Because every time I gather wood, my rolls end up with a 1 or a 2. Whereas the kids are much stronger and can haul a lot of wood because they hit the 4 quite frequently.

So the best way to strategize in Hagoth is to be ready to adjust to the luck you’re dealt.

How does Hagoth score on the “Let’s Play Again” meter?
Most times that we’ve played Hagoth we’ve only played one time through. But that hasn’t kept Caleb from asking to play again. And since he rates the game a 5 out of 5, it’s no wonder that he keeps asking to play it. We think it’s because the game has the level of luck in it that he enjoys. He doesn’t mind rattling through cards hoping to get just the right card he’s looking for because he has that continual optimism that tells him that the next card will be it.

Thanks Mayday Games for a fun family game.