Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
The invention of cheese, much like the invention of boardgaming, predates recorded history. Just as it is evident that, given two bored people sharing the same space for long periods of time a game will emerge, so it seems to be true that any society, given milk, will inevitably produce cheese. And, as the subject of this review proves, any board game-playing society that is given cheese will eventually make a game about it.
Select Your Milk
Welcome to Fromage, a game shaped like a cheese wheel, that is one part mid-weight strategy game and one part love poem to its subject matter. Fromage takes place in France during the early 20th century. Over the course of the game, players will make, age, and sell their artisanal cheeses to hopefully emerge as France’s most prestigious cheesemaker.
Fromage is a visually striking game. The fine line, pen and ink illustration on the front of the box features a quaint little village nestled in between a series of mountain ranges that are prominently featured in the background. Looking at the illustration more closely, you’ll realize they aren’t mountains at all. They’re massive wheels, blocks, and wedges of cheese. Even the clouds resemble little curds floating in the sky. Before cracking the lid, you know exactly the kind of thematic experience you’re in for, and there’s no guessing needed to know what this game is all about: cheese. Lovely, wonderful, melty, delicious cheese.
Add Cultures
Opening the box, you’ll discover a rolled up, circular neoprene mat (featuring the artwork from the box cover) with a large hole cut into its middle. In my opinion, the artwork really isn’t necessary because you’ll rarely ever see it. That’s because the game board is divided into four quadrants (Villes, Bistro, Festival, and Fromagerie) which, when connected together, sit atop the neoprene mat, extending beyond the mat’s edges. The game board is connected to the mat by means of a spool that extends upward through the hole, which has the neat effect of allowing the game board to be rotated in lazy Susan fashion.
While I can’t speak for every copy of the game, I will say that in the copy of the game that I received, it seems that either the mat isn’t quite wide enough, the game board is a little too large, or the spool pokes up a little too high (or some combination thereof). Whatever the reason, the center of the board pokes upwards a bit. While that may not seem like a big deal, it is, because where the four corners of the board quadrants meet, there is a square cutout that is filled in with a small square frame. This frame is critical to the gameplay and having it able to be moved around has caused some frustration while I’ve been putting the game through its paces. You can see the lift for yourself in this image from Boardgamegeek. It isn’t a dealbreaker by any means, but I don’t think that piece lift was intended to be there.
The lower portion of each quadrant has a feature that allows you to slide a cardboard slice into its frame. These cardboard slices are double-sided and feature imagery on each side, and each slice is specific to a certain quadrant of the board (the Villes slice goes into the Villes quadrant, for example). There are slices for variable player counts, so you’ll use whichever ones are right for your group, turned to whichever sides you decide to use. Or, if you’re like me, you flip a coin and let fate decide all of that for you.
During setup, each player receives a player board, three workers (one of each color—white, blue, and yellow), a number of wooden wedges in their chosen color, and some starting resources. Their game board is divided into several sections. From top to bottom, the boards are divided into structures, milking parlours, and fruits. There is an area on the left side of the board to collect order cards and an area on the right to store order cards that have been fulfilled.
Once you’ve inserted the slices into the quadrants, assembled the game board, and have gotten the players squared away, you’re ready to play. There is no start player because every action in this game is performed simultaneously.
Introduce Coagulants
Fromage is broken up into a varying number of rounds with the game ending at the end of the round where at least one person has placed their final cheese wedge onto the game board. During a round, you will have the opportunity to play one worker into the upper part of the quadrant that is facing you, in order to gain some number of the game’s resources, or into the quadrant’s lower area.
The rules for placement may seem a little confusing at first, but quickly become second nature once you’ve wrapped your head around them. Namely, if you’re wanting to create a certain type of cheese (i.e. place one of your wedges onto the board), then you must use the worker of the matching type in order to do so. For instance, if you want to craft a bleu cheese, then you’d have to place your wedge into the bleu cheese space and place the blue worker on top of this. If there’s a picture of a fruited cheese, or a jar of jam, on this space, then you must also turn a fruit from the fruit basket area of your player board into the matching object (moving the fruit from the basket to the jam section, for instance). If you do not have the fruit, then you can’t make the cheese.
This is where things start getting interesting. Each worker is affixed to a cheese wedge. The position of the worker, once placed onto the board, is an indication of when you can expect to retrieve the worker in a future turn. Thematically, the cheese is aging for a specific number of months. A worker facing to the right indicates a cheese being aged for one month, and you’ll be retrieving this worker at the beginning of the next round (because you can only retrieve workers that are facing you once the board rotates to the next quadrant at the end of the current round). A worker facing forward represents a cheese that is aging for two months. Finally, a worker facing left represents a cheese being aged for three months. In general, the longer it’s going to take to retrieve a worker, the better the action is. If you’re not careful, the wheel may turn and you may not have any workers available to you. The key to doing well in Fromage is finding a way to maintain the unsteady balance between rapid and long term gains. Understanding that, let’s talk about the quadrants and how they differ from one another.
The Villes quadrant features a map of France that has been divided into different regions. During setup, a random chit featuring a number of silhouettes was placed into each region. At the end of the game each chit a player has collected will be worth a number of points, with more silhouettes being worth more points. Placing a wedge of cheese onto the board gives you presence in the region(s) that cheese wedge touches. During end-of-game scoring, each region is examined to determine who has control of it. That person is awarded the chit, with there also being points awarded for ties.
The Bistro features a collection of tables with two plates on each table. Each plate is a specific color and can accept a specific type of cheese. At the end of the game, players will earn points based on which colored plates they have filled and also whether or not they were able to create any pairings (their wedges on both plates on the same table). Each plate color is worth a certain number of points, and those values go up based on how many pairings a player has created.
The Festival quadrant features a number of tents that have been erected in the town square. Each tent can accept a specific type of cheese except for a few that are wild and are considered to be owned by all of the players. The idea of this quadrant is to create connected strings of tents with wedges in your color by the end of the game. Each string will be considered at the game’s end. The longer the string, the more points it will be worth.
The Fromagerie features a storefront window with six different shelves. Each shelf can accept a total of three cheeses. Placing a cheese on a shelf imparts some sort of benefit depending on which shelf the cheese is placed. At the end of the game, you will score points based on how many shelves contain your cheese wedges. The more shelves on which you have presence, the higher the score.
Mix With Salt
Now that we’ve talked about the lower portion of the quadrants, let’s talk about the top portion, the resources. There are four resources in Fromage: structures, livestock, fruit, and orders. Each of these can be placed onto the player board in a certain area to perform a specific function. To the left of each of these areas is a storage space for the associated resource. For instance, there is a basket that holds your fruit and a pasture for your livestock.
Across the top of each player board is a series of building platforms where collected structures can be placed to unlock special abilities. The far left building unlocks a third action that the player can perform on their turn, an action that is unique to them only. The second building unlocks a “whenever you gain x type of resource, gain an extra one of that resource type” ability. The third building gives you a bonus for placing your cheese wedges into a specific quadrant. And, finally, the rightmost building will provide you with end game bonuses for how well you’ve met certain criteria (one point per structure placed onto building platforms, for instance). Each building platform requires a specific number of structures be assigned to it in order to unlock its ability.
Beneath the building platforms are the Milking Parlours. Each of these are one time use buildings that can accept a certain number of livestock in order to produce a specific type of cheese that the player can place immediately. For instance, on one player board, there is a Milking Parlour that, when two livestock are placed on it, will produce a soft cheese aged 1 month (i.e. pointing to the right). There are four of these Milking Parlours, and any number of them can be used at any time.
Next is the fruit area. To the right of the basket is an area for fruits that have been used to create fruited cheese and another for fruit that has been used to create jam. At the end of the game, players will score points equal to the total amount used for fruited cheese times the total amount used for making jam.
Orders, when originally received, are placed face up to the left of the player board. Each order depicts a certain type of cheese (a hard cheese aged 3 months, for instance). As soon as a player places a cheese wedge onto the board matching the type on one of their collected Order cards, they place that Order card to the right of their player board face down to show that it has been fulfilled. At the end of the game, players score points based on how many Orders they have fulfilled. The more cards they’ve completed, the higher the score!
For every two unused resources a player has at the end of the game, they will score an additional point.
Now, Let’s Make Some Cheese!
Fromage’s signature selling feature is the way in which the game handles the passage of time. Not since I played Tzolk’in: the Mayan Calendar have I seen a board where the rotation of a physical game component is a stand-in for the hands on a metaphorical clock. Tzolk’in solved this problem through the usage of interlocking plastic gears which, while not very thematic, served their purpose well. Fromage’s usage of a lazy Susan is just brilliant.
For starters, it’s a wildly thematic way to show that your cheese is aging. Also, because you’re limited to interacting with the slice in front of you, turns go by quickly, which keeps the game moving at a nice pace. And, weirdly enough, by severely limiting what you can do on any given turn, it actually widens the decision space. That is because, in addition to the immediate benefits you gain from interacting with your current slice, you still have to consider the future. How long do you want your workers tied up? Is giving up a worker for several rounds worth it for the immediate gain? Balancing the consideration of time with the consideration of immediate gains, as well as trying to figure out how to actually score points, creates a game experience that leaves you hungry for more long after the game has been put away.
I’ve played it multiple times at all player counts (except for solo), and it holds up at all of them. Player interaction exists in the way of blocking maneuvers (trying to prevent someone from putting together a pairing in the Bistro, for example). I’ll admit, it isn’t much. But in this game, it’s enough. For the most part, you’re not going to be worrying about actively blocking other players anyway. Your actions are limited and time is a precious thing, especially when making cheese. An action spent trying to block someone else is an action you could have been using to try to improve your own lot.
I really enjoy swimming around in Fromage’s decision space. While there are a lot of things to consider, it never feels overwhelming. And, did I mention how well the theme is integrated and interwoven into virtually every aspect of the game? I feel like I might have at some point. I can’t get enough.
Fromage is a gorgeous, highly thematic, engaging experience that is sure to leave a good taste in your mouth.
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