Review – Formaggio

Formaggio is a standalone expansion to the popular Fromage. With 4 all-new venues and new platinum actions, this game reimplements and expands a splendid game, adding new challenges and gameplay options. Let’s check it out!

Review

First we feasted on delicious French cheeses, and now it’s time to sample the rich flavors of Italy. In Formaggio, 1-4 players are creamery owners, working to make the best cheeses the country has ever tasted.

As a standalone expansion, Formaggio works similarly to Fromage. If you aren’t familiar with that game, we reviewed it last year and gave it a near-perfect score — bottom line, it’s one of the best euros this decade. Since our initial review explains how the game system works, there’s no need to rehash all that info here. Instead, I’ll get straight into what Formaggio adds, and how it compares to the original.

Most notably, Formaggio includes 4 new venue boards:

BANCA: Arrange cheese in rows and columns to earn points. There is a row for each age of cheese, and the columns are worth more the more wedges a player has in them.

VENEZIA: When making cheese, also add a gondola token. At the end of the game, the more cheese tokens a player has that are adjacent to gondolas, the more points they earn.

VIGNETO: When making cheese, a player also takes the wine tile above the space and places it beside their tableau. Wine tokens are placed in a line, with each successive token being added to either the left or right side. At the end of the game, the player will score points for the number of wine bottles they have completed, and wine tokens may also earn them resources during the game.

REGIONI: The map on this board is divided into regions, and the cheese spaces have flags next to them. At the end of the game, players earn points equal to the number of regions where they are present times the number of flags on their spaces.

Formaggio also introduces platinum actions, and each of its venue boards has them. Platinum actions take a full 4 rotations to complete, so they are very time-expensive, but also very valuable in terms of points. The game also includes asymmetric player boards, so each player starts the game slightly differently.

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Just as I love Fromage, I also love Formaggio, and for largely the same reasons. It takes a game I already enjoy and adds extra replay value and options for customization.

The new venues are all fun minigames, and the fact that players can mix and match them with the ones from Fromage means that they can add however much “new stuff” they want when learning the game. (Formaggio’s rules even suggest specific venue combinations.) Beyond this, the platinum actions offer new strategic decisions. They are the strongest moves in the game, but they take a whopping 4 rounds to complete, so they are quite costly.

Played by itself, Formaggio feels somewhat more complex than Fromage, so if you are new to the series, I recommend starting with the original. That said, if you know the base game, or simply like more complex games, Formaggio may be the one to try.

The production is once again strong, with quality components, vibrant art, and intuitive iconography. My only gripe is that I wish the Vigneto board had recessed spots for the wine tokens. As it is, the tokens sit on top of the venue board, so players must be careful when rotating the tableau so as not to jostle things around.

Overall though, Formaggio is a great expansion to a great game. I don’t think it’s a “must-buy” for owners of Fromage — for many folks, the base game will be plenty sufficient — but if you love Fromage and want even more variety, then I definitely recommend Formaggio.

A review copy was provided by Asmodee.