Agricola: run out of food and you'll have to beg

You know I'm in love with Agricola, because I bought it immediately after I played it while visiting my sister. 

German boardgames are brilliant, with innocent themes like farming disguising excellent game mechanics that leave you wanting to play them again. Agricola puts you in the role of a farmer and gives you the task of expanding and improving your farm. You start with a very basic farm and a few people, and as the game progresses you can add livestock, plow fields, build fences and stables, add more people (it's called "wish for children") and so on.

Related: Why I formed a board games club

Sounds simple, but you have to compete for actions/resources with other players and make sure you have enough food come harvest time. Run out of food and you'll have to beg.

Which is exactly what happened to me. On my second play through, I got too focused on buying a caravan. I spent too much of my food to afford the damn thing. The game punishes players for being in such a sorry state, with points penalities that'll influence your final endgame score.

Unlike many games, Agricola operates on a limited number of rounds. With each round, more resources and options are introduced but players head ever closer toward the end game. It's a clever form of time limit built into the game that stops it becoming an unending slog. 

There are a million pieces but don't let that put you off. It's a lot easier than it looks.