Designer:  Stefan Feld (Amerigo, Aquasphere, Bora Bora, Bruges, Carpe Diem, The Castles of Burgundy, The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game, Forum Trajanum, In the Year of the Dragon, La Isla, Luna, Macao, Merlin, Notre Dame, The Oracle of Delphi, Rialto, The Speicherstadt, Strasbourg, Trajan)

Artist: Christian Fiore (Airlines Europe, Heaven & Ale, Skat)

Publisher:  Queen Games (Alhambra, Amerigo, Chicago Express, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Fresco, Kingdom Builder, Lancaster, Luxor, Merlin, Shogun, Thebes, Wallenstein)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, card drafting, dice rolling, hand management, network and route building, pick-up and deliver, set collection (Amsterdam); card game, city building, dice rolling, economic, hand management (Hamburg)

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Stefan Feld City Collection – Hamburg & Amsterdam is already fully-funded. In fact, pledges currently total almost 16x the initial funding goal with 5 days left to go on the campaign!

Player Count: 2-4 (Amsterdam); 2-5 (Hamburg)

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: low

What It’s About: “Two redesigns from Stefan Feld kick off this new collection from Queen Games– Hamburg, a redesign of Bruges, and Amsterdam, a redesign of Macao.”

How It Works: “Hamburg is a card game in which each card has five different uses, and players must cleverly choose the best use for each one, all while avoiding disasters and racing for different objectives. Players act as mayors of the city of Hamburg in the late 19th century (at this time, the city often had multiple mayors).”

“The game is played over eight rounds. At the beginning of the round, six colored dice are rolled, with players receiving a threat marker in the color of any die that rolls a 5 or 6. Next, players have the opportunity to pay a number of coins (equal to the pips on all dice showing a 1 or 2) to advance on the mayor’s track. The black die also activates the clergy in St. Michael’s Church, which serves as a round counter and awards points for certain building types at the end of the game.”

“On their turn, players draw five cards from any of five stacks of cards, one for each of the five colors in the game. These cards are in thirteen categories, each representing a different location around Hamburg, with seventeen individual cards within each category. Each card in a player’s hand may be used for a number of purposes, including building the city wall, activating boats (if a 3 or 4 is rolled), starting a building plot, and constructing a building (card) on the plot, with this building granting a new ability or endgame scoring condition.”

“Players receive points for various accomplishments during the game.  In addition, they may receive bonus points by being the only player to have achieved one of five conditions for that round. Whoever scores the most points after eight rounds wins.”

“Hamburg includes both the City on the Zwin and Pets expansion from Bruges. In addition to these, several new expansion modules have been created; however, the exact gameplay of these modules is being tweaked, and will be announced when they are ready.”

“The pièce de résistance of Amsterdam is the windrose. It has received a significant upgrade, and will be made from a divided cardboard wheel that sits inside another wheel with raised outside edges. The inner wheel spins inside the outer.”

“Each turn in Amsterdam, players will take a card, which may be built by spending action cubes. You must take a card every round, and if you ever have to take a sixth, you will discard one and take a penalty. Next, the six colored dice are rolled, and each player selects two. That many action cubes of the chosen color are taken, but they must go on the windrose on the space marked with that die. Finally, the windrose is rotated and everyone receives the cubes in the “1” box. The more cubes you select, the longer you will have to wait to use them.”

“Action cubes are necessary to perform the actions in the game. Each building has a required set of cubes in order to build, after which it grants a benefit. Certain combinations may be spent to claim goods from around the city (exchanging the good for a crest of your color). These goods may be shipped to warehouses by moving your barge (also done by spending action cubes), but only if there are dock workers present. You may have to transport workers with you so you can unload goods, but at least they will pay you for it.”

“The game ends after 12 rounds. You will receive penalties for each card you have not built and bonus points for the longest connected chain of your own crests.”

Comparisons: Stefan Feld’s games have become a genre unto themselves– eschewing some of the latest modern flash and miniatures for tried-and-true, classic Euro-style gameplay. Some of his other most popular games include Aquasphere, Bora Bora, Carpe Diem, The Castles of Burgundy, Forum Trajanum, La Isla, Luna, Merlin, The Oracle of Delphi, Rialto, The Speicherstadt (aka Jorvik), and Trajan.

What Should I Pledge?:
$65 Hamburg Classic: the Hamburg Classic Edition with all Hamburg Classic stretch goals and a printed autograph card.
$65 Amsterdam Classic: the Amsterdam Classic Edition with all Amsterdam Classic stretch goals and a printed autograph card.
$99 Hamburg Deluxe: the Hamburg Deluxe Edition with Deluxe Upgraded Components, all Hamburg stretch goals, Challenge Coin, Box Sleeve, GameTrayz Custom Insert, and a printed autograph card.
$99 Amsterdam Deluxe: the Amsterdam Deluxe Edition with Deluxe Upgraded Components, all Amsterdam stretch goals, Challenge Coin, Box Sleeve, GameTrayz Custom Insert, and a printed autograph card.
$130 Hamburg & Amsterdam Classic: combines everything in the Hamburg Classic and Amsterdam Classic pledge levels.
$198 Deluxe Edition Bundle: combines everything in the Hamburg Deluxe and Amsterdam Deluxe pledge levels.
$395 Collector’s Bundle – 3,000+: includes everything in the Deluxe Edition Bundle, the Coin Box with 60 Metal Coins, plus the similar Deluxe Editions of New York City and Marrakesh in an upcoming Kickstarter, as well as matching numbered stickers on all (4) games.

Add-Ons:
$39 Coin Box with 60 Metal Coins

KS Exclusives
The entire project is a Kickstarter exclusive and copies of these games will only be available directly from Queen Games after the campaign ends.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $198 for the Deluxe Edition Bundle plus $22 in shipping for a total of $220. If you’re committed to prepaying for the next 2 games as well, then you’re looking at $395 for the Collector’s Bundle plus $44 in shipping for a total of $439.

Stefan Feld City Collection – Hamburg & Amsterdam completes its Kickstarter on Tuesday, September 8th and tentatively ships in June 2021.