''Fromage'' is a 2024

strategy board game A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' coercion, uncoerced, and often autonomous, decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decision tree-sty ...

Gameplay

Set in early 20th-century France, ''Fromage'' is themed around

cheesemaking Cheesemaking (or caseiculture) is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentrate ...

, with each player taking a player board, three workers, and 15 cheese components. The game is centered around a circular game board divided into four quadrants, each with its own scoring condition. On each round, all players may use one of their workers to place a cheese component in one of the slots of the quadrant in front of them. After everyone has finished their turn, the entire board is rotated 90 degrees so that a new quadrant is facing each player. This repeats until one of the players run out of cheese components, triggering final scoring. Each slot requires a certain type of worker and certain age of cheese. The higher its age, the more valuable a piece of cheese will be, but so will the time needed to recover its worker. For example, cheese aged 1 month can be retrieved the next round, while one aged 3 months can only be taken back after a 270-degree rotation. Other than being used to make cheese, workers can also be used to gather resources, which are required to fill certain slots, purchase upgrades in players' factories, make extra cheese, and fulfil objectives. A stand-alone expansion for ''Fromage'' themed around cheesemaking in Italy, titled ''Formaggio'', is to be released in 2026.

Reception

After a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign in 2023, ''Fromage'' was released on November 22 of the next year to a positive reception. ''

Wargamer A normal wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to stu ...

'' described the game as "the cheesiest board game of all time".

References

External links

* * {{BGG title, 384213 Board games introduced in 2024 Cheese in culture Strategy games