Agricola and its anniversary editions have a long history. Years ago, many people were actively testing hundreds of cards for what was expected to be an all-inclusive deluxe version of Agricola for its 10th anniversary on the play-agricola forums. However, it never materialized. So, when the 15th Anniversary Edition was announced, I was excited, hoping it would be the ultimate version of Agricola. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Let’s find out why.

What is Agricola 15?

Agricola 15 offers two versions: an empty big box, without any game components, and a base game of Agricola bundled with complete A and B decks and some promo content. As a reminder, the regular revised edition of Agricola includes only a subset of A and B decks, with the remaining cards available as separate expansion packs. The promo content includes three decks: X, L, and Legen-dairy Forest, along with a mini-expansion called Through the Seasons (more on these later). On the other hand, this edition does not include other released decks for the revised edition (C, D, CD, and recently E). It also lacks the Farmers of the Moor expansion, a huge missed opportunity. Farmers of the Moor, in my opinion, is one of the best expansions for any game and has been difficult to find for years. Including it in Agricola 15 could have significantly increased the value of the big box.

Box, Components, and Changes

The box is a tall square with two compartments: the top one contains a box for cards and two trays for all meeples and cardboard tokens, while the bottom compartments houses all boards and rulebooks.

The empty Big Box for current owners of Agricola does not include any of the changes or promo content. It’s simply an empty box with the trays. So, if you’re considering this edition, it might be more practical to purchase the main box with the content and sell your existing copy. I do wish there was an option to purchase this box with the new content included.

Although the game board remains unchanged from the revised edition, the player boards feature new designs. They are all double-sided, with one side being identical across all boards, while the other side showcases a unique design. Notably, the new player boards now include designated spaces for all resources, improving organization during play—a valuable addition.

The resource trays present a few issues. Firstly, they tend to fall apart easily unless handled in a certain way. While the compartments are adjustable, reinforcing them with glue may help prevent this, though it would sacrifice adjustability. Additionally, each compartment is too large for its intended purpose, and at the same time, the tokens from the included promos don’t have specific slots. Also, there is no room allocated for Farmers of the Moor components. Given the substantial size of these trays and the considerable wasted space, rectifying these issues could have been easy.

The card tray includes dividers for most of the available decks for the game, along with a few blank ones. These dividers also facilitate the organization of occupation cards for different player counts to make setup easier for those who don’t need all of these cards frequently. However, it’s notable that there are no dividers for certain decks, such as CD, and for future planned decks for the revised edition. Additionally, the tray lacks sufficient space for all currently published decks if the cards are sleeved.

Another area that could be improved in this edition is the implementation of Major Improvements. While they are now made of thick cardboard, which is a positive change, there is no longer a board for them. Instead, they come in a punch board. The notches in this punchboard suggest that the designers intended it to replace the old Major Improvements board. However, the frame is fiddly, and many may discard it during unboxing. Additionally, if you intend to play Farmers of the Moor, you’ll end up with a mix of cards and the new cardboard Major Improvements.

Another noteworthy change is the size of the food tokens. In the revised edition, they are tiny and often difficult to handle. However, in Agricola 15, the food tokens are larger and much easier to handle, which is an excellent improvement.

New Content

Through the Seasons

Through the Seasons includes only a board and a token, yet it adds to the thematic feel of the game by introducing seasons that influence gameplay in various ways. Each season features a unique action space, alters the number of specific resources added to the board each round, and introduces discounts or extra costs for certain actions. The season changes at the end of each round.

This expansion adds a twist to planning and makes players adjust their strategies accordingly. I like this expansion and think it’s a great addition, especially to solo Agricola games.

The X Deck

The X Deck features a set of cards with a playful theme of aliens visiting your farm. This deck contains 24 cards, and whenever a player visits the western quarry action, they draw a random card from this deck. These cards include various types: Alien Action Spaces, which become permanent actions for all players; Merchants from Outer Space, which introduce shared objectives rewarding victory points to the first player who achieves them; and Alien Artifacts, offering unique positive effects to the drawing player. However, the deck also includes Alien Events, some of which can have significant impacts, ranging from negative effects like losing farm spaces, family members, or rooms, to positive effects for the drawing player that adversely affect other players. One card, in particular, allows a player to steal a family member from another player, potentially disrupting the game’s balance.

I have mixed feelings about this deck. I’m unsure if Aliens and Agricola are a good match. More importantly, the random events are the primary reason we will not use this deck in our games. Perhaps removing the events and playing with the rest of the cards from this deck could be a good idea, as some of those cards are very interesting.

The Legen-dairy Forest Deck

The Legen-dairy Forest Deck follows a similar pattern, injecting events and randomness into the game. Whenever a player gathers at least three pieces of wood from any accumulation space, they draw a Legen-dairy Forest card. This deck comprises 26 cards, including 11 events. While some of these events add an element of amusement, they also introduce randomness that may not align well with Agricola’s strategic gameplay. One of these events introduces llamas as a new animal type. However, I wish the game included llama meeples instead of cardboard tokens. Additionally, the deck contains occupations, minor improvements, and major improvement cards that get added to the played cards of the drawing player, with a few feeling somewhat overpowered. Others introduce new action spaces for all players.

Like the X Deck, the Legen-dairy Forest Deck introduces chaos and randomness to Agricola. While it may provide entertainment for a few plays or appeal to certain players, I doubt many serious Agricola fans would opt to include this deck in their plays frequently.

The L Deck

The L Deck includes 16 occupation cards and 4 event cards. Some of the occupations are previously published promo cards, while others are new additions. The event cards are rulebreakers, altering a rule for the entire game. One of these events is placed face-up next to the board, affecting all players. These rule changes open up the game and make it slightly easier

Final Thoughts

Agricola 15 is a controversial product. On the one hand, it streamlines gameplay by consolidating most content for Agricola into one box and introduces improvements like the Through the Seasons expansion and better player boards. However, it falls short in areas such as ignoring the Farmers of the Moor expansion and providing subpar resource trays. If you already own the current edition with a suitable storage solution, upgrading may not be worthwhile. However, for those looking to acquire Agricola for the first time, Agricola 15 is the edition to consider. The price of the revised edition plus A and B decks is nearly equivalent to Agricola 15 (at least in Canada), making the big box edition a sensible choice.

Disclosure: We received a review copy of this game. Also, there may be an affiliate link in the links included at the end of this article.