Windmill Valley Components Overview and Impressions

If there is one thing I know as a person of Dutch descent, it is that there are a few things that you understand are “Dutch” in every way, shape and form. Wooden shoes, Sinterklaas, Dropies to name a few. And if none of that means anything to you, well I completely understand. Two other things that scream “Dutch”? Windmills and Tulips. When I saw Windmill Valley coming from Board and Dice, I knew it was something I needed to have in my collection – thankfully, the fantastic media team at Board and Dice hooked us up last week, and we instantly ripped into the box!

Board and Dice make phenomenal games, there is no debating that. Last year, we had the privilege of reviewing Books of Time and thought the production value of that game was off the charts. It had some really unique mechanisms for gaining and using resources, and overall we felt the experience was innovative with top notch production. We assumed nothing less from Windmill Valley.

This isn’t a review of the game yet, but we love the little windmill mechanism played out using the cardboard gears on the player boards. The quality of these pieces is phenomenal, and even after years of use, I’m not sure they would show a ton of wear and tear. In fact, all the cardboard used in the game, from the gears themselves to the various upgrade parts, to the tulips, are all really great – they punched well from the punch board too, which meant no tearing of pieces, which sometimes can happen.

Of all the pieces, it is the tulips that I wish were wood out of the box. That being said, it is nice to see Board and Dice make these tulip pieces of extra thick cardboard. They almost have the appearance of thin wooden pieces, but are obviously cardboard once you get them into your hands.

What jumps out at me when I look at the dual-layered player boards and the large central board, is how colorful AND functional the entire package is. Board and Dice has done a great job of making these boards beautiful to look at, while also making them very functional. I love game boards that incorporate the pieces used during play, as opposed to games where you constantly read, “Lay out the tiles/pieces next to the game board.” Here, for the most part, it appears that everything you need to play has a space on the game board. I love that, and wish more games did this!

I love the included wooden windmill pieces for each player color – they are good looking pieces that perhaps could have gotten a screen printed upgrade, but again I’m basically looking for problems where they don’t exist at this point. The card quality is also better than average, so even if you play this often, I’m not sure sleeving the cards is a necessity here. The cards are very much functional in nature, so while the artwork and colors on the game board are something to marvel at, the cards…yah, not so much.