Fromage Review
With a board game called Fromage it is so tempting to pen a punny introduction about how this might be a game you gouda try and that you can find out how brie-lliant it is. But, I’ve been there and done that with my review of Rats to Riches and looking back perhaps those play on words stink more than a Roquefort. So instead of a grating introduction, let me just say this is a review of Fromage, a board game about cheese!
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Setup
The game board comes in quarters and these need to be randomly constructed into a circle, with the central resource square placed randomly in the centre. Depending on player count you will slot the relevant insert into each quarter.
Give each player a random player board and the cheeses and workers in their chosen colour. Once you have played a few times you can optionally draft building tiles to replace those preprinted on the boards. Each player then gathers their starting resources and the game can commence!
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Gameplay
Fromage has a lovely all play mechanic whereby everyone will place up to two workers in the quadrant in front of them, one will gather resources, the other will work towards point scoring opportunities. Points can also be scored by completing order cards and by building certain buildings. These buildings can also offer an additional space for one of your workers.
There are three types of cheese: soft, hard and blue, and there are three different maturities too, bronze, silver and gold. When making cheese your worker’s base has to match the colour, if there is a fruit or preserve symbol you will also need some fruit resources. The clever part of this game is that workers will mature the cheese. When rotating the board any workers facing you, will come back to be used again. Bronze will return on the next turn, silver in two turns and gold won’t return for three rotations.
The four different types of resources are buildings, animals, fruit and order cards.
Buildings can be used to construct the buildings on your player board. These will grant bonuses or point scoring opportunities.
Animals can be used at any time in milking parlours to place a bonus cheese in the area in front of you of the type that matches the parlour.
Fruit is required to place some of your cheeses on certain spaces. This converts into either fruity cheese or preserves on your personal player board. Fruit also offers a point scoring opportunity as you will multiply the fruit that has been converted to cheese by the number of preserves you have made at the end of the game.
Order cards require you to make a specific cheese, when you do the card is completed and will score points at the end of the game depending how many you have ticked off.
When a player places their last cheese they must announce it loudly so everyone knows it is the final turn. After which, each region and player boards are scored.
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What it’s like
Fromage plays pretty quickly because everyone is playing simultaneously. Equally you are only playing a maximum of three workers per turn which helps keep pace around the table.
The cleverest part of Fromage is the aging of the workers, while this is not unique it is very smoothly accomplished in this board game. This is the only time analysis paralysis can set in as you ponder how long you can be without a particular worker for, and whether the delay is worth the reward.
The different quadrants mean the teach can seem prolonged, but once grasped each area is straight forward and also offer genuine routes to aid in victory. As you play more, you realise it is often about not letting an opponent run away with an area just as much as it is trying to dominate quadrants yourself.
I think my only reservation is with the starting player boards, some of the buildings are not worth the investment. However, adding in the additional building tiles, this area becomes really key for creating strategies and requires much more focus. I therefore suggest adding them in whenever you play with those already familiar with the game.
With these additional building tiles and the different layout options there is a lot of replayability within the box.
Fromage plays great at two, three and four players, at two I have played it in under 30 minutes and still feel like I have played a decent board game rather than a light filler. There is a solo mode, but I have not tried that.
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Table Presence
The box art tart in me was certainly fulfilled. Once on the table, the shared circular board and individual player boards have a lovely style and colour palette to them. The individual player colours was always going to be tricky, the cream and blue kinda make thematic sense, but the black and orange do jolt a bit with their surroundings. While I understand the necessity of having the workers made out of plastic, they feel a little out of place too. This is me being super fussy though, as overall I really like the aesthetic. You can see for yourself but I think most would concur that this is a good looking game!
The cardboard tokens are perfectly adequate. The included component trays that double up as storage are a nice touch. Packing the game away isn’t a delight though as other than the component storage, it all gets slung in the box.
Although I was taught this game, the rulebook is clear and concise. The included pamphlet of cheese types is a nice touch too.
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Limited Edition
Fromage was a Kickstarted board game, and part of that offered a limited edition at a really great price. I didn’t back it during its crowdfunding campaign. At the time I purchased mine, the Limited Edition version was still available, but I still decided against it. Obviously it was more money, but I really didn’t feel like the deluxe components were necessary on this occasion. I say this without buyer’s remorse: I actually don’t think they were very good.
Firstly, you got a beautiful circular play mat. This was gorgeous and matched the box art, but, it is placed under the board never to be seen during the game, except on the occasions the board shifted off during rotation. It also seemed to make the board sit badly on the table as it was smaller than the board itself. I always have a play mat on the table so this was not necessary for me.
The other bonus of the Limited Edition was screen printed wooden tokens. These were lovely when I played with them, but I was taken aback that they were only printed on one side. That kinda annoyed me! The cardboard tokens are printed on both sides, utilitarian and absolutely fine.
If you backed the Kickstarter this edition was a great price, but at retail, the price is prohibitive for what you get extra. I am perfectly happy with my retail edition.
Final thoughts on Fromage
Fromage has quickly become one of my favourite worker placement games. It is a mechanic I like and gravitate towards, but the timing of your workers returning adds a level of freshness to the gameplay. I also really appreciate how all the different quadrants are balanced in terms of point scoring and how some of these areas become a real tit-for-tat battle for points.
This battle for points and the worker placement creates a lovely tension throughout the game and offers plenty to think about. However, even with the occasional, but inevitable, ponder period the board rotates at a good pace thanks to players all placing their workers at the same time.
This isn’t me getting all cheesy at the end, I have thoroughly enjoyed Fromage and am so glad I rushed to buy a copy as it is getting played lots and lots. In fact, at the time of writing it is my most played game of 2025 so far!
I will also mention that the Board Game Arena digitalisation is really very good indeed, not quite as satisfying as in real life, but still very good!
Key Facts
Number of players: 1 to 4
Board Game Review Recommended Age: 12+
Publisher’s Recommended Age: 14+
Playing Time: 40 minutes
Setting Up and Take Down Time: 3 minutes
Designers: Matthew O’Malley and Ben Rosset
Publisher: Road To Infamy Games (R2i Games)
RRP: £49.99
Summary
Fromage is a really good game and it matures like a fine cheddar with every play. The board offers a smorgasbord of choices with different routes to victory. There is also a load of replayability with the included individual player board modifying tiles and different layout options.
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Artwork and Components
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Complexity
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Instructions
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Interaction
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Value for Money
Overall
Pros
- Worker placement timing
- Tit for tat battles in the quadrants
- Lots of strategies to explore
- The additional building tiles
Cons
- Teaching the different quadrants
- Currently quite hard to find in the UK
- Limited Edition doesn’t offer enough
- The player colours
Need more games?
If you already own Fromage and enjoy it, or are looking for other inspiration, you might also like these similar games:
- Viticulture
- Raiders of the North Sea
- Creature Comforts
- Planet Unknown
Buy Fromage
If you want to buy Fromage after reading our review click on one of our affiliate links below (note there has been no affiliate links until this point)
Reviewer’s Note
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