Le Havre

LE HAVRE is a HEAVY WORKER-PLACEMENT + ECONOMIC-ENGINE EURO designed by UWE ROSENBERG (Germany), published by LOOKOUT GAMES (2008). Rosenberg's SECOND MAJOR GAME (after AGRICOLA 2007) — established him as the master of heavy euros. 1-5 PLAYERS develop the FRENCH PORT CITY OF LE HAVRE from a rowboat-fishing village into an industrial shipping hub. Features UNIQUE SHARED SUPPLY OFFER MECHANIC — resources accumulate on shared spaces each round; the first player to place there takes ALL of that resource type. Creates dynamic tension around WHEN to grab which resource pile. BUILDING CHAIN: 100+ possible buildings that provide new actions, produce goods, or generate victory points. Players buy/build increasingly complex buildings that fuel each other (fisheries → smokehouses → processed fish → tanneries → leather → ships → shipping profit). HELD BGG TOP-50 for 15+ years (2008-2026); considered ONE OF THE GREATEST HEAVY EUROS OF THE 2000s. Sits alongside AGRICOLA + CAVERNA as ROSENBERG'S HOLY TRINITY. ~30 MIN PER PLAYER (2-3 hours at 4 players). GAMEPLAY: 14 ROUNDS (2P) or 20+ ROUNDS (4-5P). Each round: (1) Ship arrives with resources (advance offer piles); (2) One player takes turn: place worker on offer pile (take resources) OR building (use action); (3) Alternate players; (4) Round end: feed workers (bread + fish + meat + smoke). BUILDINGS BOUGHT via silver or built via resources. Some buildings give SILVER (endgame VP), some give BUILDINGS (VP), some give SHIPS (feed + move goods). END: score buildings + ships + silver.

End-game VP from silver + buildings owned (VP printed on each) + ships owned + minus loans.

Win condition · Highest VP end-game wins.

Central board has 6 resource offer spaces + ship track + building row + supply. Personal player mats for workers + resources + owned buildings.

• Le Havre base box

  $60 USD; complete game

• Le Havre: Le Grand Hameau expansion (2015)

  $30; new buildings + variants

• Central board (offer spaces + ships + buildings)

  Main engine

• 100+ building tiles

  Diverse chain-economy engine

• Resource tokens (wood, clay, iron, coal, fish, cattle, grain, etc.)

  8 resource types

• Ship models (rowboat → steamship)

  Feed workers + transport goods

• Silver tokens

  Currency + endgame VP

• Building chain focus

  Build feeder buildings (bakery, tannery, shipyard) that fuel VP buildings.

• Silver economy

  Silver = VP; also buys buildings.

• Offer pile timing

  Wait for pile to accumulate; grab when high-value.

• Ship-heavy vs building-heavy

  Ships feed + move goods; buildings score directly.

• Avoid loans

  -7 VP per loan; feeding priority.

Offer pile

Shared resource pool; first placer takes all.

Building

Purchasable/buildable action space; grants VP + abilities.

Ship

Transport + feeding; grants VP.

Silver franc

Currency + endgame VP.

Feeding

End-round; feed workers via food or take loan.

Loan

Borrow silver at penalty; -7 VP endgame.

• BGG top-50 15+ years (2008-2026)

  ongoing · worldwide · since 2008

• Deutscher Spiele Preis 2009 (5th place)

  annual · Germany · since 2009

• International Gamers Award 2009 nominee

  annual · worldwide · since 2009

• 🇩🇪Germany
• 🇺🇸United States
• 🇬🇧United Kingdom
• 🇫🇷France
• 🇮🇹Italy
• 🇪🇸Spain
• 🇵🇱Poland
• 🇦🇺Australia
• 🇨🇦Canada
• 🇸🇪Sweden
• 🇳🇱Netherlands
• 🇯🇵Japan

• Lookout Games (publisher)

  Founded 2000 · Germany

• Mayfair Games (US publisher, original)

  Founded 1981 · USA

• Uwe Rosenberg (designer)

  Founded 1970 · Germany

• Lookout Games — Le Havre— Lookout
• BoardGameGeek — Le Havre— BGG
• Wikipedia — Le Havre— Wikipedia