Agricola! Going cheap!

So I was ULTRA tempted to buy Agricola from Andy on Thursday night - it is a weighty game and contains lots of nice pieces and is well made and a great game - I think the family will get on with it well. Only two things held me back - the high price tag £52 and the fact that all of the markers, animals, food etc are just different coloured cubes - a sheep is a white cube and some wood is a brown cube.

How this would translate whilst teaching the game I didn't know - Nigel and Matt who both have the game suggested getting the wooden "meeples" set, describing them as essential. These are essentially carved wooden pieces representing the animals, wood, food etc. So a sheep looks like a sheep, a boar looks like a boar. The only problem is the cost - about £20! On top of the already £52 of which 50% of the cost would be assigned to the wooden blocks that I wouldn't be using anyway, I could not justify the £72 expenditure. For less than this I can get "Railways of the World" or "Fortune and Glory" - two huge box games.

So I thought, oh well, I'll use others and get it cheap some how. I didn't have to wait long! A few days later, I spotted a second hand Very Good condition copy on Boardgamegeek complete with the wooden meeples! For £30!! Bargain - yes please! I ummed and arrred as usual about buying something - then went for it after Nigel Heathers suggested that I do before someone else snaps it up!! Had that too many times in life; so it's on its way now - £37 including postage, not bad at all...