In the both the game I won and the game I am coming in third I played the Manservant on turn 8. That netted me 17 food for a single action, when a normal food gathering action is about 4 food.
This card is crazy powerful, but also has a steep cost. 3 food per turn is monstrous, particularly if you can get it out early, but the problem is that renovating to stone early means you give up the ability to continue to expand your house and you have to compete for the necessary resources and renovate spots. It means giving up other important things, essentially.
Getting it out as early as I did in both of these games is a coup. 17 food for a single action is bonkers, and when I managed that I figured I had the game in the bag. Not that you always win when you do this of course, but in both cases I had 3 family members and my opponents didn't seem to have taken advantage of my focus on renovating to do something scary. My position looked solid.
In the game I won it certainly seemed like an amazing play. I ended with 48 points and my farm looked very pretty indeed. That massive glut of food let me spend all of the late game setting up max fields and pastures and grain and veggies and even get 8 points from animals and 3 from stables. I didn't do anything interesting in terms of other cards - I just made a food engine and then built all the things.
In the game where I am coming in third I think I must have boned it up somewhere but I don't really know where. If I get a 17 food action I feel like I should have a dominant in the endgame, but I will end up either at 39 or 41 depending on how the last couple actions go. I know I gave up something to get the Manservant out so quickly but I really thought it wasn't so bad as all that.
This card is a bit of a newbie trap I think. Much like the Animal Pen it is really strong but if you decide you are just going all in on it from the start of the game you rate to get wrecked, I think. The trouble with these cards is that they require a massive investment of stuff that you are competing for. There are certainly games where the Manservant just happens to work out great, but if you decide you are doing a renovate early strategy and people block your stone or Renovate comes out late you could end up completely screwed.
Both of these strike me as middling draft picks. You don't want to commit to taking them first off because you will find them unplayable a lot of the time. However, you don't want them sitting in your opponent's hands because if they happen to be able to use them you rate to get blown out. Take them middling, I would say, somewhere between 3rd and 5th pick. They are great to have in your arsenal if you happen to be able to work them in, but you don't want to commit to them until you see the lay of the land.
In any case I am pretty happy with my results this season. Last season I came 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd in my games which is by no means a disaster but also isn't great. The 3rd only happened because I misread a card - I am confident I come second in every game if I realize what my cards actually do!
Clearly this season is going better, especially if I do manage to score up a three 1st place finishes. That almost certainly puts me at the top of my group and on the way to a higher ranked group next season. I expect to lose there, but it will definitely educate me and that is a big part of the fun.
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