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Since we recorded this episode we've played a couple of times with the advanced mode. Adds time but does add some interested choices and I like it.

Glad you enjoyed!

Glad you enjoyed!

Great points!

I love that! La Granja Deluxe Master Set does the same thing and it works great!

Yes, I think the most important thing Pantheon does is give you another option when you really don't want to take 'that' card and open something up to your opponent. But the variety in extra effects that you see and the occasional boosts to the military and technology strategies also allow the game to be more surprising.

Well as it turns out you're right in this case. We just recorded a feature review on Daybreak which releases on Monday and, spoiler, I adored it as well.

Good call out! It's sitting at 8.6 with just under 4k ratings so far and at 177. It seems very likely that with a couple thousand more ratings it will get into the top 100. I don't think it has a good chance of making the top 20 because it probably won't end up with a lot more ratings than that due to how unapproachable it is. Great game though!

Haha - no worries - we really appreciate the review and loved your categorization.

Oh dear I’m going to be a slightly dissenting voice again. I personally didn’t like the slightly virtue signalling vibe of the representation discussion. I think it’s easy to make assumptions about the impact this issue has. I did my own amateur research by asking my game group whether not seeing a character from their minority demographic would make them feel excluded or any other negative response. And no one said it did. Admittedly I only had responses from women, no other ‘minorities’ but none of the women really even noticed whether there was a female character. The only gripe they had was when a rule book only uses the male pronoun when discussing players….which I can appreciate. Of course I’m sure there are people for whom this will make them feel less welcomed into the hobby but I’m wary of imposing a mandatory DEI approach to board game design.

@@daveheasman3680 my wife has a problem with it - she calls it out every time she sees only dudes in games. My 12 year old daughter also notices and it turns her off from games when she can't play a girl. Sample size of one game group or family isn't big enough to judge what's good for society but it's big enough for us to label it as a pet peeve because it directly impact the experience of the people we know. The real question is, why not do it? And as Chris mentioned on the episode, it's pretty rare to not see more diversity in artwork these days so it seems like publishers have been answering that question and hopefully will become less and less of a pet peeve for us going forward.

​@@daveheasman3680 My friend. I say very respectfully, there are scientific studies that show the importance of representation. It matters. I worry about people who use phrases like "virtue signalling". That phrase is rooted in ignorance. OF COURSE there are people who will play and enjoy games where they are not represented. I grew up at a time when there were, literally, EIGHT black characters on TV, two of whom could be argued as 'problematic'. This did not stop me or my friends from enjoying TV. We were completely capable of rooting for and mimicing characters who looked nothing like us. But that is not the same thing as proving lack of representation does not have very real, practical negative consequences. I think your "dissenting voice" is wrong. Flatly, objectively wrong. There are ZERO "assumptions" when it comes to the importance of representation, because the science supports otherwise. And the idea that anyone might open a box and see characters that are varied and think "this seems like it's trying to hard" is deeply troubling. "Mandatory"? "Virtue signalling?" No. It's common sense. It's decent. It's ACCURATE. and...yes...it's neccessary. What is so disturbing or troubling or dangerous in a designer thinking in 2024 that when they create a game they should, by default, include a variety of faces? This is my first time viewing this channel and I love that a presenter said "they're not trying too hard, they're doing everything RIGHT". 4:12 I think your use of "virtue signaling" and "wary of imposting a mandatory DEI" are ignorant of the facts. I don't mean to insult you, I acknowlegesuch ignorance is the fault of our culture, even in 2024. I think the facts support a label of "common sense" and even "good business". I suggest Googling "Kenneth and Mamie Clark Doll". That scientific study goes back to the 1930s. Then google "pop culture and the effects on poor body image" or "OKCupid data on what society considers beautiful" or google "lack of representation of gay love in media" and see the SCIENCE behind the importance of representation. The weallth of KNOWLEGE is immense on the subject. What's the big deal? I get it. Esp today it seems like everyone can see themselves everywhere, esp when one is in the majority. But such beliefs are really not true. We got progress to make. Peace!

One reason NOT to do it so when it’s historically inaccurate. Surely that is just patronising tokenism? But overall I really am pro representation just twitchy about it being enforced / policed

@@armstronghawkins9183 I appreciate the attempt at being respectful even though the main message you seem to be conveying is that I am ignorant and uninformed. And to describe my message as ‘objectively wrong’ when I simply state what you agree with - that this is not an issue for everyone - seems pretty bizarre. But believe it or not I am pro-representation just anti enforced DEI quotas or cancelling people who don’t comply with pressure from the enlightened ones.

Shared player aid is a great call out!

Glad you're having fun with it also!

Dave - a very quick glance into past offenses by Fryx games included not only transphobia, but also racism, support for AI art, among other things. It was all new information to me and has turned ME off from supporting them as a company. Although I wholeheartedly disagree with you (and JK Rowling) on your takes on trans issues, I also didn't tell anyone else not to support them - in fact I said on the show that you should look into issues for yourself. What are important issues to me as a consumer may not matter to other people and vice versa. But, in my opinion, when someone else's rights and safety are on the line I'm not going to engage in 'reasoned' discussion about whether we should take away their rights, the only valid role I can play is to advocate for their equality and safety.

@@BoardGameHotTakes I’ve actually found it hard to find any original source material of the alleged offences. In the absence of this I maintain that, unless the comments were made in a hateful, vindictive manner, simply expressing an opinion does not constitute transphobia or hate imo. And I don’t know enough about AI Art to know why using it is such a heinous, unforgivable, cancellable offence.

We post them on Bluesky, on our Facebook Group, and on our Patreon page (you don't have to be a supporter to vote in those polls). All three are linked in the show notes of the video above!

Thanks for the correction! I could have sworn that it was recommended longer but maybe I heard that from the person that taught me the game and not directly out of the rulebook (or my memory just failed me). A game or two makes more sense.

You're very kind!

It's been an interesting game to explore, for sure! We played a game with the campaign expansion since recording this episode and there is even more to explore there.

I agree with you! I've got 80 and I feel like I need to cut back.

If I had to do it again, I would have cut way back on the purchases that I made. There's a lot of lessons that I've learned spread throughout multiple videos, podcasts, etc. I've culled quite a bit as of late because of that and as far as why I acquired all of them...that's a separate story. As far as finding what 801 provides that I haven't seen before...I guess that's just how my brain works? 😂

Yes! Sometimes I don't think board game critics are very good at critical thinking :)

We all really loved this discussion. I think in the best way possible highlights how every game isn't for every person. Thanks for the kind words! I'll definitely pass your offer to play on TTS to Adam who may take you up on that!

Thanks for taking the time to listen and to comment! I'm now 6 games into Arcs (just played first game in a campaign yesterday) and still struggling with the amount of info on the cards, although it is getting a little easier. It's not a breaking flaw but I continue to feel like I'm always going to play sub-optimally unless I cause downtime by closely reading and re-reading the cards. Starting a campaign added a bunch of new cards as well and it looks like will continue to do that depending on how the campaign progresses.

@@BoardGameHotTakes You guys always have great content, happy to listen. Haven't played the campaign yet, but my understanding is that it adds a lot of new elements...particularly reading elements XD

You're probably right about their production improving... but all of the past games that I've played by them (including Twilight Struggle, Space Empires 4X, and Dominant Species) were all behind the times in regards to production. But I was very happy with Gest being the most recent GMT I'd played.

@@BoardGameHotTakes I've watched a few videos, and most everyone is pleased with both the production and the gameplay

We'll have to take a look at Burning Banners! Thanks for the recommendation!

Thanks for the kind words!

Awesome! I'm only 6 or so games in and it's still been exciting for me every game also. I think I've only played it at 3 players so far.

Thanks for listening, Cory! Check in next week for a deep dive of Arcs where you'll find that it's starting to lose it's luster a bit and might not stay at the top...

It's great that there are so many different games for so many different tastes! What's your number 1 game?

LOLOLOL - I love this! Yes! What the heck???

Yeah...another list you guys could do that tied in with what you are were talking about is a top 11 games that you just get excited to show someone else and/or play. You *know* that feeling where when a game gets suggested: you're just giddy about it.

Glad you're enjoying the show! Thanks for joining us!

It's a really fascinating mechanism and I'd recommend trying it at 3 or 4 at some point to see it in action.

@@BoardGameHotTakes I’ve always thought it was an interesting mechanism and I don’t know why it gets so much hate. To my knowledge no other game does this so why it can’t be appreciated as an innovative catch up mechanism is curious to me. I am looking forward to trying Ankh at 3 or 4 someday.

I don't think any of us have played a game of it that felt too long EXCEPT the one time when I was teaching someone new that just needed their hand held through every phase. Maybe it depends on the players you're playing with or just how much fun we all have when we're playing the game and don't mind the length. In any case, it didn't show up on 2 of our 3 lists so I guess we'd also agree with you that Chris had it too highly rated :)

Thanks for letting me know - I thought I had them all correct last night. I'll check it out and get them fixed.

Just tested them out and they all seem to be working correctly for me! Sorry you had issues with them.

@@BoardGameHotTakes Strange. OK.

Hah! As long as I don't explain it, right?! Adam and I have been playing a decent amount of Arcs this week and I think we're going to be discussing it on the episode we record tonight so next Monday's episode we'll dive pretty deep.

So Adam and I got our play of the final version in this weekend. I’m sure we’ll talk about it more on the show but don’t know if we’ll feature it again. We loved it. Everything we liked about it in prototype form is still there. But the changes are incredibly good.

You're too kind!

Thank you for the feedback! I think I pulled the timestamps from the podcast episode and forgot to adjust for video which isn't as edited. I'll try to get that corrected shortly and be more careful about that in the future. Sorry for the miss there.

Glad you're enjoying it and thanks for sharing with your husband!

Bummer - sorry to hear that. Just learning the editing process for videos so I'll try to get this better in the future.

Strange - the sound/volume seems to be working fine for me. Are you saying it's just too quiet or that the sound quality is bad?

@@BoardGameHotTakes the volume is waaay down for me, for some reason

Okay thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do to raise the volume level on future videos if other folks report similar.

@@BoardGameHotTakes it must be something on my PC, because on the phone it's normal, but on the PC, i maxed and checked everything and it still low On the phone the volume is fine as normal

@@BoardGameHotTakes Are you using compression? If not, might want to.

So glad you're enjoying the show! Comments like this keep us going!

Hah! I polled listeners in the past on social media and Top 40 was the majority choice. I think some people would get pretty bored with 100.

I'm not telling!