IP's cost a lot of money now. FFG knew they could not make enough money on certain contracts and declined to continue them. There is also the problem of a large catalog. Games like LotR and the Star Wars lcg's, Galactica and Netrunner had a huge amount of content and was going to cost a lot of money to maintain with constant reprints on top of the IP cost. They became too big to continue.
Yes. I was always totally hyped here in germany and waited for the translated versions (Arkham Horror 2nd, Android, BSG, Twilight Imperium, ...). And now? Only Living card games or streamlined versions. Nothing really special for me....
Great list. I've half of them. For me, the number 1 grail game I own is Starcraft the Board Game. Just love the mechanics and when they used some of them in Forbidden Star, I picked it up right away. I have the base game to Battlestar Galactica, and learned it went out of print way too late to get the expansions at a reasonable price.
Great video, usually my grail games are usually also my favourite games. Original Warhammer Quest, Descent 1st ed, Tide of Iron, Heroscape, Battlelore 1st ed, Conflict of Heroes: Price of Honor, Heroes of Normandie...
BSG and fury of Dracula are two of my favorite games but they both run a little long. No one ever wants to be Baltar! I just want to put him in an airlock for looking at me...
I only have Fleet Captains and War Room from this list. Trying to put together another War Room play as I type. I've looked at picking up Fury of Dracula a few times - I don't trust Wizkids' production value though and I would want 3rd edition... and Starcraft is still out there, never going to bite the bullet on that one.
Hard to go wrong with Stephen King. The Stand, Salem's Lot are the best. World War Z by Max Brooks. Bram Stoker's Dracula. Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. Anything by H.P. Lovecraft is worth reading, his best are "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," and "Herbert West - Reanimator." Hope this helps.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer thanks :) i am reading The Stand right now and am loving it so far! World War Z is also one of my favorite books, so i will definitely check out the others. Seems like our tastes might align :)
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer I think you will like it, you take turns with the AI, and you have a percentage to hit a targeted enemy. But it can be extremely difficult.
@@todd3458 how? That game looks like it was made in 2008, in terms of gameplay it looks nothing like XCOM, it has similar features yes, but it looks like an old version of XCOM
Tide of iron , nice maps, I've heard it takes time to set up ,,war room looks the same , + big footprint,,,so I'm sticking to devil pig bud, heroes/shadows, nice post btw , ta bye🕊️
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer You let yourself down, you let your family down, you let your friends down, you let Bad Crow Games down, shame on you. Ha just kidding ;)
World of Warcraft with both expansions Starcraft the board game. Battlelore 2nd edition (everything) I have the horror game Pandemonium. It’s not an amazing game but it was kickstarted and only like1200 were made. 2 complete sets of BattleMasters.
My top grail game in my collection is a complete collection of Battlelore 1st Edition. I used to own Star Trek: Fleet Captains plus Romulan expansion, but got rid of it.
I am in the UK and I have been luckily able to get star trek fleet captains with the dominion expansion but it's extremely hard to get the romulan expansion a friend of mine has a prototype expansion that was never released I think it's a Borg expansion or something like but he is in the USA so sadly I will never be able to play it
Totally with you on Tide of Iron. What a disappointment 1A didn't support it longer. Was a bit surprised to see CoH though, especially because they once again missed out on a larger scale battle and having the commanders be historical leaders rather than boring generics with a lot of abilities that would never get touched (didn't find a single commander interesting during either KS)... But god those minis were cool.
Thanks for mentioning Company of Heroes in the comparison to the Tides of Iron classic. If you're getting 2nd edition CoH, hope you enjoy it! If not let me know and we'll have to get you at least 2E update kit. Have a wonderful day!
@TheDiscriminatingGamer I don't really want to sell them. Just wanna find the right to play it with. I'm happy to have 'em for sure though! You're totally right!
War Room is pretty great. We're down here in Logan, UT area if you're are interested in maybe lining up a game. My friend got it used from a very sad seller. We have not played it for about a year and only played a few area battles, Pacific, Eastern Front... I'm absolutely not an experienced gamer and it is still a fun game as I pretend I know what I am doing! haha.
I purchased Tide of Iron a few years ago because of your recommendation! I found someone local that was selling everything ever printed for it for 200 bucks. I’ve only played it twice though 😢. Both people that tried it didn’t love it, but I still am yet to play it with my wife so I am hoping she likes it. My top Grail game that I own has to be Descent: Journeys in the Dark 1st edition with every expansion (excluding the lieutenant minis). I’ve also painted all but around 15 minis. It was the game I learned how to paint minis on and you can tell over the 100+ I painted, the progress I made as a painter. Gotta finish those some time this summer. Thanks for the enjoyable watch as always!
ToI is such a great game. Get everything published, even a second copy for playing the biggest scenario in the "Designer's series" book. Greetings from germany
Thx for the video! I have Fury of Dracula and Shadows over Camelot. I’ve never had a good game of Fury of Dracula though :/. Pirate Dracula strategy ruined the first game that looked like it was gonna be great.
I was lucky enough to find Fury of Dracula 3rd edition at a consignment sale a few weeks ago. I have been hunting it since I saw one of your other videos mention it. Thanks for the recommendation.
Solid list. For a long time, War of the Ring 2nd Edition Collector's Edition was on my list... so when the Anniversary Edition came out, I jumped on it. heh It was pricey, but definitely worth it. :-)
My grail games: Cosmic Encounter, Last Night on Earth, Betrayal at the House on the Hill, Decrypto, Codenames, Horrified, Greed, Kingdom Builder and Carcassonne.
I've got me thinking what are my grail games Probably rose tinted nostalgia games I used own but now wish I hadn't parted with em. 1.Valley of Four Winds by Games Workshop (the first board game what got me into gaming and I then moved on to rpgs) 2. Starfleet Battles by Task Force Games) and also Star Trek: Starship Tactical Combat Simulator by FASA (both boardgames felt like being Captain Kirk and Scotty rolled into one managing ship engergy levels while trying to boardsides on Klingons) 3. Classic Car Wars pocketbox( I'm not fond of the new oversized Car Wars 6th edition prefer the classic 1980s ones) 4 Snapshot by GDW (I'm sure there are now better starship boarding boardgames. But Snapshot to me was a great sim and a time when expansions were just going to the local stationary shop to buy large sheets of graphpaper to draw new ship deck plan playing areas, now adays expansions cost a arm and leg)
It wouldn't surprise me if Julian Gollop creator of the original Xcom had played the boardgame Snapshot by GDW. . One of his early video games Rebelstar Raiders was similar to the Snapshot boardgame
Kudos for Tide of Iron. Really fun game! My top "grail" games in my game library are: MBT by Avalon Hill Merchant of Venus by Avalon Hill The Republic of Rome by Valley Games (originally from Avalon Hill) A Touch of Evil by Flying Frog Productions The Longest Day by Avalon Hill The original games for the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War series by Avalon Hill (Stonewall Jackson's Way, Stonewall in the Valley, Stonewall's Last Battle, Roads to Gettysburg, Here Come the Rebels, and On To Richmond). Civilization by Avalon Hill Cry Havoc by Standard Games TechNo Bowl by Bombshell Games and Big Trouble in Little China The Game, by Everything Epic.
if fantasy flight had half a brain by now they would have re released forbidden stars under the thier own twilight imperium ip, with twilight imperium flavored expansions compatible with either version.
Great list, and it's surprising how many FFG games qualified for it! I hadn't thought of _Battlestar_ _Galactica_ as being a grail game, but you're right: I just looked it up, and my BSG game + expansions are selling for $$$, wow. Anyway, I'll contribute: Two grail games that it took me a while to get my hands on and that were well worth the wait, are _Gunslinger_ and _Magic_ _Realm_ (both by the same designer, Richard Hamblen). They're great "convention" games in that they can be played by lots of folks (especially Gunslinger), so if you go to cons it's worth keeping an eye out for someone hosting one of them. Oh yeah, one more: _Jyhad_ is a card game designed by Richard Garfield and published by Wizards of the Coast back in 1994. Obviously it didn't take off to the same degree that Magic: The Gathering did, but it's really good. You don't need to own thousands of cards to make it fun and challenging, and it really takes advantage of White Wolf's "World of Darkness" setting and lore.
I’ve always wanted to find a copy of Magic Realm and have heard how hard the game is to learn! Have you played it a lot? I’m curious what your thoughts are on the actual gameplay. Cheers!
@@-RTC- I know I'm supposed to say something like, "Nahh, the complexity is overrated--it's actually easy to learn!" But yeah, I found it to be pretty tough. From what I've read, the game was intended to be more of a series, but shortly before production started Avalon Hill told the designer to fit whatever he could into just the first edition and not count on any follow-ups. This meant that some of the advanced rules and characters got included, which is great, but there just wasn't enough time to rewrite the rulebook properly. The game has a reputation as one that is *very* difficult to learn just by reading the rules. It is quite easy to learn if you have someone there with you to teach it though, which is one reason that it is such a great convention game. All that being said, there is a thriving community of enthusiastic Magic Realm players who have done a *fantastic* job of reorganizing the rules, creating player aids, posting play-throughs and session reports, and even writing a great Java-based version of the game (it's called RealmSpeak). Check out "The Magic Realm Tutorial Project" over in the Magic Realm forums at boardgamegeek.com -- there's a lot to read, but you *will* learn what all the fuss is about. For me, Magic Realm is a fun game but not one of my *most* fun games. Complex but not one of my *most* complex games. And so on for other descriptors such as difficulty and game length. It has a great decision space, and a really well developed risk-reward loop. Some of the mechanics in the game are exquisite, and I find it hard to believe that they haven't been adopted by other games. On the other hand, I find the game to be a bit dry. It's always fun and well worth it the time when I play it, but like with some other games like Mage Knight I have to sort of psyche myself up to breaking out the box, reviewing the rules, and playing it. Speaking of Mage Knight, while that game is often compared to Magic Realm, honestly I can't think of any game that really conveys the Magic Realm experience. It's a sandbox game, with each player prioritizing their objectives at the beginning and then trying their best to meet those objectives over the course of a game month. It uses programmed actions for each day, which is of course challenging. The characters are IMHO not remotely "balanced," in the modern game design sense, and the differences between them can be huge or subtle. But the characters are rich and distinctive. The chit-based system for handling movement, combat, injuries, and exhaustion is amazing--one of those game mechanics that I'm surprised hasn't been used by other designers. It's from an era of fantasy gaming that predates much of what has become received wisdom about character types, how magic works, and so forth. For example, the Dwarf character isn't a tanky powerhouse with shoulders as wide as he is tall. He's a small guy who doesn't move as fast as most of the other characters, but he is hardy and he *really* knows his way around caves (which are generally dangerous or risky areas for most other characters). I should say, by the way, that a game called _Dragons_ _Down_ had a successful crowdfunding campaign recently, so it will be seeing publication. It's sort of a streamlined spiritual successor / homage to Magic Realm, designed by someone who clearly adores Magic Realm. I backed Dragons Down and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on it!
Fortress America with the “Saddam” cover is my grail game…but I also have an unplayed version of Politika signed by Tom Clancy on the board….so it is opened, just not punched out to play
On a side note, you mentioned about "going down to Salt Lake" for a game of War Room. Whereabouts are you located? Salt Lake is a modest drive for me, but doable, but I wonder if you might live closer.
Thanks for your effort here. I watched to see where you'd position War Room but learnt of Conquest of Nerath and have it on my list of fun games to own even if I don't get to play them particularly as I noted that there is a BGG copy being sold nearby:) All the best.
Amazing how FFG went from being a powerhouse to nada. You should do an episode discussing WTF happened to FFG.
Maybe one day. Thanks for the suggestion.
Yes! Great sugestión for a video
IP's cost a lot of money now. FFG knew they could not make enough money on certain contracts and declined to continue them. There is also the problem of a large catalog. Games like LotR and the Star Wars lcg's, Galactica and Netrunner had a huge amount of content and was going to cost a lot of money to maintain with constant reprints on top of the IP cost. They became too big to continue.
@@robertthurman9866 Too bad.
Yes. I was always totally hyped here in germany and waited for the translated versions (Arkham Horror 2nd, Android, BSG, Twilight Imperium, ...). And now? Only Living card games or streamlined versions. Nothing really special for me....
Very interesting list, Cody. Thank you for bringing Conquest of Nerath to the table 👍🏻.
Thank you. Great game!
Great list. I've half of them. For me, the number 1 grail game I own is Starcraft the Board Game. Just love the mechanics and when they used some of them in Forbidden Star, I picked it up right away. I have the base game to Battlestar Galactica, and learned it went out of print way too late to get the expansions at a reasonable price.
Haven't played Starcraft, but heard great things. Hope you get some of the expansions down the line.
Great video, usually my grail games are usually also my favourite games. Original Warhammer Quest, Descent 1st ed, Tide of Iron, Heroscape, Battlelore 1st ed, Conflict of Heroes: Price of Honor, Heroes of Normandie...
Great list. Thanks.
I was waiting for Star Wars: Rebellion.
Love that game.
Star Wars Rebellion is a great game, but it is still easy to purchase, so not really a grail game.
Lots of FFG games in here. It saddens me to think of these glory days are gone 😢
Indeed. Their heyday was great!
BSG and fury of Dracula are two of my favorite games but they both run a little long. No one ever wants to be Baltar! I just want to put him in an airlock for looking at me...
I really enjoy the 3-4 hour games, if you can find the people.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer oh I do too. But a 90 min game is MUCH easier to get to the table than a 3 or 4 hour game.
I only have Fleet Captains and War Room from this list. Trying to put together another War Room play as I type. I've looked at picking up Fury of Dracula a few times - I don't trust Wizkids' production value though and I would want 3rd edition... and Starcraft is still out there, never going to bite the bullet on that one.
Wizkids’ Fourth edition is great. I think Wizkids gets a lot of crap, but I’ve always enjoyed their games.
What horror books do you recommend?
Hard to go wrong with Stephen King. The Stand, Salem's Lot are the best. World War Z by Max Brooks. Bram Stoker's Dracula. Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. Anything by H.P. Lovecraft is worth reading, his best are "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," and "Herbert West - Reanimator." Hope this helps.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer thanks :) i am reading The Stand right now and am loving it so far! World War Z is also one of my favorite books, so i will definitely check out the others. Seems like our tastes might align :)
@@lukaswernig9721 Indeed. I don't read as much horror as I used to, but I love it. Thanks.
XCOM video game kinda plays like a board game lol
I never played the video game.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer I think you will like it, you take turns with the AI, and you have a percentage to hit a targeted enemy. But it can be extremely difficult.
Xenonauts 2 is the new Xcom.
@@todd3458 how? That game looks like it was made in 2008, in terms of gameplay it looks nothing like XCOM, it has similar features yes, but it looks like an old version of XCOM
Tide of iron , nice maps, I've heard it takes time to set up ,,war room looks the same , + big footprint,,,so I'm sticking to devil pig bud, heroes/shadows, nice post btw , ta bye🕊️
No Company of Heroes?
I guess I should have put Company of Heroes on the list.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer You let yourself down, you let your family down, you let your friends down, you let Bad Crow Games down, shame on you. Ha just kidding ;)
@@chadvader974 I do that frequently.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer LOL... welcome to the club.
Twilight Struggle ?
TS is still easy to find at a good price. Not really a Grail Game.
World of Warcraft with both expansions
Starcraft the board game.
Battlelore 2nd edition (everything)
I have the horror game Pandemonium. It’s not an amazing game but it was kickstarted and only like1200 were made.
2 complete sets of BattleMasters.
Excellent.
My top grail game in my collection is a complete collection of Battlelore 1st Edition. I used to own Star Trek: Fleet Captains plus Romulan expansion, but got rid of it.
Too bad about STFC. Great game.
I am in the UK and I have been luckily able to get star trek fleet captains with the dominion expansion but it's extremely hard to get the romulan expansion a friend of mine has a prototype expansion that was never released I think it's a Borg expansion or something like but he is in the USA so sadly I will never be able to play it
I do love star Trek fleet captains
Totally with you on Tide of Iron. What a disappointment 1A didn't support it longer. Was a bit surprised to see CoH though, especially because they once again missed out on a larger scale battle and having the commanders be historical leaders rather than boring generics with a lot of abilities that would never get touched (didn't find a single commander interesting during either KS)... But god those minis were cool.
Yeah, but CoH is still a really fun game, IMHO. Tide of Iron is great too.
Thanks for mentioning Company of Heroes in the comparison to the Tides of Iron classic. If you're getting 2nd edition CoH, hope you enjoy it! If not let me know and we'll have to get you at least 2E update kit. Have a wonderful day!
Yeah, I went in for the 2E upgrade. Looking forward to it.
Awesome video!
I've got Battlestar Galacatica and the 3 expansions still in shrinkwrap.
Wow. Are you planning on selling them? Otherwise you gotta play that sucker!
@TheDiscriminatingGamer I don't really want to sell them. Just wanna find the right to play it with. I'm happy to have 'em for sure though! You're totally right!
War Room is pretty great. We're down here in Logan, UT area if you're are interested in maybe lining up a game. My friend got it used from a very sad seller.
We have not played it for about a year and only played a few area battles, Pacific, Eastern Front... I'm absolutely not an experienced gamer and it is still a fun game as I pretend I know what I am doing! haha.
Could be fun. Stay in touch.
Great list man, quite a few overlaps with my Top 10 Grails video a few months ago 🔥
Thanks!
I purchased Tide of Iron a few years ago because of your recommendation! I found someone local that was selling everything ever printed for it for 200 bucks. I’ve only played it twice though 😢. Both people that tried it didn’t love it, but I still am yet to play it with my wife so I am hoping she likes it.
My top Grail game that I own has to be Descent: Journeys in the Dark 1st edition with every expansion (excluding the lieutenant minis). I’ve also painted all but around 15 minis. It was the game I learned how to paint minis on and you can tell over the 100+ I painted, the progress I made as a painter. Gotta finish those some time this summer.
Thanks for the enjoyable watch as always!
Thank you. Happy to help.
ToI is such a great game. Get everything published, even a second copy for playing the biggest scenario in the "Designer's series" book. Greetings from germany
@@Dogma-mr7bq I hope to play it again soon! Definitely won’t be getting rid of it any time soon. Cheers!
We had our 90th game of Forbidden Stars yesterday.
My sneaky wife have stole the victory from me with the Nids.
Amazing game
What do you use for the 5-6 player minis?
Top grail games:
Star Trek Star Fleet Captains
Codex
Warhammer 40k Conquest
WarMachine Tactics
I've only played STFC. The rest sound like fun.
Thx for the video! I have Fury of Dracula and Shadows over Camelot. I’ve never had a good game of Fury of Dracula though :/. Pirate Dracula strategy ruined the first game that looked like it was gonna be great.
If you don’t have a good “gamer” playing Dracula, it will not be a good game.
Are you backing Imperial Borders on Kickstarter (or when it kicks off)?
Probably not. Getting married this summer and too many expenses. I'll hope to review it eventually. Thanks!
I was lucky enough to find Fury of Dracula 3rd edition at a consignment sale a few weeks ago. I have been hunting it since I saw one of your other videos mention it. Thanks for the recommendation.
Great game. Happy to help. Have you played it?
I have Tide of Iron, War Room and Conquest of Nerath. The figures of Conquest of Nerath are easy to paint!
I haven’t painted mine. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to paint my games, and I doubt I’d be much good at it if I did.
Two of my grail games are Gears of War: The Board Game and Terminator Genisys Rise of the Resistance and its expansion.
Excellent. Thanks.
I believe there is a Fan made expansion for Forbidden Stars.
Yeah. I've heard about that. Haven't looked into it, though.
There are a couple. Galaxy in Flames adds Imperial Guard, Necrons, Tau and Tyranids. Its fantastic and the 3d printed models are amazing.
I’m here in Casper. I own War Room. Would love to play with you any time.
Ah, I left Wyoming last year. I’m in Idaho now.
Solid list. For a long time, War of the Ring 2nd Edition Collector's Edition was on my list... so when the Anniversary Edition came out, I jumped on it. heh It was pricey, but definitely worth it. :-)
Excellent. Thanks.
My grail games: Cosmic Encounter, Last Night on Earth, Betrayal at the House on the Hill, Decrypto, Codenames, Horrified, Greed, Kingdom Builder and Carcassonne.
Betrayal and Horrified are still easily obtained, so I wouldn't really consider them grail games. Thanks.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer Oooh, duh. The meaning of Grail was lost on me. "The land and the king are one!"
I've got me thinking what are my grail games
Probably rose tinted nostalgia games I used own but now wish I hadn't parted with em.
1.Valley of Four Winds by Games Workshop (the first board game what got me into gaming and I then moved on to rpgs)
2. Starfleet Battles by Task Force Games) and also
Star Trek: Starship Tactical Combat Simulator by FASA (both boardgames felt like being Captain Kirk and Scotty rolled into one managing ship engergy levels while trying to boardsides on Klingons)
3. Classic Car Wars pocketbox( I'm not fond of the new oversized Car Wars 6th edition prefer the classic 1980s ones)
4 Snapshot by GDW (I'm sure there are now better starship boarding boardgames. But Snapshot to me was a great sim and a time when expansions were just going to the local stationary shop to buy large sheets of graphpaper to draw new ship deck plan playing areas, now adays expansions cost a arm and leg)
Sound like great games. I’m not familiar with any of them, other than SFB.
It wouldn't surprise me if Julian Gollop creator of the original Xcom had played the boardgame Snapshot by GDW. . One of his early video games Rebelstar Raiders was similar to the Snapshot boardgame
Which edition of Fury of Dracula is your favorite (if any?
4th. I like the painted minis.
Company of heroes replacing for me memoire 44 and tide of iron…
Very good.
Can FIREFLY boardgame be considered as a grail game ?
The original version is still easily available, so I don't know if that works.
Kudos for Tide of Iron. Really fun game!
My top "grail" games in my game library are:
MBT by Avalon Hill
Merchant of Venus by Avalon Hill
The Republic of Rome by Valley Games (originally from Avalon Hill)
A Touch of Evil by Flying Frog Productions
The Longest Day by Avalon Hill
The original games for the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War series by Avalon Hill (Stonewall Jackson's Way, Stonewall in the Valley, Stonewall's Last Battle, Roads to Gettysburg, Here Come the Rebels, and On To Richmond).
Civilization by Avalon Hill
Cry Havoc by Standard Games
TechNo Bowl by Bombshell Games
and Big Trouble in Little China The Game, by Everything Epic.
Great list. Thanks!
Wow, no love for Andean Abyss?
Haven’t played it - and it’s not in my collection. Is it currently hard to find?
My one grail game is Dungeon Twister Prison. I really hope Forbidden Stars gets reprinted! I’d love to try that one!
Haven’t heard of DTP. I wouldn’t hold my breath for FS. Thanks.
Great video, i just think now today wich boardgame of our days will be a Grail Game in 20 or 30 years... i can't figure any out
Yeah. Good point. Thanks.
Munchkin
FFG was such a great company, but now....
Indeed.
if fantasy flight had half a brain by now they would have re released forbidden stars under the thier own twilight imperium ip, with twilight imperium flavored expansions compatible with either version.
Good idea.
Great list, and it's surprising how many FFG games qualified for it! I hadn't thought of _Battlestar_ _Galactica_ as being a grail game, but you're right: I just looked it up, and my BSG game + expansions are selling for $$$, wow. Anyway, I'll contribute:
Two grail games that it took me a while to get my hands on and that were well worth the wait, are _Gunslinger_ and _Magic_ _Realm_ (both by the same designer, Richard Hamblen). They're great "convention" games in that they can be played by lots of folks (especially Gunslinger), so if you go to cons it's worth keeping an eye out for someone hosting one of them.
Oh yeah, one more: _Jyhad_ is a card game designed by Richard Garfield and published by Wizards of the Coast back in 1994. Obviously it didn't take off to the same degree that Magic: The Gathering did, but it's really good. You don't need to own thousands of cards to make it fun and challenging, and it really takes advantage of White Wolf's "World of Darkness" setting and lore.
Thanks!
I’ve always wanted to find a copy of Magic Realm and have heard how hard the game is to learn! Have you played it a lot? I’m curious what your thoughts are on the actual gameplay. Cheers!
I Haven’t’ played Magic Realm.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer oh shoot sorry Cody I didn’t specify, I was asking Antoyal. Thanks for responding though!
@@-RTC- I know I'm supposed to say something like, "Nahh, the complexity is overrated--it's actually easy to learn!" But yeah, I found it to be pretty tough. From what I've read, the game was intended to be more of a series, but shortly before production started Avalon Hill told the designer to fit whatever he could into just the first edition and not count on any follow-ups. This meant that some of the advanced rules and characters got included, which is great, but there just wasn't enough time to rewrite the rulebook properly. The game has a reputation as one that is *very* difficult to learn just by reading the rules. It is quite easy to learn if you have someone there with you to teach it though, which is one reason that it is such a great convention game.
All that being said, there is a thriving community of enthusiastic Magic Realm players who have done a *fantastic* job of reorganizing the rules, creating player aids, posting play-throughs and session reports, and even writing a great Java-based version of the game (it's called RealmSpeak). Check out "The Magic Realm Tutorial Project" over in the Magic Realm forums at boardgamegeek.com -- there's a lot to read, but you *will* learn what all the fuss is about.
For me, Magic Realm is a fun game but not one of my *most* fun games. Complex but not one of my *most* complex games. And so on for other descriptors such as difficulty and game length. It has a great decision space, and a really well developed risk-reward loop. Some of the mechanics in the game are exquisite, and I find it hard to believe that they haven't been adopted by other games. On the other hand, I find the game to be a bit dry. It's always fun and well worth it the time when I play it, but like with some other games like Mage Knight I have to sort of psyche myself up to breaking out the box, reviewing the rules, and playing it.
Speaking of Mage Knight, while that game is often compared to Magic Realm, honestly I can't think of any game that really conveys the Magic Realm experience. It's a sandbox game, with each player prioritizing their objectives at the beginning and then trying their best to meet those objectives over the course of a game month. It uses programmed actions for each day, which is of course challenging. The characters are IMHO not remotely "balanced," in the modern game design sense, and the differences between them can be huge or subtle. But the characters are rich and distinctive. The chit-based system for handling movement, combat, injuries, and exhaustion is amazing--one of those game mechanics that I'm surprised hasn't been used by other designers.
It's from an era of fantasy gaming that predates much of what has become received wisdom about character types, how magic works, and so forth. For example, the Dwarf character isn't a tanky powerhouse with shoulders as wide as he is tall. He's a small guy who doesn't move as fast as most of the other characters, but he is hardy and he *really* knows his way around caves (which are generally dangerous or risky areas for most other characters).
I should say, by the way, that a game called _Dragons_ _Down_ had a successful crowdfunding campaign recently, so it will be seeing publication. It's sort of a streamlined spiritual successor / homage to Magic Realm, designed by someone who clearly adores Magic Realm. I backed Dragons Down and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on it!
You should make a top 10 best hidden movement games
Working on it. Need to play a few more.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer I got Sniper Elite not too long ago - it's pretty solid for such a light game.
Fortress America with the “Saddam” cover is my grail game…but I also have an unplayed version of Politika signed by Tom Clancy on the board….so it is opened, just not punched out to play
Very cool. Yeah, back in the day I had the Saddam cover version.
I would give my right arm to be able to buy a great Star Trek board game!! My right arm!!! Thanks for this video.
Star Trek Ascendancy is very good, as is Star Trek Away Missions. But Star Trek Fleet Captains remains my favorite.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer I just checked and ascendency is available here in the U.K. Thanks for a great video and info!
@TheDiscriminatingGamer Fleet Captains is great, but once I discovered Ascendancy, that became my favorite.
@@michaeljones8168 ooooh interesting! I’m def gonna look it up, watch a few playthroughs. Thanks!
For those who care, Fury of Dracula is on Steam.
I've thought about downloading, but I feel like it would miss something.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer Digital games always lack in person appeal. Still, for some, it's far better than nothing.
I sold my copy of forbidden stars and regret it to this day.
Ouch. Yeah, you’ll prolly never see it again.
Yeah. Figured eclipse scratches that itch, and I play 40k. Used the funds to pre-order a and a North Africa. Should have kept it. Lol
On a side note, you mentioned about "going down to Salt Lake" for a game of War Room. Whereabouts are you located? Salt Lake is a modest drive for me, but doable, but I wonder if you might live closer.
I'm in the Boise area right now. Where are you?
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer , Helena Montana
A little ways away.
Thank you
Thank you.
Thanks for your effort here. I watched to see where you'd position War Room but learnt of Conquest of Nerath and have it on my list of fun games to own even if I don't get to play them particularly as I noted that there is a BGG copy being sold nearby:)
All the best.
Thank you. Happy to help!