We have over 100 plays of this game and have the expansion, almost exclusively two player, and denying abilities of your opponent is definitely crucial. We use the draft method, and like that mechanism, it gives you a chance to build your hand the way you want, to try to aim for a certain theme, sort of like in in MtG. So you might go for a Dragon and Creature based hand. Or a heavy essence (mana/resource) producing engine, or a gold producer so you can buy more Monuments, which you did not mention (the blue backed cards that have points fro 1 to 3 plus sometimes other abilities or resources you can grab. We like the speed, which you mentioned; which is part of why we have so many plays. With My wife teleworking, we can play two or even three games between when she finishes work an when we need to get dinner on the table. I agree, sometimes playing every card in your hand is not necessarily a good thing; I did it yesterday, and probably should have turned in cards to get essence to buy Magic Places which also give you points, and also you can build more points on some of them. I had all my cards out and my wife won with 14 points to my 6. So you have to definitely make the right decision on how to use your cards, play them or use them for resources. If you are not getting a lot of resources from your cards, discarding them for resources is probably a good thing. Anyway good video, I agree with you on what you found were great things about one of our favorite quick, and fun games. I know Rodney Smith is also a huge fan of the game, as he and I have talked about it via messages on Facebook. Thanks for the video!
Every time I play this game I'm amazed at how few cards there are in the box. Just a small little deck of cards, and yet every game plays out differently.
I found them a bit late but Res Arcana and Empires of the North are both at the top of the list for best games of 2019. It really gives you some tense moments as the game comes to a close. Love it so much and one I can get my wife to play too!
@JameyStegmaier There isnt another game i can think of that rivals Res in satisfaction to time ratio. In person 2p games are 20-30 minutes, and BGA is 10-20, but after game is done you feel like you played a full meaty game or close to it. Hard not to keep going for it. The 2nd expansion definitely increases the life of the game exponentially. Not only does it increase the number of combinations, but it does fix some balance issues of the original (scaling at different player counts, introducing new powerful places of power, putting in some cards that made otherwise weaker cards much more powerful, etc)
I also really like the game. Nice asymetric player powers, drafting is a must. The player token vp is more likely to go to the player with the inferior engine. Imho, that's a good balancing factor.
Another thing I like about the "Check victory now" abilities is that even when you are the one triggering it, it still triggers any of your abilities that react to victory checks, allowing you to set up nice little endgame combos: Coral Castle + Golden Statue.
One of the things that I dislike is that you or your opponent can have a much better hand, therefore have an advantage. Imagine not having one card that gives you ressources at the begining. You then have to lose a turn by discarding a card to obtain 2 resources. Now imagine your opponent having cards liske *prism* that gives you 2 resources by turning the card and using those to put on your Trsnmuter that gives your an extra. So Yes* I know most of the time, when I'm looking at my cards, if I have a chance to win or not.
We have over 100 plays of this game and have the expansion, almost exclusively two player, and denying abilities of your opponent is definitely crucial. We use the draft method, and like that mechanism, it gives you a chance to build your hand the way you want, to try to aim for a certain theme, sort of like in in MtG. So you might go for a Dragon and Creature based hand. Or a heavy essence (mana/resource) producing engine, or a gold producer so you can buy more Monuments, which you did not mention (the blue backed cards that have points fro 1 to 3 plus sometimes other abilities or resources you can grab. We like the speed, which you mentioned; which is part of why we have so many plays. With My wife teleworking, we can play two or even three games between when she finishes work an when we need to get dinner on the table. I agree, sometimes playing every card in your hand is not necessarily a good thing; I did it yesterday, and probably should have turned in cards to get essence to buy Magic Places which also give you points, and also you can build more points on some of them. I had all my cards out and my wife won with 14 points to my 6. So you have to definitely make the right decision on how to use your cards, play them or use them for resources. If you are not getting a lot of resources from your cards, discarding them for resources is probably a good thing. Anyway good video, I agree with you on what you found were great things about one of our favorite quick, and fun games. I know Rodney Smith is also a huge fan of the game, as he and I have talked about it via messages on Facebook. Thanks for the video!
Every time I play this game I'm amazed at how few cards there are in the box. Just a small little deck of cards, and yet every game plays out differently.
I found them a bit late but Res Arcana and Empires of the North are both at the top of the list for best games of 2019. It really gives you some tense moments as the game comes to a close. Love it so much and one I can get my wife to play too!
I love that Jamie cites almost every mechanism in the game as his favorite. After 150* plays, I agree Jamie
That's an impressive number of plays!
@JameyStegmaier There isnt another game i can think of that rivals Res in satisfaction to time ratio. In person 2p games are 20-30 minutes, and BGA is 10-20, but after game is done you feel like you played a full meaty game or close to it. Hard not to keep going for it. The 2nd expansion definitely increases the life of the game exponentially. Not only does it increase the number of combinations, but it does fix some balance issues of the original (scaling at different player counts, introducing new powerful places of power, putting in some cards that made otherwise weaker cards much more powerful, etc)
also, thanks to the app, i have ~100 games played of Scythe, and that takes way longer to play than Res@@jameystegmaier
Half the fun for me is drafting cards before the game even begins. But everything else I completely agree with.
I also really like the game. Nice asymetric player powers, drafting is a must.
The player token vp is more likely to go to the player with the inferior engine. Imho, that's a good balancing factor.
Another thing I like about the "Check victory now" abilities is that even when you are the one triggering it, it still triggers any of your abilities that react to victory checks, allowing you to set up nice little endgame combos: Coral Castle + Golden Statue.
If you’ve played Keyforge it plays similarly in terms of mechanisms.
I wonder what's for that little space in the insert. I like very much but I like more Race for the Galaxy. What do you think?
One of the things that I dislike is that you or your opponent can have a much better hand, therefore have an advantage. Imagine not having one card that gives you ressources at the begining. You then have to lose a turn by discarding a card to obtain 2 resources. Now imagine your opponent having cards liske *prism* that gives you 2 resources by turning the card and using those to put on your Trsnmuter that gives your an extra. So Yes* I know most of the time, when I'm looking at my cards, if I have a chance to win or not.