I think New Dawn is a huge achievement in the Civ genre and it's nice it finally gets the love it deserves. You are on point in saying it feels like a race. Hopefully there will be another expansion some time.
I played and owned the base game 2 yrs ago. Enjoyed it but felt it lacked replayability and finesse. The "combat" was awkward and abstract. I sold it. Now I've played with the exp. It's definitely an improvement. Felt a bit overwhelming at first but I'm intrigued to try again. There's a lot more text. I had to constantly look at the district rules to remember what they did. I really wish they'd implemented some iconography to help with readability, or something. Though I appreciate all the subtle strategies that the system can bear fruit to.
After watching this video, I just ordered the game (+expansion) as a birthday gift for a friend of mine. Hope it gets here in time ^^ I tend to be a bit late when it comes to birthday presents :D
The armies are probably the best single element out of the expansion. The rest of it is great, mind, but the amount of gameplay and decisions that come out of armies on the board is not to be underestimated. Even things like playing your military card to mobilise your army to act as a defender in a threatened city, or to protect a key control token from being flipped by an opponents wonder/culture card. And it means in a bigger multiplayer game you are forced to commit military presence to a front/flank rather than just kind of being anywhere you need to be.
Getting joint war in 2 player games is so useful to rush forts, because it's the cheapest quickest way to get an attack power boost. And once you have the forts the other player can't use the same strategy to take them back from you.
Any thoughts on Clash of Cultures vs Civ A New Dawn + expansion in regards to how text-heavy they are? I play games with my husband, and while his English is excellent, it can be tiring for him to read a lot of small text (FFG games in particular). If I were to get Clash, I would make a checklist to help easily track the tech tree powers for each action. You mentioned this one plays better with two, so I am curious to hear your thoughts from that perspective. Thanks
Unfortunately, they are both pretty text heavy actually. Like you mentioned, the tech tree in Clash is just crazy. It also has tons of objective cards and event cards. New Dawn has very particular text on the player action cards, and then you've got the Wonders and alliance cards.
@@DriveThruReview hmmm, I will have to check with him and see what he thinks. Especially with the small size of FFG fonts…playing Imperial Assault is how we learned he needed glasses haha. He had such a headache that we quit halfway through the campaign.
Had my doubts about this game... I highly recommend it. Fast and fun and not hard to teach.
I've always held off on getting it because of lukewarm reviews of the base game. My wife loves Civ6, so now I guess I'm gonna give it a second look.
I’m in the same boat. My wife loves it too!
32:08 “good padence and good case” haha
LOL.. wow :)
I think New Dawn is a huge achievement in the Civ genre and it's nice it finally gets the love it deserves.
You are on point in saying it feels like a race. Hopefully there will be another expansion some time.
This game would've been so popular if the expansion was actually part of the base game
Thanks Joel I have 1,000 hours on the video game so your review has convinced me that it's time to turn all that into cardboard 😁
I played and owned the base game 2 yrs ago. Enjoyed it but felt it lacked replayability and finesse. The "combat" was awkward and abstract. I sold it.
Now I've played with the exp. It's definitely an improvement. Felt a bit overwhelming at first but I'm intrigued to try again. There's a lot more text. I had to constantly look at the district rules to remember what they did. I really wish they'd implemented some iconography to help with readability, or something. Though I appreciate all the subtle strategies that the system can bear fruit to.
Great to hear your views now with the expansion… I love how it looks on the table too.
Joel, I JUST set up the new Clash of Cultures. I can’t keep up with your civ game reviews!
Hah... well comments on that review got me to go back and give this another shot. So, I blame the collective "You" for that :)
After watching this video, I just ordered the game (+expansion) as a birthday gift for a friend of mine. Hope it gets here in time ^^ I tend to be a bit late when it comes to birthday presents :D
Hope you (and your friend) enjoy it! :)
@@DriveThruReview I'm sure we will. You haven't let me down so far :D
The armies are probably the best single element out of the expansion. The rest of it is great, mind, but the amount of gameplay and decisions that come out of armies on the board is not to be underestimated. Even things like playing your military card to mobilise your army to act as a defender in a threatened city, or to protect a key control token from being flipped by an opponents wonder/culture card. And it means in a bigger multiplayer game you are forced to commit military presence to a front/flank rather than just kind of being anywhere you need to be.
Great points!
The base game is on sale for $30 on Amazon today! I picked up a copy.
Score :)
Wow, great timing, just picked this up.
Getting joint war in 2 player games is so useful to rush forts, because it's the cheapest quickest way to get an attack power boost. And once you have the forts the other player can't use the same strategy to take them back from you.
Oh. That's a good point!
What is cool is that in PC civ the map generator can put just 2 civs on a separate continent, this game models that experience well.
Any thoughts on Clash of Cultures vs Civ A New Dawn + expansion in regards to how text-heavy they are? I play games with my husband, and while his English is excellent, it can be tiring for him to read a lot of small text (FFG games in particular). If I were to get Clash, I would make a checklist to help easily track the tech tree powers for each action. You mentioned this one plays better with two, so I am curious to hear your thoughts from that perspective. Thanks
Unfortunately, they are both pretty text heavy actually. Like you mentioned, the tech tree in Clash is just crazy. It also has tons of objective cards and event cards. New Dawn has very particular text on the player action cards, and then you've got the Wonders and alliance cards.
@@DriveThruReview hmmm, I will have to check with him and see what he thinks. Especially with the small size of FFG fonts…playing Imperial Assault is how we learned he needed glasses haha. He had such a headache that we quit halfway through the campaign.
I'm so uncertain about this game, so many mixed reviews.
I think I stated in the video (can't remember) but I really didn't care for it until the expansion.