Glad to hear you liked this one! I really did too. Prefered it to Carnegie and Lacrimosa actually, but maybe not Rise (which was way better than it has any right to be). I think the contract fulfilment works because you feel like the contracts genuinely take some thought. It's not just gather 3 wood and 2 stone, it's 'how can I manipulate these dice in the shortest amount of time to build this item'. Each contract is its own very deliberate decision and puzzle. And the fact that you really HAVE to fulfil contracts as they keep your blueberry economy going. (which is quite thematic really; getting paid for your work). I just think the dice as wood thing is one of the best uses of dice I've seen in ages. I'm not arsed about thematic games, but gluing, sawing, splicing and growing wood/dice just make so much sense. I agree the loft/tools area is a bit tacked on, however, if you really go for it there can be some really big bonuses. Just another option. Great video as always.
I was waiting for your review on this one before I purchased it. So it looks like it's going to be added to my collection. Tiletum, Carnegie and now this, that's a good run of new Euros!
Excellent Dan. Totally agree. I had the same reservations as you but was impressed! Love the thematic dice manipulation and the whole package is a blast!
Just played this at 4 players, great game... We were surprised about a few very underused aspects in our game: tools (barely made it to the second level of the pyramid), nobody got any of those "tile-reuse" tokens (not seen in your review either), nobody glued dices in the entire game (we all thought it was an expensive proposition to buy the tile and lose a die every time you glue, given how hard it is to get those dices, and also that so many contracts need those glue tokens), we never got new helpers (very expensive) and I can't see how getting all 6 can be a viable strategy, and we never passed the first reputation milestone (I got very close to so I think it's definitely possible, but getting to the second milestone would be hard!). We all agreed that lanterns were super important. We were puzzled by the decision of the designer to limit acquiring contracts to the current round (making it very hard for more than one player to get the same contract): in our game, other players could never complete the same contract in time, yet the designer teases you with the cube placement on contracts, implying that it's possible for multiple players to get the same contract in the same round... He could have just said "first come, for served" and it would have streamlined the rules there... I wonder how often it happened during play testing that a contract got multiple cubes! Time will tell but it definitely seems odd to us. I am surprised the game didn't make it to many reviewers top 10 lists in 2022 (the ones who played the game anyways).
Love to hear that it's fairly intuitive, that is huge for me. In my mind there are so many euro games that are fun but essentially ruined because you are constantly either looking up rules, or trying not to forget about small exceptions! Also, curious what is your favorite contract-fulfillment style game at this point? Mine is probably Marco Polo II
Curious to know how it compares to Praga, though the gameplay looks pretty different. I must say the theme/art style doesn’t appeal to me anywhere near as much.
Do you still own this? I don't hear you mention it much anymore. Seems like a lot of steps for a simple contract fulfillment game. My impression, it seems more like work. I'm not seeing where the enjoyment is. The resource conversion looks awfully dry.
Glad to hear you liked this one! I really did too. Prefered it to Carnegie and Lacrimosa actually, but maybe not Rise (which was way better than it has any right to be). I think the contract fulfilment works because you feel like the contracts genuinely take some thought. It's not just gather 3 wood and 2 stone, it's 'how can I manipulate these dice in the shortest amount of time to build this item'. Each contract is its own very deliberate decision and puzzle. And the fact that you really HAVE to fulfil contracts as they keep your blueberry economy going. (which is quite thematic really; getting paid for your work).
I just think the dice as wood thing is one of the best uses of dice I've seen in ages. I'm not arsed about thematic games, but gluing, sawing, splicing and growing wood/dice just make so much sense. I agree the loft/tools area is a bit tacked on, however, if you really go for it there can be some really big bonuses. Just another option.
Great video as always.
100% agree with everything you wrote
I was waiting for your review on this one before I purchased it. So it looks like it's going to be added to my collection. Tiletum, Carnegie and now this, that's a good run of new Euros!
Excellent Dan. Totally agree. I had the same reservations as you but was impressed! Love the thematic dice manipulation and the whole package is a blast!
glad to hear you enjoy it. I did like it very much as well.
Just played this at 4 players, great game... We were surprised about a few very underused aspects in our game: tools (barely made it to the second level of the pyramid), nobody got any of those "tile-reuse" tokens (not seen in your review either), nobody glued dices in the entire game (we all thought it was an expensive proposition to buy the tile and lose a die every time you glue, given how hard it is to get those dices, and also that so many contracts need those glue tokens), we never got new helpers (very expensive) and I can't see how getting all 6 can be a viable strategy, and we never passed the first reputation milestone (I got very close to so I think it's definitely possible, but getting to the second milestone would be hard!). We all agreed that lanterns were super important. We were puzzled by the decision of the designer to limit acquiring contracts to the current round (making it very hard for more than one player to get the same contract): in our game, other players could never complete the same contract in time, yet the designer teases you with the cube placement on contracts, implying that it's possible for multiple players to get the same contract in the same round... He could have just said "first come, for served" and it would have streamlined the rules there... I wonder how often it happened during play testing that a contract got multiple cubes! Time will tell but it definitely seems odd to us.
I am surprised the game didn't make it to many reviewers top 10 lists in 2022 (the ones who played the game anyways).
I have it and can't wait to try it.
Love to hear that it's fairly intuitive, that is huge for me. In my mind there are so many euro games that are fun but essentially ruined because you are constantly either looking up rules, or trying not to forget about small exceptions!
Also, curious what is your favorite contract-fulfillment style game at this point? Mine is probably Marco Polo II
I think mine is Trismegistus, but Marco Polo 2 is up there for me as well
Did you mean "green" dice (instead of "brown) at 8:11?
Yeah looks like it. I'm colour blind sorry.
Curious to know how it compares to Praga, though the gameplay looks pretty different. I must say the theme/art style doesn’t appeal to me anywhere near as much.
Praga is a top 10 game for me, so it's not quite at that level imo
@@ChairmanoftheBoard Would you say Praga is his best game?
@@keith2570 Yeah it's my favourite of his. I enjoy pretty much all of his designs though
Do you still own this? I don't hear you mention it much anymore. Seems like a lot of steps for a simple contract fulfillment game. My impression, it seems more like work. I'm not seeing where the enjoyment is. The resource conversion looks awfully dry.
I don't. My group didn't enjoy it as much as I did
First comment!