The Guild of Merchant Explorers does have an expansion, called The Queen’s Special Orders, that has more maps and other stuff. I got it direct from AEG’s site. Pretty inexpensive too.
I have not played any of these games but have been looking at Guild of Merchant Explorers, it sounds like one my wife and I would enjoy. Just both exploring our own little world, but together! Also just want to say I love this format, where one person presents a game and another person just asks questions about the experience, whether they have played it themselves or not. I feel like it just gives more of a conversation about the games instead of just a presentation. Thanks for the video!
I have 8 scenario boxes for Final Girl and I highly recommend people play it. You can easily play 2 players where you both discuss and plan the turn together and it works well. The different villains and locations are really different. You definitely have to try a couple out. Super fun game and no regrets owning a few scenarios.
I renamed Guild of Merchant Explorers GEM, since in French it translates to Guilde des Expéditions Marchandes, but especially since it's a real gem of a game, IMHO. It's one of my comfort solo games (alongside Cascadia), and also one we play in the family as well - it's very accessible. Definitely a game that people haven't spoken a lot of, so it's great to see you granting it some spotlight!
I love the solo content review! Looking forward to more. Definitely eyeing guilds of merchants and explorers for solo play. Fantastic editing! Love the crisp shots of the components! I also really appreciate the questions Carlo had for braiden when he reviewed Final Girl. Bot management, theme, and setup time are important! Another great video as always.
The drafting of the gear cards is very important in my opinion. It would be unbalanced if dealt randomly. What if someone gets almost all money cards and the other all the caper cards? I would actually like the game more without the flame cards, but I think it's a a good game, I like it better than Schotten Totten (Battle line).
That's a fair point, but personally with these shorter games I don't mind if it's not completely balanced. Any card game is prone to this happening - in Lost Cities if one player gets all the wager cards and/or high cards and the other player gets low cards with no wagers then they're at a disadvantage but that's part of the fun and challenge of the game. I'm not playing these games in tournament settings with money on the line, so I'm looking for games with interesting, tough decisions, and I think the drafting makes the game less interesting when you know exactly what the other player is holding. I fully acknowledge that it's just a matter of personal preference though, so your opinion is just as valid as mine on this. Thanks for watching and leaving a thoughtful comment! Also, sorry this reply is so late, we've been swamped the past few months. More videos coming soon! - Carlo
AEG does seem to have an obsession with putting everything in the large square box even when it has so much empty space in there... If I owned more AEG games like this I would be tempted to combine them all into one box.
Was this Braiden's first experience with Final Girl? I haven't gotten to Into The Void yet, but from what I've seen it's one of the more complex scenarios, with a lot of special rules governing the hiding and evolution and whatnot. I wonder if his rating would go up or down with a simpler set? I've played 3 or 4 different scenarios so far and I really like it, but I agree that I would play a lot more if there wasn't so much setup.
It was my first experience with Final Girl. I didn't mind the complexity! It has replayability because of that. It was more of just getting everything setup and in place to play. I think I'd like to check out a few more scenarios too. Thanks for watching 😊. - Braiden
Would you say that Caper is just a little two “samey”? - it’s a lane battle - it’s got set collection - etc etc Is that the main problem? The theme complaints sound a little weak to me to be honest, most games feature huge thematic compromises. I’m a huge fan of Battle Line and Air, Land & Sea as well, and I think once I realized that Caper Europe was just another lane battler I was disappointed, just seems like it’s more of the same but with just a bit more complexity.
That's definitely the biggest problem - it enters a crowded field and tries to do too much. As a result, setup and teardown take longer than most comparable games, and the decisions become more obvious the longer the game goes on. The thematic complaints I know were a little weak, and very much a personal thing for me that probably won't apply to most other people, but I still felt they were worth mentioning, ESPECIALLY the aspect of drafting the gear cards because for me that part of the game doesn't work thematically OR mechanically. I'm okay with something not making sense thematically if it makes the game better, but in this case that design choice, in my opinion, made the game worse. But yeah, this game didn't need set collection and drafting. It needed something more interesting (yet simple/streamlined) to set itself apart from those similar games. Sorry this reply is so late, we've been absolutely swamped. Plenty more videos coming soon though! Thanks for supporting the channel. - Carlo
This video felt like it ran a little long for 4 games. For me, I think the explanations of how each game works could have been condensed. As far as the ratings of them games themselves, I've only played Caper Europe and I mostly agree that it's a play it, but my wife likes it more than I do.
I know this is a really late reply, but I just wanted to say thanks for always giving such honest, valuable feedback. Even when you're critical, you're polite and respectful about it. Honestly, we intended for the video to be shorter, even though it averages out to around 12-14 minutes per game which seems reasonable for a review of a game. The long game explanations is mostly my fault and something I know I need to get better at - people don't need to know ALL the rules. I'm coming back to this comment now because I've thought about it a lot and we have another Own It, Play It or Skip It video coming in the next few days, and it's a similar length, but I think we spent more time reviewing/critiquing the games than explaining the rules. Still, we're always working to be more concise and produce shorter videos. Anyway, thanks again for all your feedback over the months (years?) and for your continued support of the channel. I've seen you mention us numerous times on reddit too and we really appreciate you spreading the word about us. Plenty more videos coming soon after this long drought we've had. Keep the feedback coming whenever you have any. - Carlo
@@AllYouCanBoard you guys are my favorite board game channel. Any criticisms I might have, come from a place of good intent. Hope you three are doing great!
![[DRIP] ‘Woke Up In Tokyo (RUKA & ASA)’ PREVIEW](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QN44lcR_VkI/mqdefault.jpg)
Agree with our ratings? What would you rate these games? Let us know!
The Guild of Merchant Explorers does have an expansion, called The Queen’s Special Orders, that has more maps and other stuff. I got it direct from AEG’s site. Pretty inexpensive too.
I love Caper Europe and every(thing) Final Girl
I have not played any of these games but have been looking at Guild of Merchant Explorers, it sounds like one my wife and I would enjoy. Just both exploring our own little world, but together!
Also just want to say I love this format, where one person presents a game and another person just asks questions about the experience, whether they have played it themselves or not. I feel like it just gives more of a conversation about the games instead of just a presentation. Thanks for the video!
Thanks so much for the kind words! :)
My thoughts exactly
I have 8 scenario boxes for Final Girl and I highly recommend people play it. You can easily play 2 players where you both discuss and plan the turn together and it works well.
The different villains and locations are really different. You definitely have to try a couple out. Super fun game and no regrets owning a few scenarios.
Oooh, yeah discussing a turn could be really cool. I'm also interested in the other boxes's scenarios.
- Braiden
I was on the fence about hanging on to Caper: Europe. This discussion has helped. 😊 thanks!
Welcome back - missed you guys!
Thanks! We missed being back.
I renamed Guild of Merchant Explorers GEM, since in French it translates to Guilde des Expéditions Marchandes, but especially since it's a real gem of a game, IMHO. It's one of my comfort solo games (alongside Cascadia), and also one we play in the family as well - it's very accessible. Definitely a game that people haven't spoken a lot of, so it's great to see you granting it some spotlight!
I enjoy both Guild and Final Girl. I highly recommend using the neoprene player mats for Final Girl. Helps with setup a lot!
Noted! :)
I love the solo content review! Looking forward to more. Definitely eyeing guilds of merchants and explorers for solo play.
Fantastic editing! Love the crisp shots of the components! I also really appreciate the questions Carlo had for braiden when he reviewed Final Girl. Bot management, theme, and setup time are important!
Another great video as always.
The drafting of the gear cards is very important in my opinion. It would be unbalanced if dealt randomly. What if someone gets almost all money cards and the other all the caper cards? I would actually like the game more without the flame cards, but I think it's a a good game, I like it better than Schotten Totten (Battle line).
That's a fair point, but personally with these shorter games I don't mind if it's not completely balanced. Any card game is prone to this happening - in Lost Cities if one player gets all the wager cards and/or high cards and the other player gets low cards with no wagers then they're at a disadvantage but that's part of the fun and challenge of the game. I'm not playing these games in tournament settings with money on the line, so I'm looking for games with interesting, tough decisions, and I think the drafting makes the game less interesting when you know exactly what the other player is holding.
I fully acknowledge that it's just a matter of personal preference though, so your opinion is just as valid as mine on this.
Thanks for watching and leaving a thoughtful comment! Also, sorry this reply is so late, we've been swamped the past few months. More videos coming soon!
- Carlo
AEG does seem to have an obsession with putting everything in the large square box even when it has so much empty space in there... If I owned more AEG games like this I would be tempted to combine them all into one box.
Was this Braiden's first experience with Final Girl? I haven't gotten to Into The Void yet, but from what I've seen it's one of the more complex scenarios, with a lot of special rules governing the hiding and evolution and whatnot. I wonder if his rating would go up or down with a simpler set? I've played 3 or 4 different scenarios so far and I really like it, but I agree that I would play a lot more if there wasn't so much setup.
It was my first experience with Final Girl. I didn't mind the complexity! It has replayability because of that. It was more of just getting everything setup and in place to play. I think I'd like to check out a few more scenarios too. Thanks for watching 😊.
- Braiden
Final Girl is the only solo game I've tried so far and it's really good.
I've enjoyed it as well! Will definitely revisit it at some point!
- Braiden
There IS an expansion for guild of merchant explorers, it comes with 4 new maps.
Would you say that Caper is just a little two “samey”?
- it’s a lane battle
- it’s got set collection
- etc etc
Is that the main problem?
The theme complaints sound a little weak to me to be honest, most games feature huge thematic compromises.
I’m a huge fan of Battle Line and Air, Land & Sea as well, and I think once I realized that Caper Europe was just another lane battler I was disappointed, just seems like it’s more of the same but with just a bit more complexity.
That's definitely the biggest problem - it enters a crowded field and tries to do too much. As a result, setup and teardown take longer than most comparable games, and the decisions become more obvious the longer the game goes on.
The thematic complaints I know were a little weak, and very much a personal thing for me that probably won't apply to most other people, but I still felt they were worth mentioning, ESPECIALLY the aspect of drafting the gear cards because for me that part of the game doesn't work thematically OR mechanically. I'm okay with something not making sense thematically if it makes the game better, but in this case that design choice, in my opinion, made the game worse.
But yeah, this game didn't need set collection and drafting. It needed something more interesting (yet simple/streamlined) to set itself apart from those similar games.
Sorry this reply is so late, we've been absolutely swamped. Plenty more videos coming soon though! Thanks for supporting the channel.
- Carlo
Been a while 🙂
This video felt like it ran a little long for 4 games. For me, I think the explanations of how each game works could have been condensed. As far as the ratings of them games themselves, I've only played Caper Europe and I mostly agree that it's a play it, but my wife likes it more than I do.
I know this is a really late reply, but I just wanted to say thanks for always giving such honest, valuable feedback. Even when you're critical, you're polite and respectful about it.
Honestly, we intended for the video to be shorter, even though it averages out to around 12-14 minutes per game which seems reasonable for a review of a game. The long game explanations is mostly my fault and something I know I need to get better at - people don't need to know ALL the rules.
I'm coming back to this comment now because I've thought about it a lot and we have another Own It, Play It or Skip It video coming in the next few days, and it's a similar length, but I think we spent more time reviewing/critiquing the games than explaining the rules. Still, we're always working to be more concise and produce shorter videos.
Anyway, thanks again for all your feedback over the months (years?) and for your continued support of the channel. I've seen you mention us numerous times on reddit too and we really appreciate you spreading the word about us. Plenty more videos coming soon after this long drought we've had. Keep the feedback coming whenever you have any.
- Carlo
@@AllYouCanBoard you guys are my favorite board game channel. Any criticisms I might have, come from a place of good intent. Hope you three are doing great!