I sold dwellings after my second playthrough. I think this is one of the best games i have ever played. It’s never boring, so many options of how to play and very fun. Setup takes a while but the game is so well put together so you forget about all of that once you start playing. A absolute must have for me. And i actually thought it would be so for you. :)
id be happy to never play this game again :D all the cons you mentioned are big for me and the pros that you mentioned are actually not that important for me. so i can easily understand how this game is not for me. that's actually the super strong part of your reviews, that you can name the things that can matter and then it's each owns understanding if the game would fit their liking or not.
Oh man, my Kickstarter came, I opened it and sleeved it, but then had to put it on my shelf until this review came out. Thanks, now i can play it 😂. Great video as always, boys.
I’ve never been so surprised by one of your reviews as this one. I’ve had a 100% hit rate on your opinions so I was surprised here. The complaints you have for Andromeda’s are almost exactly the ones I have for Dwellings. Makes me wonder if you missed some key rules. Give it another try! I find the factions to be better with more clear strategies and significantly powerful, fomo inducing abilities. There is a feeling of constant rewards and I rarely feel like I have a dead turn if I’m playing to my factions strengths and strategy (which I often had this issue with Dwellings) and I think the return action is so much powerful and engaging, especially because I can use any ship type. Dwellings has the unfortunate aspect that right when you’ve built a nice tableau, you’ve consumed all of your activating workers as dwellings. Anyway, I enjoy both games but Andromeda’s is superior to me by a long shot. Thank your reviews and the way you express your opinions. You two are easily the most entertaining board game reviewers on TH-cam. Keep up the great work!
@@simonphaneuf8125 Ah, you are correct! I was thrown off by the icon, but the manual clearly states that any unit can be used on a card with a worker icon but not on other cards that specifically call out a wizard, dragon, or warrior. Thank you for correcting me, this will change the game for me, greatly.
Great review! Really helpful that you list the positives along with the negatives. Helped me know where to slot this game: want to play before I buy. Keep up the great work. Really enjoy the humor of your videos too.
This is probably my favorite board game currently, but it's still not a strict upgrade over Dwellings. The set up time is much longer, the game trays don't help setup or play, and there are too many micro-actions that can accumulate on a turn, like they talk about in this video. I like the monsters in Dwellings better than the raiders in AE too. However, AE has better combat, more paths to victory (it's ridiculous how many different strategies can win), cooler buildings, better faction ability variance, more factions, and much, much, much better scoring. For all of those reasons, AE gets the "edge" in my book. But these games are like both my favorite. 😂
So would you choose Eldervale over this? I am debating if I want a more complex game (Edge) or just a solid experience that is more consistent (Eldervale).
At this moment of my life Dwellings of Eldervale is pretty much my favourite board game. Although Andromeda's Edge looks awesome visually and components wise, I do not see the need to make an already great game as Dwellings (10/10 for me) more complex or anything in this direction. I also prefer fantasy theme which is of course personal preference, but at this point I do not see AE replacing Dwellings for me.
I owned Dwellings of Eldervale. Sold it to buy the deluxe version of Andromeda's Edge. Played it for two weeks. Sold Andromeda's Edge to go back to Dwellings. DoE is just a more fun user experience for me: quicker set up, less table space, less chaotic, the theme comes through better, easier to see what is happening, battles are more fun and I feel like even when outnumbered I have a chance (seriously, targeting is the worse and removes all suspense from battle).
Your "Not for You" section really summarized my view of this game. It was a slog waiting for my turn to come around just to take a 7 second action and wait again. Tactics cards were so hit-or-miss and they seemed like the main point of the game....not fun.
I own Dwellings and played this on TTS during the campaign, and it's good, but it's not different enough from Dwellings and a little less accessible so I decided not to back and just stick with Dwellings.
I completed my first playthrough (All-In pledger but only played the base game) with my wife last night. I played the Refugees and she played the Synthborn. We completed it in two sittings, so I had to go back and refresh my memory a few times, but I would say the rulebook was pretty thorough. The player aids are very helpful as well. I ended up running away with the win because my wife wasn't fully aware of what strategies produced more points (perhaps that was my fault in not teaching her well enough). We both enjoyed it, though, and are eager to get another game in. I wonder how much more wild this game gets with higher player counts, and I'm curious to try out the other two event decks and mess with other factions. The table space necessary, for the all-in version, at least, is no joke. I'm lucky that my table is barely big enough! All in all, I'm very happy with this game.
Have to agree with the wild ride aspect. Lots of small parts that are intuitive as you learn it. Really enjoy this but it is a bear to setup/tear down even with deluxe inserts. It strikes a nice blend for me between crunchy euro decisions and randomization/luck. It really only struggles for me when you get lucky repeatedly as mentioned in the video. If the top player gets lucky draws / rolls consecutively it can start to feel like a snowball. However, that same could happen to last place and they start mounting a comeback. Overall really fun but a little fiddly.
I missed to back Andromeda's edge but was hyped to get it second hand or retail. Janis T. is the content creator with the closest taste for board games to mine and having Dwellings ranked as a must have + the common opinion that Edge has improved it + the space theme made me want to get my hands on the Edge even more. Now with the swing of rating between the two I'm not that sure. For sure will be happy to see a comparison video.
Mechanically, Andromeda's Edge is beefier and a definite improvement. However, it ultimately comes down to how well you handle the game's unpredictable, wild swings. If you're okay with A LOT of randomness and, as we mentioned, enjoy a "wild ride," then Andromeda's Edge will be a fantastic experience for you.
Thanks for the reply, I'll definitely give it a try. If I also find it too random will try to house rule it attempting to save it e.g. cull the strongest and weakest tactics cards. Initially I was similarly worried for the intrigues in DI, but once you know what you can expect it isn't game breaking random.
I pre ordered Andromeda's Edge. And looking forward to it. I grabbed Dwellings of Eldervale a month ago and it's become very addicting after my first playthrough.
As a largely solo player, I LOVE this game. It's crunchy, the AI opponents are tough, and most importantly, I don't have to wait for people to finish long turns. It's my current GOTY and is only gonna be dethroned if Elder Scrolls delivers in December.
Can someone tell me what this "rube Goldberg" machine games are called? Where one action leads to another to another... Because i dont like them and want to make sure I dont accidentally buy one. I dont like sitting around waiting for someone to take a turn.
I can understand not liking the game. But if you love Dwellings this is totally like that with tons of improvements and few drawbacks. They improved combat, assymetry, game length variations, events!, elemental track depth. On the other hand, The raiders aren't as epic as the monsters, the trays are horrible, and the fixed map expansion reduces strategic area control. The game is still 75% Dwellings and feel most differences are improvements.
Thanks for this review, it was both very entertaining and very helpful. I think I would really like this game, but will pass as my main gaming buddy would hate the tactics cards - he refuses to play Dune Imperium again because of the intrigue cards, and the tactic cards sound even wilder.
I liked a lot dwellings but the way you get points in that game didn't do well for me so I was excited when this game came, and the beta test before I bought it I like it a lot, but now on the table made me feel stressed. The box is just too big and I don't like the inserts, the raiders minis are great, the deluxe resources are very cool with the coins being the most cool what I saw..., and I didn't care about the buildings. we had a bad game that was mainly a result of not suffling the modules well enough and being saturated of damaged ones in our game. It is true that we didn't understand the way we in in this game, that is all about increasing some tracks and trying to control the events. Now I'm selling my deluxe game and maybe I'm thinking of getting the retail one, because I would feel less stressed with baggies instead and a smaller box. Even I don't know if setup would be shorter, as the worst part of this setup actually was putting all the parts back to the box for me
Not exactly a ringing endorsement. I have both, not sure which is better either. Leaning towards Dwellings right now, but AE has some cool features too. Dunno.
I think it is just to much euro game compared to dwellings. There are some improvements for sure but dwellings feels a lot more streamlined / faster imo.
To me this game is a MUST. I wonder if your feelings are due to playing 2 player? I've played this several times at this point and while its playable at 2... it THRIVES at 4-5. Better than Dwellings in every single way - no reason to even own dwellings
I have Dwellings and it's... OK (the components do a lot of the heavy lifting I think, and the combat suuuuucks) so I'd be interested in playing this but I'm glad I didn't back it
I sold dwellings after my second playthrough. I think this is one of the best games i have ever played. It’s never boring, so many options of how to play and very fun. Setup takes a while but the game is so well put together so you forget about all of that once you start playing. A absolute must have for me. And i actually thought it would be so for you. :)
Love the 'Details' segment. Great addition.
I love the new "Details" section. Great idea!
Glad you like it!
id be happy to never play this game again :D all the cons you mentioned are big for me and the pros that you mentioned are actually not that important for me. so i can easily understand how this game is not for me. that's actually the super strong part of your reviews, that you can name the things that can matter and then it's each owns understanding if the game would fit their liking or not.
This rating took me by surprise i thought you guys would both like the game
Oh man, my Kickstarter came, I opened it and sleeved it, but then had to put it on my shelf until this review came out. Thanks, now i can play it 😂. Great video as always, boys.
Thnx for the video!!
Can you make one video Dwellings od Eldervale vs Andrimedas edge?
I’ve never been so surprised by one of your reviews as this one. I’ve had a 100% hit rate on your opinions so I was surprised here. The complaints you have for Andromeda’s are almost exactly the ones I have for Dwellings. Makes me wonder if you missed some key rules. Give it another try! I find the factions to be better with more clear strategies and significantly powerful, fomo inducing abilities. There is a feeling of constant rewards and I rarely feel like I have a dead turn if I’m playing to my factions strengths and strategy (which I often had this issue with Dwellings) and I think the return action is so much powerful and engaging, especially because I can use any ship type. Dwellings has the unfortunate aspect that right when you’ve built a nice tableau, you’ve consumed all of your activating workers as dwellings. Anyway, I enjoy both games but Andromeda’s is superior to me by a long shot. Thank your reviews and the way you express your opinions. You two are easily the most entertaining board game reviewers on TH-cam. Keep up the great work!
In Dwellings of Eldervale, the warrior, wizard and dragon can activate tableau cards, not juste the workers.
@@simonphaneuf8125 Ah, you are correct! I was thrown off by the icon, but the manual clearly states that any unit can be used on a card with a worker icon but not on other cards that specifically call out a wizard, dragon, or warrior. Thank you for correcting me, this will change the game for me, greatly.
Great review! Really helpful that you list the positives along with the negatives. Helped me know where to slot this game: want to play before I buy. Keep up the great work. Really enjoy the humor of your videos too.
I can see where you are coming from, good to hear something other than the hype train. Made me reconsider. Wondrous Creatures looks really good.
This is probably my favorite board game currently, but it's still not a strict upgrade over Dwellings. The set up time is much longer, the game trays don't help setup or play, and there are too many micro-actions that can accumulate on a turn, like they talk about in this video. I like the monsters in Dwellings better than the raiders in AE too. However, AE has better combat, more paths to victory (it's ridiculous how many different strategies can win), cooler buildings, better faction ability variance, more factions, and much, much, much better scoring. For all of those reasons, AE gets the "edge" in my book. But these games are like both my favorite. 😂
Andromeda's Edge is my favorite game of the year. Though, sometimes the event cards do feel super swings. I still liked Dwellings a lot too.
So would you choose Eldervale over this? I am debating if I want a more complex game (Edge) or just a solid experience that is more consistent (Eldervale).
At this moment of my life Dwellings of Eldervale is pretty much my favourite board game. Although Andromeda's Edge looks awesome visually and components wise, I do not see the need to make an already great game as Dwellings (10/10 for me) more complex or anything in this direction. I also prefer fantasy theme which is of course personal preference, but at this point I do not see AE replacing Dwellings for me.
I owned Dwellings of Eldervale. Sold it to buy the deluxe version of Andromeda's Edge. Played it for two weeks. Sold Andromeda's Edge to go back to Dwellings. DoE is just a more fun user experience for me: quicker set up, less table space, less chaotic, the theme comes through better, easier to see what is happening, battles are more fun and I feel like even when outnumbered I have a chance (seriously, targeting is the worse and removes all suspense from battle).
Could nottttttt disagree more. AE is better in every regard
Objectively, AE takes longer to set up and takes up more space on the table. That is just fact, regardless of which gameplay somebody may like better.
Your "Not for You" section really summarized my view of this game. It was a slog waiting for my turn to come around just to take a 7 second action and wait again. Tactics cards were so hit-or-miss and they seemed like the main point of the game....not fun.
I own Dwellings and played this on TTS during the campaign, and it's good, but it's not different enough from Dwellings and a little less accessible so I decided not to back and just stick with Dwellings.
I completed my first playthrough (All-In pledger but only played the base game) with my wife last night. I played the Refugees and she played the Synthborn. We completed it in two sittings, so I had to go back and refresh my memory a few times, but I would say the rulebook was pretty thorough. The player aids are very helpful as well. I ended up running away with the win because my wife wasn't fully aware of what strategies produced more points (perhaps that was my fault in not teaching her well enough). We both enjoyed it, though, and are eager to get another game in. I wonder how much more wild this game gets with higher player counts, and I'm curious to try out the other two event decks and mess with other factions. The table space necessary, for the all-in version, at least, is no joke. I'm lucky that my table is barely big enough! All in all, I'm very happy with this game.
Have to agree with the wild ride aspect. Lots of small parts that are intuitive as you learn it. Really enjoy this but it is a bear to setup/tear down even with deluxe inserts. It strikes a nice blend for me between crunchy euro decisions and randomization/luck. It really only struggles for me when you get lucky repeatedly as mentioned in the video. If the top player gets lucky draws / rolls consecutively it can start to feel like a snowball. However, that same could happen to last place and they start mounting a comeback. Overall really fun but a little fiddly.
Played this once and Dwellings once. I prefer Dwellings because there is fricking cat on a beetle
I missed to back Andromeda's edge but was hyped to get it second hand or retail. Janis T. is the content creator with the closest taste for board games to mine and having Dwellings ranked as a must have + the common opinion that Edge has improved it + the space theme made me want to get my hands on the Edge even more. Now with the swing of rating between the two I'm not that sure. For sure will be happy to see a comparison video.
Mechanically, Andromeda's Edge is beefier and a definite improvement. However, it ultimately comes down to how well you handle the game's unpredictable, wild swings. If you're okay with A LOT of randomness and, as we mentioned, enjoy a "wild ride," then Andromeda's Edge will be a fantastic experience for you.
Thanks for the reply, I'll definitely give it a try. If I also find it too random will try to house rule it attempting to save it e.g. cull the strongest and weakest tactics cards. Initially I was similarly worried for the intrigues in DI, but once you know what you can expect it isn't game breaking random.
I wonder if there are modules in the game 🤔
I pre ordered Andromeda's Edge. And looking forward to it. I grabbed Dwellings of Eldervale a month ago and it's become very addicting after my first playthrough.
haha nice, i did the exact same thing but pre ordered it earlier, just got it as we speak.
Thoughts on Twilight Imperium?
Dwellings is tied with Brass as my favorite game- almost backed AE, ended up passing- and I’m glad I did.
Sounds like it could use a rebalancing patch?
As a largely solo player, I LOVE this game. It's crunchy, the AI opponents are tough, and most importantly, I don't have to wait for people to finish long turns. It's my current GOTY and is only gonna be dethroned if Elder Scrolls delivers in December.
Can someone tell me what this "rube Goldberg" machine games are called? Where one action leads to another to another... Because i dont like them and want to make sure I dont accidentally buy one. I dont like sitting around waiting for someone to take a turn.
I can understand not liking the game. But if you love Dwellings this is totally like that with tons of improvements and few drawbacks. They improved combat, assymetry, game length variations, events!, elemental track depth. On the other hand, The raiders aren't as epic as the monsters, the trays are horrible, and the fixed map expansion reduces strategic area control. The game is still 75% Dwellings and feel most differences are improvements.
Thanks for this review, it was both very entertaining and very helpful.
I think I would really like this game, but will pass as my main gaming buddy would hate the tactics cards - he refuses to play Dune Imperium again because of the intrigue cards, and the tactic cards sound even wilder.
I liked a lot dwellings but the way you get points in that game didn't do well for me so I was excited when this game came, and the beta test before I bought it I like it a lot, but now on the table made me feel stressed. The box is just too big and I don't like the inserts, the raiders minis are great, the deluxe resources are very cool with the coins being the most cool what I saw..., and I didn't care about the buildings.
we had a bad game that was mainly a result of not suffling the modules well enough and being saturated of damaged ones in our game. It is true that we didn't understand the way we in in this game, that is all about increasing some tracks and trying to control the events.
Now I'm selling my deluxe game and maybe I'm thinking of getting the retail one, because I would feel less stressed with baggies instead and a smaller box. Even I don't know if setup would be shorter, as the worst part of this setup actually was putting all the parts back to the box for me
Thx guys, I can’t take too much random, especially when it turns into ‘I didn’t earn the win’.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement. I have both, not sure which is better either. Leaning towards Dwellings right now, but AE has some cool features too. Dunno.
I think it is just to much euro game compared to dwellings. There are some improvements for sure but dwellings feels a lot more streamlined / faster imo.
Looks like a game that requires house rules to balance out the randomness. Probably just go through the deck and remove the really swingy cards.
How did Too Many Bones Unbreakable infilitrate this review xD
9:23 Too many bones? Huh? Later Welcome to? Weird
EDIT: Oh, is it a stand for the board? 😂
To me this game is a MUST. I wonder if your feelings are due to playing 2 player? I've played this several times at this point and while its playable at 2... it THRIVES at 4-5. Better than Dwellings in every single way - no reason to even own dwellings
holddddddddddddddddddddd up. no hat? and you are not bald?! wtf. plot twist dawg!
I have Dwellings and it's... OK (the components do a lot of the heavy lifting I think, and the combat suuuuucks) so I'd be interested in playing this but I'm glad I didn't back it