One quality of life thing I learned from watching Heavy Cardboard plays was to put the initiative marker on the card that is currently winning initiative during the round
There were a remarkable amount of rules questions from Chris and Roy given that they published a review less that a month ago? Curious how many plays they had before making that review.
Just want to say thank you to all you guys for playing this live and two of you as a blind play … yes it was chaotic and messy but loved that since now I can plan for how my play group will respond and the hurtles I can watch out for … I feel like any board game at this complexity level as a first run through brings with it a steep learning curve so at least now I can semi plan on what will ensue and time required … also extra shout out to the rather nice and concise opening explanation … I know it wasn’t perfect but for a live unscripted teach it was very good and being the main game teacher in my group I can totally use and learn from it
For all the complaints about not getting to do what you want to do, it seems like the game provides a lot of ways around that with guild cards & preludes to work around that. Roy complaining about the problem seems funny given how many hand management games he plays like Marvel Champions. You can get "bad hands" in Marvel Champions no matter how well you construct your deck. Personally, I tend to like games where you have to make the best of what you got.
The game provides a lot of mitigation for the hands. And, I agree, it's not really different from other hand management games. You get a hand of cards, and you make the best of them.
Great I was going to say as well. That is one of the common misplayed rules. That plus you can build anywhere for a city or star port but control determines if it comes in fresh or damaged
If I understand the rules correctly simply following suit doesn’t allow you to use all pips, it must be a higher value card of the same suit. Furthermore following suit with a card lower than the lead card isn’t a valid play. You can only surpass, copy, or pivot.
Not exactly but kind of lol. You can follow but you will still only get one pip. You'd be better off copying to obfuscate the information of your card.
@@Bleuchz Yes, but you only need to surpass the led card. So if someone leads a 2, second player plays 5 in the suit and 3rd plays a 3 in the suit, both are surpassing.
Chris started to make a point but didn't finish about how you can play around a weird hand. I like that phrasing, strongly feel like people throw around the term "bad hands" too much in reviews for this game.
this is the one that repeatedly comes up when people say it is a bad game "because you are dependent on the hand you get". There are absolutely things around a "bad hand".
3:10:00 First 3 players are rulebreaking in this round. Mystic got a "free" psionic despite leading, which is not a copy or pivot. Fueldrinker did 3 taxes when they should have had just 1 per Copy. Confusion here comes from using Lattice Spies to seize initiative - yes you seized, no this does not change any other rules of the game and you are not leading. Feastbringer used Spacing Union to pick up an Administration card, when only Admin? Union can do that. Spacing Union picks up Moblization cards.
One thing I love about Wehrle games is the elegance of having very meaningfully limited resources and closed economies. It creates the real situation that lead to many real conflicts of scarcity.
Also @dicetower - it is ok to just play with lore without leaders if you want. Even play with multiple if you want. So for example you could just play with two lore cards per player and draft from Row 1 and Row2 or draft from all 10
Still mad I decided to bypass this Kickstarter when I have everything for Root and Oath already. LOL! Also, I immediately went on Amazon and bought that finger pointer stick Chris was using. That is an extremely useful stupid tool for explaining games.
I would have preferred less talking over each other. It can be hard to understand what anyone is saying. Still I understand the game a lot more now- look forward to my fist play.
Mike needs to not try to play Arcs using Patchwork.... particularly solo mode that currently doesn't exist. Any more of that and will end up summoning a Sandworm.
Cities don't control systems, only ships. Per the rulebook: 'Control: You control a system and its contents if you have more fresh ships there than each Rival. On a tie, no one controls the system'
Halfway through the video, Roy is whining ALOT during this play. I would have a strong preference of not playing a game, even if I loved it, if someone hated it to the point that I have to listen to whining the entire time...
@@joshuamiller9793 this game definitely gives me lots of anxiety. I definitely should have kept it inside of my head instead of letting it out. I’ll be more careful in the future. Thanks!
I just believe that anyway is ok to voice their opinion or discontent about a game or something that is happening in the game even if you think about it or just voice it out loud. I bet all of us have been upset about something that has transpired in a game before. There’s nothing wrong with that, but just like everyone else being mean and rude towards Roy for that is just being ridiculous. Trust me as much as someone wouldn’t play a game with him, he wouldn’t want to play a game with someone. So let’s us respect each others opinions and ways to play our games. When you have a lot to say is because you have strong feelings and you’re passionate about it. I gotta respect that. We all do. For everyone else doing the most on these comments is fun to do this online when no one can see your face. And please @EpicGamingNight Roy don’t apologize for anything because you didn’t do anything wrong. Let’s move on and be civilizing. After all we are not animals. Well at least not yet.
6:49 They should have used the term "materiel" instead of "material." Because "materiel" refers to equipment and supplies used by military forces. But alas, the rulebook uses the word "material."
The more games you play of Arcs you find there is agency and different ways to win. The campaign version is great too. But the game does need some investment (multiple plays) to get it.
The constant talking over each other and interrupting to make lame comments over they guy trying to explain the rules really frustrates me in trying to watch this. Also makes the video take twice as long. At least save the interrupting comments until after the rules are explained.
I feel the disconnect comes from early playtrhough where players are still learning the game. The conscencus on positive reviews is that this game, even though simple on the surface, has a high learning curve to maneuver around the trick taking restriction. almost all the negative reviews are about how player have no agency, which more experience gamer disagree. The problem is, with content creation, not many channel would invest a lot of time in a game as they highly focus on new games as this brings more views. I would be interested in seeing a playthrough with exxlusively experience gamer arcs player to see how different the vibe would be
There are plenty games with experienced players on TH-cam, they are mostly all TTS though but are very high level and I promise, nobody is complaining about luck the way that people do their first or second time playing.
@@clanechelon snoopymate25 has a few of the games from the pre-launch tournament, I'd recommend those games. If you want good campaign play, 115 Gaming has I think 2 completed campaigns and is partially through a third.
In my experience people complaining about the trick taking mechanic and how it is influenced by the randomness of the cards you receive are players unwilling to use multiple cards to seize the initiative when they have a bad hand. Losing an action because you used more cards is way better than one player dominatin the initiative.
Losing actions in a turn to get the initiative does not grant you the symbols you need to set the Ambition YOU want. Its a random fest, no matter how desperately people try to spin it.
I would buy the randomness complaints except there are already tournament players who have high win rates. That doesn’t happen in a game that’s “too random”.
@@TravistheGREAT03honestly I think a lot of it is due to people wanting it to be like a traditional ffg style area control game and it's just not trying to be that at all.
One quality of life thing I learned from watching Heavy Cardboard plays was to put the initiative marker on the card that is currently winning initiative during the round
There were a remarkable amount of rules questions from Chris and Roy given that they published a review less that a month ago? Curious how many plays they had before making that review.
Tom said it in the beginning that Roy played it at least twice.
Just want to say thank you to all you guys for playing this live and two of you as a blind play … yes it was chaotic and messy but loved that since now I can plan for how my play group will respond and the hurtles I can watch out for … I feel like any board game at this complexity level as a first run through brings with it a steep learning curve so at least now I can semi plan on what will ensue and time required … also extra shout out to the rather nice and concise opening explanation … I know it wasn’t perfect but for a live unscripted teach it was very good and being the main game teacher in my group I can totally use and learn from it
For all the complaints about not getting to do what you want to do, it seems like the game provides a lot of ways around that with guild cards & preludes to work around that. Roy complaining about the problem seems funny given how many hand management games he plays like Marvel Champions. You can get "bad hands" in Marvel Champions no matter how well you construct your deck. Personally, I tend to like games where you have to make the best of what you got.
The game provides a lot of mitigation for the hands. And, I agree, it's not really different from other hand management games. You get a hand of cards, and you make the best of them.
Also, when using a build action, you can only build one ship per starport on your turn
Came here to say this.
You're correct. This gets caught pretty quickly after that first build.
Was discovered around 1:07:30.
Great I was going to say as well. That is one of the common misplayed rules. That plus you can build anywhere for a city or star port but control determines if it comes in fresh or damaged
If I understand the rules correctly simply following suit doesn’t allow you to use all pips, it must be a higher value card of the same suit. Furthermore following suit with a card lower than the lead card isn’t a valid play. You can only surpass, copy, or pivot.
Not exactly but kind of lol. You can follow but you will still only get one pip. You'd be better off copying to obfuscate the information of your card.
@@mreed7947 no, they're right. You can't follow, theres no mechanism for it. You can only surpass, copy or pivot.
@@Bleuchz Yes, but you only need to surpass the led card. So if someone leads a 2, second player plays 5 in the suit and 3rd plays a 3 in the suit, both are surpassing.
@@TorIverWilhelmsen yep. Person I was replying to said you could follow but not surpass which isn't true.
Chris started to make a point but didn't finish about how you can play around a weird hand. I like that phrasing, strongly feel like people throw around the term "bad hands" too much in reviews for this game.
this is the one that repeatedly comes up when people say it is a bad game "because you are dependent on the hand you get". There are absolutely things around a "bad hand".
There's no such thing as a bad hand in Arcs. Just an interesting hand.
Every hand you get is itself a puzzle, one in conflict with everyone else’s. Doesn’t really do it justice to even call it a “hand” imo
3:10:00 First 3 players are rulebreaking in this round.
Mystic got a "free" psionic despite leading, which is not a copy or pivot.
Fueldrinker did 3 taxes when they should have had just 1 per Copy. Confusion here comes from using Lattice Spies to seize initiative - yes you seized, no this does not change any other rules of the game and you are not leading.
Feastbringer used Spacing Union to pick up an Administration card, when only Admin? Union can do that. Spacing Union picks up Moblization cards.
Taking agents when taxing makes thematic sense. You are strong arming the city for resources and taking captives
One thing I love about Wehrle games is the elegance of having very meaningfully limited resources and closed economies. It creates the real situation that lead to many real conflicts of scarcity.
WE'LL DO IT LIIIIIIVVVEEE!!!¡!
its not a snake draft. Doesnt matter too much though. Leaders & lore is fine first game.
Also @dicetower - it is ok to just play with lore without leaders if you want. Even play with multiple if you want. So for example you could just play with two lore cards per player and draft from Row 1 and Row2 or draft from all 10
35:00 When Tom finds out he can steal cards....
Still mad I decided to bypass this Kickstarter when I have everything for Root and Oath already. LOL!
Also, I immediately went on Amazon and bought that finger pointer stick Chris was using. That is an extremely useful stupid tool for explaining games.
Always love that intro
I would have preferred less talking over each other. It can be hard to understand what anyone is saying.
Still I understand the game a lot more now- look forward to my fist play.
I've never seen a live play with Roy that didn't have him complaining on every one of his turns.
Tom not wanting to play with the Leaders is wild to me.
I always call the Catapult move a Slingshot. I approve.
Mike needs to not try to play Arcs using Patchwork.... particularly solo mode that currently doesn't exist. Any more of that and will end up summoning a Sandworm.
At 1:10 mark, If he had to cover with the Ambition Declared, would anyone have gained Initiative?
The tongue clicking that Joey does when moving on tracks is really ear piercing through headphones.
I need that pointer. Where did you get it, Chris?
To 2:44:25 Tom couldn't catapult into the 4 system pass the gate because of the city built there
What is that city doing there? lol
Cities don't control systems, only ships. Per the rulebook: 'Control: You control a system and its contents if you
have more fresh ships there than each Rival. On a tie,
no one controls the system'
@@kungpow108 It's a special ability from a Guild Card that allows you to build Cities on Gates
Halfway through the video, Roy is whining ALOT during this play. I would have a strong preference of not playing a game, even if I loved it, if someone hated it to the point that I have to listen to whining the entire time...
A little more than halfway through the video, I 100% would not want to play a game with Roy.
@@joshuamiller9793 this game definitely gives me lots of anxiety. I definitely should have kept it inside of my head instead of letting it out. I’ll be more careful in the future. Thanks!
He whines in every game they play.
@@HarryBuddhaPalm I call that invested. Tom never oes, but I think he mostly plays to have fun, not to win.
I just believe that anyway is ok to voice their opinion or discontent about a game or something that is happening in the game even if you think about it or just voice it out loud. I bet all of us have been upset about something that has transpired in a game before. There’s nothing wrong with that, but just like everyone else being mean and rude towards Roy for that is just being ridiculous. Trust me as much as someone wouldn’t play a game with him, he wouldn’t want to play a game with someone. So let’s us respect each others opinions and ways to play our games. When you have a lot to say is because you have strong feelings and you’re passionate about it. I gotta respect that. We all do. For everyone else doing the most on these comments is fun to do this online when no one can see your face.
And please @EpicGamingNight Roy don’t apologize for anything because you didn’t do anything wrong.
Let’s move on and be civilizing. After all we are not animals. Well at least not yet.
6:49 They should have used the term "materiel" instead of "material." Because "materiel" refers to equipment and supplies used by military forces. But alas, the rulebook uses the word "material."
I feel like every video of this I watch it’s either swingy to the point of there being no agency or full-on landslide.
The more games you play of Arcs you find there is agency and different ways to win. The campaign version is great too. But the game does need some investment (multiple plays) to get it.
@@quarkspin4347 Yeah, if you're watching plays of people new to the game, then it's going to look more swingy.
Whiny winners suck
The constant talking over each other and interrupting to make lame comments over they guy trying to explain the rules really frustrates me in trying to watch this. Also makes the video take twice as long. At least save the interrupting comments until after the rules are explained.
I guess that didn't strike me at all. I thought rules went pretty smoothyl
Pretty realistic for a first-time playthrough in a group of friends, frankly. It's not intended to be a tutorial for others.
This game looks like it would be fun BUT..... everytime I watch reviews and playthroughs it doesnt look like the people enjoy it particularly
I feel the disconnect comes from early playtrhough where players are still learning the game. The conscencus on positive reviews is that this game, even though simple on the surface, has a high learning curve to maneuver around the trick taking restriction. almost all the negative reviews are about how player have no agency, which more experience gamer disagree. The problem is, with content creation, not many channel would invest a lot of time in a game as they highly focus on new games as this brings more views. I would be interested in seeing a playthrough with exxlusively experience gamer arcs player to see how different the vibe would be
I agree! That would be very interesting indeed.
There are plenty games with experienced players on TH-cam, they are mostly all TTS though but are very high level and I promise, nobody is complaining about luck the way that people do their first or second time playing.
@@justinvamp15 Any video or channel you would recommend to get a feel of experienced arcs gameplay
@@clanechelon snoopymate25 has a few of the games from the pre-launch tournament, I'd recommend those games. If you want good campaign play, 115 Gaming has I think 2 completed campaigns and is partially through a third.
I dislike ARCS, Its really not for me. Agency is limited, it is very random, and totally unbalanced (guild cards).
In my experience people complaining about the trick taking mechanic and how it is influenced by the randomness of the cards you receive are players unwilling to use multiple cards to seize the initiative when they have a bad hand.
Losing an action because you used more cards is way better than one player dominatin the initiative.
Losing actions in a turn to get the initiative does not grant you the symbols you need to set the Ambition YOU want. Its a random fest, no matter how desperately people try to spin it.
@@icewendigo2320 No not that turn, but it strongly increases the likelyhood the turn after.
I would buy the randomness complaints except there are already tournament players who have high win rates. That doesn’t happen in a game that’s “too random”.
@@TravistheGREAT03honestly I think a lot of it is due to people wanting it to be like a traditional ffg style area control game and it's just not trying to be that at all.
The game plays awfully