Being an enthusiat of the videogame (OMD 1 and 2 are just so fun, not sure about the unchained) i can say that the board game surely lacks 2 important aspects that made the videogame great: 1) 3-dimensionality: it's true that the base fact of every map is "orcs rush in, rift must be protected" but, in the video game, you had to keep in check lanes and zones of the map that sometimes you couldn't even see from one another AND the layout of every map (the presence of walls, floors and ceilings to be used for placing traps) affected the choice of your defences more than drastically. This feeling doesnt pop out of the boardgame. 2) rhytm: the videogame could become really, really frantic and fast paced, having time-based release of the next wave of orcs....and that feeling of "omg i have to be fast or the lane on the other side of the map will f**k me over" doesn't seem to have been transfered into the boardgame. So sad that it also costs a butt load...
As a fan of the video game I do like the board game version. It is fairly light but that lets my kids play with me. The dice rolling is a bit too random but you can spend your skulls on traps and gear to help offset that randomness. Is it a perfect representation of the video games? No, but overall I found it to be pretty good and fun to play.
The ankle wings are a reference Mercury, who is sometimes depicted as having either winged sandals or wings on his ankles. (Mercury was based on the Greek god Hermes, who only developed the wings in later ages). Both are gods of Boundaries and Travel and is usually associated with speed. I assume the symbol is tied to movement or perhaps speed?
I remain surprised that games can still come out without someone in the process checking to see if it's good. I know it's subjective but you gotta have an idea about it.
I watched this review with my boys tonight and we actually all agree. We too wanted to love this game. We were so excited for it to arrive. But we are struggling to get it to the table because it just wasnt fun. We started talking tonight about the game we wish it was and we stumbled across a simple concept. Zombicide with traps. If Orcs Must Die was done on the scale of zombicide you would be able to take pot shots with your dwarven rocket launcher at earth elementals in the distance while switching to your blunderbuss to shoot at orcs near the rift. As you become overwhelmed you would move back allowing insane numbers of traps to fire in combination (not 1 trap per tile). Sections of the map could be elevated to place archer guardians to fire for you. Dozens or orcs pouring in with an occasional terrifying huge creature. Imagine the gnoll hunters sprinting like runners to get to you. Awesome.
zombicide isn't really that much differnt. GO into a room zombies spawn. Search for weapon.Use weapon by rolling dice. Go to next room. Zombies spawn. Search for weapon... So I'm not sure if I'd fault this game if it, too is just basically a roll dice to kill stuff type game. Im sure some do it better, but even games that are better recieved still do much of the same stuff.
Zombicide has the meta-game of managing the group's danger level and equipment. There's not really a "skill" component but there's something to master there at least.
Bummer, still haven't played my copy from the Kickstarter since that rule book and all the components were intimidating. I had no idea the game play was so light. The fun of the video game came from the combos you could setup from trap positioning and using the environment in creative ways. It sounds like here the environment is largely meaningless here and there's no meaningful interaction between the traps. Luck is not much of an element in the video game and weapons do what they're intended to do reliably and positioning yourself at the right place at the right time is where the decisions come in. For taking so long to get this produced and into backers hands it is very disappointing to hear they've neither made a game that captures what people loved about the video game nor innovated at all in the board game tower defense genre. It doesn't even sound like there are minor tweaks that could elevate this game in a reprinting or house rules. Guess I'll have to get it to the table and see how I feel about it. That the dice for players even have a blank side is a travesty. At the bottom end of how your hero should feel, it should be "bad-ass."
Sad to see that this game was a bust. I like the video game, and agree with one of the other comments that the fun really is in setting up different combo traps and using the environment. Bummer to see it didn't translate well to the tabletop. Did like the nice Dice Tower component drop target and the extra little graphics. Those were fun.
Feels good when my initial impression of the game syncs up with Vasel's review. The minis are probably enough to sell a few copies to mini or franchise enthusiasts, but the game just didn't look fun. With so many pieces, it almost looked like it could be a chore :(
Seen the KS and after reviewing the project I just got the feeling that this game was just not going to be fun, especially compared to its video game counterpart. I am glad I avoided the project, but I do highly recommend the video games.
Tom, do you have the same feeling about Heroes of the Realm (and of the Last Stand) vs. Pandemic? Great we have 13 dice to beat the boss with! Uhhhh we hit him twice... I guess we lose this game.
I have this game and it's great!!! No idea what this reviewer is talking about. All games with dice involve a certain degree of luck. This game has fantastic production values too and it's made by a well known respected game creator who creates very high quality games. Excellent tower defense game!!! Judging by the comments here, nobody seems to have a mind of their own and it seems that very few commenting have even played the game. *facepalm*
Whoa!!! Is anyone impressed that Tom Vasel is able to wield Mjölnir ?? “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”
Oh thank Goodness... I was checking out the complete package for this game, and it is pricey as... It's pricey, let's just put it that way... This and TMNT Shadows of the past The Works edition would have bankrupted me ;) Now I only have to buy the works edition (sigh) for my birthday present to myself ;)
This is a bad review. Well, i get it... if you don't like it you don't like it. But... it really is simple fun. There is meaningful choices, but yeah, it's also luck based because it is ameritrash fun. You need to have randomness in this game, otherwise it wouldn't be fun. It's not the best of the games, but i have kept in my collection and sometimes i feel like playing it because it's simplicity, but ofcourse i have all expansions from the kickstarter so i can add extrea minions and bosses to the game for spice it up. I still haven't even played Rivalry mode either which were not touched in this review at all.
Fan of the vgame, never played the bgame, but it seems like they've lost the real-time panicky feeling of the vgame. The bgame seems to play more like a turn-based strategy game, which OMD is not.
Obvious? Come on man. Special abilities, many destination to travel and many group manouvering - there's nothing obviuous in its puzles, And in Pandemic you can mitigate thing, the chances, the cards.
cooperative tower defense game with same theme... CASTLE PANIC. get it instead and buy all the expansions. Only prob;em with it is youll constantly be looking at the rulebook as you play especially in desperate moments.
Being an enthusiat of the videogame (OMD 1 and 2 are just so fun, not sure about the unchained) i can say that the board game surely lacks 2 important aspects that made the videogame great:
1) 3-dimensionality: it's true that the base fact of every map is "orcs rush in, rift must be protected" but, in the video game, you had to keep in check lanes and zones of the map that sometimes you couldn't even see from one another AND the layout of every map (the presence of walls, floors and ceilings to be used for placing traps) affected the choice of your defences more than drastically. This feeling doesnt pop out of the boardgame.
2) rhytm: the videogame could become really, really frantic and fast paced, having time-based release of the next wave of orcs....and that feeling of "omg i have to be fast or the lane on the other side of the map will f**k me over" doesn't seem to have been transfered into the boardgame.
So sad that it also costs a butt load...
As a fan of the video game I do like the board game version. It is fairly light but that lets my kids play with me. The dice rolling is a bit too random but you can spend your skulls on traps and gear to help offset that randomness. Is it a perfect representation of the video games? No, but overall I found it to be pretty good and fun to play.
The ankle wings are a reference Mercury, who is sometimes depicted as having either winged sandals or wings on his ankles. (Mercury was based on the Greek god Hermes, who only developed the wings in later ages). Both are gods of Boundaries and Travel and is usually associated with speed. I assume the symbol is tied to movement or perhaps speed?
Yep. It's mostly used to hit very fast monsters, like kobolds.
I remain surprised that games can still come out without someone in the process checking to see if it's good. I know it's subjective but you gotta have an idea about it.
14:50 Finally happy to see you've upgraded the gavel.
Glad I took a pass on the Kickstarter. I'll buy this when it hits Clearance just for the miniatures.
Just hit clearance today on Miniaturemarket.com 45$
@@kevinanderson8404 I got the entire Ultimate Kickstarter collection for like $130 at GenCon last year. Not my best investment but I don't hate it.
Tom, that Component Drop mat is great!
I watched this review with my boys tonight and we actually all agree. We too wanted to love this game. We were so excited for it to arrive. But we are struggling to get it to the table because it just wasnt fun. We started talking tonight about the game we wish it was and we stumbled across a simple concept. Zombicide with traps. If Orcs Must Die was done on the scale of zombicide you would be able to take pot shots with your dwarven rocket launcher at earth elementals in the distance while switching to your blunderbuss to shoot at orcs near the rift. As you become overwhelmed you would move back allowing insane numbers of traps to fire in combination (not 1 trap per tile). Sections of the map could be elevated to place archer guardians to fire for you. Dozens or orcs pouring in with an occasional terrifying huge creature. Imagine the gnoll hunters sprinting like runners to get to you. Awesome.
How is bloodrage? I see that box behind you.
Totally agree with the rulebook. I gave up trying to figure it out.
zombicide isn't really that much differnt. GO into a room zombies spawn. Search for weapon.Use weapon by rolling dice. Go to next room. Zombies spawn. Search for weapon...
So I'm not sure if I'd fault this game if it, too is just basically a roll dice to kill stuff type game. Im sure some do it better, but even games that are better recieved still do much of the same stuff.
Zombicide has the meta-game of managing the group's danger level and equipment. There's not really a "skill" component but there's something to master there at least.
Bummer, still haven't played my copy from the Kickstarter since that rule book and all the components were intimidating. I had no idea the game play was so light. The fun of the video game came from the combos you could setup from trap positioning and using the environment in creative ways. It sounds like here the environment is largely meaningless here and there's no meaningful interaction between the traps. Luck is not much of an element in the video game and weapons do what they're intended to do reliably and positioning yourself at the right place at the right time is where the decisions come in. For taking so long to get this produced and into backers hands it is very disappointing to hear they've neither made a game that captures what people loved about the video game nor innovated at all in the board game tower defense genre. It doesn't even sound like there are minor tweaks that could elevate this game in a reprinting or house rules. Guess I'll have to get it to the table and see how I feel about it. That the dice for players even have a blank side is a travesty. At the bottom end of how your hero should feel, it should be "bad-ass."
Sad to see that this game was a bust. I like the video game, and agree with one of the other comments that the fun really is in setting up different combo traps and using the environment. Bummer to see it didn't translate well to the tabletop.
Did like the nice Dice Tower component drop target and the extra little graphics. Those were fun.
Feels good when my initial impression of the game syncs up with Vasel's review. The minis are probably enough to sell a few copies to mini or franchise enthusiasts, but the game just didn't look fun. With so many pieces, it almost looked like it could be a chore :(
Seen the KS and after reviewing the project I just got the feeling that this game was just not going to be fun, especially compared to its video game counterpart. I am glad I avoided the project, but I do highly recommend the video games.
Is...that..Mjolnir?
Tom, do you have the same feeling about Heroes of the Realm (and of the Last Stand) vs. Pandemic? Great we have 13 dice to beat the boss with! Uhhhh we hit him twice... I guess we lose this game.
Pete Martin Tom really likes both games. And Realm and Last Stand are both awesome. You have a Lot of strategy in both of them.
I have this game and it's great!!! No idea what this reviewer is talking about. All games with dice involve a certain degree of luck. This game has fantastic production values too and it's made by a well known respected game creator who creates very high quality games. Excellent tower defense game!!!
Judging by the comments here, nobody seems to have a mind of their own and it seems that very few commenting have even played the game. *facepalm*
Is it just me or did the frame rate go up?
Whoa!!! Is anyone impressed that Tom Vasel is able to wield Mjölnir ??
“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”
Good review guys. You should try the video game. The video game is actually quite good. Bummer that the board game fell flat.
Oh thank Goodness... I was checking out the complete package for this game, and it is pricey as... It's pricey, let's just put it that way... This and TMNT Shadows of the past The Works edition would have bankrupted me ;) Now I only have to buy the works edition (sigh) for my birthday present to myself ;)
This is a bad review. Well, i get it... if you don't like it you don't like it. But... it really is simple fun. There is meaningful choices, but yeah, it's also luck based because it is ameritrash fun. You need to have randomness in this game, otherwise it wouldn't be fun.
It's not the best of the games, but i have kept in my collection and sometimes i feel like playing it because it's simplicity, but ofcourse i have all expansions from the kickstarter so i can add extrea minions and bosses to the game for spice it up. I still haven't even played Rivalry mode either which were not touched in this review at all.
I can understand it is bad if you play it with map that was built on review :D
Glad I backed B-Sieged over this :D
Epic BubbleSA meh, I have both and vastly prefer OMD to B-seiged
I owned both and didn’t enjoy either.
Fan of the vgame, never played the bgame, but it seems like they've lost the real-time panicky feeling of the vgame. The bgame seems to play more like a turn-based strategy game, which OMD is not.
MSRP: $99.99 Yikes. Most overpriced game since The Daedalus Sentence.
If he be worthy, he shall posess the power of Tom Vassal! Bummer the game looks great, but gameplay is boring. I'll have to pick it up for mini's.
Burn the game and the video game with fire! It must die!
same reasons why į dont like basic pandemic, obvious desisions and if they are right or wrong iš decided by random card draw...
Obvious? Come on man. Special abilities, many destination to travel and many group manouvering - there's nothing obviuous in its puzles, And in Pandemic you can mitigate thing, the chances, the cards.
It really looks like it tries to be the video game. But it seems destined to be lost in translation.
I un-subbed at some point and completely forgot about you. I don't know why. Kind of fun to rediscover a channel like this.
cooperative tower defense game with same theme... CASTLE PANIC. get it instead and buy all the expansions. Only prob;em with it is youll constantly be looking at the rulebook as you play especially in desperate moments.
The words on the board are way to big and detracting.
The whole game just seems so blah and boring.
"Eht-set-er-ah" not "Eck-shet-rah." I respect your show and you immensely, but improper grammar hurts to listen to.
pronounce, not grammar.
fine, "improper pronounce hurts to listen to."
Chris Good If this is pedants corner, then I think you'll find it's "improper pronunciation...".
Goodness. There is no humor here. That's the (obviously missed) joke. And how things are pronounced IS a part of grammar by most definitions.