The Games I got rid of in 2021
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ส.ค. 2024
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Exorcising the Daemons in my board game collection, one at a time. What games did you get rid of last year and where their any that you got because lots of folks said they were awesome and yet they didn't land for you. Let me know in the comments. And remember, play nice, just because i didn't like a game you like is no reason to get all ranty.
Oh yeah, and the collar thing. This video was filmed very late at night after a full day with an energetic baby so i sleepily pulled on a shirt. Dadding + making videos, you're lucky it wasn't a shirt covered in random food stains, lol :)
I just put a bunch of games for sale. Have no space. Always hard to keep collection trim when not much getting played.
What are your thoughts on Last Light?
Hey, we all have our tastes in games and they're not wrong. I like hearing what you like and dislike. The reason is that you go into detail about the games you review in such a way that I can get a good idea of how it'll play and if my wife and I would like it.
100% agree
I like Dune: Imperium quite a bit, but I agree with you that it’s not a thematic game in the slightest. Not sure why people voted for that tag on BGG.
Thanks for your unpopular opinions! I’d rather people just put it out there than constantly be like “yeah it’s such a great game, cause everyone else says so”. I think my unpopular opinion for 2021 was Sleeping Gods, so highly rated and just really disappointing to me.
Holy cow, you didn’t hold back! I really appreciate you taking the time to make this and really explain your choices. As someone who’s contemplating one of my first-ever culls (not because I’m new to BGs, rather because… I’ve been too afraid to do it before), this was super helpful. I’m not even gonna tell you which one game I was like _WHAAAT!?_ when I saw it because… it doesn’t matter! Your logic for the decisions was sound, even in that case because it focused on you, your experiences, and your game group(s). That makes me feel a lot more capable with making my own tough calls because yeah, the collection has only slowly grown for the past eight years and I think I’m at a limit… thanks again!
Glad to have been of assistance. One thing I've hoped i've gotten across on the channel over the years is that is shoot pretty straight. Folk might not always agree with my point of view, but they should be very confident that it is mine. The best thing about the hobby is there are so many games that you can always find one to suit you, even if it doesn't suit someone else.
I love your channel, but you and I have very different tastes in games. That makes you all the more valuable in searching out games I know I'll enjoy. Keep up the great content.
Heh, nothing wrong with having very different tastes. If we all thought the same the world would be pretty dull
Really like hearing your opinion of the games! I love your 3 minute video format and your objective commentary on the games but would love to get a bit of this type of commentary or a final thought too at the end of your reviews
I occasionally do the "extra time" series when a game has made me really feel like I want to say more about it.
wow, this was very helpful. Your view on certain games helps me lower my expectations, in a good way. Your explanations and motivations are very clear and well-worded. So, tx alot!
It feels good to do the odd video that cools hype as 99% of board game content does not :)
Thanks for honest insightful hilarious 🤣 witty one-liners. Keep up the good work 🌟
Honestly I'm just impressed you have the ability to give games away. I've got half a dozen games I don't like and haven't played in years, but I can't bear to get rid of them. For example, I got the StarCraft board game fifteen years ago, have played it twice and didn't enjoy either of those. But the goblin part of my brain demands I keep it "just in case."
I do have some like that, old games I'll probably not play again and still have. I mean, i own twilight imperium 3. I will never ever play that again and should really move it on to someone
Trading on BGG is not a bad option especially if you can find fairly local people to trade.
@@jonsparks3152 It's not so much an issue of getting something in return, I just can't stomach to not have something I used to have.
Do "I" need 10 different dungeon crawlers? Yes. Yes I do.
Why yes, I do need 30 train games in my collection. Thank you very much. :)
We all have our weaknesses.
i have way 2 many 2 player wargames.
@@3MBG I think I've got zero in my collection. It's just not something that gets played a lot in my group so I have not been exposed to many. The only one I'd really like to get is War of the Ring, but Scott has blinged his set out so there's not much reason for me to get my own.
@@jasonnewell7036 I should say that I'm exaggerating just a bit. I've got around 60 games in my collection and only 8 are train games. Not a single 18xx, either, which is odd. I do have a couple Railways of the World expansions on the way though....
Kid rock covers 😂 Nice video. I’ll have to look more into dune imperium because it was on my relatively long list of games to get, but since we seem to share some favorites(spirit island, roll for the galaxy, bloc by bloc, and terraforming mars) I’m a bit wary because you tossed it.
The thing that really sets Marvel Champions back from Arkham Horror LCG for me is the sheer fact that I did not care at all what the other players did. In Arkham Horror I'd actively try and find ways to solve problems using each player and our own strength - we'd actively listen and be engaged on all turns. But with Marvel Champions I just wait a few minutes until my friend tells me how much damage they did, and not need to engage at all with how they did it or help them in any way.
Steph said the exact same thing
I think a big reason Champions took 2 years to gain popularity is because the gameplay experience was JUST the cards, nothing social, barely anything narrative. The core set cards are particularly dull, so it's taken until now for the card pool to be developed enough for worthwhile gameplay experiences. Meanwhile, the most engaging parts of Arkham Horror happen on the scenario cards and in conversations above the table. You could play with just about any subset of Arkham investigator cards and have an engaging (but probably tragic) game.
I have bought Meadow and Cascadia, but because of the bug, I haven't been able to get together with people to play them yet. I'll be interested to see what I think of them, given that I bought them based on the hype and a couple of playthrough videos.
Re: Merchant's Cove. I felt the same way as you. I had it in my collection only a few weeks, played around 3-4 of the different Merchants, then sold it on. I admired what they were trying, but also felt that none of the mini-games were all that good. If I want to play a roll and write, I'll get out Railroad Ink. If I want to play a marble game I'll play Potion Explosion. They all felt like watered down versions of other games that I'd much rather be playing instead. Plus, the interaction on the main board with the other players just wasn't interesting at all.
Always good to get a bit more context and info on your thinking on these things. Merchants cove I passed by for the same reason as Root, there is no way I am teaching that.
Just had Marvel Champions +red Skull arrive on a really good deal yesterday. Played 4 solo games and really liking it so far. Could be another Warps Edge situation where I initially thought was gonna be my new fave solo game and then falls off quickly. Or it could be a new obsession.
I think my biggest complain about Dune Imperium is the fact that the end game is so random & unpredictable. You could do really good and then suddenly somebody has a card that can add 3 VPs. It kind of frustrates me.
I could reiterate a lot of the things that people are already saying about Marvel Champions, but ultimately I just like it because I like the comics and this game scratches an itch that the movies have failed to scratch for over a decade now. I like the big flashy colors and the battles with the silly villains. Game wise it's the equivalent of putting on that comfort TV show you've watched a hundred times over just to have background noise and that's fine with me, heh. Gives me feelings reminiscent of Magic the Gathering but without all the baggage of that game.
I've played Arkham Horror LCG a bit and it's good! But I don't want to own it because honestly I just don't need more Lovecraft in my life outside of Unfathomable for special occasions. And as someone who has trouble getting games to the table in general, campaigns have quickly become the opposite of a selling point (not that that's stopped me). I do find it funny that I can pretty accurately guess how someone will take to MC based on how much they like AH:LCG.
I hate comics & yet MC is my most played game of the last 2 years by a mile :)
LoL, never expected to hear the phrase "awkward and pimply" as a description of a board game! Appreciate the video and sharing your rationale on why these didn't work for you. And that whole "can't remember anything about the game" regarding Meadow... That's going to keep happening for a while as you are raising a little one. That takes up a lot of your brain space, not to mention sleep and energy.
I can tell you all the rules for Unsettled and Eclipse 2nd ed though, more complex games. Something about meadow in particular just didnt stick
@@3MBG Two great games by the way. I'd agree they are a much better use of brain space!
Glad to see someone else I follow being critical of Marvel Champions. There was a lot of hype around it and when I finally got around to playing my copy of it I found it really dull. The art on the cards is great and I enjoy marvel as a theme but I feel it was missing something. It would have been cool if they had combined the cardplay with something like mansions of madness map movement and app support.... now that would be a game I'd be excited about.
I appreciate this video and the way you walk through your thoughts (even if I don't agree with your conclusions on some of these games).
However, I'm deeply confused by what alphabetical order means in this context. We went from On Mars to Meadow to Merchants Cove to Marvel Champions and I don't understand how we got there.
Was that just a simple mistake or am I missing something?
Ah, my bad. All those games were under "M" in my filling system so I did all the M's, but not necessarily in order themselves.
Great stuff, love these lists as it gives a more thorough view of a game rather than the initial impressions.
I’m really interested in your dislike of MC LCG - I can totally see why folks would find it a bit number grindy, but I would assume those same people would find the endless arithmetic of Sentinels unbearable.
I think coming out on AH LCG coattails was a bad thing as it doesn’t even approach narrative really, it’s more of a numerical puzzle game rather than the wild tales of AH LCG.
Love the channel and love these deeper vids 👍
I think its because i found the numbers puzzle dull. Especially compared to Sentinels, where the villains have such unique and interesting mechanics you have to account for.
@@3MBG I agree with you completely on the villains in Sentinels being more interesting mechanically. For me, the actual core mechanic of MC LCG, cards being both usage and currency is one of my favourites (thank you RftG!). Combined with the deck building options, I feel the heroes have more life than in Sentinels.
Helps I am a big Marvel fan too I guess (much as with LOTR LCG and being a LOTR fan).
The collar....the collar is KILLING me! But thanks for the video. Good stuff.
I correct it mid video, filmed at 10pm after baby wrangling all day. The perils of making content and being a full time dad on full display right there lol
@@3MBG Been there, totally get it. It gave me a good laugh though. You wore it with confidence!
Aha! Reminded by dinosaurs re-arranging your dress, the (theoretical) new dune has the new collar look.
Of course neither of these newer dunes have the epic feel of Frank Herbert's novel. At least David Lynch's film strongly hinted at that [my memory picture from the book].
Love your work.
Your analogies in this video cracked me up! The burger with the missing sauce and the teenage boy analogies in particular 😂🤣
Ha, cheers mate. Nothing worse than a bland burger right.
Dune Imperium - I enjoy the game, but my friend owns it. We're moving a state away and it is one that the misses and I aren't looking to add to our collection.
I heard some people say Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'n Write is the best of the three in the series, so I picked that up.
It is pretty good, it is fast and the different combinations of cards every game make it very replayable, heck, even as a solo game you can get some quick games; it is a very entertaining game.
So funny to hear the opposite of how I feel about so many of these games. I think part of the it comes from my themeless and soulless euro entro into the hobby vs your thematic war game side (I side I want to dip my toes into, but All Bridges Burning proved to be too much at this time).
On Mars absolutely blew me away with how such a complex game could be so silky smooth. 🤷🏽♂️ I liked it much more than Vinhos at least 😅
Liked the vid; appreciated your perspectives. 100% agreed with you regarding 'On Mars', and I was biased like crazy to be an überfan of that title--with Lacerda, plus a rich "Mars" theme, beautiful production, all the things. Surprisingly I bounced off of it *hard*. Juice just wasn't worth the squeeze, perhaps? Disagree on Dune: Imperium--my wife and I (both long time fans of the books/films) liked the dynamics and how thematic things emerged from a relatively simple game. I didn't find it dull at all. Cheers!
Cheers Brian. I did a whole video about why the On Mars theming got under my skin and why i feel its incredibly unthematic to me. Heavily biased by my own 5 year journey making my own Mars themed game Red Dust Rebellion of course.
@@3MBG I'll definitely watch that video. You touched here on a critically important theme of extractive practices, and I look forward to hearing more about your perspective.
@@browe Lets just say, it got under my skin enough that the video contains a musical number i wrote and steph performed....
"Dull as dish water" is now a part of my regular lexicon. Thanks for that hilarious expression!
Ha, that's old NZ slang, i think its originally a British saying.
I appreciate all your perspectives. I tend to agree with you on most games (except Dune: Imperium). I love these videos. Thank you.
Cheers. Different perspectives make the hobby more interesting I reckon :)
It's actually really interesting to hear someone's negative review of a game I really like. There's a piquant cognitive dissonance as I'm agreeing with you at the exact same time that I'm remembering all of the fun I've had and scheming a strategy for my next play...
Ha, i get that. Like when people rip on Terraforming Mars for bad art and taking a long time, i just go "yep, fair, still love it" :)
@@3MBG yep. Still love TM even with the bad art :)
I concur with the Dinosaur Island comments. I think Dinosaur World plays better, though my favourite dino game is Dinogenics. Under the bonnet it's pretty straight-forward (which is a blessing when DI feels clunky) though it runs with the theme really well.
Hey, you like you like! No apologies needed! I love Marvel Champions partly because of how easy it is to get to the table, and I'm not looking for long deep campaign like Arkham Horror (plus I don't enjoy horror). Also, it's more forgiving than LOTR in the deckbuilding side also lending itself to being more accessible :) It also is way snappier and easier to manage than Sentinels of the Multiverse which has way too much bookkeeping, plus the MC decks are customizable to your tastes. Besides, Sentinels is horrible at true solo. Lastly having been a Marvel fan my youth, I can see the thematic connection way more than you probably do.
Thank you for the video! I had the same thoughts on Dinosaur Island. Fantastic graphic design, totally okay gameplay.
Aww. Poor Merchant's Cove is in the dump. 😅 Enjoyed the coverage.
I 100% agree with you on Dune Imperium and Meadow. Dune Imperium felt unsatisfying because the game ended by the time you built any kind of deck (and as you said, the combat was underwhelming) and Meadow felt linear and light and uninteresting. Haven’t played Merchant’s Cove bc it felt just the way you described it... appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
I kind of agree and yet I have played over 300 times (my wife and I play fast).
I definitely enjoy Dinogenics more than Dinosaur Island, but I believe at the moment it's only being sold to the US and Canada, and the expansion is out of print. Hope you can snag a review copy!
Me too! :)
19:26 This is why I didn't buy into Marvel Champions; I feel like you need to be a fan to really appreciate the game and I don't count myself as one, simply because I didn't grow up reading comics or watching movies.
Yeah, I've never been big into American comics. 2000AD featuring Judge Dredd was the comic series i read as a kid.
As much as I do love Dune Imperium I can't argue against your criticisms on it. Apologies if you've answered this before, but how'd you feel about the new movie?
I liked it. I thought it was suitably epic in how it looked and played out.
I am not one to jump on hype trains, but we recently bought Dune Imperium and it really is excellent, and stands out in our collection of 300+ games.
Also unfortunately I agree on the dinosaur island part. Though I don't think the production value is good. The deformed pink plastic dinosaurs and the UI that looks like it was made in paint really make it all look cheap. Sadly Dinosaur World and Dinogenics are not better gameplay wise.
I get so much crap because I also don't like Meadow. I think a card game called Ecologies does the food web tableau building sooooo much better. Plus it is all cards which is much more portable making it more playable
Would you consider doing a video on the mainstream games you have on your shelf? E.g. "I still have chess on my shelf and this is why I keep it."
Probably not as it would be super short. It's Chess and Backgammon basically. I have a joke copy of monopoly and if rummikub counts as mainstream we have that too. But that's about it.
Dune imperium is on my short list of games to purchase, but a couple comments I’ve seen (aside from just yours) have made me second guess dune imperium.
Im a big fan of Lost Ruins of Arnak, and I’ve heard a lot of people say they think dune imperium does all the same thing but better. Im wondering how you feel about Arnak?
Just got to the part of the video where you said Arnak was “meh”. So I’ll take that to mean I probably will like dune imperium
They are quite similar games, so if you love Arnak you will probably like Dune Imperium.
I couldn't get on with D:I but have good fun with Arnak. I think the difference might genuinely be that my friends and I like befriending giant monsters in Arnak more than anything else.
What do you do with games you get rid of? I always find it hard to get rid of them easily outside donating them
Sell to the local cafe or locals mostly
Got rid of Marvel Champions and On Mars as well. Except for Dune: Imperium, which my group loves, I'd have dumped all the other games on your list as well -- but luckily I didn't buy them in the first place :)
I for one am glad you owned On Mars.
That gave us THE SONG.
Lol, cheers :)
Ha ha, yeah, the Song! Best review ever 😂.
Hey I am purging a couple hyped games myself, Oath is on its way out because I am pretty much always solo and the game is clearly better multiplayer, and I’m getting rid of Lost Ruins of Arnak because I jumped on the hype train and quite literally can’t be bothered to lay out a giant board for the play it offers
Oath is a game i've not owned, but played. It would be on this video if i had owned it. Never played a game that i've won before that felt more hollow. It's like an over-engineered game of munchkin, where you slap the leader until someone finally wins. I won because the group wanted someone other than the ruler to win, not because of any particular good moves i made.
@@3MBG in theory I love the idea of the legacy element game to game too, but the game itself just looks hollow in multiplayer and solo it’s a bot that just makes my head hurt for the sake of an unsatisfying game
I agree on Meadow…really didn’t understand the love. However, really disagree on Dune Imperium. While I do agree that the Dune theme is mostly pasted on, the gameplay has put this in my top 10 games. As for Marvel Champions…I too liked SofM but it is WAY too fiddly and this scratches the same itch for me.
NOT Kitchen Rush! We love that game! I made the BGG setup card for that game! And then I saw that you replaced it with Rush MD. Yup. If I got Rush MD I'd do the same.
Getting rid of Kitchen Rush was hard as the game is a great time. But I played MD at a friends and yeah, just much more me. Both are excellent though.
@@3MBG #no
The only point I disagree on, respectfully of course, is saying Marvel Champions "throwing numbers" at something untl it falls over but Sentinels isn't? I like both games but if any game was ever mathing something to death, it's SotM. IMO. :)
Ah, that's fair. I think the reason i like Sentinels so much is each character has a unique deck and they are tuned in such a way that they all feel really interesting to play and bring something quite different. Oddly, more different than i found the characters in an LCG were.
I always test drive a game's gameplay for a few weeks on Tabletop Simulator before buying the real thing. Would have saved me thousands of dollars if I found out about it sooner.
Very smart. I don't tend to do that but do look at rulebook PDFs to get a pretty good feel for games. That said, i also just pick "popular" games to play and review. I would never have got Marvel Champions personally, but it was a game i thought the channel needed to cover.
That’s one way to clean up. You probably scared off some viewers with these opinions (especially those that take things personally, that get said about their favorite games). I’ve seen some titles pass here that I also culled, so I understand your reasoning. I’m glad you speak out openly about what you like and don’t like, without holding back because some title is the current (recent) hotness. Life’s too short to play/keep games that don’t give you enough joy. Play what feels good to you 🙂
Cheers Vadim. I always hope those folk move on, they tend to be terrible commenters and call people names as well. Much rather have a community of people who get that other people have different tastes and respect that difference.
I am by no means defending it because I played it once and thought it was fine, but will you try the Imperium expansion? I am not sure if it will change your perception of it's theme usage though.
Either way I find these kinds of videos interesting - a lot of the hobby pushes you to BUY BUY BUY but we cannot sustain that forever. What gives sticking power? That's something to value.
I mean, id play Dune Imperium again if someone really wanted to play it, and if they had the expansion sure. But i'm not gonna go out of my way.
Thanks for sharing
When i heard about Funfair i was like, "oh! okay that makes sense!" but then the game has no theme's and is just a bland version of unfair. if you really want a nice version of Unfair, just play it with the world peace card or whatever its called and it makes it nicer for you!!!
I've read comicsbooks pretty much since i was in elementary school and LOVE Marvel!!! and have NEVER had an desire to play Marvel Champions.....it just doesn't look like a fun game to me. I have Marvel United which i like cause its simple and i can play it with my kids. I don't know how but i wish there was a Marvel themed euro boardgame.....don't ask me how it would work but if done right i would loooooove it!
Have you ever tried Awkward Guests? always been curious on what you think about that game
No sorry, deduction games are not ones I tend to have my eye over much. A bit of a blind spot for me if im honest.
@@3MBG Understandable, if we all liked the same things the world would be a very boring place, thanks for the reply :D Also can't wait to see the progress of the game you're making. Hope you've been finding some time in your busy schedule to keep that beast going.
Dinosaur Island is the only one on your list here that I've also played, and I can see what you mean with it. The theme is great, but yeah, all the extra resources, layers, and phases do sometimes feel like they're just addons to ordinary worker placement.
I did watch Meadow as it was being released and hyped though, and I'm kind of disappointed that it really did end up as simply mediocre. The artwork and everything looked so nice.
Oh yeah, Meadow is pretty that's for sure. Lovely art work. But that just ain't enough for me.
Talking about hospital themed games: have You pled Alban Viard game: Clinic. I wonder what are You thinking about it if You did?
Not yet, one of my groups of testers played it without me and reported back that they didn't hugely enjoy it. So I moved on to some other games instead.
Agreed completely about Dinosaur Island & Dune Imperium 👍🏽
I really wanted to like Chai, but it's gameplay also didn't work for us. Interesting concepts, especially that sliding row of tiles, but overall, we just didn't find it engaging.
Will loves Dune Imperium, I struggle with it. It frustrates me. We did buy the expansion, but haven't played it yet. I'm hoping it makes things better for me, but we'll see. I'm not keen on how deck building and worker placement is combined. I've only played Lost Ruins of Arnak once, but I felt similarly with that, though the icons are fewer and more open for playing cards. Hoping to play it again on BGA soon.
I'm curious about Funfair because we liked the base concepts of Unfair, but not the take-that elements. I'm just concerned that they haven't supported Funfair with expansions like they have Unfair. I think the game needs that variability to keep it fresh.
I agree that On Mars doesn't make any thematic sense to be on Mars. I was okay with the gameplay, with what you do, but it's another we're keeping because Will really loves the gameplay. He wasn't bothered by the theme.
We've got so many unplayed games and we focus on playing as many as we can each year, which usually leads to putting several on our trade shelves. For 2021, we put 27 games up for trade. I've been participating in math trades, but I'm still stuck with 11 of them. Normally, we'd take them to our local game store for their consignment shelves, but they have no room, due to the pandemic slowing down foot traffic. So I just keep trying the math trades.
Thanks for the video! It was great to hear your thoughts on why you got rid of them.
I think if On Mars was not On Mars i'd possibly still own it. As the gameplay, if i ignore the thematic wonks is good. Then again, its also super expensive and a shelf hog, so possibly not.
@@3MBG oh that is so true! It takes up so much room! But yeah, there's plenty of great games out there where you don't have to ignore the theme, so no reason to keep it.
Cascadia was one I bought because of the buzz and then quickly got rid of. In theory it’s my sort of thing - light, family game with a Wingspan/Parks sort of vibe - but I just found it to be dull, pedestrian and lacking any charm or innovation. Fair play to them for hitting the zeitgeist and rising out of the pack, I just don’t understand why this was the one to do it.
Wow, I’m shocked about this. I just played it for the first time, a couple times, and I loved it and I look forward to playing it more.
Do you tend to enjoy games that are of that weight and that are that style (somewhat multiplayer solitaire, tile/pattern making, point scoring)?
I’m just flabbergasted because I can’t imagine not enjoying that game.
One thing for me though, my game group consists of two 70 year olds so I only play heavier games solo, it’s my only option.
Yeah - I’m all for playing light-ish, solitaire-ish pattern/engine builders like Sagrada, Wingspan, Azul Summer Pavilion. I assumed that I’d like Cascadia, but for some reason it just didn’t click with me - not actively dislike, just seemed very uninspiring. I also didn’t get on with Calico, so it must be something about that designer’s style that I’m not getting.
Very much a personal thing. I quite like Meadow from this list, find it to be charming and relaxing with mechanics that offer that little bit of novelty and interest. But can understand why other people find it to be bland. And yeah, there’s a few games where I can’t understand how anyone who likes the genre can possibly dislike the game - but I guess you’re never going to get that sort of unanimity.
In your Dune: Imperium comments, you mention that it "could just be about four colonial powers colonizing the new world" -- a notion I think Villeneuve was going for in the framing of the story in the new cinematic version. I know this is the recurring complaint -- that it feels mechanical and unengaging -- and I know that art doesn't solve everything, but I think that given a really first-rate artistic treatment this game could have felt a lot more evocative.
I really enjoy that your tastes don't necessarily align with the zeitgeist, and even more that they diverge from my own -- I keep trying to make Sentinels of the Multiverse work for me, even on Steam and iPad to keep from having to track a thousand fiddly +1 tokens, and it just never engages me, whether that's down to pacing, or difficulty, or maybe there's just something I'm not seeing in strategy, but each game feels like an engine builder where you only get 20% of the parts.
I have a bit of a math brain, so things like sentinels resonate with me because all the calculations happen pretty quickly for me. Which means i can get right to the fun of them. I totally get why it isn't everyones game because it is probably the most fiddly thing on the planet, lol.
@@3MBG you've inspired me to try it with my son, who LOVES quick calculations. (I don't mind doing the math, but it always feels like the increments are so small.)
My biggest issue with Dinosaur Island is how poorly it treated the stars - the dinos themselves. Was it really the best they could do to have three types, herbivores, small and large carnivores? Talk about taking the excitement out of a huge range of really exciting creatures! Individual dino types with different characteristics and the possibility for fitting additional bonuses around their traits was endless and would have made the dino buying phase really engaging rather than a snorefest. Just baffling design decisions to me. Not to mention that the three types weren't even balanced...
Can't argue with any of that. The bland dinos and the security system made it all a bit dull owning the park
Totally agree about the Dune stuff, the Gale Force Nine 2019 Dune wins
*1979 Avalon Hill Dune ;)
@@jonathanpickles2946 👍
I’d like a video of just Steph talking about Marvel Champions please. Unfiltered if possible 😁
Hahahaha, we no longer have the game though. So she cant yell at it, or put it on the stand like its at a trial.
the Marie Kondo moment. very healthy
The problem with most(nearly all? maybe even just all?) superhero-y things is they tend to devolve into... or even just starts as... a combat thing. Whether it be RPGs, boardgames, videogames, whatever, you'll end up just doing the fighting.
"Here's a bit of story, now punch things." ... "Here's some detective work, now punch things"... and so on.
MC has punching and thwarting, and thwarting is just another kind of punching, really.
Do I dislike it? No.
Is that possibly because I run gaming groups for children, teens, and young adults, and most of them love it, and we have everything for it? Maybe.
I love AHLCG however, I do not love the path it has taken, and I called it a day after Dream Eaters. Also, it's harder for me to get to the table, and while I play an awful lot of games solo, sometimes it'd be nice not to have to play the games I actually want to play myself, solo.
What was up with Dream eaters? I see people saying its one of the worst series
@@3MBG I liked Dream Eaters. Dream Eaters itself was not the reason I pulled the plug, it was the stuff that came after Dream Eaters. Edge of the Earth, specifically, though the "reimplementation" of Dunwich wasn't great, as it reinforced what the did with Edge of Earth, while allowing them to be really lazy.
I quite like the new box format. Here in NZ, due to shipping issues, getting all 6 of a cycle was really annoying. Meant i dropped out after Dunwich. Just grabbed Edge of the Earth
@@3MBG Maybe it's just me then lol. I fund the gaming groups I run for people with mental, emoptional, and social, issues, and it's a dear do TBH, so having to drop the price of a full run in one go is much less appealling than buying the deluxe, then a pack a month, then the "return to" a year later.
I never thought of it that way, and it makes sense. Padding out the cost over 6 months makes the hit a lot smoother.
When i was into netrunner, it would get so frustrating if one datapack got "short delivered" to NZ, and ran out in a week and we had to wait 4-8 months for it to get back in stock. Hated it. I audibly cheered when i read they were doing AH:LCG campaigns in one box.
Man, you really went in on dune imperium, my favourite game of last year. It won’t change my opinion, I don’t play much war games at all. I subscribed anyway.
Nga mihi
I take it back. You went in way harder on Meadow and On Mars
I thought orbital was the one i really went to town on, lol
Boo MC is the best game ever 😅
I knew you were gonna get rid of it, and I don't blame you one bit. I hate the deck building of the game, and would much prefer a unique set of cards per hero like HOTM, plus there's the price.
Anyhoo, good reasoning as always :)
I think a Marvel retheme of sentinels or a game similar, with hero decks that really spoke to the hero would print money
@@3MBG That was exactly what I thought MC would be, ah well :/
Wow, Dune Imperium and Marvel Champions are two of my favorite games and you go and do this? Now I have to write a strongly worded comment telling you that.....
We can agree to disagree and that's perfectly fine! Be it board games or video games, some people make their favorite games a part of their personality and look at any criticism of that game as an attack on them personally, and it's absurd. No one should have to worry about getting flak because they said a game didn't land for them.
Besides, you like Spirit Island, so that automatically means you have good taste!
I've only played Dinosaur Island from that list, and my opinion is basically the same.
I wanted to like it, I wanted it to be THE jurassic park game, but beyond the cool art style I was bored.
And then I played Dinosaur World hoping it would fix Island and it actually had boredom as a mechanic.
I'll keep going to Dominant species for my dinosaur kicks (even though it has no actual dinosaurs except in the cover).
"it actually had boredom as a mechanic"
What? This sounds hilarious and I want to know more.
@@3MBG you build your park with hexes and have a “jeeple” to go around park doing actions.
But every time you do the action on the hex it accumulates boredom tokens and makes the action a bit more useless.
Holy heck, lol, im actually laughing my ass of at this.
@@3MBG I kind of get what they were going for but I couldn’t ignore the analogy between me being extremely bored and placing boredom tokens every time I did something.
Kind of a meta experience if I think about it 😂
What kind of reality are we living in that 3 minute board games gets rids of a Mars game? Believe it or not I pitched Lost Ruins of Arnak, which I bought the expansion for and realized when I replayed it that I didn't actually like the game. I also defended Arkham Horror 3rd Edition last time I commented here and now i've actually got rid of it. After playing a few scenarios, I lost any desire to replay it and actually went back to 2nd edition and Eldritch Horror. I also got rid of Western Legends, the promised Western sandbox game that all you really have to do is mine a bunch of gold. Other super popular games I pitched were Everdell, Raiders of The North Sea and 'don't tell Steph' Obsession. I also got rid of Marvel Champions and most of my content for Smash Up. Ark Nova despite all the hype got pitched from me as well as Meadow which should be titled 'Meh'dow.
I think its because im such a Mars junkie that I got rid of On Mars.
Ah3 is like that, you play it a few times and then go "ok, is that it". Good for 4-6 plays tops.
I keep hearing Dune is one of the best solo games. I think Alex Radcliff still likes funfair.
I'm looking at Tenpenny Parks myself. And I already backed dice city theme park.
Which one? Dune Imperium i think has a popular solo mode.
Not sure which Dune honestly. I didn't know there were multiples.
Also is it true Marvel Champions is great for solo?
I'm still getting the hang of Mage Knight rules for solo. It's a lot to keep track of
I totally get your reasoning on Marvel. I hear the powers and characters can feel samey also. And I already invested in Arkham Horror the LCG. I got the revised core set so far. The new reprint.
Dune itself is a very non-soloable game. But Dune Imperium is likely the one. There are about 6 Dune games out now. Lots of people play Marvel Champions solo, but for me the core gameplay was so bland I didn't want to keep it for that.
Agree on Meadow - beautiful but fine. Have been tempted by Dune Imperium given the hype, but every time I look at it, it just looks so meh - antiseptic and uninspiring. Arnak isn't my favorite, but at least the pieces are fun and the theme just looks a lot livelier than DI. Curious if you've played Crown of Kings expansion for Paladins - I picked it up on a lark and regret it, think it's comparable to Venus Next in adding unnecessary extras.
I did a while back, before it came out. Im always weary of expansions for games I like a lot that add more, as i feel you really need to have played Paladins out to really benefit from Crown of Kings, and i bet most people who got it have not played Paladins 50 odd times.
"Card art is not game theming"
THANK YOU!
Ha, cheers. That's a hill i'll fight and die on as well. There is much more to to theme than some nice pictures of characters on cards
BTW, your criticism of game mechanisms that are justified “because game” is spot on for Vital Lacerda games, or at least that’s what I found out after acquiring Kanban EV. The game is not that complex, but the rules are hard to remember because they barely make thematic sense.
*HOWEVER*, I wonder if this “because game” criticism is something you apply selectively?
Huh? Huh? Are you a hypocrite?
UPDATE: you just said something that is very close to exactly why I said I have a problem with Kanban EV, the game gives the impression of being very thematic when in reality it’s not.
I think "because game" would get applied unevenly by me. I'm only human after all.
Take a game I like such as Paladins of the west kingdom, that's almost entirely "because game" and yet it still works for me. But it also doesn't do random stuff like add "acquiring cellular phone coverage towers" to a medieval game, which is how i felt about the crystals in On Mars. Something like Castles of Burgundy is also almost all "because game", but it works because its barely trying to put a theme on.
Based on your edit, i think you get where i am coming from. Its when the game is either marketed or presented as deeply thematic when it ain't.
@@3MBG funny you say that about Paladins, I first acquired Paladins this past year as a new foray into heavier solo euro gaming, friggin loved it and played it probably a dozen times consecutively, which motivated me to go even heavier and get Kanban, but Kanban literally made me angry because of how pretentious it is. Good times.
So for Paladins, having a pasted-on theme is definitely not a problem for me, it might be my favorite game of all time.
But as far as a heavy game that has thematic integration out the wazoo, I’m going through Leaving Earth solo right now and OH MY GOD I don’t think it gets any more thematic than this, but at the cost of sometimes feeling like “where’s the game here?” I love it regardless, and I have only just begun the journey. But the other day I was trying to come up with a plan for getting an astronaut to Venus and back and I cannot believe how immersive that experience was (I still haven’t figured it out, so no spoilers please).
OMG, isn't leaving Earth just a gem. Good solo and probably best at 2 players because you get in a race and you start taking risks, like firing all your rockets without testing them and hoping.
Worst 4:48 minutes of my life, thank you for fixing it.
late night recording after baby wrangling all day, lol
Odd question : have you played Hands in the sea?
Nope, not even heard of that one sorry
@@3MBG I thought of you after I played it. It's a two player only deck building war game that builds on A Few Acres of Snow. It was freaking brilliant. It came out in 2016. It is the first Punic War with Rome and Carthage. I went from no interest to lust for this game.
As a huge marvel fanboy I don't understand the appeal of marvel champions at all. The game is so dull and uninspiring. Like every boss battler has a better pacing and more interesting mechanics. Both Aeon's End and Sentinels are so so much better when it comes to Boss design and card strategy. And if you want a good deck construction game, just play Arkham horror lcg. Marvel Champions is just inferior to its competition on every level. And that makes me sad, because the theme is so much better for me than all the other games I mentioned.
That's how i felt about it, plus i didnt care for Marvel, so it left my collection pretty much immediately after the review
Cant be mad at this. Only game on the list I've tried is Dune Imperium and it didn't interest me at all. Everything else mentioned I have no desire to play and feeling pretty good about my choices.
Hmm finding more and more people who don't like dune imperium. I'm glad. Only one in our gaming group that finds it boring.
Ohhhhh I like your reasoning!
I have to disagree with people comparing marvel champions and Arkham horror. They are two very different games that just happen to be LCGs and it annoys me they get compared. I think FFG do a great job of making 3 co-op lcgs that all scratch different itches.
Cards on the table I thought Arkham horror was a great story ruined by a bad core mechanic. The chaos bag can do one. Ruined the game for me.
I hear you, but the mechanics of Marvel Champions definitely evolved out of AH LCG design, being the next LCG by the same company. Mechanically there are a lot of threads in common, schemes for one, the villain cards be played 1 per player each round, how minions and threat work, and some of the core card interactions. But they play very very differently.
@@3MBG I will say I have enjoyed dune imperium but I couldn’t quite put my finger on the issue I had with it. You highlighted it here and I have just sold it on the Facebook uk board game page. I agree it’s a great game but the theme just doesn’t quite click. Also I picked up aeons end at the weekend and man that is ticking my deck building needs well.
Finally someone who shares my opinion of Dune Imperium! OK game but nothing grabs me even though the Dune theme should.
Thanks again
When I first started watching this, I tried to think of games in my collection I would get rid of and Dinosaur Island was the first thought that popped into my head. For a lot of the same reasons.
When i see cards with novels written on them in marvel champions i am just glad i never played the game.. hard pass
I find the original Dune takes way too long (8 hours the one time I played), and it didn't seem strategic or tactical because it was nearly impossible to have any measure of control, and the alliance cards never really came up at regular intervals. Maybe that was the group though.
For me Dune Imperium does have enough flavour, although I know some don't feel that way. My main gaming partner is my wife and she loves Everdell, and so Dune gives us something similar (worker placement) but different with enough conflict without being mean. Helps that she liked the Dune movie too.
Now I just have to find a way to get the Battle of the Five Armies reprint to the table with her (she doesn't like Ameritrash, but she likes LotR).
Was that the old dune or the new? 8 hours is about 4 hours too long for a long game of dune.
@@3MBG It was the GF9 reprint with the full complement of players, only 2 alliances were made the whole time (2 alliances on one Shai Halud card), and it went the full 10 turns. The emperor and spacing guild were partners from round 3 and they basically let the game run the full 10 turns, no one could hold even 2 strongholds at a time for more than a round. Probably one of my most anticipated gaming events and probably one of the most disappointing.
I went into Dune Imperium having read nothing about it, and before playing it I thought it'd be lame, but it really clicked for me. I got destroyed my first game because I played it like a deck builder when it's really more about the turn to turn decisions to maximize your position each round, I find that water drives so much spice control and spice drives economy and flexibility/power, and you gotta be sharp about worker placement and timing in a way I find other WP games don't demand. Best of all, my wife and I can knock out a game with time left over for a marvel show (that's a joke - we're working through Bridgerton currently)
Damn, that does sound like a worse case scenario game of Dune. My condolences. Must have been a lot of downtime too for each turn to go for 45-50 minutes. Woof
No! dune imperium! How could you!!😬
Pretty easily, lol
I have not played Dinosaur Island... but I do not like that art style, at all.
That's fair. Art is art. And that 80's fluorescent scheme is definitely not a safe art choice
on mars big fan here ☝️
Love it!
"Dune Imperium: a dull, bloodless lifeless game."
Probably not a quote they'll use on the box 😂
For me, it's fine. I like playing Dune: Adminium, but don't like the intrigue cards. Better with Ix. Better with minis. Still prefer Arnak.
This is why i don't get invited to influencer/publisher parties :)
@@3MBG haha 😂
I think if you like the Marvel universe you get into those games. I don't. No thank you. I'd rather play Dice Thrones or Netrunner
My friend, you have a baby. Your short term memory is a goner!
Wait, what are you talking about? I forgot.