By being able to place reinforcements on the LONG AREA on the sides of the board (9 in each side unless ocuppied by something). You can't place them on the L-Shaped tiles. That changes the dynamic a lot. Please review this video again since this can change the flow of the game at any point.
This game is a masterpice. I can foresee this gem staying in my collection for as long as I breathe. My second fav game of 2015 and imo, the very best 2p game out there.
Great job as usual! Really enjoy the quality of your videos. One thing I wanted to clarify (just got this game, so I might be wrong). I think scientist reinforcements can only be added to the open spaces on the long side of the board and can't be added to the L-shaped pieces as you showed. Otherwise, like I said, awesome video.
+karma121983 Oh wow, you are right! That is pretty huge actually, sometimes I was having scientists spawn and block or spawn and be useless because they were so far from the action. Thanks for the clarification, looking forward to playing this again with that correct rule!
Another great video! One thing to add on REPLAYABILITY is that the board is made up of six tiles and they can be laid out in many different configurations as well as being flipped over to the savannah side where two of the tiles have no rocks at all making the strategy much more different than with the jungle tiles. It's not a huge change in the way that you were describing, pieces not being included in certain versions, etc., but it still adds to the replayability.
+Xan Man Very good point! I hadn't actually tried the Savannah side when I filmed the review (something I really should have) and subsequently I have and it definitely changed the feel of the game abit.
You cannot place reinforcements on the L shaped tiles; rules specifically say this. I think this is to protect baby raptors later in the game. Great review otherwise!
You mentioned early in the overview that you can spend an action point to wake up a sleeping baby raptor, but you made it seem as if that can be done without the mommy raptor being next to the baby; the mommy has to be next to the baby for that action to work. You showed the mommy waking up a baby later in the overview, but I just wanted to point that out in case it confused anyone.
To be honest, I think this is a game with amazing potential - about 90% of it is simply incredible - but is basically destroyed by the 10%, which simply are the cards. You mentioned that point already, albeit, in my opinion, not harshly enough. First of all, how many action points you get is basically a matter of luck only. You can't play the 'right' card if you don't draw it. Second of all - quite related - there are simply good and bad cards. Not all cards are equally strong, not even close. In fact, most times, the card with the higher number is the better card, end of story. And that makes the card playing part of the game just incredibly dull and random, and as that is a huge part of the game, sadly also the game itself. Again, I find this to be really sad, because I really really like everything else about this game. The way it looks, the way you can spend action points, the asymmetry, the atmosphere, the mechanics except card playing, and so on. I'm almost tempted to make house rules and print my own set of cards for the game - actually balanced cards that do different stuff, but on average have the same strength, and maybe cut off the edges a bit (for example only numbers from 1-6) so you don't get that one singlle devastating turn by coincidence. Now that I think of it, another good idea might actually be to simply have every player have every card on his hand from the beginning of the game. Both players have absolutely even chances then, 50% of the luck factor is removed, and the other 50% at least has something to do with guessing what your opponent will play. Hm. What do you think? :-)
That would be an interesting house rule, certainly would get into mindgames more if an opponent could drop that 9 value at any time but you don't know when. I think it's totally worth trying. I agree, in my plays recently I've been more annoyed at card draw luck though I did win three games in a row recently and I'd love to think it's because I'm good at it :P
By being able to place reinforcements on the LONG AREA on the sides of the board (9 in each side unless ocuppied by something). You can't place them on the L-Shaped tiles. That changes the dynamic a lot. Please review this video again since this can change the flow of the game at any point.
Best board game reviews on TH-cam! The quality of your videos are top notch, love the format!
This game is a masterpice. I can foresee this gem staying in my collection for as long as I breathe. My second fav game of 2015 and imo, the very best 2p game out there.
Any new games you prize as highly as this? Everyone I’ve played this with has liked it so far.
Great job as usual! Really enjoy the quality of your videos. One thing I wanted to clarify (just got this game, so I might be wrong). I think scientist reinforcements can only be added to the open spaces on the long side of the board and can't be added to the L-shaped pieces as you showed. Otherwise, like I said, awesome video.
+karma121983 Oh wow, you are right! That is pretty huge actually, sometimes I was having scientists spawn and block or spawn and be useless because they were so far from the action. Thanks for the clarification, looking forward to playing this again with that correct rule!
Another great video! One thing to add on REPLAYABILITY is that the board is made up of six tiles and they can be laid out in many different configurations as well as being flipped over to the savannah side where two of the tiles have no rocks at all making the strategy much more different than with the jungle tiles. It's not a huge change in the way that you were describing, pieces not being included in certain versions, etc., but it still adds to the replayability.
+Xan Man Very good point! I hadn't actually tried the Savannah side when I filmed the review (something I really should have) and subsequently I have and it definitely changed the feel of the game abit.
I love the format of you reviews. You should put the link to the bgg page of the gaem.
Great review Jon. Ordering it!
Thank you for the great video!
You cannot place reinforcements on the L shaped tiles; rules specifically say this. I think this is to protect baby raptors later in the game. Great review otherwise!
The raptor player gets less TOTAL action points if the mother gets shot?
Unfortunately, it's been too long since I played this game to remember the rules enough to answer your question. Sorry about that!
No, they must lose points before moving the mother
This one is hard to find already for a good price. I hope they reprint this one soon, as I would love to play it. :-)
You mentioned early in the overview that you can spend an action point to wake up a sleeping baby raptor, but you made it seem as if that can be done without the mommy raptor being next to the baby; the mommy has to be next to the baby for that action to work. You showed the mommy waking up a baby later in the overview, but I just wanted to point that out in case it confused anyone.
Raptor rarely wins....
To be honest, I think this is a game with amazing potential - about 90% of it is simply incredible - but is basically destroyed by the 10%, which simply are the cards.
You mentioned that point already, albeit, in my opinion, not harshly enough. First of all, how many action points you get is basically a matter of luck only. You can't play the 'right' card if you don't draw it. Second of all - quite related - there are simply good and bad cards. Not all cards are equally strong, not even close. In fact, most times, the card with the higher number is the better card, end of story. And that makes the card playing part of the game just incredibly dull and random, and as that is a huge part of the game, sadly also the game itself.
Again, I find this to be really sad, because I really really like everything else about this game. The way it looks, the way you can spend action points, the asymmetry, the atmosphere, the mechanics except card playing, and so on.
I'm almost tempted to make house rules and print my own set of cards for the game - actually balanced cards that do different stuff, but on average have the same strength, and maybe cut off the edges a bit (for example only numbers from 1-6) so you don't get that one singlle devastating turn by coincidence.
Now that I think of it, another good idea might actually be to simply have every player have every card on his hand from the beginning of the game. Both players have absolutely even chances then, 50% of the luck factor is removed, and the other 50% at least has something to do with guessing what your opponent will play. Hm. What do you think? :-)
That would be an interesting house rule, certainly would get into mindgames more if an opponent could drop that 9 value at any time but you don't know when. I think it's totally worth trying. I agree, in my plays recently I've been more annoyed at card draw luck though I did win three games in a row recently and I'd love to think it's because I'm good at it :P