I had not a single opinion about the game, I won it on a giveaway. I like garphill games but I didn't love them. I skipped Wayfarers and got this one, I started reading the rulebook and I got really interested, I tabled it and man oh man I love it and those who I played with it, too. This was my greatest surprise this year and now I see your review and I want this thrilogy! Thanks for this review Luke have a great xmas
I had the exact same experience (won in a giveaway) and when I finally figured it out with a group, I’ve had the same impressions. Really great game, thanks for the review!
Another great, solid review! Your content production is just astounding. Looking forward to your top ten of 2023! This is the first year where I've actually played more than 10 newly released games. Wayfarers and Scholars are the only two Garphill Games that I've played. (I backed Ezra and Nehemiah and plan on backing Inventors). The other themes and settings didn't appeal to me as much. But Wayfarers is a 10/10 and a top ten game all-time. Despite only getting the game in July of this year it's my most played game at 15 sessions (all solo). I absolutely love it. I only have about four plays of Scholars under my belt so far and it took a little more work for me to get the hang of this one and get into it. But my enjoyment is gradually increasing. I currently have it as an 8.5/10 but I definitely see potential for that rise.
Thank you so much! I do try to make the production a lot more visually pleasing as I'm bored with the whole "put on a camera and talk" style which I get is very easy to put out (takes like 10 minutes of editing compared to my 2 hours per video), but I want to stand out!
Nice review Luke. I might get the new trilogy at some point. I will wait till the third comes out with expansions (also hope it will be good) and then look for the tie-in for all 3 of them, as they did with the Kingdom trilogy.
Dice Tower's guys discussing in main studio weren't amazed by Scholars, but Mike Delisio who explained the rules give this game highest rank (basing on games on his shelf he's definitelly into Shem Phillips' games).
The creators already say they are going to do a KS for all the south expansions, so, they could probably improve this games just like they have done with there other games. Raiders improve massive with expansions, Arquitects I like the more strategies, Viscounts also fix so many of the other scoring strategies, because in base game, castle is very powerful and just get some points from the other three ways, but in the expansions, then you can destroy people with just building or manuscripts. So, very sure they will improve in this trilogy very soon. Was looking foward for this one, I did enjoy Wayfares more, but this is a solid game, I think 8 1/2 stars is even more accurate, not a 9, but over 8.
I sold Wayfarers immediately after the first play with 4 players, because everyone chose the same top path of the map and some players got blocked for some turns because of that and it really seemed like a design flaw.
That can happen but that is mostly down to bad play. Why they all chose the top route, if you see that's the case, change your path and go for stuff others don't want so you aren't getting blocked.
@@TheBrokenMeeple because the rewards were more interesting. It might be a bad play but the game really seemed broken so I think the designer didn't thought about this case
I like Explorers along with it's expansion. I liked Scythia better than North Sea, so traded North Sea away. I didn't like any of the West Kingdom series. I really enjoy Wayfarers and find Scholars very good. I think I'm obviously not very good at Scholars though, as with Luke saying the student solo difficulty is easy to beat and I've so far lost to it twice 😀
Thanks for the review! Wayafers is a gem, for sure. I've got Scholars, and I hope to table it this week. I've always had an interest in trying Viscounts; how is it solo? Been my main mode of play lately.
Viscount has a great solo mode. The game may take a bit to learn (there are multiple steps to a turn) but once you get it down the game is amazingly smooth. I'd say it's the best solo mode by Garphill.
The comparison to Lacerda is not ridiculous (mostly because I made it), this one is right there with Vinhos complexity. Obviously this is not On Mars complex.
I think that the variability and variety on the scroll cards is mostly down to the languages required; because each game plays with only a subset of the 48 scroll cards, you might have games that are Hebrew-heavy and Greek-light, for example, or the opposite of that.
@@TheBrokenMeeple Hi Luke. I meant yours. it seems like Wayfarers would be at 1 spot for you. I know you will mention these all in your full rankings, but it would be good to know how these 7 are ranked for you. You hint at it on the video...
Luke, you mentioned architects works of wonder expansion here perhaps being too much- has your opinion changed over time? I ask because it’s currently in my cart haha
It has some good aspects to it like the princess and other dude but I don't think the wonder buildings was as good as it could have been. But it's still fine.
@@TheBrokenMeepleNice. For me it's probably 1. Raiders (W/expansions), 2. Circadians, 3. Scholars, 4. Architects, 5. Wayfarers, 6. Viscounts. And thats a pretty tight grouping. I really like Viscounts
The amazing thing about Garphill is the games are so good you won't find a consensus. As of today, I'd tentatively say: 1 - Paladins (after hearing this is only good at two, recently really enjoyed our first couple plays at three) 2 - Scholars (loved our first three plays of this; scratched a lot of the same itch as Paladins) 3 - Viscounts (one of my wife's 3 favorite games of all time) 4 - Architects (one of the best euros for higher player-count) 5 - Raiders (Scythia is more streamlined, North Sea w/ expansions has more variety and crunch) 6 - Circadians First Light (overlooked gem, especially w/ expansion) 7 - Wayfarers (I expect this will go up but hasn't quite clicked as much as it has for other reviewers) 8 - Hadrian's Wall (my wife also really loves this one, and we are looking forward to next in series) 9 - Explorers (even though last, I enjoy playing this as a quicker lighter game with my kids). I haven't played Chaos Order (own but don't have the right group), Shipwrights (have new version kickstarted), or Legacy of Yu (not a solo gamer).
I agree with Luke on the top 4. 1. Wayfarers 2. Viscounts 3. Architects 4. Scholars 5. Paladins 6. Raiders 7. Hadrian’s Wall I haven’t played the others
I completely disagree about wayfarers, your choices are not hard constricted but if you want to do well you need to follow the track in the middle board. Which scripts your decisions. On top of that with no way to cycle displays of cards your stuck making sub optimal choices till a card you need shows up. I was underwhelmed with the game. It was good. But the game feels samey cause you have to follow your script. And if you don't, the game never ends.
@@TheBrokenMeeple it boils down to 2 choices with each move and the game doesn't end unless someone reaches the end so you can't just ignore it. I've won all 4 games I played by purely efficiently sprinting tonthe end because you don't give time to others to build their tableau of points and the rewards are too good on the track to not race for them.
Using the same artist over and over is a mistake. I hate Paladins and I see this game and my lizard-brain thinks this must be very similar, if only because the art is the same. The art makes me not want to try another Garphill Game. The mechanics can be 100% different, but the same art makes me think it's a just a variation of an earlier game.
There should be a sign at the beginning stating: huge bias as I love the games from this publisher. I think you've been more strict with other games having similar issues as Scholars
Except I've rated Explorers a 5/10 and Paladins barely a 6/10 and Shipwrights would probably be a 5/10 at best. A publisher can make solid games, but that doesn't mean I love them all and inflate them. And honestly the games I've rated low recently have had FAR MORE issues than this one had. Even then it didn't get a distinction seal.
Indeed I haven't watched his old reviews. I'm a new subscriber (just after Essen this year). I just heard other reviewers complaining that this game is not good for people who can't distinguish colors easily. I remembered you heavily complained on this topic with another recent review. That's why I thought you were slightly "soft" in here (but it doesn't seem to be the case)
I did mention in the review that colour blindness may be an issue for many and certainly it's a negative to point out. But as someone who personally isn't colour blind, a game would not drop a whole rating point simply because of it.
![ทางเดินชีวิต - ธีเดช ทองอภิชาติ x อ.ไข่ มาลีฮวนน่า [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1f3wcG16dd4/mqdefault.jpg)
I had not a single opinion about the game, I won it on a giveaway. I like garphill games but I didn't love them. I skipped Wayfarers and got this one, I started reading the rulebook and I got really interested, I tabled it and man oh man I love it and those who I played with it, too. This was my greatest surprise this year and now I see your review and I want this thrilogy! Thanks for this review Luke have a great xmas
Thank you, you too!
I had the exact same experience (won in a giveaway) and when I finally figured it out with a group, I’ve had the same impressions. Really great game, thanks for the review!
Another great, solid review! Your content production is just astounding. Looking forward to your top ten of 2023! This is the first year where I've actually played more than 10 newly released games.
Wayfarers and Scholars are the only two Garphill Games that I've played. (I backed Ezra and Nehemiah and plan on backing Inventors). The other themes and settings didn't appeal to me as much. But Wayfarers is a 10/10 and a top ten game all-time. Despite only getting the game in July of this year it's my most played game at 15 sessions (all solo). I absolutely love it. I only have about four plays of Scholars under my belt so far and it took a little more work for me to get the hang of this one and get into it. But my enjoyment is gradually increasing. I currently have it as an 8.5/10 but I definitely see potential for that rise.
Thank you so much! I do try to make the production a lot more visually pleasing as I'm bored with the whole "put on a camera and talk" style which I get is very easy to put out (takes like 10 minutes of editing compared to my 2 hours per video), but I want to stand out!
Have a great break Luke!
What skittles makes a rainbow is a great close BTW!
Heehee, thanks you too!
Best reviewer in the business! Love Garphill games. Played all of them solo including Ezra and Nehemiah and shipwrights redux.
Thank you so much!
Thanks Luke, great review
Glad you enjoyed it!
Happy to see you liking this one - didn't like solo in Wayfarers but this one really surprised me!
Nice review before Christmas! Hope to table this during the holidays and have a good solo game.
Happy holidays!
@@TheBrokenMeeple you too Luke! Enjoy your Christmas 😊
Great review as always - and great t-shirt 😊🚗🚙
Thanks again!
Nice review Luke. I might get the new trilogy at some point. I will wait till the third comes out with expansions (also hope it will be good) and then look for the tie-in for all 3 of them, as they did with the Kingdom trilogy.
Scholars is a great game, Dice Tower really blew it on this one.
I forget what they said but I though at least one did give a high rating.
Dice Tower's guys discussing in main studio weren't amazed by Scholars, but Mike Delisio who explained the rules give this game highest rank (basing on games on his shelf he's definitelly into Shem Phillips' games).
The creators already say they are going to do a KS for all the south expansions, so, they could probably improve this games just like they have done with there other games. Raiders improve massive with expansions, Arquitects I like the more strategies, Viscounts also fix so many of the other scoring strategies, because in base game, castle is very powerful and just get some points from the other three ways, but in the expansions, then you can destroy people with just building or manuscripts. So, very sure they will improve in this trilogy very soon. Was looking foward for this one, I did enjoy Wayfares more, but this is a solid game, I think 8 1/2 stars is even more accurate, not a 9, but over 8.
I sold Wayfarers immediately after the first play with 4 players, because everyone chose the same top path of the map and some players got blocked for some turns because of that and it really seemed like a design flaw.
That can happen but that is mostly down to bad play. Why they all chose the top route, if you see that's the case, change your path and go for stuff others don't want so you aren't getting blocked.
@@TheBrokenMeeple because the rewards were more interesting. It might be a bad play but the game really seemed broken so I think the designer didn't thought about this case
I like Explorers along with it's expansion. I liked Scythia better than North Sea, so traded North Sea away. I didn't like any of the West Kingdom series. I really enjoy Wayfarers and find Scholars very good. I think I'm obviously not very good at Scholars though, as with Luke saying the student solo difficulty is easy to beat and I've so far lost to it twice 😀
I gave up on these games after wayfarers. What a mess that was. Considerably worse than paladins, which I also sold.
Wayfarers was solid, Paladins was meh.
Yep, Paladins is terrible. So bad that I am turned off to all the rest.
Thanks for the review! Wayafers is a gem, for sure. I've got Scholars, and I hope to table it this week. I've always had an interest in trying Viscounts; how is it solo? Been my main mode of play lately.
Viscount has a great solo mode. The game may take a bit to learn (there are multiple steps to a turn) but once you get it down the game is amazingly smooth. I'd say it's the best solo mode by Garphill.
The comparison to Lacerda is not ridiculous (mostly because I made it), this one is right there with Vinhos complexity. Obviously this is not On Mars complex.
He he, but A Lacerda? I mean there's so much more to juggle in a Lacerda in general hence they are heavy games. I wouldn't even class this as heavy.
For artistic expression reasons, I am going to watch the video with the Klingon interpreter on.
The micro-rules - and lack of any clue or reminder for them - was a huge handicap to my trying to learn the game this week.
I think that the variability and variety on the scroll cards is mostly down to the languages required; because each game plays with only a subset of the 48 scroll cards, you might have games that are Hebrew-heavy and Greek-light, for example, or the opposite of that.
so,
1. Viscounts
2. Architects
3. Wayfarers
4 & 5. Raiders / Scholars
6 & 7. Paladins/Explorers
Is that correct?
Is that your list or mine? Bump Wayfarers up a bit.
@@TheBrokenMeeple Hi Luke. I meant yours. it seems like Wayfarers would be at 1 spot for you.
I know you will mention these all in your full rankings, but it would be good to know how these 7 are ranked for you. You hint at it on the video...
Luke, you mentioned architects works of wonder expansion here perhaps being too much- has your opinion changed over time? I ask because it’s currently in my cart haha
It has some good aspects to it like the princess and other dude but I don't think the wonder buildings was as good as it could have been. But it's still fine.
@@TheBrokenMeeple still worth getting on balance? For solo at least?
Don’t tend to play these games by this studio. There are so many and so easy to get lost. Do a ranking video please.
1 - Wayfarers, 2 - Viscounts, 3 - Architects, 4 - Scholars, 5 - Raiders, 6 - Paladins, below that not worth mentioning! :P
Not worth mentioning ? Does that include „Legacy of Yu“ ? (which I thoroughly enjoyed - but then it is solo only and hence not really comparable)
@@TheBrokenMeepleNice. For me it's probably 1. Raiders (W/expansions), 2. Circadians, 3. Scholars, 4. Architects, 5. Wayfarers, 6. Viscounts. And thats a pretty tight grouping. I really like Viscounts
The amazing thing about Garphill is the games are so good you won't find a consensus. As of today, I'd tentatively say:
1 - Paladins (after hearing this is only good at two, recently really enjoyed our first couple plays at three)
2 - Scholars (loved our first three plays of this; scratched a lot of the same itch as Paladins)
3 - Viscounts (one of my wife's 3 favorite games of all time)
4 - Architects (one of the best euros for higher player-count)
5 - Raiders (Scythia is more streamlined, North Sea w/ expansions has more variety and crunch)
6 - Circadians First Light (overlooked gem, especially w/ expansion)
7 - Wayfarers (I expect this will go up but hasn't quite clicked as much as it has for other reviewers)
8 - Hadrian's Wall (my wife also really loves this one, and we are looking forward to next in series)
9 - Explorers (even though last, I enjoy playing this as a quicker lighter game with my kids).
I haven't played Chaos Order (own but don't have the right group), Shipwrights (have new version kickstarted), or Legacy of Yu (not a solo gamer).
I agree with Luke on the top 4.
1. Wayfarers
2. Viscounts
3. Architects
4. Scholars
5. Paladins
6. Raiders
7. Hadrian’s Wall
I haven’t played the others
What's your top Shem Philipps' games ?
TOP 100 will be revealing all that very soon 😁👍🏽
I completely disagree about wayfarers, your choices are not hard constricted but if you want to do well you need to follow the track in the middle board. Which scripts your decisions. On top of that with no way to cycle displays of cards your stuck making sub optimal choices till a card you need shows up.
I was underwhelmed with the game. It was good. But the game feels samey cause you have to follow your script. And if you don't, the game never ends.
I've done well having not gone that far down it. And you have multiple paths to take throughout so it's not like you don't have variety.
@@TheBrokenMeeple it boils down to 2 choices with each move and the game doesn't end unless someone reaches the end so you can't just ignore it. I've won all 4 games I played by purely efficiently sprinting tonthe end because you don't give time to others to build their tableau of points and the rewards are too good on the track to not race for them.
Scholars wasn't my favorite. It felt very slow and incremental, never giving you an actual engine to run. Wayfarers was much better.
Wayfarers is certainly 2 ratings higher yes!
Ah maybe this is what's why it's not clicking with me.... will continue my learning with this in mind. I feel like I'm not getting immersed.
What PSYCOPATH stores his games verticaly?!?
Some do..... 😁
Many people. Better for the games.
Using the same artist over and over is a mistake. I hate Paladins and I see this game and my lizard-brain thinks this must be very similar, if only because the art is the same. The art makes me not want to try another Garphill Game. The mechanics can be 100% different, but the same art makes me think it's a just a variation of an earlier game.
I like Mico art...... 😢
And I am tired of Ian O'Toole for Lacerda games. So overrated.
There should be a sign at the beginning stating: huge bias as I love the games from this publisher. I think you've been more strict with other games having similar issues as Scholars
Nice review though :)
Except I've rated Explorers a 5/10 and Paladins barely a 6/10 and Shipwrights would probably be a 5/10 at best. A publisher can make solid games, but that doesn't mean I love them all and inflate them. And honestly the games I've rated low recently have had FAR MORE issues than this one had. Even then it didn't get a distinction seal.
@rcmr1990 you need a "sign" that you haven't watched Luke's reviews of other Garphill Games. He is in NO WAY biased.
Indeed I haven't watched his old reviews. I'm a new subscriber (just after Essen this year). I just heard other reviewers complaining that this game is not good for people who can't distinguish colors easily. I remembered you heavily complained on this topic with another recent review. That's why I thought you were slightly "soft" in here (but it doesn't seem to be the case)
I did mention in the review that colour blindness may be an issue for many and certainly it's a negative to point out. But as someone who personally isn't colour blind, a game would not drop a whole rating point simply because of it.