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I was tempted by a couple of these, but I don’t own any games on your list.
For a Circus themed board game if you haven't checked it already: drum roll from Greek designers : Drakopoulos and Kokkinis, its not something wow!!!! But it's an ok euro. Recommended only for those who like the Circus theme. After a couple plays (7-9) i sold it
Thank you for the suggestion. We would be keen to try it if we manage to grab a copy somewhere!
That's my favourite kind of videos. Peter from boardgamegreeks Your opinion about witchcraft now put some doubts if i should purchase it or not, because i didn't pick resist i w8ed for the "better" version
Hello Petro! These days, it is hard to find a lot of critical opinions, with many channels simply covering games that they like. What kind of solo games do you enjoy?
Great video! Could you do a oh my goods big box unboxing or review video?
Thank you. We haven't played Oh My Goods just yet, so we haven't decided if we would review it yet or not. The box containts about 250 cards and 50 cubes: basically the previously published base game and the two expansions. The size of the box is very reasonable for a "big box" - it is not so big actually, but still fit sleeves if you were wondering. We are looking forward to playing this!
Greetings from Greece!!!
Hello Milto :-) and welcome on-board!
Legacy of yu was the best company i had while at work. It really made my day for the whole campaign time.
It is such a good game, a great solo and fantastic experience. But to be truthful, all Garphill games are amazing solo!
Hi. I'm Panos from BoardGameGreeks , greetings from Greece. I discovered your Chanel from the video with Azul. I suggested Petros to send you the invitation for the collaboration video and thank you for the participation. You have very good content in you channel. We hope to see you again in a future video 😀
Γεια σου Πάνο! Thank you for the recommendation, it was a pleasure to contribute to the video 😀
Nice video. Totally agree re Distilled - ditched my copy. So much luck in what you remove and then you only make 1 drink. The whole ageing process - just tedious, repetitive gameplay. You couldn't have a strategy because you could never get enough money. A BIG disappointed for a beautiful looking game - style over substance.
Fortunately, their next game, Luthier, looks like it has way more engaging gameplay - it is more of a gamers' game. Hopefully, its production will be equally good.
Absolutely delightful review!!
🙌 thank you
3 Minute Board Games is in final stages of producing a board game, Red Dust Rebellion, with GMT Games in USA. It is a COIN (COunter INsurgency) game based on Mars, so maybe not for everyone. I have my P500 order in - the game is currently at the printer. International shipping costs can present quite a hurdle - so hopefully resellers in Europe will carry….
We are indeed aware of this, but many thanks for mentioning it! It looks like an interesting game. But now, this is the moment of truth: we have never played a COIN game. Where should we start?
@@boardgamecourt my thoughts: determine what player count you prefer. There are two games for 2 players: Colonial Twilight and The British Way (which contains 4 separate games). It is my understanding that the activation mechanism for these two games are different than the more “standard” activation method used in 4 player games. There is a three faction volume: All Bridges Burning. Some 4 faction games have bots that can fill out the lineup if playing solo or with less than 4 players. Some bots are flowchart style and some games have card driven bots, Andean Abyss is the original COIN game. It is considered by many to be “pure” COIN. Andean Abyss is available on Rally the Troops. Cuba Libre is consider by many to be another great entrée into COIN - 4 factions but a small, manageable map. As for the other 4 faction games: pick a subject or theme that interests you. I love Fire in the Lake - but it is considered to be more towards the complex end of the COIN spectrum. The Players Aid has published a fairly recent video dedicated to COIN and they discuss their favorites as they rank all of the then existing volumes. Rodney on Watch It Played has published some vids on some COIN volumes. It will be interesting to hear your opinions if you do choose to try COIN.
@@boardgamecourt My thoughts: consider desired player count for intro into COIN games. Colonial Twilight and The British Way are two player games. The British Way actually has four different games within it. Not yet played these two - but it is my understanding that the activation mechanism is quite different than more traditional four faction COIN volumes. All Bridges Burning is a three faction game. Some four faction volumes have bots that facilitate additional player counts from 1 to 3. Some of the bots are flowcharts and newer bots are card driven. Andean Abyss is the original volume and is thus often considered at "pure COIN". Andean Abyss is available on Rally the Troops. Cuba Libre is often recommended as a starter entree volume because of its smaller map, while still being a 4 faction game. The Players Aid has a video on their recent rating of all volumes available at their press time. Rodney on Watch It Played presents some COIN content. Some COIN volumes are more complex than others. Not sure if the BGG Complexity Ratings reveal those differences. Other than that, pick a subject or conflict that interests you and go for it. I started with Fire in the Lake, playing all 4 factions - and remain awed by how that game handles the complexities of that conflict. But everyone's interests are different.
@@boardgamecourt I don’t understand what is happening - I have replied - twice, but my reply seems to disappear….. ugh
All your comments are visible to us! Thank you so much for your detailed insights. For us, it would indeed make sense to try a 2p game first to see if we like this genre. The British Way seems ideal. Now, we only need to find a copy, which seems to be hard to do!
Distilled, Nucleum and Evacuation? Many of these were on so many top lists for 2023. But certainly everyone has an opinion and on these 3 I strongly disagree. But appreciate the video and I recommend trying Nucleum with the expansion, I found it improved the game a fair bit, even tho i loved it already.
Thank you for your input. Of course, our opinions (and the opinions of others) are subjective. We don't have any vested interest in disliking games - in fact, we play board games because we love playing them. Evacuation is the only one that we still own - and we may well give it another try at some point, but right now it is not being "desired". Nucleum is not a bad game - but still it is a disappointment for us: it is not the economic game we expected it to be; it is not the hybrid of Brass/Barrage (by the way, we love both Brass and Barrage). It is more puzzly than an economic/simulation game for our taste. However, we can see how this appeals to others, and we are happy for this! We love many of the games by Simone Luciani, but this one was not for us. Now, as for Distilled, this was simply not for us. We found the gameplay quite blunt to be honest (rinse and repeat).
Nice, great video. You confirmed at least 3 games I passed on from the get-go. Septima I really disliked because of the theme. The production with the tray's etc. looks fantastic. BUT the theme: Witches and witch-hunts/trials! What a horrible history represented in a game. I also love Underwater Cities. And I am a fan of good Sci-Fi. But evacuation looked boring when people revied it -- and hyped it up!! I will not buy or play this either.
Thank you for your comment. We should, though, emphasize that everything is subjective. The worst game can be an excellent experience with the right group and under the right circumstances.
Just discovered your channel and I LOVE it! Keep it up!
Welcome aboard and thank you so much!
Where are you guys from - Spain, Argentina?
UK :-)
The whole struggle throughout in Evacuation.... I felt the same for first two plays. Starting from around the fourth play, it became amazing by the end. A big triumph. It just took more plays to blossom. You can easily get to production level 14 on key resources by the end, with more experience! Huge depth to play better and better. It's not calibrated well for first plays.
That is quite a big investment, which indeed some games require. The thing is that this is the only game out 10 that we still have in our collection... So, we may even give it another chance.
@@boardgamecourt Yes, especially in trying to rotate games within a big collection. Anyway, my score progression was 35, 49, 69, 94. We played full VP mode with all options included. The winning score in the last game was 108. The losing score in that game was 19. So there is absolutely huge scope for the second half of the game to feel hugely rewarding (and earned, given the chance for failure). You should experience it at least once with that sense of triumph. Be sure to interpret infrastructure card rewards correctly as production steps rather than one-off resources. One can refresh cards in one offer every turn, at a cost of one resource from either side, without being forced to go with the respective action. Pushing up a good tech column fast can really help unlock opportunities. Some cards are not worth playing (except situationally) due to low progress track values. Playing 30 to 40% cards by tucking is crucial. You'll get there. There are two ways a game can be : the skill ceiling is met fast and the game is same-y after that. Like Underwater Cities. Or it can be a tough proposition to start off with but gets much better eventually. That's Evacuation or Weather Machine or Inventions or Anachrony etc. The games that need time to shine do suffer in review scores. But it's fair and understandable. I'm glad you kept the game. I ended up selling Underwater Cities and kept Evacuation! Even though I did not like the punishing first plays. :)
Thank you for your very insightful comments. From Vladimir Suchy, our favs so far have been Underwater Cities and Woodcraft - but we haven't played Medina yet or Pulsar. But we completely get what you are saying about progression. This actually applies to Brass and (either version) and Barrage where new players around the table don't stand a chance against more seasoned ones. You mentioned Weather Machine: this is currently Fotios' top Lacerda game, followed by Kanban. However, in such games (like WM) we would argue that the gameplay of others around the table highly affects your own score as there are piggy back/semi-collaboration opportunities all around. Inventions is in the same sphere, but for us that was a bit too convoluted and the combos/chaining actions (when occured) did not feel as satisfying. Once again, thank you for sharing your insights. You may have convinced us to play Evacuation once more!
Apparently the "drinking" games had no success this year, no whisky, no coffee 😅 thanks for the nice list! I understand most of your explanations 👍 and I fully agree: life is too short, and there are thousands of games being published every year... Why bother 😌
Play what you enjoy! There are enough games for everyone! Thank you for watching!!
I'd love to be able to do one of these videos, but some of my most disappointing games were ones which I created sponsored playthroughs of... so it would be "wrong", But we share some games in common of which ones turned out to be disappointing. They are good games, but good thesedays, is not good enough.
That is true. I guess the benefits of a small channel when no one is willing to pay you hahaha The quality (and threshold) increases over the years - we need to be selective otherwise we don't enjoy the games that we love.
Great video as always.
Just found the channel. Good reviews. Thanks. Subbed!
We are glad you found us! Welcome on-board!!
thank you for this saves me from buying bad games, i knew septimas art is the only selling point for that game ofcourse its gonna bomb i knew it XD
Keep in mind that our opinions are subjective as always! Many of the games in our list were hits for others! Thank you so much for watching!
Hello! We have sent you an email asking about a review. Could you check your spam folder and let us know if you're interested? :)
Helpful list as I value your opinions. Thanks. Only game I still have hopes for is Nucleum as I just purchased it with expansion. 😮
Well, it is possible that you like Nucleum more than us, and we hope this is true given your purchase. Btw, we haven't checked the expansion and how it changes the game. Let us know!!
Agree - if you do not enjoy it - give it away - pass it on.
Exactly, why hoarding them? ;-)
Great video. I haven’t played any of these, but the one I would like to try is Nucleum.
Thank you! Our copy is now sold..!
Bottom 10 sounds more like it! Although I LOVE Nucleum and Distilled - Septima was absolutely atrocious - especially for Mindclash. I think Nucleum is completely mis-advertised, it is a puzzle game - every game presents different challenges based on the Milestones and purple contracts and how you can achieve them - when you trigger your recharge etc. Ultimately NOT economic = )
We are glad you agree. Nucleum and Evacuation were the hardest ones to include in the list, but not all games are for everyone and these were not for us!
3 Ring Circus was a real disappointment. I was very skeptical of Devir following that but they won me over with Salton Sea. That game is a banger. As someone who loves both Brass and Barrage, I didn't see the appeal of Nucleum. It just didn't draw me in. A disappointment for me is that the new edition of The Smoky Valley is still not out! You know what wasn't disappointing? This video!
Thank you for your very kind words!! We are looking forward for Smoky Valley too with much anticipation. Devir has made many many good games, Salton Sea is very robust but the best for us are Red Cathedral and White Castle.
"I don't want to play a game where i get punished, i can do that in real life." You need a coffee break. But it's a nice list. I was wondering if you have unplayed games somewhere on a shelf?
Quite a few games in our shelf of shame, some of them new (like El Burro), some of them older ones (like Clinic Deluxe and 18Liliput).
At The Office sound like good name for a meaningless game!
Indeed! There is a retheme coming we think
Thanks for sharing about the games you didn’t enjoy so much. I played Nucleum at a friend’s and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected. So I was even thinking that maybe Brass may not be for me. But after watching your video, I think I will try Brass Birmingham one day. There must be a reason why it is number one on BGG. I played Evacuation during our local quarterly gaming event. One play is never enough to fully appreciate a game. I would like to play it again so I can develop an opinion. These games have quite heavy rules and it takes time to read and read again to know them in detail. So after spending hours to learn these games, it is disappointing if the game doesn’t deliver, as expected. Talking about satisfactory experience, I am really happy with Age of Comics and it is thanks to your channel that I decided to purchase it. Thanks again for your board game reviews. I really liked when you invited friends to review their games 😊
Yes, indeed, when you invest so much time and effort, it is double disappointing if the game does not work! We will try to have more guests in the future!! 😉
I like Brass and Barrage. So, I had no interest in Nucleum. Why do I need something like Brass and Barrage when I have Brass and Barrage? Pass
Very true!!! 😂
I think the art style fits with the quirky theme and I like. By the way, those are vegan burgers, not hamburgers.
Thank you for sharing your copy with us!
Lots of great choices! (And I’m looking forward to seeing more of the two show watchers on future videos haha!)
Thank you - they will most likely appear again. Note that their first appearance was on our "Top 10 Don'ts" video
Enjoyed your show quite a bit. The friendly and playful presentation was perfect. I also appreciated that there were a few games I had never had a chance to play yet, so you both gave me something to see out on the next game night. Always a treat to find a new favourite game. Thanks!
Thank you so much for watching! 😌 We want to bring a more relaxed, non-scripted style to our videos. We are glad you enjoyed it and we hope you like the rest of our videos too
Thank you for the video - great idea for a series where you compare games! As always, I really enjoy listening to and watching you, even if you talk about games that aren't necessarily my cup of tea 😉 By the way, Elena's t-shirt - what a coincidence! I've recently become a fan of our local American football team, the Panthers Wroclaw, who are doing well in European league! Keep your fingers crossed! 😀
Thank you! This is a period that we enjoy some lighter games to be honest - it may be the weather! Elena is not a fan of the sport, but she loved that jersey!!
Stone Age is one of my favorites as well. I have wayfarer of South trigrus as well but yet to play it.
All Garphill games are very very good. We don't own Stone Age, but we never say no when an opportunity arises!
Very interesting idea for content ! congrats to both of you guys
Thank you George! 😊
They are both great games. Thanks for the review. To celebrate this, you can all get 30% off your first order.
Somehow I expected *both* games to come in large boxes. Because towers.
True!
since you are reviewing Sky towers, I suggest you to try Haze Island from the same developer
Charles Ward, the designer of both games was very kind to send us both games for review, but we haven’t yet had the chance to play Haze Islands.
@@boardgamecourt if you plan to review Haze island, compare it with Adamastor or Hameln Cave, another naval theme hidden gem. Actually there is another tower card game come to my mind, Three little wolves.
Hello my dear friends! Has it really been a year since you last handed out awards? 😉 Once again, you look beautiful and elegant, and you have honored some truly great games! Sky Team (which I bought thanks to your recommendation) will be with me soon. Legacy of Yu - I am really hoping for a Polish edition, but if there won't be one, I will definitely buy the English version. White Castle (also thanks to you!) is already in the insert and waiting to hit the table soon. The same goes for Darwin's Journey. Voidfall and Scholars are on my shopping list, and I haven't heard of Container, but I'm eager to check it out. Thank you for the video (your commercial breaks are priceless...🤣).
Thank you for watching our silliness! We greatly appreciate your support over the last year and a bit. We hope you enjoy the games you got based on our recommendations and we hope that these games work for you as well as they worked for us! Have a great day!
Wow! Blown away about the Game of the Year award. Thanks so much! I'm so pleased you enjoyed Scholars!
Thank you for the many amazing games you have created with Shem!
Great playthrough video and tutorial, many thanks. Immediate new subscriber :) BTW, Nuneaton is pronounced: Nun ---- e --- ton . Or more accurately for the region; Nun --- e --- t'n (where you skip the 'o' in ton)
Welcome aboard! We are glad to have you in our small family! Thanks for letting us know about Nuneaton. Are you from around there?
UK, but i went to university in Wolverhampton, so I am somewhat familiar with the area. Looking forward to my first game of Brass; Birmingham this evening thanks to your playthrough :)
Thanks for the award 🙂
Our pleasure! We really enjoyed your game! We will soon have a video on our channel comparing 5 Towers to Sky Towers (another card/tower game designed by Charles Ward).
Loved to watch this. The show was amazing. I would love to see you mentioning at least 2 runner ups for each awards. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, we keep this suggestion for next year, we agree that it would be better to present 2-3 runner-ups in each category as well.
I love that they committed to the bit. Very nice video. 😀
Thank you! 😊
Great production Elena & Fotios. Really appreciate everything you guys do. Your game selections in every category are spot on.
Our pleasure! There were many great games this year, it was difficult to select for some categories!
Such a fun production-thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for watching!
Nice vid guys, glad to see container getting some love. Such a special game!
It really is! One of Elena's very favourites. Currently in the middle of building our own custom copy of it! Thank you so much Craig!
Another super-great video. I really look forward to your "shows".
Thank you very much! We enjoy making them, so hopefully this comes through!