Friend, you have the best tutorial Channel for boardgames, you explain the rules perfectly and your Voice is calm making pleasing tô listen to 1 hour of rules 😂. You are a natural teacher. Thanks a lot
Thank you Jon for another clear and concise teach! Two things jumped out at me right away, as the uncle of 22 nieces and nephews this is kind of creepy... But the other thing that caught my attention was the simple elegance and synergy between workers and all the actions and resources. The player reference makes the game seem even more fun! I saw the comments below about the potentially imbalanced troll king, but I'm not seeing that, of course I may be slow to the punch here... So I'll watch again and see if I notice that issue, because otherwise it seems really balanced with plenty of opportunities to leave players feeling really powerful. Great job teaching, Thank you thank you. I have my finger on the Kickstarter button, just cogitating... ... One other observation if I may, I don't think the cauldrons make sense, they should be some kind of pillar or soapbox or something... I just don't see standing on a cauldron as something you could actually do without dire consequences.
45:05 Didn't spend an Obsidian. Great video as always! I'll repeat what I said elsewhere, but the main thing I don't like is the variability of the troll king. Especially early on, it can create some pretty stark divergences between the player's engines. While those differences may be small initially, small early differences translate to large late game differences. Most of the rest of the variability is fine by me, but I'm unsure of that bit. Overall I thought this game looked fun... but not enough that I'm likely to get it. It's possible my worries are overblown, though, I'd need to play it to make sure so I would definitely take the opportunity to do so if it came up.
I realize that things may have changed since you got the prototype, but I think the rules now say you can hold three cards for each round. Also, you must move the changeling before you take the human baby. First change seems like a big one - I kinda like the one card at a time rule. Second change doesn't seem to be that major.
What a nice game. Nothing overly complex, just place the trolls, do an action. But some fun options of what to do. I like that you can see your own "event" card a round before your turn, gives you time to start planning, without revealing info to other players. Beautiful game design there. Only sad thing is that the game might get lost in the twilight zone between too difficult for casual and not deep enough for core gamers. Let's hope not!
And I think all of the bajillion choices of actions, among the choice of the 3 areas of a player’s board to move trolls to, doesn’t help it, either… I know that I prefer games which have LESS options, not MORE… #lessismore
To me it seem like it would be smoother if you just moved once in your turn instead of twice. So much going on. Not sure why they did that. Looks fun though!
I think it might be to avoid boring turns and allow players to actually accomplish a lot over the course of the game. Some actions are very basic - get resource, increase troll power, etc. If entire rounds are spent just doing those basic actions and nothing else, players wouldn't really wouldn't be able to accomplish enough to make a dent in the other mechanics - pillars, caves, etc. Getting two actions allows for much more dynamic & enjoyable turns. I agree it opens up the door for potential clunkiness but without it, I wonder if the game might suffer from those two things - boring turns and lack of significant progression over the arc of the game. Other games tackle this issue by giving you a list of "free" actions you can take on your turn along with your "main" action. This game is just giving you two main actions.
Wow, this is a crunchy game! A lot of engine-building - and a lot of ways to use the action points (There are a lot of choices). I can see this game leading to a lot of analysis paralysis (AP)!
First off, I'll say that it's nice that you show tutorials for games that don't get a lot of attention on Kickstarter when they launch such as Trolls and Princesses, since I know that something like Hero Realms would get more attention since the company making the game is more well known to the world. Anyway, for Trolls and Princesses, gameplay is decent, but I can see a problem where the Troll King moving to a certain space on your turn can make you think that you have to use one of your actions that turn just for the better effect, even though you didn't plan on doing said action. Plus, since some actions in the village can require your opponents to visit said locations, where they put their trolls on prior could make it harder for you to do something like capture a princess, depending on the state of the game. In summary, the gameplay is good, but maybe letting having a rule where the player's first activation of a turn gets one extra action point instead of using a king could be an idea if a sequel for this game comes out in the future.
Good point but I don't think the rules are final. The creators said it could be subject to change. I think it's more of an opportunistic game where the best players are the ones adapting best to whatever outcome they face. It wouldn't be much fun if every turn went your way. Alot of it has to do with planning. It seems to be a competition for resources. So when the princesses are out of reach for your clan on a given turn you can instead opt to expand your cave and mine for more resources, and overall prep better for future turns that can give you an edge over your opponents. Have you played it on Tabletopia yet?
Friend, you have the best tutorial Channel for boardgames, you explain the rules perfectly and your Voice is calm making pleasing tô listen to 1 hour of rules 😂. You are a natural teacher. Thanks a lot
Thanks for the kind words :)
CORRECTIONS:
45:05 - I forgot to spend the obsidian.
45:41 - I forgot to place 2 obsidian on the newly placed cave tile.
Thank you Jon for another clear and concise teach! Two things jumped out at me right away, as the uncle of 22 nieces and nephews this is kind of creepy... But the other thing that caught my attention was the simple elegance and synergy between workers and all the actions and resources. The player reference makes the game seem even more fun! I saw the comments below about the potentially imbalanced troll king, but I'm not seeing that, of course I may be slow to the punch here... So I'll watch again and see if I notice that issue, because otherwise it seems really balanced with plenty of opportunities to leave players feeling really powerful. Great job teaching, Thank you thank you. I have my finger on the Kickstarter button, just cogitating...
... One other observation if I may, I don't think the cauldrons make sense, they should be some kind of pillar or soapbox or something... I just don't see standing on a cauldron as something you could actually do without dire consequences.
45:05 Didn't spend an Obsidian.
Great video as always!
I'll repeat what I said elsewhere, but the main thing I don't like is the variability of the troll king. Especially early on, it can create some pretty stark divergences between the player's engines. While those differences may be small initially, small early differences translate to large late game differences. Most of the rest of the variability is fine by me, but I'm unsure of that bit.
Overall I thought this game looked fun... but not enough that I'm likely to get it. It's possible my worries are overblown, though, I'd need to play it to make sure so I would definitely take the opportunity to do so if it came up.
Good catch with the missed obsidian, thanks for pointing that out. I've added a correction.
really like your tutorials, so good and easy to follow
I realize that things may have changed since you got the prototype, but I think the rules now say you can hold three cards for each round. Also, you must move the changeling before you take the human baby. First change seems like a big one - I kinda like the one card at a time rule. Second change doesn't seem to be that major.
Best explanation ever! Thank you so much 😊
45:42 shouldn't you have filled the new cave tile with obsidian ?
Good catch with the missed obsidian, thanks for pointing that out. I've added a correction.
What a nice game. Nothing overly complex, just place the trolls, do an action. But some fun options of what to do.
I like that you can see your own "event" card a round before your turn, gives you time to start planning, without revealing info to other players. Beautiful game design there.
Only sad thing is that the game might get lost in the twilight zone between too difficult for casual and not deep enough for core gamers. Let's hope not!
And I think all of the bajillion choices of actions, among the choice of the 3 areas of a player’s board to move trolls to, doesn’t help it, either…
I know that I prefer games which have LESS options, not MORE…
#lessismore
To me it seem like it would be smoother if you just moved once in your turn instead of twice. So much going on. Not sure why they did that. Looks fun though!
I think it might be to avoid boring turns and allow players to actually accomplish a lot over the course of the game. Some actions are very basic - get resource, increase troll power, etc. If entire rounds are spent just doing those basic actions and nothing else, players wouldn't really wouldn't be able to accomplish enough to make a dent in the other mechanics - pillars, caves, etc. Getting two actions allows for much more dynamic & enjoyable turns. I agree it opens up the door for potential clunkiness but without it, I wonder if the game might suffer from those two things - boring turns and lack of significant progression over the arc of the game. Other games tackle this issue by giving you a list of "free" actions you can take on your turn along with your "main" action. This game is just giving you two main actions.
Wow, this is a crunchy game! A lot of engine-building - and a lot of ways to use the action points (There are a lot of choices). I can see this game leading to a lot of analysis paralysis (AP)!
We’re not evil trolls, we just want to kidnap people 🤣
@45:40 did you forget to stock that cave tile with two obsidian?
Good catch, I've made a correction for this. Thanks!
"May the sun come and be stone for you!"
Gandalf in The Hobbit.
(more or less, I'm cyting out of my mind)
First off, I'll say that it's nice that you show tutorials for games that don't get a lot of attention on Kickstarter when they launch such as Trolls and Princesses, since I know that something like Hero Realms would get more attention since the company making the game is more well known to the world.
Anyway, for Trolls and Princesses, gameplay is decent, but I can see a problem where the Troll King moving to a certain space on your turn can make you think that you have to use one of your actions that turn just for the better effect, even though you didn't plan on doing said action. Plus, since some actions in the village can require your opponents to visit said locations, where they put their trolls on prior could make it harder for you to do something like capture a princess, depending on the state of the game.
In summary, the gameplay is good, but maybe letting having a rule where the player's first activation of a turn gets one extra action point instead of using a king could be an idea if a sequel for this game comes out in the future.
Good point but I don't think the rules are final. The creators said it could be subject to change. I think it's more of an opportunistic game where the best players are the ones adapting best to whatever outcome they face. It wouldn't be much fun if every turn went your way. Alot of it has to do with planning. It seems to be a competition for resources. So when the princesses are out of reach for your clan on a given turn you can instead opt to expand your cave and mine for more resources, and overall prep better for future turns that can give you an edge over your opponents. Have you played it on Tabletopia yet?
Bit concerned about lack of player interaction. Puerto Rico had too little interaction for my groups.
Does anyone know the difference between the regular edition and the big nose edition?
I think it's just cosmetics.
So Changlings don't give action points in the village they're in?
Correct.
Hey Jon - Using the BGG complexity scale as a reference, what weight score would you give this game ? Seems to me like a 2.75 -to- 3.00
I would rate this game somewhere in the 3’s - due to the bajillion choices it presents.
I never use the BGG complexity scale, so I can't really speak to it for this game.
Hmm human “workers” riigghhtt.
Paid for. :P