I cull everything under an 8, & my collection is currently 70 games which is more than enough for me! I turnover a lot of games, but when I look at my collection, it makes me so happy because I LOVE all my games!
A great twist on 'Keep or cull' from Board Gaming Ramblings, giving the games scores adds so much to the idea. Giving a lot of info about the games helps us viewers understand why the game gets a certain score. I do find the episodes a bit long, the moment a video in this style passes the 30-minute-mark it starts to feel long, but that is why we have the possibility to pauze and watch it in parts.
I feel like this series will let me find out about a bunch of quality games I missed the first time around :) I'd never heard of Egizia, but it's now on my want to try list for sure!
Love this series y’all! Looking forward to each episode and I love listening to it while hanging with the baby. You’ll make Logan a board game fan for sure!
Loving this series!!Definitely do the smaller games, please!!!! Maybe 25 per episode if you do smaller games. Love Splendor, too!! FYI, we raise the point ceiling, so that the game lasts a bit longer for us (with two).
This is my new favorite series. The length of the video is not an issue for me. I love hearing you both talk about these games. Hearing ur opinions and feelings is so nice as opposed to just hearing about how a game works. I do not get to play as many games as I want in my life and hearing all this convo about board games gives me a space and puts me at home.
Thanks for doing this series. I'm cool with the long, rambling videos. They can be nice to watch in bits & pieces while I'm having lunch or doing dishes throughout the week. Also, my ears perked up when you mentioned that Splendor was the gateway game for both of you. I had just assumed that one or two of you were already into board games when you met.
I just started watching this series and I am fascinated! I thoroughly enjoy the deep dive into your personal collection - not to mention your personal thoughts and opinions. And your banter is adorable! lol
I've enjoyed all of your videos and this series is no exception. I think you should take as long as you want to talk about each game. As a slowly more discerning gamer, I love hearing all of the details that might sway me towards trying them out. I'd like to keep track of all your scores and start to make my way through trying all the 8's and above or so. Most of the games I play tend to be light so I would definitely like to see your scores for small box games as well.
It sounds like our gaming tastes differ in a couple of ways in that my family loves cooperative games - that is the way I got my daughter into caming - and we are very much "care bear" players. Blood Rage would never hit our table, lol. I am enjoying this series and am hoping to get it all watched, no matter how long it takes!
I really enjoying this episode. I like how you are discussing and rating the games in your collection. There are so many games out there and not everyone knows about all the board games that exist. It nice to hear what you think about the games you have played. I never heard of blood rage and shock that I haven’t. I need to add to my wishlist :)
I love these videos! I really enjoy how you cover each one pretty thoroughly. I actually listen in the background while running errands and it's perfect. Also, you might have the best intro of any channel boardgame or not. It's terrific.
I think I'm coming to realise that as much as I love your style of reviews, It's the dynamics of your relationship as a couple that's makes your videos enjoyable and relatable to watch. I'm definitely Amy in my relationship and my wife would be Maggie. I chuckle everytime Amy does something that would be a 'no-no' in my relationship and I imagine the serious conversation that would result off camera 😅
This is a great idea, as a non content creator I don't have the access to new games and can't back everything on kickstarter. I acquire most games through trade. So I love hearing about older games and getting your thoughts on them. This space has plenty of content on new games and games we can back. I always enjoy content on the older easier and cheaper to acquire games. Please keep it up and hopefully other content creators join in.
Blood Rage has been one of the games that I've most wanted to try out, but have never had the opportunity to do so. So it's a delightful surprise to see how well it feels for both of y'all. Even if it isn't Maggie's cup of tea. It's reinvigorated my eagerness to search and play it. Really another lovely video. A couple of games I've never heard of here and it was great to hear about. I'm so excited for this series! Thanks again and I hope y'all have a good one.
Love this new series! I would also listen to these if you had them in audio on your podcast channel. I think your small games deserve just as much love and attention as these heavier games. You could either sprinkle them in here (say, 7-8 bigger games and 2-3 smaller) or maybe start giving a ranking when you do small talk since you already have a series dedicated specifically to those games.
I think every few videos in this series should be a “Big Talk on Small Box Games” … cover about 20 filler/card games in the same hourish amount of time as these two videos. I’d love a round-up of your smaller games (even if they were already covered in Small Talk).
I appreciate these videos as I am gamer who has on a hiatus for many years and things have really changed. Thanks for your thoughts and opinions. I am not sure yet what kind of gamer I am these videos are helping me.
Another great video! Thanks for sharing more of your collection. I'm loving this format. Thank you for putting in all the effort towards making this series :D
I love these videos, and absolutely don't think they are too long. It's great to hear fully what each game is about, and all the reasoning behind each rating. You asked about why people do or don't like Blood Rage. Well, I really dislike area control because I'm a bit of a "care bear" as Rahdo likes to say and so I really dislike the meanness of destroying something that another player has built up (area majority is sometimes OK, though). And having said that, Blood Rage wound up being so much worse than I even thought it would be. It has such a huge barrier to entry in the fact that anyone who has played it even a few times will absolutely destroy a new player, because it's not just about drafting what seems to be the right card from your hand, but you really need to know what every card is and what they do, and how they interact to even be slightly competitive. This means that a new player basically has to do a ton of homework and study and memorize all the cards or it's just not even a contest, no matter how good they may otherwise be at planning and strategy in general. So, the area control made it a pretty hard sell for me already, but the hugely uneven experience to devastation ratio made it a hard pass. I can see how the first time you play, if you are playing with other people who are also first timers, it could seem better, because there's an even playing field. Sadly, that was not my experience.
Ratings and reviews brought some of the best titles to my game shelf. So no, it's not boring, it's interesting and important, and you seem to have great skill in doing just that! I find it especially informative to tune into the difference between qualitative opinion and numeric valuation. You'd be surprised how often reviewers give high praise like "really fantastic solid game" and then go on to give it a 7/10. Thanks to your reviews and others, I'm even able to avoid reaching the culling stage in the first place. A small recommend: I really like Blood Rage but replaced it with Mezo, which I find to be deeper and more varied without extra overhead. Happy gaming!
Blood Rage.... what a revealing game. Maggie instigating battles and coming in like a monster...well, it's us sweet and innocent ones you got watch out for. 😂 Splendor is still one of my favorites too. It's like when a game becomes comfort food. I hadn't played it in quite awhile, but decided to take on our lake trip recently. I was able to introduce it to my husband for the first time. It was so cool to see how he reacted as the game revealed itself to him. He rarely wants to play board games, but this one he asked to play again two more nights in a row. 😀
Thanks for another long form video - lots of games here I have never heard of! Egizia looks like a game I might enjoy, although my chances to play at 3-4 players might be limited. Also 300 games in your collection sounds like a lot! How many years has it taken you to get to that point (and how do you find the space!?)?
Hi Amy and Maggie, this is such a great series!!! I also really like Egizia and own the original, but stopped getting it to the table because the original rules had so much errata that it just got too frustrating. I've debated getting the new version... we'll see. My favorite quote of the episode: "I tend to not like fun games." - Maggie
I never understand people that want shorter videos. First of all, you don't have to watch it all in one sitting, so every video is exactly as short as you want it to be. Secondly, if you like someone's content then it's bizarre to me to want less of it.
There's also the fact that - particularly with videos like these - it's pretty easy to treat them as podcasts and just listen while doing something else. I'll often play a solo board game or do some painting while listening so that I don't have to sit and hold my phone in front of my face for an hour and a half, lol.
It's not necessarily the length, but the content. Amy and Maggie do an excellent job of casual conversation without repeating information. That takes practice. Even from their first videos, you can tell that they have speaking experience outside of this hobby and had already practiced creating videos before creating the channel. Many content creators are frequently editing their videos at the sentence level. They are possibly having to do this because they ramble off topic or repeat the same points.
I agree with the podcast comment and I play the video like that. My father, however, like to listen to music when working and wants 10ish minute videos for when he takes breaks.
I'm enjoying this series a lot! I defintely disagree on a few games, but I like hearing your thoughts and opinions. Can't wait to see more :) (Also - I love the long videos)
Thank you for doing these. Keep ‘‘em coming! I appreciate the thought you put into discussing each game before the numerical rating. As more of a euro gamer I have always been curious about Blood Rage, I have to give it a try. 👍🏻
We love our big games, but our smaller games get played at a rate of about 3:1 over them - it’s just where we are at in our lives right now. I would love a 5 small/5 larger game video combo or alternating between small and large! I don’t mind long videos - I break them into chunks and often watch while prepping meals! ❤️
Love having some morning coffee and listening to ThinkerThemer. Whoa..Blood Rage. Surprised to see that in the collection to be honest. Such an “in your face” war game. Love your accents….placing “caads down”. Wish I had a cool accent.
I think this is a great series. It's awesome to hear your thoughts on so many games, most of which I'm not familiar with, since or preferences tend to overlap quite often. I look forward to more! PS - My friend's mother, who is an innocent house mom, LOVES Blood Rage.
I love blood Rage too. I loved it to paint the miniatures and the game is great. Do you have played the wolves? I like the Artwork and the theme, but it is brutally sometimes😂. I love it
Long-time watcher, first time poster. Nusfjord sounds (and looks) similar to Fields of Arle in many ways. So many elements of Feast for Odin, however a shorter, quicker game that is amazing as solo or 2p. I think Maggie in particular would enjoy it as a solo. It's my favourite solo game - just a quiet, thinky experience of running a farm. A relaxing, quiet evening kind of game (maybe like Stardew Valley video game feeling, although very different experience).
Great reviews and walkthroughs. Never heard of Egizia and will be watching a playthrough of that this week. 9.2 for Blood Rage! Wow. I've played a couple times on BGA and need to read the rules for better understanding. Its on my top 100 but strikes me as a game that will rise once I play it more.
I also absolutely love Blood Rage! Like you, I've also painted my copy, I agree it makes it more special to play. Working on painting Ankh: Gods of egypt at the moment
I've played Dream Crush with people I didn't know well and still had an hilarious time. I could see how it might lend itself to awkwardness if people weren't open to playing and taking a relaxed approach to the experience. Watching the whole group switch from one suitor to another because some terrible flaw has been revealed was very funny. Turned out the slightly boring beekeeper was the best of our options 😁
Still enjoy this series ;-) Already looming forward to the next one... Keep also seeing the the purple side of Pax Pamir, this I rate highly and I remember you reviewing the game and being quite enlightened... Wonder how your thoughts are a leap year in.
Blood Rage is such a great game! I'm not surprised that Amy would rate it highly since it has a really satisfying set of mechanisms that are very well integrated together as well as being very interactive and competitive. I was more surprised that Maggie gave it as high of a rating as she did. I figured this would be one she wouldn't relate to at all. Would be interesting to keep some stats as you go through these. Maybe each of your highest and lowest rated games to date and the game with the largest differential (in both directions) between the 2 of you (one where Amy is higher and one where Maggie is higher). Seeing if/how that changes as you go through your collection would be fun. Edit: Oh, and forgot to mention how surprised I was at both your ratings of Splendor! Since it's pretty light mechanically and virtually themeless, I didn't expect it to be one either of you would find very compelling. Thanks for the surprises and the series.
I appreciate your thoughts on the Loop, but I really like it because there's so much opportunity for chaining and creative problem solving! Yup, punishing game, but really fun to puzzle through what we can do to maximize what we're doing as a group! I also think it's not prone to captaining, so it's a solid co-op option!
Again, a great video. Love these reviews. Amy, I knew Blood Rage would be very high on your list. The picture with the minis was this your paintjob? They look awesome! (If not, I am intrigued what they look like.) I still need to play my copy of Planet X and Fjords. I was actually really looking forward to Fjords and I hope I like it more than you... Keep up the great content.
For the smaller, filler games, do a Keep or Cull (not that you would get rid of anything), but "If you could only keep [some number] of these games, which do we keep and which do we let go."
We just got The Guild of Merchant Explorers and really like it. It is amazing how all the players maps end up looking so different, everyone going different directions. I love a game that makes me have to stop and try to figure out the next move taking into consideration potential future moves. The name of the game is ridiculous, who can remember it?
Regarding Splendor have you tried Space Explorers? It gives me the same feel but with better choices and different triggers to end the game. It could be a good comparison
I was surprised by your high rating of blood rage, doesn't seem to be a theme you guys would enjoy. I love Eric Lang's games. I think Godfather is my favorite, then Rising Sun, then Blood Rage, then Ankh. I'd be curious to see if you have played his other games and if this game sits higher in your rating than his other ones.
Nice, I like this format. I've always wanted to try Blood Rage, but I play almost exclusively at 2 player and it just seems that this would not work well at that count. Any thoughts on this? Do you ever play at just two? If so, what are your thoughts about the game at that count?
Nusfjord! It's the first big Rosenberg and still a top 5 for me. Love how there are so few resources but so many different things I can do. Played only solo.
i always prefer longer form content on youtube. I usually skip anything shorter than 20min. EDIT: My preferred scale for rating like things (eg films, boardgames..) is -4 to +4. sometimes zero isn't low enough
was both your blood rage rating based on 2 player game? wondering if it's good at 2 because i am also mainly a eurogamer but is slowly branching out to others
I like getting a bunch of reviews at once but it seems like this will make it hard to find your thoughts later on for a particular game. Like if I wanted to see your thoughts on blood rage. Maybe link the video in your bgg review section where you rate the game?
First. Great content you guys are fantastic. Second. There is a bad trend happening amongst board game content. It shouldn’t take more than 2 min MAX to get to the point of the video. More and more I’m seeing all kinds of explanations, rumination’s on past videos etc etc. get to the point. If you want to pepper these ruminations in throughout the “content” great but when I’m waiting until nearly six min to get to the point I’m off to another video. I’ll watch two hours of your content in one sitting no problem but if it takes more than two min to get to the point I’m out. Podcasts are notorious for this, don’t do it. Three. Keep at it, you guys are fantastic…just tighten it up a bit. You don’t know me, this comment is too long. If you thought that while reading it….well now you get it…
"I tend to not like fun games" 🤣Maggie.
That had me rolling, and I knew exactly what she meant.
I hope the next printing of Blood Rage puts Maggie's "Quite a nice time!" as the review quote on the box. 😅
I love the length of your videos! Your "rambly" videos are my favorite! 😁
I agree! I'm sure I'm not the only one that watches all these vids all the way to the end...am I???
I cull everything under an 8, & my collection is currently 70 games which is more than enough for me! I turnover a lot of games, but when I look at my collection, it makes me so happy because I LOVE all my games!
I made the decision to do this too last year - it’s so nice looking across my shelves and remembering what I love about the experience of each game
A great twist on 'Keep or cull' from Board Gaming Ramblings, giving the games scores adds so much to the idea. Giving a lot of info about the games helps us viewers understand why the game gets a certain score. I do find the episodes a bit long, the moment a video in this style passes the 30-minute-mark it starts to feel long, but that is why we have the possibility to pauze and watch it in parts.
These videos are honestly perfect in length, information, everything - please keep this going , I’m looking forward to going through them all
I feel like this series will let me find out about a bunch of quality games I missed the first time around :) I'd never heard of Egizia, but it's now on my want to try list for sure!
Love this series y’all! Looking forward to each episode and I love listening to it while hanging with the baby. You’ll make Logan a board game fan for sure!
Loving this series!!Definitely do the smaller games, please!!!! Maybe 25 per episode if you do smaller games. Love Splendor, too!! FYI, we raise the point ceiling, so that the game lasts a bit longer for us (with two).
This is my new favorite series. The length of the video is not an issue for me. I love hearing you both talk about these games. Hearing ur opinions and feelings is so nice as opposed to just hearing about how a game works. I do not get to play as many games as I want in my life and hearing all this convo about board games gives me a space and puts me at home.
Thanks for doing this series. I'm cool with the long, rambling videos. They can be nice to watch in bits & pieces while I'm having lunch or doing dishes throughout the week. Also, my ears perked up when you mentioned that Splendor was the gateway game for both of you. I had just assumed that one or two of you were already into board games when you met.
I just started watching this series and I am fascinated! I thoroughly enjoy the deep dive into your personal collection - not to mention your personal thoughts and opinions. And your banter is adorable! lol
I've enjoyed all of your videos and this series is no exception. I think you should take as long as you want to talk about each game. As a slowly more discerning gamer, I love hearing all of the details that might sway me towards trying them out. I'd like to keep track of all your scores and start to make my way through trying all the 8's and above or so. Most of the games I play tend to be light so I would definitely like to see your scores for small box games as well.
It sounds like our gaming tastes differ in a couple of ways in that my family loves cooperative games - that is the way I got my daughter into caming - and we are very much "care bear" players. Blood Rage would never hit our table, lol.
I am enjoying this series and am hoping to get it all watched, no matter how long it takes!
I really enjoying this episode. I like how you are discussing and rating the games in your collection. There are so many games out there and not everyone knows about all the board games that exist. It nice to hear what you think about the games you have played. I never heard of blood rage and shock that I haven’t. I need to add to my wishlist :)
I really enjoy these videos! Just subscribed to the channel and love the descriptions and pictures of the games. Keep up the great work ladies!!
Thanks so much Mike!
I love these videos! I really enjoy how you cover each one pretty thoroughly. I actually listen in the background while running errands and it's perfect. Also, you might have the best intro of any channel boardgame or not. It's terrific.
You've convinced me. My wife wants Blood Rage for Xmas so, I'll definitely pick it up. Love these videos! More please! ❤
I think I'm coming to realise that as much as I love your style of reviews, It's the dynamics of your relationship as a couple that's makes your videos enjoyable and relatable to watch. I'm definitely Amy in my relationship and my wife would be Maggie. I chuckle everytime Amy does something that would be a 'no-no' in my relationship and I imagine the serious conversation that would result off camera 😅
This is a great idea, as a non content creator I don't have the access to new games and can't back everything on kickstarter. I acquire most games through trade. So I love hearing about older games and getting your thoughts on them. This space has plenty of content on new games and games we can back. I always enjoy content on the older easier and cheaper to acquire games. Please keep it up and hopefully other content creators join in.
Blood Rage has been one of the games that I've most wanted to try out, but have never had the opportunity to do so. So it's a delightful surprise to see how well it feels for both of y'all. Even if it isn't Maggie's cup of tea. It's reinvigorated my eagerness to search and play it.
Really another lovely video. A couple of games I've never heard of here and it was great to hear about. I'm so excited for this series! Thanks again and I hope y'all have a good one.
Love this new series! I would also listen to these if you had them in audio on your podcast channel. I think your small games deserve just as much love and attention as these heavier games. You could either sprinkle them in here (say, 7-8 bigger games and 2-3 smaller) or maybe start giving a ranking when you do small talk since you already have a series dedicated specifically to those games.
I think every few videos in this series should be a “Big Talk on Small Box Games” … cover about 20 filler/card games in the same hourish amount of time as these two videos. I’d love a round-up of your smaller games (even if they were already covered in Small Talk).
I appreciate these videos as I am gamer who has on a hiatus for many years and things have really changed. Thanks for your thoughts and opinions. I am not sure yet what kind of gamer I am these videos are helping me.
Really interesting series and I love the depth and richness of your reviews. Excited for the continuation!
This series is SO GOOD
I agree! And it’s not just because I’m your alt account!
Love the time yo spend on each game. The variety of games is perfect reminding me of one’s I meant to try, favorites & discovering something new. Fun
Another great video! Thanks for sharing more of your collection.
I'm loving this format. Thank you for putting in all the effort towards making this series :D
Another great review of your games! No complaints about the video length. Can't wait for the next one!!
I love these videos, and absolutely don't think they are too long. It's great to hear fully what each game is about, and all the reasoning behind each rating.
You asked about why people do or don't like Blood Rage. Well, I really dislike area control because I'm a bit of a "care bear" as Rahdo likes to say and so I really dislike the meanness of destroying something that another player has built up (area majority is sometimes OK, though). And having said that, Blood Rage wound up being so much worse than I even thought it would be. It has such a huge barrier to entry in the fact that anyone who has played it even a few times will absolutely destroy a new player, because it's not just about drafting what seems to be the right card from your hand, but you really need to know what every card is and what they do, and how they interact to even be slightly competitive. This means that a new player basically has to do a ton of homework and study and memorize all the cards or it's just not even a contest, no matter how good they may otherwise be at planning and strategy in general. So, the area control made it a pretty hard sell for me already, but the hugely uneven experience to devastation ratio made it a hard pass. I can see how the first time you play, if you are playing with other people who are also first timers, it could seem better, because there's an even playing field. Sadly, that was not my experience.
10:28 paused to look up Blue Lagoon, and at first glance, the map and tokens seem visually more interesting than Fjords. Thanks for mentioning it!
These discussions are excellent! Keep 'em coming!! :)
Ratings and reviews brought some of the best titles to my game shelf. So no, it's not boring, it's interesting and important, and you seem to have great skill in doing just that!
I find it especially informative to tune into the difference between qualitative opinion and numeric valuation. You'd be surprised how often reviewers give high praise like "really fantastic solid game" and then go on to give it a 7/10. Thanks to your reviews and others, I'm even able to avoid reaching the culling stage in the first place.
A small recommend: I really like Blood Rage but replaced it with Mezo, which I find to be deeper and more varied without extra overhead. Happy gaming!
I'm here just as much for the tangents and rambles as I am for the ratings😊! You two are great!
Blood Rage.... what a revealing game. Maggie instigating battles and coming in like a monster...well, it's us sweet and innocent ones you got watch out for. 😂
Splendor is still one of my favorites too. It's like when a game becomes comfort food. I hadn't played it in quite awhile, but decided to take on our lake trip recently. I was able to introduce it to my husband for the first time. It was so cool to see how he reacted as the game revealed itself to him. He rarely wants to play board games, but this one he asked to play again two more nights in a row. 😀
Thanks for another long form video - lots of games here I have never heard of! Egizia looks like a game I might enjoy, although my chances to play at 3-4 players might be limited.
Also 300 games in your collection sounds like a lot! How many years has it taken you to get to that point (and how do you find the space!?)?
Hi Amy and Maggie, this is such a great series!!!
I also really like Egizia and own the original, but stopped getting it to the table because the original rules had so much errata that it just got too frustrating. I've debated getting the new version... we'll see.
My favorite quote of the episode:
"I tend to not like fun games." - Maggie
Blood Rage is so good! I always go back and forth on which is my favourite between this and Inis.
I never understand people that want shorter videos. First of all, you don't have to watch it all in one sitting, so every video is exactly as short as you want it to be. Secondly, if you like someone's content then it's bizarre to me to want less of it.
There's also the fact that - particularly with videos like these - it's pretty easy to treat them as podcasts and just listen while doing something else. I'll often play a solo board game or do some painting while listening so that I don't have to sit and hold my phone in front of my face for an hour and a half, lol.
It's not necessarily the length, but the content. Amy and Maggie do an excellent job of casual conversation without repeating information. That takes practice. Even from their first videos, you can tell that they have speaking experience outside of this hobby and had already practiced creating videos before creating the channel.
Many content creators are frequently editing their videos at the sentence level. They are possibly having to do this because they ramble off topic or repeat the same points.
I agree with the podcast comment and I play the video like that. My father, however, like to listen to music when working and wants 10ish minute videos for when he takes breaks.
10 minutes per game is a good length in a video for sure. I watch to see reviews of games and longer doesn't make it better for me, on the contrary.
I'm enjoying this series a lot! I defintely disagree on a few games, but I like hearing your thoughts and opinions. Can't wait to see more :) (Also - I love the long videos)
Thank you for doing these. Keep ‘‘em coming! I appreciate the thought you put into discussing each game before the numerical rating. As more of a euro gamer I have always been curious about Blood Rage, I have to give it a try. 👍🏻
Great episode of this awesome series! Thanks again and have a wonderful week! 🙋 Cis
We love our big games, but our smaller games get played at a rate of about 3:1 over them - it’s just where we are at in our lives right now. I would love a 5 small/5 larger game video combo or alternating between small and large! I don’t mind long videos - I break them into chunks and often watch while prepping meals! ❤️
Love having some morning coffee and listening to ThinkerThemer. Whoa..Blood Rage. Surprised to see that in the collection to be honest. Such an “in your face” war game. Love your accents….placing “caads down”. Wish I had a cool accent.
To be fair, I was thinking the game would be too aggressive/combative for Maggie. But I see Maggie does occasionally kick over Amy’s sand castle.
I think this is a great series. It's awesome to hear your thoughts on so many games, most of which I'm not familiar with, since or preferences tend to overlap quite often. I look forward to more! PS - My friend's mother, who is an innocent house mom, LOVES Blood Rage.
I love your conversations and tangents, go as long at you want!
I love blood Rage too. I loved it to paint the miniatures and the game is great. Do you have played the wolves? I like the Artwork and the theme, but it is brutally sometimes😂. I love it
Long-time watcher, first time poster. Nusfjord sounds (and looks) similar to Fields of Arle in many ways. So many elements of Feast for Odin, however a shorter, quicker game that is amazing as solo or 2p. I think Maggie in particular would enjoy it as a solo. It's my favourite solo game - just a quiet, thinky experience of running a farm. A relaxing, quiet evening kind of game (maybe like Stardew Valley video game feeling, although very different experience).
Great reviews and walkthroughs. Never heard of Egizia and will be watching a playthrough of that this week. 9.2 for Blood Rage! Wow. I've played a couple times on BGA and need to read the rules for better understanding. Its on my top 100 but strikes me as a game that will rise once I play it more.
I also absolutely love Blood Rage! Like you, I've also painted my copy, I agree it makes it more special to play. Working on painting Ankh: Gods of egypt at the moment
I now have several games that weren’t on my radar but now I will seek them out
Definitely enjoy the length!!
I've played Dream Crush with people I didn't know well and still had an hilarious time. I could see how it might lend itself to awkwardness if people weren't open to playing and taking a relaxed approach to the experience. Watching the whole group switch from one suitor to another because some terrible flaw has been revealed was very funny. Turned out the slightly boring beekeeper was the best of our options 😁
Still enjoy this series ;-) Already looming forward to the next one... Keep also seeing the the purple side of Pax Pamir, this I rate highly and I remember you reviewing the game and being quite enlightened... Wonder how your thoughts are a leap year in.
We need to play some Blood Rage together Amy! Painted minis are a must!
Blood Rage is such a great game! I'm not surprised that Amy would rate it highly since it has a really satisfying set of mechanisms that are very well integrated together as well as being very interactive and competitive. I was more surprised that Maggie gave it as high of a rating as she did. I figured this would be one she wouldn't relate to at all.
Would be interesting to keep some stats as you go through these. Maybe each of your highest and lowest rated games to date and the game with the largest differential (in both directions) between the 2 of you (one where Amy is higher and one where Maggie is higher). Seeing if/how that changes as you go through your collection would be fun.
Edit: Oh, and forgot to mention how surprised I was at both your ratings of Splendor! Since it's pretty light mechanically and virtually themeless, I didn't expect it to be one either of you would find very compelling.
Thanks for the surprises and the series.
I appreciate your thoughts on the Loop, but I really like it because there's so much opportunity for chaining and creative problem solving! Yup, punishing game, but really fun to puzzle through what we can do to maximize what we're doing as a group! I also think it's not prone to captaining, so it's a solid co-op option!
Again, a great video. Love these reviews. Amy, I knew Blood Rage would be very high on your list. The picture with the minis was this your paintjob? They look awesome! (If not, I am intrigued what they look like.) I still need to play my copy of Planet X and Fjords. I was actually really looking forward to Fjords and I hope I like it more than you... Keep up the great content.
BLOOD RAAAAGE! So good, just like this series-- keep it up!
For the smaller, filler games, do a Keep or Cull (not that you would get rid of anything), but "If you could only keep [some number] of these games, which do we keep and which do we let go."
I've only played Splendor in this list. I liked it very much. I have the Splendor Duel and I like it , too 🙂
We just got The Guild of Merchant Explorers and really like it. It is amazing how all the players maps end up looking so different, everyone going different directions. I love a game that makes me have to stop and try to figure out the next move taking into consideration potential future moves. The name of the game is ridiculous, who can remember it?
I highly rate Blood rage too! I'd love to see your paintings of the models!
Plenty of fjords in this video :D
Regarding Splendor have you tried Space Explorers? It gives me the same feel but with better choices and different triggers to end the game. It could be a good comparison
I'd like to try Blue Lagoon, Splendor, Planted, and Blood Rage. I'd also be willing to have a go at Dream Crush and The Guild of Merchant Explorers.
I was surprised by your high rating of blood rage, doesn't seem to be a theme you guys would enjoy. I love Eric Lang's games. I think Godfather is my favorite, then Rising Sun, then Blood Rage, then Ankh. I'd be curious to see if you have played his other games and if this game sits higher in your rating than his other ones.
Love the series 🤗
Nice, I like this format. I've always wanted to try Blood Rage, but I play almost exclusively at 2 player and it just seems that this would not work well at that count. Any thoughts on this? Do you ever play at just two? If so, what are your thoughts about the game at that count?
If this question was answered I missed it and am interested: How are you choosing which games to rate each video? Is it just random draw?
Happy Birthday Amy!!
Nusfjord! It's the first big Rosenberg and still a top 5 for me. Love how there are so few resources but so many different things I can do. Played only solo.
i always prefer longer form content on youtube. I usually skip anything shorter than 20min.
EDIT: My preferred scale for rating like things (eg films, boardgames..) is -4 to +4. sometimes zero isn't low enough
I'm one of the 3 people worldwide who prefer Ankh to Blood Rage :D
I like the cull potential in this series
I love these videos!
Love your videos :)
was both your blood rage rating based on 2 player game? wondering if it's good at 2 because i am also mainly a eurogamer but is slowly branching out to others
part 2 woohoo!!!! Talk away
Swap out Splendor for one of the Century games 😏👍
Are these ratings going to be on your BGG page? I don’t see them on there.
I like getting a bunch of reviews at once but it seems like this will make it hard to find your thoughts later on for a particular game. Like if I wanted to see your thoughts on blood rage. Maybe link the video in your bgg review section where you rate the game?
If you have a game that you've only really kept for your friends, you should give it to your friends
Splendor is my wife's absolute favorite game
First. Great content you guys are fantastic.
Second. There is a bad trend happening amongst board game content. It shouldn’t take more than 2 min MAX to get to the point of the video. More and more I’m seeing all kinds of explanations, rumination’s on past videos etc etc. get to the point. If you want to pepper these ruminations in throughout the “content” great but when I’m waiting until nearly six min to get to the point I’m off to another video. I’ll watch two hours of your content in one sitting no problem but if it takes more than two min to get to the point I’m out. Podcasts are notorious for this, don’t do it.
Three. Keep at it, you guys are fantastic…just tighten it up a bit. You don’t know me, this comment is too long. If you thought that while reading it….well now you get it…
dream crush sounds like the teen girl sleepover game.
Genuine question, given that you have a collection of 300+ games, what's the point of keeping games that you rate less than 7, or even 7.5?
I like you talking :)
Blood Rage is good, but I think Kemet is better. Not a fan of the Quests in Blood Rage.
I don't understand your rating system... Everything is actually between 6 and 9. This isn't a 1-10 scale