I played this at Gen Con, it's really fun, and the pieces are really nice. One complaint I have is that I wish the territory markers were hex shaped instead of circles the exact same size as your chips. When you're on a spot that is claimed, it's not easy to see who owns it, and you might not even notice that the space is claimed. But other than that I loved it.
Fortunately, they listened to folks like you, and in the Nobility expansion, the control/territory markers are now hex-shaped. I swapped them out for the base game markers for exactly this reason.
With the expansions, there are over 10,000 combinations in just a two player game. That gives game an incredible amount of replayability. I think its my favorite game that I own, probably because I like chess so much.
Thank you Tom. Great review. War Chest does look so interesting. I'm just not sure if it would suit my games group, so I might never play it. Hm... something to think about.
One clarification about Recruiting: when you play a coin face down to recruit, you then place the recruited coin from your supply into the discard pile, not directly into the bag. I made this mistake the first few times before reviewing the rules. Putting directly into a bag ( especially one with few or no coins) would be an easy way to guarantee a move with that unit type in the next round.
I was also on the fence. I ended up with this one, just because of the better theme and aesthetics (I usually go to medival over military) Though this game doesn’t have a campaign compared to the other…
@@mistercookboom1899 Undaunted is the better game to me, but the production value on War Chest is definitely great though! I tend to use coin capsules for tokens anyways, so the whole poker chip thing is somewhat negligible for me personally; otherwise I might've had a more difficult time choosing between the two!
"Is it better than the Duke then or?" Tom said it's good. And the Duke is good too. But we don't know you. Someone thinks it's better, someone think it's worse. Try and decide.
Not for me (abstract and too light). Rather play Hoplomachus (which I currently don't own). Just much more going on in that game which I prefer in an arena style game
I don't like abstract games but this is interesting even if it is a rip off of The Duke with few added mechanics. I'm certainly not rushing out to go buy when released but maybe down track.
So attacking is just that easy? If your next to someone or move next to somsome you can just wipe them out? No dice roll or no Defense rolls? Or card play? Sorry couldn't watch it all have to jet. I am almost finished with a Table top Hex Chip/Chit war game. Similar to this somewhat. Unless you know what Fire emblem is. I took fire emblem and said wow this would be great on a board. Dry erase hex board. Guards Archers Warriors Healers Cavalry Knights and Mages. 1 single number on the back of each Unit is its Unit level. Levels are only 1-6. 1 being weakest 6 best. Level 1 units. Have 1 pt of Health and do 1 point of damage. And can move 1 hex. Level 2 units have 2 points of health and do two points of damage and can move 2 hexes and so on and so forth.. Plus each unit moves a certain way. Dice is used to Attack and defend. 3 Red D6 for attacker unless they are using a level 1 or 2 unit. Then its 1 red for level 1 and 2 for level 2. Then two white d6 for defender of the attack. They can only use a max of two white dice on any unit except level 1 defenders. So level 2 3 4 5 6 units can only defend with 2 white dice against 1 2 or 3 red d6. It gives them a chance at blocking the attack. But clearly if I roll 3 red d6 and roll a 13 or higher then the attack auto succeeds. If the defender ties with your attack roll then its a blocked attack. Highest roll succeeds in attacking or defending. Buy I also made unit cards and Power cards with the units pics on them. One is reinforcement cards the other being power means the card resembles a poker card with 1 of the same number in each corner of the card. Like regular playinf cards. The Numbers on them are of course 1 through 6. Whatever number is on a power card you draw can be used to add To the total of your attack or defense roll. But you must announce you are playing one before you roll and not after. Its a risk of using a Good power card on a roll that you would of won without it. But there is so mucj more I need to do. Its getting to be too much and less simple like I wanted. There are also Villages and castles you can build. There is currency gold coins. And I'm trying to figure out what to cut and keep. And dont get me started on the Advance Wars Table top remake I created. Its simple and actually really awesome. Used scrabble blocks as the chits and printed out the armies units on my dymo label printer and stuck em on. I found an old 20 year anniversary scrabble Board/TT board that the blocks fit snug into the lipped Spaces. Painted it like advance wars background. Added little block chit trees to add in or take away as well as Blue painted chits to resemble water, and Mountain Chits. So you can always make a new map style.
The chips are nice but man, is this art boring!!?? So much bege, it looks like the game was designed on powerpoint. Perhaps they thought the stark look would be congruent with the fact it is an abstract game, but the bar is really higher nowadays... Just look at Azul, Photosynthesis, Santorini, Dragon Castle and many others... Why couldn't they make this game prettier?
I played this at Gen Con, it's really fun, and the pieces are really nice. One complaint I have is that I wish the territory markers were hex shaped instead of circles the exact same size as your chips. When you're on a spot that is claimed, it's not easy to see who owns it, and you might not even notice that the space is claimed. But other than that I loved it.
Heard this same complaint from multiple different people.
Fortunately, they listened to folks like you, and in the Nobility expansion, the control/territory markers are now hex-shaped. I swapped them out for the base game markers for exactly this reason.
With the expansions, there are over 10,000 combinations in just a two player game. That gives game an incredible amount of replayability. I think its my favorite game that I own, probably because I like chess so much.
According to another reviewer, you replace an opponent's marker
with your own if you Control a space, not just remove their marker.
Thank you Tom. Great review. War Chest does look so interesting. I'm just not sure if it would suit my games group, so I might never play it. Hm... something to think about.
Looks cool but I only have so much room for abstract. I know they are different, but I think I'm sticking with The Duke over this one.
Same here. The duke feels cleaner.
Haven’t played The Duke but sounds like I should have a look.
Re:War Chest, don’t sleep on this one, it is really interesting and replayable
The board needs to be neoprene for this game.
yeah, for sucking up all my tears playing it
Martin Larouche : That’s a great idea. I have one section of the board that will just NOT stay flush on the table. Neoprene would’ve been great.
I wonder how it compares to Hoplomachus?
One clarification about Recruiting: when you play a coin face down to recruit, you then place the recruited coin from your supply into the discard pile, not directly into the bag.
I made this mistake the first few times before reviewing the rules. Putting directly into a bag ( especially one with few or no coins) would be an easy way to guarantee a move with that unit type in the next round.
Between this and Undaunted, I'd probably still go with Undaunted 9 times out of 10.
I was also on the fence. I ended up with this one, just because of the better theme and aesthetics (I usually go to medival over military)
Though this game doesn’t have a campaign compared to the other…
@@mistercookboom1899 Undaunted is the better game to me, but the production value on War Chest is definitely great though!
I tend to use coin capsules for tokens anyways, so the whole poker chip thing is somewhat negligible for me personally; otherwise I might've had a more difficult time choosing between the two!
Is it better than the Duke then or?
I like this more than the Duke. The units are very similiar to the Duke, but this game has a bit more strategy for my tastes.
"Is it better than the Duke then or?"
Tom said it's good. And the Duke is good too. But we don't know you. Someone thinks it's better, someone think it's worse. Try and decide.
Not for me (abstract and too light). Rather play Hoplomachus (which I currently don't own). Just much more going on in that game which I prefer in an arena style game
I’ll stick with Godtear.
Ooh it looks awesome
I don't like abstract games but this is interesting even if it is a rip off of The Duke with few added mechanics.
I'm certainly not rushing out to go buy when released but maybe down track.
So attacking is just that easy? If your next to someone or move next to somsome you can just wipe them out? No dice roll or no Defense rolls? Or card play? Sorry couldn't watch it all have to jet. I am almost finished with a Table top Hex Chip/Chit war game. Similar to this somewhat. Unless you know what Fire emblem is. I took fire emblem and said wow this would be great on a board. Dry erase hex board. Guards Archers Warriors Healers Cavalry Knights and Mages. 1 single number on the back of each Unit is its Unit level. Levels are only 1-6. 1 being weakest 6 best. Level 1 units. Have 1 pt of Health and do 1 point of damage. And can move 1 hex. Level 2 units have 2 points of health and do two points of damage and can move 2 hexes and so on and so forth.. Plus each unit moves a certain way. Dice is used to Attack and defend. 3 Red D6 for attacker unless they are using a level 1 or 2 unit. Then its 1 red for level 1 and 2 for level 2. Then two white d6 for defender of the attack. They can only use a max of two white dice on any unit except level 1 defenders. So level 2 3 4 5 6 units can only defend with 2 white dice against 1 2 or 3 red d6.
It gives them a chance at blocking the attack. But clearly if I roll 3 red d6 and roll a 13 or higher then the attack auto succeeds. If the defender ties with your attack roll then its a blocked attack.
Highest roll succeeds in attacking or defending.
Buy I also made unit cards and Power cards with the units pics on them. One is reinforcement cards the other being power means the card resembles a poker card with 1 of the same number in each corner of the card. Like regular playinf cards. The Numbers on them are of course 1 through 6. Whatever number is on a power card you draw can be used to add To the total of your attack or defense roll. But you must announce you are playing one before you roll and not after. Its a risk of using a Good power card on a roll that you would of won without it.
But there is so mucj more I need to do. Its getting to be too much and less simple like I wanted. There are also Villages and castles you can build. There is currency gold coins. And I'm trying to figure out what to cut and keep.
And dont get me started on the Advance Wars Table top remake I created. Its simple and actually really awesome. Used scrabble blocks as the chits and printed out the armies units on my dymo label printer and stuck em on. I found an old 20 year anniversary scrabble Board/TT board that the blocks fit snug into the lipped Spaces. Painted it like advance wars background. Added little block chit trees to add in or take away as well as Blue painted chits to resemble water, and Mountain Chits. So you can always make a new map style.
The chips are nice but man, is this art boring!!?? So much bege, it looks like the game was designed on powerpoint. Perhaps they thought the stark look would be congruent with the fact it is an abstract game, but the bar is really higher nowadays... Just look at Azul, Photosynthesis, Santorini, Dragon Castle and many others... Why couldn't they make this game prettier?
you might be attacking a subjective aspect? I love how the game looks. It's one of those games that I love taking a picture of and sending to friends