Your synthesis at the end is very accurate. I have played the "grand battle" scenario three times now: after reading the living rules 1.3, the rules are acutally crystal clear and the players have total focus on the very challenging decision making. Planning and issuing the right right orders is crucial. Of course you have too little ACs to implement in each turn. By the way, the designer notes are a great read.
What!? My copy didn’t include the Sound of Drums bag! Your video is the first box opening I’ve seen that included the cloth bag. I’m disappointed my copy didn’t include one. Alas. Thanks for the video. Cheers.
I have to say, the maps seem a little barren in the video. Maybe it looks better in person, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy such a monochrome map! I love that hex and counter games seem to be having a revival (maybe it's just my perception as someone new to the genre). Even if the map quality doesn't *seem* to be top quality (looking at you Vuca Sims), the rest of the components look great and I can definitely tell the overall quality is great. It's wonderful to see!
@@WiseGuyHistory Russian winters have never been kind to invaders, for sure! I certainly don't have any suggestions for how to give variation to snow covered fields and lakes, but I do wish there was a bit more color palette. Napoleon may tell us that it's spot on though :D
From memory I've played two other Eylau games, one is The Coming Storm, and it was too 'green', see here: boardgamegeek.com/image/8051966/the-coming-storm-quadrigame-of-the-fourth-coalitio And the other was Eagles of Empire, and it was also very bland: boardgamegeek.com/image/8050139/eagles-of-the-empire-preussisch-eylau I did a quick search over a few other Eylau games, all very bland; it seems to be a difficult area to do well!
The map looks great when you have it physically in front of you. Over all quality of the game is even a little bit higher than Vuca games. Prerounded counters that are easily punched and have no (zero) nibs. Amazing. A lot of value for the gamer's money.
@@WiseGuyHistory as far as the tactical combat is concerned, it can be considered "La Batallie Light", but with the really elegant order and army fatigue systems it gets quite "complex" to play, not rules wise, but very demanding on the players. Many decisions to take.
Your synthesis at the end is very accurate. I have played the "grand battle" scenario three times now: after reading the living rules 1.3, the rules are acutally crystal clear and the players have total focus on the very challenging decision making. Planning and issuing the right right orders is crucial. Of course you have too little ACs to implement in each turn. By the way, the designer notes are a great read.
I think the bag was an Add-On option. You are the first person that I have seen to get one.
The tally sticks are only a "gimmick" for helping to compute IPs of AFP during play. A nice little extra.
What!? My copy didn’t include the Sound of Drums bag! Your video is the first box opening I’ve seen that included the cloth bag. I’m disappointed my copy didn’t include one. Alas. Thanks for the video. Cheers.
I also got a German chocolate! But it didn't last long enough to make the video!
@@WiseGuyHistory I cry, “FOUL!”
Good God , it’s made it to Australia before the U.K.
I have to say, the maps seem a little barren in the video. Maybe it looks better in person, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy such a monochrome map! I love that hex and counter games seem to be having a revival (maybe it's just my perception as someone new to the genre). Even if the map quality doesn't *seem* to be top quality (looking at you Vuca Sims), the rest of the components look great and I can definitely tell the overall quality is great. It's wonderful to see!
Yeah I think it reflects the environment; Eylau was a miserable, snow-covered battlefield, and I think it captures it well.
@@WiseGuyHistory Russian winters have never been kind to invaders, for sure! I certainly don't have any suggestions for how to give variation to snow covered fields and lakes, but I do wish there was a bit more color palette. Napoleon may tell us that it's spot on though :D
From memory I've played two other Eylau games, one is The Coming Storm, and it was too 'green', see here: boardgamegeek.com/image/8051966/the-coming-storm-quadrigame-of-the-fourth-coalitio
And the other was Eagles of Empire, and it was also very bland: boardgamegeek.com/image/8050139/eagles-of-the-empire-preussisch-eylau
I did a quick search over a few other Eylau games, all very bland; it seems to be a difficult area to do well!
@@WiseGuyHistory I think my problem is, since I'm new to the genre as I mentioned, and I started with Red Strike...my bar is very, very high :D
The map looks great when you have it physically in front of you. Over all quality of the game is even a little bit higher than Vuca games. Prerounded counters that are easily punched and have no (zero) nibs. Amazing. A lot of value for the gamer's money.
Pre-rounded counters! I'm getting this now. Could this be a playable replacement for La Bataille? Looking forward for the playthrough.
Hard to say without playing it, but it seems to be much lighter than La Bataille, without being 'too light'.
@@WiseGuyHistory as far as the tactical combat is concerned, it can be considered "La Batallie Light", but with the really elegant order and army fatigue systems it gets quite "complex" to play, not rules wise, but very demanding on the players. Many decisions to take.
Was this a review copy?
No I was a backer
How’s the registration on the counters? The sheet on the top looked good.
Yeah I saw a bad example elsewhere, but I've only looked at the top and it looks fine.
@@WiseGuyHistory mine are 99,9% good, too. Almost perfectly centered.