Your review was spot on. I bought this as soon as it was available based on other reviews, but they missed a lot of the true essence of this game. After several plays I love this game. You clearly explained everything that someone would need to know if this game is for them. Great job. After several plays you do start to get the hang of it. Kind of like breaking in a horse.
Thank you for all your kind words! Yea, I think I also a problem with the first few games for me was that we played the first two back to back, so we used the basic setup, then the third game was with a new player so also used the basic setup and at that point I found the progression of the game repetitive. However, once I improved with the game and we started randomizing the city tiles the game really began to shine!
This review was tough to watch for me. Not because your review was bad, but because you guys convinced me that I don't need this game in my life right now haha Like you two fine folks, my wife and I LOVE LOVE LOVE heavy games but recently, we found ourselves playing more med-light games as we don't have the time/energy to invest several hours torturing our brains. This game was on my wishlist for a while now, but i guess i'll come back to it in a few years when our headspace is in a better place... On a side note, we bought/played Anno 1800 based on your recommendation a month ago, then came back to it this week for the second time. I was so pleasantly surprised that we were able to pick up the game VERY easily for some reason. We only had to consult the rulebook for initial setup stuff. It was so refreshing because we found ourselves reviewing rules video when returning to heavy games like Lacerdas. I actually sold the Gallerist and Clinic Deluxe because I just didn't have the will to re-learn those games for some reason... I think that's why Anno felt like a breath of fresh air! Thanks for the recom!
Glad to hear you got it back to the table easily! I think Martin Wallace is quite good at having intuitive logical rules that tend to stick in your head. Haha sorry it was so tough to watch, but at least not getting it will give you more time to play Anno ;).
Great game and solid review. I don't think anyone I have played it with hasn't succumbed to momentary exasperation and frustration at being thwarted - myself included!
I don't think you have to pay the bank for contracts, if no one connects to Trieste. Contracts are only ever worth anything (positive or negative) if a connection to Trieste has been made in a game. Otherwise, they are effectively ignored at endgame.
From the rulebook: If nobody has connected Wien to Trieste, all contracts are worthless! Skip to Step 6. However, if anyone has connected Wien to Trieste, perform the following steps: a. For each Contract card you have: * If all of its spaces are filled, earn the contract’s value. * Otherwise, you must pay the contract’s value.
You're right! Muddled our words there between paying if you don't complete the contract and connecting to Trieste! Thanks for the clarification :D. Extreme Variant maybe?
Excellent review! It is as you described. My wife and I like it a lot. Set up is a pain but I do always the set up because I enjoy it to play even I'm still in the process to improve to win :-)
We haven’t played The Gallerist specifically but thinking of other Vital Lacerda games - I think the heaviness of those mostly come from lots of interlocking actions and triggering cascading effects, and figuring out how best to do those interlocking actions. Whereas with Imperial Steam, the heaviness comes from the fact resources are so hard to get and everything is so tight you’ll spend the entire game feeling like you’re struggling - but the way forward is probably much clearer here than a Lacerda game as ultimately you need to build factories and railways. Hope this helps, let us know if you end up giving it a go!
Accurate observations about a (very) demanding game.
Thank you very much
Hope it helped!
Your review was spot on. I bought this as soon as it was available based on other reviews, but they missed a lot of the true essence of this game. After several plays I love this game. You clearly explained everything that someone would need to know if this game is for them. Great job. After several plays you do start to get the hang of it. Kind of like breaking in a horse.
Thank you for all your kind words! Yea, I think I also a problem with the first few games for me was that we played the first two back to back, so we used the basic setup, then the third game was with a new player so also used the basic setup and at that point I found the progression of the game repetitive. However, once I improved with the game and we started randomizing the city tiles the game really began to shine!
This review was tough to watch for me. Not because your review was bad, but because you guys convinced me that I don't need this game in my life right now haha Like you two fine folks, my wife and I LOVE LOVE LOVE heavy games but recently, we found ourselves playing more med-light games as we don't have the time/energy to invest several hours torturing our brains. This game was on my wishlist for a while now, but i guess i'll come back to it in a few years when our headspace is in a better place... On a side note, we bought/played Anno 1800 based on your recommendation a month ago, then came back to it this week for the second time. I was so pleasantly surprised that we were able to pick up the game VERY easily for some reason. We only had to consult the rulebook for initial setup stuff. It was so refreshing because we found ourselves reviewing rules video when returning to heavy games like Lacerdas. I actually sold the Gallerist and Clinic Deluxe because I just didn't have the will to re-learn those games for some reason... I think that's why Anno felt like a breath of fresh air! Thanks for the recom!
Glad to hear you got it back to the table easily! I think Martin Wallace is quite good at having intuitive logical rules that tend to stick in your head. Haha sorry it was so tough to watch, but at least not getting it will give you more time to play Anno ;).
Great game and solid review. I don't think anyone I have played it with hasn't succumbed to momentary exasperation and frustration at being thwarted - myself included!
Thank you! It's a real rollercoaster!
Спасибо за приятный обзор. Игра заинтересовала.
Thanks for watching!
I don't think you have to pay the bank for contracts, if no one connects to Trieste. Contracts are only ever worth anything (positive or negative) if a connection to Trieste has been made in a game. Otherwise, they are effectively ignored at endgame.
From the rulebook:
If nobody has connected Wien to Trieste, all contracts are worthless! Skip to Step 6. However, if anyone has connected Wien to Trieste, perform the following steps:
a. For each Contract card you have:
* If all of its spaces are filled, earn the contract’s value.
* Otherwise, you must pay the contract’s value.
You're right! Muddled our words there between paying if you don't complete the contract and connecting to Trieste! Thanks for the clarification :D.
Extreme Variant maybe?
Excellent review! It is as you described. My wife and I like it a lot. Set up is a pain but I do always the set up because I enjoy it to play even I'm still in the process to improve to win :-)
Thank you! Glad to hear you're enjoying it too!
This looks interesting and a bit intimidating. How would you say the weight of this compares to something like The Gallerist.
We haven’t played The Gallerist specifically but thinking of other Vital Lacerda games - I think the heaviness of those mostly come from lots of interlocking actions and triggering cascading effects, and figuring out how best to do those interlocking actions. Whereas with Imperial Steam, the heaviness comes from the fact resources are so hard to get and everything is so tight you’ll spend the entire game feeling like you’re struggling - but the way forward is probably much clearer here than a Lacerda game as ultimately you need to build factories and railways. Hope this helps, let us know if you end up giving it a go!