This was one of the best rules description through play through that I’ve seen. I liked how you were able to hit most areas in the play through without it seeming forced, and mentioning certain areas that you will be able to get into more detail later. Most of all, it gave me an almost complete explanation of the game where I was able to play through successfully right away.
I was always interested in Clash of Cultures. Now with Monumental Edition coming I was already planning to finally get it. This video solidified that. Thanks Jon, great vid as always. Makes me dream of an extended playthrough as usual.
CORRECTIONS: 1:43:45 - You disregard the swords on the die showing the elephant icon, not any die of your choice. 1:45:11 - Yellow forgets to take one mood token for advancing onto a yellow bordered spot.
Great video!!! I really appreciate the effort! As for the corrections, it's CAVALRY not calvary. I have no idea why this is so widespread on the Internet :(
Last night we played our first game of Clash of Cultures: Monumental Edition and included all the expansion content. It was watching your video that convinced me it would be worth the investment to buy and it was re-watching your video that helped us get it to the table and significantly cut down on the rules teach. There are so many aspects of the game to keep in mind that I still consulted the rule book (which is quite well-done BTW even if some rules are slightly buried) on more than a few occasions to double-check or clarify rules. Thanks Jon!
Thankyou for this excellent instruction. I learn better when explaining rules as you play instead of having it all told at once at the beginning of the game. so this teach suited me very well
I have the game still unplayed. This is the best how to play video i have seen. It does seem like a daunting task to keep track of all of your advancement abilities.
Great video. A pretty comprehensive overview of a very complex game. As these sorts of civilization games so, I wouldn't say its my favorite. However, it is pretty up there. I think it's real selling point is in fact the miniatures. I'm often not a big fan of plastic minis, since they often take up space and make board games more expensive for little benefit. But there's a real joy in this game in building your cities piece by piece like little jigsaw puzzles, and I like the way cultural influence works. That said I do have some criticisms. The main one is the way actions can 'nest' into each other to a ridiculous extent. Like, you do something that lets you make an advance, which triggers a barbarian move, which triggers a battle, and once that battle is finally resolved you have to refer to a freaking _notebook_ or something if you want to keep track of what you were doing before and whose turn it was. It can get pretty maddening.
I too was overwhelmed trying to keep track of my turn with how things chain together. I decided to put 3 generic tokens beside me and use them to mark each action as I do it. Now I feel much more in control.
You've done an excellent job of this playthrough I'm so excited I've always liked this game I've got the new revised one coming in the mail soon I should have it by Wednesday I'm so excited. Thank you for this playthrough I enjoyed it so much. 😊
1:34:05 ‚..and that‘s our first idea of the game.‘ Man, I wish I had a dollar for every time I think that around the 90 minutes mark when learning a new, heavy game.
Great video! During the elephant explanation around 1:43:45, I think your interpretation of the rule may be incorrect. You say the elephant cancels a hit, but you have to discard the combat value of ONE of your die. However, I'm pretty sure it cancels the combat value of the die that actually has the elephant on it; you can't just discard your lowest value die.
As someone who loves civilization games, this looks right in my alley :) However, as someone who does a lot of PC gaming as well, I do ask myself do I need this when I have pretty complex civ games to play on my PC. I might have given this a try if it had a comprehensive solo mode - and I will gladly take recommendations if someone has already developed an unofficial one, by the way. As far as being able to play offline, with actual people in the same room, my fellow countrymen have decided we are going to extend the pandemic as long as we can, given how the vaccination rate here is only 24% (even though vaccine supply is ample), so it is not really a viable option for now. The game does look great, though, and I actually love all the chain effects you can cause by doing certain things. Also, I like how technologies/concepts are tied into separate groups, it gives you a lot more freedom, yet they still have a logical chain of research. Also, synergy between government types and their respective techs is impressive. I do wonder, has anyone tried playing this with smaller or bigger maps than recommended by the rulebook? This is a very common thing in Civ video games to balance difficulty and the probability of conflict (smaller maps would encourage more conflict). From what I understand, the rule is five map tiles per player (one starting one and four unexplored ones), but it will be interesting if you could try adjusting this in games with two or three players (as I assume you have just enough tiles in the box for a 4-player game). Edit: And a very small pet peeve about the video - you said (and wrote) "calvary" instead of "cavalry" quite a few times. "Calvary" is just another name for Golgotha, just fyi.
Pretty sure you can mess around with different map configurations once you have an idea of what the game plays like. For me, the reason I went for this is because it reminds me of Age of Empires 2 on PC. You CAN rush knights/infantry mid game and crush your opponent, especially in 1v1. My group needed something that "felt like Catan" ie. trading and negotiating, but with complexity of decisions. So far, this has been a 2 player hit! In both games I've played with 2, 1 player was knocked out by round 4 or 5.
There is an unnoficial solo mode on BGG, but I don't see the value on buying this game to play it that way. As you mentioned you already have great games to play on PC by yourself, and this game only shines having other people to play with
I had some questions about the capturing cities action explained at 1:16:00. Here they are: 1. If you had 5 cities in play, and each of them were a size 5 city, but an opponent captures one and lowers your total number of cities on the board to 4, do you have to discard landmarks from your other cities so that they are now size 4 as well? You mentioned that your city size can't be higher than the total number of cities you have in play, but you didn't mention if you have to downgrade cities to a small size when one of your ciites is captuned (In summary, you have 5 cities in play of a size 5, an opponent captures one of them, and now you have 4 cities on the board, but they are still size 5? So, what happens here?) 2. If all 7 of your cities are in play, and you capture a new one when you have no cities left in your supply, what's happen? Also, are you allowed to capture a city when you have none left in your supply? The same question applies when you have to switch landmarks to your color, but that landmark is no longer in your supply, as well as when you spawn prates and barbarians when they are none in the supply. (In summary, it's asking if the supply of figures are supposed to be limited, and what happens when a figure has to appear on the board when they aren't in the supply where they are suppose to come from, and if the rulebook explains stuff that had to spawn, but the supply of that figure is empty.) Let me know if you can answer these 2 questions that I left here.
Unfortunately I'm not sure the specific answers for these two questions, they didn't come up as I worked on this video. I imagine you can find the answers to them in the city capture part of the rulebook and/or by asking on the BGG forums.
To answer question 1, no, you don’t downgrade if something occurs that reduces your cities below the current number. Clearly stated early in the rule book.
For question 2, if you capture a city you don't have the pieces to replace, you simply remove those pieces from the captured city and take over what's left. If it's settlements that you're out of when you need to replace one, you just remove the whole city. In any case, you get 1 gold per piece removed.
1:20:59 the card that allows us to copy an opponent's progress, allows us to copy a progress for which we do not have the first progress of the square? Or does it only allow to copy a progress for which we already have the first progress of this same category? Thanks!!
I can't really say, I've never actually played a full game of Clash of Cultures and the last time I played SM:Civ was more than 10 years ago so I don't remember much about it.
I played this the other night at a friends house and really enjoyed it, like top 5 games I've played. I fear it's a bit heavy for my parents to get into but I am tired of playing ticket to ride carcassonne and dominion with them so I'd love to throw a civ style game like this into the mix. Any suggestions for a medium-light civ games? I really enjoy playing board games with my family but both my parents have a hard time with "analysis paralysis". Also any general suggestions on games that would fall into the light-medium difficulty category but still have enough meat to keep more intermediate players engaged. (My dad is starting down the road to dementia so board games will help but I fear there isn't going to be much improvement so building up to more advanced games is likely out of the question). Thank you Jon and anyone else who has suggestions!
Regarding medium-light civ games, I'd look into Nations and/or Nations: The Dice Game. The dice game is much lighter, but even Nations the main game is IMO pretty rules light compared to others in the genre.
Rise of Tribes is medium-light. I find it enjoyable yet my mom can still beat me at it. Light on the civ-building but that's to be expected from of game of this weight. It's more like tribe-building.
I would think a decent tip would be putting some cubes on the description of the advancement, so you know to put a cube down for your civilization as well.
I have played the original version and the game is great and very simple to learn and play, however I wish the minis in this game were optional. I hate their monochromatic saturated look and they bring nothing of value, especially city pieces. I love to see a good balance of color and quality design, and this also makes the board much more readable. I really couldn't care less about so many plastic pieces that needlessly blow up the cost of production, and are guaranteed to puncture the bag at some point and press into other components. Not to mention the extruded details such as tiny swords and spears that bend over time on their own. Whoever thought that minis are mandatory because this is a wargame (🧐) failed big time. This should be a light civilization-like game, it's obvious from its design (I also own Civilization, and CoC design is much more compact and fun in comparison). If you like minis buy them as an add-on, paint them over, keep them on a shelf, whatever. I really don't like minis, I think they're annoying, wasteful, and decadently American.
Honestly, I think the game ok, but no more. The majority of the advancements are just discounts, rephrased. Events deck seemed a little random and unfair. The game is trying to be a well done mix of genres and doesn’t succeed in any of them or brings something new or innovative. But I see why it is so loved by community: the game is HUGE, has ELEPHANTS and PIRATES, - simple recipe for making 12-years old me happy.
The creator was aware that Events can seem random and the rulebook comes with variants for the Event deck. I do like the tech tree and the way you play the game can definitely change depending on what tech you invest on (especially government)
This was one of the best rules description through play through that I’ve seen. I liked how you were able to hit most areas in the play through without it seeming forced, and mentioning certain areas that you will be able to get into more detail later. Most of all, it gave me an almost complete explanation of the game where I was able to play through successfully right away.
Great to hear you had a successful play, thanks for the kind words :)
I was always interested in Clash of Cultures. Now with Monumental Edition coming I was already planning to finally get it. This video solidified that.
Thanks Jon, great vid as always. Makes me dream of an extended playthrough as usual.
This is the best video out there ... amazing work
This video is gold! Just rewatched it again on double speed as I haven't played the game for few months now.
Very well presented. Much appreciated! Keep on making tutorials, you're great at explaining.
Just got this game and was hoping either Jon or Heavy Cardboard would do a playthrough. I got my wish. Thank you!
How the hell did you get yours so soon? Still waiting for mine.
CORRECTIONS:
1:43:45 - You disregard the swords on the die showing the elephant icon, not any die of your choice.
1:45:11 - Yellow forgets to take one mood token for advancing onto a yellow bordered spot.
Great video!!! I really appreciate the effort!
As for the corrections, it's CAVALRY not calvary. I have no idea why this is so widespread on the Internet :(
if that's the only rule error here, then... daaaayum, you are great
Last night we played our first game of Clash of Cultures: Monumental Edition and included all the expansion content. It was watching your video that convinced me it would be worth the investment to buy and it was re-watching your video that helped us get it to the table and significantly cut down on the rules teach. There are so many aspects of the game to keep in mind that I still consulted the rule book (which is quite well-done BTW even if some rules are slightly buried) on more than a few occasions to double-check or clarify rules. Thanks Jon!
That's lovely to hear, I hope you ended up enjoying the game :)
We did indeed.
Excellent video Jon and once again I feel like I can get a beast like this to the table thanks to your efforts! Class act as always.
Thanks Jon for this great video. It’s always a big help to watch them for getting an overview before reading the rules.
Thankyou for this excellent instruction. I learn better when explaining rules as you play instead of having it all told at once at the beginning of the game. so this teach suited me very well
Is this fun 2 players I all ready purchased. And you always do the best reviews for the bigger complex board games I love
I have the game still unplayed. This is the best how to play video i have seen. It does seem like a daunting task to keep track of all of your advancement abilities.
thanks for this impressive job done. Its more comfortable to watch this before reading the rules
You are great John! Love so much all of your videos and playtrought! Great game, thnaknyou a lot for making us feel like if we were playing it :)
Received my shipping notification for this yesterday. Really enjoyed the video, and hope to get it played sooner rather than later.
thanks Jon, just bought this knowing you had a teach video
Great video. A pretty comprehensive overview of a very complex game. As these sorts of civilization games so, I wouldn't say its my favorite. However, it is pretty up there. I think it's real selling point is in fact the miniatures. I'm often not a big fan of plastic minis, since they often take up space and make board games more expensive for little benefit. But there's a real joy in this game in building your cities piece by piece like little jigsaw puzzles, and I like the way cultural influence works.
That said I do have some criticisms. The main one is the way actions can 'nest' into each other to a ridiculous extent. Like, you do something that lets you make an advance, which triggers a barbarian move, which triggers a battle, and once that battle is finally resolved you have to refer to a freaking _notebook_ or something if you want to keep track of what you were doing before and whose turn it was. It can get pretty maddening.
I too was overwhelmed trying to keep track of my turn with how things chain together. I decided to put 3 generic tokens beside me and use them to mark each action as I do it. Now I feel much more in control.
Great video man. Thanks a lot. The best one i've seen about this game. Congrats!
Hi Jon. Thanks again for a great tutorial and playthrough. Already looking forward to the next one. :-)
Always interested to see how board games handle tech trees. A bit overwhelming at first, but I think the player board handles it pretty well
You've done an excellent job of this playthrough I'm so excited I've always liked this game I've got the new revised one coming in the mail soon I should have it by Wednesday I'm so excited. Thank you for this playthrough I enjoyed it so much. 😊
Awesome video, thanks for the tutorial and hard work u put in there! I ordered the game myself now :3
Really good explanations
1:34:05 ‚..and that‘s our first idea of the game.‘ Man, I wish I had a dollar for every time I think that around the 90 minutes mark when learning a new, heavy game.
Such a cool ans clear video ! Thanks a lot !
Great video!😄👍😄 One correction about scoring Advance track - you gain victory points for civilization advance too.
Good point! I'm glad you enjoyed this :)
I am french
Not as good in english as i would like to be
I understand everything in this video !
Thank you so much
No video in french on youtube......
Impressionante! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Great video! During the elephant explanation around 1:43:45, I think your interpretation of the rule may be incorrect. You say the elephant cancels a hit, but you have to discard the combat value of ONE of your die. However, I'm pretty sure it cancels the combat value of the die that actually has the elephant on it; you can't just discard your lowest value die.
Good catch! I've added corrections, thanks.
As someone who loves civilization games, this looks right in my alley :) However, as someone who does a lot of PC gaming as well, I do ask myself do I need this when I have pretty complex civ games to play on my PC. I might have given this a try if it had a comprehensive solo mode - and I will gladly take recommendations if someone has already developed an unofficial one, by the way. As far as being able to play offline, with actual people in the same room, my fellow countrymen have decided we are going to extend the pandemic as long as we can, given how the vaccination rate here is only 24% (even though vaccine supply is ample), so it is not really a viable option for now.
The game does look great, though, and I actually love all the chain effects you can cause by doing certain things. Also, I like how technologies/concepts are tied into separate groups, it gives you a lot more freedom, yet they still have a logical chain of research. Also, synergy between government types and their respective techs is impressive.
I do wonder, has anyone tried playing this with smaller or bigger maps than recommended by the rulebook? This is a very common thing in Civ video games to balance difficulty and the probability of conflict (smaller maps would encourage more conflict). From what I understand, the rule is five map tiles per player (one starting one and four unexplored ones), but it will be interesting if you could try adjusting this in games with two or three players (as I assume you have just enough tiles in the box for a 4-player game).
Edit: And a very small pet peeve about the video - you said (and wrote) "calvary" instead of "cavalry" quite a few times. "Calvary" is just another name for Golgotha, just fyi.
Pretty sure you can mess around with different map configurations once you have an idea of what the game plays like. For me, the reason I went for this is because it reminds me of Age of Empires 2 on PC. You CAN rush knights/infantry mid game and crush your opponent, especially in 1v1. My group needed something that "felt like Catan" ie. trading and negotiating, but with complexity of decisions. So far, this has been a 2 player hit! In both games I've played with 2, 1 player was knocked out by round 4 or 5.
There is an unnoficial solo mode on BGG, but I don't see the value on buying this game to play it that way. As you mentioned you already have great games to play on PC by yourself, and this game only shines having other people to play with
I had some questions about the capturing cities action explained at 1:16:00. Here they are:
1. If you had 5 cities in play, and each of them were a size 5 city, but an opponent captures one and lowers your total number of cities on the board to 4, do you have to discard landmarks from your other cities so that they are now size 4 as well?
You mentioned that your city size can't be higher than the total number of cities you have in play, but you didn't mention if you have to downgrade cities to a small size when one of your ciites is captuned (In summary, you have 5 cities in play of a size 5, an opponent captures one of them, and now you have 4 cities on the board, but they are still size 5? So, what happens here?)
2. If all 7 of your cities are in play, and you capture a new one when you have no cities left in your supply, what's happen? Also, are you allowed to capture a city when you have none left in your supply?
The same question applies when you have to switch landmarks to your color, but that landmark is no longer in your supply, as well as when you spawn prates and barbarians when they are none in the supply. (In summary, it's asking if the supply of figures are supposed to be limited, and what happens when a figure has to appear on the board when they aren't in the supply where they are suppose to come from, and if the rulebook explains stuff that had to spawn, but the supply of that figure is empty.)
Let me know if you can answer these 2 questions that I left here.
Unfortunately I'm not sure the specific answers for these two questions, they didn't come up as I worked on this video. I imagine you can find the answers to them in the city capture part of the rulebook and/or by asking on the BGG forums.
To answer question 1, no, you don’t downgrade if something occurs that reduces your cities below the current number. Clearly stated early in the rule book.
For question 2, if you capture a city you don't have the pieces to replace, you simply remove those pieces from the captured city and take over what's left. If it's settlements that you're out of when you need to replace one, you just remove the whole city. In any case, you get 1 gold per piece removed.
1:20:59
the card that allows us to copy an opponent's progress, allows us to copy a progress for which we do not have the first progress of the square? Or does it only allow to copy a progress for which we already have the first progress of this same category?
Thanks!!
I believe you have to have all prerequisites, but honestly I can't be sure sorry.
Thanks!!
question at 1:29 could you have moved a soldier into the city and taken the control of yellow?
If you are referring to 1:29:00, that was a settler and it already moved this turn (onto the boat) so it couldn't be moved again.
Thank you for bringing attention to this fantastic game. Very nice walk-through.
Thanks for the video! One correction, at 1:45:08 you forgot to take a mood token for Fishing.
Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for pointing that out! I've added a correction.
Would you recommend this over Sid Meier's Civilization A New Dawn board game?
I can't really say, I've never actually played a full game of Clash of Cultures and the last time I played SM:Civ was more than 10 years ago so I don't remember much about it.
thanks
I played this the other night at a friends house and really enjoyed it, like top 5 games I've played. I fear it's a bit heavy for my parents to get into but I am tired of playing ticket to ride carcassonne and dominion with them so I'd love to throw a civ style game like this into the mix. Any suggestions for a medium-light civ games? I really enjoy playing board games with my family but both my parents have a hard time with "analysis paralysis". Also any general suggestions on games that would fall into the light-medium difficulty category but still have enough meat to keep more intermediate players engaged. (My dad is starting down the road to dementia so board games will help but I fear there isn't going to be much improvement so building up to more advanced games is likely out of the question). Thank you Jon and anyone else who has suggestions!
Regarding medium-light civ games, I'd look into Nations and/or Nations: The Dice Game. The dice game is much lighter, but even Nations the main game is IMO pretty rules light compared to others in the genre.
Rise of Tribes is medium-light. I find it enjoyable yet my mom can still beat me at it. Light on the civ-building but that's to be expected from of game of this weight. It's more like tribe-building.
I would think a decent tip would be putting some cubes on the description of the advancement, so you know to put a cube down for your civilization as well.
That is a good idea!
What do you mean by that? can elaborate?
Thank you
I have played the original version and the game is great and very simple to learn and play, however I wish the minis in this game were optional. I hate their monochromatic saturated look and they bring nothing of value, especially city pieces.
I love to see a good balance of color and quality design, and this also makes the board much more readable. I really couldn't care less about so many plastic pieces that needlessly blow up the cost of production, and are guaranteed to puncture the bag at some point and press into other components. Not to mention the extruded details such as tiny swords and spears that bend over time on their own.
Whoever thought that minis are mandatory because this is a wargame (🧐) failed big time. This should be a light civilization-like game, it's obvious from its design (I also own Civilization, and CoC design is much more compact and fun in comparison). If you like minis buy them as an add-on, paint them over, keep them on a shelf, whatever. I really don't like minis, I think they're annoying, wasteful, and decadently American.
hi! if there are more than 1 pirate ship near 1 player cities - he still loses only 1 resource?
Unfortunately, it's been too long since I played this game to remember the rules enough to answer your question. Sorry about that!
Niceeee
"math gives us culture"
that's cute
CLASH OF CULTURES
I HAVE A QUESTION??
ADVANCE --> EDUCATION--> FREE EDUCATION
THIS IS FREE ACTION OR AS AN ACTION ??
PLEASE ㅜㅜ
Unfortunately, it's been too long since I played this game to remember the rules enough to answer your question. Sorry about that!
It should be noted that the word is cavalry, not calvary.
Yeah, that's a brain-worm that I have a hard time correcting.
You have a... British pronunciation of status?
No one's mentioned that to me before. My dad is english, so perhaps that's why?
@@JonGetsGames SirJonathonWesleythe3rdGetsGames just doesn't have the same ring to it.
I keep hearing "calvary" instead of "cavalry."
...and the penultimate timestamp is labeled "CALVARY & elephants explanation."
Yeah, that's a brain bug of mine. I'm working on it :)
Honestly, I think the game ok, but no more. The majority of the advancements are just discounts, rephrased. Events deck seemed a little random and unfair. The game is trying to be a well done mix of genres and doesn’t succeed in any of them or brings something new or innovative.
But I see why it is so loved by community: the game is HUGE, has ELEPHANTS and PIRATES, - simple recipe for making 12-years old me happy.
And yes, generally I like civ games.
Well, the original version managed to get into the Top 100 and is still in the Top 400 after nine years. And all without ELEPHANTS or PIRATES.
I love discounts bro. The expansion needs to bring in a coupon clipping module for buy 2 get 1 elephant free.
The creator was aware that Events can seem random and the rulebook comes with variants for the Event deck. I do like the tech tree and the way you play the game can definitely change depending on what tech you invest on (especially government)