Woodcraft ~ these blueberries are CRUNCHY 🤯 | Board Game Review
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- Welcome to the world of Woodcraft where, as our resident themer describes, you "grow wood" to "cut up wood" and "make wood masterpieces" 😆 -- but underneath all of the cuteness of the blueberry currency and the strange elf-like wood people characters is an incredibly crunchy optimisation puzzle. Didn't see that coming, did you?
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:22 Theme overview (Themer)
01:57 Mechanics overview (Thinker)
08:30 POW. This is crunchyyyyyy!
10:23 Long and short term strategic choices
11:35 Strong theme (sawing dice!)...but...
13:36 ...the tool attic causes us thematic & strategic pain
15:33 Gluing together feels easy to ignore (underpowered?)
16:59 BUT THE WHEEL IS SO GOOD & other great things
20:46 Player count differences
22:50 Solo mode
24:47 Low player interaction
25:55 Ratings & Wrap Up
More Information: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3...
Thanks for stopping by for our mechanics & theme board game review of Woodcraft. We're Amy & Maggie aka ThinkerThemer. We're an Australian couple with two very different perspectives of what makes a great board game - Amy (Thinker) is all about the mechanics and enjoys tight, competitive games, and Maggie (Themer) is all about the storytelling and the theme of the game, and the 'world' that the designer is trying to create. Subscribe to our channel to hear us talk about these two elements of a game, and how well integrated we feel these are in delivering a cohesive and wonderful game experience. #boardgames #thinkerthemer
You are the best game reviewers, hands down. Woodcraft is back on my list of games to look for. Also really like your rating videos, since they often cover older games that I may not have heard much about. Happy New Year and glad to see you back!
Hi Karen, this really made our day to read, thank you so much for the lovely comment. Our series 10 out of 10 is back this coming Monday and there are a few older games in the mix. Glad that they are helpful and thanks for watching. Happy New Year!
Great review as always, thank you so much! I fell in love with this game the moment I saw the box and the title... but later took it off my wishlist because I heard people say it's not very thematic and it's just a big dry icon-collection. I was very sad about it too, because I felt like the theme could be soo unique and fun!
Thank you so so much for convincing me that it IS indeed thematic and the theme is very much present in the mechanism and the decisions you make. I had to put it back on my wishlist! (I might be thanking you but my wallet is screaming!)
Hahaha my wallet is always screaming... sorry for putting another one back on the wishlist! It definitely could've been dryer.... but the nice thematic touch of sawing dice and the cuteness of the blueberries saves it for Maggie I think :D Thanks for watching!
Love this review! This is definitely on my list when I can get my hands on it.
Thanks Molly! Glad you enjoyed the review! Thanks for taking the time to comment and look forward to hearing what you think about this one :)
Great review guys. And the video chapters are sooooo helpful. Thx!
Thanks for taking the time to comment to let us know Carlos! Glad they are helpful (even if sometimes we ramble a bit too much for me to think of a timestamp name lolllllllllllll). Have a great weekend ahead!
Well, now I'm super intrigued. I've somehow not been following this one and I'm a big fan of Suchy's work. Looking forward to trying it out.
I hope we can play it with you this year Don!!
Very good review. Excellent job. I have subscribed, look forward to watching more. Thanks
Great review! Can’t wait for this game to be available in our area. 😊
Good to see you are back!
Hey thank you! Happy New Year! :D
I'm very excited to eventually try this game. Thanks for a great review👍
Thanks for watching as always!! And Happy New Year to you! Hope you've had a wonderful festive season ❤
Thanks again for another great review! Your standard is just so high, and this review was once again excellent. What an interesting game! Take care and hi from Esperance where we're currently on our Australia trip 🙋 Cis
Awww Cis! Thank you so much for your kind words and support of our content, it always brings a smile to our faces. Hope you're enjoying the gorgeous WA weather and beaches. Any plans for a Melbourne detour?
@@ThinkerThemer Thanks for your lovely reply! Yes, WA is so stunning and the beaches are amazing. Soon we'll visit Fremantle as you suggested once in Small Talk 😊 We looked at a detour to Melbourne when we were in Adelaide, but unfortunately it wouldn't fit in our schedule this time. We'll definitely want to visit again though, you live in an amazing city! Take care and enjoy summer 🙋 Cis
Great review as ever. 😊
I have been on the fence with this one for months. It’s beautiful, I love the theme integration, it looks smooth, but I fear it’s just going to feel way too much like work - so crunchy. I seem to be gravitating more to lighter games at the moment, probably just a reflection of where we are in life - we’re looking for more relaxing games that don’t take too much brain power!
Great job ty
Good to see you again 🙂
Thank you 😊 It’s great to be back 💖
I love your reviews, thanks for covering this game! And Amy I love your... is it a retro calculator watch!?
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!! It is a casio calculator watch yes! 😂 I'm an analyst for work but I have to admit it's not super efficient working from my wrist 🙃 nice spotting! Have a great week ahead
Thank you for a really great review. I love this game, and I believe it plays best with three players and solo. I agree with almost everything you said, except I really like the tools in the attic, because it is fun and give you good bonuses. My best scoring games have been the ones where I got five or more tools in the attic. I also believed that gluing was not worth it, but in my most recent game I tried it, and it actually worked, and I won the game 🙂.
Well now you just have us intrigued Jimmy. We'll have to try focusing more on gluing. I think the most frustrating thing about the tools is it really relies on being able to grab the cards that provide them IF and when they turn up. My worst score ever was when I tried to chase tools lol. So glad that you love so much about this game like we do. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!
Oooooooo. I might need to play this.......DTW!! Another great review ladies!
Sounds like a great one for DTW Monica!!! How we wish we were going......... never say never!!!!!!!! Hope all is going well in love and life xx
@@ThinkerThemer it's not bad or good right now. Just alot of fast pass change. Hoping for the best. Sorry for being so quiet.😬 You'll make it!!!
Auuughh this makes me want this game so badly! I'm on a game no-buy (may have gone a bit wild during the xmas season..... oops), so i may just have to play it in a game cafe or watch from afar, but this looks so good!
Amy bringing the logic regarding blueberry currency lol. Maggie, maybe we should have blueberry shaped and colored coins in real life!
😆😆 Maggie the dreamer. Someone has to have the big ideas! And then someone else needs to be practical LOL. Thanks for watching Justin! Happy New Year!
Thank you for the content
Thanks for taking the time to say that John! Great to have you here, thanks for watching!
I really like this game. One of the best of last year in my opinion. I think the gluing dice option is incentivised by you getting 4 points for gluing two different colour dice together. Which I assume they added to balance the game slightly.
Yes. It definitely needed the incentive. And even the. We still found ourselves avoiding it.
Happy new year. Hope you had a great holiday season. Very informative review. While CRUNCH is great, I was wondering about the replayability though. Theme wise I love wood work, but I am not sure
... I am not sure it comes through very well. Thank you for the video
Thanks for watching as always Ralf and Happy New Year! I'm glad the review was helpful. I hope we can game together soon!!!!!!
@@ThinkerThemer Great, thanks. I'll be in touch.
Been really looking forward to your opinion on this one. Been at the top of my list
Hope it helped! Do you think it's one for you and the fam?
@@ThinkerThemer for me for sure. Probably not the fam haha. Praga so far is the only Suchy that has fallen flat for me. I love Under Water Cities, Pulsar and Messina
Great review. I think it would lead to too many AP moments for my normal gaming group, but would be interested in playing at some stage.
Thank you! I hope you get a chance to give it a go but yes we played it with one group where the AP issue was very apparent (to be fair, with that group I could just about do all of my daily chores and come back before it's my turn again so I dont think it is game specific LOL). Hope you've been well, Happy New Year from across the ditch!
Missed you both. I hope you had a lovely holiday and happy new year to you! Thanks to this very good review I'll be passing on this game. It doesn't sound appealing at all. 🙃
Thank you Ian, it's great to be back and Happy New Year to you too!! Glad the review helped you work out this one is not for you! That's exactly what we hope our reviews can bring to light for people. Thanks for watching :D
So I absolutely love your channel and all of your reviews. The scores seem kinda high for this one though, given you don’t have a huge desire to keep replaying it. That’s one of the biggest factors for me in scoring a game, as it’s one of the things that most represents value for me. I think if I really liked a game to play a couple of times, but then would be fine culling it, I probably wouldn’t give it higher than a 7? 7.5?
That is totally fair Danielle! Definitely high scores from us for this one. At the moment the puzzle is still really fun for us and I like teaching it to new people so they can discover it for themselves (and ps. I can't beat Maggie ever now lol). We are definitely a little concerned about replayability though as we mentioned and will certainly revisit the score down the track if things change. But right now there's no way we would cull this game so I think it's quite deserving (and 2nd in our rankings of games of 2022) :D Completely understand the question though and appreciate your kind feedback about our channel. Thank you for watching and being a part of this wonderful community. ❤
@@ThinkerThemer ah, I must have misinterpreted what you said then, as I was thinking your concern for replay-ability meant you wouldn’t want to keep it. High scores make total sense with that context!
Wishlisted this game, but will probably have to purchase my own set of f.e. white dice, because sadly the two brighter colors are not colorblind friendly at all
Great review! It looks like a good one with some clever ideas, but probably would be tough to get to the table often.
Definitely needs the right group! Maybe if we end up in the same part of the world we can teach you this one :D
A multiplayer solitaire euro is definitely in my wheelhouse, so I’m quite interested in this one :D
I just bought a used copy of Shipyard but haven’t played it yet. I enjoyed Pulsar quite a bit. I really need to get Underwater Cities to the table. Too many games! :)
Ooo yes you might like this puzzle! I liked Pulsar and Underwater Cities but I think we like this one more :) Hope you've been well - how have you been going with KS backing? Still as into it?
@@ThinkerThemer Hey Amy :)
I’ve been good, but my mom has been having some health issues, so I’ve been trying to help out more at home. It’s been a bit of an adjustment :)
I’ve been trying to back far less which has been fairly easy given the lack of projects at the end of the year. I did back Sol Last Days of A Star as it has been a bit of a grail game for me. I passed on Themeborne’s The Last of Us even though TLOU is one of my favorite video games of all time. I’ll try not to regret it…. Looking forward to the HBO adaptation next week though!
I’ll probably back space Eldervale at the end of this month since I really like Dwellings :)
Floe, An Age Contrived, and Stonesaga all are on my radar next month, but I’ll try to limit myself to just one. I’ve been trying to cull a game every time I buy it back a game.
So I guess I’m still into the crowdfunding scene, but I’m trying to keep my backing to a minimum. I think one project a month is acceptable :D
Hope the new year is starting off well for the two of you! :)
Hey Luke, I'm so sorry to hear of your mum's health and it's great that you can be there for her. Remember to also take care of yourself.
I must admit that since pausing the Back Chat content I've fallen a bit behind in the upcoming campaigns (aside from the ones we are previewing!) I do think I will miss the random game arrivals though so I might have to back a few things to make sure future Amy doesn't get FOMO. Lol.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead ❤️
@@ThinkerThemer
Thank you, Amy! I try to keep my stress levels low by spending quality time with family and friends. I also love my alone time on the hiking trails :)
I hope you can avoid the FOMO! I just got an email about The Search for Lost Species which is crowdfunding at the end of this month. I gotta cull a couple of games to make room! On the other hand, one could get the deluxe components for the Search for Planet X from directly from Renegade, so maybe there won’t be any FOMO.
Hope you and Maggie have a great weekend! :D
It might be too crunchy for me, but that action wheel is fantastic. I can definitely see it causing AP though, with it changing every turn. Lovely game.
It is certainly crunchy but it's also a good one to start slow and then eventually when you're feeling more confident start to chase those high scores!! Hope you get a chance to try it sometime. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment :)
@@ThinkerThemer thanks!
There is a free roll and write made by the designer that is on BBG so you can get to a taste for the mechanics in the game
That's funny, something similar happened to me! I played it once and thought: well, that's boring. Then I checked the rules and it mentioned the score and I was like "140? I only made like 50!". I basically only dug into the puzzle because of that yardstick to get over. 10+ games later, I'm regularly in the 150-180 range. But it has lost a bit of its attraction as I feel I have cracked the puzzle.
Ahhh yes! Maggie has definitely cracked it and I feel like I am always trying to explore something different and can no longer beat her. But I am determined - 180!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow. I hope it has an expansion of some kind to improve its longevity but I adore the puzzle and have enjoyed teaching it to new people so they can experience that same shock and awe over how to combo & optimise your way to a high score....! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for watching! :)
@@ThinkerThemer As always, was fun to hear your takes on the game! I think it's excellent if someone manages to do a review that's even interesting for people that have played the game to death 😃
Hmm... not sure if the core system even has "space" for an expansion, it's so tight. I would struggle to think of something that could be done in an expansion. Did you have any particular ideas coming to mind?
@@ThinkerThemer It will be tricky to do an expansion for that one, it's also so tightly integrated! Any idea what you'd be looking for? I guess it would need something that mixes up large parts of the economy so it's a new puzzle again and again..
Is this game more complex than Ark Nova? We have been enjoying that one at 2 player these days but it’s our most complex game to date. I guess Woodcraft is not particularly hard to learn but hard to play well? Ark Nova is not a tight game, so we aren’t sure what we’d think of that.
It's not more complex. There are more options and choices to make though. It's probably the similar level of complexity but a different feel.
Hi Listan! We'd agree with Shayne that it's not more complex rules-wise (I think you'll be just fine if you can play Ark Nova!) but the sequence of actions and planning ahead is challenging. It doesn't need to be... but once you start chasing those high scores.... :D thanks for watching!
I will definitely play this if I get the chance. The game's look just sadly... sits wrong with me. Like, nothing wrong with it. But I'd definitely want to try it. Idk. Weird feelings
Haha absolutely know what you mean! Maggie here. Had the same feeling at first. Like the characters don’t look quite right. But I think it’s because they’re meant to be wood people… or at least that’s what I made it in my mind to be at peace with it 😂
@@ThinkerThemer Oh yeah like... I think the look is great... I just hate it! It's one of those things where it's like... "My feelings are wrong, but they are still my feelings" lol. It's one of those rare cases where I like the art in the game a lot more than on the cover. Normally it's the other way round, and the cover makes you think the game is going to be a lot prettier than it actually is!
Hazelnuts are the points not acorns haha
Lol Hazelnuts! Of course! I think I was trying to connect it to oak which is why I had acorn in mind.