Pre-ordered mine back in August, got to try a half game of it at Essen and today my copy finally showed up. My first taste of it at Spiel had me wanting more. Just unboxed the game with this video playing in the background. Definitely playing this over the upcoming weekend. You’ve gotten me pumped up and ready to play it.
I'm very excited for this one. Especially as more and more reviews are coming out about it. It will be hard to dethrone Coffee Traders as my game of the year though. Unfortunately, I ordered it from Capstone along with the Maracaibo expansion and Boonlake which are not slated to arrive in the US until late next month, I believe. (Super excited for Boonlake as well.)
This game is soul crushing in it’s meanness. Not since Barrage can you lose a game within the first few turns. If the factory spaces get sniped from you there is no way you are loving life for the remainder of the game.
@@gaillardlionel Multiple plays thus far at 3 and 4 players with the following happening in every game: 1) The winner has always been the individual who completed the route to Trieste and built the most factories. In my opinion and in the multiple plays thus far I do not believe there is any other viable strategy to securing a victory. 2) There has always been at least an $700-800 difference difference between first place and last place. There is no catchup mechanism for one or two mistakes. Once the mistakes are made, you may as well cash it in because it gets progressively worse as the game proceeds. On the scale of losing, one starts at knowing you will lose in the first/second round to getting absolutely destroyed to getting old, having children, having your children then get destroyed at birth and then their children getting destroyed and so on to the point where it becomes generational destruction of one’s family lineage rolling into future plays of Imperial Steam. I am on the fence as to where I will ultimately fall onto the like/dislike camp. Until a second winning strategy unfolds in our plays outside of the race to Trieste with most factories I am trending towards it not being my first selection on game days😁
I do agree on it being punishing, but we haven’t experienced what you talk about here. The first time we played (4p) the difference from first to last was around 400, but the other plays it’s been 100-200. One game I ended in second with 25 points less than the winner. If the player who goes to Trieste also has the best contracts, and everyone have to pay them to use their lines, I think it’s gonna be hard to win against that. In the 2p game we played when Sunniva did a huge mistake in her opening bid, it looked like she was out of the game for a long time, but she ended up with less than 100 from the win. As we talked about in the video, I don’t think you can ignore Trieste. The first time we played, I had to use 100% of other peoples line to get there, so the chance of me winning is small. To build towards Trieste, or to just look out for who is, and planning on building into their network is important. The bonus for getting to Trieste is good, but it will not win you the game. The player who goes to Trieste also spends more actions and money on building rails, getting workers and specialists, so if you don’t build all the way, you might have more chances of doing other actions. The game can also be more/less brutal depending on how the map is set up! I enjoy the randomness of the setup, so that you’ll have to look it over before you begin! This is another thing that might not be for everyone! I completely agree that this is s harsh, punishing and brutal game, but we love it, and I see different ways of going about playing it! Thanks for watching 🥳
@@BoardGamingRamblings Thank you for the well thought out reply. I can see where you are coming from. The game is definitely going to see a lot of plays within our group so will have to keep an eye out to see if my initial play thoughts still hold water. I hope that you continue to enjoy your plays, but I will say to avoid this one if the week has not been kind and you are looking for a pick me up. Only when one wants to be humbled should they pull this one off the shelf😁
Heavy game of the year? Would love a video like that soon! What ever happened to Coffee Traders? Did I miss the review for it? By the way I want to say you guys are my go to for board game opinions. Our tastes line up very well. I was convinced when you said Feudum was a fun cannon.
Coffee Traders is one of the games we really wanted to cover, but never felt like we got to play enough! I would love to play it one more time, but we’ll see what we can manage before the end of the year! Really loved my plays of it :)
I’m finding the game has only a few strategies and it makes every playthrough more linear than I hoped. Yes, the normal setup requires you to be tactical, but the formula is the same even with the tactical response
Didn't like it, one of those games where one early mistake costs you the game. The map is too tight for 4 players, not enough factory spots. Once you're behind you can't come back.
Sad to hear you didn’t like it! 😕 I agree on it being very tight and punishing! I wrote a long response to the comment you commented on (good sentence) with more thoughts 😀
I was not impressed with this game at all when I played it. Too complicated for what it offers. 12 actions for two main goals, nah... no thank you. Too cut throating, too tight, no fun whatsoever. I'll stick to Railways of Europe/Nippon/World
That makes sense! It is a very tight, brutal and interactive game 😅 For me, that is a huge positive, but it’s not for everyone! Luckily there are so many other games to play 🥳
Pre-ordered mine back in August, got to try a half game of it at Essen and today my copy finally showed up. My first taste of it at Spiel had me wanting more. Just unboxed the game with this video playing in the background. Definitely playing this over the upcoming weekend.
You’ve gotten me pumped up and ready to play it.
Thanks for the great review! Been going through the rule book in anticipation of playing soon.
Glad you enjoyed it! Hope you’ll get to play soon 🥳
I'm very excited for this one. Especially as more and more reviews are coming out about it. It will be hard to dethrone Coffee Traders as my game of the year though. Unfortunately, I ordered it from Capstone along with the Maracaibo expansion and Boonlake which are not slated to arrive in the US until late next month, I believe. (Super excited for Boonlake as well.)
Sounds like a solid game. Will definitely look more into it because of your review. Thanks for sharing you thoughts!
I love it, but I do love punishing and harsh games 😅
Great review as always. Hopefully this will help more people find this game. Best heavy game this year for my money.
Thank you, Jeff 🥳 It’s very good!!
This game is soul crushing in it’s meanness. Not since Barrage can you lose a game within the first few turns. If the factory spaces get sniped from you there is no way you are loving life for the remainder of the game.
Completely agree, it's crushing... I played it at 4 and 2 players could never come back from the first round "mistakes". Not for me...
@@gaillardlionel Multiple plays thus far at 3 and 4 players with the following happening in every game: 1) The winner has always been the individual who completed the route to Trieste and built the most factories. In my opinion and in the multiple plays thus far I do not believe there is any other viable strategy to securing a victory. 2) There has always been at least an $700-800 difference difference between first place and last place. There is no catchup mechanism for one or two mistakes. Once the mistakes are made, you may as well cash it in because it gets progressively worse as the game proceeds. On the scale of losing, one starts at knowing you will lose in the first/second round to getting absolutely destroyed to getting old, having children, having your children then get destroyed at birth and then their children getting destroyed and so on to the point where it becomes generational destruction of one’s family lineage rolling into future plays of Imperial Steam. I am on the fence as to where I will ultimately fall onto the like/dislike camp. Until a second winning strategy unfolds in our plays outside of the race to Trieste with most factories I am trending towards it not being my first selection on game days😁
I do agree on it being punishing, but we haven’t experienced what you talk about here.
The first time we played (4p) the difference from first to last was around 400, but the other plays it’s been 100-200. One game I ended in second with 25 points less than the winner.
If the player who goes to Trieste also has the best contracts, and everyone have to pay them to use their lines, I think it’s gonna be hard to win against that.
In the 2p game we played when Sunniva did a huge mistake in her opening bid, it looked like she was out of the game for a long time, but she ended up with less than 100 from the win.
As we talked about in the video, I don’t think you can ignore Trieste. The first time we played, I had to use 100% of other peoples line to get there, so the chance of me winning is small. To build towards Trieste, or to just look out for who is, and planning on building into their network is important.
The bonus for getting to Trieste is good, but it will not win you the game. The player who goes to Trieste also spends more actions and money on building rails, getting workers and specialists, so if you don’t build all the way, you might have more chances of doing other actions.
The game can also be more/less brutal depending on how the map is set up! I enjoy the randomness of the setup, so that you’ll have to look it over before you begin! This is another thing that might not be for everyone!
I completely agree that this is s harsh, punishing and brutal game, but we love it, and I see different ways of going about playing it!
Thanks for watching 🥳
@@BoardGamingRamblings Thank you for the well thought out reply. I can see where you are coming from. The game is definitely going to see a lot of plays within our group so will have to keep an eye out to see if my initial play thoughts still hold water. I hope that you continue to enjoy your plays, but I will say to avoid this one if the week has not been kind and you are looking for a pick me up. Only when one wants to be humbled should they pull this one off the shelf😁
Heavy game of the year? Would love a video like that soon! What ever happened to Coffee Traders? Did I miss the review for it? By the way I want to say you guys are my go to for board game opinions. Our tastes line up very well. I was convinced when you said Feudum was a fun cannon.
Coffee Traders is one of the games we really wanted to cover, but never felt like we got to play enough! I would love to play it one more time, but we’ll see what we can manage before the end of the year! Really loved my plays of it :)
I’m finding the game has only a few strategies and it makes every playthrough more linear than I hoped. Yes, the normal setup requires you to be tactical, but the formula is the same even with the tactical response
Short Question, have you ever played „the great Simbabwe“ from Splotter.
A very elegant and heavy Euro with interaction between the players.
I have played once! I ended with negative points 🥶 Would love to play again!
This game looks amazing. I am hoping to get it soon!
Hope you’ll get to play soon! It’s a lot of fun 🥳
I have been interested in this game for a while now..
It’s very good 🤩
I'm waiting for the French version by Supermeeple :)
Sounds good!
Didn't like it, one of those games where one early mistake costs you the game. The map is too tight for 4 players, not enough factory spots. Once you're behind you can't come back.
Sad to hear you didn’t like it! 😕 I agree on it being very tight and punishing! I wrote a long response to the comment you commented on (good sentence) with more thoughts 😀
I was not impressed with this game at all when I played it. Too complicated for what it offers. 12 actions for two main goals, nah... no thank you. Too cut throating, too tight, no fun whatsoever.
I'll stick to Railways of Europe/Nippon/World
That makes sense! It is a very tight, brutal and interactive game 😅 For me, that is a huge positive, but it’s not for everyone! Luckily there are so many other games to play 🥳