this game is combo-crack and I can't get enough of it. To me it almost feels like a much faster paced and easier to set up Imperial Settlers, which is one of my all time favorites.
Wow! At first, I thought you didn't like it that much because of the MP solitaire aspect. I think of it as That's/Twice Clever games on steroids. The thing is that these 'combos' are right from the start and so enjoyable where The 'Clever' series it takes a while to really get the enjoyment of the 'combos'. One of my favorite Roll/Flip & Writes for now.
I love this game in multiplayer. I think it's fairly simple once you do a few Years. We make it take a full board game length of a few hours because we do go in turn order and not simultaneously when someone is new and it makes you care about what others are doing because you see who has a lot of resources when someone else is out and you can gauge how well you might be doing from that.
I underestimated how much I liked cascading combos in games. This game reminded me of the most exciting parts of Lost Ruins of Arnak and the combos that develop which let you continue your round. This game does a fantastic job of directing your play and simplified symbols which are easy to learn. I am so surprised at how good this game is and I think it is even better as a written board because it reduces analysis paralysis. While you can temporarily place your workers to play and plan different options to see your combos but once you commit you actually have to fill in the box with ink, (using pencil would not be good), and then you won't get players taking back their move or last few placements. You are committed and then just ride the wave of combos because so many times the combos take you places you did not realize and they open new possibilities on your next placement. After playing I want to play again to explore the parts I never could try just because there are so many areas to try. The only improvements I might like to see is a larger box so I could use game trays to store the components but there aren't many so setup is a breeze, and second would be larger play pads because it would be nice if the worker meeples could fit the areas so one could plan moves easier but really I'm not sure this would be an improvement because it might make the game take longer if it was easier for players plan out their placements and test various scenarios. Great game! Easily in my top 5 for solo games and top 100 games of all time.
So if a Roll and Write is where you roll dice and write stuff down, and Flip and Fill is where you flip over a a card and fill a sheet... would this be a Draw and Draw?
Awesome review! Although I disagree a bit on the multiplayer solitaire aspect. You certainly could ignore everyone else, but it will hurt your score in the end. If my opponent was leaning heavily into selling goods, I’m not going to choose a card that gives them their missing piece for big points. I once had an opponent who was barely defending, so I actively traded with the third dummy player as often as I could to trigger additional attacks that I could easily defend. It’s not the most interactive game, by any means. But there are definitely ways to affect your opponent’s scores!
Btw you can laminate and fit the sheets just fine, you just need to cut a little off the extra space on the sides. It’s highly worth it though to free up space as the box is tight and HEAVY with all the sheets in it.
I laminated 6 pairs, since it's a 6p game. And then, I took out the 2 insane blocks of sheets. Everything fits. Gonna try to put a organizer in it now.
I feel that with this game, a bad rules teacher can really ruin the game for some people. If you're already put off by having a "spreadsheet" of boxes to fill in, in front of you and on top of that someone fails to tell you how each part of the game interacts with another you'll probably have a bad time. The iconography is imo one of the best I've seen in games so far so it should help a lot with teaching. If you succeed passed that point then you got your hands on the Skittles/M&M of board games :D
Hi DT/Tom - why is Goa on display? A great auction game, having almost grail status. Is it being reprinted or instead, possibly being culled from the DT library?
Sorry, I have laminated the sheets and it's not true, they do fit, you just have to cut the laminated sheets very close to the actual sheet itself, problem solved if there ever was one. I also hated the baggies, so I used one of those small, transparent plastic pencil cases, about 2.5 centimeters high. One of those that look like tablet boxes but without the dividers. It fits neatly and I don't mind that all the workers are mixed up in one spot with all the resources. Also, roll and writes without dice are called flip and writes, I guess? About the solitaire aspect of the game: I didn't find it to be less interactive than Terraforming Mars and few people complain about that.
I really disagree there. It's not like TM has amazing interaction, but the card drafting, the "take that", and the interaction between players is MUCH higher than this game.
I could learn this game on my own. Teach it? No. I don’t want to chase anyone away from this. The best teacher for this is a Mr. Rogers type. “Can you fight the Picts? Sure you can!” No one gets frustrated and feels dumb.
I love it when people review games they’ve never played. Yes, it does look busy at first but after a round or two you won’t notice and you’ll be happily searching around for combos. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
@@ratguy69 that’s the whole point of watching video reviews and Tom has said that in the past - he plays and reviews games so we can decide if it’s something we want to invest more time in.
@@ratguy69 I didn't review the game. I made a comment about it from my perspective. This comment in no way implies no one else could like the game. For me, it's too busy, and as Tom said in his review, the one thing he enjoyed about it was making the combos, even though he didn't understand what he was doing! I can understand that kind of enjoyment. But it isn't for me. I know I don't like this kind of game. As I said there a million games I like better so why would I get this one? I enjoy games I can grok and understand as fully as possible. YMMV ;-)
@@jayclassic6974 What are you, the thought police, or the designer's mum? It's not a review - it's my opinion. Why I need to say that again I have no idea!
Met Tom while selling pest control door to door. He’s got a dream job for sure. Loved the video keep it up!
Who'd you sell for?
Isn't that self defeating?
@@Cervando that's actually one of the most hilarious things I've read this year
Cool, I didn't know Tom sold pest control door to door
This looks complicated and terrifying. Definitely buying
@Tom you should print out a 5% reduced size version of the sheets and laminate those. Should fit and let you use containers for the bits.
Interesting idea!
this game is combo-crack and I can't get enough of it. To me it almost feels like a much faster paced and easier to set up Imperial Settlers, which is one of my all time favorites.
Bought this to play solo and it's one of my favorite games!
Wow! At first, I thought you didn't like it that much because of the MP solitaire aspect. I think of it as That's/Twice Clever games on steroids. The thing is that these 'combos' are right from the start and so enjoyable where The 'Clever' series it takes a while to really get the enjoyment of the 'combos'. One of my favorite Roll/Flip & Writes for now.
I love this game in multiplayer. I think it's fairly simple once you do a few Years. We make it take a full board game length of a few hours because we do go in turn order and not simultaneously when someone is new and it makes you care about what others are doing because you see who has a lot of resources when someone else is out and you can gauge how well you might be doing from that.
I underestimated how much I liked cascading combos in games. This game reminded me of the most exciting parts of Lost Ruins of Arnak and the combos that develop which let you continue your round. This game does a fantastic job of directing your play and simplified symbols which are easy to learn. I am so surprised at how good this game is and I think it is even better as a written board because it reduces analysis paralysis. While you can temporarily place your workers to play and plan different options to see your combos but once you commit you actually have to fill in the box with ink, (using pencil would not be good), and then you won't get players taking back their move or last few placements. You are committed and then just ride the wave of combos because so many times the combos take you places you did not realize and they open new possibilities on your next placement. After playing I want to play again to explore the parts I never could try just because there are so many areas to try.
The only improvements I might like to see is a larger box so I could use game trays to store the components but there aren't many so setup is a breeze, and second would be larger play pads because it would be nice if the worker meeples could fit the areas so one could plan moves easier but really I'm not sure this would be an improvement because it might make the game take longer if it was easier for players plan out their placements and test various scenarios.
Great game! Easily in my top 5 for solo games and top 100 games of all time.
I didn't even think of comparing it to Arnak but you are right!!! Agree, just played Hadrian's Wall for the first time and it was fantastic!
So if a Roll and Write is where you roll dice and write stuff down, and Flip and Fill is where you flip over a a card and fill a sheet... would this be a Draw and Draw?
Great review. Definitely going to get this at some point for purely solo play.
Same, more of a solo game for me too
Awesome review! Although I disagree a bit on the multiplayer solitaire aspect. You certainly could ignore everyone else, but it will hurt your score in the end. If my opponent was leaning heavily into selling goods, I’m not going to choose a card that gives them their missing piece for big points.
I once had an opponent who was barely defending, so I actively traded with the third dummy player as often as I could to trigger additional attacks that I could easily defend.
It’s not the most interactive game, by any means. But there are definitely ways to affect your opponent’s scores!
We’ve been wanting to try this one. Great review!
I see we are back to regular Tom Vasel...I guess Tom Vasel 1 needed a break today;)
I took half the sheets off of each pad and set it aside just so it fits nicer. Great game tho!
Love this game solo!
Btw you can laminate and fit the sheets just fine, you just need to cut a little off the extra space on the sides. It’s highly worth it though to free up space as the box is tight and HEAVY with all the sheets in it.
Dang it Bobby.
Beat me to it. Hats off to you sir. 🎩
you think Hank playtested it?
I wanted to comment this!
great review
I laminated 6 pairs, since it's a 6p game. And then, I took out the 2 insane blocks of sheets. Everything fits.
Gonna try to put a organizer in it now.
Sounds like a great solo game
you can fit them laminated into the box, you just need to trim the excess.
I think contact paper might be a good compromise as well
Looks like my kind of game.
I feel that with this game, a bad rules teacher can really ruin the game for some people. If you're already put off by having a "spreadsheet" of boxes to fill in, in front of you and on top of that someone fails to tell you how each part of the game interacts with another you'll probably have a bad time. The iconography is imo one of the best I've seen in games so far so it should help a lot with teaching. If you succeed passed that point then you got your hands on the Skittles/M&M of board games :D
It owuld be cool if it had Antonine Wall and playing mechanics that utilized both walls
Reminds me of 4cade super pinball!
Scratching the surface... plumbing the depths would be the opposite :)
Obviously he meant pluming, as in smearing with plums. I can't imagine you can get terribly deep with whole fruit.
I didnt watch your videos for some time and now i am curios why you stopped to throw all game material on the table.
He explained in a Q&A that it just took too long at this point to reassamble the games afterwards.
11:39-11:51 Literally all my girlfriend hears when I'm trying to teach her a new board game...
And that is exactly like my sister. After I'm done she'd ask what do we do?
It does look a lot like "Spreadsheet - The Card Game"....
In a Facebook comment about this game, someone said, " This looks like a spreadsheet, wrapped in an eye chart and transferred to microfiche."
About the art... I'm in love with this "raiders... legend..." art style. It's schoolbook art on crack.
Hi DT/Tom - why is Goa on display? A great auction game, having almost grail status. Is it being reprinted or instead, possibly being culled from the DT library?
Nope, just showing off random games from the Dice Tower library.
Sorry, I have laminated the sheets and it's not true, they do fit, you just have to cut the laminated sheets very close to the actual sheet itself, problem solved if there ever was one. I also hated the baggies, so I used one of those small, transparent plastic pencil cases, about 2.5 centimeters high. One of those that look like tablet boxes but without the dividers. It fits neatly and I don't mind that all the workers are mixed up in one spot with all the resources. Also, roll and writes without dice are called flip and writes, I guess?
About the solitaire aspect of the game: I didn't find it to be less interactive than Terraforming Mars and few people complain about that.
I really disagree there. It's not like TM has amazing interaction, but the card drafting, the "take that", and the interaction between players is MUCH higher than this game.
Hmmm ... why is Goa on the wall?? Reprint coming?
Maybe Catchupalooza?
Tom said on BGG "Now that the library is in the studio, you'll see more "older" games on the wall. I just find doing that fun."
It is a "choice salad" game.
So much praise, and then only approval score?
Only?
It wasn’t that much praise
The random pict card flip is stupid.
Still way more interactive than villainous. And at least in this game, everyone is playing the same game so comparing scores is possible.
I could learn this game on my own. Teach it? No. I don’t want to chase anyone away from this.
The best teacher for this is a Mr. Rogers type. “Can you fight the Picts? Sure you can!” No one gets frustrated and feels dumb.
First on the wall!!
Garphill Games boxes are all way too small. And this game is way too busy/complex. Does not look like fun at all. A million better games to play!
I love it when people review games they’ve never played. Yes, it does look busy at first but after a round or two you won’t notice and you’ll be happily searching around for combos. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
@@ratguy69 that’s the whole point of watching video reviews and Tom has said that in the past - he plays and reviews games so we can decide if it’s something we want to invest more time in.
@@ratguy69 I didn't review the game. I made a comment about it from my perspective. This comment in no way implies no one else could like the game. For me, it's too busy, and as Tom said in his review, the one thing he enjoyed about it was making the combos, even though he didn't understand what he was doing! I can understand that kind of enjoyment. But it isn't for me. I know I don't like this kind of game. As I said there a million games I like better so why would I get this one? I enjoy games I can grok and understand as fully as possible. YMMV ;-)
@@jonathanwest6266 "A million better games to play" is an incendiary review of something you haven't played so take the criticism.
@@jayclassic6974 What are you, the thought police, or the designer's mum? It's not a review - it's my opinion. Why I need to say that again I have no idea!