I think Battlecrest (and the more recent Wildtails) both have a substantial problem of having rules that, while not being *that* complicated, do not fit or present cleanly in the 4-panel leaflet format that every Button Shy game requires. I think both of these games would benefit from having printable rules that are properly organized in a full-page format. It's made ever worse by there being two of them, so figuring out where a mechanic you need to double-check a ruling on pretty awful. That said, for me, playing the game is up there with Skulls of Sedlec for "things that play great over lunch". It's also a very swingy game with many turns where you're just chipping away and maneuvering, followed by a turn where someone breaks through and does an absolute truck load of damage. Whether that's good or bad probably depends on your taste. Unsurmountable for me is basically "ROVE when I have less table space or just don't want to think quite as hard." That said, I think your criticism that you frequently don't have a lot of control over whether you can win (especially at higher difficulties) is spot on. Expansions help a lot in that regard. I suspect I'm also more charitable than I would otherwise be to this one due to the theme as well ;) I still like the core puzzle here much better than Food Chain Island, though. Ugly Griffin Inn is one that I enjoy conceptually, but you nailed it that having to read through all the cards twice every turn is really clunky. It also would have benefitted from a tableau structure that is not such a table hog. One thing I'd say for it is that it's a *great* game for kids to get used to tracking rules in a puzzle system. My son, who is a natural rules lawyer, loves it, so I don't have any plans to ditch it soon, even though I rarely play it. Have you tried Fishing Lessons? I found it far too easy to create a stable program and just win. I'm hoping the expansions will make it harder to just take a stranglehold over the board.
This really should be the top comment. I prefer watching BGC over Z, but watching other people's opinion on board/card games has never been anything but informative! It's a major value add to watch them both!
Agree on Battlecrest. I went into it after Sprawlopolis, and I haven’t played many complex games, but good to know I’m not the only one who found it too complicated for what it is.
The "7 Button Shy Games That I Love" video says it's set to private and unavailable. My opinions on which games are good vs. not pretty much align with yours. Out of these 6, I think Ugly Gryphon Inn is the best-of-the-worst.
I picked up Insurmountable and although I thought it was fine to play in my hotel room while I was on a work trip I can’t say that I feel any need to go back to it.
I think our tastes will align on this one. All 6 of these games I took a pass on (though I did seriously consider the two Scott Almes games) Looking forward to the next video. I have 6 Button Shys and 5 of them are keepers: ROVE, Sprawlopolis, Skulls of Sedlec, Fishing Lessons, and Food Chain Island. ROVE is my favorite (5/5) but Sprawlopolis comes close.
I really enjoyed this quick video. Nice coverage of this genre. Now I need to got see the ones that you liked. 😁 EDIT: The link to the video of the ones you loved is private. 😔
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I think Battlecrest (and the more recent Wildtails) both have a substantial problem of having rules that, while not being *that* complicated, do not fit or present cleanly in the 4-panel leaflet format that every Button Shy game requires. I think both of these games would benefit from having printable rules that are properly organized in a full-page format. It's made ever worse by there being two of them, so figuring out where a mechanic you need to double-check a ruling on pretty awful. That said, for me, playing the game is up there with Skulls of Sedlec for "things that play great over lunch". It's also a very swingy game with many turns where you're just chipping away and maneuvering, followed by a turn where someone breaks through and does an absolute truck load of damage. Whether that's good or bad probably depends on your taste.
Unsurmountable for me is basically "ROVE when I have less table space or just don't want to think quite as hard." That said, I think your criticism that you frequently don't have a lot of control over whether you can win (especially at higher difficulties) is spot on. Expansions help a lot in that regard. I suspect I'm also more charitable than I would otherwise be to this one due to the theme as well ;) I still like the core puzzle here much better than Food Chain Island, though.
Ugly Griffin Inn is one that I enjoy conceptually, but you nailed it that having to read through all the cards twice every turn is really clunky. It also would have benefitted from a tableau structure that is not such a table hog. One thing I'd say for it is that it's a *great* game for kids to get used to tracking rules in a puzzle system. My son, who is a natural rules lawyer, loves it, so I don't have any plans to ditch it soon, even though I rarely play it.
Have you tried Fishing Lessons? I found it far too easy to create a stable program and just win. I'm hoping the expansions will make it harder to just take a stranglehold over the board.
Just showing how different people are, check Zee Garcia's top 5 BShy games. 2 on this "leaving my collection" are in Zee's top 5.
This really should be the top comment. I prefer watching BGC over Z, but watching other people's opinion on board/card games has never been anything but informative! It's a major value add to watch them both!
Agree on Battlecrest. I went into it after Sprawlopolis, and I haven’t played many complex games, but good to know I’m not the only one who found it too complicated for what it is.
With Ragemore, you either rage or crave for more.
The "7 Button Shy Games That I Love" video says it's set to private and unavailable. My opinions on which games are good vs. not pretty much align with yours. Out of these 6, I think Ugly Gryphon Inn is the best-of-the-worst.
Agreed on the best of the worst :) and link should work now
Ragemore is my favorite lol. The game is always with me and it's perfect for quick sessions.
I picked up Insurmountable and although I thought it was fine to play in my hotel room while I was on a work trip I can’t say that I feel any need to go back to it.
I think our tastes will align on this one. All 6 of these games I took a pass on (though I did seriously consider the two Scott Almes games)
Looking forward to the next video. I have 6 Button Shys and 5 of them are keepers: ROVE, Sprawlopolis, Skulls of Sedlec, Fishing Lessons, and Food Chain Island. ROVE is my favorite (5/5) but Sprawlopolis comes close.
I really enjoyed this quick video. Nice coverage of this genre. Now I need to got see the ones that you liked. 😁
EDIT: The link to the video of the ones you loved is private. 😔
Should work now!
@@BoardGameCo Thanks. It does, I watched, thank you very much! ;)
Yeah rage more must have expansions without then it's boring
Interesting, I think I only played base
@@BoardGameCo well I meant they don't gave expansions 😢😢😢
If they had even a single one it would lift up this game
Ty for this video!
Absolutely:)
Please send me your ragemore 😂
Long gone by now :)
@@BoardGameCo 😢