Great review, as always! The downtime in this game is the reason I only play it as a two player game and I avoid four player games. The house rule you mentioned makes a lot of sense. In fact we use a similar rule with every game we play in our group: as long as no new information has entered the game (cards being displayed, dice being rolled, ...) you are allowed to take back your move and restart it instead.
Thanks for that. However it’s already been pointed out in the comments. I make mistake every so often and flog myself depending on the severity of the offence.
Hey Matt awesome review as always. I love this game but it's definitely swingy and all over the map for us (2P). Sometimes it's a good challenge other times it's so crushing that you feel like you've just wasted time for nothing. Tonight Michelle and I played two and a half games (the first 'half game' was just a rules run-through refresher (rrr?). The first full playthrough went reasonably well. It was fairly low scoring but fun. The second game on the other hand was a gong show and this was because of a particular A-level emperor tile that was drawn during setup which had a penalty that forced both of us to 'return ALL dishes and drinks from our guests AND kitchen to the general supply' effectively undoing all progress we had made up to that point and from which we could not recover from due to unlucky dice rolls. And then add to that the nasty emperor scoring that forced us both to move back 3, 5, then ultimately 7 spaces on the emperor track putting us right back to square one after busting our asses for an hour and youre left with a miserable shit show..;) Aside from that its damn fine game but I think could use some tweaking...like totally ditching that pos emperor tile. The one takeaway I have is that dice suck...not as bad as the rulebook though, but I digress
I think that punishing emperor tile you mention is a B tile. I think the A version is 'only' to return kitchen items to general supply. Yeah, if that B one comes up you really need to focus on emperor track points (guests, yellow rooms and dice) above all else - but at least you know before the game starts, I guess 😅
This is our second favorite game after The Castles of Burgundy. If one is new to the game, it can be pretty brutal, especially since money is so short and the dice are not always friendly, but after one gains familiarity with it, it becomes more enjoyable. A heavy version of Grand Austria Hotel is Trismegistus, which is very good.
I bought this recently, even blinged it out a bit, then cracked when I tried to learn all the stuff on the cards. It will come off the shelf one day. Love the clean art style.
@@BoardGameBollocks I remember most British food tasting like cardboard (e.g. chip butty), but there's enough Asian cuisine and influence that you really don't need to resort to digesting board games 😁
Wow, I'm completely opposite on player count. The more players the worse I think the game gets (and certainly the more random) in addition to the increase in downtime. I prefer this at 2, then 3, then 4.
Hi there! This is off topic but I finally got a copy of Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller (you are the only one who shows Miller books in a board game channel). Man, this book is incredible. What a reading experience! Thanks for reminding us that Miller is still one of the best!
@@BoardGameBollocks I was able to find the book second hand (a 1960 edition). It is in a terrible condition but that gives it a peculiar feel to the reading. There are sentences that are for framing and I am not using the internet to look up the places in Greece where the novel takes place. Miller pushes fantasy like few others and that has to be respected. I'm going back to him this year (The novel that follows is The Air-Conditioned Nightmare). All the best!
Hi there! I came here for the board game review but seeing the amazing picture quality and background blur just couldn't help asking - what camera lens are you using? As a photographer I'd really love to know :)
This video I used a Sony A7iii with a Samyang 35mm F1.4 prime lens. I’ve just upgraded to the Sony ZVE1 as it has 10 bit 4:2:2 video but I’ve yet to use it.
Only recently got GAH(Santa brought me it),really enjoyable but yeah, any games involving dice, even when they can be manipulated, can be ... frustrating to say the least. Also the randomness of the guest cards can be enough to make me kick the dog. Played a game where I desperately needed RED(or green) guests...but nah, the pricks never showed up at my hotel. Still though , a light, fun Euro game that I'd always be happy to play.
Great and fun review, as always. Although it is sometims quite difficult for me as a non-native speaker to understand you : ) Have you tried other dice drafting/placement games like the ones from WYG, Signorie or Madeira?
Excellent review as always BGB. I just played this one for this first time on Monday, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We played with the Skeleton Key expansion that left the first player marker as a psuedo-action instead of doing the snake-draft turns. I found that pretty interesting since it gave extra Krone income to third and fourth player that round so you never felt shafted by going last, and it smoothed out the downtime a little. I really want to get more plays on this game.
@@BoardGameBollocks Wasn't my copy unfortunately so I can't comment as we didn't play with the Waltz modules, but the Key module and the upgrade kit were really nice thematic additions. If you got them second hand I'd say they're worth it, but probably not at Kickstarter prices.
Just played this today. As someone new to board games I found the decisions interesting. I did get overwhelmed by the amount of cards/icons and found that to be my least favorite aspect. I also got completely destroyed by my opponents who have played the game before and are more experienced board gamers. For Euro games like these with lots of options, what is usually your first playthrough like? How many games does it take you to notice the combos and feel comfortable with the game?
turn order in this game is a fucking abomination. Everything else is fine. But im too shy to play with my PP, as you suggested, to fill up that downtime. I had to set up a solo game on a separate table once just to not die of boredom. Ive never played this game after that experience.
Love the channel! It’s nice to see that a Bond villain can have a 2nd career when things with Spectre don’t work out. 😉
I think they get good health care too.
Great review, as always! The downtime in this game is the reason I only play it as a two player game and I avoid four player games.
The house rule you mentioned makes a lot of sense. In fact we use a similar rule with every game we play in our group: as long as no new information has entered the game (cards being displayed, dice being rolled, ...) you are allowed to take back your move and restart it instead.
Great review! Small correction: you can never get more cake than strudel, and never more coffee than wine. Not the other way around.
Thanks for that. However it’s already been pointed out in the comments. I make mistake every so often and flog myself depending on the severity of the offence.
@@BoardGameBollocks Perhaps missus bollocks can do the flogging for you - depending on the severity of the offense :). Thanks for the content btw!
Looks like someone got a sweater for Christmas.
I once got a sweater for Christmas, although I would have much preferred a moaner or screamer.
I’ve had this since 1992…Pringle Sports Faldo
Nice golfing jumper.
Original Pringle Sports Faldo from 1992 👍🏻
Hey Matt awesome review as always. I love this game but it's definitely swingy and all over the map for us (2P). Sometimes it's a good challenge other times it's so crushing that you feel like you've just wasted time for nothing. Tonight Michelle and I played two and a half games (the first 'half game' was just a rules run-through refresher (rrr?). The first full playthrough went reasonably well. It was fairly low scoring but fun. The second game on the other hand was a gong show and this was because of a particular A-level emperor tile that was drawn during setup which had a penalty that forced both of us to 'return ALL dishes and drinks from our guests AND kitchen to the general supply' effectively undoing all progress we had made up to that point and from which we could not recover from due to unlucky dice rolls. And then add to that the nasty emperor scoring that forced us both to move back 3, 5, then ultimately 7 spaces on the emperor track putting us right back to square one after busting our asses for an hour and youre left with a miserable shit show..;) Aside from that its damn fine game but I think could use some tweaking...like totally ditching that pos emperor tile. The one takeaway I have is that dice suck...not as bad as the rulebook though, but I digress
I think that punishing emperor tile you mention is a B tile. I think the A version is 'only' to return kitchen items to general supply. Yeah, if that B one comes up you really need to focus on emperor track points (guests, yellow rooms and dice) above all else - but at least you know before the game starts, I guess 😅
that house rule on takebacks is a good compromise
Thanks for making the video. Have looked at picking up this game. Would like to get a few plays in first.
I love your reviews, Also I like your editing (lighting, Images shown for reference) :D. INFORMATIVE
Cheers matey 👍🏻
This is our second favorite game after The Castles of Burgundy. If one is new to the game, it can be pretty brutal, especially since money is so short and the dice are not always friendly, but after one gains familiarity with it, it becomes more enjoyable. A heavy version of Grand Austria Hotel is Trismegistus, which is very good.
I bought this recently, even blinged it out a bit, then cracked when I tried to learn all the stuff on the cards. It will come off the shelf one day. Love the clean art style.
There’s printable guides for the staff and guests available that make it easier to digest
@@BoardGameBollocks Cheers, I’ll check them out.
@@BoardGameBollocks I remember most British food tasting like cardboard (e.g. chip butty), but there's enough Asian cuisine and influence that you really don't need to resort to digesting board games 😁
Great review! Interesting sweater choice.
Vintage Pringle Faldo Sports circa 1992
Wow, I'm completely opposite on player count. The more players the worse I think the game gets (and certainly the more random) in addition to the increase in downtime. I prefer this at 2, then 3, then 4.
There’s more actions available with 4 as there’s more dice. I like it with 2 as turns come round quick but 3 suffers from both negatives.
Hi there! This is off topic but I finally got a copy of Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller (you are the only one who shows Miller books in a board game channel). Man, this book is incredible. What a reading experience! Thanks for reminding us that Miller is still one of the best!
One of his best and unread books. Miller changed my life.
@@BoardGameBollocks I was able to find the book second hand (a 1960 edition). It is in a terrible condition but that gives it a peculiar feel to the reading. There are sentences that are for framing and I am not using the internet to look up the places in Greece where the novel takes place. Miller pushes fantasy like few others and that has to be respected. I'm going back to him this year (The novel that follows is The Air-Conditioned Nightmare). All the best!
i see this game always being played, but I have never played it yet...but seems very popular at conventions here.
Hi there! I came here for the board game review but seeing the amazing picture quality and background blur just couldn't help asking - what camera lens are you using? As a photographer I'd really love to know :)
This video I used a Sony A7iii with a Samyang 35mm F1.4 prime lens.
I’ve just upgraded to the Sony ZVE1 as it has 10 bit 4:2:2 video but I’ve yet to use it.
Still the best cinematography in the biz.
Really?
Yes I second this. You have great slo-mo, lighting and even appear to have dolly shots. The dice tower and even susd is bollocks compared to this
It’s all hand held. No dolly shots or gimbals.
I agree..by far!
Only recently got GAH(Santa brought me it),really enjoyable but yeah, any games involving dice, even when they can be manipulated, can be ... frustrating to say the least.
Also the randomness of the guest cards can be enough to make me kick the dog. Played a game where I desperately needed RED(or green) guests...but nah, the pricks never showed up at my hotel. Still though , a light, fun Euro game that I'd always be happy to play.
Great and fun review, as always. Although it is sometims quite difficult for me as a non-native speaker to understand you : ) Have you tried other dice drafting/placement games like the ones from WYG, Signorie or Madeira?
I heard Madeira is pretty complicated
Excellent review as always BGB. I just played this one for this first time on Monday, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We played with the Skeleton Key expansion that left the first player marker as a psuedo-action instead of doing the snake-draft turns. I found that pretty interesting since it gave extra Krone income to third and fourth player that round so you never felt shafted by going last, and it smoothed out the downtime a little. I really want to get more plays on this game.
Is the alerts waltz expansion worth picking up? It’s quite expensive.
@@BoardGameBollocks Wasn't my copy unfortunately so I can't comment as we didn't play with the Waltz modules, but the Key module and the upgrade kit were really nice thematic additions. If you got them second hand I'd say they're worth it, but probably not at Kickstarter prices.
Props for outro music 🤘
Nice review. How do you rate this compared to some of the other dice drafting games you've played?
Prefer Marco Polo due to the character abilities and Troyes with the Ladies Expansion, but this is still a solid game.
@@BoardGameBollocks I'd say the same. Marco Polo 1 I really like, MP2 I found good, not great. Got Pulsar 2849 to try at some stage.
Just got this, it's fun! But can be quite brutal
Just played this today. As someone new to board games I found the decisions interesting. I did get overwhelmed by the amount of cards/icons and found that to be my least favorite aspect. I also got completely destroyed by my opponents who have played the game before and are more experienced board gamers. For Euro games like these with lots of options, what is usually your first playthrough like? How many games does it take you to notice the combos and feel comfortable with the game?
Once you’ve played a few euros you’ll find the mechanics tend to repeat.
Thank fuck for this channel.
😂✊🏻
Action selection resource conversion victory points to gain “the Emperor’s favour”.
It’s going to be a long year.
Fret ye not…plenty of trash to be played, Sire.
Never give a Sacher an even break…
Chocolate cake?
So I’ve been torte.
Musnt crumble then…
I'm a bit unclear from this review, what the shared or interactive elements of the game are between players.
You’re just trying to destroy the same enemies. I did say you need to swap towers to upgrade them so there’s that as well.
turn order in this game is a fucking abomination. Everything else is fine. But im too shy to play with my PP, as you suggested, to fill up that downtime. I had to set up a solo game on a separate table once just to not die of boredom. Ive never played this game after that experience.
First comment?
Could be…