I’m probably done backing the first editions of these big box campaign games. If the game is exceptional, there will likely be a reprint campaign with bug fixes and an expansion. I have enough games in the queue to be patient :)
Honestly, that’s a fair play depending on duration between games. If I backed something as a first edition and 12 months after I got it there was a reprint, I’d be annoyed. A few years, factoring in delay for the campaign to run and fulfil? Maybe less of an issue but I guess I don’t like reprints to fix bugs. It feels like a rushed video game that’s patched over time except I wouldn’t expect that in a board game.
Looks like a GH remix. I never played Crimson Scales, but have always wanted to. This has been on my watch list for a while. Excited to see more content around it.
How glossy is the map book? My group plays a lot at night, and the Jaws of the Lion map book didn’t work well for us-the paper was so glossy that stray reflections made it really hard to see what was on the map. I’d love a map book with a matte finish.
nice review - i find being forced to use cards in GH/FH very frustrating, and to me is NOT thematic in any way. I can however see how it works as a puzzle, just I think i prefer the system ROVE uses. $100 dollar shipping is currently holding me off shipping.
This looks great for people who want a narrative surrounding an otherwise tactical-centric experience. I am seriously considering backing this when it drops.
So what about party size changing as you carve your way through the campaign? Will the difficulty scale based on the combined "level" of the party like JotL / Gloomhaven?
@@BoardGameCo, yeah that was the gimmie part of the question. So for JotL the Scenario Level is determined by the average level of the characters divided by two, rounded up. This affects the strength of monsters, gold dropped on kills, trap damage and bonus experience. The second part is what is important to me because it will let you substitute in players with characters in various stages of development and have the scenario be in a reasonable power level. I can not guarantee a stable group week in, week out so the Scenario must remain in the power level of the party. It is hard to see just adjusting the number of critters being the only method balancing scenario strength as player power increases.
Fun looking game buuuuut in the days of beautiful character boards/cards design that draws you in even before you know what the game is about (such as AR's Grimcoven), this is possibly the most bland and uninspiring character board/card design (or lack of) I've ever seen and that, has the opposite affect on me compared to AR's.... The gameplay will need to be seeeeeriously amazing to make up for the lack of visual for me on this one, looking forward to the gameplay videos Alex
To be fair, it looks much like Gloomhaven. I think honestly speaking, if I had no clue about GH whatsoever and I sawI it today for the first time, I would not be impressed one bit.
Normally love your videos but for some reason the light in this one is jarring. Maybe it’s the enhanced reflection of the box that made it too bright for me.
I found Crimson Scales to be the best of the three; more fun and innovative than GH or FH. More fun than GH as it is an advanced GH. It has more diverse characters and scenarios with each character type being quite different in play. FH to me is so balanced that characters are nerfed and the play becomes very mid with few awesome turns. My most favourite characters are in Crimson Scales: I like them because they are so imaginative and different in what each can do. I like that some are OP. Too often (FH) designers try to remove this,instead of just embracing it and perhaps making enemies stronger. I say all of this because the designers take time with their games, time to think of what players like. If Rove has been built with this in mind it should be really special. 😃
I am a little bit chocked that a game like that goes out, everything seems similar to gloomhaven, even the style. So i don't understand did they buy the rights to just copy gloomhaven etc?
It's the same artist as gloomhaven, past that there are definite similiarites but a ton of differences. I'll also say that you can't actually copyright game mechanics.
@@BoardGameCo Yeah i understand. Its just frustrating for me because am looking for a editor for my game. And some ditors tell me that some mechanic ressemble other game so its a no. And here its like a pure plagiat but it came out. Pretty strange world. Thx for your response
Its a pass because it uses a book instead of tiles. I get why companies are doing it this way, it makes it way cheaper. I think people like it because they think their is less tear down time, and set up time for each scenario. However unless your tiles are not labeled or organized for your game, their really isn't much of a time difference between placing the tiles down with everything on it, and turning a page and placing down everything on it.
We have a binder that has all of our GH tiles organized...and it still takes a decent amount of time to pull out the right tiles, align them, get the obstacles, put them on the right part of the board(OOPS we were off by 1 hex tile, fix it). Even if you're organized it still takes time. Usually when people make the claim that it doesn't they're saying "It doesn't FEEL like it takes a lot of time". Set a timer and actually see how long it takes to setup, then multiply that by 100 scenarios and you'll see the appeal of the map books to most people.
@@botousai I set up a timer, when the claim was the book was faster, and taking off all the stuff from the book turning the page and placing stuff down for the next scenario for Jaws of the Lion took around the same time as taking the tiles out and setting up for Gloom haven. I do have a file folder for each tile separated by letters though. About 3 min for turning the page and setting it up, and 3 mins 40 secs to put a tile and set it up. So while it is faster, it isn't much to make much of a difference in my opinion. Although Personally I never have problems with set up times and tear down times, as much as the board game community says its so much of a problem. However the main reason my group doesn't like a book over tiles, is based on material. With the Jaws of the Lion book the paper was so thin that Ive had pages rip from the book after about 5 scenario's, were with tiles I had no such problem. After that my group was asking for tiles for Jaws of the Lion, and I told them they didn't have any, and that was the last time we played, despite my group loving Gloom haven.
I’m probably done backing the first editions of these big box campaign games. If the game is exceptional, there will likely be a reprint campaign with bug fixes and an expansion. I have enough games in the queue to be patient :)
Honestly, that’s a fair play depending on duration between games. If I backed something as a first edition and 12 months after I got it there was a reprint, I’d be annoyed. A few years, factoring in delay for the campaign to run and fulfil? Maybe less of an issue but I guess I don’t like reprints to fix bugs. It feels like a rushed video game that’s patched over time except I wouldn’t expect that in a board game.
reprint campaign with bug fixes
Looks like a GH remix. I never played Crimson Scales, but have always wanted to. This has been on my watch list for a while. Excited to see more content around it.
It very much is in that genre
Big thumbs up for the map booklet. Spread the word, this should be the norm!
It's becoming more and more the norm :)
How glossy is the map book? My group plays a lot at night, and the Jaws of the Lion map book didn’t work well for us-the paper was so glossy that stray reflections made it really hard to see what was on the map.
I’d love a map book with a matte finish.
This was very appealing to me but the $70 shipping on the base pledge to Australia was a deal breaker
Ya that sucks sorry :(
nice review - i find being forced to use cards in GH/FH very frustrating, and to me is NOT thematic in any way. I can however see how it works as a puzzle, just I think i prefer the system ROVE uses. $100 dollar shipping is currently holding me off shipping.
Playing though crimson scales now, and i have frosthaven to get through.... But this so good tho...
Crimson Scales is great
This looks great for people who want a narrative surrounding an otherwise tactical-centric experience. I am seriously considering backing this when it drops.
Enjoy it!
This looks really interesting, but I'm a little burnt out of campaign games at the moment.
I totally get that.
@@BoardGameCo I appreciate your coverage of this though. thanks for another great video
So what about party size changing as you carve your way through the campaign? Will the difficulty scale based on the combined "level" of the party like JotL / Gloomhaven?
Yes, the number of enemies spaws based on character count
@@BoardGameCo, yeah that was the gimmie part of the question. So for JotL the Scenario Level is determined by the average level of the characters divided by two, rounded up. This affects the strength of monsters, gold dropped on kills, trap damage and bonus experience.
The second part is what is important to me because it will let you substitute in players with characters in various stages of development and have the scenario be in a reasonable power level. I can not guarantee a stable group week in, week out so the Scenario must remain in the power level of the party. It is hard to see just adjusting the number of critters being the only method balancing scenario strength as player power increases.
How's depth compared to Gloomhaven or Primal?
I can't answer that yet until I dive into much more than the prototype has.
Fun looking game buuuuut in the days of beautiful character boards/cards design that draws you in even before you know what the game is about (such as AR's Grimcoven), this is possibly the most bland and uninspiring character board/card design (or lack of) I've ever seen and that, has the opposite affect on me compared to AR's....
The gameplay will need to be seeeeeriously amazing to make up for the lack of visual for me on this one, looking forward to the gameplay videos Alex
To be fair, it looks much like Gloomhaven. I think honestly speaking, if I had no clue about GH whatsoever and I sawI it today for the first time, I would not be impressed one bit.
The person who did the art for gloomhaven did the art here.
Normally love your videos but for some reason the light in this one is jarring. Maybe it’s the enhanced reflection of the box that made it too bright for me.
Sorry!
I found Crimson Scales to be the best of the three; more fun and innovative than GH or FH.
More fun than GH as it is an advanced GH. It has more diverse characters and scenarios with each character type being quite different in play. FH to me is so balanced that characters are nerfed and the play becomes very mid with few awesome turns.
My most favourite characters are in Crimson Scales: I like them because they are so imaginative and different in what each can do. I like that some are OP. Too often (FH) designers try to remove this,instead of just embracing it and perhaps making enemies stronger.
I say all of this because the designers take time with their games, time to think of what players like. If Rove has been built with this in mind it should be really special. 😃
Agreed completely! I thought CS was the most fun mechanically.
I am a little bit chocked that a game like that goes out, everything seems similar to gloomhaven, even the style. So i don't understand did they buy the rights to just copy gloomhaven etc?
It's the same artist as gloomhaven, past that there are definite similiarites but a ton of differences. I'll also say that you can't actually copyright game mechanics.
@@BoardGameCo Yeah i understand. Its just frustrating for me because am looking for a editor for my game. And some ditors tell me that some mechanic ressemble other game so its a no. And here its like a pure plagiat but it came out. Pretty strange world.
Thx for your response
Its a pass because it uses a book instead of tiles. I get why companies are doing it this way, it makes it way cheaper. I think people like it because they think their is less tear down time, and set up time for each scenario. However unless your tiles are not labeled or organized for your game, their really isn't much of a time difference between placing the tiles down with everything on it, and turning a page and placing down everything on it.
I find it so funny that the comment right after yours is saying how much they love the book....everyone will have different tastes
@@BoardGameCo Lol
We have a binder that has all of our GH tiles organized...and it still takes a decent amount of time to pull out the right tiles, align them, get the obstacles, put them on the right part of the board(OOPS we were off by 1 hex tile, fix it). Even if you're organized it still takes time. Usually when people make the claim that it doesn't they're saying "It doesn't FEEL like it takes a lot of time". Set a timer and actually see how long it takes to setup, then multiply that by 100 scenarios and you'll see the appeal of the map books to most people.
@@botousai I set up a timer, when the claim was the book was faster, and taking off all the stuff from the book turning the page and placing stuff down for the next scenario for Jaws of the Lion took around the same time as taking the tiles out and setting up for Gloom haven. I do have a file folder for each tile separated by letters though. About 3 min for turning the page and setting it up, and 3 mins 40 secs to put a tile and set it up. So while it is faster, it isn't much to make much of a difference in my opinion. Although Personally I never have problems with set up times and tear down times, as much as the board game community says its so much of a problem.
However the main reason my group doesn't like a book over tiles, is based on material. With the Jaws of the Lion book the paper was so thin that Ive had pages rip from the book after about 5 scenario's, were with tiles I had no such problem. After that my group was asking for tiles for Jaws of the Lion, and I told them they didn't have any, and that was the last time we played, despite my group loving Gloom haven.
The tiles are infinitely better. I thought jaws of the lion was a fairly substantiall downgrade from gloomhaven and the book was part of the reason.