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Board Game Hubby
Приєднався 3 січ 2021
We love board games, and this channel is our way of sharing that love and passion with others.
Most of our content is comprised of Top 10's for inspiration purposes, reviews and “funny” content.
In most of the videos you will find me, Board Game Hubby, alongside Board Game Wifey, the love of my life with whom I have a daughter aka a future board game partner.
Happy gaming!
For review copies and collaboration requests, please write michharders@gmail.com.
Most of our content is comprised of Top 10's for inspiration purposes, reviews and “funny” content.
In most of the videos you will find me, Board Game Hubby, alongside Board Game Wifey, the love of my life with whom I have a daughter aka a future board game partner.
Happy gaming!
For review copies and collaboration requests, please write michharders@gmail.com.
Top 10 Board Games No One Talked About Before SPIEL ESSEN '24
This is a list of 10 board games that no one talked about before this year's SPIEL ESSEN, the world's largest board game convention. Some of them weren't listed as being there, some of them were added quite late, and some of them just simply didn't receive any attention or buzz before the event.
Some of them I tried, some of them I bought, and a couple of them I only saw during my final hours at the convention, but I wanted to make this video to shed light on some potential hidden gems. Hope you enjoy :)
00:00 - Intro
01:07 - 10) Wanderlust
02:05 - 9) Mini City
03:21 - 8) Carry Me Plz! A Pig Hinders the Hero Party
04:55 - 7) Journey to the West: Eighty-One Perils
06:25 - 6) Kavango
07:42 - 5) Bambam Boom
09:27 - 4) I'm Stuck in the Lift
11:29 - 3) Stella Quest
13:17 - 2) A.I.Pokalypse
16:07 - 1) CARACAS
18:46 - Outro
Some of them I tried, some of them I bought, and a couple of them I only saw during my final hours at the convention, but I wanted to make this video to shed light on some potential hidden gems. Hope you enjoy :)
00:00 - Intro
01:07 - 10) Wanderlust
02:05 - 9) Mini City
03:21 - 8) Carry Me Plz! A Pig Hinders the Hero Party
04:55 - 7) Journey to the West: Eighty-One Perils
06:25 - 6) Kavango
07:42 - 5) Bambam Boom
09:27 - 4) I'm Stuck in the Lift
11:29 - 3) Stella Quest
13:17 - 2) A.I.Pokalypse
16:07 - 1) CARACAS
18:46 - Outro
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Відео
Top 10 Anticipated Board Games SPIEL ESSEN '24
Переглядів 6 тис.Місяць тому
These are my top 10 most anticipated board games for the upcoming SPIEL Essen 2024. 00:00 - Intro 02:35 - 10) Magic Number Eleven 03:56 - 9) Compile 05:21 - 8) Babylon 06:26 - 7) Saltfjord 08:24 - 6) Canopy Evergreen 09:53 - 5) Video Game Champion 10:59 - 4) Altay: Dawn of Civilization 12:03 - 3) The Fog: Escape from Paradise 13:01 - 2) Agent Avenue 14:08 - 1) Tir na Nog
3 Beautiful Board Games from Singapore | Reef Rescue, Oh My Orchids & Rainforest City
Переглядів 216Місяць тому
This is only our fourth review on the channel, so we're happy to receive any and all feedback :) Links to the BoardGameGeek pages for the different games: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/286666/reef-rescue boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/378556/oh-my-orchids boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/350081/rainforest-city 00:00 - Intro 00:37 - Reef Rescue Overview 02:40 - Reef Rescue Review 08:37 - Reef Rescue Ratin...
Mindbug Review - I LOVE IT, She HATES It!
Переглядів 242Місяць тому
This is only our third review on the channel, so we're happy to receive any and all feedback :) Links to the BoardGameGeek pages for the base game and its expansions: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/345584/mindbug-first-contact boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/392513/mindbug-beyond-eternity boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/390173/mindbug-beyond-evolution 00:00 - Intro & Game Overview 02:22 - Review of Base G...
I Bought Way Too Many Board Games | Essen Haul '23
Переглядів 2,1 тис.Рік тому
I went to the world's largest board game convention, SPIEL Essen, and I came home with a staggering 78 board games! In this video, I show the board games to my wife, Kathrine, who didn't come with me this year. She, in turn, then ranks each game from 1-10 based on how excited she is to play them. See the full list of games and Kathrine's rankings here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QO1daGtn-E...
Top 10 Board Games for Couples
Переглядів 2,2 тис.Рік тому
In this video, we give our top 10 recommendations for couple's board games. Games that are just so satisfying, cozy and/or interesting to play with your partner or best friend. The games range from puzzly, meditative ones to cooperative experiences. 00:00 - Intro 00:18 - Mandala 02:01 - Star Realms 04:08 - Patchwork 06:26 - Fox in the Forest 07:40 - Calico 09:00 - Welcome To... 10:06 - Unlock 1...
Keep the Heroes Out Review - Our Favorite Game from Last Year
Переглядів 631Рік тому
This is only our second review on the channel, so we're happy to receive any and all feedback :) Link to the game's BoardGameGeek page: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/333255/keep-heroes-out 00:00 - Intro 00:10 - Game Overview 10:58 - Review 18:07 - Final Thoughts
Top 10 Board Games from 2022
Переглядів 3,3 тис.Рік тому
After having played 50 board games from 2022, we are finally ready with our top 10 board games from last year! We're excited to hear your thoughts - do you have some of the same favorites? :D 00:00 - Intro 00:29 - Michael's #10 01:39 - Kathrine's #10 02:39 - Kathrine's #9 04:21 - Michael's #9 06:26 - Michael's #8 07:58 - Kathrine's #8 08:49 - Kathrine's #7 10:33 - Michael's #7 12:16 - Michael's...
The Two Heirs Review - Don't Judge a Game By Its Cover
Переглядів 567Рік тому
This is our very first review! Please share any constructive criticism you might have - we know there are things to improve, and we certainly want to make all the improvements that are feasible for us to make :) Link to BGG: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/369869/two-heirs 00:00 - Intro 00:09 - Rules Overview 10:07 - Review 15:14 - Final Scores
Quick Reviews of 13 Board Games from Essen | Buy or Don't Buy?
Переглядів 623Рік тому
We played 13 board games at ESSEN SPIEL '22, and here are our thoughts on whether they were games worth buying or not (for us). Note that though we're using the word review in the title of the video, our thoughts are probably better characterized as first impressions after a single play. We comprised for the sake of a catchier title, forgive us :D Do let us know if you've played any of these an...
Our Loot from Essen Spiel '22 | Hot New Board Games!
Переглядів 1,3 тис.2 роки тому
We're back from Essen Spiel '22. It was our first time there, and it was AMAZING! :D We brought home 30 board games, the vast majority of them being new 2022 releases. In this video we will be showing you all our new acquisitions. As we go through them, Kathrine shares her thoughts on whether the games sound like something she wants to try (I was the one doing the researching and buying). Were ...
We RANK 50 Board Games from 2021
Переглядів 1,8 тис.2 роки тому
We're back! In this video we rank 50 board games from 2021 - from worst to best. It was great fun making this video and we'd love to hear some of your 2021 favorites :D Big shout outs to Martin for compiling the data and to Alex for painting our 'Adventure Tactics' minis! Errors: - The b-roll for 'Adventure Tactics' is mistakenly shown during the 'Land vs Sea' segment. Time stamps: 00:00 - Intr...
Best Board Games of All-Time (Top 10)
Переглядів 37 тис.2 роки тому
It's time to reveal our top 10 favorite board games of all-time! We hope you enjoy the video - and do let us know if you share some of the same favorites :D Time stamps: 00:00 - Intro 00:56 - Kathrine's #10 02:08 - Michael's #10 04:20 - Michael's #9 05:57 - Kathrine's #9 07:48 - Kathrine's #8 09:15 - Michael's #8 10:56 - Michael's #7 13:47 - Kathrine's #7 16:03 - Kathrine's #6 18:31 - Michael's...
Best Board Games of All-Time (#20-11)
Переглядів 6 тис.2 роки тому
We're back with another top list! This time we're going through our favorite board games of all-time. In this part we'll be talking about the top #20-11, and sometime within the next week we'll be revealing our top 10. We're curious to know if any of these are also in your favorites, or if you think we're way off :D P.S. Sorry about the delay, still trying to find out how to juggle this channel...
Top 10 Board Games from 2021
Переглядів 6 тис.2 роки тому
Whoop whoop, our very first video on the channel where we go through our individual top 10 favorite board games from 2021 :) We'd love to know if you agree or disagree with the picks - or if you have any recommendations for games we should try out :) A little bit about us: We are a married couple from Denmark. In fact, we were married at first sight, believe it or not. One of the interests we m...
Caracas seams to be a great suggestion - thx man!
You're very welcome! Hope it doesn't disappoint 😄
I've talked about Caracas :) #justsaying
But thank you for doing a video focussing on the lesser known games.
@@GamingRulesVideos haha, that's fair! I didn't have time to watch all of your live stream on anticipated games (but I did watch a good portion of it!), so I likely missed it in there or in one of your other videos. Thanks for watching - and thanks for your content 😄
@@boardgamehubby Nobody has time to watch all of my content :) I've only mentioned it in the post-Essen video so far, but my VLOG goes live tomorrow and it gets a proper mention in that.
Immediately added Wanderlust to my wishlist!
Right? It looks stunning, and I love travel themed games! 😄
seeing after a long time
@@queencat-f3u Awesome, glad to have you back 😄😄
Wanderlust sounds very much like trekking the world so ineterested in how it differs.
From my understanding, this is a bit Trekking the World meets Ticket to Ride. You're trying to hit a balance of drawing transportation cards until you can turn in your cards and reach a city, and you score points for having more connections, so there's a balance of when to turn them in if you don't want to risk the destinations getting taken away. Additionally, there are some variable endgame scoring conditions to also consider.
Tir na not and Salford are my most anticipated! These other ones also look very cool. Thank you for the video!
@@rmclean101 you're very welcome - I hope you get to try or buy them 😄
I'm sure it was just autocorrect, but that's some clever low-key shade on Tir na nOg 😅
@@JacobRamirez-li9dt holy crap, that's hilarious! I wish I could claim it was on purpose. Damn you autocorrect! 😂💪
Watch out for *CARACAS*. 😉
Ooh, I think I've actually missed this. Thanks for the heads up!
damn. board game hubby is going quick on these uploads. quicker than he is at finding dates to game that's for sure :(
🙈🙈🙈
Enjoyed the list. Always good to learn of other games that don't have the media presence of larger companies.
Thanks! Very happy if it has helped provide different input 😊
great list, thank you for taking the time! I really think you would enjoy River of Gold.
@@ParlorPunch Thanks! It's on my potential demo list, so I might have to check it out 😄
@boardgamehubby Great to hear, I will keep an eye out for it😁 I had a chance to meet the designer. Keith is an enormously generous guy and his game plays that way as well, you're going to love it.
Inferno is the goat!
Haha, I'm sure it's great 😄 - you tried it?
Haven't played Canopy, but Canopy: Evergreen looks interesting.
It sure does! If it's anywhere near as good as the first Canopy, it's definitely something to look forward to 😄
second. board game hubby is back!
You better believe it 😀
First
Well done 😄
Great Video. Subscribed. I recently got Mind Bug First Contact and First Contact Expansion and Mind Bug Evolution.
Thank you! I hope you will like it as much as I do :D
Haha, I see that I posted from the wrong account. That was Board Game Hubby :D
Very fun review. We need more review dialogues between reviewers who disagree completely on the game!
@@alexanderbrady5486 Thanks! As baffled and saddened I am that Kathrine hates the game that much, it does indeed make for an interesting dicussion 😅 And that's a good idea, maybe we should do a series like that 😀
I’ve been waiting to pull on this series for a while! Let’s go shopping!
@@Thebrewgeek1 I don't think you'll regret it - never mind Kathrine 🤣
Hey, long time no see - I hope you both are well! Are you coming to Essen this year again? Would be great to see you again. All the best!
Indeed I am! Would be fun to game again! Unfortunately life's been a bit busy, so that has taken a toll on the channel. We do have 5 or so videos filmed though - just need to find the time to edit them 😅
@@boardgamehubby This is so great. Will be there, too. Let's meet for a game or two :) Looking forward to seeing you again.
Glad I found your channel! You guys are super fun to watch, and I love your picks! I haven't played many boardgames in my life, but the ones I played (excluding monopoly, clue, chess, etc) was Nemesis, Stuffed Fables, Wonderland's War, Cobble & Fog, and Root. My favourite being Stuffed Fables, I absolutely fell in love with the way it plays with you following a story and having the map literally inside the book with various sections, and thus I was just super excited to check out Sleeping Gods since I think it would be right up my alley. It was nice to see you mentioned it here as well, so it's definitely my highest anticipated game, I can't wait to get it! Loved the video, and I know I'm very late, but thanks for sharing your picks! 💫
Thank you so much! I'm sad to have missed this comment until now, but it is heartily received by us :D
1 new game a day and you'll be done in a few months!
Exactly, shouldn't be a problem at all 😅🙈
take my upvote because of your awesomely cute intro and easy -to-listen to accents! :D
Hahaha, thank you 😄😄
I guess he's into trick taking games, while she isn't that much. ;)
Spot on 🙈
What a haul! Poor Katherine with all of the trick taking games 😂 I now have a few more games on my wishlist after watching this!
Haha, she was happy to see your sympathy for her 😅 nice! Which ones caught your attention?
haha! Cheese Thief, Nekojima & Rainforest City are some of the ones that I'd never heard of before and peaked my interest 😊
@@natrc4593 nice! Your interests align very much with Kathrine then, those all rank highly for her in terms of anticipation 😄
Yes, that's true! 😃
The Haul of Shame!
🤣🤣
@boardgamehubby I tried to catapult that term. The Internet being thr Internet had people argue with me on why it was a problem to use. I think someone do not want to face spending issues. In my case, my reasonable self tells me to stop getting new games because I am not finding people to play in person. My tabletop gamer says, "Really? Fine, I will solo the games". My reasonable self then tells me that the game doesn't support solo play. My tabletop gamer self thrm creates a solo variant. Yes, Zoo Vadis and Diplomacy can be played solo I tell the world. I just put up a solo variant to Ra. The Haul of Shame real. It is connected to the shelf of shame.
@@thegamesninja3119 I find myself fortunate enough to have many people to play games with so that my unplayed games percentage is constantly hovering at around 20%, which is the new normal that I have forced myself to be satisfied with. But I'd be lying if I said I'd buy significantly less if I couldn't play as much as I did.
@boardgamehubby buying yes not driven by external circumstances but internal motivations. It is easy to get caught up on the moment, particularly at a convention, and wonder why. One can use external circumstances to rationalize buying decisions. But that is rationalizing. I have decided to follow the Hotness List on BGG through the lens of where Heat places on it (calling that the Heat Index) to track cycles of interest, so I am trying to find other ways to distract and follow the business. If you do have enough people, not everyone where you are needs to own a copy of the game, so you may want to coordinate with others.
@@thegamesninja3119u dont need that many games, for me boardgames is much better than video games,but its expensive u can buy a switch or a pc with that money and play a digital version to scratch the itch, that why i limit my collection to just 15 i just trade or sell them to get a new one, i just traded my lorenzo for modern art. Fight the fomo 😊
Reminds me of my days going to Spiel. 😀 Always came home with a trunk full of games. Many of bags, often going to the car a couple of times and go back. My collection stands at around 10,000 board games, and still interested in half of these. 🤪
Oh, wow 😲 that's completely next level. Haha, yeah, that sounds exactly like my experience 😅 Do you keep a list of your games? I'd be very curious to see your collection. What are some of the games you're interested in?
It is NOT a collection. It is a manifestation of a to do list. Just tell yourself you need a 5+1 listt of games for every occasion like I do. 🥷
Fantastisk bunke og fedt med alle de østasiatiske spil, der måske ikke når ud til os andre. Så forstår jeg godt noget af Essen-hypen, men kræver en del forarbejde? Fedt med alle de spændende twist på stik-tagning :-) . Dem håber jeg at være heldig at prøve nogle stykker af en dag. Og selvom ikke helt deler smag, så er du heldig med en hustru der er engageret i så mange af spillene :-)
Indeed, jeg har brugt maaange timer på at researche forud for messen 😅. Jeg kom til messen med en shortlist på ca 100 spil, som jeg enten ville købe eller prøve for at se, om de var købeværdige. Jeg er helt sindssygt heldig. Det er faktisk hende, der fik mig konverteret til at blive brætspilselsker 😄
@@boardgamehubby Ja det må man jo sige at hun er lykkedes ret godt med ;-) Fedt :-)
Så ser vi dig vel snart i klubben
Det kan du tro! Med en masse nye spil 😄
78 games! 😮 Awesome haul 🥳
Haha, yeah, buuut I'm now officially running out of shelf space 🙈
@@boardgamehubby go buy more shelves and create a shelf of shame wing where you live. 🥷
fedt at se jeres videoer 😀😀😀😀
Tak - det glæder at høre, nogle kan lide at følge med 😄
You may be a hoarder
As someone once said: Playing and collecting board games are two very different hobbies 🤣
@boardgamehubby yeah, PLAYING is done with intention, collecting is started by accident. 🥷
I'm so envious of your collection of games. Coming back with 76 games (Plus two expansions), that must have been challenging to bring it back home.
It would've been, but fortunately I was able to drive down there from Denmark, so it all barely fit into our tiny car 😅 so I was also able to buy the games in chunks and then load them into the car so I could return to the fair to buy more 😅
With the amount of Trick-taking games added to your collection, you have to do a top ten list. I'm betting Board Game Wife will love that 😆 @@boardgamehubby
Damn, impressive haul - love to hear you talk about some of them at least - great video!
@@bretterwelten Thanks! 😄 Did you buy any of the same ones, by chance?
@@boardgamehubby No, actually not :) I was reeeeally conservative this year because of the pile of games-to-play we still have at our home. But maybe we come visit you someday to play through _your_ pile. There are a few treasures in your list, that I'd love to own and play.
Battle Line and Watergate are also awesome two player games that arent too heavy
Ooh, we have yet to try Watergate, but I think that we will really like that one. I have the Schotten Totten version of Battle Line, and it's super solid, always happy to play it 😄
I would personally add Splendor Duel to the list. I didn't even really like the original Splendor very much to be honest. Splendor Duel is similar, very simple, not extra deep, but it just works so well. It's our go-to quick game for two.
Good pick. I would maybe have it on my top 10, but Kathrine unfortunately isn't that fond of it :/
Great selection I am in doubt to get the "Keep the Heroes out" since the reviews are mixed... but looks like you enjoyed alot ...
We really do enjoy it. It has a very good BGG rating as well. I can't say that I know how other reviewers on YT have rated it, but it's been a hit with everyone I've played it with 👍
@@boardgamehubby Thanks for your response .. I already ordered ....
Thanks for your on screen graphics. They’re very helpful!
Great list. Five Tribes is another good two player game (i am bias... I like it at all counts since it is my favorite game of all time) and Cathala's other gem "Sea, Salt & Paper" is incredible as well.
We've only played Five Tribes a couple of times, but that's one we're quite warming up to! And Sea, Salt & Paper is one of Kathrine's favorites 😄
Worker placement games like Stone Age, Viticulture are great at two players. Even Raiders of the North Sea as it has a slightly different take on worker placement where you put one down, do the action and take another worker off and do that action too in your turn, or go plunder a port somewhere on the board once you have a crew. Most well known games like WIngspan, Everdell etc are great at two players too. My shelfie is a newer game that is pretty good (has connect 4 type vibes but involving patterns of books) Sagrada works well with two players especially as it has some slight similar feels to Azul but making stained glass windows with transpearent dice colours and numbers Our favourite two player only game is Targi. Worker placement tableau building collecting resources to cash in for tribe cards, addictive but mean at times in a good way. You put one of your three targi's (in turns) on the start/end of a row or top/bottom of a column (you can't put one opposite each other) and you have two other workers that will be placed on spots in the middle of the row/coloumns you select. ie: where they intersect is the card you also get to choose. Great game.
These are all excellent recommendations. Targi and Wingspan are both in my top 20 games of all time, and I think Targi is even the highest-ranking 2-player game for me. I think the reason we didn't include the mentioned games here is that they're a bit heavier, and for a list of couple's games to recommend broadly we wanted to aim for a cozier, easier vibe, sort of 😄
super fedt i laver de her videoer 💖💖💖
Tak - vi er glad for, folk gider se dem 😅
I've only played 2 of these; Cat in the Box and Keep the Heroes Out. Cat in the Box was a pleasant surprise for me as I tend to be ambivalent to trick taking games, but it was a nice twist on the core concept and a nice quick game for meetups when we lack time for something bigger. And of course, Keep the Heroes Out was my favorite for the year and my new number one game of all time (shifting Star Fleet Battles off the number one spot where's it has sat since 1989). So fun, so addictive, so much variety, and Luis is always so responsive to questions about it.
Well, those are two perfect games to have tried out of this top 10 imo 🤣 In fact, since we made this list, Keep the Heroes Out has creeped up in front of Cat in the Box for me, so that it is no 1 for both me and Kathrine 👍
Love this game! I've posted about it a lot on BGG, and am backing the expansion for sure. We just played it at the meetup yesterday for almost 4 hours in fact. It can be random, and you can get a cascade of failure, but it's easy to restart a loss and even losing can be fun. It's just so much fun to play. It resets fast too, which is really nice. The randomness and lack of getting enough crafting done and use of the crafted cards are my only negatives with this great game. I ended up giving it a 10, but maybe a 9.8 is a bit more accurate. I can't wait for that expansion kickstarter campaign! As for chronicle mode, we keep playing a scenario till we win as well. It can several tries, and sometimes you got to swap out monster clans to make it easier. And I want to play it a lot too, and one of our local group loves it too, he's the one I played with for most of the meetup yesterday!
It really is a glorious game. I can see our ratings going even higher than a 9 as well with more plays :D I'm definitely in on the expansion as well - boss battles sound like a lot of fun. And glad to hear we aren't the only ones just replaying the scenarios 'till we win 🙈😅
I've houseruled my own difficulty lever. I use the hero meeples from the expansion, so their obsolete tokens now get tossed into a bag. When a lose a scenario, I note down which monster clan I was using. The next time I use that clan, I now earn a handicap token. I pull one of those hero tokens out of the bag. This token now allows me two free points of damage against that hero type (flip it over after first use, then discard it back to the bag after second usage). This acts as a little bonus or mini difficulty slider without having to change the number of guild cards drawn (which is a huge slider imo).
Ooh, very interesting! Do you still need to have a character in the same room as the heroes, or do you just flip the token to remove the heroes from anywhere on the board?
@@boardgamehubby no, I just use it whenever I decide, anywhere in the dungeon. It's only 2-time use maximum, so it's not gamebreaking, but can get you out of an otherwise cascading bind without having to resort to going back to Family mode. Besides, it lets those nice little round cardboard tokens serve a purpose again :)
Our family loves this game!
Awesome! Since filming this review I've gotten a chance to play it with my younger siblings as well who also loved it! 😁
Thank you so much for the shoutout! I loved the video ❤️
We're the grateful ones - Keep the Heroes Out is unbelievably fun and addictive! 😀
Lots of games here don’t know much about,looking forward to checking some of then out.
How’s the baby?
Doing excellent! Or well, I guess she's a toddler now - 14 months old 😀
Almost old enough for a board game 👍
@@williamkremer7382 haha, I'm eagerly awaiting that first magical time we play a game together 😅
Thanks for sharing your favorite games from 2022. Great job!
Thanks, we're happy that people want to watch along 😀
Eeeendelig!
Haha, I know 🙈🙈
Where did you purchase this game? I have been looking for it for some time. Thanks for the video.
We were given a review copy in Essen. Where are you located in the world? If you're from Europe you can buy it from Philibert.
@@boardgamehubby I am in the U.S. Guess it will be available eventually. Unfortunately shipping is so high to import it. Thanks again. I enjoy your videos.
@@cindykrimes8392 Thanks! :D Hmm, this site seems to be dealing with USD, so maybe you can order from here? zulusgames.com/products/the-two-heirs
Love your mutual charisma. Scripting would help the flow. Pics would also help.
Thank you! True, we have considered being more scripted, but we worry it might cause us to lose some of that charisma and natural feel. But it’s something we go back and forth on exploring. I agree, more pictures would be optimal. For this video I included one with each game and decided to limit it to that, since it does unfortunately take a lot of time already to edit these videos 😅. But that’s also a balance - because we want to make good content that people want to watch, and more pictures would definitely be a step towards that 👍
Great lists. For me, Paladins is the least pleasant of the trilogy; Arichitects for me is the most pleasant to play, with Viscounts a distant second. For animal games, I really enjoy Zoo-ography for a zoo game over Ark Nova. It is a tile laying and worker placement game. I really enjoy Ecologies a foodweb, tableau building card game.