I’ve watched this video twice now (watched it a 2nd time as a refresher after not playing this game in over 3 months). Fantastic job Jon, really great video.
Hey, First of all, thanks for doing such professionals and fun to watch playthroughs :) You made me want to get this game as soon as possible cause its looks exactly likey style of game. After watching for a few times (I love to look for other opportunities that you might have missed), I noticed a few things.` First in 1:38:00 it seems like the yellow player could have placed the statue in the inner part of the mountain which would give her 2 more points. But I feel like the Blue player could have won the game with both of the remaining great halls. You were focusing a lot on the right side trying to put the largest great hall there, but if instead you would have put there the 3x3 GH and in the last 2 turns you would have build 2 level 5 tunnels between your starting tile and the WS of the Gems-minerals, you could have put the 4x4 GH there and still have enough carts to move all your statues to the right position. Hopefully you can understand me 😅 I'm sure its very difficult to see the most optimal move every time, and you did a great job showing the game so thanks 😁
I really struggled with planning out the last few turns of this game, it was quite a challenge to get optimal moves for each player at the same time. I'm positive there were better moves out there, I just didn't get there mentally it seems :P I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I don't like tile placing games, but this is thematically and strategically very tight, one of the best of the genre. And as always, the superb production value you put in all your videos. I enjoyed this fully
At 1:38:00, the Yellow Player moves an orange statue onto a tile's brown area, to be worth 6 points, but that same tile was over an orange/light brown area, which could've been worth 8 points, bringing their final score up from 146 to 148, beating the Pink Player... Genuine goof, or John being sneaky and stealing the win with a 2-point blunder? 🤔
at 40:00, the blue player recruits a troll using 4 coins from their reserve and 1 coin from a troll in their trollsmoot leaving one troll with a coin. wouldn't a better play be to pull that leftover coin off the troll and leave a coin in the player's reserve so that troll could be refilled at a later time? (well, it didn't really matter as it wasn't an issue, i posted this part of my comment before the end of the video) at 52:10 the yellow player puts down a white pedestal - 2 things here. 1) imo, you have to keep track of so much what with filming and all, the occasional back step like this is fine to me. depending on the gaming group, this is something a friendly play group would allow anyway whereas a cutthroat group probably wouldn't. as you are showing a playthrough and explaining the various choices each player is making, i would rather prefer this minor take back to have more optimal plays and explanations why, which you did. 2) i think the blue pedestal would have been the better choice though as it was 4 points in light grey instead of 2. however, again, this is not a strategy-focused playthrough but rather a how to play video, which is one reason i like your videos - the awesome amount of attention to detail (amnesia abounded when finding another 'a' word for the alliteration avoided me...) you provide in your videos is absolutely amazing and rarely cutthroat. i prefer a friendly game 9/10 playthroughs. (off to continue again) and at 57:57 they would have switched to the white pedestal here and gotten more points. i've already lost track of what the difference here would have been, and i'm not at the end of the game, but it is a very intriguing point mechanism to keep in mine when playing. at 1:08:10 it's not because you don't have any hammers, it's because trolls are inherently lazy and they didn't want to dig that hard. (and, well, they didn't have any hammers. LOL the whole time you were taking this turn, i could hear the conversation in my head between the trolls in your sect about who left the hammers in the great hall...) at 1:29:54, i think red forgot to pay for the 2 rubble they were able to break through on that brown level with those hammers they finally found a couple of thoughts. the runes on the spells moved from the parchment to the picture making them almost invisible to the camera. i'm sure you could see them fine from your angle, but it might be something to consider in future when there are clear-ish items on dark art. second, the statues were a bit confusing for me during scoring. perhaps laying them down or removing them when scored might have made it a little easier for viewers like me to follow. finally, you are AMAZING! there was a quite a bit going on in this game, and you ROCKED! i enjoyed the end game scoring mechanisms impact on the final tally. great game play!
The reason I had them place a white pedestal instead of blue at 52:10 is because with so many white pedestals out there was a higher priority to get them down where they wanted them and they didn't feel a huge rush for blue at that moment. This may have been a mistake, but it's what I was thinking at the time. It looks like you are right, we did forget to pay those hammers. That means we should have scored one less point which would have tied us with yellow, and yellow would have won the tie breaker! Wish I hadn't messed that up now. I'm glad you enjoyed the video :)
@@JonGetsGames absolutely loved the playthrough on this one! white vs blue - it's easy to watch from my side of the video and make suggestions vs you keeping track of everything at every moment! you make a valid point about the number of white pedestals available at that time. i watched and rewound and watched and commented - i had it easier! :)
While the game has highs, there are an equal number of lows. I don't care for the way that they do the resources. The cascading of resources and that you have to recruit a new troll in order to get new resources is not thought out very well. I know you get resources from tunneling, but you only get them in specific areas and it isn't random. While this provides and added dimension to the game, it would have been more interesting that those spots on the board are bonus resources. Resources should be gained by tunnelling and resources should be random, drawn from a deck. This would eliminate all those blocks you need on the table. Recruiting trolls should cost gold and there should be an upkeep. You have to pay for the trolls to do the work. 1st level is free, 2nd level is 1 gold, 3rd level is 2 gold, per turn. Each level gives you 2 spaces to mine. So the free trolls are slow and don't allow you to move quickly, which also slows your resources, because you can only tunnel 2 spaces. 2nd level gives you 4 space, 3rd gives you 6 spaces for tunneling. Your max trolls available is based on how much you can afford each turn. If you can't afford upkeep, the troll which doesn't get paid leaves. You find gold randomly or you can sell resources. You could have some resources more rare than others, they give you more gold and allow you to build more. Stone would be the lowest quality, hearthstone is the highest quality.
at 24:25 you actually do have a hammer. cheers.
great stuff, I love your playthroughs
I’ve watched this video twice now (watched it a 2nd time as a refresher after not playing this game in over 3 months). Fantastic job Jon, really great video.
I've watched this three times now I believe, so the game is finally going to hit the table this Friday. Thanks a lot.
I have this game and we really like it. Definitely a keeper.
Once again - an amazing and thorough playthrough. thanks!
Hey, First of all, thanks for doing such professionals and fun to watch playthroughs :)
You made me want to get this game as soon as possible cause its looks exactly likey style of game.
After watching for a few times (I love to look for other opportunities that you might have missed), I noticed a few things.`
First in 1:38:00 it seems like the yellow player could have placed the statue in the inner part of the mountain which would give her 2 more points.
But I feel like the Blue player could have won the game with both of the remaining great halls. You were focusing a lot on the right side trying to put the largest great hall there, but if instead you would have put there the 3x3 GH and in the last 2 turns you would have build 2 level 5 tunnels between your starting tile and the WS of the Gems-minerals, you could have put the 4x4 GH there and still have enough carts to move all your statues to the right position.
Hopefully you can understand me 😅
I'm sure its very difficult to see the most optimal move every time, and you did a great job showing the game so thanks 😁
I really struggled with planning out the last few turns of this game, it was quite a challenge to get optimal moves for each player at the same time. I'm positive there were better moves out there, I just didn't get there mentally it seems :P I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I don't like tile placing games, but this is thematically and strategically very tight, one of the best of the genre. And as always, the superb production value you put in all your videos. I enjoyed this fully
At 1:38:00, the Yellow Player moves an orange statue onto a tile's brown area, to be worth 6 points, but that same tile was over an orange/light brown area, which could've been worth 8 points, bringing their final score up from 146 to 148, beating the Pink Player... Genuine goof, or John being sneaky and stealing the win with a 2-point blunder? 🤔
I promise, it was a genuine goof :P
Great video Jon! Congrats!
At 1:02:10 I think the math was off and they should have 37 not 38
Good catch, thanks for pointing that out. I've added a note to the Klingon subtitles.
Joooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnn!!! You won! I never stopped believing in you!
1:02 score should be 37
Could the yellow player have used more carts to move the orange statue in the brown area to the innermost area next to the white statue?
You only score one statue per tile.
at 40:00, the blue player recruits a troll using 4 coins from their reserve and 1 coin from a troll in their trollsmoot leaving one troll with a coin. wouldn't a better play be to pull that leftover coin off the troll and leave a coin in the player's reserve so that troll could be refilled at a later time? (well, it didn't really matter as it wasn't an issue, i posted this part of my comment before the end of the video)
at 52:10 the yellow player puts down a white pedestal - 2 things here. 1) imo, you have to keep track of so much what with filming and all, the occasional back step like this is fine to me. depending on the gaming group, this is something a friendly play group would allow anyway whereas a cutthroat group probably wouldn't. as you are showing a playthrough and explaining the various choices each player is making, i would rather prefer this minor take back to have more optimal plays and explanations why, which you did. 2) i think the blue pedestal would have been the better choice though as it was 4 points in light grey instead of 2. however, again, this is not a strategy-focused playthrough but rather a how to play video, which is one reason i like your videos - the awesome amount of attention to detail (amnesia abounded when finding another 'a' word for the alliteration avoided me...) you provide in your videos is absolutely amazing and rarely cutthroat. i prefer a friendly game 9/10 playthroughs. (off to continue again) and at 57:57 they would have switched to the white pedestal here and gotten more points. i've already lost track of what the difference here would have been, and i'm not at the end of the game, but it is a very intriguing point mechanism to keep in mine when playing.
at 1:08:10 it's not because you don't have any hammers, it's because trolls are inherently lazy and they didn't want to dig that hard. (and, well, they didn't have any hammers. LOL the whole time you were taking this turn, i could hear the conversation in my head between the trolls in your sect about who left the hammers in the great hall...)
at 1:29:54, i think red forgot to pay for the 2 rubble they were able to break through on that brown level with those hammers they finally found
a couple of thoughts. the runes on the spells moved from the parchment to the picture making them almost invisible to the camera. i'm sure you could see them fine from your angle, but it might be something to consider in future when there are clear-ish items on dark art. second, the statues were a bit confusing for me during scoring. perhaps laying them down or removing them when scored might have made it a little easier for viewers like me to follow. finally, you are AMAZING! there was a quite a bit going on in this game, and you ROCKED! i enjoyed the end game scoring mechanisms impact on the final tally. great game play!
The reason I had them place a white pedestal instead of blue at 52:10 is because with so many white pedestals out there was a higher priority to get them down where they wanted them and they didn't feel a huge rush for blue at that moment. This may have been a mistake, but it's what I was thinking at the time.
It looks like you are right, we did forget to pay those hammers. That means we should have scored one less point which would have tied us with yellow, and yellow would have won the tie breaker! Wish I hadn't messed that up now. I'm glad you enjoyed the video :)
@@JonGetsGames absolutely loved the playthrough on this one!
white vs blue - it's easy to watch from my side of the video and make suggestions vs you keeping track of everything at every moment! you make a valid point about the number of white pedestals available at that time. i watched and rewound and watched and commented - i had it easier! :)
While the game has highs, there are an equal number of lows. I don't care for the way that they do the resources. The cascading of resources and that you have to recruit a new troll in order to get new resources is not thought out very well. I know you get resources from tunneling, but you only get them in specific areas and it isn't random. While this provides and added dimension to the game, it would have been more interesting that those spots on the board are bonus resources.
Resources should be gained by tunnelling and resources should be random, drawn from a deck. This would eliminate all those blocks you need on the table.
Recruiting trolls should cost gold and there should be an upkeep. You have to pay for the trolls to do the work. 1st level is free, 2nd level is 1 gold, 3rd level is 2 gold, per turn.
Each level gives you 2 spaces to mine. So the free trolls are slow and don't allow you to move quickly, which also slows your resources, because you can only tunnel 2 spaces.
2nd level gives you 4 space, 3rd gives you 6 spaces for tunneling. Your max trolls available is based on how much you can afford each turn. If you can't afford upkeep, the troll which doesn't get paid leaves. You find gold randomly or you can sell resources.
You could have some resources more rare than others, they give you more gold and allow you to build more. Stone would be the lowest quality, hearthstone is the highest quality.
GG