I'm glad we got your perspective on this. My partner and I LOVE the Monster Hunter series and I was just made aware of the Icebourne version of this game. Hearing that it's a high rating for MH fans made me order a copy of Ancient Forest and Wildspire Waste for Christmas. Sure the game is a bit pricey, but we've also wanted minis of our favorite monsters that would also be suitable if we ever wanted to homebrew a D&D Monster Hunter campaign.
Absolutely! These minis are gorgeous! I've had issues getting them to send me replacements for poorly fitted wings and broken bases, not that they won't send you one but the ones they sent had their own issues.. Glad to hear from another fan of the series!
Great review, Owen! I found your review super interesting because I thought you were going to say that your personal rating was going to be lower because you love the IP so much and they failed in some ways to live up to the love you have for the video game, and that your objective IP was going to be higher because those who don't know the IP wouldn't be upset about those missing elements. For instance, the Palicos. I had never heard of Monster Hunter World the video game and so had no reference point. After playing the Tabletopia version of Monter Hunter World I was super excited to have a Palico and the decision of when to use it was really fun. Great mechanic. But, when I saw that there was a mini that I could get for my game, a mini that I really liked, I too wondered about this strange add on ... are we going to turn every card's picture into a mini? And then I started thinking how fun it would be to have the mini matter. So, the homebrew Palico rules got my attention. Sorry, I'm starting to blend my thoughts. Anyway, I was really surprised that IP Owen liked it better than non-IP Owen, but I'm glad you tried to parse your perspectives because it made me even more excited to get the game. On a side note .... squirrel ... How did you hang your board game boxes so invisibly? I can't imagine you 'killed' the boxes by gluing or screwing into them. I've searched for invisible board game box holders, kind of like the invisible book displays, and couldn't find anything. I'm also an avid 3d printer (really enjoyed your token prints ... dual printer heads even) and wondered if you made your own invisible box displays with your printer, but whatever is holding them up seems to thin. I can't see anything. I'm looking forward to checking out your other reviews! Thanks so much! Matt
Ha, yeah I didn't think of it like that! Yeah I was just figuring that the price of the game vs the actual gameplay would put it at a lower rating because I don't think that without the interest in the IP, flawed as the representation is, that it would grab someone enough to be super excited about the game.. enough to invest in the purchase at the least.. You could make a much simpler and cheaper to produce design like they do with Skulk Hollow and get the same battle experience that the MHW board game gives you. It's really the vast array of weapons and expensive miniatures that shoots the price up so much, but how much of that does the IP indifferent boardgamer really need? That said, I could definitely see it go the other way too just depending on the individual. My love of the IP is what grabs me more than anything about the game so I feel I get a lot more out of it because of that than I would otherwise. Those old boxes are just empties from games I've consolidated into other inserts, mostly expansion content. I actually used the simplest method ever and just hung them with putty tack, lol! The tokens were actually printed on a single head, just pausing the print and switching filament. I really appreciate the nice comments though and thank you again for watching!
With the gripe on potions, would it be better if the monster attacks dealt less damage but you can have up to 10 potions (like in the games)? That way you can still dodge for no damage but every monster attack isn't a 1 or 2 shot. Incentivizing more potion use and strategically planning your prep turns vs. combat turns much like the game where using items at the wrong time can be fatal. With only 8 health, each monster attack dealing 2-3 at a time could make you think "do I heal this turn" or "am I safe to attack more". Not sure how much this would affect the gameplay, I've done a few sessions myself so far some solo some with friends and it seems pretty balanced as is but I do see how it doesn't relate much to the theme of the game.
Hey, thanks for watching! Yeah it seems to be balanced well enough, it just skips out on one of the core vibes of a fight where you're maniacally guzzling various potions and other items to keep yourself afloat. Kinda feels like they didn't have time or just didn't want to take the time to figure out how to incorporate that properly. It might have involved actually having more health and getting hit harder with a small potion giving you say 4 health out of 16 and a mega health potion giving you 8, all while populating the board with usable herbs, honey, and other items to make more consumables during the fight.
I don't think simplistic is the best to describe the game (unless you compare it to spirit island 😅). The card play leaves plenty of room to do mistakes. The campaign and crafting aspects of the board game are a bit of a miss for me. I will most likely play it in the arena format for now and maybe some day the campaign will get another shot. SFG always has these mixed feelings with their games. Part of it might come from the expectations the IPs carry with them. And another part surely is efficiency in the business model. I would say I also like the game more because of the IP. I am already happy to own it for the minis. The game is interesting to explore for sure and to live or cart in epic battles we know so well from the video game :)
It feels about as complex as Skulk Hollow to me which is a vastly cheaper game. I could imagine without the IP and the huge miniatures, the same level of gameplay could be had for $40. I actually really liked the crafting though, especially since that's such an integral part of the game. I think that the poorly executed Palicos is one of the most egregious issues the game has along with the lack of items. It just doesn't feel complete and the new campaign doesn't address these issues either.. Those miniatures are awesome though and the fight system is a lot of fun!
I actually don't mind the artwork because it's straight from the game but I can certainly see why others don't like that. I think Alex at BoardgameCo mentioned something similar. The main thing for me is just the lack of included game elements from the video game that prevents this from being a truly great game.
@@organiccardboard Looking forward to your thoughts on Primal as a fellow fan of the MH IP. I ended up passing on MHW and went with Primal as the gameplay felt better to me.
@Malgamus I'm actually sitting here reading the physical rulebook right now, haha! I just got it a couple days ago. I've been watching quite a few videos lately and I already think I like it better than what SFG had to offer with MHW. I'm really looking forward to getting a game in soon!
No it's at the beginning of picking a character for a campaign. You can see Jamie Perkins commenting about it here.. boardgamegeek.com/thread/3047351/article/41917685#41917685
@@organiccardboard yea ok, we're talking about different things. You can use it once per quest afaik and I might have misheard you in the beginning saying once per campaign.
I'm glad we got your perspective on this. My partner and I LOVE the Monster Hunter series and I was just made aware of the Icebourne version of this game. Hearing that it's a high rating for MH fans made me order a copy of Ancient Forest and Wildspire Waste for Christmas. Sure the game is a bit pricey, but we've also wanted minis of our favorite monsters that would also be suitable if we ever wanted to homebrew a D&D Monster Hunter campaign.
Absolutely! These minis are gorgeous! I've had issues getting them to send me replacements for poorly fitted wings and broken bases, not that they won't send you one but the ones they sent had their own issues.. Glad to hear from another fan of the series!
Great review, Owen! I found your review super interesting because I thought you were going to say that your personal rating was going to be lower because you love the IP so much and they failed in some ways to live up to the love you have for the video game, and that your objective IP was going to be higher because those who don't know the IP wouldn't be upset about those missing elements. For instance, the Palicos. I had never heard of Monster Hunter World the video game and so had no reference point. After playing the Tabletopia version of Monter Hunter World I was super excited to have a Palico and the decision of when to use it was really fun. Great mechanic. But, when I saw that there was a mini that I could get for my game, a mini that I really liked, I too wondered about this strange add on ... are we going to turn every card's picture into a mini? And then I started thinking how fun it would be to have the mini matter. So, the homebrew Palico rules got my attention. Sorry, I'm starting to blend my thoughts. Anyway, I was really surprised that IP Owen liked it better than non-IP Owen, but I'm glad you tried to parse your perspectives because it made me even more excited to get the game.
On a side note .... squirrel ... How did you hang your board game boxes so invisibly? I can't imagine you 'killed' the boxes by gluing or screwing into them. I've searched for invisible board game box holders, kind of like the invisible book displays, and couldn't find anything. I'm also an avid 3d printer (really enjoyed your token prints ... dual printer heads even) and wondered if you made your own invisible box displays with your printer, but whatever is holding them up seems to thin. I can't see anything.
I'm looking forward to checking out your other reviews!
Thanks so much!
Matt
Ha, yeah I didn't think of it like that! Yeah I was just figuring that the price of the game vs the actual gameplay would put it at a lower rating because I don't think that without the interest in the IP, flawed as the representation is, that it would grab someone enough to be super excited about the game.. enough to invest in the purchase at the least.. You could make a much simpler and cheaper to produce design like they do with Skulk Hollow and get the same battle experience that the MHW board game gives you. It's really the vast array of weapons and expensive miniatures that shoots the price up so much, but how much of that does the IP indifferent boardgamer really need? That said, I could definitely see it go the other way too just depending on the individual. My love of the IP is what grabs me more than anything about the game so I feel I get a lot more out of it because of that than I would otherwise.
Those old boxes are just empties from games I've consolidated into other inserts, mostly expansion content. I actually used the simplest method ever and just hung them with putty tack, lol! The tokens were actually printed on a single head, just pausing the print and switching filament.
I really appreciate the nice comments though and thank you again for watching!
With the gripe on potions, would it be better if the monster attacks dealt less damage but you can have up to 10 potions (like in the games)? That way you can still dodge for no damage but every monster attack isn't a 1 or 2 shot. Incentivizing more potion use and strategically planning your prep turns vs. combat turns much like the game where using items at the wrong time can be fatal. With only 8 health, each monster attack dealing 2-3 at a time could make you think "do I heal this turn" or "am I safe to attack more". Not sure how much this would affect the gameplay, I've done a few sessions myself so far some solo some with friends and it seems pretty balanced as is but I do see how it doesn't relate much to the theme of the game.
Hey, thanks for watching! Yeah it seems to be balanced well enough, it just skips out on one of the core vibes of a fight where you're maniacally guzzling various potions and other items to keep yourself afloat. Kinda feels like they didn't have time or just didn't want to take the time to figure out how to incorporate that properly. It might have involved actually having more health and getting hit harder with a small potion giving you say 4 health out of 16 and a mega health potion giving you 8, all while populating the board with usable herbs, honey, and other items to make more consumables during the fight.
I don't think simplistic is the best to describe the game (unless you compare it to spirit island 😅).
The card play leaves plenty of room to do mistakes.
The campaign and crafting aspects of the board game are a bit of a miss for me. I will most likely play it in the arena format for now and maybe some day the campaign will get another shot.
SFG always has these mixed feelings with their games. Part of it might come from the expectations the IPs carry with them. And another part surely is efficiency in the business model.
I would say I also like the game more because of the IP. I am already happy to own it for the minis. The game is interesting to explore for sure and to live or cart in epic battles we know so well from the video game :)
It feels about as complex as Skulk Hollow to me which is a vastly cheaper game. I could imagine without the IP and the huge miniatures, the same level of gameplay could be had for $40. I actually really liked the crafting though, especially since that's such an integral part of the game. I think that the poorly executed Palicos is one of the most egregious issues the game has along with the lack of items. It just doesn't feel complete and the new campaign doesn't address these issues either.. Those miniatures are awesome though and the fight system is a lot of fun!
@@organiccardboard It is true the game is overly huge. Still so many monsters missing though. Gotta catch them all !
Haha
@@shaolinmanny It seems to be turning into that, haha. I appreciate you watching!
What SFG lacks is artwork and cards without walls of text and a generic background. They seem to go very minimal with art and it bugs me.
I actually don't mind the artwork because it's straight from the game but I can certainly see why others don't like that. I think Alex at BoardgameCo mentioned something similar. The main thing for me is just the lack of included game elements from the video game that prevents this from being a truly great game.
@@organiccardboard Take a look at Primal. Not sure if it is out or what the deal is with that game but it looks like a great one.
I backed it too.. 🤦lol
@@organiccardboard Looking forward to your thoughts on Primal as a fellow fan of the MH IP. I ended up passing on MHW and went with Primal as the gameplay felt better to me.
@Malgamus I'm actually sitting here reading the physical rulebook right now, haha! I just got it a couple days ago. I've been watching quite a few videos lately and I already think I like it better than what SFG had to offer with MHW. I'm really looking forward to getting a game in soon!
Palico is per quest not campaign.
No it's at the beginning of picking a character for a campaign. You can see Jamie Perkins commenting about it here..
boardgamegeek.com/thread/3047351/article/41917685#41917685
@@organiccardboard yea ok, we're talking about different things. You can use it once per quest afaik and I might have misheard you in the beginning saying once per campaign.
That's right! One use per quest and one choice per campaign.