I like how Tom says he's afraid to hold the box sideways so the pieces don't fall out but then he proceeds to literally dump the entire contents of the game out onto the table. Well played Tom. Well played.
Wasn't that excited by the reviews of this game, but bought it on a whim. It is now easily one of the best games in my collection.It takes about 5 minutes to teach, and will appeal to most people.
Amazing attention to detail on the map aswell, a D&D Amiga game Eye of the Beholder was set in Waterdeep, and you can see in this video that the city maintains the same shape/coastline/structure. So from 1990 to 2012 the same fiction lives on. Thats pretty incredible.
Seriously Tom, your new microphone is wonderful. When this review started I briefly believed that you'd gone back and re-dubbed your own video with high-quality audio.
I am so glad to hear that you and Melody give this game 6 thumbs up! Thank you for this very timely review. Nice to see its complexity is in a comfortable range for more people. By the by, curad makes some nifty bandaids these days. Outstanding review!
It's been over 7 years since this video came out, but that's okay. I wonder how most people would compare Lords of Waterdeep, Stone Age, and Champions of Midgard to reach other. They all have something going for them.
I saw a copy at my FLGS and dismissed it as just another euro, but after seeing this video I am much more interested in it. Thanks for the great review, Tom and Melody!
Hey there, just watched this review & am interested in a possible purchase. Do you feel like this game has held up over the years? Has it been replaced by a better variant? Thanks for your time!
So far I haven't found a worker placement game that looks all that interesting, but this one seems to be bubbling to the top for me. I do wish you could bling it out with something to replace the cubes. They seem however, much like just another form of currency. Has anyone found something to use for a cube upgrade of this game?
Not if packed right. I took mine to a friend place just last night. I was in a reusable bag sideways even jostled around in car ride and carrying. Everything is where it’s supposed to be, the game board and family cards keep a tight seal on every compartment.
This game is great. I bought it on a whim the day it came into the store because the price was right (under $40), and it turned out to be a really good game. I've played it a half-dozen times now with varying amounts of people (3 to 5 so far), and it has been really good all times. Only takes an hour to play, too!
It just came out. The game store I work at just got it Friday. I'd say call them and ask them when they're getting it or if they can order it for you if they weren't going to get it.
wow i entered the bgg contest and didnt seem to care about this game but after watching this review its actually gathered my interest...kinda wanna give it a shot
It is now 2022 and the game is up on Amazon for about 33$ instead of about 45$ it was a year ago. Inflation and a cruddy two years have passed. I'm glad I found this gem! Makes the apocalypse a bit more bearable.
This game is pretty awesome, I bought it based on the faerun name and was happily surprised. I think the last 10 of our gaming nights have ended up being this game.
After listening to your Top Ten and watching this review... well I could not resist and just bought the game. The Caylus feel to it convinced me, as well as the theme.
Hi Tom, I just started to play euro-style games and really enjoyed LoW, are there other games you can recommend that play similarly (other than Stone Age)?
Learned this today and got in 3rd of 5 with 104. I think this was the best way to show I demonstrate beyond kill 2x but sell 2x colored cubes but not lost too. Ohyeah and a stray kitten was adopted by the store and tollerated to the point "it made its mark" on the inside of another table's boxlid as well as kick and scatter active board-pieces.
It's so sad that Wizards of the Coast doesn't license Lords of Waterdeep to be translated to other languages. As a brazilian, unfortunately I can't find people enough to play it in english since it is not language independent but I SO wanted to play it!
I waited too long to pick this up. However, once I did it was worth it. Also Wizards of the Coast is a subsidary of Hasbro. Wizkids and Wizards of the Coast are two separate companies.
I just bought this Yesterday along with Galaxy Trucker (which i see in the sidebar there). Ill be grabbing a group of friends and do some 4 player versions of these games tonight and tell you how i think
After every turn, if no one buys any buildings do the buildings get discarded along with the victory points on them and a new set of buildings are placed or do the victory points just keep stacking upon the unpurchased buildings. Can someone clarify? There isnt really a great incentive to buying buildings
Looks really great, but I have to wait for the German Release. My tight buddies and I could play it on English, but in our Group sessions are often new players and not everyone is very good at English. It's brand new anyway, so I can wait and hope for a Release in Germany in 2013 or something like that. Looks like a hell of a lot of fun ;)
+Monkeyb00y dont buy it, therer are so many better worker placement games...check out stoneage first....also the artwork and colour scheme for this game is terrible.
Monkeyb00y Wow, that is ambitious. Caverna is like one of the biggest games ever made...definitely check out Kemet, it has worker placement, combat and empire building. Also some of the coolest miniatures out there. check out the reviews, they all say it is one of their favourite games...and mine.
Depends on how many people are playing and how well you know the tiles. Most 4 player games last about an hour. but I also printed off player aids so players can read about the tiles on other peoples turns. It doesnt take too long cause you can get into the action right away. there is no downtime ever. It is seriously the best game I have ever played. It has a lot of player interaction for a euro style game. boardgamegeek.com/filepage/98915/player-aid-all-power-tiles-and-di-cards
Euro games tend to be a bit more thinking, and less thematic. Theme can be there, it is just not main goal. For example, Settlers of Catan tends to be the most well know "Eruoish" Game due to its more "thinky" mechanic of plotting out your settlements. Games like King of Toyko on the other hand focus more on being thematic, and less about removing the "luck" element.
i'm not suggesting MrEleganza needs a store to play. i don't need a store to play, i'm a grown man and and can play in my house but it doesn't mean that i don't value the efforts of small businesses. Amazon has low prices for the same reason WalMart has low prices. they are a massive corporation that can afford to not only buy in insane bulk quantities but they can use their position as a power seller to force suppliers to give them product at super cheap prices.
def doesn't take 1.5 hours to go through a game. When I bring it to play with friends usually takes anywhere from 15-30 mins at most. the rounds go quick.
I do think the theme is a bit pasted on as there are no cards making your adventurers unique or a dice roll to determine is they survive the quest. Also the factions don't add anything to the game rather than just using different colored agents. Great game but themewise I think is crying out loud for an expansion to bring more D&D flavour for those who like the whole fantasy setting.
i think they did that intentionally to retain a euro style game aesthetic. conquest of nerath is slightly cheaper and comes with a ton of plastic minis...
i hope your local game shop wasn't a small franchise. don't forget Amazon can afford to drop their prices where as small franchises who sell board games don't have an easy time making profit. cough up the extra bucks and support local business. disregard if this is not the case
easy there shooter, i'm just saying when it comes to buying niche market products from retailers, i'd rather pay a bit extra to support the little hobby shop in my area than use Amazon's crazy low prices as a way to bully small businesses. i'm not suggesting MrEleganza1 did this, but it would be weak sauce if they did. all i'm saying is: support local businesses.
oh. oh that's all they need to do? competitive pricing with Amazon? brick and mortor stores that don't belong to multi-billion dollar corporate chains can't compete with Amazon's pricing... that's the point of Amazon dot com. stores doesn't necessarily make a profit in price matching Amazon, in fact, they could be losing money. and even if they are making a profit, it's not enough to sustain a business and personal income, otherwise they would have sold it at the Amazon price to begin with
I don't mind the background of the board. It's small, intricately drawn city buildings. If I was going to complain about the board, it would be it's quality. I wish it was slightly thicker, like Summoner Wars' board.
It's actually just a certain number of rounds, not victory points. What would you suggest? Maybe completing a certain number of quests? Acquiring certain buildings? Highest number of buildings?
I like how Tom says he's afraid to hold the box sideways so the pieces don't fall out but then he proceeds to literally dump the entire contents of the game out onto the table. Well played Tom. Well played.
Wasn't that excited by the reviews of this game, but bought it on a whim. It is now easily one of the best games in my collection.It takes about 5 minutes to teach, and will appeal to most people.
8 years, wow. I still love to play this game!!
(Melody smiling)
Tom: We're in disagreement.
(Melody scowls)
Amazing attention to detail on the map aswell, a D&D Amiga game Eye of the Beholder was set in Waterdeep, and you can see in this video that the city maintains the same shape/coastline/structure. So from 1990 to 2012 the same fiction lives on. Thats pretty incredible.
Melody is getting better and better at reviewing. Watch your back, Tom! Melody could have your job as the lord and master of the Dice Tower!
Great review. Thanks for having the younger player put her perspective from a kid. Awesome work.
Got the game today at my local game shop that price matched amazon. The review convinced me to make the purchase. Thanks Tom & Melody!
Seriously Tom, your new microphone is wonderful. When this review started I briefly believed that you'd gone back and re-dubbed your own video with high-quality audio.
I am so glad to hear that you and Melody give this game 6 thumbs up! Thank you for this very timely review. Nice to see its complexity is in a comfortable range for more people. By the by, curad makes some nifty bandaids these days. Outstanding review!
It's been over 7 years since this video came out, but that's okay. I wonder how most people would compare Lords of Waterdeep, Stone Age, and Champions of Midgard to reach other. They all have something going for them.
Can't wait to try it. Are there custom meeples to replace the cubes?
I saw a copy at my FLGS and dismissed it as just another euro, but after seeing this video I am much more interested in it. Thanks for the great review, Tom and Melody!
Tom savage af disagreeing melody XD
Awessome work again Tom, and Meldy too :)
I was eager to view your review before buying this game.
I'm not usually into these types of games, but I must admit, I am quite tempted. Excellent review, sir.
Hey there, just watched this review & am interested in a possible purchase. Do you feel like this game has held up over the years? Has it been replaced by a better variant? Thanks for your time!
So far I haven't found a worker placement game that looks all that interesting, but this one seems to be bubbling to the top for me. I do wish you could bling it out with something to replace the cubes. They seem however, much like just another form of currency. Has anyone found something to use for a cube upgrade of this game?
+Syncopator www.thebrokentoken.com/dndeeples/
The box is so well designed that you don’t need to be afraid to hold it sideways. Nothing will fall out of place.
I've never actually met anyone who thought this before! Maybe it's just us, but the stuff easily falls out.
Not if packed right. I took mine to a friend place just last night. I was in a reusable bag sideways even jostled around in car ride and carrying. Everything is where it’s supposed to be, the game board and family cards keep a tight seal on every compartment.
This game is great. I bought it on a whim the day it came into the store because the price was right (under $40), and it turned out to be a really good game. I've played it a half-dozen times now with varying amounts of people (3 to 5 so far), and it has been really good all times. Only takes an hour to play, too!
It's a really fun game, and after you've played it once you know everything you need to know about how to play.
Melody making reaction faces when Tom is talking is so funny 😂
This game set the standard for inserts. I've yet to find a game that even comes close to this one.
Top notch components, sure, great!
BUT, how hard is it to do wood cubes any other way?
It just came out. The game store I work at just got it Friday. I'd say call them and ask them when they're getting it or if they can order it for you if they weren't going to get it.
wow i entered the bgg contest and didnt seem to care about this game but after watching this review its actually gathered my interest...kinda wanna give it a shot
Just ordered this game. Looking forward to seeing how it plays! Crazy this is a 10yr old review!
It is up for $31.45 on Amazon right now, and has PRIME shipping available.
Thanks Vasel, another awesome game added to my collection.
It is now 2022 and the game is up on Amazon for about 33$ instead of about 45$ it was a year ago. Inflation and a cruddy two years have passed. I'm glad I found this gem! Makes the apocalypse a bit more bearable.
u know the price fot this ? im kinda intrested in this but as its barnd new i'm not sure to find it in my local hobby shop yet..
This game is pretty awesome, I bought it based on the faerun name and was happily surprised. I think the last 10 of our gaming nights have ended up being this game.
After listening to your Top Ten and watching this review... well I could not resist and just bought the game. The Caylus feel to it convinced me, as well as the theme.
I just bought awesome custom made meeples for the game....yes, wish they came with them already....but the main game is fantastic!
Wish FFG rereleases it with more theme (for example: cardboard tokens with images instead of bland wooden cubes, etc.)
I was wondering what you would think of this one. Will definitely be checking this game out when I get some monies in.
Hi Tom, I just started to play euro-style games and really enjoyed LoW, are there other games you can recommend that play similarly (other than Stone Age)?
+xoxo Look up his review of Champions of Midgard. I haven't played either yet, but I think I may pick up Midgard first.
+xoxo See Tom's review for Kemet. I own LoW and Kemet and now no one wants to play LoW after playing Kemet.
Learned this today and got in 3rd of 5 with 104. I think this was the best way to show I demonstrate beyond kill 2x but sell 2x colored cubes but not lost too. Ohyeah and a stray kitten was adopted by the store and tollerated to the point "it made its mark" on the inside of another table's boxlid as well as kick and scatter active board-pieces.
It's so sad that Wizards of the Coast doesn't license Lords of Waterdeep to be translated to other languages. As a brazilian, unfortunately I can't find people enough to play it in english since it is not language independent but I SO wanted to play it!
Ordred this earlier this week.. Gonna be AWESOME!! :P
Is she his daughter?
I waited too long to pick this up. However, once I did it was worth it. Also Wizards of the Coast is a subsidary of Hasbro. Wizkids and Wizards of the Coast are two separate companies.
A very well done review i would have to say.. Good job and keep up the good work :)
Love the dice tower and a lot of the games, just wish I could have a gaming group
EXCELLENT EXPLANATION!!!
so i recently just started watching and could use clarification you guys keep mentioning euro games what does that mean
Area control, worker placement. Games like carcassonne that come from germany.
Daniel Clapp And lots of cubes.
Really great review, I am now sure that this is a must buy for me : ) Thanks!
I just bought this Yesterday along with Galaxy Trucker (which i see in the sidebar there). Ill be grabbing a group of friends and do some 4 player versions of these games tonight and tell you how i think
After every turn, if no one buys any buildings do the buildings get discarded along with the victory points on them and a new set of buildings are placed or do the victory points just keep stacking upon the unpurchased buildings. Can someone clarify? There isnt really a great incentive to buying buildings
nancy nguyen Victory points keep stacking up until someone purchases the buildings.
Looks really great, but I have to wait for the German Release. My tight buddies and I could play it on English, but in our Group sessions are often new players and not everyone is very good at English. It's brand new anyway, so I can wait and hope for a Release in Germany in 2013 or something like that. Looks like a hell of a lot of fun ;)
this video just made me buy this game! thanks!
do you think this game is expandable Tom?
I wonder what You, Tom, think of this game now in 2023, especially after just watching Mike, the Murph brother, saying it feels outdated now.
I'm looking forward to getting this one :) I don't have a worker placement game yet
+Monkeyb00y dont buy it, therer are so many better worker placement games...check out stoneage first....also the artwork and colour scheme for this game is terrible.
adam heeley Oh I plan on getting Stone Age, Agricola, and Caverna too, at some point :P
Monkeyb00y Wow, that is ambitious. Caverna is like one of the biggest games ever made...definitely check out Kemet, it has worker placement, combat and empire building. Also some of the coolest miniatures out there. check out the reviews, they all say it is one of their favourite games...and mine.
adam heeley Nice, it's now on my wishlist. Is it really 15-45 minutes?
Depends on how many people are playing and how well you know the tiles. Most 4 player games last about an hour. but I also printed off player aids so players can read about the tiles on other peoples turns. It doesnt take too long cause you can get into the action right away. there is no downtime ever. It is seriously the best game I have ever played. It has a lot of player interaction for a euro style game.
boardgamegeek.com/filepage/98915/player-aid-all-power-tiles-and-di-cards
Why wouldn't you want to play the 2 player version? If I bought this I'd probably be playing it primarily with two people.
Euro games tend to be a bit more thinking, and less thematic. Theme can be there, it is just not main goal. For example, Settlers of Catan tends to be the most well know "Eruoish" Game due to its more "thinky" mechanic of plotting out your settlements. Games like King of Toyko on the other hand focus more on being thematic, and less about removing the "luck" element.
First WotC game I am actually interested in for a long time.
Great review! Thanks!
The expansion is due out in August.
i'm not suggesting MrEleganza needs a store to play. i don't need a store to play, i'm a grown man and and can play in my house but it doesn't mean that i don't value the efforts of small businesses. Amazon has low prices for the same reason WalMart has low prices. they are a massive corporation that can afford to not only buy in insane bulk quantities but they can use their position as a power seller to force suppliers to give them product at super cheap prices.
lol "you wish you had four thumbs... all the things you could do!"
Looks great. Very nice review.
It wouldn't let me post the video link, but you can search for amiga eye of the beholder intro if you want to see it.
I honestly wish Sword and Sorcery was this thoughtful -_-
I'm 5 minutes into the video and it's sounding a lot like Caylus.
seems like a pretty basic worker placement game.
Dollars? In the dnd world... surely it is gold.
One of the best board games.
I wonder why this is not in Tom's top 100 list..
I thought this game is published by Wizards of the Coast since they own the D&D IP anyway.
best box insert ever!!!
NOT TRUE!!!
WizKids is its own company (MageKnight and HeroClix)
WotC is a subsidiary of Hasbro (Magic the Gathering and D&D)
def doesn't take 1.5 hours to go through a game. When I bring it to play with friends usually takes anywhere from 15-30 mins at most. the rounds go quick.
Andrew Shegda Not 15 minutes but maybe around 45 minutes.
I do think the theme is a bit pasted on as there are no cards making your adventurers unique or a dice roll to determine is they survive the quest. Also the factions don't add anything to the game rather than just using different colored agents.
Great game but themewise I think is crying out loud for an expansion to bring more D&D flavour for those who like the whole fantasy setting.
Just bought a copy for 31.45
i think they did that intentionally to retain a euro style game aesthetic.
conquest of nerath is slightly cheaper and comes with a ton of plastic minis...
I heard she gets 50k per Review appearance. :)
Although their insert would probaby suck.
i hope your local game shop wasn't a small franchise. don't forget Amazon can afford to drop their prices where as small franchises who sell board games don't have an easy time making profit. cough up the extra bucks and support local business.
disregard if this is not the case
easy there shooter, i'm just saying when it comes to buying niche market products from retailers, i'd rather pay a bit extra to support the little hobby shop in my area than use Amazon's crazy low prices as a way to bully small businesses. i'm not suggesting MrEleganza1 did this, but it would be weak sauce if they did.
all i'm saying is: support local businesses.
Awesome game and yes, best box insert ever.
The box insert is okay but for the money. Making you put square shaped money in a spot is freaking anoying. I trew it out for that reason only.
US only
Wow, four thumbs up.
Melody doesn't like Caylus, it seems.
That's WizKids for you.
Hey! Anyone from WizKids listening!? GET! BETTER! CARDSTOCK!
game seems too simple... well produced but no new mechanics? is there really any depth to it...
oh. oh that's all they need to do? competitive pricing with Amazon? brick and mortor stores that don't belong to multi-billion dollar corporate chains can't compete with Amazon's pricing... that's the point of Amazon dot com. stores doesn't necessarily make a profit in price matching Amazon, in fact, they could be losing money. and even if they are making a profit, it's not enough to sustain a business and personal income, otherwise they would have sold it at the Amazon price to begin with
No such luck on Canadian amazon.
"Build this Yawning Portal". Not this, but THE Yawning Portal :P
Strange that you like that game, Tom, but you don't like Troyes. And Troyes has dice!!!!.....hmmm!!!!!!!!
Oh, and it's $49.99 MSRP
Koala bears have 4 thumbs
hey Tom, Melody is not pleased with you! 11:06
is anyone turned off of this game becuase of the board?? is so drab. brown on grey, yawn!!!
I don't mind the background of the board. It's small, intricately drawn city buildings. If I was going to complain about the board, it would be it's quality. I wish it was slightly thicker, like Summoner Wars' board.
I do not think the period it represents, was known for its towns full of Vegas-style neon lighting. :-)
I love everything about this game.
The kid in this video is probably in college now
Indeed!
Because when I think about DnD, the first thing that comes to my mind is wooden-cube-worker-placement... Not!
10:15
victory points as a win condition to this is just SO bad and uncreative. i wonder when developer come up with something more tangible
It's actually just a certain number of rounds, not victory points. What would you suggest? Maybe completing a certain number of quests? Acquiring certain buildings? Highest number of buildings?