YES!!!!!! Zee Garcia!!! Preach it!! Testify! That exactly is one of two major things that needs to change in Dead of Winter I couldn't agree with you more!!!
Never played it, but that element seems to capture the essence of an individual motivation, which makes for good drama -- something that TV shows such as the similarly themed Living Dead is famous for.
Friendly neighborhood Kindom Builder defender here: having one card in Kingdom Builder is central to the tension of the game. The central feature of the game is to balance powers so there is no such thing as a bad draw.
I always thought that the pirates in Jamaica should have had special powers. Another change I think should have been with Sheriff of Nottingham, the character boards are double sided so why not have one side be male and the other side be female instead of just the one female character.
Yes. Jamaica looks great and teaches easy but it’d be nice to give simple powers to characters/players. Bang did it in the expansion as a one time power trigger and it worked great.
Kingdom Builder's one card restriction, I feel is what makes the game interesting and makes placement a key element to leverage. End of discussion. ; )
My #1: Spyfall: game about an unknown spy guessing a location. But the only list of possible locations is in the rulebook so as the spy you have to sneak a look at the middle of the table where the rulebook is. Include freaking player references for up to the 8 players with just a list of the locations, easy enough. Just glance down to make the guess. #2 Splendor: 3 player rules are stupid, 2 player is fine because you rarely step on each other, 4 player is fine, you use all the chips, but with 3 they take 2 chips so it becomes an entirely different game of sitting around waiting for the right resource to be spent so you can get it.
I would love to see a way in Lords of Waterdeep to wipe the builder's hall like you can the quests. Sometimes you turn over 3 buildings that no one wants to buy, and then they just sit there for round after round. This can be a big problem with smaller number of players, or if playing with the expansions, when no one is forced to go there for lack of other spaces.
Sam, how would 3D buildings work? In New York 1901 vertical space is represented in 2D, so tall builds are actually long. I feel like it would actually be difficult to implement your idea without changing the game a lot. Am i missing something?
wroot Well, it's not so much a statement as a question. For most things on this list, they don't just say what they'd change, but also propose how to change it. For that matter, I'd be curious to know what them one could layer onto Dominion.
Sam has a tendency to complain about something without offering up a fix. It makes his opinion have much less influence. It's like me saying that TI3 should be shorter. The mechanisms don't allow for that, so complaining about that is kind of pointless.
+wroot I don't know. Setup and take down time was a factor in getting rid of Marvel Legendary. I have the DC deckbuilder and Legendary Encounters Alien, though.
prufrock1977 the topic of this episode was "how to fix the problem with one change". You can't change anything about HeroScape. With Power Grid, if you take out the math, it won't be the same game (or better). As pointed out before, Sam just complained about some games that he don't like without suggesting a somewhat realistic fix. As about Legendary, maybe there is a way with some dividers or better insert, don't know, haven't played that
That Carcassonne scenario where people refuse to show the tile they draw is so true and very annoying! It doesn't change anything to show the tile and we all want to see it lol.
Re: Kingdom Builder - We play that you start with 2 cards and play one. Then draw another to replace. So you always have two cards to choose from. We like it a lot that way.
I was thinking about that same issue with Dominion. I always wondered if having a small set of boards that would come with each expansion that gave optional Themes to a deck. Each board would be a whole city, and it would have a Bazaar, a Barracks, a Castle, and a City. Each section would focus on different aspects, like the Castle around VP's, the Bazaar around Treasure, the Barracks with Attacks, etc. Each board would also come with a general theme, like one would focus on "expanding the kingdom," so you have to buy the most "land" (i.e. VP Cards). Another might focus on having the biggest army, so it would focus around Attacks. And each part of the board would have abilities, like the Bazaar might change the price of cards or allow you to use other cards as Treasure, or whatever is most appropriate. And, of course, each expansion would have it's own set of boards that cater to the set, with 2 recommended cards to play with from that set. A 4-player game with then have 8 recommended cards and 2 cards that are random.
For Artificium. I have not played the game so I don't know much about it, but I think it might be solved in a way that when ever you go over a spot that gives you something extra you get that many as what is your position in the game. So the first one would get 1 item, second one would get 2 items and so for. It would still benefit you when your ahead (which is not very good mechanic I'd say), but it benefits even more then players who are behind. Would that work?
Before i watch this video, i will say we had a change almost instantly in Cosmic Encounter. When all your ships are in the warp and someone plays mobius tubes, the player gets all his ships back and the ships are placed into the hyperspace gate. This makes the game better for us in so many ways. Hilarious situations and also it makes the losing player less salty when he/she gets all the ships back instead of zero ships.
I feel like a few from Sam's list were borderline getting away from one change that needs to be made and closer to what would in effect mean a whole re-designed or new game rather than a single change. Making Powergrid less math involved, taking the Sons of Anarchy theme off the Sons of Anarchy game, reducing the complexity and combinations used in Race for the Galaxy, not having to set up a Heroclix map ... I feel like those are reasons you don't like these games not single things that need changing, which are similar but not always the same.
Hmmm, "easy to teach but difficult to master" is often described as "elegant" in the board game community. You prefer your games to be difficult to teach, then? And consider games "better" if they are more difficult to teach?
Shadowrun Crossfire, as is, is one of my favorite Deck builders(speaking of which I need to get it played again soon) but I will agree progression is quite slow. I've thought of doubling Karma on certain missions and maybe award 1 for losing, 2 for successfully aborting.
Forbidden Desert also should change the tiles for square cards, so people could sleeve them. When you shuffle those tiles to randomize the board, they WILL get at least a few white dots, and this could potentially leave you with marked tiles.
The more accurate question would be, "Why did (past tense...you see?) Sam Healey play Sons of Anarchy if he doesn't like the theme of Sons of Anarchy?" And the answer would simply be, "Because after I did my Top 5 Mafia Games list, many of the commenters on the video recommended that I play SoA:MoM as, in their opinion, it was a much better mafia/organized crime game than the ones that made my list." Having played the game (again...past tense), I now know that I disagree with them.
I don't like Spartacus. I love the board game. I don't see why you have to like the show to like the game mechanics. And i can see how, if you have kids, you'd say, "Well, this game is fun. But I couldn't play this with the people I usually play with."
Sam, with Tides of Iron, all you need to do is to drill out the holes making them just a little bit bigger. The fix is just about everywhere and took me less than half an hour to accomplish.
Love this video, one of the most fun ones yet! I had a couple of other games that sprang to mind: Urbania and Terror in Meeple City. Urbania - I find this city-builder really good fun and a good one to bring to Ticket To Ride fans... apart from the silly graphics choices! It's so hard to tell the difference between the colours, or which tiles have been developed and which haven't, or which project card goes with which colour (because they just rely on the symbols, people and building shapes), and various other things that I believe you talked about in your review (so you don't need me to tell you!). It's especially problematic if you have bad (or frankly, even just average) lighting. It's a shame because underneath... there's a really fun game in there. Terror in Meeple City (TBGFKA Rampage) - Love the mechanics of this game so much... and the theme... but the one thing that makes me genuinely queasy about this game is the casual sexism. Men, you are represented by superheroes! by on-the-scene journalists! by super-tough army dudes, big boss businessmen and, um, old dudes! Women, on the other hand, you get to be represented by... wait for it... dizzy blonde cheerleaders who run around panicking. It's so tedious, so 1950s, and so needless. And once you notice it, you can't un-notice it. I guess your mileage may vary as to how tedious and needless it is, but I hate it. Anyways, like I said, really enjoyed this video, you guys sure know how to have a good argument!
If you are not in a wheelchair or confined to a bed you could always stand up to get a better view of the board, but I guess that's to much work for some people...
I absolutely agree with Zee. I hate the win requirement for Dead of Winter. It's not cooperative if other people win and I lose when I am not the traitor.
I feel exactly the opposite. The game has bad mechanics. The actual gameplay is grindy and bloated. Pretty much the only thing it has going for it is the cool traitor/objective system (crossroads are pretty cool too). It's so weird to me that anybody feels it's a great game held back by a bad traitor system, when I feel very strongly that it's actually an awful game elevated by a great traitor system.
Games you're glad you never bought. I remember when this was the big game out there and part of me wanted to get it, but then I saw that mechanic and I was like, "nah, I don''t like that at all". I like games that make sense thematically and that just doesn't for me. I mean, if you're in the apocalypse basically, aren't you going to want to help the few friends you do have because they'll probably help you survive too? Sure, some people are going to break and do stupid stuff that hurts your group, but this game doesn't do that, people are traitors from the start.
We always play that the non-betrayers win (collectively) if the main objective is completed. They beat the game and the betrayer, if there was one. Well done. So, rather than a win/loss condition, we have win/absolute win because, yeah, it's really dumb otherwise.
Then try the hardcore side of the scenario cards. Those cards are meant for pure co-op people who don't want to use the secret objectives. That being said, even without the worrying about a traitor/ conflicting objectives, the hard core scenarios are insanely brutal...
I don't even think Dead of Winter is a cooperative game. It's just not competitive in the sense that you're actively fighting the other players. In the end you have an obvjective that only you have to complete, and you only win if you complete it. It's a game with possibly multiple winners, but it's only cooperative in the sense that you all have to work together.
Exactly. Let's take Cosmic Encounter as an example. You can have multiple winners (technically everyone can win with certain power mixes), but you'd never call it cooperative. In Dead of Winter, you kind of want to work together so the entire game doesn't fail and everyone loses, but if you know you can't win, you have no incentive to continue helping everyone else.
I like to think of it as a survival game. It is almost required to work together to survive, but in the end of the day it's survival of the fittest. Just imagine if there was an actual zombie apocalypse, you don't all live or die together. If someone is bringing the team down or they are too much of a liability, you ditch them (or in the game, vote to exile them).
I think its the premise of the game that causes issue; I suppose maybe the trying to find a traitor as well. If it was just a game where you're trying to fend for your party; and having to put up with others since you need strength in numbers, there might be fewer mental clashes. You want to survive, but you have to deal with the common threat- so no maybe no traitor at all since you shouldn't have to act weird you're fending for yourself, you're only keeping them around as long as they're useful.
The objective of the game is to win. If you're in a situation where you're certain you can only get your objective *or* the group's, there is literally no point for you to keep playing the game. You only get to decide how you lose. In a thematic way, sure, but it requires you to make more of the game than it is. Everything up until that point holds well, risking the common good for your goal and vice-versa are both sound tactical decisions, it's only at the point where either one *guarantees*, not risks, the failure of the other that the game breaks. If I was playing I would overlook that and look at it from a story perspective, but if we're talking logic/game theory, there isn't really a game left when there are no choices or events left that could change the outcome. They could fix that by awarding a sort of "half-win" when you get only one objective. That would keep the cool concept *and* keep the game alive to the end, while maintaining the only true victory as getting both.
my 1 rule game fix would be for Catan: Include 1 ship for each player in the base game which, upon upgrade of an already established coastal settlement, allow players to make 1 disconnected coastal settlement via the ocean per game (settlement must be built on the same turn as the ship is built for ease of tracking). Too many times, most often in a 4 player non-expanded base game, someone is boxed in 5-10 minutes into the game and has to basically accept defeat, especially if they don't have access to one or more of the materials needed for development cards. This change would solve that
We always tell people to draw their next Carcassonne tile at the end of their turn. I'm with you there, Tom. It gives you more time to think about what you want to do on your next turn.
I would like to see one change in Small World Underground, and that's to make it mix with the original more seamlessly. As it is, it's -mostly- compatible. I really wish they would have just went that extra little bit. The worst part is, they had the perfect opportunity to fix it with Realms, but they didn't.
ARCADIA QUEST The death curse as it is in the rules breaks the game. It basically makes it so that the person that's on the losing side gets a disadvantage for the next scenario, thus getting a higher chance of getting disadvantaged in future scenarios. I'd change it around so that when you die you immediately get a death curse card. If you die again and get another you keep the one with the highest number, discarding the other ones. Keep gathering death tokens to keep track for scoring after each scenario. Once a scenario is finished you discard all death curses, starting the new scenario afresh.
Killer Bunnies. I had fun with the game until the end when the winner is random. yes doing better gets you a better chance of winning, however all my friends who were playing disliked the random ending.
Five years late: To be fair, in killer bunnies, when the game ends (last carrot taken) any players without bunnies are not eligible to win. So you can kill everyone’s bunnies and then get the last carrot and win with no randomness. This is super mean though. I don’t play the game much anymore but it holds a special place in my heart as one of my first entries into the hobby (and my first experience with being obsessed with trying to get every expansion for a game)
I love the tin box on Forbidden Desert :) But that probably has something to do with it being on the top of the game pile (since it is actually pretty small).
Good news for Tom, Tiny Epic Galaxies has an ULTRA Tiny version which fits everything into a box similar in size to a deck of playing cards. On the other hand that might be exasperating the issue, it's hard to tell with Tom's reasoning, it's kinda half the point of the tiny epic series.
The one game that came to my mind was Stone Age: If you don't want to get negative points, you have to gather food. The long term most efficient way is building farms. It's a worker placement game, and only one player per turn may upgrade their farm. So of course the starting player always chooses to do that, unless they are playing the only other major strategy, where you multiply like rabbits and ignore starvation. My fix would be to get rid of the farms, since it's anon-option anyway.
At Witch of Salem, just keep an individual notebook with the information you gathered, and change that information (meaning: show your notebook) to the other players when on the same location (what Sam said, actually). Then it's just a mather of "information proliferation" between all the players. Or you can play as Zee said, and just imagine there's a "telepathic connection" between all players and the witch, which allows some knowledge sharing. There... theme + mechanics... free of charge.
I think an easier way to sort out sam's problem with the Sons of Anarchy game is to do what Dead of Winter game did, have some of the more darker cards be highlighted with a symbol, that way you can swap cards in and out depending on the groups preference. I don't think this was necessarily a fault of the designers and more of a design choice that they wanted to keep the games theme dark to stay true to the series' fans. Another alternative would be to make custom cards with the same mechanics but with a lighter theme, I do that whenever I've got a board game I know my friends enjoy but don't agree with thematically. It's a lot of work but it helps.
I agree that Heroscape does not get played because I don't feel like building it and tearing it down. But back when that's all my group was playing designing the maps was a lot of the fun. I would sit at my computer for hours playing around with VirtualScape (for those who don't know what that is it was a program specifically for designing Heroscape maps).
They actually did speed up setup of Heroscape in its new Arena of the Planeswalkers version, with the board. Blue Orange actually has pictures of custom 3D buildings in New York 1901 on their Facebook page, but that game would cost a lot and have a huge huge box... Zee's complaint about Dead of Winter is the one thing that really interests me about that game, and I want to see more co-op games with weird hidden goals. But you guys are great, just to be clear. It's hilarious when you make fun of each other...
I would add the manual for "Reef Encounter" (2004) ... that abstract game itself is really solid, but the theme is not needed and additionally makes the manual really difficult to understand.
I was wondering: were Robo Rally's maps with more than two tiles in someone's short list? Namely on Tom's, who ripped that page out of the rulebook when he reviewed it (was it Tom? I think it was) :-D As for me, there is one game I love, together with its expansions: Thurn & Taxis. However, I hate the fact that in the All Ways Lead to Rome expansion you have to remember who each of your own clergymen is, since you can never look at it. The other half of the expansion kind of makes it worth, though, since the halves are actually two independent expansions and don't need to be playes together.
Great list! I expect some would like to see Pandemic Legacy be able to be reset for additional playability, but I'm OK with making the permanent changes.
Forbidden Stars - Combat System. Battlelore Second Edition - A mechanic similar to the Too Many bones game to help you with terrible rolling. Commands and Colors - Miniatures. The Game of thrones board game - More varierty in the decks. Mare Nostrum Empires - The trade aspect needs to be made more interesting and quick. Sons of Anarchy - Real artwork. Vegas Showdown - Upgraded player boards.
Sam, you can drill out the holes in Tide of Iron. Also, The battle of five armies got so much wrong that it isn't funny. Everybody except Beorn and the eagles on the side of the elves, dwarves and men (EDM) were on the battlefield when the orcs and goblins showed up. Nobody gave a rats ass about most of the places the EDM have to hold in the game; each side had to run off the other to claim the prize, the treasure in the dragon's hoard. Their was no mention of goblins trying to force the passes, because there weren't any passes; it wasn't called the Lonely Mountain for no reason. Those are only the worst sins committed by the game. How would you like a game that was called historical if it had the American navy trying to sink the Bismark in the Pacific, or the Battle of the Bulge was held in the summer, and the German army starts in Bastogne?
I like the idea of a Carcassonne house rule of having a hand of tiles. However that would sometimes be clashing with two expansions (at least) at the end of the game, where some players would have to give others tiles from their hands. In Traders and Builders sometimes you take a double turn, playing two tiles in a row, and in Hills and Sheep you sometimes need to use an extra tile for a hill.
By the way, I always play Carcassonne with the house rule Tom mentioned: as soon as you play a tile, you draw another one. It might clash once in a while with some expansion mechanics, but it makes the game that more fluid since you have time to think of what to do with your tile.
But this could potentially increase the downtime when you have to evaluate you possibilities with 3 or more tiles in your hand. I like Carcassonne for its simplicity and a bit of luck.
I don't see wroot's comment, but I'll answer anyway. You have a point: having a hand of tiles would increase the downtime. I guess the best (if there is such a thing) is to draw right after you place.
Man Sams complaint about War of the Ring is so odd. The game represents the theme perfectly. The politics of the world are a huge part of the overall narrative. His complaint started with, "In a game called WAR of the ring..." There's also no ring in the box, surprised he didn't complain about that too. Politics are a huge part of any war. What a weird complaint.
I agree with Sam ( kinda) Sons of anarchy is a awesome game that my group loves but that is because we are all adults that love the show However If you could reprint this with a different theme and that means people play this game more then I'm all for it Its criminally underrated
I actually play loads of my tiny epic games BECAUSE they are tiny. they're easy to throw into a backpack when I'm traveling/visiting people. Perfect go-to if you're not at home.
Totally agree with Sam on the New York 1901 thing. we played it the other day and I commented that it would be a cool game to get the 'giant sized at GenCon' treatment, with model buildings and a huge map.
As for Sam not liking the theme to "Sons of Anarchy" but loving the mechanisms... it is the same thing with "Chaos in the Old World" he mentioned in the past. He couldn't get into it, but the game is great. I think Sam is a bit too sensitive to games, but to each their own.
I wouldn't let most kids play it, that's for sure, but as an adult I can separate reality and fantasy. Since it is a game I can even more split the mechanisms and the themes in my mind if it is that offensive. I mean, how do you justify playing so many other games where you KILL people left and right?
So can Sam. But that does not mean he wants to play a game with that theme. At some point, a line has to be drawn. Just because it's a game does not mean every subject is okay. I can separate game from reality, but I still don't want to play games that deal with abuse, rape, mutilation, or trading in the Mediterranean. I don't find them enjoyable. Too sensitive? He's secure and comfortable with what he's okay with. He has no insecurities to hide. I say -- well done, Sam, for standing firm and for knowing what sorts of thematic elements you are okay with and which ones you choose not to engage in for entertainment.
It is his choice if he doesn't play it, doesn't mean he isn't too sensitive. It is just acting or playing. Just like people played cops and robbers or cowboys and indians, both dealt with topics that when you look at it under a microscope and pretty horrible things for children to play with. But it is just that -- play. Same reason an actor might portray a violent psychopath that kills tons of people, it is just acting. I can understand that it might reduce the fun of the game for someone, but simply not playing it entirely seems very different.
Magic: The Gathering absolutely _NEEDS_ a good client for online play! As far as I know, there are only two: Magic Duels and MTGO, both of which are absolute garbage and either too expensive and meant solely for professional players (MTGO) or just straight out not working at all (Duels). I love the game, and it's a giant shame that at this day and age, there really isn't any good way to keep playing it online.
I used to love the MTG: Planeswalker computer game. The Adventure mode was a fun challenge, and they had both draft and deck building tournaments. I broke that game in so many ways!
MTGO would be fine were it not so darn expensive to play with. Still it could be miles better, but it's too expensive to make from scratch, so they probably won't.
I've been playing Kingdom Builder with 2 available cards to choose from since the 2nd time I played it, and it is one of my favorite games! Works perfectly and makes the game amazing. :)
I agree with Zee re: Shadowrun: Crossfire, with the addition that I think that if you are playing, you need to always have 4. Just didn't think it worked with 3 when I tried it. That alone was a deal breaker for me.
Age of Empires III: Age of discovery - change the discovery to be a more valid strategy more equal to other scoring approaches. Many suggestions have been made as to how. the easiest way is to reduce the randomness of cards by removing the ones with 5 natives and the ones with 2 natives before starting play.
Regarding the tins, I have a question for our American friends. Zee mentioned that a tin could arrive damaged to your house... Now, I've heard similar stories from other US podcasts where games arrived damaged and the recipient basically had to live with it. Can't you send something like that back and get a replacement? Here in Germany that actually is the typical thing to do. Just wondering how things are done there.
This I think was answered on a Q&A, with Tom and Jason. At what point do you send a game back. I can't remember if it was a Q&A on a Board Game Breakfast or one of the hour long Q&A's.
Most of the time I feel that the companies would charge for shipping. After all, they are not the ones doing the shipping, they are just packaging it. They can't control how the shipper handles the package.
Tricky, because most online retailers don't take opened games back. You would contact the publisher and see if they would address the issue, which would be according to their individual policies.
Interesting! I guess consumer rights are stronger here. Amazon in particular takes nearly everything back in the first 14 days after delivery. And even with opened games, if components inside are faulty, they (and all other retailers) still take it back.
+Demetrios B Amazon takes anything back. They don't mess around. I always inspect my boxes before I open them and have returned several games that had box damage to Coolstuff and miniature market with no problems. I think some people either don't care or think it's too much of a hassle to get a replacement. It's really easy and I feel that if you paid your hard earned money for a game then it should be in perfect condition.
Great top 10. Now that you guys kinda announced an upcoming game of Witch Of Salem, you should make a live video of it. That could be interesting and funny to watch .
I think adding theme to Dominion would take the possibility to relaese 7+ expansions (or more?) :) As i started to play Magic more again (PC version only). I think i would enjoy it more if you could have some sort of control about your starting hand. Maybe not completely pick and choose, but some sort of control. Yeah, i know, that getting lucky with draw and customizing your deck to deal with luck is part of a charm, but it is too annoying to build a nice and seemingly balanced deck and still get screwed by draw in the opening..
The game I would personally fix/change is Legendary: Marvel. I would have loved if the game had each player choose their own character to play as instead of using the abilities of characters. That really killed this game for me, sadly.
That’s one of the things I love about the Cryptozoic deckbuilders (DC, LOTR, Rick and Morty, etc). You get to *be* a character and have a unique power.
Tom keeps going on about this "hand of card" in Kingdom Builder, but I think the game would fall apart if you had more than one card in hand. The majority of the strategy in the game is about getting around the "settlements have to be placed next to each other (if possible)" rule and it would be trivially easy to bypass the rule if you had two or three cards in hand to chose from.
Proposed alternate theme for Dominion: Political Campaign Victory Points = Votes Money = Campaign Funding Actions = Influence Cards = Supporters Buys = Political Favors Curses = Bad Press Example Cards: Witch = Smear Campaign Council Room = Televised Debate Village = Labor Union Contact Thief = Civil Action Suit Smithy = Grassroots Movement etc. Not the most exciting theme maybe but the only thing I can think of that ties it all together.
I really like the Catan series and love,love,love Starfarers of Catan, but the game can take forever arising from some extra mechanics the traditional versions don't have. I would remove the encounter cards and simply assign a point value to the black ball. For me, I don't think much would be lost from the game for getting on and colonising, upgrading etc. One downside is that cannons become less important, but I can live with that. It would also make the game more amenable to two players, in my opinion.
You have to treat Dead of Winter as "I don't lose if I don't meet my secret requirements... I just "win more" than I would normally. That mentality seems to fix it in my groups.
The "Horse Fever" tie break rules! Roll the die to see the tie breaker - The winner is either: - Smallest player - Heaviest player - Whoever can do the most one-handed push-ups - Most pimples on player's face - Whoever touches the logo on the box first - Player with "most diopters missed" Rule everybody I know uses: Tie breaker is money.
Could not stop laughing when Zee told Sam to leave the Heroscape board set up between games as a centerpiece
YES!!!!!! Zee Garcia!!! Preach it!! Testify! That exactly is one of two major things that needs to change in Dead of Winter I couldn't agree with you more!!!
Zee is wrong sometimes. It happens. This is one of those times.
People that think Zee is wrong are wrong sometimes. It happens. This is one of those times. (imo ;)
Never played it, but that element seems to capture the essence of an individual motivation, which makes for good drama -- something that TV shows such as the similarly themed Living Dead is famous for.
what's the other?
Mike O'. Actually to feel Dead of Winter one should play The Walking Dead game from Telltale.
"Like a centerpiece!"
sick callback Zee hahah
Friendly neighborhood Kindom Builder defender here: having one card in Kingdom Builder is central to the tension of the game. The central feature of the game is to balance powers so there is no such thing as a bad draw.
I always thought that the pirates in Jamaica should have had special powers.
Another change I think should have been with Sheriff of Nottingham, the character boards are double sided so why not have one side be male and the other side be female instead of just the one female character.
Yes. Jamaica looks great and teaches easy but it’d be nice to give simple powers to characters/players. Bang did it in the expansion as a one time power trigger and it worked great.
Zee: "You have to admit the art is consistent". I'm dying. 🤣
Kingdom Builder's one card restriction, I feel is what makes the game interesting and makes placement a key element to leverage. End of discussion. ; )
My #1: Spyfall: game about an unknown spy guessing a location. But the only list of possible locations is in the rulebook so as the spy you have to sneak a look at the middle of the table where the rulebook is. Include freaking player references for up to the 8 players with just a list of the locations, easy enough. Just glance down to make the guess.
#2 Splendor: 3 player rules are stupid, 2 player is fine because you rarely step on each other, 4 player is fine, you use all the chips, but with 3 they take 2 chips so it becomes an entirely different game of sitting around waiting for the right resource to be spent so you can get it.
it’s 4 years late but agree 100% on Spyfall. It’s a game-breaking production issue for me, unfortunately
Sam just convinced me to buy Sons of Anarchy.
I don't think he watched the show if he didn't like the theme - the locations he mentioned were all in the show.
You avatar just made me wipe my screen... GG :D
You got me with that stupid fly lol
You don't have to watch the show to know it's about running a biker gang.
What did Sam think biker gangs do?
I would love to see a way in Lords of Waterdeep to wipe the builder's hall like you can the quests. Sometimes you turn over 3 buildings that no one wants to buy, and then they just sit there for round after round. This can be a big problem with smaller number of players, or if playing with the expansions, when no one is forced to go there for lack of other spaces.
Video and sound is good in this one. I know you all are working on that so just wanted to give an encouraging word. Keep up the great job fellas.
Sam 'You don't have to stack them'
Zee 'I do'
Love it guys.
Sam, how would 3D buildings work? In New York 1901 vertical space is represented in 2D, so tall builds are actually long. I feel like it would actually be difficult to implement your idea without changing the game a lot. Am i missing something?
So....What do you change about Power Grid to make it less mathy but still Power Grid?
I agree, i usually do not object Sam's choices much, but in this one.. Same about HeroScape. Doesn't make sense with the topic of this episode.
wroot Well, it's not so much a statement as a question. For most things on this list, they don't just say what they'd change, but also propose how to change it. For that matter, I'd be curious to know what them one could layer onto Dominion.
Sam has a tendency to complain about something without offering up a fix. It makes his opinion have much less influence. It's like me saying that TI3 should be shorter. The mechanisms don't allow for that, so complaining about that is kind of pointless.
+wroot I don't know. Setup and take down time was a factor in getting rid of Marvel Legendary. I have the DC deckbuilder and Legendary Encounters Alien, though.
prufrock1977
the topic of this episode was "how to fix the problem with one change". You can't change anything about HeroScape. With Power Grid, if you take out the math, it won't be the same game (or better). As pointed out before, Sam just complained about some games that he don't like without suggesting a somewhat realistic fix. As about Legendary, maybe there is a way with some dividers or better insert, don't know, haven't played that
That Carcassonne scenario where people refuse to show the tile they draw is so true and very annoying! It doesn't change anything to show the tile and we all want to see it lol.
Zee's 9 got heard: Ruse & Bruise it's currently on Kickstarter with a new edition that includes a new translation
Re: Kingdom Builder - We play that you start with 2 cards and play one. Then draw another to replace. So you always have two cards to choose from. We like it a lot that way.
I’m with Zee on Arboretum. My friends thought I would love it because Parade is my favorite game of all time; but Arboretum just bores me to death.
Zee's sad little "I do." after talking about tins was the best part of this whole video.
I was thinking about that same issue with Dominion. I always wondered if having a small set of boards that would come with each expansion that gave optional Themes to a deck. Each board would be a whole city, and it would have a Bazaar, a Barracks, a Castle, and a City. Each section would focus on different aspects, like the Castle around VP's, the Bazaar around Treasure, the Barracks with Attacks, etc. Each board would also come with a general theme, like one would focus on "expanding the kingdom," so you have to buy the most "land" (i.e. VP Cards). Another might focus on having the biggest army, so it would focus around Attacks. And each part of the board would have abilities, like the Bazaar might change the price of cards or allow you to use other cards as Treasure, or whatever is most appropriate. And, of course, each expansion would have it's own set of boards that cater to the set, with 2 recommended cards to play with from that set. A 4-player game with then have 8 recommended cards and 2 cards that are random.
For Artificium. I have not played the game so I don't know much about it, but I think it might be solved in a way that when ever you go over a spot that gives you something extra you get that many as what is your position in the game. So the first one would get 1 item, second one would get 2 items and so for. It would still benefit you when your ahead (which is not very good mechanic I'd say), but it benefits even more then players who are behind. Would that work?
Before i watch this video, i will say we had a change almost instantly in Cosmic Encounter. When all your ships are in the warp and someone plays mobius tubes, the player gets all his ships back and the ships are placed into the hyperspace gate. This makes the game better for us in so many ways. Hilarious situations and also it makes the losing player less salty when he/she gets all the ships back instead of zero ships.
I feel like a few from Sam's list were borderline getting away from one change that needs to be made and closer to what would in effect mean a whole re-designed or new game rather than a single change. Making Powergrid less math involved, taking the Sons of Anarchy theme off the Sons of Anarchy game, reducing the complexity and combinations used in Race for the Galaxy, not having to set up a Heroclix map ... I feel like those are reasons you don't like these games not single things that need changing, which are similar but not always the same.
Please do a "Top 10 games that are easy to teach, but difficult to master"
It could be a top 10 lis of "classic" games : chess and its variants, checkers ....
it would be "top 10 boring" games then.
+Xahendir Stras I was actually think about games like "Summoner Wars"
Hmmm, "easy to teach but difficult to master" is often described as "elegant" in the board game community. You prefer your games to be difficult to teach, then? And consider games "better" if they are more difficult to teach?
"top ten games that are difficult to teach and easy to master!" Ideally there would be a clearly dominate strategy before the rules were explained.
Shadowrun Crossfire, as is, is one of my favorite Deck builders(speaking of which I need to get it played again soon) but I will agree progression is quite slow. I've thought of doubling Karma on certain missions and maybe award 1 for losing, 2 for successfully aborting.
Forbidden Desert also should change the tiles for square cards, so people could sleeve them. When you shuffle those tiles to randomize the board, they WILL get at least a few white dots, and this could potentially leave you with marked tiles.
Igor Freitas I "sleeved" my tiles with tiny zip-lock bags that happened to ve the PERFECT fit!
So Sam likes Sons of Anarchy except the parts that are thematically from the show it is based upon. lol
Doma Agape Obviously. You should change your username to Captain Obvious, that seems to be your wheelhouse.
I guess he would prefer "Sons of".
Fester Blats
The question is "Why does Sam Healey play Sons of anarchy the boardgame if he doesn't like the theme of Sons of anarchy ?".
The more accurate question would be, "Why did (past tense...you see?) Sam Healey play Sons of Anarchy if he doesn't like the theme of Sons of Anarchy?" And the answer would simply be, "Because after I did my Top 5 Mafia Games list, many of the commenters on the video recommended that I play SoA:MoM as, in their opinion, it was a much better mafia/organized crime game than the ones that made my list."
Having played the game (again...past tense), I now know that I disagree with them.
I don't like Spartacus. I love the board game. I don't see why you have to like the show to like the game mechanics. And i can see how, if you have kids, you'd say, "Well, this game is fun. But I couldn't play this with the people I usually play with."
I am literally watching this Top 10 while putting stickers on my copy of CC: Ancients!
Rolling dice and taking....names? I got you Zee.
Zee understands Arboretum about as well as he did Agricola
Sam, with Tides of Iron, all you need to do is to drill out the holes making them just a little bit bigger. The fix is just about everywhere and took me less than half an hour to accomplish.
Love this video, one of the most fun ones yet! I had a couple of other games that sprang to mind: Urbania and Terror in Meeple City.
Urbania - I find this city-builder really good fun and a good one to bring to Ticket To Ride fans... apart from the silly graphics choices! It's so hard to tell the difference between the colours, or which tiles have been developed and which haven't, or which project card goes with which colour (because they just rely on the symbols, people and building shapes), and various other things that I believe you talked about in your review (so you don't need me to tell you!). It's especially problematic if you have bad (or frankly, even just average) lighting. It's a shame because underneath... there's a really fun game in there.
Terror in Meeple City (TBGFKA Rampage) - Love the mechanics of this game so much... and the theme... but the one thing that makes me genuinely queasy about this game is the casual sexism. Men, you are represented by superheroes! by on-the-scene journalists! by super-tough army dudes, big boss businessmen and, um, old dudes! Women, on the other hand, you get to be represented by... wait for it... dizzy blonde cheerleaders who run around panicking. It's so tedious, so 1950s, and so needless. And once you notice it, you can't un-notice it. I guess your mileage may vary as to how tedious and needless it is, but I hate it.
Anyways, like I said, really enjoyed this video, you guys sure know how to have a good argument!
New York 1901 with 3D buildings would make it very difficult to see the properties that are not developed.
I think it would be okay, as long as the buildings were all of 1 height.
Sure, but then it really wouldn't give the feeling of the city building up higher and taller.
{shrug} we can't have it all. :-)
If you are not in a wheelchair or confined to a bed you could always stand up to get a better view of the board, but I guess that's to much work for some people...
Stand your fat ass up to look. Holy crap lazy bum
I absolutely agree with Zee. I hate the win requirement for Dead of Winter. It's not cooperative if other people win and I lose when I am not the traitor.
I feel exactly the opposite. The game has bad mechanics. The actual gameplay is grindy and bloated. Pretty much the only thing it has going for it is the cool traitor/objective system (crossroads are pretty cool too).
It's so weird to me that anybody feels it's a great game held back by a bad traitor system, when I feel very strongly that it's actually an awful game elevated by a great traitor system.
Yeah, I'm glad a prominent board game reviewer finally called the game out on this.
Games you're glad you never bought. I remember when this was the big game out there and part of me wanted to get it, but then I saw that mechanic and I was like, "nah, I don''t like that at all". I like games that make sense thematically and that just doesn't for me. I mean, if you're in the apocalypse basically, aren't you going to want to help the few friends you do have because they'll probably help you survive too? Sure, some people are going to break and do stupid stuff that hurts your group, but this game doesn't do that, people are traitors from the start.
We always play that the non-betrayers win (collectively) if the main objective is completed. They beat the game and the betrayer, if there was one. Well done. So, rather than a win/loss condition, we have win/absolute win because, yeah, it's really dumb otherwise.
Then try the hardcore side of the scenario cards. Those cards are meant for pure co-op people who don't want to use the secret objectives. That being said, even without the worrying about a traitor/ conflicting objectives, the hard core scenarios are insanely brutal...
I don't even think Dead of Winter is a cooperative game. It's just not competitive in the sense that you're actively fighting the other players. In the end you have an obvjective that only you have to complete, and you only win if you complete it. It's a game with possibly multiple winners, but it's only cooperative in the sense that you all have to work together.
Exactly. Let's take Cosmic Encounter as an example. You can have multiple winners (technically everyone can win with certain power mixes), but you'd never call it cooperative. In Dead of Winter, you kind of want to work together so the entire game doesn't fail and everyone loses, but if you know you can't win, you have no incentive to continue helping everyone else.
I like to think of it as a survival game. It is almost required to work together to survive, but in the end of the day it's survival of the fittest. Just imagine if there was an actual zombie apocalypse, you don't all live or die together. If someone is bringing the team down or they are too much of a liability, you ditch them (or in the game, vote to exile them).
I think its the premise of the game that causes issue; I suppose maybe the trying to find a traitor as well. If it was just a game where you're trying to fend for your party; and having to put up with others since you need strength in numbers, there might be fewer mental clashes. You want to survive, but you have to deal with the common threat- so no maybe no traitor at all since you shouldn't have to act weird you're fending for yourself, you're only keeping them around as long as they're useful.
Well, it's not cooperative. It's semi-cooperative, the same way Legendary is.
The objective of the game is to win. If you're in a situation where you're certain you can only get your objective *or* the group's, there is literally no point for you to keep playing the game. You only get to decide how you lose. In a thematic way, sure, but it requires you to make more of the game than it is.
Everything up until that point holds well, risking the common good for your goal and vice-versa are both sound tactical decisions, it's only at the point where either one *guarantees*, not risks, the failure of the other that the game breaks. If I was playing I would overlook that and look at it from a story perspective, but if we're talking logic/game theory, there isn't really a game left when there are no choices or events left that could change the outcome.
They could fix that by awarding a sort of "half-win" when you get only one objective. That would keep the cool concept *and* keep the game alive to the end, while maintaining the only true victory as getting both.
my 1 rule game fix would be for Catan: Include 1 ship for each player in the base game which, upon upgrade of an already established coastal settlement, allow players to make 1 disconnected coastal settlement via the ocean per game (settlement must be built on the same turn as the ship is built for ease of tracking).
Too many times, most often in a 4 player non-expanded base game, someone is boxed in 5-10 minutes into the game and has to basically accept defeat, especially if they don't have access to one or more of the materials needed for development cards. This change would solve that
We always tell people to draw their next Carcassonne tile at the end of their turn. I'm with you there, Tom. It gives you more time to think about what you want to do on your next turn.
I would like to see one change in Small World Underground, and that's to make it mix with the original more seamlessly. As it is, it's -mostly- compatible. I really wish they would have just went that extra little bit. The worst part is, they had the perfect opportunity to fix it with Realms, but they didn't.
ARCADIA QUEST
The death curse as it is in the rules breaks the game. It basically makes it so that the person that's on the losing side gets a disadvantage for the next scenario, thus getting a higher chance of getting disadvantaged in future scenarios.
I'd change it around so that when you die you immediately get a death curse card. If you die again and get another you keep the one with the highest number, discarding the other ones. Keep gathering death tokens to keep track for scoring after each scenario. Once a scenario is finished you discard all death curses, starting the new scenario afresh.
I agree with you, Zee. Dead of Winter often doesn't work unless you ignore the express win conditions.
Killer Bunnies. I had fun with the game until the end when the winner is random. yes doing better gets you a better chance of winning, however all my friends who were playing disliked the random ending.
Five years late: To be fair, in killer bunnies, when the game ends (last carrot taken) any players without bunnies are not eligible to win. So you can kill everyone’s bunnies and then get the last carrot and win with no randomness. This is super mean though. I don’t play the game much anymore but it holds a special place in my heart as one of my first entries into the hobby (and my first experience with being obsessed with trying to get every expansion for a game)
I love the tin box on Forbidden Desert :) But that probably has something to do with it being on the top of the game pile (since it is actually pretty small).
What is that outro music tune? it sounds really familiar, but can't put my finger on it.
Good news for Tom, Tiny Epic Galaxies has an ULTRA Tiny version which fits everything into a box similar in size to a deck of playing cards.
On the other hand that might be exasperating the issue, it's hard to tell with Tom's reasoning, it's kinda half the point of the tiny epic series.
Jamaica Rulebook!
Amen!
Absolutely. And weirdly they even got a prize for it, despite being impractical.
The one game that came to my mind was Stone Age: If you don't want to get negative points, you have to gather food. The long term most efficient way is building farms. It's a worker placement game, and only one player per turn may upgrade their farm. So of course the starting player always chooses to do that, unless they are playing the only other major strategy, where you multiply like rabbits and ignore starvation. My fix would be to get rid of the farms, since it's anon-option anyway.
Nothing Personal - The score track doesn't even fit ONE players mobster!
"I like to judge people!" - Pastor Tom Vasel
"I hate games about colonialism" Pastor Tom Vasel (after returning from missionary work in South Korea)
At Witch of Salem, just keep an individual notebook with the information you gathered, and change that information (meaning: show your notebook) to the other players when on the same location (what Sam said, actually). Then it's just a mather of "information proliferation" between all the players.
Or you can play as Zee said, and just imagine there's a "telepathic connection" between all players and the witch, which allows some knowledge sharing.
There... theme + mechanics... free of charge.
I think an easier way to sort out sam's problem with the Sons of Anarchy game is to do what Dead of Winter game did, have some of the more darker cards be highlighted with a symbol, that way you can swap cards in and out depending on the groups preference. I don't think this was necessarily a fault of the designers and more of a design choice that they wanted to keep the games theme dark to stay true to the series' fans. Another alternative would be to make custom cards with the same mechanics but with a lighter theme, I do that whenever I've got a board game I know my friends enjoy but don't agree with thematically. It's a lot of work but it helps.
I agree that Heroscape does not get played because I don't feel like building it and tearing it down. But back when that's all my group was playing designing the maps was a lot of the fun. I would sit at my computer for hours playing around with VirtualScape (for those who don't know what that is it was a program specifically for designing Heroscape maps).
I love arboretum and just got the blood of an englisman and am excited to play it.
They actually did speed up setup of Heroscape in its new Arena of the Planeswalkers version, with the board.
Blue Orange actually has pictures of custom 3D buildings in New York 1901 on their Facebook page, but that game would cost a lot and have a huge huge box...
Zee's complaint about Dead of Winter is the one thing that really interests me about that game, and I want to see more co-op games with weird hidden goals.
But you guys are great, just to be clear. It's hilarious when you make fun of each other...
I would add the manual for "Reef Encounter" (2004) ... that abstract game itself is really solid, but the theme is not needed and additionally makes the manual really difficult to understand.
I was wondering: were Robo Rally's maps with more than two tiles in someone's short list? Namely on Tom's, who ripped that page out of the rulebook when he reviewed it (was it Tom? I think it was) :-D
As for me, there is one game I love, together with its expansions: Thurn & Taxis. However, I hate the fact that in the All Ways Lead to Rome expansion you have to remember who each of your own clergymen is, since you can never look at it. The other half of the expansion kind of makes it worth, though, since the halves are actually two independent expansions and don't need to be playes together.
Great list! I expect some would like to see Pandemic Legacy be able to be reset for additional playability, but I'm OK with making the permanent changes.
Forbidden Stars - Combat System.
Battlelore Second Edition - A mechanic similar to the Too Many bones game to help you with terrible rolling.
Commands and Colors - Miniatures.
The Game of thrones board game - More varierty in the decks.
Mare Nostrum Empires - The trade aspect needs to be made more interesting and quick.
Sons of Anarchy - Real artwork.
Vegas Showdown - Upgraded player boards.
Sam, you can drill out the holes in Tide of Iron.
Also, The battle of five armies got so much wrong that it isn't funny. Everybody except Beorn and the eagles on the side of the elves, dwarves and men (EDM) were on the battlefield when the orcs and goblins showed up. Nobody gave a rats ass about most of the places the EDM have to hold in the game; each side had to run off the other to claim the prize, the treasure in the dragon's hoard. Their was no mention of goblins trying to force the passes, because there weren't any passes; it wasn't called the Lonely Mountain for no reason. Those are only the worst sins committed by the game. How would you like a game that was called historical if it had the American navy trying to sink the Bismark in the Pacific, or the Battle of the Bulge was held in the summer, and the German army starts in Bastogne?
Zee was spot on with his Dead of Winter critique. Primary reason I dislike Dead of Winter.
Tom's complain with Clippers reminds me of my biggest gripe with Ticket to Ride: Marklin with the little point chits for passenger movement.
I like the idea of a Carcassonne house rule of having a hand of tiles. However that would sometimes be clashing with two expansions (at least) at the end of the game, where some players would have to give others tiles from their hands. In Traders and Builders sometimes you take a double turn, playing two tiles in a row, and in Hills and Sheep you sometimes need to use an extra tile for a hill.
By the way, I always play Carcassonne with the house rule Tom mentioned: as soon as you play a tile, you draw another one. It might clash once in a while with some expansion mechanics, but it makes the game that more fluid since you have time to think of what to do with your tile.
But this could potentially increase the downtime when you have to evaluate you possibilities with 3 or more tiles in your hand. I like Carcassonne for its simplicity and a bit of luck.
I don't see wroot's comment, but I'll answer anyway. You have a point: having a hand of tiles would increase the downtime. I guess the best (if there is such a thing) is to draw right after you place.
Great idea for a Top 10....great discussion. Thanks, gentlemen.
I also LOVE Vegas Showdown. I have been holding out buying waiting for a good reprint. Any chance Dice Tower Essentials line?
Man Sams complaint about War of the Ring is so odd. The game represents the theme perfectly. The politics of the world are a huge part of the overall narrative. His complaint started with, "In a game called WAR of the ring..." There's also no ring in the box, surprised he didn't complain about that too. Politics are a huge part of any war. What a weird complaint.
I agree with Sam ( kinda)
Sons of anarchy is a awesome game that my group loves but that is because we are all adults that love the show
However
If you could reprint this with a different theme and that means people play this game more then I'm all for it
Its criminally underrated
I actually play loads of my tiny epic games BECAUSE they are tiny. they're easy to throw into a backpack when I'm traveling/visiting people. Perfect go-to if you're not at home.
Totally agree with Sam on the New York 1901 thing. we played it the other day and I commented that it would be a cool game to get the 'giant sized at GenCon' treatment, with model buildings and a huge map.
First thing I thought was that I would have to 3d print buildings for this game and then entirely remake the packaging. So I never got the game.
As for Sam not liking the theme to "Sons of Anarchy" but loving the mechanisms... it is the same thing with "Chaos in the Old World" he mentioned in the past. He couldn't get into it, but the game is great. I think Sam is a bit too sensitive to games, but to each their own.
Some of us game with children or feel that dark or "adult" themes are, simply, unnecessary.
I wouldn't let most kids play it, that's for sure, but as an adult I can separate reality and fantasy. Since it is a game I can even more split the mechanisms and the themes in my mind if it is that offensive. I mean, how do you justify playing so many other games where you KILL people left and right?
So can Sam. But that does not mean he wants to play a game with that theme. At some point, a line has to be drawn. Just because it's a game does not mean every subject is okay. I can separate game from reality, but I still don't want to play games that deal with abuse, rape, mutilation, or trading in the Mediterranean. I don't find them enjoyable. Too sensitive? He's secure and comfortable with what he's okay with. He has no insecurities to hide. I say -- well done, Sam, for standing firm and for knowing what sorts of thematic elements you are okay with and which ones you choose not to engage in for entertainment.
It is his choice if he doesn't play it, doesn't mean he isn't too sensitive. It is just acting or playing. Just like people played cops and robbers or cowboys and indians, both dealt with topics that when you look at it under a microscope and pretty horrible things for children to play with. But it is just that -- play. Same reason an actor might portray a violent psychopath that kills tons of people, it is just acting. I can understand that it might reduce the fun of the game for someone, but simply not playing it entirely seems very different.
Hah, that's a great line "but I still don't want to play games that deal with abuse, rape, mutilation, or trading in the Mediterranean"
Magic: The Gathering absolutely _NEEDS_ a good client for online play! As far as I know, there are only two: Magic Duels and MTGO, both of which are absolute garbage and either too expensive and meant solely for professional players (MTGO) or just straight out not working at all (Duels). I love the game, and it's a giant shame that at this day and age, there really isn't any good way to keep playing it online.
I used to love the MTG: Planeswalker computer game. The Adventure mode was a fun challenge, and they had both draft and deck building tournaments. I broke that game in so many ways!
Yes Yes Yes!
MTGO would be fine were it not so darn expensive to play with. Still it could be miles better, but it's too expensive to make from scratch, so they probably won't.
I really enjoyed this video. I laughed and smiled all the way through.
I wonder if components in Think Str8 are on any of the lists. I would be my number one.
I've been playing Kingdom Builder with 2 available cards to choose from since the 2nd time I played it, and it is one of my favorite games! Works perfectly and makes the game amazing. :)
feel like we need an update on this list!!
I agree with Zee re: Shadowrun: Crossfire, with the addition that I think that if you are playing, you need to always have 4. Just didn't think it worked with 3 when I tried it. That alone was a deal breaker for me.
Age of Empires III: Age of discovery - change the discovery to be a more valid strategy more equal to other scoring approaches. Many suggestions have been made as to how. the easiest way is to reduce the randomness of cards by removing the ones with 5 natives and the ones with 2 natives before starting play.
Regarding the tins, I have a question for our American friends. Zee mentioned that a tin could arrive damaged to your house... Now, I've heard similar stories from other US podcasts where games arrived damaged and the recipient basically had to live with it. Can't you send something like that back and get a replacement? Here in Germany that actually is the typical thing to do. Just wondering how things are done there.
This I think was answered on a Q&A, with Tom and Jason. At what point do you send a game back. I can't remember if it was a Q&A on a Board Game Breakfast or one of the hour long Q&A's.
Most of the time I feel that the companies would charge for shipping. After all, they are not the ones doing the shipping, they are just packaging it. They can't control how the shipper handles the package.
Tricky, because most online retailers don't take opened games back. You would contact the publisher and see if they would address the issue, which would be according to their individual policies.
Interesting! I guess consumer rights are stronger here. Amazon in particular takes nearly everything back in the first 14 days after delivery.
And even with opened games, if components inside are faulty, they (and all other retailers) still take it back.
+Demetrios B Amazon takes anything back. They don't mess around. I always inspect my boxes before I open them and have returned several games that had box damage to Coolstuff and miniature market with no problems. I think some people either don't care or think it's too much of a hassle to get a replacement. It's really easy and I feel that if you paid your hard earned money for a game then it should be in perfect condition.
Great top 10. Now that you guys kinda announced an upcoming game of Witch Of Salem, you should make a live video of it. That could be interesting and funny to watch .
I am curious if the dice tower goes to any conventions in california. I would love to meet you guys!
Hey Zee, play Zanny Penguins. Fun game by Bruno Cathala. The scoring is similar to Arboretum, let us know if you like it.
I think adding theme to Dominion would take the possibility to relaese 7+ expansions (or more?) :)
As i started to play Magic more again (PC version only). I think i would enjoy it more if you could have some sort of control about your starting hand. Maybe not completely pick and choose, but some sort of control. Yeah, i know, that getting lucky with draw and customizing your deck to deal with luck is part of a charm, but it is too annoying to build a nice and seemingly balanced deck and still get screwed by draw in the opening..
The game I would personally fix/change is Legendary: Marvel. I would have loved if the game had each player choose their own character to play as instead of using the abilities of characters. That really killed this game for me, sadly.
That’s one of the things I love about the Cryptozoic deckbuilders (DC, LOTR, Rick and Morty, etc). You get to *be* a character and have a unique power.
I think that new expansion for Race for the Galaxy that Sam & Zee are referring to is "Gaseous Planet"
Tom keeps going on about this "hand of card" in Kingdom Builder, but I think the game would fall apart if you had more than one card in hand. The majority of the strategy in the game is about getting around the "settlements have to be placed next to each other (if possible)" rule and it would be trivially easy to bypass the rule if you had two or three cards in hand to chose from.
For Zombicide, we play you only hit a survivor if you miss your shot.
That's an insane layout at 15:00.
I totally agree with Sam on New York 1901, but I wonder how much impact 3D buildings would have in production costs.
Sam, Tide of Iron can be fixed by using a round file to open slightly the holes on the bases. It makes setting up units 50% faster.
Wait...does Tom have perfect pitch? That was a Bb!
Proposed alternate theme for Dominion: Political Campaign
Victory Points = Votes
Money = Campaign Funding
Actions = Influence
Cards = Supporters
Buys = Political Favors
Curses = Bad Press
Example Cards:
Witch = Smear Campaign
Council Room = Televised Debate
Village = Labor Union Contact
Thief = Civil Action Suit
Smithy = Grassroots Movement
etc.
Not the most exciting theme maybe but the only thing I can think of that ties it all together.
I really like the Catan series and love,love,love Starfarers of Catan, but the game can take forever arising from some extra mechanics the traditional versions don't have. I would remove the encounter cards and simply assign a point value to the black ball. For me, I don't think much would be lost from the game for getting on and colonising, upgrading etc. One downside is that cannons become less important, but I can live with that. It would also make the game more amenable to two players, in my opinion.
Zee is absolutely correct about Dead of Winter. Semi-coop doesn't work for me either.
My "one thing" was turning Fantasy Frontier into a programming game. It need a few things more than just a rule tweak. But it kinda worked out.
You have to treat Dead of Winter as "I don't lose if I don't meet my secret requirements... I just "win more" than I would normally. That mentality seems to fix it in my groups.
I was really hoping this would be more rules-oriented than components-oriented. Because of this, I think Zee had the best list by far.
The "Horse Fever" tie break rules! Roll the die to see the tie breaker - The winner is either:
- Smallest player
- Heaviest player
- Whoever can do the most one-handed push-ups
- Most pimples on player's face
- Whoever touches the logo on the box first
- Player with "most diopters missed"
Rule everybody I know uses: Tie breaker is money.
Neuroshima Hex's initial setup. If your first two turns are all modifier tile draws, regardless of your strategy, you're just screwed.
Or if your opponent draws a tile that poisons you and an attack. 😖
That's a good point with Kingdom Builder, I may have to try that from now on. Scoring will be much faster!
Filmed in low video quality? Seems to only be available at 360 p
Wait for it... waaaiiit for it...
?
Look now Brian. =]
All videos are that way when initially uploaded.
Whenever I travel with Forbidden Island, the bloody lid pops off. To the point where I’m now missing pieces 😥
Now, I haven't played the game yet, but Zee's complaint about Dead of Winter is a selling point for me :p