People always talk about bias in the way that it makes it sound like reviewers will always fawn over games from people they like. Well, full disclosure, I like T.L Simmons the designer of the game here a lot and gladly did 3 videos of 3 different versions of Bloc by Bloc because i love that game. But here, my bias probably set my expectations too high. I was quite down after playing Defenders of the Wild, and you can definitely feel that come through in the script and the video. But as I look at the game its not overtly broken or awful, its not even bad. It's just not an experience i enjoyed or a puzzle i found particularly engaging. But that's also likely from playing a ton of fire fighting co-ops over the years.
In the recommendations at the end I was hoping I'd see a firefighting co-op you liked a lot more as a direct comparison. Or are you kinda burned out on the genre un general?
@@3MBG Yeah, totally triggers me. If I wanted to see who wins by rolling dice id just go play yahtzee. Nothing like spending hours rolling snake eyes wrecking everything your trying to do. I generally at least replace the dice with a deck of cards if I have to play the game. I generally just avoid them altogether.
Fascinating. I did a video on dice mechanics where I dispel a lot of the myths around bad dice rolls. It's mostly basic psychology and making excuses for poor play that leads people to blame dice. Bad rolls are memorable and easy things to blame. But there's a reason I've won 90% of the twilight struggle games i've played and it ain't that i always roll well ;) Once you look at the numbers over a long enough time period, it all evens out. It's making the most of "good rolls" when they happen and miniziming loss after "bad rolls" that makes up a huge part of the challenge of wargaming. I really do recommend embracing them at some point because their are some wonderful game experiences out there using dice. It's not all snakes and ladders.
@melski9205 When it comes to dice in games, I tend to dislike them, but I've found there's two major exceptions: 1) Rolling dice you at the start of your turn that get assigned to actions, because the experience is less "the roll boned me" and more "what the hell to I do with this?", which is a fun reframing of dice disaster mitigation. 2) Something like ROOT that full-sends how badly combat rolls can go, with its multiple zeroes on two D12s, because it loops around from frustration into comedy. It's deeply funny to watch someone amass an army, march into an enemy base, and then both sides roll double zeroes repeatedly, so there's just two armies awkwardly staring at each other.
I don't actually own Labyrinth. Always been nervous about doing Comancheria because i legit don';t know how well the history is modeled in it. Would be a helluva game to squeeze into 3 minutes too
Sadly, Bloc by Bloc really didn't do it for me at all - game is faaaaaaar too long and has far too little decision space and plays itself on rails most of the time. This seems to be a re-themed Bloc by Bloc with a terrible player self-elimination mechanic?! Hard pass.
For a different perspective on the player elimination, check out SUSD’s not-a-review video for Defenders of the Wild. Tom talks about how that mechanic represents something to him about the nature of resistance movements. Might not make it a better game, but I thought it was interesting.
People always talk about bias in the way that it makes it sound like reviewers will always fawn over games from people they like. Well, full disclosure, I like T.L Simmons the designer of the game here a lot and gladly did 3 videos of 3 different versions of Bloc by Bloc because i love that game. But here, my bias probably set my expectations too high. I was quite down after playing Defenders of the Wild, and you can definitely feel that come through in the script and the video. But as I look at the game its not overtly broken or awful, its not even bad. It's just not an experience i enjoyed or a puzzle i found particularly engaging. But that's also likely from playing a ton of fire fighting co-ops over the years.
Nicely said.
1:16 Catan: as seen through a photographer’s artistic filter.
Conflict is resolved with dice.
… so I throw them at my opponent?
Oh I’m totally winning this game🤣
I wasn't confident in this game to give me anything interesting for the price. I'm glad based on J's review that I didn't order it
I love your little quips at the very end of your videos. It’s what I look forward to most. And if the game sounds good, that’s a bonus!
In the recommendations at the end I was hoping I'd see a firefighting co-op you liked a lot more as a direct comparison. Or are you kinda burned out on the genre un general?
Bloc by Bloc by the same designer is a firefighting co-op; each player is a different group during a collective urban uprising against the state.
AS Ratchetsky said, Bloc by Bloc is a firefighting co-op ;)
Whoops I totally misunderstood for a minute
@@joeanon8568 No worries!
Spirit Island is also a fire fighting co-op and is a classic.
'Combat is resolved by dice' Thanks for the warning!
That's a warning? Lol.
@@3MBG Yeah, totally triggers me. If I wanted to see who wins by rolling dice id just go play yahtzee. Nothing like spending hours rolling snake eyes wrecking everything your trying to do. I generally at least replace the dice with a deck of cards if I have to play the game. I generally just avoid them altogether.
Fascinating. I did a video on dice mechanics where I dispel a lot of the myths around bad dice rolls. It's mostly basic psychology and making excuses for poor play that leads people to blame dice. Bad rolls are memorable and easy things to blame. But there's a reason I've won 90% of the twilight struggle games i've played and it ain't that i always roll well ;)
Once you look at the numbers over a long enough time period, it all evens out. It's making the most of "good rolls" when they happen and miniziming loss after "bad rolls" that makes up a huge part of the challenge of wargaming. I really do recommend embracing them at some point because their are some wonderful game experiences out there using dice. It's not all snakes and ladders.
@melski9205 When it comes to dice in games, I tend to dislike them, but I've found there's two major exceptions:
1) Rolling dice you at the start of your turn that get assigned to actions, because the experience is less "the roll boned me" and more "what the hell to I do with this?", which is a fun reframing of dice disaster mitigation.
2) Something like ROOT that full-sends how badly combat rolls can go, with its multiple zeroes on two D12s, because it loops around from frustration into comedy. It's deeply funny to watch someone amass an army, march into an enemy base, and then both sides roll double zeroes repeatedly, so there's just two armies awkwardly staring at each other.
THX 3
Comancheria and Labyrinth: War on Terror reviews would be nice now that they are reprinted.
I don't actually own Labyrinth. Always been nervous about doing Comancheria because i legit don';t know how well the history is modeled in it. Would be a helluva game to squeeze into 3 minutes too
@@3MBG I own Labyrinth (I first tried it digitally before buying it) but Comancheria has been out of print for as long as I've known about it.
I played second and third edition of bloc by bloc and both were just not good enough so I’m not being burned again…
You sir are a bounder and a cad, but i'll allow it.
I liked them.
@@3MBG I'm very picky and there's just too much choice for a game to be that average.
Sadly, Bloc by Bloc really didn't do it for me at all - game is faaaaaaar too long and has far too little decision space and plays itself on rails most of the time.
This seems to be a re-themed Bloc by Bloc with a terrible player self-elimination mechanic?! Hard pass.
Are you playing BBB solo?
For a different perspective on the player elimination, check out SUSD’s not-a-review video for Defenders of the Wild. Tom talks about how that mechanic represents something to him about the nature of resistance movements. Might not make it a better game, but I thought it was interesting.