Great video as always! 21:50 For the House Minerva player, I don't think they have to re-roll the Rising die if they got the Sovereign side. Stated on the House tile as well: If the result of the roll is the Sovereign token, select any other bonus on the die. Basically it's "Wild" and they get to choose which bonus they want.
I liked the idea of Fantasy Realms the board game with extra frills. But seeing it in action, I'm not sold on it. I really don't like that cards can get buried so easy. Great playthrough as always!!
House Apollo seems pretty unbalanced at first glance, being able to snag the Sovereign token in their bonus last turn. It’s a +10 VP which can compensate an extra card above 7 point loss and usually you get 25-30 points from a card. Seems pretty powerful but haven’t played enough games to determine how easily it may be countered. In this game Apollo got +20 VP for the Sovereing token (+10 for the token and +10 for Nero’s bonus), taking 10 VP away from the player who was holding it. It’s a 30-VP swing which doesn’t change the result in this game, but purple and green didn’t optimize their hand that much. In other games such a swing in points could snatch victory from under a player’s nose.
That extra turn is powerful, but the mid-game sovereign token benefit is pretty lackluster. Placing new cards onto rows can set up for future turns, but it can just as likely help out opponents.
I wonder if knowing/liking the books would help with this game, because right now the theme is a little bewildering. I would probably pick Fantasy Realms over this long term but I might be wrong.
The theme is simply a paste up. The game only borrows characters, locations and concepts from the books, but it’s not a game about telling a story or interacting with the universe. It’s almost like playing poker with dragonball-themed cards. The game is pretty abstract, but I definitely prefer this to Fantasy Realms because there’s more going on here. Fantasy Realms is much lighter and more straight. There are a lot more cards interactions here, the asymmetric powers of the six houses, the helium, fleet track and institute area control which slice up things and make the game more interesting to me.
I bought the game with no knowledge of the series and it was fun to play. Now I'm at the second book and it's even more fun. The knowledge from the books somewhat helps with memorizing the combos (eg, it is easier to remember that Jopho and Nero are tied if you know from the books what ties them) and somewhat helps with the theme. When you know more about the characters than just their names from cards, and what roles each color plays in the society, it makes it more fun to create (or break) these combos. You know what stands behind them and that makes the game a bit more thematic.
@@JonGetsGames I don't think Green player got the bump on fleet track, as they did only Place (it is emphasized on the Seer's text: "... and place (not deploy)...") the Morning Star on to Jupiter, therefore its deploy ability wouldn't be triggered. You already correct the first time 😁
Compared do more deeply themed and complex games, maybe yes. But as a filler I’d give it 8/10. And this game never tried to be the next Scythe, even though the whole world seems to expect every Stonemaier game to be the next Scythe 🤔
Bought this after your playthrough. Thanks Jon. Good game.
Great video as always!
21:50 For the House Minerva player, I don't think they have to re-roll the Rising die if they got the Sovereign side. Stated on the House tile as well: If the result of the roll is the Sovereign token, select any other bonus on the die. Basically it's "Wild" and they get to choose which bonus they want.
Good catch, I have added a note about this to the Klingon subtitles.
CORRECTIONS:
21:58 - If purple rolls the Sovereign side then they don't reroll. Instead, they choose a side to activate.
Most excellent as usual Jon!
I liked the idea of Fantasy Realms the board game with extra frills. But seeing it in action, I'm not sold on it. I really don't like that cards can get buried so easy. Great playthrough as always!!
Thanks so much
House Apollo seems pretty unbalanced at first glance, being able to snag the Sovereign token in their bonus last turn. It’s a +10 VP which can compensate an extra card above 7 point loss and usually you get 25-30 points from a card. Seems pretty powerful but haven’t played enough games to determine how easily it may be countered. In this game Apollo got +20 VP for the Sovereing token (+10 for the token and +10 for Nero’s bonus), taking 10 VP away from the player who was holding it. It’s a 30-VP swing which doesn’t change the result in this game, but purple and green didn’t optimize their hand that much. In other games such a swing in points could snatch victory from under a player’s nose.
That extra turn is powerful, but the mid-game sovereign token benefit is pretty lackluster. Placing new cards onto rows can set up for future turns, but it can just as likely help out opponents.
After 5 games, I can safely say most other houses are just as powerful. Jupiter, Diana and Mars are top 3.
I wonder if knowing/liking the books would help with this game, because right now the theme is a little bewildering. I would probably pick Fantasy Realms over this long term but I might be wrong.
The theme is simply a paste up. The game only borrows characters, locations and concepts from the books, but it’s not a game about telling a story or interacting with the universe. It’s almost like playing poker with dragonball-themed cards. The game is pretty abstract, but I definitely prefer this to Fantasy Realms because there’s more going on here. Fantasy Realms is much lighter and more straight. There are a lot more cards interactions here, the asymmetric powers of the six houses, the helium, fleet track and institute area control which slice up things and make the game more interesting to me.
This game is a real joy if you know the books!!
I bought the game with no knowledge of the series and it was fun to play. Now I'm at the second book and it's even more fun.
The knowledge from the books somewhat helps with memorizing the combos (eg, it is easier to remember that Jopho and Nero are tied if you know from the books what ties them) and somewhat helps with the theme. When you know more about the characters than just their names from cards, and what roles each color plays in the society, it makes it more fun to create (or break) these combos. You know what stands behind them and that makes the game a bit more thematic.
49:22. Should have gained an extra bump on fleet track for deploy effect?
Ah, good catch! I've added a note to the Klingon subtitles and the pinned corrections comment. Thanks.
@@JonGetsGames I don't think Green player got the bump on fleet track, as they did only Place (it is emphasized on the Seer's text: "... and place (not deploy)...") the Morning Star on to Jupiter, therefore its deploy ability wouldn't be triggered. You already correct the first time 😁
Ahh, when I went and looked I didn't realize it was placed not deployed. Yeah this was done correctly, I'll remove the notes.
I've played 10 games. My review: swingy, fun, glass Canon game. 6.5/10
Compared do more deeply themed and complex games, maybe yes. But as a filler I’d give it 8/10. And this game never tried to be the next Scythe, even though the whole world seems to expect every Stonemaier game to be the next Scythe 🤔
As long as it doesn’t over stay it’s welcome as a filler I think it could be quite fun...but time is the factor there...
yay