Mark my words, Ankh is going to go down as a timeless game from Eric Lang. The easy rules make it approachable while also making every decision important and impactful. With every turn, revelations upon revelations reveal themselves. Every card you play gives your enemies new information about what you have, every upgrade you acquire gives away your intentions on what you want, and every action taken reveals how much time everyone has left until sh** hits the fan. It's a streamlined experience I relate to Inis or even timeless classics like Chess. It's brilliant.
Agreed. Ankh is excellent and a very tight design. I do not comprehend why Blood Rage gets the love it does as I think it is by far the weakest of the entire trilogy.
@@Richard-sy1ej THANK YOU! I know there are others out there who appreciate this game like we do. It's just hard to watch it get put under Blood Rage so often in critiques and videos. Breaks my heart. Eric Lang deserves so much more for this design.
Orange Nebula owe you a coffee Alex! I have been sitting on a Unsettled late pledge for awhile now, waiting for 1 more year on review of the game to seal the deal. This video was it! Can't wait to play.
fantastic list, in my gaming group The Great wall is number one ... every time I watch your video you remind me that not every game is for everyone and that we all want different things from the game to scratch some personal itch ...
I only have five of these games and love the four I've played. Haven't gotten Cascadia to the table yet unfortunately, though I love Calico and Verdant. Of the remaining games, six are on my wishlist. Enjoying the further look back videos!
Unsettled and Mind MGMT are great games and are definitely my #1 and #2 as well! I think I'd have to put Unsettled at #1 because of the enjoyment factor but it's really a tough choice.
I hope I'll love Unsettled and Great Wall when I get them. Mind MGMT would rank highest for me as well - though now my favorite mode is four players full coop with the app. Cascadia still stays high for me too. Welcome to the Moon is fantastic and became my favorite X and Write game. I rate Golem higher but I think we play a bit more heavy euros. Roll Player Adventures is good, but the mechanisms don't excite me enough to keep going after we finish the core campaign. Yes, the story elements are great though. What didn't work for me was Hadrian's Wall - I think part of it is that what it really does more than an X and write is be a euro style sandbox. For that I have Fields of Arle which I enjoyed much more and soon I'll be learning Feast for Odin. These are also great solos but if multi-player there's more real interaction which is a must for me. Another miss was Radlands - but my wife just isn't a target audience for take that / skirmish games of most types. It's why I mostly ignore area control games. Terraforming Mars Ares is a hard no for me. I'm hoping the coop / solo mode in the expansion fixes it enough to enjoy - but two player competitive for us is still two hours and I just think why not play full Terraforming Mars at that point? The only thing that might make sense to me is four player competitive, but I'm probably too soured on it from the two or three player counts to try that (four player euro games aren't frequent for me).
I just got my copy of Ares Expedition and the expansions recently. I knew it had borrowed a bit, but seeing how much it directly took from Race for the Galaxy was kind of startling.
This is one that moved on from our collection. I'd rather play TFM or Race and so it didn't really have a spot thematically or mechanically. It is in a weird place too as it is a heavier game than you would think (our gateway gamer friends all had intense AP with it) and so competes with much better games in its weight class. The game also takes too long for what it is. I'm glad people like it, and it is a good game, but it just didn't make the cut for us to keep.
Good list. We currently have (or have coming) 7 of them. We also had one of them but moved it out of the collection. I think the look back at a year+ is a fun review/recap/reminder. Thanks for sharing!
Did all of these came out in 2021? Man, I've spent way too much money in 2019/2020. Got Assassins Creed, roll player adventures, great Wall, wild assent, Ares expedition and Canvas 🙈 Got mind mgmt in the new kickstarter, but haven't had the time to check it out. Looks fantastic!
Probably never going to understand the love for Canvas. I got it during the reflections campaign, and it just fell flat with my game group. The problem I have is the limited choices that come out for art don't line up with the score cards goals, this resulted in several games were players just didn't enjoy them selves, and other games were one player was over all the others in terms of points. That player that won didn't even enjoy winning because his painting he created looked horrible lol. I do agree the quality of the components are excellent, but I feel like their are other games of this type that work better mechanically.
Expect the great wall to arrive in about a month. I just can't wait since ive exhausted the limited youtube gameplay content out there. Hope my friends enjoy it too since I expect it to be the new favorite in my collection!
The great wall is number one out of all of these .. we absulutly love it, I hope you did order the black powder, without it it does not feel like a real siege ... The base game is good but The black powder makes it epic ...
@Beri got gameplay all in due to black powder. Getting BP seperate wouldve cost about the same due to shipping so might as well get the rest though i doubt ill need ancient beasts and dragon
@@AzureShadow88 For us the Ancient beasts and dragon are not that exciting and only complicate the game further unnecessarily, but we do love Genghis Khan and Bannerman from the stretch goals.... Bannerman is great he lets you attack again in Winter before the Archer's phase and thus gives more strategic options ... I have also seen in the forum that some people use Banerman in the same manner as the Command card Attack (attack with any 2 soldiers or get 1 free spearman )... Use Ghenhis Khan when you want a harder but shorter game ... once he is killed the game ends ... and we always manage to kill him in third round
i never thought it possible but other than the Great Wall, which im waiting on the reprint, i have no interest in any of those games. ive passed on deals on Golem, Ankh, and Roll player adventures, and i cant remember even checking the price on the others. our tastes dont always align, about 50/50, but id never have guessed a 1 of 15 outcome. such a great hobby, so many great games for everyone
We find Planet Uknown 10 x better than Mind, to be honest ... actually mind would be the last place, my gaming group found it dull ... my only issue with Planet Uknown is that other planets do not come in copies of 4... so we can't all play them in the same game to have a balanced game ... just feels unfair for some to have high difficulty planets and others the easy one in the same game unless we all always play that default one ... I would have happily paid for 3 more copies of each planet...
Mark my words, Ankh is going to go down as a timeless game from Eric Lang. The easy rules make it approachable while also making every decision important and impactful. With every turn, revelations upon revelations reveal themselves. Every card you play gives your enemies new information about what you have, every upgrade you acquire gives away your intentions on what you want, and every action taken reveals how much time everyone has left until sh** hits the fan. It's a streamlined experience I relate to Inis or even timeless classics like Chess. It's brilliant.
Agreed. Ankh is excellent and a very tight design. I do not comprehend why Blood Rage gets the love it does as I think it is by far the weakest of the entire trilogy.
@@Richard-sy1ej THANK YOU! I know there are others out there who appreciate this game like we do. It's just hard to watch it get put under Blood Rage so often in critiques and videos. Breaks my heart. Eric Lang deserves so much more for this design.
Orange Nebula owe you a coffee Alex! I have been sitting on a Unsettled late pledge for awhile now, waiting for 1 more year on review of the game to seal the deal. This video was it! Can't wait to play.
fantastic list, in my gaming group The Great wall is number one ... every time I watch your video you remind me that not every game is for everyone and that we all want different things from the game to scratch some personal itch ...
I only have five of these games and love the four I've played. Haven't gotten Cascadia to the table yet unfortunately, though I love Calico and Verdant. Of the remaining games, six are on my wishlist. Enjoying the further look back videos!
Unsettled and Mind MGMT are great games and are definitely my #1 and #2 as well! I think I'd have to put Unsettled at #1 because of the enjoyment factor but it's really a tough choice.
healthy lookin beard you got there!
Thanks :)
I hope I'll love Unsettled and Great Wall when I get them.
Mind MGMT would rank highest for me as well - though now my favorite mode is four players full coop with the app. Cascadia still stays high for me too. Welcome to the Moon is fantastic and became my favorite X and Write game. I rate Golem higher but I think we play a bit more heavy euros. Roll Player Adventures is good, but the mechanisms don't excite me enough to keep going after we finish the core campaign. Yes, the story elements are great though.
What didn't work for me was Hadrian's Wall - I think part of it is that what it really does more than an X and write is be a euro style sandbox. For that I have Fields of Arle which I enjoyed much more and soon I'll be learning Feast for Odin. These are also great solos but if multi-player there's more real interaction which is a must for me. Another miss was Radlands - but my wife just isn't a target audience for take that / skirmish games of most types. It's why I mostly ignore area control games.
Terraforming Mars Ares is a hard no for me. I'm hoping the coop / solo mode in the expansion fixes it enough to enjoy - but two player competitive for us is still two hours and I just think why not play full Terraforming Mars at that point? The only thing that might make sense to me is four player competitive, but I'm probably too soured on it from the two or three player counts to try that (four player euro games aren't frequent for me).
I just got my copy of Ares Expedition and the expansions recently. I knew it had borrowed a bit, but seeing how much it directly took from Race for the Galaxy was kind of startling.
This is one that moved on from our collection. I'd rather play TFM or Race and so it didn't really have a spot thematically or mechanically. It is in a weird place too as it is a heavier game than you would think (our gateway gamer friends all had intense AP with it) and so competes with much better games in its weight class. The game also takes too long for what it is. I'm glad people like it, and it is a good game, but it just didn't make the cut for us to keep.
Good list. We currently have (or have coming) 7 of them. We also had one of them but moved it out of the collection. I think the look back at a year+ is a fun review/recap/reminder. Thanks for sharing!
Great list, Alex. Cool that you re-visit "older" games in videos like this 👍
Did all of these came out in 2021? Man, I've spent way too much money in 2019/2020. Got Assassins Creed, roll player adventures, great Wall, wild assent, Ares expedition and Canvas 🙈
Got mind mgmt in the new kickstarter, but haven't had the time to check it out. Looks fantastic!
Lol yes
Probably never going to understand the love for Canvas. I got it during the reflections campaign, and it just fell flat with my game group. The problem I have is the limited choices that come out for art don't line up with the score cards goals, this resulted in several games were players just didn't enjoy them selves, and other games were one player was over all the others in terms of points. That player that won didn't even enjoy winning because his painting he created looked horrible lol. I do agree the quality of the components are excellent, but I feel like their are other games of this type that work better mechanically.
Canvas fell flat for me and my wife. Very pretty but not much game there and almost zero player interaction, but we both LOVE Radlands though.
Great list. Thanks.
Urgh I'm dying to receive unsettled! I guess earth will have to hold me over
Unsettled is good :)
There are a few of those games on my To-Buy someday list.
Really wish he would show footage of the game through these reviews. Would make it way more enjoyable for me
Totally get that, sadly that usually triples or quadruples the work of a video and I just don't have the bandwidth for that.
@@BoardGameCo and I totally get that too, nonetheless I enjoy getting to hear about more games through you so thanks
Expect the great wall to arrive in about a month. I just can't wait since ive exhausted the limited youtube gameplay content out there. Hope my friends enjoy it too since I expect it to be the new favorite in my collection!
Same! I got the reprint and I even have my Etsy insert ready and watched all the content. I need to have it now!!! Lol
The great wall is number one out of all of these .. we absulutly love it, I hope you did order the black powder, without it it does not feel like a real siege ... The base game is good but The black powder makes it epic ...
@@Berndr I did get black powder. And upgraded resources and everything
@Beri got gameplay all in due to black powder. Getting BP seperate wouldve cost about the same due to shipping so might as well get the rest though i doubt ill need ancient beasts and dragon
@@AzureShadow88 For us the Ancient beasts and dragon are not that exciting and only complicate the game further unnecessarily, but we do love Genghis Khan and Bannerman from the stretch goals.... Bannerman is great he lets you attack again in Winter before the Archer's phase and thus gives more strategic options ... I have also seen in the forum that some people use Banerman in the same manner as the Command card Attack (attack with any 2 soldiers or get 1 free spearman )... Use Ghenhis Khan when you want a harder but shorter game ... once he is killed the game ends ... and we always manage to kill him in third round
Really want to get my hands on unsettled to give it a shot
"Of all the games released in 2021, Hadrian's Wall was one of them." - Webhead123
Have you tried Overboss? I think it is similar to Cascadia but just better.
I have but I prefer cascadia
Strong list!
Thanks :)
i never thought it possible but other than the Great Wall, which im waiting on the reprint, i have no interest in any of those games. ive passed on deals on Golem, Ankh, and Roll player adventures, and i cant remember even checking the price on the others. our tastes dont always align, about 50/50, but id never have guessed a 1 of 15 outcome. such a great hobby, so many great games for everyone
I like Canvas. Too bad that my personal experience with R2i will not allow me to support that company ever again.
I got 7 out of 15, not too shabby 😁🐦
Did planet unknown drop off both the 2021 and 2022 lists?
We find Planet Uknown 10 x better than Mind, to be honest ... actually mind would be the last place, my gaming group found it dull ... my only issue with Planet Uknown is that other planets do not come in copies of 4... so we can't all play them in the same game to have a balanced game ... just feels unfair for some to have high difficulty planets and others the easy one in the same game unless we all always play that default one ... I would have happily paid for 3 more copies of each planet...
Do you mean, Search for Planet X?
@@ejrhenriksen nope. Similar names different games