My top 10 at the moment. 1. Castles of Burgundy 2. Macao 3. Trajan (only played once, may rise) 4. In the year of the dragon 5. Bruges 6. Amerigo 7. Aquasphere 8. Bora Bora 9. The Oracle of Delphi 10. CoB: The card game I own bur have not played Notre Dame, Luna or Rum and Pirates yet and i only have one play of Strasbourg and it might make the top 10. Feld is by far my favorite designer!
Omg what is this!? Ham from Siphon Filter?!!! What an honor and this is very interesting and neat what you do now. Now I must check out Feld! Thanks for your info and especially thanks for SF. Trademark staple game us "older" folk. 🤓👍
Great video! I own 11 of his games (plan to get Notre Dame this year), and my current top 10 is as follows: 10. La Isla 9. Luna 8. Oracle of Delphi 7. Aqua Sphere 6. Amerigo 5. Macao 4. Bruges 3. Bora Bora 2. Castles of Burgundy 1. Trajan
I own six of his games: Castles of Burgundy (which I have upgraded for more than the base game costs), Bora Bora, Oracle of Delphi, Carpe Diem, Strasbourg and Bruges. I really like that he takes one mechanism and does his own take on it so to speak.
For anyone wondering what Rahdo thinks of other Feld games, I have just been listening to "Rahdo Runs Through" podcasts (good background for cleaning the house). In Episode #23 from May 2018, Rahdo goes through the other Feld designs with comments on all of them.
Bruges didn't even make the list?!?! Awwwww, that's definitely my favorite Stefan Feld game, it's what brought me back to try his other games I initially didn't like.
I agree with your top 2. I've learned both of those games online, and bought them shortly afterwards. Stefan Feld is one of my favorite designers (maybe 2nd after Uwe Rosenberg). I've played The Oracle of Delphi a couple of times, and like that too, even if it's not a typical Feld-game. Great list!
Love Feld ! We play CoB and Delphi constantly. And have Trajan on the way this week as well to learn. Guy is awesome for sure. Sadly have not gotten a chance to try anything else he has made.
I just watched your Trajan playthrough so I figured I'd search your name and Stefen Feld together. You don't have my two favorites on your list! Bruges and Bora Bora. Love your videos. Thank you!
borabora is brilliant, but a bit too cutthroat for us. and jen LOVES bruges, but the more i played it the more the luck of the draw bothered me (though that is largely addressed with the new "hamburg" edition of the game) :)
Nice video. I've only played 9 Feld games so I can't quite do a top 10, but I'll tell you my top three, which are also the only three I feel I need to own. 3. Luna 2. Bora Bora 1. Trajan Of the others on your list, I've only played Macao and Aquasphere once each and thought they were ok but a bit lacking, but I''d be open to trying them again to see if I was wrong. Castles of Burgundy is just a little too simple and a little too generic for me. I think Grand Austria Hotel does basically everything CoB does but better and also does more. And Amerigo to me felt way to simple and generic. Glad to see neither Bruges nor In the Year of the Dragon made your list as those are my bottom two that I've played. Bruges is way too random and Dragon was just boring and the decisions felt a bit obvious.
Update 2020: 1. cob 9.6 2. trajan 9.225 3. macao 8.75 4. Forum Trajanum 8.65 5. Notre Dame 8.625 6. Amerigo 8.59 7. Luna 8.545 8. Cob Dice 8.517 9. Merlin 8.5168 10. Carpe Diem 8.452 Except we all know that Rahdo would really rate CD (probably 3rd-4th) higher because he secretly plays with the Star movement :)
I was so excited to see this! Stefan Feld is my favorite designer and as a new board game player, this gave me some great insight on what I should play next.
2019 UPDATE: Just checked Rahdo's current list since some new Felds have come out. 3. Carpe Diem 8. Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game (the card game didn't make the cut for his move) 9. Merlin
I feel like Rahdo and Zee Garcia need to have a debate sometime. LOL. Rahdo has mentioned wishing he'd been on that panel when Zee and the other DT guys were hating on Agricola and saying it forces you to do everything and not specialize... and that very same panel is where Zee said Macao was a terrible implementation of the same old thing from Notre Dame and ITYotD (both of which Zee likes, but he thinks Macao is totally unoriginal and boring).... I would love to be the referee in THAT battle!
I'd love to see Rahdo update this video since the onset of the Queen Games' City Collection series. I'd love to see if any of those games have dethroned any of his previous top ten Feld games.
hmm, my top10 feld right now would be 10. luna 9. kokopelli 8. carpe diem 7. amerigo 6. notre dame 5. marrakesh 4. forum trajanum 3. macao (NOT amsterdam) 2. trajan 1. burgundy
@@cabernetfran yes it looks like i overlooked it for some reason! let's try again! :) 10. vienna 9. kokopelli 8. bonfire 7. notre dame 6. amerigo 5. marrakesh 4. forum trajanum 3. macao 2. trajan 1. burgundy also worth noting that if ravensburger hadn't screwed with the design for the 2nd printing of carpe diem and left things as originally created by feld, it would have come in at #3
@@rahdo I'm with you, Forum Trajanum deserves all that love. I was aware of the changes in the star-shaped movement of the meeple. So, there are more changes to the mechanics or rules that made the game worse?
because they changed the star, they also removed the ability for players to "reverse course" or "bounce back" when moving along the circle, which means youre much more restricted in the choices availble to you, and it also makes bread much more powerful than it used to be, as it's now the only way you can effectively "bounce back". and they made these changes AFTER feld has posted publicly (which he rarely does) that the game was balanced as is and didn't need to be changed.
Yeah, La Isla baby. Love that game and theme (the 2p game maybe needs a variant...). Also Rialto is great. Although haven't played all Stefan Feld games, to me, the better game so far is ItYotD. Also love Macao, just bought a copy after years of looking (that also has some damage on the box, but don't care).
Nice to see some love for Amerigo. My wife and I love it and have never found the much maligned cube tower a problem. Strange that in this game it gets some haters but wallenstein using the same tower mechanism doesn't get as much grief
@@rahdo I think Feld is the best designer in terms of offering different experiences... When I think in Feld I imagine, diversity... Feld's Area Control = Rialto Feld's punishment = In the Year of the Dragon Feld's family and auction = Jorvik Feld's Exploration = Amerigo Feld's Engine Building = Bruges When I want to play some especific game, I always find a Feld version capable of scratching the itch. I think you disagree with Jorvik, which is the game I play with non gamers and In the Year of the Dragon... I don't like all that punishment... That's why I think I hate Agricola lol
Here's my Top 10 Felds: 10. Builders Duel 9. La Isla 8. Bruges 7. Rialto 6. Bora Bora 5. Castles of Burgundy 4. Amerigo 3. Trajan 2. Macao 1. The Oracle of Delphi I need more plays of Aquasphere and Luna to see where they fall for me. I own ever Feld except Notre Dame, In The Year Of the Dragon, Strasbourg, CoB the Card Game, The Name of the Rose, and Dribbel Fieber
well you can always see how i rank everything at games.rahdo.com (you might have to refresh page) but i believe my top10 for feld right now (not having played marrakesh) would be 11 carpe diem 10 tuscany 9 luna 8 kokopelli 7 amerigo 6 bonfire 5 notre dame 4 forum trajanum 3 macao 2 trajan 1 burgundy note, tuscany and carpe diem both rated higher until ravensburger went and changed the designs in reprints
Hey Rahdo, when you make these awesome top lists videos, I really miss the image of the games on the table,. It would be nice to see it while you talk about the games.
Thanks Rahdo. I love the enthusiasm that you put in to your videos. Thanks to your run throughs and final thoughts I have made some smart choices when buying games. To date I have only played 4 Stefan Feld games but I think he's also my favourite board game designer. I have played Castles of Burgundy and Macao at a local board game club and I own Castles of Burgundy Card Game and also Carpe Diem. I'd be interested to see where the newer games appear on your list, such as Carpe Diem, which is a fantastic game. I believe you decided to let the CoB Card Game go in favour of the dice game .
I haven't played many Feld games, but my favourites so far has been 1) Bruges 2) Amerigo 3) Oracle of Delphi (EDIT: Just played today) 4) Castles of Burgundy. I did not like Trajan and Aquasphere.
off topic, it seems you are preparing for more acquisitions by maximizing the shelf space with horizontal boxes. :). Thank you for the videos, always a pleasure to watch.
The analogy I make of SOME of Feld's game is of a Rubik's cube. It can definitely be solved rationally and with time, but trying to may be quite boring to some people... and if you don't invest the time and energy, if you don't create an intentional cause/consequence effect in your moves, in the end whatever I do will just look random. That is specially the case for games like MACAO and RIALTO and hence these games are no fun for me. And hence games like CoB, LA ISLA and BRUGES are better for me... I can see the challenge in them but I can tackle it in a fun manner. I still need to try many others (Trajan, Bora, Notre, Dragon, Luna) but I wonder in which box those would be. Thanks for your videos!!
Hey Richard, Having not officially played any Stefan Feld games as of yet (I am excited because I just ordered Aquasphere - I got it cheap), but having only watched your runthroughs of ALL of them, I agree with all games on this Top 10 list, with the exception that I would replace Amerigo with Bruges. The cube tower in Amerigo looks too gimmicky, and it just seems like when you put your most recent cubes in, the odds are that you are going to only get very little back - most of which were the same cubes you just put in, and it seems like a lot of cubes just get stuck and the odds of them coming out is very low - which would make the game very unbalanced... So what do you have against Bruges? I thought it would make your list. Or maybe Jen likes it a lot more. I like how it looks like there is a good combination of short-term tactics as well as long-term strategy.
let's do one right now! 10. Burgundy Dice 9. Luna 8. Amerigo 7. Bonfire 6. Notre Dame 5. Forum Trajanum 4. Kokopelli 3. Macao 2. Trajan 1. Burgundy both tuscany and carpe diem might have pushed their way into the current top 10 if the publisher hadn't changed the rules for reprints to make them both weaker (IMO). merlin definitely would have if the expansions had just done a tiny big of work to get keep length under control :)
i totally agree regarsing aquasphere. i also havent played it enough but from the handful of times that i have it was excellent. anytime you and jen want to play it give me a call! it would be my pleasure!!!
Great list, thanks for this! That sure looks like Serica: Plains of Dust on the shelf behind you. I've been very interested in this game for some time but I've never had the opportunity to play it and haven't taken the print and play plunge. Any quick thoughts you can offer if it has made it to the table?
hi thre, i twould probaly be #3 or #4, except they ultimately did a sort of stealth update to the game and made (IMO... others disagree) a significant change that dropped it down to around #8
somebody asked in these comments last year, and here's where i replied: ua-cam.com/video/xjNJdcBVJOI/v-deo.html&lc=UgzFwZYya7sLFypXnXd4AaABAg.9RpyHCX-mzA9Rq5uqtbzNI :)
I know it's been only 3 years, but maybe you could revise this list soon, perhaps taking into consideration not only the new games but also Queen's reimplementations. Just a thought, I believe it would attract some attention. Once again, thanks for the videos.
Let me ask you something else... Is there any Feld game particularly good at escalation? I only played 3 of his games but I noticed that despite the awesome/elegant gaming mechanics he implements, the games felt repetitive because you are always doing the same routine from beginning to end... I am not looking for crazy escalation like in First Class or Russian Railroads, but a little bit of engine building would be nice... Thoughts? Thanks
wow, very interesting observation. you're right, his style doesn't really include any sort of escalation at all. i think maybe the closest he comes is notre dame?
i don't remember what i was thinking about at that moment, but i'd say his 2 most aggressive games are speicherstadt (now reprinted at jorvik) and roma :)
Ouch that rialto is even on the list hurts my soul. Feld phoned it in on this one. Mine would be 10. La Isla 09. It happens (sorry but it is cute and fun and quick) 08. Aquasphere 07. Luna 06. Notre Dame 05. Amerigo 04. Bruges 03. Castles of Burgundy 02. Trajan 01. Macao (more people need to play this, then they might understand my love. One of those games where each decision matters and is why screaming FELD! is a curse and a blessing. The frustration of trying to get the right cards and the right cubes to get a good engine is intense.)
hmm maybe I would replace La Isla with Bora Bora. Oracle of Delphi is a great game too. both of those would be above Rialto ohhh heck even Rum and Pirates is better than rialto.
The card drafting in La Isla is a bit too heavy on luck, you can keep draw cards that cannot form combos at all. Also very disappointed to see no Bora Bora on the list. I bought the game after watching your run through. :( What about Brudge?
Trajan is definitely my #1 favorite Feld (and easily among my favorite games of all time) but curiously enough I find Amerigo to be more FUN. I rate Trajan more highly personally but it is quite dry where as Amerigo packs real excitement into the turns. I'll only vehemently object to aqua shpere. I despise that game. Stefan Feld is such a great game designer but (for me) Aqua Sphere is practically irredemable.
bushibayushi Rialto yes just over bora Bora (much to my surprise as I was not attracted to it before playing) La Isla ? nah. Year of the dragon is good but not in my top ten.
the biggest change is there's 15 diffrent god tile powers, while bora bora only had the same 5 every game. so it's a big uptick for setup variability. here's a thread going over the other tweaks and changes: boardgamegeek.com/thread/3023327/reprint-changes
Gave up on Feld after Amerigo. A thrown-together mess with a blatant gimmick. Therefore, my top three are In the Year of the Dragon, Macao and likely Bruges, with Burgundy as the honorable mention. I find Rialto to be a weak, forgettable experience. Luna is too complex for its own good. Bora Bora is good, but a bit too 'samey' versus his prior games. Trajan is a very nice game, but the Mancala-like mechanism, which is cool, is surrounded by very familiar sub-mechanisms that just play too similarly to other Feld games. Notre Dame is fun-ish, but a little too one-and-done as there isn't much to experience after the first play; for hardcore Feld fans only. By the way, you don't explore anything in Amerigo. The entire map is set at the start and players just race to occupy the 'good' spots. Amerigo's problem isn't the functionality of the tower, but the terrible looseness of the overall game itself. No tension, stress or viable interaction. Boring and horribly basic for such a big, bulky game. I enjoy your list, Richard, but La Isla? Feld's official bargain bin game? Yikes!
i can't, none of them are bad. rum & bones isn't great with 2, and a couple are too light since they're targeted at kids, but they're all solid games IMO
i think it's a really weird belch actually. if you play it at 1/2 speed, you can see that my chin/mouth is moving at the moment it happens in sync. but sure, i'll go with far too :)
Great Video! Glad to see some of Dad‘s older Games like Notre Dame still gets attention. :)
Keep up the good work!
My list:
1. Luna
2. COB
3. Trajan
4. The Oracle of Delphi
5. Notre Dame
6. Bora Bora
7. In the year of the Dragon
8. Aquasphere
9. La Isla
10. Macao
My top 10 at the moment.
1. Castles of Burgundy
2. Macao
3. Trajan (only played once, may rise)
4. In the year of the dragon
5. Bruges
6. Amerigo
7. Aquasphere
8. Bora Bora
9. The Oracle of Delphi
10. CoB: The card game
I own bur have not played Notre Dame, Luna or Rum and Pirates yet and i only have one play of Strasbourg and it might make the top 10.
Feld is by far my favorite designer!
Omg what is this!? Ham from Siphon Filter?!!! What an honor and this is very interesting and neat what you do now. Now I must check out Feld!
Thanks for your info and especially thanks for SF. Trademark staple game us "older" folk.
🤓👍
Great video! I own 11 of his games (plan to get Notre Dame this year), and my current top 10 is as follows:
10. La Isla
9. Luna
8. Oracle of Delphi
7. Aqua Sphere
6. Amerigo
5. Macao
4. Bruges
3. Bora Bora
2. Castles of Burgundy
1. Trajan
I own six of his games: Castles of Burgundy (which I have upgraded for more than the base game costs), Bora Bora, Oracle of Delphi, Carpe Diem, Strasbourg and Bruges. I really like that he takes one mechanism and does his own take on it so to speak.
For anyone wondering what Rahdo thinks of other Feld games, I have just been listening to "Rahdo Runs Through" podcasts (good background for cleaning the house). In Episode #23 from May 2018, Rahdo goes through the other Feld designs with comments on all of them.
you can listen to all my podcasts here on youtube as well, here's ep 23's link: ua-cam.com/video/bYRkCsHaKI8/v-deo.html
Bruges didn't even make the list?!?! Awwwww, that's definitely my favorite Stefan Feld game, it's what brought me back to try his other games I initially didn't like.
I agree with your top 2. I've learned both of those games online, and bought them shortly afterwards.
Stefan Feld is one of my favorite designers (maybe 2nd after Uwe Rosenberg).
I've played The Oracle of Delphi a couple of times, and like that too, even if it's not a typical Feld-game.
Great list!
bora bora isn't. Ouch!
I think the new notre dame release will also contain a mini expansion for Castles of burgundy
Love Feld ! We play CoB and Delphi constantly. And have Trajan on the way this week as well to learn. Guy is awesome for sure. Sadly have not gotten a chance to try anything else he has made.
I just watched your Trajan playthrough so I figured I'd search your name and Stefen Feld together. You don't have my two favorites on your list! Bruges and Bora Bora. Love your videos. Thank you!
borabora is brilliant, but a bit too cutthroat for us. and jen LOVES bruges, but the more i played it the more the luck of the draw bothered me (though that is largely addressed with the new "hamburg" edition of the game) :)
@@rahdo I think Hamburg is my most anticipated game ever! Thanks for your awesome videos.
Nice video. I've only played 9 Feld games so I can't quite do a top 10, but I'll tell you my top three, which are also the only three I feel I need to own.
3. Luna
2. Bora Bora
1. Trajan
Of the others on your list, I've only played Macao and Aquasphere once each and thought they were ok but a bit lacking, but I''d be open to trying them again to see if I was wrong.
Castles of Burgundy is just a little too simple and a little too generic for me. I think Grand Austria Hotel does basically everything CoB does but better and also does more. And Amerigo to me felt way to simple and generic.
Glad to see neither Bruges nor In the Year of the Dragon made your list as those are my bottom two that I've played. Bruges is way too random and Dragon was just boring and the decisions felt a bit obvious.
Castles of Burgundy and Trajan are so, so good. SO GOOD!
Update 2020:
1. cob 9.6
2. trajan 9.225
3. macao 8.75
4. Forum Trajanum 8.65
5. Notre Dame 8.625
6. Amerigo 8.59
7. Luna 8.545
8. Cob Dice 8.517
9. Merlin 8.5168
10. Carpe Diem 8.452
Except we all know that Rahdo would really rate CD (probably 3rd-4th) higher because he secretly plays with the Star movement :)
hamburg might push its way into top 10, and of course we've also got bonfire, amsterdam, and tuscany coming too! good time to be a feld fan!
@@rahdo really intrigued by Bonefire, hope they send you a review copy soon!
Can't wait for a Macao reprint!
TheGrooves I don't think this is ever going to happen
Umm actually I think it will happen. the anniversary is coming up. there seems to be enough demand. I bet there will be an anniversary edition.
@@vanyaserra1 look at you, oracle :)
and Brugeeeeees ? oO
I was so excited to see this! Stefan Feld is my favorite designer and as a new board game player, this gave me some great insight on what I should play next.
2019 UPDATE: Just checked Rahdo's current list since some new Felds have come out.
3. Carpe Diem
8. Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game (the card game didn't make the cut for his move)
9. Merlin
ch-ch-ch-changes!
I feel like Rahdo and Zee Garcia need to have a debate sometime. LOL. Rahdo has mentioned wishing he'd been on that panel when Zee and the other DT guys were hating on Agricola and saying it forces you to do everything and not specialize... and that very same panel is where Zee said Macao was a terrible implementation of the same old thing from Notre Dame and ITYotD (both of which Zee likes, but he thinks Macao is totally unoriginal and boring).... I would love to be the referee in THAT battle!
you're going down, Garcia!!!
New Top 10 idea: Top Ten Common Misconceptions. Your thoughts on themelessness, Agricola over Caverna, etc...?
something like that already on the list :)
It is easy Zee is wrong. No surprise in my book we rarely agree.
Have the top 3 and love them. Great video. Love your work Rahdo. Now have to look at the others.
I'd love to see Rahdo update this video since the onset of the Queen Games' City Collection series. I'd love to see if any of those games have dethroned any of his previous top ten Feld games.
hmm, my top10 feld right now would be
10. luna
9. kokopelli
8. carpe diem
7. amerigo
6. notre dame
5. marrakesh
4. forum trajanum
3. macao (NOT amsterdam)
2. trajan
1. burgundy
@@rahdo Is it possible that you have accidentally forgotten Bonfire in your updated top 10?
@@cabernetfran yes it looks like i overlooked it for some reason! let's try again! :)
10. vienna
9. kokopelli
8. bonfire
7. notre dame
6. amerigo
5. marrakesh
4. forum trajanum
3. macao
2. trajan
1. burgundy
also worth noting that if ravensburger hadn't screwed with the design for the 2nd printing of carpe diem and left things as originally created by feld, it would have come in at #3
@@rahdo I'm with you, Forum Trajanum deserves all that love. I was aware of the changes in the star-shaped movement of the meeple. So, there are more changes to the mechanics or rules that made the game worse?
because they changed the star, they also removed the ability for players to "reverse course" or "bounce back" when moving along the circle, which means youre much more restricted in the choices availble to you, and it also makes bread much more powerful than it used to be, as it's now the only way you can effectively "bounce back".
and they made these changes AFTER feld has posted publicly (which he rarely does) that the game was balanced as is and didn't need to be changed.
Yeah, La Isla baby. Love that game and theme (the 2p game maybe needs a variant...). Also Rialto is great. Although haven't played all Stefan Feld games, to me, the better game so far is ItYotD. Also love Macao, just bought a copy after years of looking (that also has some damage on the box, but don't care).
Nice to see some love for Amerigo. My wife and I love it and have never found the much maligned cube tower a problem. Strange that in this game it gets some haters but wallenstein using the same tower mechanism doesn't get as much grief
Wallenstein isn't an inherently generic game.
Best Feld Games:
1- Amerigo
2- The Castle of Brugundy
3- Rialto
4- Trajan
5- Jorvik
The worst so far: In the Year of the Dragon
i agree with the sentiment of four of your six choices :)
@@rahdo I think Feld is the best designer in terms of offering different experiences...
When I think in Feld I imagine, diversity...
Feld's Area Control = Rialto
Feld's punishment = In the Year of the Dragon
Feld's family and auction = Jorvik
Feld's Exploration = Amerigo
Feld's Engine Building = Bruges
When I want to play some especific game, I always find a Feld version capable of scratching the itch.
I think you disagree with Jorvik, which is the game I play with non gamers and In the Year of the Dragon... I don't like all that punishment...
That's why I think I hate Agricola lol
Here's my Top 10 Felds:
10. Builders Duel
9. La Isla
8. Bruges
7. Rialto
6. Bora Bora
5. Castles of Burgundy
4. Amerigo
3. Trajan
2. Macao
1. The Oracle of Delphi
I need more plays of Aquasphere and Luna to see where they fall for me.
I own ever Feld except Notre Dame, In The Year Of the Dragon, Strasbourg, CoB the Card Game, The Name of the Rose, and Dribbel Fieber
Have you gotten anymore Feld? How would you rank them now?
well you can always see how i rank everything at games.rahdo.com (you might have to refresh page) but i believe my top10 for feld right now (not having played marrakesh) would be
11 carpe diem
10 tuscany
9 luna
8 kokopelli
7 amerigo
6 bonfire
5 notre dame
4 forum trajanum
3 macao
2 trajan
1 burgundy
note, tuscany and carpe diem both rated higher until ravensburger went and changed the designs in reprints
Hey Rahdo, when you make these awesome top lists videos, I really miss the image of the games on the table,. It would be nice to see it while you talk about the games.
that woudl be a LOT of extra work i'm afraid...
really? Just show some random footage of your reviews for like 30s... simple as that. What do you think?
that doesn't just happen... it takes hours to edit videos like that together
Oh I see, at least next time try to show the back of the boxes to illustrate the game better. ;)
I agree. If you at least pick some photos. I often need to pause the video and search for photos.
I haven't played Luna or Rialto but Amerigo is easily my favorite.
Thanks Rahdo. I love the enthusiasm that you put in to your videos. Thanks to your run throughs and final thoughts I have made some smart choices when buying games. To date I have only played 4 Stefan Feld games but I think he's also my favourite board game designer.
I have played Castles of Burgundy and Macao at a local board game club and I own Castles of Burgundy Card Game and also Carpe Diem.
I'd be interested to see where the newer games appear on your list, such as Carpe Diem, which is a fantastic game. I believe you decided to let the CoB Card Game go in favour of the dice game .
well you can always find how i rate everything at ranked.rahdo.com, including all the felds i've kept! :)
Only have 1 Feld so far (AquaSphere), though kinda want Castles of Burgundy and now Notre Dame once the 10th anniversary edition comes out.
Even Ameritrash (and War Game) fans like myself own Castles of Burgundy..
I haven't played many Feld games, but my favourites so far has been
1) Bruges
2) Amerigo
3) Oracle of Delphi (EDIT: Just played today)
4) Castles of Burgundy.
I did not like Trajan and Aquasphere.
off topic, it seems you are preparing for more acquisitions by maximizing the shelf space with horizontal boxes. :).
Thank you for the videos, always a pleasure to watch.
The analogy I make of SOME of Feld's game is of a Rubik's cube. It can definitely be solved rationally and with time, but trying to may be quite boring to some people... and if you don't invest the time and energy, if you don't create an intentional cause/consequence effect in your moves, in the end whatever I do will just look random. That is specially the case for games like MACAO and RIALTO and hence these games are no fun for me. And hence games like CoB, LA ISLA and BRUGES are better for me... I can see the challenge in them but I can tackle it in a fun manner. I still need to try many others (Trajan, Bora, Notre, Dragon, Luna) but I wonder in which box those would be. Thanks for your videos!!
Have you gotten more into Aquasphere yet? There are so much games to play that it's hard to get back into older games
sadly no, but i'd love to get the chance
Hey Richard, Having not officially played any Stefan Feld games as of yet (I am excited because I just ordered Aquasphere - I got it cheap), but having only watched your runthroughs of ALL of them, I agree with all games on this Top 10 list, with the exception that I would replace Amerigo with Bruges. The cube tower in Amerigo looks too gimmicky, and it just seems like when you put your most recent cubes in, the odds are that you are going to only get very little back - most of which were the same cubes you just put in, and it seems like a lot of cubes just get stuck and the odds of them coming out is very low - which would make the game very unbalanced... So what do you have against Bruges? I thought it would make your list. Or maybe Jen likes it a lot more. I like how it looks like there is a good combination of short-term tactics as well as long-term strategy.
Every Feld game I've played I've liked. If Amerigo made your list I should really check it out...
Love your videos! Stefan Feld is my fav game designer too!!
Recomendation: show back of box to show what the game board might look like. Thanks
Just google it dude.
Time for update soon? Maybe after the first four of the City Collection are released by Queen at the start of next year?
let's do one right now!
10. Burgundy Dice
9. Luna
8. Amerigo
7. Bonfire
6. Notre Dame
5. Forum Trajanum
4. Kokopelli
3. Macao
2. Trajan
1. Burgundy
both tuscany and carpe diem might have pushed their way into the current top 10 if the publisher hadn't changed the rules for reprints to make them both weaker (IMO). merlin definitely would have if the expansions had just done a tiny big of work to get keep length under control :)
@@rahdo Wow, Kokopelli at #4! I'm excited to receive my copy soon, even more so now with such high praise.
i totally agree regarsing aquasphere. i also havent played it enough but from the handful of times that i have it was excellent. anytime you and jen want to play it give me a call! it would be my pleasure!!!
Great list, thanks for this!
That sure looks like Serica: Plains of Dust on the shelf behind you. I've been very interested in this game for some time but I've never had the opportunity to play it and haven't taken the print and play plunge. Any quick thoughts you can offer if it has made it to the table?
yes, it is serica - i've had it for awhile but never got it to the table as i'm always having to film other stuff.
Where does Carpe Diem fall into this list Richard? You had very high praise
hi thre, i twould probaly be #3 or #4, except they ultimately did a sort of stealth update to the game and made (IMO... others disagree) a significant change that dropped it down to around #8
So are you doing a top 10 Uwe Rosenberg video?
if the voters say so
Can we get an updated list?
somebody asked in these comments last year, and here's where i replied: ua-cam.com/video/xjNJdcBVJOI/v-deo.html&lc=UgzFwZYya7sLFypXnXd4AaABAg.9RpyHCX-mzA9Rq5uqtbzNI :)
I know it's been only 3 years, but maybe you could revise this list soon, perhaps taking into consideration not only the new games but also Queen's reimplementations. Just a thought, I believe it would attract some attention. Once again, thanks for the videos.
i will be revisiting it, but probably at the 5 years mark! :)
Hey Rahdo,
Do you have any of the expansions for Castles of Burgundy? If so would you consider doing a talk through?
Thanks,
Love the list.
i've got all of them, but i've hardly played any of them :)
Let me ask you something else... Is there any Feld game particularly good at escalation? I only played 3 of his games but I noticed that despite the awesome/elegant gaming mechanics he implements, the games felt repetitive because you are always doing the same routine from beginning to end... I am not looking for crazy escalation like in First Class or Russian Railroads, but a little bit of engine building would be nice... Thoughts? Thanks
wow, very interesting observation. you're right, his style doesn't really include any sort of escalation at all. i think maybe the closest he comes is notre dame?
I've just got the 10th year anniversary edition of Notre Dame, so will def try that... Thanks
What is Feld's most aggressive game that your mentioned at around 8:33, but never said the name? Tks
i don't remember what i was thinking about at that moment, but i'd say his 2 most aggressive games are speicherstadt (now reprinted at jorvik) and roma :)
Ouch that rialto is even on the list hurts my soul. Feld phoned it in on this one.
Mine would be
10. La Isla
09. It happens (sorry but it is cute and fun and quick)
08. Aquasphere
07. Luna
06. Notre Dame
05. Amerigo
04. Bruges
03. Castles of Burgundy
02. Trajan
01. Macao (more people need to play this, then they might understand my love. One of those games where each decision matters and is why screaming FELD! is a curse and a blessing. The frustration of trying to get the right cards and the right cubes to get a good engine is intense.)
hmm maybe I would replace La Isla with Bora Bora. Oracle of Delphi is a great game too. both of those would be above Rialto ohhh heck even Rum and Pirates is better than rialto.
Merlin would probably push Castles down for me.
Hey, there's a tiny typo in the show notes: You have Rialto listed as 10 and La Isla as 9.
actually the list was right, and i was wrong while i filmed because i set my stack up wrong)
No love for Bora Bora! That might be my favorite Feld.
Also a huge fan of CoB and Trajan.
great game, but too cutthroat for our tastes
I'm shocked Roma wasn't on your list. Of all his games, it is the one that most perfectly matches your criteria.
too PvP ish
Ok, La Isla is in and Bruges and Bora Bora out?! That's a surprise!!!!
talked about it here: ua-cam.com/video/bYRkCsHaKI8/v-deo.html
nice top ten video. I'd like to see the game it self just a pic or back of box even if you did a run through
我也最愛勃艮地堡 Castles of Burgundy is also my No.1
Castles is pretty great. It's the only one of his I've played, though.
I love In The Year Of the Dragon, so it would be my #1 until I play a few others.
The card drafting in La Isla is a bit too heavy on luck, you can keep draw cards that cannot form combos at all. Also very disappointed to see no Bora Bora on the list. I bought the game after watching your run through. :( What about Brudge?
i'll talk about them all in the next podcast (and 'll rank the remainder of his games) :)
No Bora Bora (which would of replaced Aquasphere for me), otherwise a great list ....Can't beat Castles of Burgundy.
Think these top 10 rundowns work best if you show the BACK OF THE BOX, so we get more of an idea. Just sayin...
No Bruges?
nope, but the hamburg remake probably would make it :)
why not In the year of the dragon??
love it, but it's a bit too stressful to make top10 :)
rahdo ahahahah ooook
Why you drop out Bora Bora, Rahdo? Heartbroken :( My number 1 Feld
too mean for us
rahdo So sad but thank u for this video. I love Feld games more day by day except the newest.
Trajan is definitely my #1 favorite Feld (and easily among my favorite games of all time) but curiously enough I find Amerigo to be more FUN. I rate Trajan more highly personally but it is quite dry where as Amerigo packs real excitement into the turns.
I'll only vehemently object to aqua shpere. I despise that game. Stefan Feld is such a great game designer but (for me) Aqua Sphere is practically irredemable.
Andrew Swegler agreed, Amerigo is one of my favorites...once I got my cube tower working right
la isla and rialto over bora and dragon? nah
oh yeah!
rahdo fine games, but not as good as bora bora :) still, Mr. Feld is a true genius of board game design. I wish Macao was availabale...
bushibayushi Rialto yes just over bora Bora (much to my surprise as I was not attracted to it before playing) La Isla ? nah. Year of the dragon is good but not in my top ten.
Bora Bora is my number 1
cuzco was a big improvement over BB imo :)
@
I have not played Cuzco, thinking that it is only a reskin of theme. Are there any changes to gameplay?
the biggest change is there's 15 diffrent god tile powers, while bora bora only had the same 5 every game. so it's a big uptick for setup variability. here's a thread going over the other tweaks and changes: boardgamegeek.com/thread/3023327/reprint-changes
Feld isnt my favorite designer and oracle of delphi is my favorite from him. :-p
I love Feld games but so many of them are not colorblind friendly.
1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women are affected by color blindness .
Gave up on Feld after Amerigo. A thrown-together mess with a blatant gimmick. Therefore, my top three are In the Year of the Dragon, Macao and likely Bruges, with Burgundy as the honorable mention. I find Rialto to be a weak, forgettable experience. Luna is too complex for its own good. Bora Bora is good, but a bit too 'samey' versus his prior games. Trajan is a very nice game, but the Mancala-like mechanism, which is cool, is surrounded by very familiar sub-mechanisms that just play too similarly to other Feld games. Notre Dame is fun-ish, but a little too one-and-done as there isn't much to experience after the first play; for hardcore Feld fans only.
By the way, you don't explore anything in Amerigo. The entire map is set at the start and players just race to occupy the 'good' spots. Amerigo's problem isn't the functionality of the tower, but the terrible looseness of the overall game itself. No tension, stress or viable interaction. Boring and horribly basic for such a big, bulky game.
I enjoy your list, Richard, but La Isla? Feld's official bargain bin game? Yikes!
wow, i couldn't disagree with you more, on just about every single thing you said. but to each their own :)
"Bargain Bin" as in it quickly went to sale after release and did not maintain its original price point.
Well, it is called RUM & pirates (you notice Rum got first billing in the title), lol. I concur with your opinion but I still enjoy playing it.
CoB has to be #1...u should do a 5 most disappointing Feld games...but you prob won't
i can't, none of them are bad. rum & bones isn't great with 2, and a couple are too light since they're targeted at kids, but they're all solid games IMO
Feld and theme? Surely you jest.
Did I hear a fart at 22:36??
i think it's a really weird belch actually. if you play it at 1/2 speed, you can see that my chin/mouth is moving at the moment it happens in sync.
but sure, i'll go with far too :)
Second?
No Bora Bora his best game BOOOOO! You get 3 demerits for that. Aquasphere a convoluted mess! Ugh.
i'd say the two are pretty comparable in terms of complexity...
First