110% this. Mage Knight is the classic example of how to do this wrong. I love the game, but seriously, there are rules in the ‘Learn to Play’ book that are never mentioned in the ‘Rules Refernce’ book (or whatever the books are called). At least, that’s with the 1st printing that I’ve had since it came out. Hopefully that’s gotten better.
On the other end of the spectrum, I got Mansions of Madness 2e to the table last night, and the split rulebooks for that are divine- the Rules Reference is really just an extended and detailed glossary of every term and system in the game, all in alpha order, and cross-referenced. It makes looking up anything at all a snap.
I played it a few years back, and own 1e and a bunch of expansions, but was always put off a little by the price, and fairly limited number of scenarios (5 in the base game, plus 2 for imported 1e content, and 3 more as DLC for $5 each). I found a copy on FB Marketplace for $50, still in shrink. Score! But what really pushed me over the edge was finding out about Valkyrie, a fan-produced app (PC, Mac, Android) that imports all the assets from the official app, and runs the same way, but allows for fan-created content (and includes a construction kit and examples). Well, with my set, and in English, there’s another 25+ scenerios right there. w00t. And who knows, I may try my hand at writing a scenario myself. I know Tom is down on app-driven games, but I feel like this one hits the sweet spot for just doing bookkeeping and slowly spinning out the game, and not just running it for you.
I’m in for an online Kanban. Haven’t played in a while, so I’d be quite rusty. I’m JoshL on there too.
And I have played Fortress and Fabled Fruit. Both good, light games. Fabled Fruit took a while to grow on me. Fortress is almost like a trick-taking game? We played like 6 games of it in a row, the whole thing took maybe an hour.
You are absolutely right, and I understand from a consumer’s perspective the value in finding a reviewer, or channel, that helps you make informed purchasing decisions on games that can easily cost $70+ nowdays. So different from the times when I, as a pre-pubescent boy, walked into a hobby store and decided to buy Talisman on a whim!
However, the bigger related issues that this touches upon continue to be: the growing influence of “content-creators” (including their increasingly cozy relationships with designers and publishers), the blurry distinction between (paid) content-creators and (unbiased) reviewers, the challenges of promotion for small companies/independent designers - esp. when competing with the blaring clarion call of BIG KS’s, the absurd overabundance of games, the equally absurd desire to acquire zillions of games by hobbyists, the slow but gradual extinction of written review in lieu of flashy video (Tom and Dan excepted, of course), and so much more that sometimes depresses me about this “golden age” that it’s a bit of a challenge to keep the chin up.
They’re almost more tastemakers than reviewers. It’s indeed a lot of power, but I think they can take a little of the credit for the average board game being as good as it is today.
I also find myself consistently unaligned in a way that still makes their reviews helpful. I think this means there should be another super good reviewer boosting sales of games I love, but there are so many channels and sites now that maybe it’s not possible for a newer entrant to gain their popularity and the power to make other games sell out is present but more evenly distributed.
And the TM insert arrived. It just barely fits the project and corporation cards for the base game, Prelude and Turmoil in the base box - I’ve had to leave the Turmoil event cards in a baggie on top. I’m not sure it’ll be able to cleanly separate the project decks either, as the dividers go in a limited number of specific places.
I think you’re just going to run out of box space, frankly. With the new player mats and the Turmoil boards, the lid is resting about half a cm above the base.
It might need to use an expansion box, yeah. Or do one of their crates. But the current one was designed for base game plus Venus Next, Preludes and the two other Mars boards, not Colonies or Turmoil.
Speaking of box inserts, I recently started carrying Folded Space inserts at the store and I really like them. They’re foamcore instead of wood so cost 1/4 as much as their Broken Token counterparts. The one I got for Terraforming Mars holds all of the expansions (and extra board) in the core box. Really liking these.
Game night last night, played more 4-player Root, still loving it. Got to be Vagabond for the first time and pulled off a win with Harrier (who starts with crossbow and sword and can play very aggressively). Landed a 10-pt turn to jettison me into the lead by slaughtering a family of moles and razing 3 of their structures while sipping on some tea. Vagabond is definitely my favorite so far, as he has so many interesting ways to score points. He wins perhaps too easily because there’s no immediate incentive to attack him - you don’t get any VP for breaking his stuff. But it’s clear that someone needs to take a potshot at Vagabond, early-game, before he has 2+ swords to at least set him back a turn.
At it’s best, Root is a fascinating endeavor in staying in the running while deflecting attention away from yourself, collaboratively balancing the board-state with the other players, until you find that sweet opportunity to pop 10+ points, absorb a last desperately intense barrage from the other players, and limp across for the win. At it’s worst, it’s a game where you feel the designer standing behind your shoulder whispering, “That’s not how you’re supposed to play that faction…”
Doesn’t foam degrade overtime or are they doing something to avoid that. I have a really, really hard time paying more for inserts than I do the game. I generally don’t use them as a result.
It does look nice (and I might have gone for it instead of the e-Raptor one had I known about it), but they do say it doesn’t store all the Turmoil components in the core box, and also that if your cards are sleeved, it can’t store Colonies. If I hadn’t sleeved my cards, I don’t think I’d have any issues fitting everything in, and even as it is, it’s all in the box, just not quite as neat as I’d like. It’s nearly the same cost as I paid for the e-Raptor one though, so it would be a bit of a toss-up. The Folded Space one does look better for playing with though as the individual trays can be handed around.
