I was also skeptical until I played a number of times. Now it’s easily my favorite.
The balance issues are a bit overblown IMO. Yes, the Killdeer/Gull + Raven/Crow combos are obvious and famous. But in practice I’ve rarely seen the combo played, and the value diminishes in the later phases. If playing the physical game, a house rule to remove Ravens from the initial card draw phase prevents someone from accidentally winning the game before it starts.
something like that should be in the app too 
If you get both in your first hand… well… you should be in for a good score.
But same can be said if you get the wetland scientist and fishmonger. Or if you draw 2 x look/tuck in your first hand.
There are some combos that make it easier, but the game is not broken. And in fact the best improvement to the game is adding the European Expansion.
At that stage there is just so much more to pick from.
My wife and I will play Oceania, but in vanilla version (original boards, remove the 20 nectar birds). We don’t like nectar or the flow of the new boards
After a week off from blogging, here’s the latest Top 25 Games Played post, #10-6!
Also realized that I didn’t post the latest After Action Report for my Storm Above the Reich campaign.
The Networks is genuinely good, and filed in my head near Terraforming Mars (so is Obsession). The main thing it is missing is more interaction (e.g. a limited viewer pool, especially around certain time slots).
Terraforming Mars is a fucking banger and one for the ages. For a game to have that level of success despite unwarranted grousing about the components is virtually unheard of. Nominative determinism rules ok.
Tyrants of the Underdark is still the best deckbuilder+ game, which is a shocking indictment of board game design, really. Too many games to play, so some designers don’t bother, and end up retreading old ground. Why this game didn’t get fifty half deck expansions is a mystery and a crime.
Thanks for checking them out!
Tyrants I think was a victim of a few things:
Overpriced at the time it came out (I bought it on sale)
Really dark artwork that made it hard for some people. Even I have trouble telling the black and purple apart unless the light is good.
The first expansion had the card stock issue where they were totally different than the original games. Even with sleeves, you can feel the differences.
I didn’t mind that and I loved the expansion, but I know it got a lot of flak for that.
Overall, though, I totally agree with you.
The recent re-issue, in a more convenient box format, will hopefully help, but I was blown away by it when I played it and it remains a standout experience, I introduced it to an experienced group last year and they loved it. Amazing game, deserves handfuls of expansions. The fan decks people have made on BGG have some great ideas.
Right on the money with this. I like the game mechanics, but I cannot read/use cards reliably because my eyes are terrible. #oldmanproblems
I’m looking for recommendations for co-op games that are either war or history themed and play well with 3. I already have Black Orchestra.
V Commandos/V-Sabotage (rethemed as Assassin’s Creed now IIRC), Days of Ire, Auztralia, Samurai Spirit, Ghost Stories/Last Bastion, London Dread.
I’m going to recommend Maria, which plays 3 and kinda sorta has a co-operative element
I’ve had my eye on Seal Team Flix off and on for a while. Co-op dexterity, but apparently actually kind of heavy for a dexterity game. While that sounds fascinating to me, I don’t think I want to solo it and my kids (who’ve been my only gaming partners this pandemic) wouldn’t care for it.
Can’t remember if I posted or not, but got Ark Nova the other day.
Wow, this game is amazing. Really great theme and plays exceptionally well.
Would be great for digital inplementaion too!
I agree! I don’t have it but a friend does. Played it last week and I’m hoping to play it this week as well
Is there any opinion here on the Undaunted games?
Undaunted: Normandy is okay. North Africa is excellent. Normandy unfortunately has you playing identical forces across similar maps, which can lead to some two-hour stalemates, as both sides settle down into the best cover they can find and chip away at each other. North Africa pits asymmetric forces against each other with different goals per side, and is shorter and snappier as a result.
I’m deeply divided. I got Normandy and Reinforcements for myself to play solo, and played 10 scenarios so far. The solo system is decent; like AIs often do, it can run into situations in which it fails to take advantage of an opportunity a human would notice, and it doesn’t pay attention to the arc of the game. But it’s reasonable, and not too burdensome to implement once you get used to how it works, and the initiative bid is quite cool, making that an agonizing decision.
Maybe it’s just because I’m spending a little extra time running the AI, but it felt kind of mechanically-focused to me. That’s a weird criticism in part because I can describe the action after the fact in perfectly thematic ways. For example: the Germans quickly took control of the riverbank, holding off any advance from that quarter, but American fire from the nearby hills kept them from moving to take the bridge before the Americans secured it. So stepping through the mechanics yields perfectly sensible, thematic stories. But I mostly realize those stories capture what’s happened only after the game. While I’m playing, I’m thinking about bidding for initiative and counting cards.
I’ll probably go back to it at some point (and it’s good to hear love for North Africa; maybe I’ll try that), I feel like I got reasonable value for what I paid, and I’d love to try it with a human partner, but, for now, I’ve set it aside to give Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition my solo love. I even started reading the Robinson Mars trilogy to enhance my enjoyment.
Reinforcements is better than I thought. The 4P mode is good, and the box is big enough to hold Normandy and NA as well. Pretty impressed with it.
Hold up, there’s a 4-player mode? Sold.
Comes with Reinforcements, mind you. Not available in NA or Normandy without it.
