We played Istanbul with both expansions on Monday, so 25 tiles, but there were 5 of us, so it still have some good interaction / semi blocking. A big teach with so many locations, and I could have prepped better to teach it, but everyone picked it up super quickly, with good player aids and solid iconography. Glad we played it.
Seeing Rajas of the Ganges brought a huge smile to my face. My family loves that game, and it captures our culture (Indian) really well and respectfully. Just played it a couple of nights ago 🙂
I *just* bought Xia last night in the Arydia pledge manager based on your recommendations (across several videos). The Western Legends video and the mention about the sandbox you keep thinking about when playing other sandboxes is probably what pushed me over the edge. I think it will end up being a good purchase for me. Other games on your list that struck a chord for me: LOVE Bruges. I'm sad it's no longer available, and I agree-I don't want Hamburg as a replacement. Through the Ages is also fantastic, but the app totally killed the physical game for me. And I still have faith that Everdell Complete Collection will show up...at some point...hopefully. Overall, I love your topic selection, your video length, and your pace and stream of consciousness approach to your video content. Keep doing what you're doing. 👍🏼
I got Xia after The Dungeon Dive talked about it and it has become one of my favorite games. I love playing the solo campaign game but I really really love playing with 2-3 other players who won't avoid PVP if its good for them so we have intense games that are always a load of fun ...can I mine a relic and go crack it while avoiding getting too close to other players or NPC? oh no another player just found a gate and now can get to me easy etc
Glad you got some great games back into your collection! Quacks is one of our favorites! But it is made a lot better by the expansions and the BGG upgraded bits. I'm happy to say that we've yet to get rid of a game that we regret getting rid of. Still plenty we don't have that we want, of course, like Rajas of the Ganges and Everdell. We have quite a few games in our collection that only get played every 5 years. A lot of them are those heavy euro-style games, many of which would be really expensive to replace now, which is why we keep them. We admittedly collect games to have them available, even if they don't get played much. On the other hand, since our collection is for both me and my husband, we also have compromises on games that one would get rid of, but don't because the other really likes it.
Hey Alex, great vid. Thanks for sharing. I took a punt on Xia when it hit Kickstarter with the Embers expansion - I searched around to discover no one had any copies of the original game available anywhere and everyone absolutely raved about it! When my copy landed, with Embers, I quickly dove in and banged our 25 games, mixing ships and objectives and had an absolute blast. Agree, it can be a bit of a beast to table (my very first game I abandoned after taking 45 miniatures to set up! I created a custom insert meaning it's now a literal 5 minute job from opening to play. Great game. Really looking forward to Arydia landing in the near future ❤️
I hope you have The Norwegians expansion for Feast of Oden. To me it is an essential expansion that loosens the game a bit more and changes the actions a bit. Oh and horses. 😁 Raja has resurfaced for me as the scoring track gave me the same feeling when playing Arc Nova. ( totally different game ) but I love the balance of needing both tracks to intersect.
I really liked A Feat for Odin when it came out, but The Norwegians made me love it. For me, it is the perfect expansion with both "more" and "better." I do not even miss the "copy" spots.
I love ‘A feast for Odin’ but I feel the need to add ‘Norwegeans’ just as I never play ‘Viticulture’ without ‘Tuscany’ and ‘Istanbul’ without ‘Mocha & Baksheesh’. Love your choices.
istanbul with both expansions is really great. different strategies to reach 5 gems, only few tiles will be ignored (due to setup) but another game they will get a regular visit. I like it alot
I too love a bunch of these games: Rajas, Istanbul, Quacks, Bruges and Orleans (with Trade expansion). I will try playing more of Xia and Oracle of Delphi as those are games that I played just once and never went back to. You are inspiring me to do so. Thanks for your videos!
Regarding sandbox games, one of the best sandbox games, and is also a Rosenberg's game, is Field of Arle. It's one of the top 3 sandbox game for me, and it's perfect because it's for 1-2 people meaning it's way easier to table it than any other non 2-player Uwe farming game.
You hit the nail on the head with Root. The teach is just a bear and you have to teach it every time someone new joins. Couple that with me never really connecting enough with the rules to retain much and it had to go.
What are you recording with? I'm noticing a lot of quick focus pulsing between the foreground and background. I apologize, as a video professional I tend to notice these things. It's a minor issue. It's only noticeable on full screen.
I got rid of Architects of the West Kingdom after waiting a year for Shem to 'fix' the solo AI 😜. 2 weeks after I sold it, the expansion was announced with all new AI play. Oh well. I'm not sure I have the interest anymore to bring it back. There are always new and new-to-me games that catch my eye.
In regards to Friday, I worry that once I figure out the puzzle it will lose its appeal. I have played it about 5 times now and have only made it to the 3 eyes. It is nice for what it is. For the price and shelf space I feel like it's a must. At least to see if deck building is for you when you're starting out in the hobby
A feast for Odin is a fun and fantastic game on its own, but I hear the Norwegians expansion adds a lot more to the game. As far it adds additional viable tracks to victory.
Its interesting what you say about Xia. I have the expansion but Ive yet to actually play the game at all. I love sandbox games, esp. solo. my biggest reason for not playing it yet is because after every session of reading the rules I immediately hesitate with worry that it doesnt sound as good as Fallout, or Western Legends, or Outer Rim and I just set up those games instead lol. I guess I really need to just bite the bullet and go in and see how it turns out. Everyone loves Xia and the games I just mentioned are typically viewed as being not nearly as good. Especially fallout which most people think its garbage but is my favorite sandbox solo experience lol.
Have been trying to track down a used copy of Le Havre, they go fast. Xia looks great, too long of a game to table, maybe one day I'll get tobplay it. Backed the colletors edition of Everdell. Looking forward tonplaying it.
Curious to hear your thoughts on Orleans. I’ve been planning to get that game whenever I have caught up on my gaming budget again. My biggest concern is how well does it play at two. I was also concerned over the beige bland artwork but I think I can look past that if the gameplay is rewarding enough. I also was interested in Le Havre but the theme doesn’t appeal to me. Need recommendations for something that feels as good but is themed differently and a little shorter in length. Very interesting comparison to enjoying a movie, but not having to rewatch them all.
Through the Ages is an AMAZING, AMAZING game. I can not deny that. However it’s soooooooo hard to table and teach that it’s hanging on by the skin of its teeth in my collection. But I also have Nations which while not as good as Through the Ages it’s good enough. Speaking of a table hog that’s hard to teach/table how long do you think you’ll hang onto Merchants Cove?
You said that through the ages app you are playing in regular basis, I wonder how frequently are you playing games - boardgames, app versions of bgames and different app games as well as PC and or console games? How many games do You play per month, per week, per day on averege? Would be interesting to see/hear. My goal for this year is to play 250 games from my boardgame collection (mot counting BGA), currently I am at 98 played.
Most of my friends, when playing first time Everdell, complain about the fact that there is only 1 stone place available if you are unlucky during initial setup. But like this game a lot. BTW: Backer of the Big Box.
I guess reliability is also a virtue🥺 Feast of Odin is on my wish list, all others great with 2 are already in storage, so I probably don't have to give up the Devon challenge 😁
Hey Alex, I have a suggestion for you: instead of saying only, about a game, that you "loved it", it would be much more interesting and useful if you shared even one key reason why you did. In fact, different people have different tastes, and so knowing that Alex from BoardGameCo likes a game isn't enough for sparking interest in all of us. 😉 There is a famous game reviewer who said that saying that a game is great or that you love it is to be completely avoided. I agree in that it doesn't help other much with deciding whether the game is for them. I'm thinking that it wouldn't take much more time to instead mention for instance what is unique for you about each game. Anyway, I must also say that I'm impressed by your recent career shift! You have all my best wishes for this new endeavor, as you're a key figure in the hobby.
