Europa Universalis- why so complicated?! rulebooks, blind playtesting and streamlined board games. 

Thank you so much for reviewing this game! I am now aware of your channel and have subscribed. I was a backer of this game and have played the video game. The video game has a high learning curve, complex and can be expensive (with many expansions) so in that way it mirrors the board game somewhat. I totally agree with all of your points (my wife said to me “he sounds like you” when watching your video) that the video game does the heavy lifting for you, in the board game you have to do the heavy lifting yourself. I received my copy of this game but sold it without playing it. I did, however, play it extensively on Tabletop Simulator. I had also previously backed Crusader Kings, another board game adaptation of a PC Game from the same company as EU. It was an okay game, very rushed (although delivered late) but importantly it abstracted a somewhat complex PC game into an evening playable board game. When EU board game was first announced the designers used the words “Historical Twilight Imperium”. The early rulebook, although rough supported the many missing elements. The campaign was significantly delayed with many backers play testing the game with the designer on discord. This is where I believe (and others mentioned on Kickstarter) that the vision changed from an adaptation to a replication of the PC game. It went from a day-long game to a multiple day long game. I don’t have a group that can take that so I gave up. Like you I play light and heavy games (such as hex and counter war games) and found the rulebook poorly organised and the gameplay devoid of most modern techniques streamlining techniques. I agree with all your points and am disappointed this game did not end up as I thought the vision started out as.

This game made me build a gaming table before I played it so I could leave it set up. About to start it. If it's too complex, I'm not afraid to do a bit of redesigning. The map and components are too good to waste. I'm in the process of redesigning Successors, which had a similar problem. There is an online website that will run the bots for you, but I don't use solo rules.

I'm torn. While I agree with what you've said, I do greatly enjoy this game. It is hard to get to the table as it's a multi--day commitment. I also agree that the rulebook is poorly organized. Where I disagree is with doing anything that significantly further simplifies the game. The PC game is significantly more complex than the board game. So unless you're going for something like a glorified Risk, this is what it looks like when you create a game that tries to capture the feel of the PC game (IMO). So what could be done to make this game better? 1) do a complete overhaul of the rulebook so that it's better organized. 2) Remove outlier rules like being able to re-roll dice under certain conditions. 3) add a frequently asked question errata for outlier rules such as a sheet that has useful information such as differences between a distant continent province and a regular one. and 4) most importantly, make an official app version of the rule book that allows you to keyword search. At the end of the day, these steps won't turn this into a 4 hour game, but it will make it more streamlined with less downtime. For example, it's not the rules referencing that is the problem, it's that when you go to reference the rules, it usually takes a long time just to find what you're looking for if you ever find it at all. With twilight imperium, I often felt pigeonholed into choosing actions based on what was previously done what what was left. I also didn't feel that the reward was great enough if you wanted to play CRUSH YOUR ENEMIES style and conquer. I love the sandbox feel of Europa UTPOP. When you complete a game of Europa, you feel like you've earned that victory. Likewise, one really bad move or bad love event will typically not be enough to floor you as is often the case in other games.

And on the 3rd day, half way through shaping Europe, G_d said: "That's it, I call it a day. Let this be know as "Retail Europe."🥴 And of course let me sing praise for this fantastic video and it's maker. 🥳 Personally, I wouldn't touch this game with a ten foot pole. It's one of these games that would take very quickly a trip through a window. Powered by the rage engine.

I also got this without having played the video game or seeing playthroughs etc and I don‘t know why but after I watched your video now I want to bring this to the table even more 😂 and for solo 😱 On another note, I see you have Dark Ages too, would love to see a video for it!

Complicated game. Thanks Assaf for the excellent video- that helped a lot!!!

Totally agree with you. For me, the access that a game offers is becoming more and more important. Especially in complex areas. One of the best I've seen here is the Atlantic Chase tutorial. That was quite fun. Thanks for your thoughts!

Thank you for saving me a headache.

Yeah, this is a tough one. I, too, went all crazy with buying everything for it before I had truly learned it. The solo (and most of the game, frankly) is very unapproachable and I agree totally agree the money Aegir is spending on developing a new expansion should be spent on refining this further. It's a really fun game once you can grok the rules. But the solo is not very functional and also even if you do have a group to play it with it's going to take literally like... 14 HRS to play a full game (depending on the scenario). It's a shame, hopefully they clean it up in the future.

I bought it back in Jan and still haven't opened it. Now watching this video and scares me more. I am a programmer so I understand flow charts easily so maybe won't be that bad. Still it's board game. I have to take the dive and try it

Great video buddy, I know you gave it your all. I tried giving it my all but I didn't nearly have it in my much smaller tank either.

Wargames are in their own league. Also, of course the solo bots are going to be cumbersome, just like the bots in COIN games for example. Having that said, maybe the rulebook for this game sucks. I haven't read it.

OMG the flowcharts. That's absolutely insane. I think the publishers forgot that the games are supposed to be fun for everyone, not for just accountants. 😂 Kudos to the people that enjoy the game, but I completely understand your frustration.

100% agreed. It is more or less my story. I would love to play this game, but it is impossible.

🤟🤟🤟🤟

No excuse for a bad rulebook of course, but the videogame Europa Universalis is also extremely complex (and itself is actually based on a board game!)

Skill issue

The rule books are impressive, but I would not touch this game with a 10 feet pole. Those flow charts are insane. This game would probably be better as computer game... Edit: ok this is actually from a video game... That explains it.