I agree with everything you said, good and bad. It’s still in my top 10 though. The biggest issue for me is the market you mentioned; the first player who can have get 8 or 9 money for different markets then tries to spam that spot and game is almost over at that point; he will win. The only mitigation we found that kinda work is using the Mango village from the Goodie box 1. If you have 2 good mango village tiles, it can be powerful enough that you may be able to challenge the market spammer. Your opponent can’t really ignore good mango village tiles, in fear of you getting them. Doesn’t always work but it often slows down the market strategy.
Big fan of this game. Try playing it at a badly lit pub table - the amount of time people spend squinting to try and tell the blue and green dice apart more than adds up to the 20 mins extra you thought the game could do with. Problem solved!
Spot on review. Totally enjoyable game. It's the first game on our Easter list, kicking off tomorrow. Just love these euro games, no minis, no cards to sleeve and no gimicks, just a bit of light brain burning!
One of our favourite games, I find rolling not exactly want you want isnt as bad as many dice rolling games, with this there are at least a few other options you can still utilise which softens the blow of not getting what you wanted. Great review as always. I like positive reviews of games we like lol.
I've never heard of this one before, but it looks class. Nice artwork, enough going on without being overcomplicated. I'll have to see if I know anyone who has it.
Not sure even if this game has actually "poor rolls". You need low values for some very strong actions like the river or the palace, especially the No 2 spot. It's very important to have a steady supply of dice but they are almost always useful in one way or another, regardless of values.
Again you made me laugh with your characteristic style of inserting all kinds of jokes that I confess take me by surprise all the time. I think that Raja is really a very good game and a must have. I was watching the Encyclopedia board game the other day. What do you think of how they implemented die mitigation?
very good summary of the gameplay. I appreciate the detail of the art, but it's also a negative for me, as new players get intimidated by the busyness of the board. I do like how Karma gives greater mitigation to 1s (and to a lesser degree 2s) i.e. a 1 can be easily turned into a 6 with single drop on the Karma track. Is then a 1 better than a 4? It might be. Also the specific dice required for the pavilion offer further opportunities for lower dice e.g. the 2 space is usually very popular, giving 2 dice and the 'billy bonus'. If you want to freshen up the game, there's a swathe of promo sized mini expansions in the 2 'goodie boxes'. With a game so solid, they're far from essential, but if you're finding the game finishes too quickly, these at least might give you other stuff to consider, even if they're unlikely to lengthen the game (aside from the teach and rules questions).
This was by far the most middle of the road Euro I've ever played. I would certainly play it if asked, but it doesn't really excite me at all. I'm very "meh" on the whole experience.
@@BoardGameBollocksYep, what i mean is that each of them contains some mini expansions so there is more of them in total and wonder which of those are worth using. I'm not interested in diversity, but to fix some unbalance in game, like too strong shops and number 2.
I like the first goodie box. And I think the Mango-Village fixes the imbalance to some extend... it gives you more good options (even as 4th player). And with the markets - it's always partly your fault allowing one player getting all the most valuable market tiles.
@michaelmueller8675 There’s an issue with the timing of what tiles come out and when. We find there’s a new line for cross roads at the start of the game and then it levels out.
Not at the moment. Time is short as my mother in law has a terminal illness so play throughs have had to be out on hold. They will be back once this period is resolved 👍🏻
