@@PentaHousenI wouldn’t call what you said a critique. And if you don’t know that Ian is the best in the business, you’re not a qualified critic anyway. Just a hater.
Good teach, Jon! Hadn't even heard of this game before the start of the month, when I randomly ran into one of the designers at a small con. The final scoring mechanism is interesting as a few shelves getting messed up can make your prestige stars near worthless, especially in the advanced version.
I'm very excited to see some coverage on this one, with a great rules teach as well! Thanks Jon! I'm normally apprehensive when it comes to these super complex looking games, but this one is such a good looking game that I'm curious about it. I think I would like it, but I might wait until I see some reviews or opinions on it. Keep up the great videos and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
I feel like this is one of those games where a complete playthrough would have been awesome. But I did get a feel for the game and realized I’d like to try it. I definitely would have to read the rules though, as I zone out during long explanations. Unless I can find a full playthrough that doesn’t take 5 hours to watch!
The design with the 3 Regions where you get what you need in the next Segment, reminds me very hard at Weather Machine. All in all it reminds me a lot to it.
I enjoyed your go through, although I found it a bit repetitive in a couple of moments (talking about bonuses). Overall, the game was already on my radar and after this I preordered it :-) thanks!
Very good instructions! I have a question though and after reviewing the rulebook i'm still in doubt. When taking an area action that costs a book (1:16:00 in the video) - you indicate that you "contribute" the book to the shelf. In the rulebook, when a book is "contributed" to the shelf, it is always very explicitely indicated. But in the section for "additional costs", it only states "pay the book". I'm wondering if paid books for action costs are returned to the supply instead of being sent to the shelf? the rulebook does not indicate that the book is "contributed".
I really would like to know how well it scales. I understand it does but how well does it really work at 2p or 3p for example. How much of the magic present in a 4p is lost. Clearly looks like Angabe best at 4p.
awesome game. release date has been put back 4 times already in Australia. so in another 2 years we should be able to buy it. assuming it even gets released here at all. Lots of good games don't. i want to live in America. Australian is a joke.
I should mention that when you were teaching the astronomy area action at 32:55 with the ports using Fez as the example, you didn't explain what those flags are that should a 7, 9, and 11 mean. Are they suppose to be knowledge requirements you have to have in order to put a trading post down, since it sounds like yellow shouldn't have gained the skill tile at the 7 flag spot on Fez at 58:12 since he didn't have 7 knowledge at the time to gain it legally?
They are only used for tie breaking when scoring the astronomy areas. Astronomy knowledge only determines the distance you can cover with your camel with one action.
Oh my, this game looks heavy ! Did you find it hard to learn/teach? Is this a long game ? I wonder if this isnt too much for my group. Thanks again for the great video!
I haven't actually played it, but I imagine the variability largely comes from how the library shelves fill out which will significantly change your incentives for what to go after as the game goes on.
Interesting game, shame you need a university degree in board gaming to learn it. If I wasn’t working full time I’d have the time to devote to learning it.
This is not a game for me, this game belongs in the category pastiche games. The theme is just pasted on in a bad way, as a player there is no underlying metaphor that ties what you are doing together with a theme. For example, why do you get a random book and build a mosque, sure mechanically you build an engine but what does it represent? The teach of this game will be very difficult, judging from how long it took you to explain the very first action in the game on your first turn. What makes a game stand out is that you can look at the board at the end of the game and say I did this, this is true in games like Agricola, Through the ages, Terraforming Mars, Castle of Burgandy Terra Mystica and Suburbia. At the end of this game, what did you do in this game? Some students went where graduated, and you are prestigious as a consequence, and you have a board with books and mosques, that you placed. Your accomplishment don't pop and tell a story, and it all feels duck taped together.
Jon didn't have time to go through the thematic aspects of the game, but everything in this game design is driven by theme. For example, placing a mosque piece in the theology area means that your school has a relationship with that mosque (not that you are building a mosque) and your student will copy a manuscript from that mosque (hence you get a book). This costs salt because that was the main currency used within the empire (gold was plentiful, but salt was needed in order to preserve food in the humid sub-saharan climate). As a player, you are one of the scholars that Mansa Musa brought back from his pilgrimage to increase the prestige of the Sankore university. You enrol students to your school, teach them classes and as they graduate they will bring prestige to your school, and to the university as a whole. The rulebook is full with side notes explaining how every aspect of the game comes from some historical fact about that period, So, please, do not say that the theme is pasted on because we went through a lot of work to incorporate as much historical facts as we could in the game.
There is a thematic disconnect since placing a mosque feels like building it, not establishing relation. I understand that it was derived from how many euro games are placing trading houses to symbolize relations. But placing building feels more close to building them, especially religious buildings that are typically built in games. It is great that there is a loot of thought that went into the theme, my preference is that the way the game interaction develop revels the history without player need to submerge into the book. It is a high standard and i understand it can be difficult to pull off (example of games that done it is Brass, mage knight the board game mm). Maybe a fallow up video with the theme and history of the game would make it more easy to understand.
