Schotten Totten 2 Review - with Tom Vasel 

Thanks for the review Tom. Already played this one ca. 30 times since its' release and we love it. We played the first one to death and find this one to be a nice change. Certainly more thinky. I'd also say that according to our stats, the attackers win less often

Is it just me or does the switch to 5 suites feel like a way to make sure I can’t play Schotten Totten 1 with the same game? Or would the removal of a suite lead to more tactics cards needing to be played?

Saved me a few bucks. Thanks. The original is one of my favorites. Highly recommend that one.

Your brute honesty is such a breath of fresh air. After watching some playthroughs, I feel exactly the same as your review of Schotten Totten 2. Some of the other reviews I've read or watched of Schotten Totten 2 seem like they're squeezing hard to try to like it because they loved the original.

Yes yes and yes .... totally agree on everything you said .... it’s a classic for a reason ... playing around with such a streamlined game just doesn’t appeal to me ... I love the original and this looks convoluted for no good reason.

I'm a big Knizia fan and I love ST. I was so excited for this one, especially after reading the rulebook. I played it twice, and hated it. Sold.

I agree with you, Tom. I like Schotten Totten because it’s fast, easy to play and teach, and elegant. This? Not so much. If I desired something different, different mechanics, I would try out another game altogether.

so do you prefer schotten totten or battle line?

David Sirlin made Chess 2! The title is intentionally a bit of a joke but the game's pretty solid from what I have heard.

Thanks for the clear words.

I don’t mind all the other changes you mention except for the attacker defender aspect. That is a deal breaker for me.

Did I miss it? How does the defender win?

After 200 games of the original, this does not sound interesting. Thanks Tom!

I want Shotten Totten reprinted. I love the Scottish theme compared to the Front Line Ancients or Knights theme. I want it to gift it to my niece since she married a Scot. So many people turned off by my Battle Line Ancients box and cards at first until they play it.

Let's take the example of the attacker attacking with a red 8 and 9. Can they not prove their success simply by pointing out that only the green 10 had already been played somewhere else? Because even if the defender could potentially match the attacker color run of red 8 and 9 with a green 9 and eight, the attacker would still win, because they were first to form a formation.

Schotten Twotten. It had to be said.

Just saved me some euros, Tom. Thanks.

I still prefer my GMT Battle Line edition. I really don’t like Iello’s cutesy caricature art. While GMT’s artwork isn’t all that great either, the graphic design of GMT’s cards is far more functional. The colors are much more obvious at a glance, and the numbers are just more readable. Iello’s edition might be more color-blind friendly though, but those symbols under the numbers are very tiny.

Looks like an interesting variant, though the wife and I will probably stick with the original.

Too bad they complicated the mechanics to death. The original is fun. :) I love the chicken art on the '0' though.

i wish it had a better theme, like battle line

Battle Line is 9.5/10. Why mess with a classic and try to fix things that arent broken?

I would still argue that 'Babel' is better than both of these games.

Convoluted and seems less fun than the original