Funny thing with Cry Havoc, there is actually a brilliant game/engine from 1981 with the same name, super immersive medieval combat wargame. A bit weird they went for the same name.
fan made Force Commander 2 app for Imperial Assault saved the game for me. so much fun solo, you can play all the campaigns with the app solo to 4 players no need to play imperials (while fun but like you said harder to get to the table if you need someone to play the imperials)
Imperial Assault/Descent, totally with you on those, I have avoided them, they look pretty but I know i'd never get them to the table for the reasons you gave plus the money pit and "need" to purchase the character packs is a piss take. Wingspan I see your point, never thought about how condensed it could be unfluffed, but we do enjoy it and easily bash a game out in 30 mins and its sits as my highest played game at 35 plays. Working my way through your channel, great content mate thanks.
Nice video as always. I do agree totally on Wingspan. Like John Cleese says "What´s the point". Thou i do like birds a lot, mostly the ones in nice dresses😉 I would like to try Cry Havoc. Only to get my own opinion about the gameplay. The other games mentioned here I have not played. "Scanners" this film I did see many years ago. I know the feeling. Been married. Keep up the good work.
Love hearing your thoughts on the games. I would say that Imperial Assault/Descent are great fun but finding a group is a nightmare so can understand your point entirely. Same would be true of other campaign games like Glooomhaven, Charterstone, Pandemic Legacy etc. though! I quite enjoyed Cry Havoc for the asymmetry, deck tweaking and unique combat system but I can see that game balance and some of the mechanics may not to be everyone's tastes. It also doesn't help that there are many incredible area control/dudes on a map games, so it has difficultly standing out from the crowd. Haven't played Wingspan so will reserve judgement on that. Think I'd probably enjoy it but that it wouldn't set my world on fire. I would like to try 7th Continent, but a bit wary of it at the same time. Also don't like the fact that all the print runs are Kickstarter only. Dominant Species doesn't really interest me due to the theme. I have played Evolution which was decent enough but it's not a theme that really grabs me.
Thanks for your thoughts...we had Gloomhaven since its first printing but have failed to get it to the table for obvious reasons. I can’t bring myself to shift it though...saving it for a solo marathon when/if I retire 😂
What I disliked about Wingspan, from the very first time I played it, was it is a card asset management game that does not need there to be other players as their actions could just as easily be taken on by an AI and it wouldn't change the game. It's more like a game of golf - 'a good walk spoiled' - designed by computer programmers for computer programmers masquerading as a board game about birds when the birds are an irrelevant theme.
Hi man, Love the channel and have been following you since the inception. Your honesty is so refreshing compared to 99.99% of other board game channels!
I like Dominant Species. I like wargames. Dominance calculation is easy and you only really need to confirm it during the domination resolution. If that was your only complaint though, Dominant Species Marine drastically streamlined the dominance calculation.
Great review … finally a bloke that speaks the truth against the hype. Dominant Species … crap. Dominance species calculation are a waste of time. Wingspan - buy a bird book instead. Rare to have a guy speak against hype and get canceled by thin skinned designers. Awesome guy !
Recently got Wingspan and really enjoying it. I’ve been into the hobby for less than a year so wasn’t bogged down with expectations from the hype. Good video and made me think what I could stand to get rid of - Ethnos (a real letdown) and K2 (one of the first games I bought and overplayed it at the time, decent game though)
Really enjoy Ethnos and K2 isn’t half bad either. Didn’t like wingspan as it’s essentially a small card game made out to be a full board game with a price tag to match. Plus the theme isn’t something we find even remotely interesting. I can understand why people like it though. Try Ethnos with 6...crazy fun.
Yeah, I can see maybe Ethnos would be better with more players. Only been able to play it with two players and it really doesn’t work, despite having tweaked rules for two.
I just purchased wingspan, my wife likes it. she likes the eggs and mechanics. but i do see through it all and really it's another catan for me. the luck component of the game is too strong. I've played multiple games online before purchasing, it is evident when high ranking players have immensely shit games, I'm talking 60-70 points. It's cause if you have bad luck with your bird cards drawn, that's it, there is no comeback mechanic when the rounds get shorter and you didnt get to build a good engine. In other words I guess, someone with low ranking or worse skilled player could have lucked out and had the best cards for a fantastic engine one one action and they fly away with the game from 2nd round onwards. to me, it's a party game where if all players have similar knowledge and skills, luck can feel like the only determining factor
I heard Wingspan was overrated. Wasn't really keen on it in the first place. I love star wars, but I don't like when those games turn into a dice roll fest.... good to know. The other ones I don't think I've heard of. Another Great video.
Its weird the whole cryhavoc experience cause that unbalance element exists in many games in purpose. For example Twilight Imperium, cosmic encounter, Vilainous and of course Dune among many. The factions are deliberetly unbalanced and the players balance it with alliances or constant poking the ovepowered ones. Maybe some like it maybe some not but the fact remains that a game designer has done something like that before and most game designers probably know these games so it shouldnt be so strange to ask or even offensive to ask about this "unbalanced" element.
The only game I’d considering buying is 7th Continent for that choose your adventure style game. I think all the others I will now give a miss for the reasons you gave. I think another I’d add to the crap list is Spirit Island which bored the living day lights out of me and felt like I was fiddling with monopoly pieces.
I very nearly got rid of zombicide because I just found it a dice fest... but since learned to love it. I did however get rid the 'war of tanks' card game 'Rush'... it was bought from The Works and just wasn't worth it.
Have to say I totally agree with your comments on Wingspan... though my wife won’t let me sell it... although one game we did agree on selling was 7th Continent, we just didn’t get what the hype was at all... far too much chance and random bumpf, poor interesting characters and story... Tainted Grail is the game 7th continent should have been.
I got tainted grail after really wanting to like 7th continent. I feel like the story and sense of direction will be what makes it work for me. I got it and the expansion for $100 AUD so pretty happy
@@BoardGameBollocks I generally think Stonemaier games are overproduced. If you strip the games back to their core mechanisms and treat them like dry euros they don't compare to games like Troyes, Concordia..... etc.
I agree the humans in CryHavoc are overpowered in the default setup. All the races are modular though. So we nerfed the humans. (But then another race became overpowered.. so we... and then... oh ok).
@@BoardGameBollocks The only thing which makes Humans "overpowered" is their default skill card. Try using the one in Aftermath instead and see if you like the game it creates better. IMHO humans are not really "overpowered" but rather easy, in the sense that finding their winning strategy is simple (just abuse their default skill card as much as you can). Cry Havoc is also the best with four, if the Trogs are actively controlled by a player they can be quite a thorn in the humans' side. With three players and passive trogs the humans can indeed pull way ahead easily.
No regrets. Someone else now has the pleasure of playing it, plus they got it cheap when it was out of stock so very happy it’s gone to a loving home 👍
We didn’t. We may get it again...I just picked up cry havoc and the expansion to have another pop as making this video got me thinking about it again. Who knows...
@@cameronduffy9215 My group also found wingspan very boring, we have played s different player counts. My friend is going to eBay his copy. Seriously we were very disappointed.
Agreed on Descent, disagree on Wingspan and Dominant Species. Wingspan i have used as a gateway game and so far it has never failed to get people into this wonderful hobby of ours. Dominant Species Is a marmite game. I do struggle to get it to the table as it rewards players that know how to play it much more than most games do. Experience at the game heavily favours your chances of winning much more than most games i have played. This puts me off suggesting it as no one should want to dominate the game play that much. We and should all be able to agree to disagree. Recently found your channel and find it very refreshing to find a you tube creator that says it as they see it. Keep up the good work 😊
cry havoc creator went mental. That's speaking volumes. Will avoid his crap at any cost then. Thanks!@ subbed. Honest reviews are rare. The others I fully agree with so no reason to doubt your cry havoc opinion.
Calculating dominance is easy. The next tiles doesn’t effect the dominance of your current tile. This sounds like you got the rules wrong because it’s not supposed to be this complicated. It’s my number 3 game and I wish I can teach you it correctly.
@@BoardGameBollocks Maybe you didn't get the rules wrong when you played, but the way you explained it here is clearly incorrect 11:30 - 11:35. Maybe it all just became such a headache for you after playing it that you can't be bothered to get it right when you made this video.
"Sit up and Shut Down" - hehehehe good one. But Cry Havoc? I get that if the dev pissed you off, sure. Bin it. But the game itself is fine (especially with the expansion), Humans are easy mode only if other players make an effort of ignoring them, the thing with them is that they are most forgiving plus easy scoring. But start moving towards them early and they are f'ed. Agree with Wingspan, always disliked that game. Zero care for what it is. I don't play games to make political statements about empowering the dev.
We played 10 games of Cry Havoc so far.. Humans won Twice.. You play with people who don't know strategy/tactics of this game and you're probably one of them..
