Impressions September '18 - Teotihuacan, Dice Setters, Western Legends, and 6 more!

Here is my Impressions Vlog for September 2018!
A Feast for Odin - 0:36
Brothers - 5:43
Dice Settlers - 9:35
Fertility - 16:05
Isle of Skye: Journeyman - 20:58
Lisboa - 26:47
Swordcrafters - 32:02
Teotihuacan - 39:00
Western Legends - 48:04

[IBGVH]

Lisboa is such a great game! I agree with everything you said, I dread teaching it and AP-prone players really need to get out of their comfort zone and learn to settle to keep it moving at a good pace, but it's so satisfying when something you planned 4 turns in advance works out perfectly, and the intertwining mechanics are also very engaging and captivating. The incredible component quality doesn't hurt the game either, I think that Ian O'Toole is a great graphic designer and his touch is really noticeable in his games.

[TomMannCenturia]

Such great formatting of your videos, makes it so easy to find what you want to watch.

[Rehbstheassassin]

Adam from Adam's Apple Games here. Thanks for your impressions at of Swordcrafters - I'm glad you'll play it again! We added the expanded edition modules for the purpose of adding more decision space for players that want to explore things like long term goals, short term goals, and more set collections with the sword relics. That's good feedback on the straight line cuts feeling like they're taking away some of your cleverness. It was a thematic addition from the start and core to our design decisions, but we're looking to explore more "I cut you choose" set collections with this in the future as well. I always suggest the first play as the base game with only sword magic. Once people understand that, next up is adding sword relics. More than two modules at a time is pretty darn taxing on the brain in my opinion. Cheers!

[windyhillbomber]

I think the Ave of Dead is in keeping with the actual theme being an intrinsic part of the historical site of Teotihuacan. As for teaching/complexity....it really isn’t in the same ballpark as Lisboa. Lisboa is a beast...but a very satisfying beast

[Nayr]

In regards to Western legends, I thought the poker strategy was overpowered as the game went on. But I had a come-from-behind victory being a Marshall. I had LP from items and the Marshall track that the poker player didn't spend time getting. They also didn't have any advantages in items when being robbed or fueled. That game saw us being 1 to 4 pts apart. In a different game, a Wanted player just churned out LP while hunting bandits and wrangling cattle, and outshined a gold nugget harvester and poker player because no one wanted to be a Marshall or do stories in a way that stopped the Wanted player. I'll admit the cards feel unfair at times. But I personally liked the game for its sandbox feel. If you do decide to play again, I'd tinker around with all the vast options available. :)

[georgedickson]

John, I’ve seen it be said that the component and box quality of Western Legends is not very high. Would you care to comment on the aesthetics of the game?

[kchorst]

I'll try to watch this, but it's hard with A Feast for Odin being alphabetized with A not F.

[narutosan]

As someone who likes dominoes I want to try Fertility but will wait for someone to review Dominations - Road To Civilization first.

[stevenamamoto]

Jon, how did you find the pace of play of Western Legends? Also, how immersive is the experience? Did you feel like you were a cowboy in the Old West?c

[BGBarbarian]

lol at Western legends. It seems your playgroup tends to try to break games instead of enjoy them. If you guys would have dueled and beat the poker player he would have lost more cards and be wounded. Less cards to play with and you get Legendary points for winning the duels.

[jwolfe]

re: western legends. i have about a half dozen plays so far. in those, poker has been almost entirely ineffective and shunned. let me back up a sec. you were all playing the game 'wrong'. as the designer says, you play the players and the situation. what do i mean by that? well, you can only carry a maximum of five cards to start. any injuries reduce this hand size downwards per injury. the same cards you use for fighting, you also use for playing poker. someone - anyone - should've gone and either dueled or robbed the poker player. make him use his best poker cards to fight from being robbed. make him suffer injuries and lose the ability to carry more poker cards. letting someone do whatever they want and everyone else sits idly by is/was an obviously losing strategy. go git after the leader! i just thought of another thing as far as poker goes. if someone else is in town, they have the option to join the poker game, too. that reduces a player's chances to 1/3 instead of 1/2. you LET that player run roughshod.
if you check the forums on this game, you will see a thread on every aspect being overpowered. the one constant to these is allowing a player to go unmolested. running cattle? fine. stop off in the town and play some poker or duel a player. not quite enough movement to reach your destination? that's fine. fight a bandit or maybe pan for gold. BTW, you rolled snake eyes the one time you tried. 1/36 chance. ouch. better luck next time, pardner.
keep up the good things you are doing, amigo. i appreciate it.

[legolasegb]

I found the Western Legends game (after one play) disappointing. It seems like it's built for a group that is heavy into take-that and lacking that, players the LP loops that leave others in the dust. If your group is into Euro games, I would very much suggest not getting Western Legends.