Arcs is 2024’s Best New Board Game

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[DrMcFly]

The review kinda left it ambiguous if Tom liked the game or not

[davidlarsen]

Oh god, Tom, your superpower is making me buy four-letter board games.

[uhhhclem]

A vanishingly small number of American viewers will have the first idea what "a stick of rock" is, let alone what the hell Tom's use of it in a tortured metaphor could possibly mean.

As a public service: Rock is a Britishism for a specific kind of hard candy similar to what Americans would call a peppermint stick. Originally called Blackpool Rock (or, for you Graham Greene fans, Brighton Rock) based on whatever resort town sold it. The difference between rock and peppermint sticks is twofold: first, rock is quite a bit thicker, maybe twice the diameter of a peppermint stick. Second, the candy is made so that in cross-section, it has a design - for instance, the letters BLACKPOOL ROCK. The design runs the length of the stick, so that wherever you break it, the design's visible. As with millefiori, which uses a very similar production technique, only for glass. (Millefiori: also a Reiner Knizia board game. Onward.)

Hence: "dramatically lopsided games that have an asymmetry running through them like a stick of rock...though it would have to be a really _wide_ stick of rock to fit the word "asymmetry" through it, you know?"

[camipco]

For future reference, if anyone has a really long video and then there's a second part and they want me to watch the second part, ending part one with "and it gets weirder" will 100% do the job every time.

[eric]

If I had a nickel for every 30+ min Leder Games review from Tom where he said their new game is his favourite of all time, I’d have two nickels, etc etc. In all seriousness though, I’m super happy to see this game deliver on its promises!

[dplusmodifier]

Thank you for drawing attention to the Kyle Ferrin Artwork Klaxon. It's always going off at my house and my children are so tired.

[Shazirah_Kaur]

I taught this game to someone who got a bit on edge that the attacker makes all the decisions in combat. At first, I didn't understand why it seemed to sit ill with him, but then he explained that it felt like some of the perceived gaming agency he had been accustomed to, trained to in most other board games had been taken from him. I wonder how particular that is, but if that's something that might bother you or your gamer pal, too, just a thing to put on radars: the attacker makes all combat decisions in base Arcs, including choosing which defending units were hit/destroyed when the dice rolls need to be doled out. In this and many ways (said video above), it turns the formula on its head.

[JD-qqfz]

"There's just so much game in this individual system" hell yeah, that's better than the other way around

[andrewweisbrod]

"It's like trying to wrestle an eel. An eel that hates you. Probably hates you because you're trying to wrestle it. Why are you trying to wrestle it? What's wrong with you?"
...
"They're just questions, Leon... It's a test designed to provoke an emotional response."

[revbrentcolby]

You know it’s serious when the cards are sleeved. 😅

[tinstargames]

“This game will please absolutely everyone”
(Two minutes later)
“You can’t play peacefully”

[lucassdd]

IT IS SO GOOD! The designers learned everything they could from making Root and Oath and combined the best parts of both to create a Ti4 sized experience in half the rules and double the convenience. A masterstroke.

[Chozo_hybrid]

The one thing I hate about kickstarter games, is hearing about them after the campaign has already ended. I look forward to getting this at retail though.

[pjdarkr]

@13:05 casually putting these specific BGG users on blast. I'm here for it.

[davidburkhardt]

I’ve had the game out on my kitchen table since it came in the mail. I just enjoy looking at it. I’m nearly to the point I’m going to put a sign in the yard telling strangers to come in and play with me.

[syeblaize]

Arcs is brilliant. But it is NOT straightforward. Like many Leder games, it approaches a genre that is well trodden (such as space game) and turns everything on its head (by making action selection into a trick taking game).

I think grokking the mechanics of the game takes a game at least for most people. This is mostly because not only is the shared rulespace between space game and trick taking game is basically 0 (knowing how to play the Crew is only half the battle!), but also that Arcs doesn't do almost anything else like other Space games either. Control is based on fully repaired ships, but damaged ships still have guns. Combat is based entirely on the aggressor, but can cause tremendous backlash for those who are not cautious enough. Victory points are based on who controls what resources (in a very limited pool of resources) at any given time. You might even run out of ships or agents if the relevant scoring hasn't happened in a few turns. Everything works together, but how it works together is absolutely unlike any other game you've played.

[MagralhoPT]

The satisfactory music as background music! what the hell!!!! I got sooo messed up because I was like... what?! (7:58 for anyone wondering)

[VerenaS]

This is amazing, Tom! The atmosphere you create, the music, the beautiful shots of the game. I really like the sincere reviewing interspersed with silly bits to keep our attention. More sustainable for you to make but still informative and a joy to watch ❤

[styfen]

Tom is such a great barometer for games I should not purchase. This review really helped me understand what Arcs is and why I shouldn't get it. I genuinely appreciate that.

[xavier]

Played through 2 acts of the campaign last weekend. After first game, we all said, "Well that was kind of interesting...but I can't quite see where this is going". After the second game where planets were being obliterated, space mushrooms were being befriended, and one player was desperately trying to hold together the crumbling empire while the rest of us gleefully pushed the metaphorical head of the drowning empire underwater while also somehow paying taxes into it we all realized, "Ah...this is not what I thought it was going to be at all." In the best way.

Cole, Kyle, and Leder Games have done it again.