Rattus Big Box - Board Game Review - Rat-achoo-ouille

Rattus Big Box - Board Game Review - Rat-achoo-ouille

It is the year 1347 AD, and a disaster is about to strike. The Black Death is approaching, and during the next few years, large parts of the population of Europe and Northern Africa will be killed by the plague.

In Rattus, the players settle in the various regions of Europe and Northern Africa, while the plague spreads through all these regions. The players gain help from the various professions of the middle ages. Some of these, like peasants and bakers, help the players grow their populations. Some, like the monks and nuns, use wisdom and faith to avoid the plague, while the warfare conducted by the knights and soldiers spreads the plague to new areas. However, the plague does not make any distinction. When the rats arrive, no one can feel safe. Finally, the plague withdraws and the game ends. Only then will it be clear who was able to keep their population alive — and win the game!

Rattus: Big Box includes not only several previous released expansions and promos, but also previous unpublished materials, modules, and bonus cards. More specifically, this renewed edition of the Rattus line contains all materials of the base game and the Pied Piper, Africanus, and Academicus expansions. Additional new content is included, and players can add the new "Guilds & Inns" and "Bonus" modules to create even more variety and challenge.

This edition also contains popular bonus cards like The Judge, The Jester, and Boccaccio, as well as all 27 level upgrade tiles.

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Who Am I?

One single batchelor from the UK talking about his passion for board games and the people who play them! I support small content creators, board game cafes and go against the status quo when it comes to the board game industry. I give my honest opinions without bias towards any publishers or designers and will not hold back if I don't like a game.

The Broken Meeple is a variety channel that hosts all kinds of board game content from reviews to Top 10 lists to playthroughs to live stream collaborations with special guests (predominantly small channels who deserve more exposure).

I look forward to engaging with you, the community on my live streams or in the comments on my videos!

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction
01:24 - Basic Overview
03:50 - The Basic Game (Super Simple)
05:00 - Player Scaling (Is There Any Good Count?)
07:06 - Verdict for Base Game Only
07:38 - Pied Piper Expansion
08:12 - Africanus Expansion
09:49 - Academius Expansion
13:08 - Guilds & Inns Expansion
15:10 - Summary and Verdict for Big Box As A Whole
17:31 - Please Share and Support The Show

#brokenmeeple #rattus #bigbox #rats #boardgames #boardgame #lukehector #supportsmallcreators #tabletop #tabletopgames #bgg #boardgamer #boardgamereview

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Useful Links

Full credit to BoardGameGeek and its members for any images used that aren't my own or part of the publisher press kit.

[VikingKittens]

I have seen this box at my local store and have been tempted. Your review helped me decide. Cheers and thanks for all the top notch content!

[georgioschalikias]

Thank you for sharing with us an old-cut game !!! I love retro games. Thanks again

[npckse]

This is one I recall seeing in some top 100 of all time lists a few years back. I am curious, but at the weight and given my huge collection, this looks like one to skip. Great review and thanks!

[elainetyger]

I never heard of this game before, and I’m glad to see your review to know that I should not buy it, but that if it appears because someone else brings it, then I can handle playing it to make them happy.

[TylerDeLisle]

Nice coverage of everything. Rattus has been a staple in my collection/game group for nearly a decade. It's definitely a simple game, but we had always found it silly fun with the main boon being that it plays up to 6 in around an hour. It's worth noting how quick it plays I think. Worked great at the pub if you had a mix of experience levels.

Random FYI, Africanus was a must have expansion with the original because it added that side board with Africa/Turkey part of the map that allowed the game to be played at 5 or 6. Funny I don't recall the region cards, we might have always skipped that.

I upgraded to this edition, partly for the art, but mostly because the Academius expansion was the hardest to get. Don't think it ever made it to the States. Sad to hear about the Guild & Inns being duds though, the idea of whole side boards introduced by a character sounded potentially neat.

I do miss some of the components in the original, bigger plague bringer token, and the character cards were thick tiles and not just cards. Also a much smaller box.

[jdober]

Thanks for the review. This game seems interesting, but not on my radar. Though I good agree that games that are olde don't mean they are bad. Gosh even I'm way behind on playing some of the older games. Man I have to catch up. LOL

[Buako]

Excellent review as always. I already have couple of area majority games like Small World of Warcraft, El Grande, Manhattan and Mission: Red Planet, so I will skip this one.

[TheSverVe]

I love the base game, but new design is meh...