6 Games I Played So You Don’t Have To - with Tom Vasel

Tom Vasel takes a look at 6 games that didn't get a Seal of Approval.

0:00 Intro
1:05 Intarsia
3:55 Polaris
6:37 Forges of Ravenshire
10:27 Fall of Lumen
13:58 Defenders of the Wild
17:53 Galactic Renaissance

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[tyrantula]

Forges of Ravenshire is one I really liked. There's multiple paths you can take for points and they can all be pretty viable. Do you go high reputation/high star contracts? Tons of one star contracts? Do you focus on one of the two finishes or split it between them? Along with that is that sorta "puzzle" of how to get the resources you need to achieve that. However that part can definitely slow things down as Tom says, especially at 4 players and in particular in the last 1 or 2 rounds. While the dice on the board can change, you can still be looking ahead to your next turn though as you know what you need to get, so you just have to come up with ways to get there. Maybe that's by a specific die number to use in production or just the right spot in gathering. At any rate, I can see where it might come off a little heavier than it seems like it should and I think it depends on what you're in the mood for when you play it.

[JonathonV]

I really enjoyed Forges of Ravenshire. I thought it was a clever riff on the Raiders Of The North Sea pick-a-worker take-a-worker style of worker placement, but with dice! The neat thing about the dice is that people wouldn’t play dice in bad spots or they’d get a bad effect, so after the initial first dice are there, you start getting really good dice on the board. The tiles you could collect to augment the bonus effects you get from picking up certain colours of dice … I thought those were genius. Admittedly, the game did have a few markers of an amateur designer, so it’s possible that after a few plays we’d discover its weaknesses and dislike the game. But I thought it was quite interesting!

[AhJong]

Really enjoy this format - glad it's kept going 😊

[achang]

My gaming group really liked Fall of Lumen. We all liked it so much that we all purchased our own copy.

[ronthal]

I really like Galactic Renaissance, it's not that table hoggy even with 3-4 players given that you can put the new planets wherever you like, it's not like Voidfall or Pampero...
The deckbuilding aspect of it is really neat and contributes to the replayability because you do not add dozens of additional cards, it's all opportunistic, but those can be very powerful and turn the tides... They can also help going through your deck and get your scoring card faster.
I liked the 10-point rule since it allowed me to come back from a fairly slow start and limits the advantage and snowball effect of an early lead. It was interesting to see that we would all finish pretty much during the same turn despite very different strategies and decks.

[barbaramazzocca]

I ordered Intarsia when I immediately heard about it, because we love all the Azul games. I think it could be ok and interesting, BUT I get migraines from light and patterns and I always think about this when ordering a game. I only saw the player board before ordering. This game is a vestibular nightmare. All of the Azul games have a break in the patterns with solid colors, and I have no problem playing them. In Intarsia, the actual player board that you build on, is not a huge problem, but having the cards with pattern, the scoreboard which is so congested visually, it is impossible for me to look at, and the tiles of patterns are all scrunched together on that board, they all swirl together when I look at it. I had a severe headache, dizzy, and nauseous during play and for the next two days. That was a huge waste of $50. I am thinking of making my own scoreboard, laying out the tiles with a lot of space in-between them (I'm going to need a huge table!) sleeving the cards and placing in a piece of construction paper of solid color on top of the pattern inside the sleeve, but that sounds like a heck of a lot of work and don't know if it is worth it. It also came short 1 of the cardboard pattern tiles. Not sure how that could have happened, so selling it won't be easy. So, if you are thinking about getting this game for someone who gets migraines (with patterns) don't get this one. Every Azul game, however, is fine.

[callisto]

Ravenshire is one of my favorite games of the year. I have played it with my three game groups and everyone has really liked it.😊

[gergenheimer]

Gotta agree on Intarsia - I played the demo at GenCon and it was just OK. Obviously, it's beautiful-looking, but the scoring and gameplay feels very cobbled together.

[ChrycinthianCrafter]

I find the review of Forges of Ravenshire to be interesting, and one that I have trouble agreeing with. First, I’ll say Forges was one of my favorite games released throughout this past year, and I love when it hits the table. While I do agree Tom makes some good points about calculating and the rulebook, I think there are other points that make no sense. For example, high rolls are, on average, the exact same in terms of usefulness as low rolls. It’s entirely dependent on what direction you choose to take your build and how you manage your resources. Moreover, completing contracts early on isn’t as hard as it would seem. In the first round you can complete two if you focus on those contracts, so the idea of not being able to complete one early indicates a level of not fully understanding the complexities of the production/gathering phase inter system connections. Overall, I think DT needs to do another playthrough because the information presented seems like they only scratched the surface on understanding the gameplay.

[MichaliSarris]

Some valid points about Fall of Lumen, but I still really enjoy it a lot. You can do some pretty cool chaining of actions. But there's a lot going on for sure, it's kind of restrictive and AP prone.

[RobertHovakimyan]

Galactic Renaissance is one of the best new games I've played in a while! At least a 9/10 for me and those I played it with.

The scoring system is so fresh and keeps players on their toes. The cards do hilariously crazy things. It always feels like everyone else was just one turn away from winning when someone wins. The conflicts feel different than any other area control game because the combat system is more political than combative. Definitely not a game for everyone, but if you enjoy interactive and chaotic games, this one's for you!

[macmckinlay]

I think Defenders moves smoothly. The bad rule is that a randomly drawn creature gets eliminated. It should be the ACTIVE creature. That would make winning more calculated than random. But with that, the game is simple and the representation of the conflict through pieces is great. Just get the directional stuff straight at the beginning.

[Drew_D]

Tom’s outfit be like: 🩲🧩🍀🥒♻️
Also, I’m glad he played these games so that I don’t have to.

[rollingwiththebeard]

I legit thought this was an old St.Patrick's day video lol

[shawnwalker]

Gotta love me some City Slickers intro music. 😁

[jakeblack]

I really liked Galactic Renaissance. I don't disagree with some of Tom's criticisms though. Very table hoggy! The theme sells itself as a peaceful transition of power for the galaxy but the in game play is very take that, even if you're not thematically fighting. While I don't have an issue with that, I could see someone being misled into thinking it's more a peaceful euro game. The 10 VP in one turn (after you've hit a threshold of 20) doesn't make much sense in a thematic sort of way but I like it more than just hitting a static point value to win. In games like Twilight Imperium just hitting X points to win always feels a little anticlimatic so having to win on a big point turn feels a bit more like winning with a flourish.

[ramonosuke]

How you described Fall of Lumen, is exactly how I felt with Argent: The Consortium. Absolutely fantastic production, but snail's pace and multiple steps to ultimately do ONE thing. Also can we please kill off the anthropomorphic and nature themes in every board game already? I get it Everdell and Root were super popular...6 years ago!

[seahawksfan]

i just got intarsia
im very excited to get it to the table

[Sensei]

I watch these kind of videos, to know other people's vision or take on the game, just out of curiosity if they have the same positive points or negative points as I do, in the end it's up to everyone themselves to decide if they want the game or not. Some games might be more fun or better for some people and not for other. I respect the opinion Tom's having, although I don't agree with all of them. Some of the games I did not buy, because of exactly the negative points which Tom gave and now that I hear that... I'm glad I did not back all of these ;-), proves my thought was right 😀

[heavymetalboardgamer]

I've purchased many games based on the positive reviews from Dice Tower, but I've also bought a few games that received negative reviews from Dice Tower. But it used to feel like you showed how to play the games enough that I could decide if the game was something I would like or not, for example "too long" usually isn't a deal breaker for me, I don't mind long games. However in this video, at least in my opinion, I didn't get a feel for how any of these games play. Seeing pictures and hearing you talk about it feels like looking at the back of the box and reading the descriptions, all I'm saying I guess is I miss seeing at least a little of how the game plays.