How is the game at 2p

The “hype train”= “ I disagree with other people, but I’m going to imply that their reviews are somehow disingenuous. Not just a differing opinion.”

My friends are a couple that loves duels and Japan lore. I will recommend this one to them, pretty sure they'll add it to their collection

I do enjoy "scoring" when it's quirky. E.g. In Web of Power (= China = Iwari), it's interesting to determine relative value (e.g. 2nd highest player sneaks in with one token and scores a lot of points, marginally less than the highest player who may have invested many tokens). Another example is "High Society" - the amount one "should" bid on each turned over "prize" card varies based on whether a player is ahead/behind, likelihood of game end trigger, the amount of money he/she has remaining and the "cash card composition" relative to other players, given no change will be received. For me, getting my head around all of that is so stimulating - as it determines the true value of a "prize card", which ultimately drives the scoring and winner of the game.

Great review. Cheers

While I love Abstracts, this looks too uninteresting to me - although I probably shouldn't opine without play testing. I think "Yinsh, "Katarenga" and even "Donuts" are all richer.

A fun fix for the powers is have one player pick two spirits and the other picks who each will play. My kids and I do this for Summoner Wars and Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North. Definitely makes for interesting match ups.

Thanks for the review, I've never heard of this game before, now I want to try it out!

I like Cyber Kitty in the original game 😸

Its interesting that Wrex is part of the squad because the board game is clearly set during Mass Effect 3 but he's only a party member in Mass Effect 1. He's an ally in 2 and 3 but not actually part of your party. Garrrus And Tali can be party members in all three games while Liara is a party member in the first and third games (Plus a DLC in 2) I still don't get why we can't pick Shepard's class in this. Edit: Also Tali should have a Shotgun since she uses Shotguns in every Mass Effect game she's in

Getting this one used in a couple of weeks. Have you played since this initial burst of really liking it?

Way too slow at four players. We played for two hours and got to six or seven points before we looked at each other and thought, yeah, we're done. Also, the text on the cards is tiny. Trying to scout cards from across the table is impossible unless you pick them up individually. Great artwork but zero awareness of readability.

Interestingly, the art on the cards don’t match with the art on the rest of the game

I played with everything the other day. I'd say it was fun, though it does add power. The one item that I didn't like in particular is the Gramophone. That does add the extra actions unnecessarily. If someone gets it early on, the other players need to steal it otherwise the first person has a lot of extra actions during the game. It becomes like a game of tag.

I hadn't thought of Cole Wehrle (rhymes with early, I've been told) as having a kind of patterned design style but you're right. His games are well thought out and involved, requiring a thorough set of rules. I think he delivers again with Arcs but there are some minor quibbles as you pointed out. Root looks fabulous (own, never played) and to my thinking Oath is the ideal campaign game but I doubt I will ever buy or play it. Both need a niche set of players to regularly play. Quick aside, I wanted to mention I love SU&SD videos but yours are way more informative. Despite Root's lofty BGG ranking, I think Arcs is his best game because it's more approachable. Luck, sure. I'm happy to see weaker players win from time to time. A good rules teach is imperative to having new players understand and enjoy this game. The biggest idea to get across, and it's not made clear from the rules, the actions you get from action cards are almost secondary. With resources and some Guild cards, Prelude actions are the bulk of your turn unless on lead. And the main function of lead is to declare an ambition if needed. By the way, what player count do you think is best for the game? I like 3 for learning, 4 if you can find hard core enthusiasts. Two players is a different beast in my opinion, not that interested personally. When all is said and done, good review even though I think the negatives are worth overlooking. It will still possibly win a GOTY award somewhere, not underservedly, but there are better games out there.

Thank you Luke. I remember considering buying Minos on the last day of Essen as I had some room in my luggage but finally opted out as I remember that you already mentioned the length of the game during your Spiel preview. I finally got Shackleton Base instead and I am most happy with my purchase. Cheers!

Haha, I read the title as Best Tug-O-War, thought "No way, that can't be true! Must be some sort of bait.". Then re-read the title when started the video. "Oh, beast, ah nice one!" I'm also going to include those house rules for whenever I play the regular King of Tokyo. I do like how all the monsters have different life points and unique powers. I do like the art style quite a bit more here as well compared to the original. But I don't know how often this would get to the table and if it is worth the price. I'll have to give it a think.

Fun thing about hallertau is to make the cards work in spite of not being perfect and still getting 130 points consistently

I have only played King of Tokyo once at 2 players and it was lame. I never played it again... so I won't be trying this version.

My buddy and I love this version of King of Tokyo. We played a lot of the old version when we had more folks in our game group, but that has become just us two now. So we started looking at two player only games. And yeah this is one of those, play a best out of 3 match in about 30 minutes to an hour.

Have played the campaign and base game, had a real tough time enjoying it. It’s brutal, and usually ends with one player having had an extremely rough time. Just don’t see how this is so popular with all the other modern game designs that enable everyone at the table to have fun - even if they’re losing.

I got play this at four players. I didn't find it long in a tiresome way. Just over two hours to set up, teach, play and rebox seemed ok to us. I went in to the game with skepticism based on this review. Not often we differ. Ill pay the shipping for your copy... 😉

Nice review. I somehow managed to play OG KoT 2player. Not sure if I got the rules wrong or something, but we had a blast playing. Another good one to play with your nephew would be unmatched. Setup possibly faster as well. Its a game that scales with skill and familiarity, but can easily be played just as a brawl and a laugh without much else. But, can also be played at high competitive levels with ooodles of tactics and strat. As for this KoT duel...personally i think I'll pass...but, if I see in a boardgame store, I'll defo give it a whirl!! Thanks again Luke!

At the right price sounds likea good buy for two player. Nice review. Those house rules are coming to my table for sure. We once try that each cube worth the doble, was a crazy game with so many cards, but very fun one.

I like your 1-10 visual scale of what the numbers mean - 1 - Garbage 😂

Great review you should check King Of Monster Island

I’ve won three times on the area control.

E&N is not about Christianity. It has a Jewish theme.

I agree with you about the theme and silly booklet, but Wyrmspan is the better game.

3:40 Well... I don't like the ameturish art style of the old one. Saw the game on Steam. The visuals is what keeps me from wanting to get it. My first exposure to this super hero thing was in Freedom Five: A Sentinel Comics Board Game and I like the artwork for that game. It looks professional in most aspects.

Played it at GridCon. My brain aches still after playing it. Was a good game but i made a mistake at the start and messed up the card tuck rule. Then spent 3 hours being in last place. Overall though it’s a good game maybe a little to heavy for my liking

You compare the military tug of war of 7W with the Ring track. Is that the right comparison? It seems they replaced all the VP with win conditions. The tug of war is in the area control (you go back and forth with every red card) and instead of getting VP you get closer to the area control instant win or end game win. It’s the same “I undo what you did very easily with a red card” as in 7W. The ring track is just the 7W blue cards if you ask me; they just replaced the VP with a wincon cutoff. Anyway love your critical reviews. Thanks!

I’ve noticed with many board games as of late , that in an effort to add more the time to play is increasing but my fun is not. I think designers need to start trimming down and self editing

Very predictable what you would think of the game. I still love it 😛

9 out 10 euros games I played in the past 5 years I think, should have lost +20% of its rules. It is a flaw in almost every game nowadays, they just put too much in it. Not sure it is flaw of the testing system where playtesters get used to the game and dont see the fat anymore or perhaps it is simply designers trying to be innovative by combining too many elements. Perhaps they confuse a deep game for a game with lots of rules. I've been deeply disappointed with most euros games in past years... Gladly with some exceptions.

I like that you talk about the manual, thats a big thing, because a clear manual most time is a good game, balance mechanics. MInos is to long, oh boy, here comes Civolution some time, will that one had the same destiny? Find out more in another episode of the broken meeple.

Awesome review as always Luke. I am not a fan of big hefty euros like this but to each their own. There obviously are a few exceptions but on the whole games like this I avoid, sometimes if I am going over to a mates house and they are taking the time to set up one of these types of games at least I know what I am getting into. I still want to see a list of games that you would play at 4 players as I am curious 🤔

Thanks for keepin it real.

Say it again “fab reviews”. Love hearing about the solo modes of the game - I’m currently on the hunt for a Euro with a solo not cheaty bot :). My fav euro at the moment gives me that “I can’t catch you until the end game scoring frustration in solo” (Darwin’s Journey).

Can you elaborate on the game being played at 4 players? You gave it a 7/10 but why? Too much downtime? Other factors?

I keep wondering why B&D hasn’t mailed this out yet.

It seems this game need Minos one mechanism or player ;)

Thanks Luke, I’ve been on the fence with this one and since Nucleum I don’t automatically buy a Board & Dice game, despite me really liking Barcelona, Windmills Valley and Tiletum.

This feels like someone played Deus and thought "More...everything."

I don't think it's particularly complex game except for the dice draft/placement which can turn into AP nightmare (and to be fair is a huge part of the game). My problem is also the game length but particularly because after the first game I felt like I had seen and done everything in the game, the game had no more variety or paths to victory to offer. Shortening/tuning it to 3 rounds would certainly help. As it is, a very good game which is just not enough these days.

This game has too many mechanisms for me. The dice, dice placement, map, track, and cards.

You hate board and dice 😅

Love the concept of this game... but will be waiting for retail, I just get too strung out waiting

Gibraltar & Andorra also Iberian countries!

All Garphill games have been so intriguing to me, except E&N. I want all of them plus expansions, except E&N. I usually can look past a theme, but this one is too weird. I hope this isn't a sign of where their company is going.