12 Games of Christmas - Strategy Games

[@mattlewis5095]

I wish you gave the player counts when you introduce all these games you know, ie "from x, for 2 to 5 players". I know it takes longer, but it's such important info and there are just so many of the damn things around now to research ourselves. That 5th player is everything to me and I seem to spend an age checking game counts out.

[@mastermui4331]

Christmas 🎄 Let’s GO!!!!!!

[@samirjafri191]

Honestly, they could just list the player counts and play duration under the picture of the game box when introducing it.

[@maciejwawrzyn4674]

Hell yeah, 5th player is a deal breaker or maker for me too. The amount of games that could, but choose not to have a 5th player never czasem to amaze me

[@LeeKenshin7]

I'm always in search of a strategy game that plays great at 5 players. Sadly, most strategy games actually play best 2-3 and the 4th player just typically bogs down the game. A 5th player would make it unbearably worse. My recent favorite 5-6 player (with expansion) strategy game is Creature Caravan; the simultaneous turns mitigate the down-time similar to the Fox Experiment. At the expense of player interaction tho.

[@mattlewis5095]

@@maciejwawrzyn4674 I think this could well be the case some of the time for sure. You do also hear about companies sticking on player-counts that don't really work to sell the game, and "4 players" does seem to be a sweet spot for a lot of games, but I agree that sometimes it may be less about the game's maths and more about the actual time 5-plus player games can take to play I think. Modern board games are an ever-growing but also super-competitve market, and it's possible that some companies just don't want any potential criticism there. But if you grew up with games like Monopoly and Cluedo (both famously 6 player 'family games') you are used to games taking a LOT longer than the far-more honed durations you generally see in modern board games (though the concept of reliable game times is also central to modern gaming of course). In short, I think that most 5-player-plus groups can expect a slower game! And speedy 5-plus player games are pure gold of course.

[@cameronspitzer6862]

Mike with 2 games from Knizia, who could’ve guessed that? 😉

[@Syranur]

Let's go! To Japan, Forest Shuffle and River of gold intrigue me the most. My christmas gift list only containt board game because why should it be any different!!

[@balthrus]

The 12 Games of Christmas and the first game is about animal testing 👀. This reminds me of the Legion of Doom video where Joke told that he kicked a puppy.

[@MrJoeboo123]

Chris is looking fancy with that tie 👔 10/10

[@applecorc]

I hope he aced his interview

[@MegaSNES64]

Spectral is one of the cleverest and cleanest games I played this year

[@Keldroc]

Mike like "12 Games of Kniziamas, try and stop me"

[@joerihessels8230]

Spectral felt really unique and plays really quickly for the amount of decisions with a hefty dose of player interaction, a great pick! I really like the theme of forest shuffle and all the card interactions, but found the player interaction a bit lacking. I am very interested in both Knizia's on the list, leaning towards Cascadero

[@ThorAxiun]

Vale of Eternity baby wooo

[@Raphaelus13]

Thanks for the list!

[@andyandersen7898]

Thanks for the contest

[@madieh1597]

I love these videos. I was really happy to see the amazon gift link last year. The only other thing that I would love to see is in the description with the timestamps I would love to have the link to the Dice Tower review. It's not an absolute must but some videos are harder to find given the titles and some people's search abilities aren't expert-level to find the review. Just a thought.

[@thedurdlefest2884]

Are you planning on updating the Amazon with these lists? Makes it easier to research and send people.

[@maciejwawrzyn4674]

Do they now use "thematic" and "strategy" to mean ameri and euro?

[@baxter7537]

Interesting choices. I don't know what your criteria for choosing these games was, but I would like to suggest replacing Roll & Write Records, which I consider to be a pretty weak game, with Rock Hard 1977. Also, I would add Ark Nova and Dune Imperium as great strategy game gifts.

[@mohammedhossain3986]

I think at least some of the reasoning is suggesting newer/lesser known games. Things like Ark Nova and Dune are already kinda no brainers in a sense? Where they’ve already been extensively talked about and recommended before where putting them on another list feels redundant.

[@LeeKenshin7]

Rock Hard 1977 is on their thematic list. Ark Nova would fit better on their Advanced Strategy list... but behind Terraforming Mars ofc 😉

[@DannySabana]

What's up with car sales man Chris?

[@sharefaerber5268]

Please give player counts!!!

[@MichaelWielgorecki-i7p]

There is a collectable card game called Redemption that is supposed to be a Christian version of Magic the Gathering. Has anyone played this and is it worth trying?