300: Earth & Water Review - with Chris Yi

[@Andrew_NJ]

Chris, thanks for reviewing a war game, keep them coming. Please see if you can review "Time of Crisis" and "SpaceCorp" by GMT games. Both of these are modern designs that have nothing to do with old school war games but I believe Tom dismissed them due to what GMT usuall puts out. "Time of Crisis" is something both Roy and Tom would be interested in as it incorporates modern mechanisms like deck building and is very streamlined and plays smoothly.

[@ahdemrn]

Hey dude, you should do all the reviews of the games from now on, the truth is that your explanations are quite clear and that is greatly appreciated! Excellent review 👍💯

[@jauggy]

"The Achaemenid presence in Ionia: the impacts and critique of the Peloponnesian wars" - oh yeah I loved that movie. 😂

[@sneekiersnek3122]

It's sad people are overly critical of this hidden gem. One of the best light area control asymmetric games I've played in a long time. It's a big game in a tiny box.

[@palacsintaz]

Nice review. I am only a handful of plays in but I like this game a lot. IMO the rules are actually quite simple and gameplay is smooth but the rulebook is more verbose than it needs to be. The asymmetry is really cool and there are many fun decisions. Do you spend your resources on units or actions? Do you build a fleet or focus on a land strategy? Or maybe switch it up mid-game? Do you try to control the islands for those precious points? Do you try a desperate backdoor when you are losing? I love a game that gets so much of done with few components.

[@jaytee63236]

Thanks for the review. Getting vibes of A Few Acres of Snow and Twilight Struggle from it, with fewer rules and a shorter runtime of course.

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

It seems bizarre that they didn't make custom dice for the Persians, with faces of 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, and 4. Seems like an obvious thing to do.

[@bullno1]

Some card buffs their effectiveness.

[@DTChrisYi]

As bullno said, some cards can affect their maximum value, and they also get a maximum of 5 while in their home cities.

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

@@DTChrisYi still probably better handled in another way, for example, with simple symbols. A 4 with a shield could be the "5" with the rule that you add the number of shields to the value when defending a city. And the card text could be rewritten. It seems like if there are 2 special situations, then rather than have the dice be misleading at all times other than the special situations, make the dice only misleading during the special situations, and find a way to indicate those situations.

[@DTChrisYi]

@@StevenStJohn-kj9eb I definitely agree, it's an inelegant solution. But custom dice molds are also more expensive, so I can understand from a practicality point why they did it. And I never found it that tricky to remember, but I do prefer it when there's better visual guidance in games.

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

@@DTChrisYi Thanks for the reply and the review.

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

This game looks exciting, and I love the minimalistic look.

[@markovucetic6797]

get rid of the dice and place another mechanism in there not so terrbily based on luck and you have a cool 2 player game on ur hand

[@kevinbhieey9188]

Lighting looks less scurvilicious! Or you've found some citrus.

[@DTChrisYi]

I did eat some key lime pie, does that count?

[@maxfaf259]

This game looks so bad because 1) the board is so limited as to the number of places you can move land and sea armies, so I think the replayability is very low because the same things and movements will happen over and over again, 2) the outcome of the game is highly based on pure luck, and 3) the cards effects and the dice limitations are way too harsh. I cannot believe how this game got the thumbs up to go to production. It must feel so random and frustrating because you reraly fully control what happens throughout the game. For all these reasons, this is a hard pass for me. Thanks for the review though! Cheers!

[@Talonz501]

I take it you're not a wargamer....your complaints are bizarre.

[@maxfaf259]

@@Talonz501 You don't know anything about me, so don't make assumptions. YOUR comment is weird.

[@RichardArpin]

@@Talonz501 Hey Talon, I'm with you, this game has an amazing decision space and I'm so glad I own it. Sure, it's not War of the Ring or Rebellion, but this one only takes 30 minutes and has all the variability and decision space needed.

[@tempestfury8324]

So it really has nothing to do with the battle of Thermopylae at all. It's just using a familiar IP...300...to help sell the game. I'm instantly out! No thanks, try something original.

[@Talonz501]

Thermopylae is a big part of the greco persian wars, about 20 years in. Does this game attempt to capture a wider audience with a easily recognizable and remembered title? Sure. But to say it has nothing to do with the battle of Thermopylae is a mistake. Depriving yourself of what looks to be a great little wargame is another.

[@tempestfury8324]

@@Talonz501 I'm not saying that it might not be a good little wargame. It has absolutely nothing to do with the "300" other than the conflict and belligerents. It's like making a WWII game called "Band of Brothers". Then the game is actually just about the whole European Theatre of Operations and "Easy Company" has little, if anything, to do with it.