Barrage - Basic Strategy Guide

[@LaraBlancoSantos]

This video is super useful for new players, Barrage can be very unforgiving!

[@AeronwyD]

Thank you so much for posting this strategy guide! This will be very helpful in my first game on BGA. :)

[@nicklee9929]

Excellent video and explanations, Branislav. I do not own a physical copy but I came to learn to play better on BGA. Thank you!!!

[@arnaualcaide7311]

I came to the video cause of a friend and, despite hard playing to the game, still had not given real thought to recycle your turbines in neutral spots with your own 3💰 bases on top of them. We played with the "?" for a while but after 3 games buying action tiles that's seen as a tutorial. Necessary though to nerf the elevation tile. I loved how you loved the game, although didn't reveal much new. For us is the same, we keep speaking about the game afterwards 💧❤️

[@sharingmatters]

So valuable tips. Thank you! You can rarely see strategy videos for board games.

[@TylerDeLisle]

This was exactly what I needed! Teaching videos aren't really enough for this game to get started, thanks for making it! Though I still failed miserably my first game, haha.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Glad you enjoyed it! :) It's a tough game to play, but so good! :)

[@SaschaW82]

I really like your content. Your Rules Explanations are top notch, your game selection too. This Barrage video really gave me a jump start into the games excellent mechanics. Keep up the good work!

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you 🙂

[@johnhe0414]

Great video! Learned my first lesson not to build a conduit first on a neutral dam, as my opponent used it to generate power with his powerhouse

[@shortydancer]

Thank you so much for this video! You are best!

[@Hey_Fab]

You're my new hero. I was exactly looking for something like that 😊

[@dawidmadejski5704]

Today I played Barrage for the first time. I agree 100% with the advice that has been presented. Great respect.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you very much. 😊

[@Avataarkaap]

Thanks for this. I made some mistakes on my first play, building two bases in the mountains (with the discount assistant), and ended up having quite a frustrating experience as a result. Your points about the conduit are critical. Building them in the right spots can really make life much easier.

[@popgas3821]

Wow, just wow. This just makes me more pumped up to play and replay this game soon! Thanks sir! 👍 Excellent video 👌

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you very much. 😊

[@brumbala08]

Great video, Branislav! And so needed! I wish I had watched it before my first game. It did NOT go well. Unlike many euro games where you can just experiment and figure things out in your first play, Barrage is very unforgiving towards that approach. I dug myself into a hole that I couldn't get out of and had a miserable first play. Thankfully, my husband and I discussed the game afterwards and I realized several things I could do differently. And then we watched this video, which gave me much more confidence to play again. Our second game was much more competitive and enjoyable for both of us, and I won! Better than that, I'm now looking forward to playing again and trying out the different abilities. Thanks for this very helpful and important video!

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

So happy to hear that! Thank you for a very nice comment. ☺️

[@TabletopTurtle]

At long last, we've found a video that will allow us to not completely suck and lose every game! You did a quality teach and this is a great strategic overview. Thanks for the content!

[@jeremyspillerYT]

Another great video, many thanks.😀

[@anassimandro034]

My favourite game!!! I'm proud about this game, even it's Italian game. I think we are so ingenious to make this tipe of game

[@joyKafka]

Excellent strategy guide. Thank you so much. Please make more strategy guides like this! I found myself usually at lost about where to and how to start with heave/complex games. It takes at least a few playthroughs to really break the ice. And even then, we might still not yet discover the real fun of the game. A few suggestions about the first few moves like this guide, a few basic ideas about relationship between different investments/places/combos/joseki, an example of a feasible mid term plan, etc, could be very useful, and much more effective than a 2-hr playthrough video where the players are groping in the darkness.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you very much! Some time ago it was my plan to make more strategy giudes, but unfortunately I don't have enough time for these videos. :( I like doing them, I like strategy discussions, so hopefully I will come back to them one day. :)

[@joyKafka]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell I can imagine it. In the past, if I was not playing Go, I was watching Go tournaments and reviews. You should've been a very good chess player I reckon. It was not until recently did I start to play board games. The main reason is to talk more and have fun with my wife and kids. In a very short time I've bought 50 boardgames, not because I am a collector but because there are so many meaningful themes and innovative gaming mechanisms. My plan was that my family could also start to enjoy some heavier games gradually, but all of a sudden I realised it's very likely that we couldn't even play a game more than twice a year. Your strategy guide made me realise a shorter strategy discussion may help me understand the depth of a game even better and quicker, even if I couldn't really digest without knowing the rules first. It could be more efficient and effective than watching multiple playthroughs. Yup, but I fully understand the difficulties since there are not just 50 new games a year. Whew~ and again, even if I would read the rulebooks myself, I still find your videos worth watching more than twice. Hats off to you.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you very much, again! :) For some reason this post was stuck somewhere in the queue and has just showed up for me, and as I was thinking about it, you nailed one specific point - these short videos may show the depth of the game. They don't need to be absolute strategy guides, but a short 15 mins. talk about the strategy in general. It's actually an idea for a brand new series of videos about the games! If I only had a time to do all those videos! Anyway, thank you very much for a great inspiration. I may not be able to start those series now but hopefully in a not so distant future I will. I already wrote an article on Caverna strategy many many many years ago on BGG ☺️, so it's apparent that I have a strong inclination towards these strategic articles.

[@joyKafka]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell So glad that you could find something useful. Particularly in this pandemic moment, I mostly play board games with my family and only once in a while with my relatives. With limited opponents, perhaps it won't be easy for us to find new or good strategies/tactics, and perhaps we always play the games in the wrong way. It's true that we could still have a good time, but knowing a trick or two could only bring us more fun, at least reducing the long long time wasted for meaningless thinking. Just like those countless joseki in Go, they are the results of hundreds of years of game play, and very helpful for us to make the best of our time to think about something bigger. Other than that, some strategy/tactic analysis might also prevent us from getting frustrated again and again with complex games to the extent that we'd put away very good games forever. Some games having easy rules but very deep game play might be an interesting subject too. Could there be a whole new level of gameplay inside that most casual players like me won't discover? I would be really excited if you could show me one or two. I hope you won't feel obliged. Any kinds of video from you have the highest quality and useful content, and I am always looking forward to seeing them.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you again. :) I don't feel obliged, I really love strategy discussions so this could be another area which is not covered by other content creators, and which could be very valuable for many players. Actually, I am very excited to make such videos, but the time limitations don't allow me to do them now. But I'm already thinking a lot about it! :)

[@billtodd2194]

Great vid, I'd just add that building is very important. I'd say the number one mistake I've seen among the players who have a few games under their belt is they underbuild and focus too hard on power. Yes, yes, there's power generation and headstream positioning and all that, but it's still an economic snowball game, you need those unlocked incomes and to keep your wheel spinning.

[@raquracoon]

Great work!

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you! Getting such a praise from you is a great honor for me. :) You have designed a fantastic game and gave all of us passionate gamers a precious gem. Really BIG thank you for this game! :)

[@Z3rY]

Tomasso Battista :O the man, the legend, the officer unlocked stretch goal :o. Mr Tomasso, I own the game and is great (prolly on my top 10 very soon) its such a pitty that the production and ks campaign messed up such a great game on BGG's score. Great work sir I admire your job. Branislav I suscribed since i saw your tutorial, any chance you cover up the automa??

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

@@Z3rY Yes, if everything goes well then it should be ready by Friday . :)

[@Z3rY]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell that's great news :D. U know, we played yesterday and were kinda confused with one final objective, the one that refers to having the least structures. Whats your interpretation of this end game bonus?

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

@@Z3rY Let's say you have 3 structures in the mountains, 5 in the hills area, and 4 in the plains. So your score is the area with the least structures - 3 (mountains). Then the player who has this score the highest wins the 15 points from the objective tile. Hope his helps. :)

[@MortlachNL]

I hope to purchase this game at some point and this video was really helpful. I will certainly watch it again when I buy the game and point my regular player group in this direction so they can prepare for it too! Thanks!

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thanks. :)

[@topofthemuffintoyou5610]

This is a great video. Thank you so much. I really think you've got a talent for explaining things. Well done.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you! ☺️

Excellent video. Yes, the contracts are very important. But for newbies there's one thing which is even more important in Barrage: *read* *and* *understand* *the* *map* . The pipe connections offer many possbilities to divert the flow of water which means that by building a dam at higher elevations one can easily cut off a player from the precious stream of water. Additionally, new players tend to build dam bases at the lower location of a basin because it's cheaper. However you must keep in mind that a second dam being built at the upper location will render your investion useless. Barrage is really cut-throat. Our games are playerd very aggressively with players trying to cut off each other from the water all the time. Be prepared for that.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Absolutely agree!

[@woolvey]

You're absolutely right about the importance of the location and how the extra 3 credits to build in the top part is worth it, but the lower dams are not necessarily useless at that point. Flooding the location to overflow the top dam will still allow yours to operate.

[@aetherllama8398]

Top 3 crucial tips you covered: 1. Start by a neutral dam (usually with 3 production value). 2. Build your powerhouse before your conduit. 3. Always fulfill a contract. Top tip not mentioned: Water management actions are super efficient. Use them early to make sure your dam always has water and to deny your opponents!

[@assadshaikh]

Great Video! Thanks. Brilliant work.

[@ClarkPotter]

Fantastic video! Subscribed. Your English is excellent, too. Will definitely stop back for intros to other games.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you for your nice words. ☺️

[@netmommy4]

Excellent video as always! Can´t wait for my first round tonight :)

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you Christina! :) How was your first game? I love this game so much, it's honestly my game of the year. :)

[@netmommy4]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell It was great, I loved it!! Of course I had to order it straight away :D

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Soooo glad to hear it! :D

[@edifanobbonafide]

Bought the German version of the game (Wasserkraft) a few days ago and I'm very happy to have watched your excellent video before we start to play the game for the first time. Thank you so much for this video.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you. :)

[@YegRon]

Thank you so much!!

[@MobileObserver]

This video needs more views!

[@mateuszrostkowski4396]

Great film!

[@rollingwithrob6579]

Enjoying the video. Thanks for this great advice!

[@matthijspuppels8119]

Great video

[@garybraddick5042]

Your advice was spot on. Thank you so much. In my group I am generally the third or fourth finisher. Tonight on my first play of Barrage and after the fourth round I am in first place with 71 points, and 15 to 20 points ahead. We had to break off early because one of our players had to attend to an emergency. I had the dam building power and got an advanced tech that allowed me two dam builds on the wheel. My country was America, so scoring lots of end of round points an benefiting from power generating points passing through my power generators. Very satisfying to use my last engineer to generate extra water and watch to flow from the top of the board and out the bottom racking 13 power and allowing me to cash in on my 5 completed contracts for 10 points. Thanks again for the strategy tips.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. :)

[@Z0nd4]

Thanks for the tips !!!

[@martinbutcher37]

Excellent! Will be playing my first game on Saturday.

[@elessar11]

Thank you for this!

[@williammartindale5769]

Really enjoyed the advice!

[@pixwan]

Thank you from Germany

[@johnbrown6230]

Great tips. Thanks!

[@franck777]

Very useful ! Thanks

[@almazfarkh]

Great video! Thanks!

[@marcoferri4374]

10:44 Doesn’t the board power activate only when the third powerplant is built? In that case the white early game strategy would be difficult to be applied. Great video anyway thank you so much

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

This is not a board power, this is an Executive Officer power which is active all the time.

[@macurvello]

The bonus for the white third powerhouse is different. You get a discount on the amount of energy you have to produce for contracts. That indeed is only active after the third powerhouse is built.

[@timwanger4491]

Great video! Are you going to cover the Barrage expansion as well in the near future?

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you! I don't have the expansion yet but I definitely want it and will cover it as soon as I get it.

[@stephanochota7432]

Nice video. About 11:46, can you tell me where can I find on the manual that I can decide how many drops I can take for the production action?

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you. :) It's stated on page 15, right column, the first paragraph with the bold font - Take as many Water Drops as you wish from the relevant Dam...

[@gorbi9555]

Very good video! Thumbs up!

[@pilotRajdowy]

Quality stuff!

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thanks!

[@Nasher1976PSN]

At around 8:30 - This executive officer has his own special tile to use

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Oh, true! Forgot about that... (facepalm) :)

[@Nasher1976PSN]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell Great video though

[@philippepetit4284]

Great video, very useful 👍

[@assistenzah3g599]

Great video but PLEASE cover Leeghwater Project too! And also tips against 1 or 2 Automas

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thanks! Do you mean the rules explanation or the strategy for Leeghwater? And I won' be able to help with automas yet, I haven't played enough games with it since we always have 3 or 4 players and we don't include automas in our games.

[@1970odessa]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell Strategy Leeghwater thanks! ;-) I suggest you to try Barrage with Automas it is very fun even in Multiplayer, and moreover with the Expansion

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

OK, will do, we have plans for Barrage in the next few days! :)

[@1970odessa]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell Thank you very much can't wait for it! We are from Italy but thank god your english is perfect and you speak very clearly (and sadly not all boardgame youtubers do this)

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Played y'day with 2 Automas, and man they can be mean! 😄 I will definitely play again, I have to say it was fun and I enjoyed it so much! I won being just 4 points ahead, but those Automas can be waaaaaay more mean than the human players. 😁

[@bennair101]

At 15:40 I don't think you get the victory points instantly when building all 4 of a row? I don't see that rule. (Only during income phase, which is at beginning of each round)

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

It's on page 13 of the rulebook, the right column, section - (5) Place the structure piece on the map. The second paragraph says: "Should you discover an income space after building, you will immediately receive that income bonus. You will receive it again during Income Phase."

[@mislavcvek5099]

svaka cast care

[@scottmckay8176]

I found this video very helpful and enjoyable. Since it is a medium-heavy game, would it be possible to do a video of one entire round in the middle of a 3-player game?

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thank you Scott, my gaming group doesn't feel confident speaking English (we're from Slovakia), so we only have a Slovak gameplay video, but it's a full video. Maybe it would help. :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqOYe5ivjcmNf5o

[@scottmckay8176]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell Ok, thank you. I also added another question :}

[@antoniolemondeville3173]

Cool video spain thnks

[@alhuda8652]

at 11:45 how do you get the yellow contract, which requires 6 energy? Because with the special ability you used, you only generate 4 energy. That was a bit confusing for me, but great video man.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thanks! If you take the topmost production action space it adds +2 bonus to the production value. So, one waterdrop generates 1 energy, but the special ability turns it into 4, then you add +2 from the action space, and you get 6. :)

[@michaelcavalry8379]

I'm very late here, but are you certain that you receive the special ability first? We may have played it wrong, but we gave only 4 energy, if after all bonuses, you still had less than 4 energy

[@RaduStanculescu]

@@michaelcavalry8379yes, the transformation to 4 energy applies only to the energy from water consumption. All other bonuses and penalties (from the worker placement spots, powerhouse bonuses, special tile bonuses) apply after that. It's been confirmed in the rules and in the online implementation on BGA.

[@sha-ad9257]

@@michaelcavalry8379 you apply bonus or malus after the special ability

[@bardpondo]

7:15 how is it possilble to build two structures of the same type during same turn. Ddid you mean same round?

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Oh sorry for a late reply, this one got lost somehow. Yes - I meant one round, not turn. 😊 Apologies.

[@9bogas]

Tonight we're playing Barrage for the first time. That's why I stopped watching after 1 minute ;) but I'll be back tomorrow. For now, thumbs up!

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Thanks! :)

[@scottmckay8176]

As a beginner, I'm wondering why you say to build a power house before the conduit. If I build a conduit first and someone builds a power plant, there is usually another space for my power plant though it may cost $3.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

You may only generate electricity if you have both the dam and the power plant! You can use someone else's conduit, however, if you have the dam and the conduit, but not the power plant, you can't generate electricity. Therefore you need your dam and your power plant first, before you build a conduit. :)

[@radekeis6423]

Zrdavím Vás Braňo, S naší herní skupinou jsme v úterý zahráli poprvé Barrage, ale dost jsme se trápili s prvotním zahráním (strategií), tak je to takový rozporuplný pocit, nerad bych aby hra kvůli tomu zapadla. Bohužel neumíme dobře anglicky, tak video s tipy v AJ moc nepomohlo, i když je super, jako ostatně všechny od Vás:) Bylo by možné napsat pár tipů jak začít, na co se soustředit? Nebo plánujete toto video i ve slovenštině? Děkuji Radek

[@therpginger]

Anyone got recommendations for playing around someone the builds above your network and basically causes a drought. I had a player take the top right mountain and just cause a drought for all my stuff below it. Level three dam I couldn't push water out fast enough to get around it and had to tey and mid-late game pivot to another location

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

That's what the game is about! :)

[@tala1246]

Ohhhhhhh this really opened my eyes, after failing miserably my first game. Haha thank you!

[@TableRumble]

any suggestions on first round last player？

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Well, that depends on what other players are doing, and on your company board and the executive officer. There are multiple spots in the Contract Office, in the Patent Office, you can always build something, etc. Barrage is very interactive and very tactical game and you have to react to other players. Like with chess - there's no answer for the best first move for black player, because it completely depends on the first move of the white player. So if they go for contracts, maybe you can get the best advanced tech tile, or build the powerhouse in the strategic place first. If they build, maybe you can get better contracts or again the adv. tech tile, etc. And as I said - it really depends on the company and the exec as well.

[@TableRumble]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell Thanks, really helpful. It just drives me worried when being last player and hard to produce energy sometimes...

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Try this - look at the basin with neutral dam, either in the hills on in the plains area which is used by other players. So build a dam in the same basin, but on the red space (above the neutral dam). The conduit is probably there already, and so build your powerhouse connected to your new dam. Then you can produce energy and you will also cut off other players. This game can be a little mean sometimes. :)

[@ElanDivan]

4:20 - I wonder how many people place those white dam bases like that. Happened in both my two games played. Hoover dam... anyone? :-)

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

And that's why I and make videos and don't build dams. :D Anyway, in my games, they work well even when built this way and they bring me a lot of points. :)

[@ElanDivan]

@@nithrania-gameinanutshell What?! It still works!? :-P -Anyway, great game. Hope to play it again soon.

[@chrisedwards6573]

After playing a few times, the base game is fundamentally unbalanced. Some of the countries and executive assistances are objectively better than others. That's a sign of a poorly designed game. Scythe has a similar issue but it's not as apparent, but the executive assistant that lets you always produce 4 energy, and the nation that lets you pump power multiple times on the same action are objectively better than the others. Maybe the Leeghwater expansion fixes this, but I'm skeptical. I've never played a game that's so punishing to players who just don't get the right combination of things, and the game is too long to force people to play through what amounts to a painful game. I regret having purchased this.

[@nithrania-gameinanutshell]

Yes, it's punishing for bad choices and bad decisions. It's like chess. On the other hand, I don't think it's imbalanced. It's just difficult to play well, and to counter the plans of other players. It's definitely not a game for everyone, I agree.

[@billtodd2194]

Disagree. Balance isn't perfect, no asymmetric faction game is, but Barrage is no worse than other classics. Also, the 4 energy assistant is not near the best, the copy a tech tile guy is. The copy XO not only allows building extra copies of the same building, but you can double dip the vp advanced tiles later. As to best faction...I'm not sure what BGA pros rate the best, but personally I don't like that double produce board. Sure, that power is good, but it's the worst early economic board and slowest to get going.

[@RaduStanculescu]

@@billtodd2194Players usually rate France > Italy > US > Germany > Netherlands (expansion). France and Italy are pretty close, and the US can be very powerful too in certain cases (for example with a good XO and setup for a 4 base rush). I've seen plenty of wins with Germany as well. Netherlands I don't see that often, since I don't always play with expansion. Competitive online play on BGA though uses bidding for starting spot, so that getting to pick a great faction/XO combo might be made to cost a lot of points if several players realize the benefits. And some faction + XO combinations make even the worst factions really powerful (especially if the other players get crappy XOs).

[@t.2880]

Great work!