Caesar’s Empire Review: The Return of the Super Filler

[@HolyGrailGames]

Oh wow, thank you so much for the wonderful review! We really appreciate you taking the time to try the game.

[@AdaminWales]

I’m so glad this game got such positive coverage here. I love the game, and it would be great to see more people playing it.

[@diecycling]

I’ve even had fun playing this with my five-year-old. After pointing out the Gauls on the map, he asked to read my old Asterix & Obelix comics. That made my week. 🙂

[@wizo656]

The look on Wendy's face when she realizes she will be playing this game way more than she wants to! :D

[@sebastianyanez2039]

why?

[@crepusculo1027]

Chris has become a major asset for the dice tower :-) really happy he's there

[@_Cervantez]

There's a shadow of Caesar on the map! Took me ages to realize that

[@rentless666]

This game looks fun. I can imagine an expansion where Asterix and Obelix are running around the map messing with the romans in some way.

[@Mokhnaar]

Wow, did not expect that 10 from Chris. Did not know this game existed and everyone loves asterix in France so yeah. Added to my wishlist !

[@jasonpmathew]

I was able to play this game 4 times last week at the DT Retreat and I agree with Chris. This is a 9/10 for me. It’s a 9 because I don’t think it plays as well with 3 players as it does with 4 and 5.

[@girlrutherford]

We were very happy with the 3-player game!

[@sebastianyanez2039]

@@girlrutherford same here, with 3 works perfectly

[@VillainCollector1]

Sounds like a major hit or miss depending on the individual or group. Wide range of perspectives. Definitely want to try.

[@kevinwallace1374]

I have to say that you guys are excellent at selling out games. I've been eyeballing this game for a while and was ready to purchase it, but I heard you mention that you were going to be reviewing it soon, so I decided to hold off. Day after the review, I see it sold out everywhere that I normally buy games. This has happened to me several times with you guys. Keep up the great work! I actually found it on Walmart's online store, so I secured my copy :)

[@fiuza27]

Tom should make a top 10 super filler anytime soon. It's a very interesting niche of games to take a look, specially if we want a varied BG collection

[@jamesjacobthomson6198]

Awaiting more comments about the "legitimacy" of the seals. I for one am really enjoying the different opinions. :)

[@troygillespie]

When this format of reviewing on the dice tower became more frequent, I was wondering if there would be more groupthink in the recommendations. Clearly not the case! Nice job providing disparate perspectives!

[@DieJG]

“The year is 50 B.C. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well not entirely! One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium…” Say whatever you want, but having the face of Caesar on the boardgame made my day. I love Asterix and Obelix and i hope to see and play this game someday.

[@npckse8508]

I played this at the Retreat and it was fun. I would say keep it to 4 players as 3 can get wonky. Sort of a different version of Ticket to Ride.

[@ronrideout3969]

When they were showing the "how to play" part of the review, I thought "this looks very similar to Ticket to Ride".

[@toddcarlson5324]

Looks like an interesting game and really like the board artwork with Caesar's shadow on the board and all the items placed around the map. Interested in trying it out now. Thanks for the review.

[@ko9]

After the vibe in the game overview I was sure everyone HATED this game, boy was I wrong!

[@grog3514]

This feels like a Knizia design. My kind of game.

[@Ipazc]

After the 10 of Chris, Tom Vasel pick the box and removed his "8" XD!

[@Allanq69]

Chris I loved our play at the retreat! So fun!!

[@arnold2011]

Never heard about the game. Now it is on my buy list.

[@2Playornot2PlayGameReviews]

Guys, I feel if you like this 'super filler' you'll love The new Kramer and Kiesling game The Wandering Towers (Die Wanderlnden Turme) its got the same fun/easy gameplay and is done in 40 mins tops even with 6 players... Scales from 2-6 perfectly. Deffo check it out. There's a review on our channel if you wanna see it... Worth hunting down - Especially as Chris have this a 10!!

[@JorWat25]

With a 10 rating from Chris, I feel I have to check this out. Shame the RRP is £55! Seems way too high for what you get.

[@sebastianyanez2039]

its a very fun game

[@NickDavies75]

Looks fun - like a more streamlined Ride the Rails (in terms of scoring at least), and a lot more accessible. Shame it's quite expensive (relatively), which makes it harder for me to go out and buy (will be on my Christmas list though!)

[@erik2643]

i havent played the game but the feeling is like a ticket to ride game. so about the replay ability uts almost the same. still to much different to play it more. Great for both casual gamers and advanve players to still enjoy.

[@Lenkic13]

God bless you, Chris Yi. 😁

[@Bada4ever]

When you have a game where you only score the highest of a certain group, you could just let people exchange the lower thing for the higher thing. Easily fixed.

[@2532robh1]

So glad there was some positive about this. I bought it without knowing anything about it. Thanks!!

[@ClasmanFilms]

Wendy, I’m with you. I don’t understand the appeal for the game. So far everyone I play this with feels the same way. It’s currently on my possibly sell shelf.

[@bernadmanny]

I took a look at the small image of Caesar and thought that looks kinda like the one from Asterix; Tom: The Caesar from the Asterix and Obelix comics

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

This is why I don't watch reviews that speed through in 1 minute, 3 minutes etc. I need these detailed discussions and information. I would have likely have skipped this with that IP and cartoony art but now I'm intrigued. Also doesn't Wendy play and love a ton of "abstract" Euro games?

[@Chereebers]

I’m guessing here, but I think it’s the spatial puzzle part that makes her reference abstract games. A lot of games Wendy likes are economy of action/efficiency puzzles not spatial puzzles.

[@budsticky]

This looks really cool, but I wish one of the gang would have played it 2p and commented on it as that's my main player count.

[@AdaminWales]

I have played the game at 2 players, and it’s GREAT. A really nice back and forth. Everything you do benefits your opponent, so you have to just squeeze out a little bit more of a benefit for yourself. It’s really tight and balanced. I highly recommend it for two.

[@fishfleas]

Seems like this needs a rename to “Roads to Rome”

[@DarthPizza777]

you go Chris!!! 10 all the way!!

[@XCM666]

Have your played Blue Lagoon, Chris? The way you described Caesar's Empire is pretty much how I feel about Blue Lagoon. I need to check this game out, looks like it is full of quick but meaningful decisions.

[@DTChrisYi]

I like this comparison, Blue Lagoon is good and simple yet deep, but I think every turn in Caesar's Empire is more exciting. There's never just a turn where you're positioning yourself for a future turn, you're always grabbing a city tile, goods tile, and scoring roads. Each turn is quite exciting!

[@nshaw1299]

not to mention there's a difference in elegance of scalability. In Blue Lagoon all the chains fill up the board, but here, it's so nice that the board 'fills up the same amount' regardless of player count (yes, I know there's a different board for 2-3 players, but what I said still highlights why this game scales so nicely, I think)

[@antgerfitz]

@@DTChrisYi Hi Chris, I bought it to find out for myself why you gave it a 10. I'm trying it tonight for the first time, a 3 player game. When you play with 2 or 3 players do you use the 2 variants on page 4 of the rulebook? 1: Uneven Treasures setup - Use all treasures, remove leftovers at setup. 2) If you get all cities of a color score the sum of all those tiles at the end of the game.

[@RandomPerson-nd2ey]

Wait... Is this a lightweight Concordia? Edit: it seems like someone designed it while amusing their kid while playing with their Concordia game. Edit: 3:30 okay, now I'm convinced that's exactly what happened! It even has the same type of two sided board with the same player counts and everything!

[@revimfadli4666]

My Little Concordia ftw

[@flawed1]

Oh thank goodness! I thought the “super filler” part was actually part of the title of the game. That would’ve been a little bit meta me, 🤣

[@primusinterpares5767]

Feels like blue lagoon. Will totally get this

[@DTChrisYi]

I like that, that's not a bad comparison on complexity vs strategy. But some turns in Blue Lagoon are just positioning moves. Every turn in Caesar's Empire gets a city, goods tile, and points! Very exciting stuff.

[@Lwilibert]

The caesar in the box looks like the one in the animated asterix movie.

[@sorrowsong08]

Tom mentioned that it is exactly what happened at the beginning of the video.

[@jasonc2784]

10! Perfect! Publisher has already begun ramping up the alternative themes. Undead map, space, alternative physics universe where the map is 3d and the trains dance on strings.

[@huuuze]

Pretty sure Tom's scoring for Gold is incorrect. You also get points for being the person with the most unused “links” at the end of the game.

[@thedicetower]

Yes, I didn't mention that, Bryan, but I played that way.

[@DeltaDemon1]

Zombicide is definitely overproduced. When those dam zombie figs can't all fit in a square, it's annoying. They should be counter that you can stack.

[@christianbank393]

I wasn't interested at all by the box, but the gameplay actually looks fun. Reminds me of a light cube rails game kind of like North Pacific.

[@notsaved]

this feels like an extremely streamlined Free Ride?

[@_Cervantez]

well that was unexpected

[@stevegunasingh9333]

The game is good if you are a PVP player

[@darinherrick9224]

I hate, hate, HATE the term "filler". Hate it, hate it, HATE it!!!!!

[@jessicaw2137]

We played this 3 years ago at Essen and everyone at the table was bored

[@worldofbachman]

Looks like a fun game... but an insane waste of a no-doubt expensive Asterix licence.

[@claytrongo]

Agree! Hopefully they'll do more. I'm surprised at how much latent affection I have for Asterix, so much so that there's a minor hesitation on playing this game because I don't want to help the Romans!

[@waardlafrance110]

In the US this licence has never been popular, it is often considered racist, the difficulty of translating from French to American English, plus the difficulty of Americans to understand the antiquity and references of the jokes does not help. I doubt the licence is expensive for this area.

[@worldofbachman]

@@waardlafrance110 Well it looks like the game was first released in Europe where Asterix (though problematic certainly) is viewed with a lot of affection, so it’s possible it might well have been more expensive to get rights there. But really my point is why use the IP at all? Because this basically abstract game has literally no connection to the source material apart from the style of the artwork and the Asterix logo on the front. I’d love to see a game based on Asterix, but this really isn’t one.

[@MrDaveydtd]

oh yeah? well I'm giving this game a 10.5 Seal of Totally Excellent. Nah, I never played this game before, looks fun tho

[@saveversus]

This looks like a stripped down version of that MtG boardgame, Heroes of Dominaria (?), and THAT game wasn't very deep. You can build "roads" (mana), but there's more to do.

[@greginfla_1]

$45 dollars …..

[@nathanprice100]

Didn't realize your ratings are just based off of who gave it the highest score, I think that's a poor choice. I think labeling it a 7.5 (the average of the 4 of you) would be more useful to viewers.

[@DTChrisYi]

But you got to see all four scores and the explanations as to why we rated them that way. We could do single person reviews instead and you would only see the highest score. But that would actually be less informational.

[@fabianohernandesramos3561]

The thing that I most loke in this type of reviews is to know the game grade based on each specifical taste...

[@ABIGPLAN]

Tom Vessel

[@revimfadli4666]

Tom Vassal

[@nEvErLoOz]

each video I sea of this game it looks duller and duller

[@revimfadli4666]

I mean, those who praise it do so from playing it and finding its hidden depth, than just looking at it

[@ClasmanFilms]

I bought it, and unfortunately everyone I play it with say sell. I want to like it, but I find it so uninteresting.