Castellan Review - with Tom Vasel

Tom Vasel takes a look at this board game from Steve Jackson Games
00:00 - Introduction
01:43 - Overview
05:19 - Final Thoughts
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[@lrfcowper]

As TyrionXavier said, all players do play all their cards and pieces. In fact, it's good to go ahead and divide up the pieces between the two players so if you end up with pieces left over at the end, you know who missed playing their pieces. Having played this multiple times this Gen Con and last one, as part of the SJGames demo team, I will say that there is still a tiny luck of the draw factor if one player gets the "draw a card" cards early and the other one has all theirs at the bottom of their decks, as the ability to play multiple cards without fear of being stuck with a single card to play next turn gives a lot of flexibility. What I love about this is that while it's theoretically ages 8 and up, really any kid who's old enough to follow some basic rules and not put things in their mouth can play this game, since there's no reading required. (They may not play well, mind you, but I've seen adults who couldn't seem to visualise things either.) The combined cooperative + competitive theme is fun, too.

[@falconwind00]

Got this game a couple days ago. The easy rules makes it very accessible, and even though it's not a heavy strategy game, you can really spend a lot of time weighing options, maximizing points, and obstructing your opponent.

[@inukirby992]

did tom just say "viola" like the instrument

[@cheezeofages]

I have to say, for the box size that was probably one of the loudest component dumps I've heard on the show.

[@thedicetower]

Well there you go! That erases my only worry about the game. Huzzah! Game is quite good!

[@wetwillyccma]

I ordered it from Cool Stuff Inc a while back before it came out. Hopefully Dungeon Roll will be out very soon so I can get my shipment with this in it. Looks like a great filler game for Friday game night. Thanks Tom for the review.

[@MarioFanaticXV]

CSI always seems to have really good prices. But I was just going off the MSRP since that's what most stores sell a game by when it's this new.

[@TenMinuteGamer]

CoolStuffInc currently has it listed at $23.49 which I think is a little more fair in terms of price.

[@TyrionXavier]

The green/yellow also includes English.

[@rockxhero]

Do you feel this scratches a similar gaming "itch" to Carcassonne?

[@Madbonna1]

If you wanted the green/yellow could you just download the english instructions?

[@TyrionXavier]

Tom, you got a rule critically wrong. It is impossible for one person to end the game and have the other person left with a whole bunch of unplayed cards. When one person plays his/her last card, the other player(s) draw all of their cards, and then have 1 last turn where they play all their cards. All players always play all their cards.

[@MarioFanaticXV]

The game looks like a lot of fun, but I just don't see it as being 35 USD worth of content...

[@lancerfour]

Viola? i think you did that on purpose :\ but if not: vuala

[@tjv323]

Voila*