Charioteer Review - Ben Hur-ry Up!

Tom & Chris take a look at Charioteer!
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[@leefreeman9161]

Rules correction listed below Great review guys!! I’ve played it about 7-8 times and it’s a fantastic game. Very sleek, clean design. If you match the EMPEROR DIE, you move that matching skill marker on your board 1 additional space (2 spaces instead of one). This creates a tough decision point - whether to match the crowd card or emperor die. You can focus on the emperor die in some games and really push a couple of your skill markers to the end, which allows for some really big end game moves. Again - great review!

[@Nightsorrow1]

And thats its probably why tom thought the game its a little to long. Matching the emperor makes you engine goes really far fast. And them you make some amazing moves.

[@bryceknittle]

When you do the move that the emperor die depicts you increases your skill on your own board an additional space. Not an additional movement on the race track.

[@iansutton7416]

quest for el dorado jumps out as another race game where you get more powerful as you go.

[@warblefly81]

Happy to see a new GMT game get reviewed with a good rating no less!! They have some good non-war games coming out in the next year or two.

[@henrikwakman7776]

Enjoyed this Chris and Tom team up!

[@BroockPhilipp]

GMT rules desighed not to easy learn the game, but to find answers as fast as possible, which in the end smooth the process of learning the game.

[@Sajatzsiraf]

they certainly have their own style and process. if you are used to that, and can follow the logic, will feel natural.

[@spaztekwarrior]

Might have to watch the racing scene from Ben Hur prior to playing this game. :)

[@Doolin_Tablenauts]

This seems like a great game!! Between this, Heat, Ready Set Bet, and Long Shot TDG, there have been some really fun race-themed games.

[@namelessfire]

As someone who enjoys good aesthetics, I think too much stock is put into "prettiness" with board games. After awhile, the aesthetics of a board game will fade into the background, and all that will matter will be legibility. GMT does a great job at legibility.

[@thedicetower]

But I would argue that it helps sell a game. Functionality only takes a game so far, and it's hard to get new people to play a game that is "ugly"

[@ThymeKeeper]

@@thedicetower I would also say that aesthetics help immerse you in the game and thereby make it easier and more enjoyable to play. It's a false dilemma that games either have to be "pretty" or "deep". They can be both.

[@namelessfire]

@@thedicetower That’s a different discussion, but it is a discussion worth having. I’d argue that drawing new players is less about “do they think it looks pretty and shiny” and more a matter of “how do the aesthetics of the game strike them.” For example: I’ve had plenty of teenagers bounce off Space Base because it “looks like a game for babies” and they loved Food Chain Magnate because it “looks cool” and they like the paper money. I’ve had people over 50 tell me they didn’t want to play Azul because the pretty aesthetics were intimidating (they thought prettiness meant complexity). Then they played Puerto Rico to death because it looked simple. Prettiness doesn’t draw in new players, aesthetics do. However, GMT is a niche hobby company. They aren’t aiming their products at the average player. They cater to their passionate audience. GMT players prefer legibility and accuracy over nice artwork.

[@WilliamBrothers]

I own a lot of GMT games and most are wargames, but it's nice to see them print some low complexity and fun family games now and then

[@lastburning]

Maybe GMT has the complexity rating just right and it's just that many players have not experienced the full scale. I think many GMT games would top out the BGG scale even though there are huge complexity differences between them. Like Combat Commander is low complexity among wargames but not so among non-wargames.

[@allent9304]

Thanks for the review. Neat game, but I think I prefer Circus Maximus. Yes it takes three hours, but I dont think it is all that complex and it's super fun.

[@LordBollocks]

Another great game from the designer of Sekigahara.

[@iansutton7416]

Looks like a deluxe version (for GMT) 😉

[@darbyl3872]

Heat didn't make me hot. This was an insta-buy after one game. The length is fine to smooth out the randomness, but even at 2 laps, I don't think it would suffer from too much randomness. For a 2-lap game, I would skip about three of the middle advancements.

[@jwspiker]

just need you guys to try thunder rolls next

[@manuelkong10]

matching symbols on cards....what does That have to do with racing a chariot? I thought the board looked Fine...at least it wasn't ORANGE like Circus Maximus lol

[@john-qz3fu]

GMT's production is fantastic

[@ThymeKeeper]

I kind of assumed you liked it or you wouldn't be reviewing it. I know you get plenty of GMT games that you don't play and despite the reputation for snarkiness towards wargames (neither entirely deserved or undeserved) you have been more than fair with the non-war games GMT publishes, many of which you have liked. I see GMT games on your shelves or in unboxings and the general impression is that you know which ones aren't in your wheelhouse and you neither play nor review them, which I consider eminently fair.

[@ko9]

Those set-up cards are silly..Just take those four wooden bits into your hand and randomly drop one at a time. If two players do end up with exactly the same order, just do it again

[@alexstrang9823]

WHY are the cards designed to look like credit cards? That's freaking me out....