Concordia | Rahdo's Final Thoughts

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A video outlining gameplay for the boardgame Concordia. For more game info, www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgam...
Part I: Gameplay Runthrough
• Concordia Gameplay Run...
Part II: Extended Gameplay
• Concordia Extended Gam...
Part III: Endgame
• Concordia Endgame
Part IV: Final Thoughts
• Concordia | Rahdo's Fi...

[@bung1975]

I've always thought that the players aren't colonizing those cities but are establishing trading houses for their family. Hence why it is more expensive to esrablish a house where there is already at leadt one-extra tariffs/taxes/greasing of palms because thete is already a trading presence. But that is just my two cents.

[@bung1975]

Apologies for the typos - typing with one hand on a tablet.

[@kosterix123]

yes. got to play Concordia yesterday, with 3. Man it blew me away, it is soo good. Everything is interwoven so intricately, it feels fantastic all the time. There is nothing like it. It however does not have that "let's play again" factor: that's just because the game takes a solid 2-2 1/2 hours. I don't understand the dryness critic perhaps the color of the meeples?, but the gameplay is not dry at all, you are invested ALL THE TIME, that means even when it's not your turn. The color of the meeples actually helps to see at a glance who is where with what. By simply looking at the storage space you immediately know how many are out there. Thematically, I don't understand the meeple critic: you are playing entrepreneurs, directing you energy to stuff that happens, establishing trade routes. You cannot stay in Rome because the city is full, your pawns occupy specific trade routes, that's why they are in-between cities. The only thematically strange part is the fact your storage space is global, and the first 4 spaces are occupied by 2 colonist meeples and 2 ship meeples in cryo-stasis or something.

[@ffedericoni]

I really appreciate Jen's opinion. I like games even when they are abstract and I particurarly love simplicity and purity, but it seems a lot of people share Jen's vision, so it's nice to know her point of view to anticipate some 'dry' reactions. Thanks.

[@xdeacis]

Thanks for the review! Nice to hear your thoughts and insights, really nice.

[@vawcer]

Thanks for sharing both opinions. Very helpful. I'm super excited for this game.

[@JM-db8ez]

Love your videos Rahdo, thanks!

[@rahdo]

good questions! jen had a craft fair this weekend on the mainland, so i went over with her to help set up, and then i had all day, so i got together with a guy who lives over there and we played. as for whether we'll keep it, jury's out. she DOES like it, and wants to try it again before making a decision. plus the fact that I LOVE it makes her more inclined to want to keep it anyway :)

[@winterplum]

I have played Antike Duellum, and I see some similarities between that and Concordia. I would even go so far as to say the rondell in AD is somewhat replaced with the cards in Concordia, at least watching it being played made me think very much of Antike Duellum…with commerce featured a bit more in Concordia, where territory control is emphasized more in AD, but you are still managing resources in AD as well. In the end it is all down to VP. This looks terrific. Thank you for the review.

[@kelseywarkentin4238]

Thank you Jen! I love the idea of this game but theme integrated is important for me.

[@kosterix123]

yes I love to hear Jens opinion.

[@ninedown]

I'm glad I watched this fully b/c I was intent on hunting this down, it's out of print now so it might've been a lil pricery, but towards the end of the vids I'm like hmm, something doesn't quite grab me here. Then Jen's view of the game came out and I'm like aha! that's it, there is no connection to the game or the goings on on the board, and I never knew a bit of theme / connection mattered to me until now. Wow, go figure. Thanks much for that, but I'd have not noticed it and I probably wouldn't have gotten around to playing this too often after buying it. I was like oooh, euro tile game, ooooh, deck building, but yea, at the end, nothing rly connecting to the game play. Thanks much.

[@MarcyKennedy]

I liked the addition of Jen's opinion on the game. It seems like the card selection in this game has a lot of similarities with Lewis & Clark. I'd be curious to know which game you felt did it better and which game you and Jen preferred overall.

[@rahdo]

i think they're both great games, tough choice really. i guess i like concordia a bit more because while they both have the 'build your deck and reset it whenever you want' thing, in concordia, you use your deck as long as possible to get a bigger reward, while in l&c, you go as long as possible to avoid a punishment. i prefer the carrot to stick :). but L&C is definitely more themeatic, so there's that too...

[@TyphoidBryan]

I know they are different games, but I kept thinking of Puerto Rico throughout the runthrough. Playing the one card every turn reminds me of choosing the profession in PR. I am not sure this game has enough wow factor for me (needs a Feldian twist), but it certainly seems solid.

[@fredrikmingert5064]

Great game. Somehow friendly even when you compete!

[@CodMillo]

this game is awesome!

[@archmagus1510]

we play it two days ago in my boardgame club.great game even i am a ameritrash guy.i higly recommend this to play to everyone.very underrated

[@TheFlymar]

Jen is right:) Collect resources to build another resource production. I think the cool addition would be spending the resources for roman monuments or to create legions. To have more Rome in the Roman Empire. Or like in Ceasar video game fulfilling the quests from the emperor to gain his favour and deal with the barbarians.

[@eliumeldritch]

Thanks for the review! Do you plan on doing one for russian railroads anytime soon?

[@rahdo]

Since new gmail integration doesn't let me reply to people directly, MARCY: I think L&C is a more 'fun' implementation of this new sort of deck building, while Concordia is more elegant. Like them both quite a bit, I probably prefer Concordia a bit, and Jen prefers L&C a bit :)

[@1ebaymama]

off topic question: I am having trouble finding Firenze the board game and I heard you mention the card game. is that more readily available? if you know of it for sale anywhere can you reply with a link?

[@rahdo]

nope, there's no firenze the card game... i must have misspoke :(

[@Crankbait4444]

Yes, add Jen's opinion to all your reviews. It would be nice to hear her views too.

[@kosterix123]

you compared to other more thematic games but I didn't get the names, was it matador? Navajo?

[@rahdo]

florenza: the card game and amerigo :)

[@TyphoidBryan]

Hmm. I'm really on the fence with this one. I've walked away from your runthrough for a few days and have come back to listen again to the final thoughts and I think I may...possibly...pursue this one. I still feel it's a bit of a mish-mash of Euro games of years gone by, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's "bad." In fact, it appears to be a good one, but I still want that defining feature that sets it apart from its contemporaries.

[@joshlee1132]

My mind played a trick on me an for a second right after the pieces got dumped on the floor I almost jumped down on my floor to pick them up. So many times pieces hit the floor and it makes me anxious cause I don't want to lose key components of my games.

[@mirkocano2125]

This game is a blast. My wife adores it.

[@jaredbeiswenger3766]

Hmm... I might be leaning on Jen's side of the fence just watching this one. Is it still something special if you take out the Mage Knight-esque deck building, or is that what makes the game?

[@arw20]

I've heard theexpansion gives the game an extra dimension that makes this game a lot better. Have you tried it? I've bought the original game today and excited to play it.

[@rahdo]

i've already done a runthrough for the expansion which is great

[@silverfang6668]

I'm concerned that this game may not play as well with only two players. What is there to prevent each player from developing/keeping to their own side of the board and not interacting/confronting each other?

[@rahdo]

Silver Fang nothing, which is why most people believe that the new UK map that was released, which was specifically designed for 2p, is such an improvement :)

[@rbruba]

Who did you play the first two games with if not Jen? What are some other games the two of you disagree on? Does her dislike mean you won't keep it?

[@rahdo]

Since new gmail integration doesn't let me reply to people directly, JOSH: really want to try Russian Railroads, but missed out on getting a copy at Essen. But will be after it in the future! :)

[@christophermoore8524]

The artwork and design of Inis was so impressive, I couldn't wait to play. Concordia barely looks like a game at all, and that's a bummer, because people less sensitive to those things seem to love the game. I may still buy it because it does so many things right, but I don't know how often it will get to the table when competing against games that don't look like the menu of an Italian restaurant.

[@graphycus]

I think it's a very smart game, but unfortunately the artwork feels very booring. It's too dry, nothing helps you to submerge into the theme and I suspect Jen had the same issue with the game. I think some more picture-based character cards would help very much, because these heavily text-based "info" cards are just ok, but they didn't pull you inside the game. For a begginer player it's even worse, as he has to go through every single text on every card, to find out which one to chose. The cards just doesn't have that strong impact and design support that other similar games have. And, after all, these cards give the main mechanic of the game. It's basicaly a deck-building game, but without the beatifuly designed cards that these types of games have. I don't think for example Dominion would be so successful without the cool-looking cards, having instead some dry texts put on each of them. For me, this is a very important aspect and for this reason I had to skip on this otherwise brilliant game.

[@justinrrizzo]

Still own it? The art and game board are not very inspiring, but everyone says this game is great, and I thought it would be a good starting euro game for the wife and I to learn together (we also own La Granga, but are looking for an easier starting point).

[@TheOmninovoi]

But the Romans DID colonize/conquer Italy.... They did send colonies to various areas along the cost (and come into conflict with various Greek cities along the coast as well)

[@timg7954]

Bah- Yet another chunk of cardboard going into my amazon shopping cart.... Thanks for a nice review-

[@MarlonKruis]

6:29 wait.....did you just say mech......nehhhh won't go there :-P

[@rahdo]

gasp!!!!

[@-Ambos-]

This or Brass?

[@rahdo]

for us, that

[@-Ambos-]

@@rahdoThank you so much. I really like your thoughts about the different games. Now I will go and get Concordia

[@Jux925]

The houses are not colonies. I regard them as businesses. And extra cards are political favors that you are buying off :)

[@skeezaworkan]

Houses are not colonies. At that point the whole Europe was already colonised. You litteraly build houses (trading posts) in already settled and colonised provinces of Rome Empire.

[@rahdo]

ah, sure. meeples are called colonists, so i just went with colonies, not thinking too much about it. but fair enough :)

[@don6538]

Rahdo, there is no 'U' in the Roman Alphabet; the letter 'V' stands for both the consonant 'V' and the vowel 'U'. Thus "Ligvira" is in English "Liguria". Common use determines which it is. And the 'V' consonant is pronounced like a 'W'. Similarly there is no 'K' in Latin and the 'C' is pronounced 100% like a hard 'K'; it was never pronounced like a soft 'S'. Thus the prefix for 100 is pronounced 'kent-' and not 'sent-'. There are other letters missing too. Like Latin 'I' is used as both a consonant 'J' and a vowel 'I'. All of which plays silly buggers when trying to import words from another language like Greek. And I think it is a GREAT ('magnus ludus') game. Be well.

[@evgenidimitrov7790]

I can not understand how someone who likes to remove cubes form the map, and then cure them forever with Airplane tickets, can say that this game is dry :D :D :D

[@Hunszi]

Evgeni Dimitrov because is not about "saving the world" but just making business in different cities. You cannot form a huge story behind Concordia, but you can do for Pandemic. Cubes here, cubes there...but dry business here and story there.