Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy Review - A Plastic Classic

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Thanks to Kevin MacLeod for use of the tracks "Bummin on Tremelo", "Beauty Flow" and "Tyrant".

[@anthonyhowgego8592]

Used to work at a boardgame cafe. After the shop closed at midnight, we'd dim the lights, get some cold beverages out the fridge, and, out of thousands of games, we'd always go to this one, and we'd play until 4-5 am. Then, got bed, back to work at 12pm the next day, and repeat. Great game and good memories.

[@devinbaird2470]

Wow, now I want to work at a board game Cafe lol

[@oliviapg]

@@cassiel6666 Could also be because they know there's no chance in hell the game ends before closing time

[@JustJanitor]

Sounds like a wonderful place. I didnt know things like that existed

[@NeThsDomain]

@@cassiel6666 that's definitely not the reason lol

[@Grnademaster]

That's epic

[@wipeguy]

If you ever play a game at Quinns' table there is an 83% chance you are going to touch a game component that has at some point been in his mouth.

[@shutupandsitdown]

Fun fact! A lot of the games in the SHUX library have come straight from Quinns' flat.

[@user-ju6vo2rk7d]

As explained in an other video, they follow Covid restriction when deciding to put games in Quinns's mouth.

[@rav3style]

@@shutupandsitdown you mean from Quinn’s mouth right?

[@_The_Rake]

The next pandemic will be name the SHUX pandemic.

[@martinlarouche4418]

Yet, i think in the component eating department, he's still a junior compared to Paula Deming.

[@tomd2666]

The content we crave. Quinn being shoved into a box.

[@luigiscazzari4724]

The Worm was inside him all this time

[@Callm3sol]

*cough cough worms of games*

[@LordOfLongwood]

Kinky

[@duartecruz5635]

It took me far too many tries to figure out Quinns was spelling "Bananas in Space".

[@Quargos]

I literally scrolled down into the comments to see if someone had written it out already.

[@alexthorpe2522]

I screen recorded to write down. I should have checked the comments for cleverer people first.

[@smolle8906]

i just moved along :D

[@JB-ym4up]

I thought he had a stroke.

[@MrBlooDeck]

Thank you, you are doing gods work

[@Churro_Douglas]

Quinns: *pops a component in his mouth Me: what an idiot Quinns: *Five of that component falls out of his mouth Me: what a genius

[@austintan2745]

dude i saw you in uw’s romeo and juliet a couple years ago and just recognized your profile pic

[@Churro_Douglas]

@@austintan2745 I’ve been recognized in public, that means I’m officially a famous actor!

[@unidentifiaification]

Man, that storage alone is insanely praiseworthy. If other "big" games (looking at you Gloomhaven and TI) bothered to have storage that actually *facilitated* playing the game, I think they'd hit the table way, way more often.

[@adamwhitehead7289]

They like to rely on other people doing it for them. Also, those games including a storage solution would make them effectively unaffordable. Having the option would be nice, though.

[@josephcourtright8071]

They learned from the first edition in which I had to make my own trays for the components because otherwise it was a pain to fish all the pieces out.

[@CatLegoDiver]

I SO agree, particularly with Gloomhaven. I've had to cobble together systems to organize the masses of components, and while it's been a world of exciting, thrilling and inventive trips to dollar and craft stores for just the right binders, dividers, containers do-dads and chatchkeys, it's been a major pain in the a$$. And still, setup takes ages.

[@colonelpopcorn1947]

Opening up mysterium is literally traveling to heaven

[@BenjaminoBest]

They do, its just extra. It's called a broken token organizer. Everything you could ask for

[@ember_falls]

"too scandinavian" me, a scandinavian: _rewrites my Christmas wishlist_

[@ThoriberoCaroli]

As a fellow scandinavian, I can really recommend this game.

[@TheLimestoneCowboy]

I used to be Scandinavian, then Ancestry DNA got updated :/

[@shteevie]

Except that Finland is categorically NOT part of Scandinavia! Never was! Finland didn't exist when Scandinavia was a going concern!

[@ember_falls]

@@shteevie dang, you got me

[@ember_falls]

@@TheLimestoneCowboy proof that time travelers exist, someone must have tampered with your scandinavian roots

[@gametrayz3928]

"you've got all your bits in front of you like a wealthy child's lunchbox." I'm now both hungry and humbled by your assessment of our Game Trayz inserts!

[@aarcade6676]

Very good marketing, this will make me more likely to purchase your products

[@cptroot]

"What's that you've got Henry?" "A Knife! :D" "NO!!!!"

[@Saukkoman]

"The designer of Eclipse, Touko Tahkakahlua" Points for trying Quinn

[@ShaderF]

I think he just picked a Pacific Island he knew and figured it was close enough.

[@Dthamilaye]

Lol yeah... As a Finn, I would have no clue what the name was unless I knew it :). But at least he tried. And the game is awesome, 1st edition as well, although 1st edition really REALLY needs 3rd party insert.

[@snbgames9972]

@@Dthamilaye I got a Folded Space insert, it's really good

[@Dthamilaye]

@@snbgames9972 I have Folded Space insert as well :). The Folded Space insert is definitely the best I found. I have the main game and all expansions (including mini-expansions) and everything fits in the big box + one expansion box. And the setup and teardown is like... ten times faster. And the tech tray and such help immensely as well. I also got the e-Raptor "mini organizer" for the playerboard token spaces. Without them, any slight bump to a player board would mess everything up (Terraforming mars-style), but with the overlays, everything stays put nicely. Definitely worth the price. Main thing why I did not pledge for this Kickstarter was that I already had everything for the 1st edition, and that includes some interesting stuff that was not in the 2nd edition. With the Folded Space trays, the setup/teardown is bearable as well, althought 2nd edition is just... so great looking :D.

[@johlarson]

I'm not sure what's so hard about that name. An English-speaker might get the A-vowel sound wrong, or place the accent in the wrong place, but if they sound it out phonetically, they should get pretty close.

[@SynGirl32]

All the cool kids are about XBOX SX vs. PS5, we're about Eclipse 2 vs. TI4 Propecy of Kings.

[@juliendrainville7131]

TI4 all the way. :-P

[@tom44323]

Just have both. They're different enough, imo. That is assuming you can get 5-6 people to the table often enough. *sigh* One day.... one day.

[@peterv6036]

@@tom44323 what's your favourite of the two?

[@tom44323]

@@peterv6036 Most likely TI4 by virtue of simply being bigger in many aspects, since I like complex games. However, the ship design system in Eclipse is really unique and fun, I appreciate the tighter focus on economy and it's easier to get to the table for being shorter and fairly playable even in 2-4p, which TI4 is not great at. It's a really close shave.

[@stumbling]

We are the cool kids. We are the cool kids, right?

[@engineer-of-souls]

I know that Finnish ain't the easiest language but Quinn's attempt with Touko Tahkokallio sounds more like Hawaiian to me.

[@ivarvuori503]

Butchered to say the least lmao, sounded like Japanese to me.

[@szymonnowicki8412]

Wait it isnt japanish?

[@veli-jussihaanpaa3829]

Has anyone at SUSD ever pronounced “Lautapelit.fi”? I feel like it’s being conveniently left out every time

[@XShrike0]

I thought it was Japanese name.

[@nHautamaki]

People think my name is Japanese too but there are really easy to spot differences. With my name it's easy because there's no 'au' in Japanese. With Touko Tahkokallio there's no 'ahk' in Japanese, there's no doubled 'll', and there's no 'io' (it would be spelled yo if it was Japanese'. That said it's certainly cool how similar the languages are with basically 0 connection and also even how coincidentally culturally similar the northern indigenous Japanese Ainu people are to the northern indigenous Finnish Saami people, and there is a theory that the Ainu people may have originated from the northern Urals, and may even share common ancestors with the Saami from perhaps tens of thousands of years ago.

[@adrianmennie2137]

Twilight imperium 4 is the crown jewel of my collection... I could never!

[@amok_sa]

You can have two crown jewels! In fact, most crowns have many many jewels, it's ok, TI4 won't mind!

[@RaidsEpicly]

@@amok_sa I think he was referencing giving his TI4 box away, like Quinns did

[@alt0248]

You might be giving Ti4 a cousin soon.

[@Smitemouth]

@@amok_sa HERESY! Also, no matter how much i would like to have this game, if i owned it i KNOW my so called "friends" would always prefer to play this over TI4.

[@collin7776]

I said this in another comment: TI4 is the superior experience where Eclipse is the superior board game.

[@gjkf]

Quinns, you know it. You absolutely do. We NEED a playthrough of this with NPI as you did with TI4. Of course when times are back to normal but boy oh boy am I excited already.

[@thomasromanelli2561]

Having played both Eclipse and TI4, I find that they're distinct enough for both titles to remain in my collection. Paradoxically, Eclipse has been labelled as 'TI Lite" but probably does the intricacies of tech-based combat better than TI. On the other hand, TI4 has many more factions to choose from and while my group has enjoyed Eclipse, TI3/4 always produced stories that we talked about years after the gaming session. I kinda surprised that Quinns gave TI4 the boot, especially since I can't imagine he's explored all the opportunities and combos inherent in Prophecy of Kings... 🤔

[@NATOnova]

@@kyleweeks2941 what do you think of eclipse now?

[@thomasromanelli2561]

@@2bitnerd TI4 has found a robust forum on TTS, where geographically divergent groups can get together and play over the course of multiple sessions. I am not aware of something similar with Eclipse, but perhaps my information is incorrect.

[@Matrium0]

@@kyleweeks2941 For me the epic feeling you get from TI just happens because the game takes FOREVER. There are so many tedious mechanics. Like the strategy cards - since every strategy has a secondary effect usable by everyone it all becomes SO DAMN SLOW, where you use your strategy and than you have to wait for everyone to decide whether they want to use the secondary effect. It adds a lot of strategic depth for sure, but a single round of TI can take an insane amount of time. In Eclipse you just play clockwise and when your turn comes you do exactly one action (and you had enough time to think about that), so it's not uncommon to have 6 player rounds pass within 10-15 minutes. You loose some depth, but (for me personally) it's so worth it!

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

TI4 is king of the Ameritrash Spacefights for a reason, but Eclipse has really managed to card itself a niche by its three distinct advantages; being just 4-6 hours instead of 5-10, just being better organised for faster starts, and the tech system absolutely activating certain players' almonds. If you only have one you needn't rush out and spend the HUGE sum on the other, but if you have both there's going to be days where you reach for TI4 and a few people say 'actually, let's run Eclipse today'.

[@StriderZessei]

Late to the conversation, but I really appreciate how Eclipse encourages more player interaction on the board, vs TI encouraging player interaction around it. Eclipse makes it feel like things are happening, while TI is much more ponderous and argumentative.

[@daleburgess6223]

Can't speak for everyone, but the reason i keep coming back to watch big box plastic game reviews is that i'm looking for alternatives to warhammer 40k. Can't keep up with their insane pricing, and seeing all the experiences i can get in a box for a fraction of the cost and still get cool plastic minis to paint is why i immediately jump on these kind of videos.

[@Ashadz]

If you're looking to enjoy the game of 40k without the cost you can have a great time playing it on TTS. If it's more the crafts aspect you like then yeah fair enough, GW's prices are madness.

[@davidburton2229]

I havnt got an alternative for 40k but if you were a Warhammer Fantasy player, please check out Mantic Game's King's of War

[@ChaosAptom]

You could try Infinity (also a fav of Quinns if I remember correctly). Free rules, less minis. (With the new edition the top amount of units in a game is 15 per player )

[@robertchmielecki2580]

Just play one of the other systems, that may (or may not) have equally expensive models, but requires just a handful of figures to play. My favourite Warmachine&Hordes now has a cool new low-point format called Brawlmachine which requires less than 20 models to play, and WM&H is so, so, SO MUCH smarter system than anything Games Workshop produces, especially WH40K. Look, even SU&SD guys agree with me :) : www.shutupandsitdown.com/miniatures-game-review-warmachine-hordes/ The rules are free, the models less so... but you need just a few.

[@KamahlFoK]

Mythic Battles: Pantheon just killed 40k for me. No measuring, self-contained game, different armies every session, active drafting, high variance in how the game plays without relying on things just missing or hitting (almost every attack connects, just some hit for 2 damage and weaker attacks may whiff). Still pricy relative to other games, but not that pricy relative to Warhammer.

[@Misterpieguy]

I'm so happy I found this channel. If gaming was mainstream, this channel would easily have 10 million subs lol

[@nicolajohnson1887]

I've bought three different games on the basis of their reviews, star wars rebellion, blood on the clock tower, and eclipse 2nd E, I'd never heard of any of those games prior to this channel, but I trust the reviews they put out.

[@leebarbs7176]

FWIW covid did help a bit with the hobby lol now if we can just purge the world of the monopoly menace & show people that FUN board games actually exist

[@dog1783]

Can we please get a "technically difficult" pear shirt? I laughed so hard at 13:13

[@Deydren]

"Low Cost, Low Dignity Cosplay" Lovin' it XD

[@aswxwing]

As a TI fanatic, this looks INCREDIBLE.

[@JR-sv7kh]

I have this and TI4, they do scratch different itches. The unboxing of Eclipse though cannot be understated it is the most organized and expertly designed game I own (50 plus).

[@cutscenecinema9973]

Absolutely own both. You can play Eclipse with any number of players within a couple of hours. TI will take the better part of a day and plays better at 4+. Both are great for different reasons.

[@robertchmielecki2580]

I've had both...and TI is still in my collection, while Eclipse was sold after a few plays. What I found really disgusting was drawing random Victory Point chits for every battle you take part in. Even the ones you lose. A mechanic that is really, really, REALLY stupid and anti-climactic. After seeing game after game devolving into cheap, suicide ships being run blindly into enemy (preferably NPC) territory to outluck other players in drawing those chits...just sold the game.

[@cutscenecinema9973]

@@robertchmielecki2580 You draw far less victory points for taking part than for winning and the winner draws first, giving them far greater opportunity to draw the high value chits. Ultimately, it balances out over the number of battles. Which is the quintessential ideology of Eclipse: a single instance or turn will not win you the game but your actions over the course of the game will determine victory. So while it is possible for you to lose a single ship and score 4 victory points, this is an outlier event. You must research, you must explore and you must fight to have a chance at victory.

[@ededdi]

Having played both Eclipse and TI. They are two different beasts. Eclipse is super-Risk, where victory is achived via ruthless domination of your foes and out performing their war enginge. It also suffers from the same issue of risk where the person with more resources comes out ontop unless the dice decide otherwise. There is very little in the way of diplomacy encouragment mechanics in Eclipse. The other thing is the 'randomly drawing victory chips' just results in poeple throwing ships at pointless battles to grab a few chips, check if they are better thanwhat they have, and then toss them back. The Exploration chips meanwhile ask you "Do you want to lose 2 vp to have a chance at a super-tech, with a consolation prize of a handdful of resources." And despite quinns assurances that the 'are my ships better than your ships' question is fuzzy. it isn't. Missiles fire once, but are big and scary, cannons fire lots of times, but fire after missiles. Computers give a bonus, sheilds give negatives to your foe. A six always hits. Beyond that? its a game of probability. In my several games I found the scariest ship array is to load your fighters up with big missiles. a zippy engine, and a decent computer, then back them up with some big gunships. The missiles let you get early hits in, then the fighters just become damage sinks. Since it's a game of assigning hits to your own ships. "Oh you scored four hits? well thats four fighters gone, they've allready dumped their payload." Tech meanwhile becomes a game of "grab and go." where whoever is going first often gets first pick of tech, with some techs heavily outweighing others, Things that give you extra lozenges, or let you build point scoring monoliths often vanashing as soon as they hit the table. TI on the otherhand has a far more 'in depth' stratagy. What borders do I defend? who do I exchange ceasefire with? do I progress down one tech colour before the other? so on and so forth. It also encourages diplomacy and communication between players. It feels 'grander.' When I bring Eclipse (either edition) to the table with the three groups I play with I often get asked "Should we just play TI instead?" but that is my group. I think the long and short of it is this: Eclipse is Super risk, in the sense it is very much a 'dudes on a map' wargame, while TI is a grand stratagy game where you can win without dudes on the map (theoretically!)

[@gera9576]

This is THE greatest Review of a board game ive ever seen,the pure excitement that the anchor induce is out of this galaxy

[@lindybeige]

For goodness sake, man, get off the fence. Did you like it or didn't you?

[@demonicbunny3po]

Always weird to see a favored content creator posting on another favored content creator that does completely different content. @Lindybiege I would love to see you in a play through of a game.

[@byronperry8931]

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

[@lyreparadox]

@@Paddyevans It was the video about cow wrestling that really got me. 🤔

[@Obir]

Still waiting for mooooar dance videos...i won't get them i guess :(

[@ThoriberoCaroli]

@@demonicbunny3po I'm seconding that opinion strongly!

[@qualus]

My wife got me this for my birthday, and having played the first one, this feels like a new world. Absolutely my favourite board game of all time. Highly recommend it!

[@j.j.ranvier8256]

The "'what have you got there' 'a knife!'" joke made me do an actual spittake

[@nalykazule1582]

And here I am just picturing a little mountain of colored plastic at Matt's mail slot. Opening the door to find Twilight Imperium themed caltrops placed ever so gingerly by Quinns.

[@Henri79]

I think we need an epic SUSD twitch stream about this game. Like the TI stream. Urgently. Please.

[@nobodynowhere3499]

This game looks exactly right up my alley. I would also be equally happy with this exact game, but reskinned as a fantasy game, equipping and kitting your armies with magical gear and equipment, exploring ancient ruins, and confronting rival fantasy nations and races!

[@minecrafter0505]

Coming back to this video once more because it's so good at convincing people they need Eclipse in their life. I got shown this video and showed it to a lot of friends who all got into Eclipse (more or less).

[@DrMcFly28]

I'm loving Quinns' neutral, mildly disappointed expression in the thumbnail

[@AyyyyyyyyyLmao]

The way the mat rippled after it unrolled was absolutely out of this world.

[@a.d.9415]

0:55 is when he starts talking about the boxes and 1:24 is where he demonstrates just how quick pieces get handed out. This is the moment I'm always looking for to show my friends and can never find.

[@Uberskull]

The level of organization that comes packed with this game really gets me rock hard! I wish more games had this much thought put into their components.

[@jensverwaest9587]

If you like Eclipse or Twilight Imperium, make sure to check out THE WARP. Currently available through Kickstarter!!

[@Bassist665]

A must back if you like 4X games!

[@rowdy35967]

I imagine that even if I didn't like board games, I'd still watch Quinns review them. He's turned board game reviews into an art. It's just a joy to watch him work the same way I enjoy watching guitarists or parkour... people or Bob Ross paint. I wish I had half of the elegance he displays here so I could properly describe how elegant his reviews are.

[@emmybnye]

You are telling me I can play this gorgeous thing in quarantine with 2 people?! I'm in.

[@nicolajohnson1887]

It plays really well at two players, something TI Can't do.

[@rudy6945]

Immediatley ordered this!. Was looking for a faster more battle oriented TWI. Had my eyes on this for a long time already. When I saw the review I knew I could now order it and with this recommendation didnt hesitate for one second. Thanks!

[@pierresejourne7707]

Would love a let's play of this when covid stops.

[@Paddyevans]

Thiiiiis

[@kimerlioliver4087]

If we ever get out of this I’m hoping for a let’s play frenzy.

[@bretthatesgirlsify]

“When” haha.....ha......😞

[@odsonic]

Sings.."i think its guna be a long long time lol" seriously I hope u play it A LOT though it's a good game

[@thimbleofurine9923]

Its far from perfect, and honestly has some annoying problems. Still a great game and I own all the 1st ed expansions. but the criticism from someone who's played the first game a lot is the game doesn't actually have a lot of room to outplay once you know whats good, it acutally is sorta shallow once you understand all the mechanics equally. Unlike twilight imperium one player can quite comfortably beat an entire table in the late game. Exploration is very random and can often decide a game hyperlane placement can intentionally make fighting almost impossible tech/ancient drops are random and often decide games, (e.g early robotics or advanced resource techs or plasma cannons or hulls) luck of beating early aliens can be random and decide games Diplomacy sucks and often gums up the best part of the game, the teching and fighting. there aren't enough ways to trade or negotiate. the factions aren't balanced its a great game, but actually a whole lot of races play more or less identical with slight differences in bonus vp or ship design. stronger you cant be a nice guy and really win. still a great game, but the 2nd ed didnt really properly address most of these problems, and often was just a bandaid fix. (plasma missiles still seem broken) I actually think comparing this to TI4 is kinda deceptive, usually in eclipse you see the winner coming from a while away and are powerless to stop them, where as in TI even as a weak player you have a good amount of influence. ultimately eclipse is a war game pretending to have exploration or diplomatic elements, whilst Ti is a negotiation and politics game with war as a final resort no one wants to use. while they both have hexes and spaceships the similarities are mostly surface level compared to how they actually feel to play. I basically play eclipse when I cant get Ti4 to the table or I want to show someone who likes risk but wants more depth a game to play

[@MarkoPrvulovic]

This comment deserves more likes

[@tomb020780]

Hey mate, for me the deciding factor on whether this is worth getting (which you touched on) is: did they in any way fix the totally randomness of the hex tile drawing? It's the one thing that really drags 1st Ed Eclipse down in my view and that of those who I play it with; you can spend turn after turn drawing hexes to get something you can work with to no avail, while another player gets lucky on their first two draws and gets their Mario start towards victory...did they do anything to mitigate this?

[@MassDefibrillator]

could you elaborate on your contradiction in your first two points: "game doesn't actually have a lot of room to outplay once you know whats good," Versus "one player can quite comfortably beat an entire table in the late game."

[@daodasbrot4817]

i really hope he will answer. Good Questions and good Comment.

[@LordCumberdale]

@@MassDefibrillator also a contradiction in the last 2 points: "the factions aren't balanced" versus "[...] actually a whole lot of races play more or less identical with slight differences in bonus vp or ship design"

[@Greedr]

so..I get home after a nonsense workday...get some food, fire up YT and I see a video of SUSD and Eclipse. A smile gets on my face. 15ish minutes into the video I get notified by my retailer that Eclipse will be arriving to me within a couple of days. Well, my afternoon suddenly got much better :D

[@SaoPauloOrBust]

A great video, as usual. Thank you for making it. I haven't played the second edition of Eclipse, but unless it's a dramatic improvement over the first, I won't be buying it. Firstly, I'll say that Eclipse 1E is better than at least 60% of board games I've played. But it's got some problems. My group played a lot of Eclipse. It was one of the first really large games that we graduated to after Catan, Betrayal and Dominion. And we loved it at first. It's epic and thrilling. The research and ship upgrade mechanic is truly great, best part of the game, no doubt. But after a dozen or so games, our strategies kept consistently falling into the same patterns. We'd explore a bit, colonize a bit, research a bit and then we'd turtle up and refuse to attack anyone. This wasn't something we were all consciously deciding to do; it just came about due to how punishing losing a combat can be. If you slip up and lose a significant chunk of your fleet, your territory is now pretty easy pickings for your neighbors. You don't have the resources to rebuild quickly and you don't have the time or territory to gather those resources. Diplomacy rarely accomplishes anything once you're in a weak position because territory equals points after all. Even in the early game, losing a combat to the guardians could set you back so far as to be insurmountable. Your only cruiser just died for no gain, how can you repel two of your opponent's cruisers? Also, uneven distribution of resources in tier two and tier three tiles led to some pretty feels-bad moments. I hope they've been better tuned in 2E. Maybe my group is unusual. Maybe we were playing suboptimally. I don't know. I ended up selling my copy. I've got other epic war games to play. Twilight Imperium 4E and Forbidden Stars are both similar to Eclipse and more enjoyable in my experience (though they're not perfect either). I'd probably even pick Scythe over Eclipse 1E (Scythe, while being a bit mediocre, at least has the decency to not last four hours). It sounds like 2E is an improvement, but not enough of one to get me back on board. That built-in storage solution is pretty slick, though. (I left a similar comment on the SUSD article, in case you read both.)

[@dot818]

This comment contains my exact thoughts. I also only played 1E, so I can't say if the problems persist, but my experiences with the game were pretty close to what you are describing. It is really hard to catch up once you fall behind and by the nature of exploring tiles you could fall behind without any fault on your part. With no real way to trade or give any concessions except for territory, there is no way to defend yourself without plastic on the board. Technologies are another random element that can mess you up. There are valuable Techs that might show up or might not. That means you don't really know if passing early (and by that securing your first pick at the newly drawn techs next round) it worth it or not. Eclipse has some really cool ideas but ultimately I didn't feel my input in the game had much to do with who won at the end :/ For me TI is the better game in so many ways. My Theory: Glue the Shipupgrade-System from Eclipse onto TI4 and you have the perfect game.

[@tomlangan990]

This was my first backed kickstarter, after playing firat edition once a long time ago. The production quality is fantastic but i realise i share the same feelings also. It's more of a one off event for my gaming group to play a long game, so honestly I'd rather play TI4. Eclipse seems to be slow, very hard to bounce back after a lost battle, random (not always bad, but in some cases it is here), but mainly plays very similar each game. Ti4 games always feel epic, and very different each game.

[@NickKinsman3D]

Lets not forget that diplomacy was kind of a joke, and when they added a more involved system for actual alliances in one of the expansions all it did was encourage the two players most ahead to ally and all-but-guarantee they win. Games of Eclipse were such a forgone conclusion well before they actually ended because there's no sway besides some insane dice rolling. I'm also not up-and-up on the 2nd edition, but I feel like this review doesn't really bill how hard Eclipse was a Euro parading as a space opera. Most people who want the experience promised by these boxes will likely be happier with TI4 (and I say this as someone who doesn't particularly enjoy either game).

[@cplmackinnon]

Thanks for this info and everyone who responded to you comment, it's very useful!

[@easymedia91]

Have not seen Quinns this excited in a while hah

[@JaMEFMEB]

So it's the DOS game from 1995: "Ascendancy" - as a board game? Excellent! I'm in!

[@bestatstartrek6695]

This has to be the best board game review I have ever seen. Kudos sir👍 best board game channel hands down. Far better than the monochromatic delivery of everyone else. Hell yeah

[@tominatorxx]

I always love it when a game has something like powers or upgrades that only one of the players can get out of a shop. That's what intrigued me about Kemet. Speaking of which, the fact that Eclipse also encourages (just like Kemet) combat from the start is another big plus in my book.

[@christophersteele2531]

oh yeah! You have to fight to win. Just exploring and colonizing won't do it unless you beat a ton of ancients.

[@Emsworth377]

I was going to watch this earlier but it got taken down. Glad it's back up.

[@EnderWyatt]

Quinns has just been at the top of his game this year! Every new review he's done this year has had an infectious excitement that makes me want to waste more money on games he recommends than I already do!

[@TheArkAng3L]

ooh the rollback on the mat had me hooked.

[@GammaRayBurster]

Thank you for the great video and review! I know why I am still supporting your creative work 😃

[@ArrogantDan]

Sounds perfect for a game store with a table and game-renting.

[@thoughtonomic9248]

Back in the uni days we did a full 8 (or 9?) player game of this (1st ed) with the simultaneous turn rules in the expansion... it was a glorious, glorious mess

[@stevewagstaff7250]

I loved the first edition and have been waiting ages for this release. I'll be picking this up to play once the holidays are over.

[@Last_March_of_the_Gents]

Your quick rules segment reminded me of SUSD "Gang School". Fond memories

[@bin-du]

I was considering getting this, thanks for solidifying my purchase :)

[@somerandomperson8282]

I'm so happy I ordered my copy of this the moment I finished the review as it was clear that demand would skyrocket. I played it once so far and I can confirm that it is basically like playing Master of Orion the computer game, but in board game format, and that it plays very well at 2 players without being overly long. Looking forward to my next game soon. :)

[@nicolajohnson1887]

I have ordered a copy, which is due in September 2021, we decided upon the game because of the ability to play a two player game, and Quinn's review was so enticing.

[@matthewsmith2979]

I love his enthusiasm! Very catching. Good review I think I've finally found the game I've been looking for.

[@rickynoblecia8384]

Thanks for the review, put this on my Christmas list because of it. Mother-in-law bought it for me this past Christmas. She is a saint. Many thanks, Quinn keep spreading the good word about boardgames.

[@stefanstringer725]

This game honestly sounds like the tabletop edition of Stellaris, which I could never imagine. I need this!

[@nicolajohnson1887]

Yup that's my thought too, I prefer the social expect of table top games, playing in person with friend's is just so much more fun.

[@AsianSensationist]

I finally decided to treat myself and get this game. All I can say is that it has been an amazing experience. I'm not a huge board gamer, yet this game just sucked me in, and I was in awe at how intricate the game is. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, yet each solution even the craziest ideas can be viable and useful. It's like galactic chess. Only problem... I do not have a table big enough to put everything on. I have to combine like 2 tables and a nightstand.

[@tyrant2025]

Picked this up last month and have played two matches so far. Each time we had a blast and look forward to going at it again. Would love to see a quick review of the expansions that have come out for Eclipse

[@philcourteney4328]

0:12 that ripple rollback on the cloth ❤️😁👍

[@XylonLionheart]

Not gonna lie, Eclipse is actually my favorite game of all time, and the second edition just makes it all the more fun to play, especially because the setup and cleanup are SO much more streamlined now. I would play this over TI4 any day.

[@gametrayz3928]

Thank you so much, loved making these inserts!

[@tom44323]

@@gametrayz3928 Any chance of these being available seprately? This looks just like what the first edition needed to fix that awful setup/fiddly boards, but buying the second edition only for the trays seems stupid :(

[@gametrayz3928]

@@tom44323 It's been mentioned but I don't have any confirmed information right now.

[@phillosmaster393]

A very well thought out discussion on the game. I’ve played alot of eclipse and my group loves that it efficiently gives you that 4x experience. Mechanically it’s great. He is right on the money saying it does lack the excitement that other big boxes war games have. While the theme here is fine there is still something about the big ideas of TI for example that will alway have a gravity to it. A gravity that is missing in Eclipse.

[@Christian_from_Copenhagen]

As a curious outsider, the themes look nearly identical to me. Can you explain the difference a bit?

[@wheeler68]

Love a secret Leigh cameo. Quinns in a box. Quinns and his chair sliding back until he hits the table. Classic moments.

[@nathanhorgan5989]

The Christmas knife joke is my favorite SUSD gag ever ❤

[@Ends_Of_Invention]

So how long after that parcel arrived did Quinns decide "I want to get inside that box"

[@halbaraddunedain]

Asking the real questions, here

[@Twineandribbon]

me: I dont need a 2nd edition of eclipse. I barely play the first edition. ... Sees the upgraded components and storage solution,=. Will I ever be able to play 1st edition again now that I know this exists?

[@jakebrill5990]

I audibly gasped when you started putting the pieces in the mail slot lmao Great video!

[@AAron-gr3jk]

What an excellent, in depth, well presented, well paced review. Almost as a work of Scandinavian design as the game. I've had a fascination with Twilight Imperium for a long time (I mean the box art sells itself) but now I'm pretty sure I want this instead

[@dave0754]

Me before watching this review: haha there's no way I am paying that much for one game. Me now: well I just bought my own Christmas present...

[@StGSteve]

I woke up to a fixed version! Thanks for your hard work

[@Zakalwe-01]

I’ve just got this, and so far I’ve only been able to play it solo (via the madness of controlling multiple sides), but I’m LOVING it. On my first play-through, I instantly thought ‘Orbitals…ancient cultures…sneaky competing high level species…this is all very Iain M Banks’, and indeed there’s something distinctly Culture Universe about the whole thing. Well, it turns out the designers are huge Iain M Banks fans, and the original prototype used Culture Universe names for everything. At one point, there was even an attempt to add Shell Worlds into the game too. Consider Phlebas is said to be the closest inspiration, but I also get a real The Algebraist vibe from Eclipse. The only thing that I’d very slightly quibble with in Quinn’s genius review (what great comic sensibilities he has. 30 years ago he’d have been on TV), is that I’m finding that the more I play, the more there is of an emerging, growing atmospheric connection between the game’s species and their universe setting. Stories are starting to appear and grow, and when I take Eclipse down after a play-through, I’m itching to set it straight back up again. Bloody wonderful stuff. Now, about that Shell World expansion….

[@bflpanthers]

Now I have to erase my Christmas list and start over. Awesome video!

[@NeilY1000]

Price in UK went up by £30 across the board after this review went up - literally as I was ordering it. Cancelled order and will wait till hype decreases again. The 'Hotness' is a pain in the arse sometimes

[@Lectrikfro]

Yeah, this looked amazing... and then saw the pricetag at $350 USD.... might be time to sell that other kidney

[@mikhailkharlamov8357]

This is a perfect review of a perfect game (with all mentioned disadvantages). Thank you Quinn.

[@TheCookieFlavaJAR]

I don't play board-games but I LOVE this channel to bits!

[@theserb102]

I have been WAITING patiently for this review for a so long, Ty gang

[@maskalumni6037]

I'm struggling to think of a time Quinns gave a more positive review? Maybe Tigris and Euphrates?

[@precariousplays9469]

Didn't he once forsake the life he built to flee with Concordia into the wilderness? That's, uh... Something similar to positivity. "Unhinged optimism," maybe?

[@user-ju6vo2rk7d]

King's Dillema maybe?

[@robertdascoli949]

It would be awesome if they sold "upgrade" kits that could convert the 2011 game to this one.

[@DanEisenhut]

Even with the rule changes and re-balancing, it looks to be still the same game. I already have the first edition with the 7-9 player expansion, do I really need this nice looking upgrade? Everything in the video looked the same as what I already have, just nicer trays and components. Maybe if there was a review on the differences between the two...

[@Chronocrits]

I’m so glad we can play this with 2 players! My missus and I really wanted Twilight Imperium, but it’s 3 player minimum. We’ve played Gloomhaven for about 500 hours, and we’re ready for something different. I think I’ll buy this!

[@bretthorvath4587]

LOVE the vibes of this review. Thanks Quinns : )

[@Quackmancer]

This is the first bord game review I've watched that had my full attention... I compleatly stopped eating my pasta to watch this... I think I should buy this game!

[@nicolajohnson1887]

Good luck finding a copy though.

[@ItsBigIan]

I look forward to my friend dumping this on my table and asking me to teach him it.

[@stevegold8070]

Thank you for this master piece of a review. This must be the best review of all your many and fun reviews I have seen so far. And to see your exitement when you explain this game is so gratifying for us watching. And why souldnt you be exited over this marvelous space board game. This game is my absolute favorite of all board games. I have got all expansions so far. Sorry to say that I missed out on the kickstarter of this game but I am glad that I could get all of the expansions later on. Some of your comments are so funny. "Like a rich kids lunchbox" and "It Eclipses them" so corny and so fun! Looking forward to your next review. Cheers.

[@thisjust10]

I've been really wanting to try this

[@Omega0202]

This sounds so awesome, someone should go and make a PC game out of this and name it Endless Space 2.

[@MowMan7]

Horatio approves this message

[@kinglar]

you can play it on steam

[@williamaguilar9389]

Eclipse is great but watch Twilight Imperium retake the Throne when it's new Expansion comes out

[@JD-td8kl]

I am curious about TI. I really want to dive into it, but set up and tear down looks like a nightmare. Are my fears justified?

[@williamaguilar9389]

@@JD-td8kl I am going to give it to you straight: Twilight Imperium 4th Edition is the greatest boardgame of all time and it will be even better when the new Expansion releases next month but don't play it unless you have 8 hours a day and snacks to dedicate to it. I am currently working on my own 4X Galaxy Conquest boardgame called Galactic Factions which will be 3D and shorter game you can see it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYvLkKqvd7qDpbs

[@lotuskelly2301]

Are you talking about the Prophecy of Kings expansion or another one? Because I thought PoK was already out?

[@williamaguilar9389]

@@lotuskelly2301 Prophecy of Kings comes out November 27th but don't expect it in stock until December

[@JD-td8kl]

@@williamaguilar9389 8 hours? Yeah, that's tough.

[@christophersteele2531]

I played this game with six people, including myself of course, for the first time last Saturday. It was the best time I've had playing a game in a long time. The six player game took almost 7 hours to play, but we did a lot of joking and messing around at the same time. This was the first playthrough for all of us and I can tell the next time we'll get it down to 4-5 hours. To be honest, I wouldn't mind another 7 hour playthrough. The time getting to know my friends and building relationships while learning this complicated, yet easy to learn game was worth the squeeze. Wonderful game. BTW...buy the game mat....you won't regret it!

[@golgarisoul]

I love how this review has a mini reccomendation list just sitting at the end. Perfect.

[@Ad0ntis]

The link for 'Buy This Game" goes to the SUSD website, and the US link there takes you to Eclipse first edition.

[@jonathanwalker6074]

I haven't been able to find the link for buying it either while googling it. Looks like it's sold out now and being scalped on ebay

[@haydengibbons5000]

If you live in Canada, 401games.ca has it, they might ship globally but I don't know

[@DwarfyDoodad]

@@jonathanwalker6074 It's not in retail yet. It is supposed to be in retail this and next month. Devil Pig Games has or had as of this morning 100 copies to sell.

[@jonathanwalker6074]

@@DwarfyDoodad oh good. Might need to get a copy then

[@TheSludgeMan]

Absolutely missed a trick by not having Tom's face shouting 'war' here. Lemme see some of that intertextuality you got there at SUSD

[@leonfirefly7142]

Another Great Review from sou guys!!! I just would have liked a Second sentence regarding the difference gestern First und second edition.

[@dannash2916]

I've played A Lot of TI4 this year on Table Top Simulator. Really looking forward to the PoK expansion. But this... This has reawakened a sense of wonder I have not experienced in a long time. Thank you for your awesome review!

[@MowMan7]

Prophecy of Kings is so freaking good. It just boggles my mind.

[@dispelled1401]

They're braver than me they're cooler than me And I want to have their children

[@wesleyswank1527]

Playing board games with Quinn sounds like a pretty intense experience in a few dimensions

[@dispelled1401]

You don't even know...

[@_AlvaroGabriel_]

Like the dice tower said long time ago, this is just a Eurogame... "aquarium of stars"

[@stuartwestbury6953]

I bought this game, because of this review. I had to drive 2 hours to a small board game shop, as it wasn't in stock anywhere online. Played our first game - Loved it. Thanks. Now trying to get hold of the expansions!

[@markusbiewer2756]

13:14: Funniest moment in any board game review I ever watched! I love SU&SD.

[@AbuIsm4il]

I love this game and have played second edition 40 times already. I like TI4 too however in my opinion it's a very different game. Eclipse is a tactical space-chess game with tactical manipulation and a touch of diplomacy. TI4 is more of a soap opera of negotiations and a social experience which is more forgiving in its gameplay and thus easier to play good in. Also... TI4 is 4-8 hours while Eclipse 4 player game is 2-3 hours in my group (while 6 player takes 3-4 h).

[@nicolajohnson1887]

Eclipse 2nd edition is superb, I did replace some of the minis with ones from Brigade models, you can also create your own variant races the templets are available on cardboard geek, they have pre set races from halo or you can make your own and alter the game considerably.

[@leolesetre8842]

Perfect! that's exactly the review I was waiting for since the release of the TI4 one :)

[@titusc994]

Seems to have a bit of a similar feel to Gaia project, with the incredible warfare of TI 4. Well done! I love the style SUSD reviews games.

[@nicolajohnson1887]

I've just pre ordered this for Xmas 2021, it's only available from the manufacturer and only available by pre order, but my partner will love this for Xmas.