Elder Scrolls introductory play (review copy provided)

[@OneStopCoopShop]

*Corrections - The plastic player storage system comes in all copies of the game. It is NOT an add-on. In the final delve I could not lockpick when I ended my turn immediately, and I forgot to roll an attack for the unit who stole from me.* 0:00 - Introduction 3:08 - Quest set-up 6:28 - Day 1 (town encounter) 17:22 - Day 2 (clash encounter) 40:12 - Day 3 (peaceful encounter) 43:11 - Day 4 (quest delve encounter)

[@TimChuon]

you have some of my favorite playthroughs Mike! so easy to follow and have always loved watching these-thanks for the Elder Scrolls rundown!!!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Thanks Tim, you do awesome work too! Hope to see you at PAX U in December :)

[@TimChuon]

@@OneStopCoopShop ahh sadly won’t be at PAX 😩 Essen is going to be my only one for this year but hoping to see you again next year!! 🥳🥳🥳

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@TimChuon yeah, I had to skip Gen Con this year. Went to three cons last year and my wife said that was two too many 😅

[@bbissett]

I'm only a few minutes in and wanted to say this might be the best paced walkthrough vid I've ever seen.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Thanks so much!!

[@Drakerdude1]

Thank you for getting this out so quickly! Great job balancing pace and explanations. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the podcast.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Should be posted tomorrow!

[@Guido-vj7so]

Great, i needed this video as its one of the few online playthrough. Chip theory uploaded some boring 4 hour during introduction which i just could not watch after 10 minutes.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

It’s tough for me to watch long streams as well 😅

[@Lhorbrum]

Can't say this game excites me at all, and i've really tried to force myself to like it. Great video though! Thanks.

[@jeffkouba6521]

thanks for doing this! I'm really looking forward to this one, and this will give me a good base to build from when I dive into the rules myself...

[@OneStopCoopShop]

The rules were a lot at first, so I'm happy to help others hopefully have a smoother time in the future.

[@jonridley]

Initial impressions from looking at this is that it’s like they took elements of hoplomachus and tmb and have improved on both systems . Great overview

[@OneStopCoopShop]

That is generally my takeaway too, though it's also LONGER than either of them, so it won't be better for everyone

[@Boardgametherapist]

@@OneStopCoopShopoh my…hoplomachus victorum was too long as is.

[@Datasun7]

Man I am so excited for this, thanks for getting this out!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Thanks for watching!

[@plaidflannelgeek]

Neat to see this. Not sure it is for me, but I am really fascinated by the level up system and the dice tracks. Oddly I am getting Quarriors memories floating about from the custom dice. I like adventure and the concept of solo too. Looking forward to the next play videos though.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Wow, I haven't thought about Quarriors in a long time!

[@IVIcv]

I am so incredibly excited for this game, looking forward to watching the whole video. Thanks for uploading.

[@zifnabdr]

Excited to see this!!! Thanks for getting this out🙃

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I hope you enjoy it!

[@woodman4046]

Thanks for the video. Would love to see this campaign continued!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

The video at the end of this week jumps to the end and shows you what the final boss fights look like

[@Bleuchz]

2:24 fyi, those mat storage trays come with the base game (there is an optional add on folio for the cards)

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Yeah, chip theory let me know that too. I’m going to add a note to the video later

[@johncurry7246]

Oh man, I've been hoping for this game to get posted!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

And more to come soon ;)

[@mrfikss]

I'm ridonkulously excited for this one!!! Thank you sir.

[@nighthunterz00z45]

An archer visits Skyrim… and takes an arrow to the knee.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

HAHAHAHA! Wait until my second Playthrough. That archer gets what’s coming to him

[@ramyahoo]

Golden comment

[@gregkleinfall1901]

Nice

[@Dratio]

It seems curious that they got the license to use Elder Scrolls but there doesn't seem to be a ton of art that's unmistakenly Elder Scrolls outside of the characters. Like, I might have expected to see more ES-iconic illustrations on the maps or have the chests actually have a lockpick image that looks like those in the games.

[@ChipTheoryGames]

Couple things here. One is that we were working with the ESO team (as opposed to the single player Elder Scrolls team). This was primarly because what we pitched from the beginning was a game that spanned as much of Tamriel as we were allowed to play in. ESO is the only game that spans multiple portions of Tamriel at the same time and place in The Elder Scrolls timeline. If you've never played ESO, there may be a lot of things that aren't as familiar, as it takes place in an entirely different era (the titular second era) than the single player games. Second, we very much wanted to do the work of making something that really adds something substantive to The Elder Scrolls pantheon. I think the ZeniMax and Bethesda folks thought we were off our rocker for wanting to do 350+ pieces of unique art for this thing and really build it from the ground up as a great board game first and foremost, and a licensed artifact second, but here we are. The maps were very much a back and forth thing with Bethesda. We wanted them to have a clean and easy to use UX, Bethesda's maps are very plain parchment/ink, and it was going to be a challenge to have our artists flesh them out significantly and still get approval. So we worked hard to get them where they're at (though we also recognize more than a few folks here in the comments have said they aren't crazy about them). Working with a huge license and still doing things "the Chip Theory way" was certainly an adventure though.

[@MacScelaro]

Eh, hate watching this because I want to be playing the game myself. Thank for the video. Nice job!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Sorry! But hey, it means the game is 99% done, so it should be to backers sooner rather than later.

[@eppst001]

Dang it, Mike. I wasn't all that interested in this game. But watching your play through and some other unboxings, my opinion is starting to change. Late pledges are open for a while, i think I'll watch your review to get your opinions (which i can probably already guess, haha) and go from there.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Hope the extra videos help! I'll have another playthrough (of an endgame scenario) and my review in the next week or two. Also there is a podcast on the game coming this Sunday, which will include Peter's thoughts, if you want slightly contrasting opinions.

[@ShmavinShmenhouse]

Loved this! Can't wait for my copy to arrive!!

[@Bryant_P]

Super pumped for this game! Love your videos!

[@Felizwerg]

This looks so cool :) My German copy should arrive around Q2 2025, and I can't wait to dive into it with 4 players :)

[@Biodelic]

Does Frosted do the German version?

[@Felizwerg]

@@Biodelic yes, they've been CTG's German partner for quite some time, and they are also doing TES.

[@Biodelic]

@@Felizwerg At least they test the stuff for health risks. 🤣

[@MacScelaro]

I feel ya on 4 players as soon as it comes. My first game will be solo 4 hand. Just too much good stuff to try out.

[@moshingphreak]

oh no it is Q2 already? :( where did you get that info?

[@Christian-cy2pn]

Looks good! Wish the map where more thematic with beautiful landscape, etc. Dungeons looks nice though.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

They definitely put clarity and ease of use first, which matches my preferences, but I see where you are coming from.

[@Christian-cy2pn]

@OneStopCoopShop Yeah,I can understand and appreciate that too, I'm just a sucker for good art 😄

[@dennisk.4052]

Oh yes, that map looks so boring. I think there could‘ve been a little bit more mappy stuff on it without losing clarity. Now it‘s just a hex pattern. Rest of the game looks cool thou.

[@robotradar]

You have done great as usual presenting the game and how it rolls (better than CTG did so far, if I am honest). How would you say is this a different gaming experience than other games of this kind (Dungeon Crawler, Adventure, Fantasy Setting campaign games)? Considering the hefty price tag I wonder if this is all that worth it as a game (not considering the, quote/unquote, deluxe components).

[@OneStopCoopShop]

It’s heavily focused on the tactical combat, so that would put it closer to dungeon crawlers, especially during the delve encounters. It has a deep character system, similar to a campaign dungeon crawler, but stuffed into three sessions that can be finished in 5 hours or so, so it has good bang for buck

[@Gdohhhrzzzz]

Man I can’t wait for this one 😁 Mike, did you find the book flipping, reading, setting up stores and fights etc at all fiddly or tiresome compared to the fairly streamlined gameplay of say TMB or Victorum? Or is it comparable to other CTG games

[@OneStopCoopShop]

The thing I find humorous about your question is that you are claiming the gameplay is streamlined in TMB and Victorum. When I first learned those games I was CONSTANTLY flipping through the rules, and even recently when I played TMB I would have to go online two or three times per game to clarify a specific skill die or ability or encounter card. So I find this game almost identically fiddly and confusing as those games. It didn't impact my play in a negative way, and by my second full campaign things were MOSTLY second nature, but yeah, it's a lot at first! But that's true of every Chip Theory Game for me except Triplock and 20 Strong, the tiny ones.

[@Gdohhhrzzzz]

@@OneStopCoopShop Haha fair enough. I think my question was poorly worded. I kind of assumed the rules would feel similar. I saw you flipping through the Gazetteer, reading the quest, setting up stores and towns, etc and it seemed to be “even more” Book flipping than the card flip of TMB or Victorum to set up an event. So I wondered if that was annoying in any way or not 😊

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@Gdohhhrzzzz none of the quests have felt too complex except for the boss encounters that end each chapter, but I kind of WANT those to be epic and have more going on, you know what I mean? The normal clashes in this one don’t feel any more complex than the arenas or encounters in the other two games

[@Gdohhhrzzzz]

@@OneStopCoopShopCheck! Thanks a lot for coming back to answer my question, much appreciated. I definitely agree that the boss fights should be memorable and special, so setting them up is part of the reward of getting there. 😊

[@boardgameschill3495]

Super hyped to get my copy! Thank you for the video! ~Nathan B.

[@AlwayzFresh]

Very glad I stayed away from this after seeing it in action. Awesome vid cheers👌

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Happy to help out!

[@goodvibe1010]

Looking forward to this! Maybe a weird question, but how would you compare this to Oathsworn? I know this is more tactical combat and less story, but at the same time Oathsworn is also focusing on tactical combat.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

The cooldown mechanic is vaguely similar. Clearly this one is focused on big multi-unit skirmishes while Oathsworn is a boss battler. Also the enemy AI is ultra predictable and tactical here, while in Oathsworn sometimes the boss just does something wacky you didn't expect. But weight-wise I would say they are similar for tactical choices and strategy.

[@dragonlord0078]

57:27 The Redguard Marauder shouldn't have moved because you weren't on the same/adjacent tile. When you are more than 1 tile away, the enemies stop looking for you. At least that was the rule during playtesting. EDIT: never mind, this is not true!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I just double-checked, and there is nothing about enemies requiring "sight" (that's the game's term for being on your tile or an adjacent tile). They will move along the closest path to target you whether they can see you or not.

[@dragonlord0078]

@@OneStopCoopShop Alright, thanks for the quick reply! I just checked the online PDF, and it seems that rule is indeed gone. I don't know if it is in your review copy, but the sight rule still implies that if a ranged enemy is not on the same/adjacent mat after moving, then it doesn't attack (even if it has enough range, if those occasions can exist at all): (p.64: If the enemy must move, it moves toward the closest hex where at least 1 targetable unit would be within its range and in sight (on the same tile or an adjacent tile). Anyway, very much looked forward to this video and hopefully an upcoming review!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@dragonlord0078 oh yeah, that is still very much true for you and for enemies. You can't target a unit for an engage action if you aren't on the same tile or an adjacent tile

[@dragonlord0078]

@@OneStopCoopShop Alright, good you hear CTG still kept that!

[@ogreman2229]

This is very interesting when compared directly to the other Skyrim game that released about a year ago. Polar opposites in terms of approach. This is tactical combat first when the other simplified combat down and focused on the story and adventure. Same IP but 2 games that have almost nothing in common at all.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Personally I'm very happy about that, because it would impossible and foolish to try to make an elder scrolls game that actually feels like the video game. Board games can't replicate that type of experience, in my opinions. So I'd rather have two wildly different games, each fun in their own right, then something like what happened comparing Primal and Monster Hunter World, where both board games are doing fairly similar things.

[@ogreman2229]

@@OneStopCoopShop I completely agree with it being a positive. It’s a nice surprise that for a fan of Skyrim it could absolutely be worthwhile to have both of these games, obviously depending on personal preferences.

[@rickrolledreviews186]

Great video that left me wanting more!

[@CJUzziel]

Thanks for the great gameplay video!

[@kevinerskine3299]

So jealous! Can’t wait to get this.

[@TheRealMrWolf]

My most anticipated board game of all time basically...

[@TheMaskedGaymer]

I appreciate that I'm not the only person who makes up jingles while I play

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Hahaha, yeah, I usually edit my random humming and bursts of song out, but left it in here :)

[@TheMaskedGaymer]

@@OneStopCoopShop never ever ever edit those out. Always leave them. Always!

[@aloharay]

Appreciate the play through. Note for next time, when you hold up a card to the closeup camera, stop gesturing with your hands, hold that card still so we can read it. :)

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I'll try my best!

[@jonasgeerthsen6005]

Thanks for this video! Looking forward to the next part. :D

[@GamingRulesVideos]

Awesome video. Really helpful.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I’m looking forward to yours!!

[@thomasboker4424]

Min. 27: shooting against enemy with dodge and 1 HP: it would be better to just use 1 die. You get nothing from using two. if it is a miss a hit on the secound die is useless. if you have two hits (as you did) its just overkill.

[@pierre-luco9056]

Hey! 2 questions for you: I know the pledge manager will close "soon" in early september I believe, do you think you will have a review before that? :) And secondly, I really like TMB, I own most of the content and I also have Cloudspire. Do you feel TES is worth having on top of TMB? Thanks!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I already recorded the review. It'll be up in a week or two, so definitely before the manager closes. For me, TES is almost fully superior to TMB. I love the reusable skill dice, as opposed to TMB where you only get to use an awesome skill once per battle generally. That said, TES is longer, with a full campaign taking 5-6 hours. It's easy to break up and save, but TMB is nice in that you can finish shorter tyrant runs in maybe 60-90 minutes.

[@Memmnarch1981]

Great video. Can't wait to play this myself. Where can I get that dice tower ?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

It's actually also from Chip Theory. If you go to their web store and click on the "Curios and Accessories" section, it's near the bottom of the page.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Nice video! The focus on combat is something that kept me away from this one. I just don't think tactical combat when I think of Skyrim! :) But I know people really love this kind of crunchy combat in their games. Looks nice though, and I'm sure people will be really happy with it. Personally, I LOVE the last Skyrim board game - it does such a good job of capturing the things I personally like about the video games, and that's just wandering around seeing what kind of random stuff happens.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Yeah, this is definitely an evolution of Too Many Bones with some Hoplomachus thrown in. It is a battle game first and a zoomed out adventure game second. I'm loving it, but it's not focusing on the same things as the Skyrim game did.

Hi Mike ! At 18:05, you are passing through an unstable landmark but at page 34 of the rulebook for the overland encounter, it say's: These are triggered when party moves into a hex with a landmark. I'm a french speaking content creator (Canada) for this game and it's kind of difficult to find answer about this game right now 😊! I was doing the same thing as you, but a subscriber ask me this question (I'm doing a Cyrodiil mission on my channel) about the Imperial City being "protected" by unstable landmarks and it would make a lot of sense to have to stop in those landmarks ? Sorry for my english and thanks !

[@OneStopCoopShop]

You only resolve the location you finish moving onto. Passing through an unstable landmark doesn’t force you to stop and deal with that landmark. Hope that helps!

@@OneStopCoopShop What about the Cyrodiil Imperial City ? It's surrounded by unstable landmark. Would it be logical to have to stop at those landmark ? If not, why is it surrounded ? It's really strange ?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I’m not home to check my copy, but I don’t think it would stop movement either

[@timf7354]

Curious about your opinion on components. I just got Fateforge, non-deluxe version. So enemies are thick cardboard. The deluxe has thick wood enemies. And CTG has weighted poker chips. Sin e youve played both games, do the enemy chips made out of different materials have any affect on your want to play a game? For me, im a component snob so dont mind CTG chips assuming theyre just like Too Many Bones, but will probably use proxy minis for Fateforge. Just curious if components ha e any weight in your gameplay or want to play.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

So for context, I started gaming in the 80s, including a lot of war games, and I'm also a designer of games myself, so I am used to playing with janky components and thing cardboard. That kind of stuff doesn't matter much to me in any case. My first preference is always ease of play, so specifically comparing Fateforge to Elder Scrolls, I like that all the relevant enemy data is on the chip in Elder Scrolls. It isn't hard to look over at the enemy cards to see their stats in Fateforge, but it's one extra minor step, you know? The big thing is I would absolutely hate for either game to have miniatures. These are already big boxes and expensive games, so ballooning and the size and cost to put in a bunch of nondescript gray stuff that I'll never paint holds zero value for me. But that's just my tastes! PS - Both Fateforge and Elder Scrolls (and Tidal Blades 2, video coming this weekend) are all SUPER good. It is an insane time for tactical campaign dungeon crawler-ish games at the moment!

[@timf7354]

@OneStopCoopShop I 100% agree about the CTG chips having all the info on the chips and then having their hit points as chips underneath is awesome! I have a bunch of painted minis that I've collected over the years. So, it's why I got the non-deluxe version of Fateforge, knowing that I'd most likely proxy minis in. I do like that it's made the game more affordable too! I havent felt the need to change TMB to minis and whenever I get my copy of Elder Scrolls, doubt I'll change anything there either. Thanks for your thoughts on it! I'm also excited for Tidal Blades 2. So much to play now and to look forward to in the near future

[@bcantui]

Other than difficulty variances(enemy count, what else?), what changes when you have multiple players? Can you trade items freely outside of combat?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

1 - Enemy count/total points spawned is based on player count 2 - At 3 and 4 player you trigger these bonus difficulty effects in each encounter (you'll see me reference this in the video) 3 - Many scenario and card-specific effects modify based on player count as well 4 - Yes, characters can freely trade stuff with each other outside of combat

[@bcantui]

@@OneStopCoopShopjust caught up to that part in the video! Thanks for answering. Are there a lot of potential synergies between classes during combat? Things similar to a mage freezing someone then another player shield bashing it to shatter or stuff like that (random example).

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@bcantui there's no direct elemental combos like you described, but sure, in my last 2 hero game I had a sorceress who would blind enemies, causing them to attack each other, and a shield tank who would go in and pick off the blinded people one by one while also shielding the sorceress from damage. So there are lots of tactical ways to support and back each other up.

[@GamingRulesVideos]

At 1:04 you said the guild can help you out once per encounter :) I wish!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Hahaha, yeah, once per CAMPAIGN, and not in the endgame when it would be most useful

[@BigDaddyXD]

Is it really that you can spend your full Stamina on Movment and still get to use your full Stamina for Attackdice, too? I thought you had to split what stamina you have between movement and attacks.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Yes, this is not the same as dexterity in too many bones where you have to split the stat up. You can move your full value, and engage as many times as you want, though of course it might take forever to cooldown then.

[@babylonsfall7]

My only fear about this game is that I will get to a point to where I don’t want to run the small battles because I know I’ll win them or because they are all samey.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

The varied enemies, enemy counts, and encounter effects MOSTLY should prevent that, but sure it’s possible. As for skipping them, because cooldown and damage and such carries forward even minor battles tend to matter. That’s especially true if you’re hardcore and play on the highest difficulty, where you get no free healing and cooldown each day

[@joostborst]

Great to see actual gameplay. It seems like a fun gameplay loop. For someone who has just quit Agemonia after 12 scenarios because after level 2 it became to much to manage I'm really curious how long a session actual takes. I notice a lot of the "maintenance" like; building decks, searching for the right map tiles, switching books is cut out of this video. I also wonder if it's possible to "save " the game in between that 12 day sequence. The reward system also has me a bit wary. Because it so random you could have session without actually finding gear that helps your build.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

The other replier covered a lot of it. You tend to draw lots of items over the course of a campaign, especially in towns, so eventually you'll get stuff you can use. This is even more true in a high player count game where you can trade with each other.

[@joostborst]

@@nitro1048 Thanks for all this clarification. Helps me decide if this is something for me

[@joostborst]

@@OneStopCoopShop Ok thanks. I was worried that you might pick a class but just because of bad luck with the draw of the items are forced to play with bad items. You like bowman without a bow, or you want to go magic but all you got is an axe.

[@joostborst]

@@nitro1048 Do you happen to know if it's possible to save half way a session. So play 6 days, clean up. Play the next 6 days after that. From looking at it I suspect you can save after each location visit? That full 12 day session time is just slightly to long on some days.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@joostborst you definitely can save and resume. Just have to write down a few things on the campaign tracking sheet

[@BenLillegard]

I’m super excited about the game and I’m probably going to back it (I just found out about it yesterday), but my big hang up is that you mentioned you run the same missions for rounds 2 and 3 but just at higher difficulty. They don’t have it set up where one quest line leads to another? I feel that that would become repetitive. Am I misunderstanding the sessions?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Just for session 2. Then for session 3 you have an endgame keyed to your region. That’s what I’m posting tomorrow

[@siriactuallysara]

I am really excited to play this game.

[@jtfike]

is there a reason yhou couldn't move 3 to pick up the common item and then move 3 again later to get hte legendary? That way you can get both?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I probably could have. You can also move twice in one turn if you never engage an enemy (an option I often forget)

[@jtfike]

answer is yes

[@vinicius02able]

This game is looking amazing! Hopefully it will be delivered soon in my country :)

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I hope so!

[@fundip533]

Damn, I had decided to skip this game after the official playthrough videos put me to sleep… but this looks amazingly fun! I want it, and for that I am sad 😂 I really wish there was more art in the books and on the cards though, looks kinda barebones in that aspect?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Yeah, and the maps are a bit drab as well. But it sure is fun to play

[@user-fr1ys2wn4t]

Looks decent. But it doesnt look like it was worth the insane kickstarter price.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Some people love the dice, chips, and neoprene of Chip Theory Games, and other people don't see a lot of value in it. Personally I fall slightly between the two groups. But I tend to love their designs.

[@user-fr1ys2wn4t]

@@OneStopCoopShop The concept is cool and is saves you a lot of tokens to store. Would have backed if it wasn't triple the price of other games.

[@NicolasChambrier]

What's the dice tower at 18:32? 😇

[@OneStopCoopShop]

The Hoplomachus tower. You can buy it from chip theory in their store. Go to the accessories section

[@jcw59able]

This looks great!

[@Ariranhaa]

Can I play it "endlessly" without a main quest? For example, in Fallout board game I can just keep doing side quests, encounters etc. and set my own personal objective (kill X units, complete X side quests, reveal the whole map before turn X and so on). Can I do it here or is the fun and the mechanics of the game ultimately tied to completing the main quest in X days?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

You could do whatever you want, of course. But if you play by the rules there is a hard time limit. You MUST complete your quest line by day 12, or you fail your campaign and it's game over. But yeah, nothing would really stop you from leveling forever, though at some point you'd be fighting such a crazy number of enemies it might stop being fun :)

[@Ariranhaa]

@@OneStopCoopShop I see... To limit the play time by a fixed number of rounds is a little too euro-ish, arbitrary and uncreative in a game as rich as this IMO, in which the game-over could come from a variety of more interesting and organic sources or at least be more consequential regarding the time limit (if you saved John on the side quest X you have one more day, if Blue Castle fell you have one less etc.). Anyway, seems like a very nice game. Thanks for the video!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@Ariranhaa you're definitely coming at this more from an RPG and video game standpoint, where yes the norm is usually to let people explore infinitely. That's not the standard for adventure games in the board game sphere, and the only ones that have done that style of play (Isofarian Guard, for example) tend to end up grindy and ultra repetitive. So do what you like and play what you like, of course, but I think if you want that style of play a board game is not the place you should be looking!

[@Ariranhaa]

@@OneStopCoopShop Sure, man! I come from the rpg and I tend to look for board games that have some rpg elements, but I understand they're built differently and I even have some board games that I enjoy A LOT and have nothing to do with rpg (Caverna, Rebellion, Pax Pamir etc).. It seems TES will be a very cool board game and also very moddable in terms of rules to fit a variety of play styles (as their video games counterparts btw)!

[@Ariranhaa]

I'd rather have the map tiles and player board in double layer cardboard or, as a premium alternative, acrylic. Neoprene is not fit for small hexagons or something with a lot of holes.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

It’s worked perfectly fine in all my plays so far 🤷‍♂️

[@Ariranhaa]

@@OneStopCoopShop It will, I'm worried about it down the road, the corners wearing off, the painting going away, the sides warping and all that. But I hope it stays tight!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@Ariranhaa certainly possible, but I've never heard about that kind of thing happening with Too Many Bones, for example, and people have owned that game and played it hundreds of times over the years.

[@Ariranhaa]

@@OneStopCoopShop Very nice then, let's hope the quality is as good as in Too Many Bones!

[@lawleo2973]

Nice! what do you think about the replayability?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I played three campaigns in just a few days, so that says something :) The character building system is quite robust, so you can try out really weird and interesting builds. I think people who get into that will find the most replay and enjoyment with the game.

[@Datasun7]

​@OneStopCoopShop hopefully the 3 extra skill lines from the Valenwood expansion help too some even more cool build variety etc!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@Datasun7 what, it's going to have 3 more skill lines?! That's crazy. They didn't send us that expansion.

[@lawleo2973]

@@OneStopCoopShop heavy armor+destruction staff+stealth

[@Datasun7]

​@OneStopCoopShop yeah crazy isn't it haha! Valenwood has new skill lines for Illusion, Light Arnour and then a lock picking one that i can't remember the name of

[@Biodelic]

I wonder why / how CTG always manages to have properly working ring binders and so many other publishers settle for crappy ones. Looking at Harakiri as a most recent example. How was the quality of the play material? CTG had some rough stuff in the past. Chips with jagged edges in Hoplomachus Victorum and then dice disaster with 20 Strong.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Everything here was great, cards and dice and books and chips.

[@Biodelic]

@@OneStopCoopShop Thank you.

[@batmansmk]

Thanks for the nice playthrough. I find no elegance in this compilation of all the CTG systems. Each little subsystems really don’t connect with each others, like Burncycle. Players certainly voted with their money and wanted it all in one package, Im in the minority here.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I agree that it’s a bit convoluted and complex to get into. Now that I know the rules though, I’m enjoying it a ton

[@orangetoucan148]

You can heal your pebble pet, interesting.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Actually you can’t. Those cards build up health counters as a sort of marker to show how many uses are left. There are also things called companions that actually fight with you on the map and you can heal them

[@Kentchangar]

The combat doesn't look as interesting as Too Many Bones, but the leveling does. Will you do a 5 in 5 comparison between the 2 games?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

My review will focus on elder scrolls on its own, but I’d like to do a video or podcast comparison too, if I have the time. Overall though I find the combat more interesting and varied here than in TMB

[@Kentchangar]

@@OneStopCoopShop I haven't played TMB solo, so I'm comparing it to 2 player. That might be the problem.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@Kentchangar I've enjoyed my 2 and 3-adventurer plays of Elder Scrolls. Haven't tried 4 yet. Definitely gives you more fun tactical hi jinx to try.

[@AllyBigGunsSpanish-he6rn]

Is the map board finished? It seems so… uninspired? Skyrim has been reduced to a few generic icons. I don’t want to be negative about it but the Elder scrolls games are about exploration but this is very much like a spreadsheet version.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

This elder scrolls game is very much NOT about exploration, at least compared to the video games, so don’t come in looking for that kind of experience.

[@yojayoung]

Biscuits for Beacons - good name for a band

[@jbo2471]

Hmm seems a little more fiddly than expected. What do you think?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

As a veteran Hoplomachus and too many bones player, I picked it up pretty quickly, but yes I think it has more going on than either of those games and will take a couple play sessions to click for people

[@elqord.1118]

After watching this I am in awe at how simple but effective Slay the Spire seems in comparison to this. This is so unwieldy, so unnecessarily complicated. I dread teaching it and it also looks like it will be longer. I think I have my fix for repeatable rogue like games with StS

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Slay the spire is definitely fun, though I wouldn’t personally compare the two. There is WAY more depth and variety in enemies and battles and encounters here.

[@Dratio]

This is like being in awe of how soft an orange is compared to an apple. They are different genres of games. One of which fundamentally has more mechanics than another

[@arcubal]

Woof. I found this hard to grasp. I knew it was always gonna be more mechanical than immersive but the maps are devoid of any character, the delves are very randomized and generic and it's just all about crunching numbers beforehand. Maybe I made a mistake getting this game?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Knowing you, yes, I don't think this is a game you will enjoy much. For me, it's awesome, and I'd rather have randomized delves than always the same combination of cards/encounters.

[@abefroman81]

Comment for Shatter McShatterAlot

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Every day he’s shatter-in!

[@elqord.1118]

I gotta be honest that map is not exactly nice to look at :(

[@OneStopCoopShop]

That seems to be a common sentiment in the comments 😜

[@Hibobugawa]

That map is really horrible. The studio with such amazing vistas and whatsoever and they deliver something as plain and boring of a grey hexboard? Goddamit, even being hex, in this case, is boring, given how they could make with different sizer

[@elqord.1118]

@@Hibobugawa agreed, couldn’t do a greater injustice to Elder Scrolls. The world, the map, it’s everything

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@elqord.1118 well… not really? If you are coming to this game looking for a big overland adventure, that’s not what it’s focused on at all. You’ll spend 90-95% of your play time in tactical battles, and the mats for those look pretty nice 😅 But don’t get me wrong, it’d be cool if the world maps were more colorful and detailed

[@elqord.1118]

@@OneStopCoopShop just from that description alone I can’t help but wonder how they thought THAT is the best way to use the IP. Nobody that loves the IP would name tactical battles as one of the top reasons for loving it

[@Jindorek]

love your videos but i am not a fan of this gamestyle. will give it a wide berth. thanks for your hard work.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Happy to help out, even if “helping” means showing you that you wouldn’t enjoy a game at all 😜

[@erikpeters7072]

I guess I'm in the minority here but this game looks super boring to me. Glad I resisted buying this one. I feel like I've done pretty good with my Kickstarter backings last couple years. Got isofarian guard, Tanares adventures, agemonia and 7th citadel and Arydia should also come this year.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I got a copy of Isofarian guard but haven’t played yet. And I hope to cover Arydia too. Lots of great adventure options to explore

[@gregkleinfall1901]

I found Isofarian guard to be too repetitive and grindy. Sad, because I really liked the concept. It got to the point where my brother and I started considering "auto-winning" some encounters just to try and speed things along a bit. Played it once a week for over 2 months and got tired of it. I backed Arydia and have high hopes for it. As far as Elder Scrolls, I have its' spiritual predecessor (Too Many Bones) and I find it far from boring. Each encounter is different and requires different types of strategies to win, depending on the characters you play and the special abilities of each enemy you fight.

[@erikpeters7072]

@@gregkleinfall1901 I find combat to be very fun in isofarian guard I love the bag building and flipping of cards etc. the story is great and the grinding has pretty much been fixed with the new rules and updates. It's a great game to have out on the table and just play a bit and make some progress towards a quest or gathering resources etc.

[@gregkleinfall1901]

@@erikpeters7072 To each their own.

[@Dratio]

There are so many huge fantasy campaign games out there. I wish someone could do even a light general comparison of them. Ideally I'd wan't one with less grind that's better at delivering diversity of content even if it doesn't offer the most content.

[@ZeIsAnEnemy]

Too many bones 2.0