Empires of the Void II Review - The Broken Meeple

[@CaptainGamer347]

Luke, thanks for the review! Looking forward to playing this soon! I just sleeved the cards, and bagged everything over the weekend. Now for the rulebook!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

It's not the best for referencing items so maybe look at BGG for alternatives, but stick with it for learning the game.

[@salmanqaisar7377]

Nice video, Luke. What would u recommend as ideal player count - that maximises direct player interaction (eg map not too spacious) + without getting unnecessarily long? 3 or 4?

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Salman Qaisar 4 in that instance.

[@Mat23]

Great review! Not much difference between KS and retail, aside from a miniature, cloth bag, an art book, and some metal coins!

[@BlurredVisi0n]

thanks for the review! I just bought it on a whim for my girl friend's family - they are really into board games and I wanted to make sure I got something they didn't have. I'm feeling pretty happy with the choice and excited to try it with them!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Excellent, I miss this one! Need to get it played again!

[@CarstenBernstorff]

Great review thank you 😊 also good length the game was covered well👍

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@zinnatkarim465]

Luke Hector don't you think more races would add to the setup and takedown time? While it is already super brutal. I wish the setup could've been made easier. I definitely want more variety, but at least that setup should be better. I think in terms 4X, event cards and the tokens, I think the explore is there. It is of course my no. 1, but setup is brutal. Do you agree with me? Let me know, enjoying your reviews as always.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I don't think it would have added too much as you have to take some out anyway. But yeah setup is lengthy until you've got it down to a T.

[@zinnatkarim465]

Luke Hector At least you agree. I have to slave the setup for my friends.

[@steven9766]

"I look forward to some extra content from Ryan" Are we foolish to still be hoping for an expansion for this?

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Probably, but we can dream!

[@Downloaded7]

Thanks very much for your thoughts, Luke. I’m a bit conflicted on this one. I tend to enjoy games with high interaction where players have an active role in wrestling their victory objectives out from under each other, and everyone’s actions really matter to everyone at the table. I love space games and would love to add a medium-ish euro style space game to my collection; somewhere in between Tiny Epic Galaxies and Eclipse...maybe something like “Scythe in space,” where combat is a threat, but engine building is the primary objective. My concern is that this game trades tension between players for narrative freedom due to its sandboxy design. Is there still tense competition over shared objectives in this game?

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Not so much though you can attack other players for cargo at times. It's more combat against the aliens then each other. You are in competition over who allies with what race though constantly.

[@Downloaded7]

Interesting. Would you say the ratio of combat-to-engine-building compares similarly to Scythe? Thanks for your response :).

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I'd say this gets a slight edge over Scythe, but your combat is mainly against NPC races and occasionally each other.

[@Downloaded7]

Cheers, Luke. Keep up the good work! Purchased on your recommendation.

[@exiledsonofhawaii3934]

Laukat’s first game was either empires 1 or eight minute empires. Great review btw.

[@zinnatkarim465]

An excellent review. Although I liked the event variability. When my computer is fixed, I'll subscribe to the Broken Meeple. You're not alone hating Eclipse.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Zinnat Karim Thanks! Yeah I don't think it's that bad from my perspective but I would have liked more each game, but hey more variety is rarely a bad thing.

[@zomorion9183]

My computer is fixed. I was using that other account called Zinnat Karim earlier. I agree there should be more variability. I kind of wish you could blow stuff up, but its still my no.1 game in addition to Alien Artifacts. I am a subscriber, by the way.

[@zinnatkarim465]

Samin Raiyan You're review changed my mind on Alien Artifacts.

[@1235q]

WIsh this game got an expansion or two. It's excellent.

[@ilqrd.6608]

kick ass review mate

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

It's not on enough Top 10 lists and that's a crime!

[@mckeoncrawford9262]

How is the game at 2p

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Not bad actually though a decent chunk of the map is occupied by neutral elite enemies.

[@mckeoncrawford9262]

@ thanks for the answer. I'm on the fence between this game, dune uprising, vindication or Kanban for a 2p game night. Any recommendations?

[@dddmmm21]

I like the channel but this video ended up incredibly long... 10min max would be the goal...

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

DTM Never enough time in only ten minutes, too much to cover for some games. Granted would have liked less than 20 but again, meaty games.

[@dddmmm21]

This may sound harsh, sorry in advance, but I hope this is constructive - If all you want to do is talk about a game for 30min (because you enjoy doing it, I also love talking about something I love), then a podcast would be much more appropriate. However I don't see the point in watching a 30min video with absolutely no visual input (which is the point of a video). You never show the game properly, it is like your talking to yourself. Hence I am saying a video review only makes sense for 10min or less. There are other people doing fantastic reviews as short as 3min (I find 6min the sweat spot)... Again, you may do a video as long as you want, all I am saying is that you would gather greater audience if the format fit the context (video = visual = short/medium; vs podcast = voice only = possibly long). Best

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I don't think any reviewer "shows the game properly" unless you're doing a full walkthrough of the game, which sadly I would need not only a studio but also another grand's worth of equipment. This video did run longer than I would have liked but I couldn't see myself cutting much from it aside from maybe the comparisons to EotV original to bring it below 20. Most reviews tend to end up between 10-15 min not inc intros/outros and that has so far been my sweet spot. I get the appeal of the 5 min or less review and I've seen reviewers do that, but I've yet to find one that I like who does that. The problem with a 5 min or less review is that you can't get all the information in. Overview, price, components, art, mechanics, feel of the game, balance, etc 5 minutes just isn't enough unless you talk like the Micro Machines guy. When I've watched reviews that are that short, I've been like "well i still barely know anything" as it usually boils to "here's X game, I liked it, the end". There's an audience for it, but I just can't get that much information in 5 min or less. Some of them might script their episodes but if so, they got waaaaaaaaaaay more spare time on their hands than I do. I am going to try to ensure that future reviews at most hit a 15 min cap but obviously the lower the better. But it's harder than it looks!

[@Chade03]

A nice balance might be to add some timestamps in the description to the different segments of your review. As long as you do a quick 'conclusion' that cites the reasons you explained in depth earlier in the review (and timestamp it!), you'll make most of the people who like short reviews happy. I appreciated this review and its length as is, for the record!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

As mentioned, this video over-ran in general - rarely would any review video run to this length but there was a lot to mention. So it was basically a one-off to remind myself to try and keep every video to less than 20 min max and preferably closer to 15 where possible.