Expedition to Newdale Review - with Tom Vasel

[@simland]

This game is so good. Setup and tear down is on par with any other mid weight game. Didn't feel fiddly in the least.

[@DrMcFly28]

Agree with the review. This seems to be an improved and refined version of 'Oh My Goods', but it's hard to beat the sheer portability of the card game which even with the two story expansions still fits in my jacket pocket. :)

[@devilp84]

The board with roads and tokens in the areas gives it similar look to Blackout Hongkong.

[@69robtaylor]

I found it decent but it’s definitely not one of my favourites by this designer, Possibly because I bought Maracaibo at the same time (Essen) A solid 7/10 in my opinion. Is a 7/10 worth buying? Who knows.

[@gregsaldi1292]

if you like it, it's worth it.

[@flol.1741]

I think Oh my Goods is the better game on every level, price, portability, Quickness of play, fun. Actually I don't even think Newdale has more strategic or tactical depth. You can even get a campaign expansion...

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

The fact that the card game exists is what will kill this game stone dead. I think I gave it a 5. The story is boring and not needed, I'm with you, the chapters should have been standalone really. The setup is really fiddly with the sheer amount of shuffling and sorting of the cards you need to do and I felt that runaway leader syndrome kicked in too often. Every single game there would be 1-2 lagging players and they would always be the ones that lost in the end. When you've already got the shorter, more compact, tighter card game, there just doesn't seem to be any reason for this to exist.

[@ryusorata]

Except money is a thing and pfister probably likes it.

[@Bangerz12]

Actually strongly disagree. The setup is really not that intensive. There are more scoring paths in Newdale vs OMG and many of the small changes drastically improve the gameplay: ability to use a building you built the current round, ability to build multiple buildings in one round, workers are easier to acquire and actually useful, you still can use chaining even if building doesn’t produce (this is a major improvement because in OMG it was rarely worth it to go “courageous” because it was a wasted turn if u didn’t make it. I agree story is stupid, but moving around the board is fun and the bonus tiles give more incentives to build various ways

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

What, designers making money? Noooo! :P The setup with doing a standalone chapter is fiddly with having to sort out the cards, not to mention you have to have played all the campaign first otherwise you have to learn a bunch of extra rules. Problem is the campaign isn't interesting and each map mostly devolves down to "place out buildings and spread out fast - none of the boards have any interesting elements, it's just go to a spot and grab a bonus tile before someone else does. " The changes from OMG are fine, but you pay a hefty price in that you triple the game length. Do I play the already half decent card game for 30 minutes or spend over 90 minutes playing essentially OMG with a couple of tweaks? Chaining is a double edged sword however. Yes it makes the turns less likely to be a total waste, but it also turns the luck factor up to 11. Someone who drew cards and got exactly the colour they needed vs another player who didn't just gained such an unreal foothold. And I've had times where me and someone else have drawn like 10 cards a piece due to effects and I draw nothing useful and he gets 8 yellows and chains like crazy the same turn.

[@southernfriedgamenight4304]

The Broken Meeple I have to strongly disagree as well, I found that the set up wasn’t at all fiddly. It’s way better than any deck building game I’ve ever played. I would also say the chaining luck factor is not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. You’ve got to look at your hand (or the market if available buildings) a decide “do I build this since I’ve already got what I need to chain, or do I build this which I have no cards to chain with and hope I draw into what I need.” Seems more like playing poorly rather than luck, plus there’s a spot where you can cycle all but one card in your hand every single turn. It’s also not nearly 90 minutes long, especially not during a solo game which is fantastic. The maps aren’t huge differences, but the ones that add mechanics like the bridges and boats do feel different enough in practice. Also, enjoy your content, keep it up!

[@hucz]

I'm also going to disagree, OmG left me wanting more in the sense of having more options to score and incentives to work toward bonuses. OmG is a clean and simple game that I love, but it is repetitious and EtN breaks that up more and is a welcome addition to a great system.