Polis Review: Boy, Those Ancient Greeks Sure Loved Wheat! - By Board Of It

[@tozmom615]

Can’t imagine my dog being half as tolerant as yours! Not just in wearing the costumes but in letting me have peace to play a game longer than ten minutes!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Haha! The trick is bribery 😂 they get very well paid in treats, they don’t work for free 😅

[@Xenu]

Great review. I'm a big fan of epic two player games (e.g. Twilight Struggle, Star Wars: Rebellion) and I have a large interest in Greco-Roman history so this game seems right up my alley. This production of the new edition looks amazing (though the box art itself doesn't look like it captures the feel of the game very well, though)! Love your channel and reviews (and the doggos)! Keep up the great content.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you for watching and the comment! We’d also really recommend 1960 The Making of the President if you’re a fan of these types of 2 player games - we’ll probably we reviewing that one soon!

[@whatsabandicoot]

Really intrigued by your experience with this game. It has the civ-lite sandbox mechanics you highlighted, but it's designed as a wargame through and through. To hear how little combat you had is both surprising and also kinda cool. 400 BC - the original cold (wheat) war! I had no idea Polis had a new edition released. Much like the original, it seems to have flown under the radar. Thanks for the review and bringing it to our attention ☺️

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching! Yeah it’s definitely very interesting for us regarding the combat not occurring. It’s cool that you can choose to play either way but for us it’s never seemed necessary to go down the combat route - you could actively choose to do so but it just seems risky since you’re spending victory points to do many of the actions. As we said in the review it’s also not possible to combat at all in the first round since there can only be 3 cubes for each side in one region and 4 need to be there to combat - then in the second round it’s possible in theory but also you’re still getting going with your economic engine so it’s still tough to have enough resources - then in the last round it’s a little more open since you should have more resources to play around with but then it’s the final round anyway and you want to be saving and gaining points not spending them! We’ve heard other players always combat though so this is just our experience!

[@whatsabandicoot]

It definitely seems that combat is inherently risky, for both sides. I think that fits so well with how the conflict it's representing - there were large (renowned) fights, but this was a rivalry that lasted for hundreds of years. By no means was it just defined by bloodshed. Genuinely find it interesting that a wargame makes the decision to go to war so much of an unknown that it's probably better not to! Thanks again for the review and coverage of this. I missed the first edition, but I've heard so many heavy gamers rave about it. Think this is one I'll pick up just to try out - though my gf probably won't be all that interested in many plays of it 😆

[@BoardOfItReviews]

To be fair, I (Tallie) was a bit apprehensive about it when it arrived but was pleasantly surprised when we first played it - maybe your girlfriend will be surprised too!

[@whatsabandicoot]

Quick update - we're 5 games in and both (!) really, really enjoying it. Absolutely agree with you - found it very intuitive to pick up and play. We've had about 1-2 combats a game and actually quite enjoy how it works, though also agree that it's a little unclear to begin with due to the graphic design choice. Adore how prestige and population (the VPs at endgame) are resources of your economy. First game took 2.5-3 hours with the teach, subsequent games are 1.5-2 hours. Scores have been very, very close in all but one game where I got utterly wrecked by Sparta. Currently 4-1 Athens v Sparta!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

@@whatsabandicoot We look forward to the day where we have a combat! Honestly, it's super weird that even when we try we haven't had one. Just glad to hear you're enjoying it though, that's the most important thing :D.

[@jacoblongmusic]

This review couldn't have come at a better time! Deciding if I want to hunt a copy down from Australia. Thank you guys!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

That’s so cool to hear! Glad we could help! What are you thinking after watching the review - will you go for it?!

[@jacoblongmusic]

@@BoardOfItReviews yeah I think so. Looking for some heavier 2 player games. I just bought Twilight Struggle because I found it cheap, and if I can get my hands on this... That might do me for a bit. With any like, my wife might like this one!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

We’d also really recommend 1960 The Making of the President for a brilliant 2 player 👌🏻 think we’ll review it quite soon!

[@jacoblongmusic]

@@BoardOfItReviews ok great! I'll look out for your review! My tastes may be similar to yours as I played Barrage recently (which is how I found you) and fell in love with it.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

That’s so cool to hear - Barrage is excellent so happy you’re a fellow fan of the game! 🙌🏻 I think you will definitely enjoy Polis in this case!

[@achilipu1]

I love your videos! Thank you for this high quality content

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you so much and thanks for watching! ☺️

[@picpine]

Great video! The clickbait, aka cute dogs, works perfectly! hahaha. But the quality of your review is really good. Thanks for sharing with us!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Oh no you’ve rumbled our strategy 😉 thanks for the kind comment and for watching - we appreciate it!

[@DoppelgangerF02]

awesome review, ty!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you! And thanks for watching!

[@bgorion]

You went to great lengths with the pronunciation of polis and polis... and then botched die and dice 😂 thanks for a cool video!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Ha! You got us 😂

[@PMMagro]

If you never fight Ahens has given up mainland Greece. I understand if Sparta avoids naval conflicts but it is almost impossible to avoid land conflict (at least sieges are needed).

[@jacoblongmusic]

Finally getting this to the table today. Have you played this much since your video? Has it become stale?

[@BoardOfItReviews]

We haven't played it too much since the review, but unfortunately that is what tends to happen when having a channel because you're always onto the next review. We have been eyeing it up lately though and intend to get it out soon. I can't see it becoming stale for us though! How did your play go?

[@jacoblongmusic]

@@BoardOfItReviews I think good? Still very interested in it. I put it on my 10x10 for this year. The combat was a bit confusing and the Spartan player (my opponent) passed really early in the final era. Ended with my opponent winning the draw.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Yeah the combat is unnecessarily complex and as we said in the review we’ve gone basically all of our games without feeling the need to do it and has to actively force ourselves to combat just to try it out!

[@Takezo-726]

Is the game so unbalanced in Sparta's favor?

[@BoardOfItReviews]

What do you mean?

[@Takezo-726]

@@BoardOfItReviews Some players complain that Sparta wins more easily. And in your video you joke about it with the T-shirts, don't you?

[@Chris-rx8jg]

like the review but how i much it offers to history simulation (maybe simulation is a to much) to the period. I am really interested in greek and other ancient history

[@BoardOfItReviews]

So, the event cards probably have the most simulation, as they are based on real events and affect the game based on what actually happened, but you only have 3 per game. But there is a lot here, the names of Poleis are all what they would have been I think (Sparti instead of Sparta), and the battle cards have real formations and units on. I don't think you'll be disappointed, although its maybe not as in depth as a Pax game.

[@Chris-rx8jg]

@@BoardOfItReviews thanks of the info

[@bearhustler]

Just got this for £30, what a bargain.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Great work!