Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artifacts Review - with Tom Vasel

[@TonganJedi]

I agree with Tom completely. I wish these expansions would stick with the base game and just add more cards that do interesting things, not all this pointless side-game nonsense.

[@StefanLopuszanski]

7:16 Tom spits on a card! *shutters*

[@dustwhit12]

ha! I totally missed that. lol

[@sunamori]

those eyes of yours are keen!!

[@ConditionallyUsed]

Enjoying the game reviews. New to board game information so I find the reviews to be useful. Tom, I really like the interest level you show in the reviews.

[@Morkon80]

Thanks for this review. Most of the cards seemed quite compatible with the prior published cards. If the orb sucks like you said, I most probably just add the new cards without this mechanism to the general deck.

[@KesSharann]

You have to make orb pathways as difficult or more difficult. It's not complicated.

[@TyphoidBryan]

I love the solo AI feature from The Gathering Storm. I now only play RftG alone.

[@CarlosCastillo-sf5yk]

me too!!!

[@RainbowCrewPeople]

review "the brink of war" expansion please

[@ianotoolevideo]

Could not agree more. JUST GIVE US MORE CARDS!!

[@GrandElemental]

I agree with you 100%! I love the game, I love the new cards, but the orb module is just stupid. The time you need to play the game now rivals with Descent 2.0! And on the top of that, the orb exploration is not even that rewarding, you can easily get the same amount of points by just playing cards to your tableau. It is such a shame thay just don't release a complete expansion with new cards and nothing else...

[@roycenlisa]

"Slog for the Galaxy!" Awesome! I just got this and started reading the rules on the Orb and was just floored how much it seemed to do a hard left turn from the original game mechanic/style. I guess I'll give it a try but yeah, all the card placement stuff and 'which way will I have my survey guy go"... ugh!

[@aleg2490]

Oh well, I came here for clarification on the convoluted placement rules. Guess I'll either have to look elsewhere. Or read that messy part of the rules.

[@jonathany1500]

Thanks for the review Tom, I'm still on the fence but I'm quite content with RftG + Gathering Storm for now. A bit off topic, but was it my imagination or did you say there was a review for Hegemonic coming out soon?

[@thedicetower]

Tomorrow

[@lauriy-v2567]

In dungeon part of expansion those tokens are just random points. When you get to second tier there is token that gives you ridiculous ammount of points. My friend didnt know what he was doing but still won and that was terrible.

[@Ziraffo]

more cards is what this game needs!! Don't change the game, just add variety to it by adding more cards.

[@mithroch]

I mean... if sorting out the expansions is such a pain... but you love the game enough... it's probably worth picking up an extra base set so you have one for each expansion arc.

[@talronen9673]

Review the other expansions

[@JChalant]

14:44 that face you make when you realize you're being screwed by 'the man'.

[@solstiria]

I don't have any expansions for RftG yet. Why should you not play with 5+ players?

[@XShrike0]

I would suspect that it can slow the game down and he wants to play fast.

[@Raphaelus13]

Part of the core strategy is to choose actions that don't benefit the other players that much. With 5 is just too much and it doesn't matter what you do, it will benefit someone. It looses in that sense, and so it plays better with 2 or 3p.

[@solstiria]

Raphaelus13 That makes perfect sense. Thank you.

[@freddieyu]

Raphaelus13 Playing with 5 IS still possible and fun. Have done so a few times and it was still ok!

[@Yatsura2]

Its all about chosing the right actions at the right time. You need a planet? Ok, does the other player wants to place one aswell? Then play another action card, since he will enable you to place your planet anyway. So you could play Phase 5 and immediatly put a card face down on the planet you just built during another players phase 3. With 5 players however, you are likely to get every fucking phase every single round. Whatever you chose to play, someone else will do it aswell. There is no strategy in there. Everyone does everything all the time.

[@omnitheus5442]

Good review Tom. When you began explaining the whole Orb mechanic my eyes glazed over. Couldn't agree more. Do you think this has been done because of other successful games that incorporate mini-games? Will the next expansion focus on building a special starship in the production phase... Probably... I'll leave this one thank you very much :O)

[@Liveimprov]

Tom - from the rulebook: "Alien Artifacts can be played without the Orb Game rules. Simply add the new start worlds and game cards to the base game. To do this, remove any cards from the first expansion arc, which have 1-3 gray marks in their lower left corners. "

[@Saturn2888]

"Why don't we add a stock market to the game?" Little did you know... (Referring to Roll for the Galaxy: Rivalry's market add-on.)

[@CD-zd6zr]

Why never 5 players?

[@buoomx]

I know this is irrelevant to the video, but I just wanted to suggest ideas for top 10 lists that you guys make, one is a list on top 10 introductory games list whilst the other is just top 10 innovative games so to say :) I really hope you read this. I love your videos keep up the great work!

[@mujo2008]

haha Tom is brilliant as usual!!

[@CrystalblueMage]

Hehe, buy a second base set. No more taking stuff in and out :P

[@selh378]

Funny to see how frustrated Tom is with the expansions for this game

[@Justegarde]

You're crazy. The Orb is the best thing to happen to RftG. This expansion is way better than the previous three. I would never play this game again without the Orb rules.

[@plouf1969]

Oh, have you played before? Oh, no. Then, never mind... LOL :)

[@robbeachler]

It's a card game, luck is always a major factor. Between equally skilled players luck is the deciding thing.

[@HiDefJesus]

The orb is dumb. I don't like it.

[@FoxgazeGrimoire]

Good grief that was such a negative review. Are all your reviews so harsh? It's kind of disappointing. Personally, I've had games of RftG that end way too fast. I'm interested to see how this plays out. It can't be THAT bad. The only one of the expansions I didn't really care for was The Rebel vs Imperium one because the conflict mechanics were a headache. The prestige in the third expansion is a little odd too, but they're still fun. Also, for me, adding the extra players has always made things more interesting.