Spartacus - Shut Up & Sit Down Review

[@HerpinThaDerp]

oh man, that kind of adversarial, talking-more-loudly-than-the-other, but still on the same wavelength chemistry of paul and quinns together is something you dont realize you really miss until you see these old videos

[@Heldermaior]

HerpinThaDerp yeah. Matt just doesn't cut it imho...

[@AhJong0]

Yep the combo of these two was magical.

[@Shenaldrac]

plz sacrifice Mat to bring back Brendan, tia

[@shanemcmahon8123]

That Guy sucks the life out from videos no macheezmo

[@lindgrenjonas]

It's possible to miss Paul without crapping on the others. They are all awesome, but in different ways.

[@bhbacon]

This game is driven by the energy of the players. The combat system is rather lacklustre, but this is one of the only games I own that has wine stains on the board which I regard as a mark of success.

[@jordanwilliams8994]

Spartacus has a way of going really well or really poorly. If you ever have a game go over 2.5 hours, just stop immediately, it's down hill in a bad way from there. All games are destined to either end in a reasonable time span or take forever and you will hate your friends (and your friends will hate you). The parts of the game that drag (all of them) really grate on the experience, but the parts of the game that soar (all of them) are really amazing! There is screaming, and yelling and tears of joy and despair, cursing and deriding, praising and goading. All of it. There's also waiting and yawning, and shrugging. It's so good, but it is so lopsided - at once over done and underdeveloped (kinda like the show). And it IS simple... but kinda complicated? It's a good intro game... but also a brutal trial by fiery, thematic combat. I'll never get rid of my copy (one of the first hobby games I ever bought), but I understand when no one is in the mood to play. As a side note, I house rule that you do not get back your aid token after lending influence until you've given all of them at which point you also gain an influence to speed up the game and reward collaboration.

[@killyourtvnotme]

Jordan Williams interesting. Do any of the expansions help with these issues or just make things longer?

[@jordanwilliams8994]

Mostly they make things longer. Primus's are great fun and really up the tactical quality of arena phase, but they're such a hassle and drag on so long that I've stopped including them for the most part. The new gladiators that are added lend some much needed variety as do some of the other market cards. The new schemes are good (and the addition of a higher than lower than influence requirement) but you'll hardly notice the difference once they're shuffled in. You could make the argument that a lot of the new content prevents a run away leader effect (or more likely, a fall away loser), but you could also argue that they allow players who have played sub-optimally to rob victory from the clear winner. The new dominus powers are really interesting but do not provide a win con like the others so are largely at a disadvantage (i still like using them though). But again, all of that pretty much adds up to a longer game. Also they "allow" for a 5-7 player game. Obviously that is a trap. Never ever ever do that (I once played a 5 player game with primuses, after 4+ hours we just decided to end it). I like the expansions. They add more to a game I enjoy. They do not fix the flaws of the base game though.

[@killyourtvnotme]

Ah, thanks for the detailed response. I played it once and enjoyed it. I kinda like the vibe; sort of like cosmic encounter. I may just pick it up and see how it goes. Thanks again!

[@clumsydad7158]

where and when did this game come forth from ??

[@RundliiGaming]

I would argue that Primus adds more to the flavor of the game. I have seen many actually bid their service to sabotage their own team and there are rules for that also when you want to contest initiative. As far as player count I feel 4 is always ideal.. no more or less and perhaps 5 is the next best but each player adds a lot more time to the game. Some minor tweaks I have made to the game though is only doing something like 3 to 9 influence or something similar. Game wise it shines much more in the intrigue phase when you have to work with others to play cards and after 7 (the starter game recommends 7-12 ) you can play a large portion of your cards without any help. In a 7-12 game the cards you get fall almost strictly to RNG.

[@CapturePlay]

That backyard scene killed me!

[@Healermain15]

"I'm Spartacus!" *cue police sirens*

[@rightwoke]

First time I ever really disagreed with a SUSD review. Spartacus is an amazing game and the expansions make it even better. The deals and double crosses that can occur at any stage. How alliances can be made, betrayed, and formed again on whims. And the effects of luck really feels like the gods meddling in affairs of men. It’s easily in our groups too 5 games.

[@TylerDeLisle]

Really? I love this game, but I can't disagree with them. There are a lot of imbalances, a lot of silly, dated game mechanics like cancel cards. Some times the game can give you a bad draw and there's never more than one good Gladiator and the fights are always dull and drag on. It's fun despite all of these flaws, and I think they acknowledged that.

[@greginfla_1]

Just played Spartacus at BGG con 2019 it’s amazing game. Are usually hate these type of games but thoroughly enjoyed it. My only negative point of Spartacus is the munchkin effect of trying to stop the leader.

[@bmac3738]

This is one where I have found it works really well as a game, but it really does depend on who you are playing it with.

[@chronixchaos7081]

Why hasn't Brendan mowed the grass?

[@aearroyo]

Funnily enough, it's still unknown whether the "pollice verso" or "turned thumb" was a thumbs up, thumbs down, or horizontal thumb. So your waffling is an accurate reflection of the academic uncertainty.

[@TheAngryRubberDuck]

This was the review that made me go "oh. Ok. Different strokes for different folks"

[@gijoe250]

TheAngryRubberDuck this comment now makes sense xo

[@eriksjogren800]

As always, thanks for the review. Love you Quinns. Miss you Paul. Spartacus is by far the best proper board game for multiple players I’ve ever played. It does, however, need some fixes; Both OOP expansion. The fan made “wild animals” expansion. The fan made (incorporated in the new edition) “blue dice option”. And the right crowd who’s ready to dedicate a day to stabbing each other in the back and scream “piss in you porridge”, without getting grumpy when getting flogged. It also helps that I’ve painted all the minis, bought a bunch of extra bling and built a whole, massive arena with a packed crowd, painted up and all. With all of this, it’s the most intense, lovely, engaging and involving board game experience yet.

[@Twunga]

the guilty pleasure of my gaming table!

[@Paradoxfrog]

Interesting :) - i found this game great for beginner groups of friends, that normally are not invested into a theme. Even the ones not knowing the series were screaming for the blood of an enemy in the arena. I dont agree with you on this one because i had opposite experience with 3 different groups.

[@Guy-m8m]

That starting 'Oysters' joke, brutal! It's referencing the scene in Kurbricks Spartacus where Crassus who likes to dominate pretty much tells his slave what his preference for lovers is with the intent it'll be him tomorrow. Said slave immediately runs away.

[@morkins3243]

My most vivid memory of this game is a fight where I ended up with the strongest gladiator in the game with pretty good equipment, and I got into a fight with another player that had pretty weak gladiators. He put his weakest gladiator into the fight and didn't use any equipment. Fight starts, I roll up and roll my massive handful of attack dice, only to get 1s and 2s (a full miss) on all of them including rerolls. He attacks, rolling 6s and 5s, with my defense dice all coming up as 1s and 2s again including rerolls. Took a bunch of damage, but my gladiator was so much better than his that I still had more dice. Next attack comes. Again it comes up all 1s and 2s for me. He attacks, again with 6s and 5s, with my highest defense roll being a 3. Bunch more wounds, and suddenly my character is nearly dead. Needless to say, I end up losing and yield. I try to bribe the host, but the rest of the table teams up to solicit an execution of my top gladiator, knowing that it is unlikely that I will be so unlucky in a future fight. I went from having a strong position in that game to being nearly in last place because I was so financially ruined by that fight. Most of the rest of the table also lost a bunch of money on that because everyone had bet on me, which caused the game to take much longer than it would have otherwise...

[@Bodyknock]

I have the Xmen reskin of the game which is decent as well. Aside from the game using mutants instead of gladiators the battles are semicooperative missions against supervillains where typically everybody in the mission will get something if the group wins but there will be one MVP in the mission (such as the person who did the most total damage or who beat the most minions, etc) who will get a bonus. Otherwise it’s essentially the same game - bid on mutants for your school, play intrigue type cards against each other then do a mission. All the schools and mutants have unique powers, which is cool, and the game is cutthroat and reasonably fun but can drag a bit like the review says. So if you’re interested in the mechanics but prefer Xmen to Roman gladiators the reskin might be worth a look.

[@Simon39759]

That sounds pretty awesome! How is the name called?

[@Bodyknock]

The game is X-Men: Mutant Revolution by Wizkids.

[@andy4an]

when he turns the page at 5:35, it looks like a picture of quinns in a brown tunic...until it doesn't

[@GretSeat]

I got excited thinking you guys were back together :(

[@SONManiac]

One of th ebest BG ever. Even if you do not like the art design of the game or if you do not like the series - the amount of drama, intrigue and excitement is amazing. Love it. But i guess it depends a lot on the ppl you are playing with.

[@clarkfahringer479]

Mow your lawn!!! Just playing, love you guys

[@atmunn1]

I was like "oh yay paul and quinns in the same location" then I realized this is a reupload from the website :(

[@Shenaldrac]

Brendan was always the best member :(

[@fceffect]

Was?

[@Shenaldrac]

Well this is an upload of one of their much earlier episodes. Brendan hasn't been in any SUASD episodes for years.

[@jacktorrance3522]

He moved to Costa Rica if memory serves right!

[@alyssagoss2299]

What fresh faced young men with no idea of the extent of the great board gaming saga awaiting them.

[@ZebraCatfish73]

This is by far the funniest SU&SD review you guys have done! I mean the opening with the massaging and grape feeding to cut away to the guys doing it... the massaging and the grape feeling I mean. Then Quinns inappropriately starts touching up the guy, followed with the oyster comment was just a classic. You guys love to flying too close to the sun. Then there's the fisting comment, the sexy slaves comment (and who doesn't want one of those?) and Paul's "Spurtacus" was just the perfect summary of the show. I think you guys had more fun putting this together than doing the game review itself. And then there was the very ending of the review. Well... let's not go there! You naughty naughty boys, mother will NOT be pleased (nor your wives). lol 😂

[@guyblin]

Paul rocking the Jeremy Clarkson look there... ;)

[@Wsebastiaan]

Would you say it would be more interesting if you make a house-rule to remove all 'counter' intrigue cards from the deck?

[@TylerDeLisle]

It's kind of like Cosmic Encounter, you have to be aware of them. There aren't a ton of them, and you can always pay people off. It makes the end game a tense waiting game, someone will make a bid to win it, out come the cancel cards, now it's time to make your move! (you hope). It's all silly fun anyway.

[@dago6410]

Its funny how a negative review made me say omg sounds like one of the best games ive seen ever i need this

[@BPEMETO]

Hi! I just played Spartacus and I was a point away from victory just before the bidding for "Host". I had the most money in a 4 player game. So I would have won the auction and get the point. But one of the players just gave away all of his money to another player so the other play can win the "host" and deny me the victory point. The question is: can you just give all of your coins to another player without any connection to a card or exchange of something else in the game? I really hope someone can resolve this beyond shadow of a doubt : )

[@philipjohnson935]

You may do that. Totally within your rights to give your money for free to any player at any time per the rulebook. It is a might lame IMO, but on the other hand, those players probably just delayed their own doom. Now there are 2 broke players at the table whereas you are rich as all hell. I could see a world where you just close it out a few rounds more.

[@manwoo8202]

Some old thing coming from a quiet corner. Its ok. It could have been perfect, with some updated - more or less short- information about the game + expansions.

[@glynth]

I'm sad...I've owned this game for almost a year and it still has not made it to the table...

[@JohnPeterBrekke]

But... What about the War of the Ring review? You promised! :o

[@Squatch_needs_no_heroes]

Why is Brendan out of the dungeon?

[@anewsin]

I'm Spartacus.

[@GuiltySpark1817]

Fantastic, but I'm Spartacus!

[@saiksaikatai594]

still no ti4 review?

[@h-p4185]

Saubermachtfrau!!!

[@shanemcmahon8123]

Your opinion is wrong!! Change it now!!!

[@adamjohns7295]

Will you guys ever use a rating system? 5/5 meeples is a SUSD recommendation.

[@EwMatias]

I was hoping for a bit of commentary about how this is a gem about owning slaves...

[@abdulhammouda4884]

You're easily my favourite KZbin channel, but that joke where you don't know words happened in almost every sentence. This was utterly exhausting to watch. It was like talking to a college student.