The Great Wall Review - Unleash the Huns!

[@noralockley8816]

It's funny how people did not listen to the review. Just because there are mistakes in a rule book and perhaps unnecessary length does not make bad rules or bad game. I can just count how many horrible rule books I have read from very good games and good game companies. Then there are the very bad games that have great clear rule books don't figure.

[@BoardGameCo]

Thank you! Maybe it's on me to have been more clear, but yeah, the rules were certainly understandable, and the game is great... At the same time awaken realms has a history with rules, and this game continues that history. It does not mean that the rule book for this is as bad as etherfields or that I didn't like the game....the game is a blast.

[@grylas125]

@@BoardGameCo hehe "awaken realms has a history with rules" so true. As for me, it is kind of not respecting the customers...

[@MidnightMogwai]

I’ve never seen any of your videos but this very well could be one of the best reviews I’ve seen. Well done.

[@BoardGameCo]

Thanks Mike :)

[@RulebooksForYou]

I was able to do a bit of editing on it... (700 accepted suggestions to the wording) But couldn't do more; I hope they can have me on board for more than one quick pass next time so we can refine the rulebook more :)

[@CadorYT]

I really like your channel. Keep on going, don’t get burned out on the hobby!!

[@BoardGameCo]

Going strong for 9 years, I think I'm save...but who knows :)

[@successfulgeek]

You have brought honor to this review!

[@BoardGameCo]

Thank you Geek-San.

[@Straddllw]

That’s Japanese … not Chinese. I’m kinda triggered.

[@Bob-wr1md]

@@Straddllw same to be honest

[@NA9R502]

Really great review, I'm very excited to watch your other reviews judging by this one

[@jarrod6670]

Thanks for the video, a really great review! I went all-in on this, and I am looking forward to seeing this game in action. I usually don't back or play many euro style games, but this one looked great and intriguing. Hopefully multiple play-throughs of this will make those frustrating things seem less and less.

[@ScytheNoire]

I have to agree with your critique of Awaken Realms, and the evidence backs you up. They do such a great job with graphics, miniatures, theme, etc. But they always fall short on rulebooks and gameplay.

[@BoardGameCo]

Gameplay I actually generally like/love.

[@RiHa_Games]

Perfect as background for pipetting😜

[@ketami2]

So, you'll bring honor to us all.

[@BoardGameCo]

Ancestors!!!

[@Berndr]

I wonder if it would be more immersive and exciting if we cover bonuses on horde cards with actual plastic soldiers representing enemies, this way would be a surprise to discover what bonus we get when killing that solder, also have enemy soldiers on the card that are removed when shot by an archer or replaced with our attacking solders could add to the theme

[@Nddiejebnduc]

I wonder why AR didn’t make Terrian Expansion which contains the walls and barricades as figures. Also, I can’t believe that we have to disassemble the walls and barricades after playing games. It will be worn down and broken one day if we keep assemble and disassemble every single game. I never assembled the tree in Everdell. I used only the top of the tree. These kinds of components that we have to assemble and disassemble feel like creators don’t care about my stuff to keep them fresh as long as possible...

[@BoardGameCo]

If it helps, I have everything from the all-in contained within the base game box, and the black powder expansion box. No disassembly of the walls required, but you will need to throw out the insert trays for miniatures.

[@Nddiejebnduc]

@@BoardGameCo Thanks for your reply. I will try when I got the game. Thanks!

[@lionheartxiv]

Would love to hear your opinion on the 2.0 Upgrade Pack.

[@Phalanx167]

Been looking forward to this review and this game. :-)

[@BoardGameCo]

It's a lot of fun :) More than I expected when I backed it.

[@Phalanx167]

@@BoardGameCo From what I saw of Gameplay back when it was on KS I knew it would be a really satisfying engine builder, so even if I didn't care for the semi-co-op I was still all in on the promise of a difficult co-op.

[@jackwood4701]

Thanks for sharing your honest opinion.

[@BoardGameCo]

Glad you enjoyed :)

[@BeardyBoy]

Who got surprised that Alex's fav part was the powers? XD

[@BoardGameCo]

Me!!!

[@patriziopastore9895]

Nice review as usual... Considering that i cannot play everything for what İ see is 3/5 using your chart, let's see if i will have the chance to play it in the near future. Btw on the table look gorgeous

[@davidgulyas9509]

glad to hear it got 4/5, gonna keep the pledge :) Etherfields rulebook was not an issue for me, so the only issue I'll have is where to store it

[@garylangford6755]

Could this come up on a where are they now episode?

[@BoardGameCo]

Absolutely!

[@mikeCs333]

I saw the meeple version at my FLGS and they also have the stretch goal box. Would you say the stretch goal stuff is necessary? I would also get the black powder expansion

[@BoardGameCo]

Black powder is more worthwhile then the stretch goals.

[@mikeCs333]

@@BoardGameCo thanks! Would you still get the stretch goals or there's enough content in the corebox + black powder

[@BoardGamingRamblings]

Didnmt watch yet, as I don’t like to watch before we do our review, but happy to read you at least liked most of it! Do you think we’ll like it? 🙃

[@BoardGameCo]

Hard to know...you didn't like Cyclades ;) I would answer in more detail but I don't want to affect your view on it.

[@BoardGamingRamblings]

I’ll let you know after we play! 🥳

[@JasonSmithPsychedelicTherapist]

I'm all in on this one. Bad rulebook blows me away. At this time get someone in charge of that who is ELITE.

[@ugeneyeo]

thanks for the review! how would you compare this to After the Empire by Grey Fox Games? it also looks like a worker placement/tower defense. thanks for your time!

[@jalinstockdale9625]

Alex have you tried the ancient chronicles expansion now? I’m excited for all of it but that expansion is the most intriguing to me right now. The black powder is a close second, but I’ve heard that one is fantastic so far.

[@gabdewulf]

I think there was some competition where overseers didn't actually defend others when defending.

[@BoardGameCo]

Sorry, what do you mean? Overseers don't defend against the horde.

[@gabdewulf]

@@BoardGameCo I am not sure of the word but the overseer in the sense of the one overseeing the defense. General didn't quite feel like the right word.

[@koenwijnants6499]

Hi, did you try the true solo also (or only the coop) ? Would like to know if that is good. Can you use al the expansions for solo and or coop ?

[@BoardGameCo]

Coop and competitive, solo I avoided. Most expansions are useable in both but they were clearly designed with competitive in mind, things like honor don't matter as much in coop but will be present in a lot of areas of the game.

[@lukashivelgerard2561]

I am not sure from top of my head about all of them but generally yes - expansions can be mixed with solo/coop/competitive ;)

[@johnpanagos5835]

Another game from AR that feels like a good prototype.

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol I'm not that harsh....just wish there were a few fewer mistakes.

[@JakeJackPot_]

This is so true, at least it felt like it for Ether Fields... A board game made by people who heard someone talking about board games in the other room

[@sairam71]

Alex is a nice guy. I am a little more critical of this game. :)

[@BoardGameCo]

@@sairam71 you've played it?

[@sairam71]

@@BoardGameCo yes on tts. I think given how much money they make on Ks, the reputation they have for quality, and the consistent feedback they get about crappy rule books I guess I am fed up. As you said it’s all avoidable and sloppy. It just frustrates me. I’ve had moments in their past games where it was so frustrating to learn and really put me from Getting a game to table and teach others.

[@guitarguy1357]

Reprint coming to Gamefound in the near future!

[@arcubal]

I would offer to help Awaken Realms as a UX designer because I love their games and it pains me to see their game experiences marred by easy-to-avoid mistakes and poor rule book choices (I'm also a technical manual layout designer) but I live in Dublin.

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, the mistakes aren't that big a deal...what bothers me is how easily avoidable they are.

[@seansmith2650]

I literally wouldn't even be able to fit this on my table lol

[@BoardGameCo]

It's definitely not small.

[@davidgulyas9509]

@@BoardGameCo That's what she said.

[@D1eterVl]

Thanks for this great review. Interesting thoughts about the two parts not feeling really connected. Is it partly because of the lack of miniatures when representing the hordes or just because it doesn't feel like an attack gameplay-wise? What would be a good solution?

[@bestatstartrek6695]

Thanks for the honest review. This game was an automatic pass for me. Not into the theme and everything involved setup complicated rules. Etc. big price tag.

[@BoardGameCo]

Setup is actually super fast....not a big investment there at all. Theme and price tag I can't help with.

[@bestatstartrek6695]

I recently received and played enchanted plumes. I went back and watched your review and were glad you agreed it’s a very enjoyable game👍

[@BratatataRoel]

I see a lot of focus on the rulebook in comments. I really do not care at all. I'm never first to play a game (as I don't live in the US or Asia). I look for a good 'how to play' video and then rarely look up anything in the rulebook. I'm more interested in the game after watching the video than I was before. Great video, as always.

[@kostaskousias310]

Great Review as always. Short question. Are these the premium card sleeves from AR? Do they fit back in the box? Cheers

[@BoardGameCo]

They are the premium, and yes, base game fits. For the expansion, I toss boxes anyways.

[@yegods317]

After watching the review, I have absolutely no clue how it really plays; I have no clue whether I should get this game just for the cooperative mode; I have no clue where to get this game; basically I hear that it's a pretty good game :)

[@BoardGameCo]

Where is the real problem for now. Coop and competitive are both worth getting.

[@yegods317]

@@BoardGameCo I don't even know... this game has already gone through Kickstarter or Gamefound? So there will maybe be a late back?

[@Jeff-vw4rm]

Do a shot everytime Alex says GENERAL... :D

[@RulebooksForYou]

If I have a break from paid rulebooks, I might consider redoing this one (just volunteer, unless I get an offer ;) would anyone actually care to have it or is it too late?

[@michaelb8111]

My thoughts about bad rulebooks, poor accessibility design, and broken mechanics are that no one should get a pass especially for $400-$1000+ All-In games!!!

[@BoardGameCo]

I don't believe in passes, I believe in making the decisions that are right for me.

[@garylangford6755]

Wow great to hear about the rules... sucks that i went all in. I hate bad usability

[@BoardGameCo]

Rules are still good enough for learning, just with other issues in there.

[@AdamJorgensen]

Thanks for the review. Really disappointing to hear about all the gaffes with regards to the rulebook. Is it just me or does AR just not seem to be improving in this regard? It makes me a little worried to consider ISSV at all...

[@BoardGameCo]

ISS has Paul Grogan on board which helps. And again that's why I did make mention of the fact that it's hard to grade improvement on projects that have the KS development cycle....the rules aren't horrible and the game is easy enough to understand...but the mistakes are small and stupid.

[@gerbie42]

Looks great, glad you really enjoyed it, can't wait to finally try it. Glad to hear the generals/advisors are a hit, I love the blessings from LoH and you mentioned those, so this should be great fun. The honor/shame thematically seems a bit off, as you say, when you just abandon part of the wall. But competitively it's something I'm actually really looking forward to. Baiting other players to gain great honor and then letting them take the fall... going to be juicy. Unfortunate that the rulebook still isn't good with AR games, but honestly with the amount of fairly large games they pump out through kickstarters I'd be more surprised if they finally make one where both the rulebook and the game mechanically feel perfectly streamlined. That said.. it is something they should definitely work on, it's arguably the worst part of their games and especially the rulebooks could easily be fixed by just hiring somepeople who are good at writing/designing them. But considering how in my gaming group it's usually me reading the rulebook, figuring out how things work and then explaining it, I'm not too worried. I managed with LoH, which has quite a few mistakes in it's rulebook.

[@daodasbrot4817]

Thx, a good review and again I have to adjust my thought on your channel. Great. But i still don't know If I should be happy or not about me getting this game. 1 Question, how does the Horde feel in the cooperative Mode? My main Reason to get the Game. Does it get better there?

[@BoardGameCo]

Taking out the horde feels a drop more thematic in co-op, because you don't have any of the situational stuff where sometimes the player will just abandon it

[@zzzxxa]

Front part of the game of gathering advisors/ resources... looks like Architect of the westkingdom for me... LoL...

[@HUN450HUN]

go huns go !!!!!!

[@krisztianmohai5583]

You should remove the wrapping of iwari. It's very reflective, the scene would look better! ;)

[@BoardGameCo]

Done!

[@seansmith2650]

Based on the problems from etherfield and this game. Awakened realms really lacks polish in their rulebook and their games. They have great ideas for mechanics but can never cleanly fit it all together. Reason why I ended up not backing iss and will be staying away from their future games.

[@petergross7235]

Couldn't agree more.

[@johnpanagos5835]

So true

[@marcinczyzewski5021]

As I know for ISS Vanguard Aweken Realms hired very experienced author so it shouldn't be an issue. I late pledged this game and looking forward for finally get into my hands. Things look promising after prototype v2

[@MaVarcon]

Just wanted to clarify that there isn't really much of an all-or-nothing in the sense of coin-flip, it is pretty much completely predictable who is going to get it and it's 100% based on player-decisions. So no real 'fighting' over it, just assess the situation and act accordingly. Apart from that I agree with a lot of the review, especially the nitpicks you bring up at the start which are pretty much inexcusable for a company of this size and experience imo.

[@MaVarcon]

Oh, and I didn't mind the Reed-clan at all, imo it's not an actual ai, it's a vehicle for the players to leverage advantages off.

[@Berndr]

why not introduce a house rule to give a dishonor token to the player who does not hold to an agreement or abandon walls for example ... for example my group literally redesigned rules for Euthia .. because combat and some of the gameplay sucked making the game unnecessary and tedious and long and a total snooze fest for the 4th player waiting for his turn to come! based on your Fantastic review, I just ordered my copy on Ebay , and sadly none was selling black powder expansion :( ... curious what's your favorite Awaken realms game ... thanks

[@cartergreen2309]

I didn't back this game because I want to hear reviews from awaken realms games first because of all the issues you mentioned. I'm interested but it sounds like a pass. Unfortunately for me I disagree with you that all those problems don't make the game not good/fun. They do to me and awaken realms is slowly losing me because they aren't fixing all their problems. It's sad too because if you can somehow manage to get their stuff figured out right they tend to be pretty good but I have too many games coming in to my collection to waste on games that are sloppy. I hope they get it straightened out. Once they do I'm back in. I like their ideas

[@blaschbenn]

I backed this game, but then cancelled the pledge after receiving Tainted Grail and Etherfields. I will no longer be supporting Awaken Realms until they have published at least two games in a row that have accessible and more streamlined gameplay. Unfortunately, as much as I love their art and concepts, the games aren't working for me and are typically too difficult to get to the table, learn and re-engage with. I think that a lot of issues with sloppy QA in relation to both rules and mechanics simply shouldn't be happening, especially after publishing the number of games they have.

[@marcinczyzewski5021]

@@blaschbenn This War Of Mine:TBG from Awaken Realms is easy in rules and mechanics and accessible game imo. It''s easy for house rules and has quiet streamlined gameplay. It has only much different problem, the theme is brutal, sad, depressive and level of difficulty is hard. This is game not for everyone.

[@pawnstorminreno]

I love the theme and some of the minis are incredible but I'm just not sure I'd enjoy this. Odd that this is a 4 for you with so many complaints.

[@BoardGameCo]

If anything this drifts more towards a 5. I think you're mixing up what I didn't like, which was minimal, vs the complaints about small and stupid things that shouldn't have been an issue. Those are small and stupid but barely detract from the experience. Rulebook issues don't stop the game from being good. A board that's too large is annoying...but doesn't weigh up against an amazing tableau building experience.

[@Bloodstoner]

This is a 2/5 for me and my group. We literally quit halfway through because this is ultimately a pretty straightforward worker placement game that gets bogged down in minutiae and overly complicated structure. We were all annoyed with it after the first two rounds and all of the other players wanted to quit but I said "nah, let's give it a real chance". After the third round I said "no, let's pack this up and play something fun". To be clear, this isn't a bad game at all. But even if you eliminated all the of the rule/pacing friction it would just be an okay game. Of the worker placement games with a communal threat to fend off that I have played (Champions of Midgard, Lowlands, and Troyes) it is the least interesting and its BY FAR the most annoying. It's too bad because the art and presentation are quality. If someone had trimmed this down and tightened it up it could have been something special. As it stands it was a total mess for us.

[@chancebaker6042]

I have never had a problem with there rulebook if you read the whole thing every is there and stuff that is not is self explanatory.

[@magnusjakobsson7424]

Thanks for the review, not touching this! 😅

[@hanseathl]

Thanks for the great review. I read in another comment that you are planning to build your main job around this channel. For my taste a strong suggestion would be to slow down your talking speed. I struggled a number of times to keep up - in particular when you swallowed ends of words and sentences. Maybe an issue of particular taste but it was at least partly annoying to me.

[@LeeroyPorkins]

Needs more Matt Damon 😜🤣

[@BoardGameCo]

All board games do.

[@nakago7]

is this channel is your job?

[@BoardGameCo]

Hopefully soon, working to get there.

[@BratatataRoel]

@@BoardGameCo how about funding that with some 'Alex' promo's for some AR games?

[@petergross7235]

AR makes the worst rule books. And the graphic design needs to be as important as the art. Sloppy, they didn't have to happen, all true statements. Another AR prototype released as a final product. Maybe in future editions the rules and board will get better. Alex, this was a great review...but still don't know if it's really worth it. There are a lot of great worker placement and co-op games for less money. This one seems like a incomplete good game, and good isn't good enough to earn a spot on my shelves.

[@forouza1]

I’m kind of having a hard time seeing how you gave this game a four out of five based on so much that you did not like in this game. Seems from reading all your critique and comments this is leaning more towards a three out of five game. I guess that’s just my perception. Feels like a little bit of a softball review.

[@BoardGameCo]

Hardly, if anything this drifts more towards a 5. I think you're mixing up what I didn't like, which was minimal, vs the complaints about small and stupid things that shouldn't have been an issue. Those are small and stupid but barely detract from the experience.

[@forouza1]

@@BoardGameCo oh wow, I guess I interpreted your video differently (I admit I listened to the audio as opposed to watching so maybe more was conveyed than my ears heard). Thanks for the review.

[@TheErnieforss]

I havent play the edge: downfall because of that rule book

[@BoardGameCo]

I actually thought that was one of their better ones :)

[@TheErnieforss]

Oh no, then I'm in trouble. Lol.

[@stevensum2011]

The game play look bland.