Tiny Towns Review - Give Me That Hammer!!

[@danihowe10]

When you play with the cards, you draw two, and then players get a choice of their own. It's not 100% random draws every turn.

[@edwinas4422]

I love tiny towns. Most of my plays are solo (that's where the resource deck comes in. I personally I like to play: I pick one, then 2 from the deck, etc.) I have been tempted by fortune, but keep bringing new games home instead 🙄

[@MerrillWhiteKalEl]

I have never played it with the cards, glad to know I made the right choice. Our family loves playing this game and it does scale ok and the games are never terribly long. I also enjoy the fortune expansion.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Yeah definitely the right choice!

[@winstonhammonds3314]

I'm not sure if it's in the rulebook, but I was taught that each player is dealt two monument cards and must choose one to keep. That's the way that I play.

[@nfttiger1]

Sooper dooper bro. I 💕 to watch your channel.A best way of explanation it's truly amazing 😍

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Thanks and welcome!

[@CB-yh3db]

I’m so late on this review but why didn’t you say “Tiny Towns: It’s Hammer Time”? C’mon!! That would have been so much better than “Gimme dat hammer”. Lol. Great review though. 😁

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Lol because everyone else has done it to the point of cornyness 🤣 my quote represents the frustration I have when it gets to my turn due to others constantly picking bad materials 😅

[@donnakeferlis1649]

Your enthusiasm for Tiny Towns makes me want to revisit it. Maybe I overlooked its depth first go round. I never got to the solo variant, but you say it's a beat your own score and I rather like that. So I know what I'm pulling off the shelf this weekend 😃 Thanks for an awesome video as usual. Even though our tastes don't always align, you're always very informative.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Ha ha thanks very much, hope you enjoy!

[@jamielehn6926]

I thought the cards were for the solo mode only

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Nope, it's multiplayer also.

[@lesleyclixby7420]

This is so easy to play , but hard to do well at

[@bartekrokicki2731]

The cards are only for solo play as far as I know... that was a super awkward way of showing this amazing game.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I think it's a variant for standard play as well, at least in my English edition.

[@bartekrokicki2731]

@@TheBrokenMeeple wow, that really shows the game in a different light without other players trying to mess up your plans giving you just the resources you don't need at the moment... :)

[@njshaw2]

I've only played this once, and was taught it with the Master Builder mode; didn't realise there was even another mode! And even with the Master Builder mode, I still found the game very 'meh'. A lot of other games I'd prefer to play for that game weight.

[@ozza000]

Fort Ironweed is honestly one of the worst monuments in the game. Probably only The Starloom is worse in 4+ player games (The Starloom becomes much better in 2-3 player games). It's simply not worth giving up being the master builder for the rest of the game for 7VP, you'd want to build it as late as possible, but its layout and resources make it hard to build ultra late. Compare it to one of the best monuments like Shrine of the Elder Tree, and it's embarrassingly bad. I think the designer said in hindsight Fort Ironweed should be worth like 9VP. As for expansions, I only own Fortune, I quite like it tbh, new buildings are always good for variety, and I think the coin mechanic is actually pretty good. Like most with this game though, it doesn't actually come out for play that often. I think one thing with it is it's a gateway game that kind of wants you to be all playing your first game, or all have a bit of experience. Nearly everyone I've seen play this game, including myself first game you place something early which you quickly realise completely screws you over for the rest of the game, that can make it not fun if you are up against players who know what they're doing.

[@pamd9834]

I thought the resource cards are only supposed to be used for the solo game.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Shows it as a normal variant in the rulebook.

[@kylemeighan1143]

The master builder adds the only element of any type of player interaction. As you mentioned you are deciding not only what you need but what the other players do NOT need. Playing with the cards may as well be a lackluster solo game where other people are at the table playing the same lackluster solo game and you can compare your scores at the end. In other words, the epitome of a multiplayer solitaire game. Even with the master builder is is still mostly multiplayer solitaire but at least there is that single element of player interaction. Overall not my favorite game by any means, but a nice review.

[@KristieMJM]

I played this for the first time with my friend this past weekend. We had fun, but we didn’t use the monuments for the 3 games we played.

[@lucasmoraopereira8950]

Great video! Which Takenoko variant?

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

If you look in the rulebook, there are two official variants in the rules.

[@paulhamrick3943]

I have not had the good fortune to play this as much as I would like, but when it comes to sorta-multiplayer solitaire pattern building games, I think this might be my favorite one. I think it's better than Cascadia. The fact that the patterns that you build "collapse" into a single tile produces a more strong sense of a "time dimension" being part of the game. As you've said, it's frustrating, but in a good way. I should add, I like the random resource deck. What you can do is play with the.... I think it's called the "cavern rule", where if the event/resource deck says "stone" but you don't want to place that stone right at the moment, you have the option of setting that stone aside and saving it to possibly use it later. The cavern rule allows you to do that twice.

[@TheAmazingYeti]

That is unfortunate that they decided to demo it that way. I honestly didn't even know that variant existed. I do not think I would've ever wanted to play it again either! Solid review.

[@boardgamesfortwo]

Great video! I’ve been seeing Tiny Towns around the community a lot lately…might need to pick this one up! It looks like a good one. Really enjoying your content!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Thank you for watching, appreciate it! :-)

[@timknauer8906]

Never looked into this one before 🤔 special awareness puzzles are so appealing though and I like that every player can have a different monument which might influence their strategy

[@bookaddict777]

I never knew that there was another variant other than the Master Hammer one, which is the only way I have ever played the game. I agree that the game is 'interesting.' Thanks for the review, Luke.

[@stephengroves8189]

The Master builder choosing the resource is the standard way of playing the game. The alternative "Town Hall" rules, using the resource deck, are offered later in the rulebook. This is probably to take the meanness out of the game. From my perspective, and the reviewers it seems, using the "Town Hall" rules takes the challenge out of the game and leaves it an empty experience. YMMV

[@XCM666]

Interesting, in my version of the game (German) it's the other way around: main game is explained using the deck and the master builder rule is listed as variant.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Yes, Depending which edition you have, it's one way or the other.

[@chrisb.8758]

I’ve actually found a good “unofficial” variant for low player counts is to combine the random variant (which sucks on its own) with the master builder. If I’m playing 2P it would be player A picks one, player B picks one, then the random deck picks one. It felt like we had a little *too* much control at 2P and this was a good way to make it trickier by basically adding a fake 3rd player. But going fully with the deck of cards sucks. No argument there. Just might be a reason to not throw them away right off the bat.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Tiny Towns does have that player scaling issue - 3-4 was fine but other counts caused issues.

[@Andrew.Griffin]

I only ever use the cards to teach new players the names of the resources.

[@wsiegel9539]

I love to break out this game with new gamers as an intro game as well as with real thinky gamers that is more cut throat. I also never use the cards, I agree it is to random. Spot on! Burn them! I haven't played with the expansion, but would love a pack of new interesting buildings. Also happy to see you are not stuck in your opinion base on a first ( possibly bad ) experience. Question: Now will you do the Tag Challenge from AllAboard Gamer.. Branden? 😁

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Always willing to give a second chance! :D

[@markusbiewer2756]

In the German Pegasus Version, the hammer is the variant and using the cards is the default mode of play. I assume they made this choice to make it beginner friendly, the pros can use the variant. My wife didn't like the cards version, so we will try the hammer version next.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

The Germans got it wrong! Master Builder always!

[@Original_Maverick]

I feel bad saying this but I always avoided this one because I thought it was part of the "Tiny Epic" line 😅 Thanks for the review, Luke!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Ha ha unrelated!!

[@kevindelord]

I like the game but don’t love it enough to buy the expansions (though I heard good stuff about those!). I also added the stickers on the house meeples, the game is now gorgeous!!!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Fortune is the only expansion I've heard anything good about. No-one talks of Villagers.

[@dionisisstefanitsis6497]

It's nice that you revisited an older game. Do you prefer this or cascadia? And why?

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Cascadia for sure - that one is more portable, more relaxing, looks nicer on the table and has more tighter scoring.

[@arisultanik]

For us, the cards were always strictly for playing solo. It never occurred to us to play with them multiplayer. I’m glad you rediscovered this game, it is a little gem in my opinion. I also like that you decided to review it. I would like to see more reviews from you of older games. Thanks.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Good to know!

[@eightlittlebits]

I think they really stuffed that demo. Master builder the better way to play the game (for < 5-6 players anyway). If you're using the variant with the resource cards you're meant to a) deal 5 cards off face down each time through the deck, so you don't get 3 of everything and you're meant to have two rounds drawing from the deck and then one round where you get to choose any resource. Rinse and repeat, two cards, one free choice. Makes the game much more sane at higher player counts, otherwise with 6 you potentially end up placing 5 cubes you don't really want between your turn/choice.