Tapestry Review - The Broken Meeple

Tapestry is a two-hour game for 1-5 players designed by Jamey Stegmaier.
Create the civilization with the most storied history, starting at the beginning of humankind and reaching into the future. The paths you choose will vary greatly from real-world events or people - your civilization is unique!
In Tapestry, you start from nothing and advance on any of the four advancement tracks (science, technology, exploration, and military) to earn progressively better benefits. You can focus on a specific track or take a more balanced approach. You will also improve your income, build your capital city, leverage your asymmetric abilities, earn victory points, and gain tapestry cards that will tell the story of your civilization.
The most hyped game of 2019. And I'm standing in the middle of the railroad track vs this speeding bullet train to tell you if lives up to the high standards its set itself.
#tapestry
#stonemaier
#lukehector
#brokenmeeple
#dicetower
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Credit to the users of BGG & Scott King for imagery used.
Full credit to TeamFourStar for their amazing DBZ Abridged series for clips used - please support them and the official release!
Credit to MotionArray for Adobe based templates/music

[@Clappincardboard]

Most overrated game of the year imo especially with its price tag.

[@69spagetti]

Well done for calling this game out. Stonemaier, fantastic marketing for an average at best game,

[@BogartFace]

Tapestry was by far the worst disappointment of the year. I had such high expectations for it! But what really baffled me is how some of the really obvious imbalances (Futurists vs Chosen in the same game is a recipe for a sour experience) made past playtesting.

[@monomundo]

Thank you Luke. You are one of the few independent reviewers around here.

[@petergross7235]

Luke you nailed this review. I love the game despite the "issues". A expansion is expected in 2021, maybe it will iron out some of the wrinkles and give those beautiful but super expensive buildings actual meaning.

[@devomunro]

Thanks for the review! Its too bad this game got published. Seems like there's little reason for anyone to bother with buying this one with so many great games available. Everdell seems like its a better tableau/ civ building game than tapestry without it even trying to be that (cause its a worker placement game).

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Wow 3 downvotes and barely even out for 1 hour! It's only a game guys, calm down! :P

[@КирилЦанков-в2з]

Don't feed the trolls, Luke. Thanks for the review - I already bought the game, but it was entertaining still! At this point I'm wondering if keeping the game just for the solo mode makes sense...

[@andresschlageter8240]

One of the negatives was mine and didn't realize until I read your comment. It was an accident. About the game, like three reviews ago I decided I'll pass on this one. But you are wrong with with a "its wonderful world" 😃. Despite the disagreement I really appreciate negative reviews. They make a great service to the community

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

@@andresschlageter8240 made my day! Thanks! 😊

[@Groegselmaschupp]

Just another proof for the marketing abilities of Jamie. The fanboys are doing their job......

[@MisterAbysmul]

Does someone liking a game you do not make them a fan boy? I do not think so. No more than someone disliking a game that you like makes them a hater. Honest reviews like this are a good thing, keep up the good work.

[@JamesI88]

I had a hard time putting how I felt about this game into words but I think you did it. So much of it didnt make any sense to me and felt so disjointed. Really wanted to like it, so much potential.

[@FireFr0ggy]

The unbalance of this game soured my experience. Who wins Tapestry is already determined with choosing your civilization. Whoever gets to be the Futurists is already the forerunner. And the poor sod that gets shackled with Alchemists, they'll definitely be losing.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Or the Entertainers......

[@forsaken667]

@@TheBrokenMeeple so....I won as the Entertainers :) admittedly it was my 2nd time playing and was playing against first timers (but experienced euro gamers). Futurists aside, I don't think they are that much worse off than the other civs. Regarding the Futurists, I will simply not include them in the game due to the person playing them finishing wayyyyyy before the others and has to wait for the game to end. And that is my main negative of the game, it's variable ending for each player. Like the game otherwise and that's saying something coming from a more Ameritrashy gamer :)

[@board_game_brothers9551]

I won a four player game with the Alchemists on my first play of the game. FMA for the win. 🙏🙌

[@thediceodyssey4690]

Great review brother! We had a kind of similar review. I don’t think any game could’ve lived up to the hype this joker got. Loved the ghostbuster and RIKER reference too. Awesome video.

[@claireshillabeer9001]

I really like this game, but agree with some of your negatives. I didn't even think about the fact only 3 tapestry cards are played the entire game (excluding traps) 🙄

[@stevensum2011]

Steinmeier games kind of hit and miss lately.....

[@JayBee10]

You really missed out on an opportunity to interject a “Five is right out!” Monty Python clip here. 😛 Personally, my game group and I like enough here that I’m willing to see what Stonemaier does with this in the future, as they have a fantastic track record of supporting their games. If they can pull a Viticulture and expand the game in a way that addresses some of its core issues, it’ll probably stay on my shelf long-term. For now, I’m content with the puzzle of trying to optimize this as much as possible for points. We’ve also introduced a house rule of draw-two-pick-one for the tapestry card at the very start.

[@petergross7235]

My group adopted a 4 card river instead of the draw two pick one. But I obviously agree with your choice to do so.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Ooooo yes that clip would work nicely on many occasions! 😃 👌👍

[@mkitten13]

I love this game a lot, so I predicted that you would not enjoy it as much, lol. I absolutely see your point about luck, and I definitely am someone who prefer pure strategy and few as possible luck elements in games, but I guess this game has the type of luck elements that I mind less or something, because it honestly doesn't bother me that much. Like, with the conquer dice - for most of the game you are far more likely to choose the bonus no matter what amount of points are rolled since an extra resource or some other printed bonus is going to be far more useful for your overall "engine" (for lack of a better word), so the point difference of the late-game rolls aren't likely to make much of a difference in the grand scale, it's just a nice little bonus. And with the science die, since it's pretty much optional, and only really relevant a couple of times per player, it doesn't bother me. It ends up becoming a strategic choice of choosing to advance to a die roll space when you are positioned in a way where you don't mind what the roll is as the next spots are either equally skippable (for the early rolls where you don't get the action) or equally lucrative (for when the roll also gives you the action). With the tapestry cards, yes, I absolutely see your point. But again, it doesn't bother me because I see them more like opportunities or challenges. Like, how can I make the most out of this ability or choose the most opportune time to play this bonus? I get that this will be off-putting to some, but for me, it was just fun. And it's also fun to laugh about what an odd-ball kind of civilisation you have ended up building up in the end. It's definitely not for the theme-lovers, but for someone like me, who's all about the mechanism, it just hits the spot :) I'm engaged from start to finish, and win or lose by however large or small margin, all I care about is feeling I achieved something. Like my last game, I ended up with 3 civ abilites. I didn't win, but I honestly didn't care because that was just so much fun to achieve.

[@MisterAbysmul]

I too love this game win or lose, usually lose. I do just love seeing where my choices take me each time we play.

[@willbeplayin]

This was one of the biggest flops of the year. It's not a good game. At all.

[@MisterAbysmul]

We enjoy the luck in the game. We find the replay ability so high it’s wonderful. We’re also very fond of multiplayer solitaire leaning games. This is a huge hit with us and enjoy the challenge of working with the random elements to maximize our civs. Good review, you explained your take on the game very well.

[@koffiegast]

I feel this game is much like other games of Jamey Stegmaier: the cards are very varied in whether you can use them and how many points they give, and you get cards rarely. The tapestry cards (and its namesake) are just a few cards, and they swing A LOT. "Yes you can attack one place again" vs. "Take a building of your choosing of any path" immediately getting bonuses & new points & while cockblocking someone who was on the track to get that building. It feels like a more complicated snakes and ladders.

[@piotrch.3081]

I won with the Entertainers, but to be 100% fair it was the first game ever for our group (which is more competitive oriented, definitely gamers not casuals). As for the merit i do indeed think its not balanced enough, i dislike especially the lazy balancing which just gives you plus X amount of points at the beginning of the game (because obviously your civ's ability just sucks)

[@Brickbarian]

It was an ambitious project to recreate an open ended civilization building experience. As a solo game, the negatives of unbalanced civilizations are moot. To his credit, Jamie acknowledged the imbalance issues and I am sure they will be officially fixed in the expansion. I wouldn't give up on this game. AN expansion or a revised edition could really make this game amazing.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

It's still not a thematic civ though which is what I really wanted. The mad swings of luck doesn't help it either.

[@andreasmalits395]

Meh ... I don't care about those "Civ" games anyomore. I played a ton of them when i was younger but in the recent years the conept of civilization bonuses or similiar things is not what i want. Alien species with different traits...I'm in but if all are the same species the things they are good at should be a result of what happened during the game not a starting condition. If you're not starting from scratch let me draw some random cards with events that happened in the past, starting area bonuses or something similar. This gives you much more flavor. Viticulture with the mama and papa cards does a better job at this than most "civ builders". And ... most important. Make improvements or changes to civilizations really really important and not just bigger numbers for doing the same stuff.

[@marcusleja7133]

Wingspan and Tapestry: the most overrated games of 2019. At least Age of Steam received a cool new Deluxe Edition this year.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Well I really liked Wingspan! 😄 So as much as I agree it was over hyped, it at least was worth the purchase!

[@CarlosRodriguez-ez3ls]

Great components/artwork never makes up for bad/unbalanced gameplay. SM must not have playtested this game nearly enough. Thanks Luke!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Couldn't agree more!

[@seanmorgan2257]

I had been thinking about this game but after your review Luke and what some others have commented I wont bother, this sounds like it should be a great game but they missed

[@daninanestean]

Thanks for the review!

[@windyhillbomber]

Well if you weren’t getting many review copies from Stonemeier in the past....

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

To be honest, they only deal with US and specific people anyway so I rely on Asmodee Uk. But the truth has to still be told! 😄 Also a good publisher has to look past opinions which don't shower every game they make with love.

[@windyhillbomber]

The Broken Meeple totally applaud your honesty and actually appreciate good or bad reviews based on the reviewer purchasing the product directly. Too may gaming channels could benefit from such an approach.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

@@windyhillbomber Even with review copies the opinions would stay objective. The best publishers I deal with appreciate honest criticism.

[@zorbageek8432]

Agree there is a good game in Tapestry somewhere, just not as it was released and I have zero faith in Jamies balancing fix. He's had similar issues in Viticulture and Scythe though not to this extend other than Fenris which was a terrible campaign game! I have only played 2 times and both games were clearly swingy, I had a crap civilisation (I think the one you mention in this video) and won still by some margin because of my Tapestry cards being good vs my opponents. Same with my first game which by 2nd Era I had 3 civilsations! Game is completely broken and has cemented to me that Stonmaeir needs another developer to help him tighten his games.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

The fixes made little difference. Some of the worst factions remained that way.

[@zorbageek8432]

The sheer fact I could have ended the game with 4 civilisations and even a fifth if I wanted (although the last one would have been pointless unless it was the futurists which I had already pulled) tells me the game is massively broken. If this had even been play tested a couple of times, I cannot imagine the play testers where not saying this to Jamie, so its a real concern, how the game ended up the way it did, and maybe he had zero people play test it. But even then, how could he himself not see the massive imbalances between Civs, Tapestry cards? Trap cards In my opinion shouldn't exist, they should have been tokens you pull on maybe the other tracks they you keep hidden and flip when conquered. Then of course there are those who claim its not that imbalanced. To these idiots I will happily put up $10000 they can put up half and I will chose there Civilisation and Tapestry cards and my own in the game, and we will see how much of a difference it makes! There is a post on BGG where someone did this and was able to score 600+ points!