The 4 Squares Review - Lost Ruins of Arnak: Expedition Leaders

The Dice Tower takes a look at Lost Ruins of Arnak: Expedition Leaders!
Intro 0:00
Overview 1:07
Final Thoughts 6:55
Scores 21:32
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[@typerk2388]

Impressed that Wendy was able to add meaningful insight to a discussion about an expansion for a base game she had not previously played. Hat's off to her.

[@torelaursen4139]

I have played it with and without many times. Despite what they say in the video. This is an absolute must have expansion. I rate the expansion 10/10 and the base game 8/10, bringing the combined experience to a 9/10. Its absolutely wonderful. Btw. I have seen the baronesse destroy the 100 point barrier :-)

[@eVanDiesel]

SAME!!!

[@cobtyrannon2479]

I have played it once, so maybe you can give me some insight. Is, what they are saying about the Research track right. Can you not win if someone is doing the track and you don't force it as well?

[@jenniferhaar7934]

Looking forward to giving this a try. Seems like it adds more of the good stuff that we would like.

[@Fissi0nChips]

Whenever I hear that music I always expect top see Sam. That's never going to change.

[@tonilittle5480]

I’m one of the ones that did preorder it, and I’m excited for it to get here. We primarily play it 2 player. So what we have done to make it even more satisfying while we wait is we have made a house variant that allows us to draft some of our cards at the beginning, which gave us somewhat of a asymmetrical start instead of waiting until the cards are purchased later on. We just replaced our starter cards with cards that we drafted. We drafted 10 cards total between the two of us, 2 of them being artifact cards.

[@petergallai469]

Yesterday I managed to get my first 90 point game with the Professor, the highest score we ever got in this game. So I would say the new research tracks and characters enables higher scoring potential rather than lowering the said limit. However in this game with so much variables (items, artifacts, discovered sites, idols, guardians [with boons], assistants and research token rewards) the point ranges can highly differ from game to game. We have not even mentioned the indirect player interaction and card draw yet. Therefore I am quite happy to close with 50-55 points in certain games :) but I do not see any shame in getting 46 points by the end either.

[@spike2439]

I love the format of the 4 Squares reviews. Keep up the good work! I'm glad Mike touched on the research track of the base game. I found that hyper focusing on the research track is the winning strategy so everything revolved around getting up the research track as fast as possible. I hope the expansion evens out different strategies more.

[@cjpeach11]

I win more often than not even against people who focus the base games tracks so that seems odd. I do prefer the new research tracks overall as they add a bit of complexity though.

[@magnusjakobsson7424]

This has been debunked over and over...an old myth hard to kill. Sure it may seem like it if you are a new player. I've beaten ppl who have raced up the track many, many times and by huge margin too. If you want a good score you have got to do a bit of everything.

[@GettinJiggly]

We have it all on order from Game Nerdz, can't wait to play it on a live stream

[@zvonk2480]

I chuckled when you referred to the Falconer's token as an eagle token. Turns out, the falconer really does have an eagle and not a falcon. Very nice overview!

[@johnwhitesnake6353]

I’ve been looking forward to this review!

[@richarddavis7013]

Excited for this one!

[@xZuunes]

I have not had the time to play with the expansion that much yet but right now I really really like it. The new cards excites me the most and all the other new things makes this game a 8.5/10 to me. I also had the same experience as Camilla, my scores are signifikant lower than before without the expension.

[@levirichardson7848]

At first I felt like Mike about the research track until I played several times on BGA and watched people stomp me with many different strategies. The track is definitely not a sure thing.

[@StefanLopuszanski]

Really? Never seen that. Seems like rushing assistants and heavy Research track focus is super dominant.

[@levirichardson7848]

@@StefanLopuszanski really. I’ve gotten schooled after maxing out the temple track and getting a few tablets from the top. Mostly because they optimized to a point where they killed several guardians, bought several artifacts and also went way up the track. It’s possible to do multiple paths and climb high vs just focusing on climbing the track. I’m not saying it’s not a viable winning strat but it’s not the only one for sure.

[@StefanLopuszanski]

@@levirichardson7848 : Oh, but they still went up on the track. My point is you have to go up it. Maybe not be the first, but eventually going up it regardless. Never seen anyone win who didn't rush an Assistant and go up the track a decent amount.

[@levirichardson7848]

@@StefanLopuszanski I think it goes without saying that you will go up the track to at least the first assistant regardless of your core strat. I’m just highlighting the fact that if you have a little luck and play well you can go up the track as a byproduct of doing other things well.

[@cartergreen2309]

This seems like it might be enough added for me to pick it up. I played it once and just never saw myself playing it over dune imperium if I was in the mood for this style of game but this looks like it might be enough to get me to get a copy

[@chauveet]

Just picked up Arnak at the Barnes & Noble sale, so a bit of a late reply. I have played and quite enjoyed Imperium, but I can 100% see why I would play this instead of that. Imperium is quite heavy and has a lot of conflict. Arnak just has fewer mechanisms, a shorter play time, and a more approachable theme.

[@cartergreen2309]

@@chauveet well I had played Arnak before just not the expansion (still haven't) and for my group Dune was just better for us and we like the theme more. At this point I won't pick it up because even though I know they are different enough having played them I just would never pick playing this over Dune

[@radiohead988]

Arnak is an amazing 2 player game. Dune is the better game at 3 or more players but it’s pretty miserable with only 2 players

[@DarkChrisHour]

8:10 Anyone that finds this an issue, can fix it easy. Thin rubber sheets (.5 --1mm). We have some we picked up from a Autoshop (Garage). Easy to cut, real thin and large sheets cheap. We use for scythe Module boards, Nemesis, and other tile on board games and dozens more others. Once start using, wil. Find hundreds of purposes. Easy too use, just cut a little bit or even half sized, than is needed, does not even have to be clean cuts as not even seen. Will stop board slide 100%

[@rabidpickle]

Doesn't sound like lav mic audio

[@leecurkeet7654]

Surprised Zee wasn't part of this. Seems like his type of game.

[@voronwecalanon206]

It needed to be harder to get rid of fear.

[@Jeff321]

I know I am in the minority on this one but the base game didn't click with me. It wasn't bad. But I don't get the huge hype either. The deck building was very slow. The worker placement was basic. I focused on taking out monsters but that strategy did not work at all -- the players who focused on moving up the track on the side of the board got way more points. Dune Imperium has a much more interesting combination of these types of mechanisms in my opinion.

[@InvaderFelix]

I had the same experience as you, the deckbuilding didn't give me that oomph, and the worker placement felt non-competitive and sloppy. I also feel much better about Dune: Imperium as well, it's got a more tense interaction loop.

[@joncockayne4625]

Really feel they missed the importance of that increased variability this expansion brings. It's very much one for people who may be on 10+ plays of the base, I got the impression no-one really had that play level.

[@rb4551]

im surprised the ratings are so low considering everyone seems to feel its a must own. played it yesterday and feels like a must have to the game. The red staff is silly but was part of spare cardboard so i assume they just made use of more cardboard because why not instead of having more empty cardboard as part of punchboard. Everything about this is amazing and its easily a 10 as an expansion. Now I dont rate LROA as a 10, but the expansion is a 10 if that makes sense.

[@oviaelectronica]

I think they rate the experience of playing the game with the expansion. If the expansion took the overall experience up to a 10 it makes sense to raise the score, otherwise it would be misleading.

[@typerk2388]

In what world are these low ratings?

[@rb4551]

@@typerk2388 They are not. I guess im just opening the discussion that if something is great and "must have" (all of them want to always play with hero powers, none of them really have much critism) so this sounds like a perfect expansion. So as an expansion, shouldnt that be a 10? Or is the rating based on the core game experience which to me is confusing as they would rate the core game what they would rate it.

[@typerk2388]

Look at it this way. If an expansion makes a game 25% better why would you not always add it in? That doesn't make it a 10. A 10 might make it 75% better. I will never play Raiders of the north sea without both expansions. However I think one is superior to the other. Therefore they can't both be a 10.

[@jonathanklabunde6639]

@@rb4551 I think you couldn't make an expansion for a 5 game and it be a 10 because it was a must include in the '5 game'. As an example.

[@chrisfong8929]

A team is crushing it.

[@chokedbybacklog5433]

Can this expansion be played standalone or does it only work with the base game?

[@korologosmichael0]

Need the base game

[@mikesied]

Hmm. The two basic players are kinda Sameish, but there are some pretty interesting asymmetry in these characters.

[@CresentSoul]

Struggling a bit to understand what Camilla is saying. Is she saying the new cards give less ability to exile cards?

[@typerk2388]

I was confused as well.

[@mike8595]

Sounds like it but I wonder if she just had a playthrough or two where they just didn't come up

[@Jemethyy]

That the new cards don't offer much exiling ability and therefore prevent the ones that do from showing up as much.

[@tehbige73]

basically yeah. It sounds like she has played enough of the game to where she could consistently get her deck really thinned out and remove all the fear cards but that she struggled to do that with the added expansion cards. This made her feel that the cards allowing her to thin her deck are now harder to come by.

[@CresentSoul]

@@mike8595 but she also kept saying fear cards which was even more of a specific issue. I wonder if she played as the character that uses fear cards. 🤔

[@Thisslapsmydude]

What happened to the OG 4 squares ?

[@DTChrisYi]

There's more reviewers in the office now, and not every person plays everything, so we get to pick a different four folks depending on the game.

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

And, you get an 8, and you get an 8...

[@charlez2729]

Hey @TheDiceTower, when are you guys doing Return to Dark Tower review? 4 Square review?

[@user-mf1cu3tn7s]

To be honest with all due respect to the dice tower. I just felt this group hasn’t played enough to give a good review. I guess because the base game itself isn’t very popular among the dice tower…

[@CK-mi3sd]

Does the expansion make more player interaction? With only the base game there is a lack of player interaction, which I really dislike.

[@ACosmonaut]

It's no Rise of Ix.

[@12345678abracadabra]

ugh

[@cjpeach11]

Its much better :) But then again Arnak is better than Dune so that shouldn't shock anyone.

[@Gnocken_]

@@cjpeach11 This comes as a surprise to me. I played both once and enjoyed Dune Imperium more. Is Arnak better after more plays?

[@cjpeach11]

@@Gnocken_ From a single play Arnak is leagues above dune. The deck building and worker placement in dune both looks and feels dull. That's not great for a deck building worker placement game. The asymmetrical powers and decks here in the expansion put this game at least 2 above Dune point wise. Anyone saying it felt samey wither hates worker placement/deck building or hasn't actually played it as the variety of components and setups in Arnak eclipse Dune so much it's an embarrassment.

[@cartergreen2309]

I played lost ruins once and definitely agree that dune is far better but this expansion looks like it adds enough that I might get my own copy. I do agree though that dune is a much better game

[@aarondowning5791]

Mike, that makes zero sense.

[@PatrickBrophy]

Why does the Falconer control an eagle and not a falcon. Sense, this makes none.

[@KidSperber]

Because falconer means that someone is hunting with trained birds of prey. This includes Hawks and eagles.

[@PatrickBrophy]

@@KidSperber It wasn’t a question.

[@johns6177]

thing I don't like about asymmetrical games, is you can simply look up which leader is the best and that taints the game for me .

[@BestCheckedIn]

That simple huh ?

[@Cameronwatt]

makes your win against grandma even more sweet when you trample her with a tier F character.

[@cjpeach11]

None of these are better. Their complexity ranges but each is wildly different and balanced.

[@JonnyLuscious]

I don't necessarily see that as a problem... Of course there's always the possibility that they get the balance right and the asymmetry doesn't give an advantage, but even if they don't all balance out you can always use it as a handicap mechanism for players of different skill levels.

[@Duxa_]

you are assuming that there is a better character. In a good game they would be all well balanced.

[@nshaw1299]

Time to replace 'the 4 squares' name :-) which was an amazing name for the quarantine days, which I really hope are behind us... The quartet? Four in a row/connect four? D4 review? I donno... You guys ain't squares no more :-)

[@chrismyers9897]

What nonsense are you talking..? Its called 4 squares because they're squares.

[@treyeck8705]

Nah dude. The format is perfect the way it is. There is always a history to names. The Pittsburgh Steelers are named so because it used to be a steel producing town. It really isn't any more but I would be really upset if they changed the name to the Pittsburgh Medicals.