Which rulebook have you read recently and how was it?
Exactly as the title says! Plus, what tends to immediately tip you off that it'll be a good or bad rulebook?
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theDL Moderator Level 112 months ago
Haha, I'm too weak for that. I have to play with the components and read through the rulebook, at least if it's a game I'm super excited about.
Courageous Bob 12 months ago
Can't wait to hear how this dune game plays, I am 90% certain someone at my games club will end up getting it so I'll play it eventually. But I am very intrigued right now!
theDL Moderator Level 112 months ago
I loved it and want to play it again soon. Played at 3 players, and the final score was 12-11-11. Such a tight game! Some very cool moments and satisfying turns, lots of interesting and agonizing decisions. With the caveat that I've only played once, I highly recommend it!
theDL Moderator Level 112 months ago
No plans to do so at the moment. It kinda depends on whether or not my wife wants to try the game, which, considering the number of new games we've gotten recently, is not likely to happen in the near future. She does know how much I enjoyed it, though, so maybe that will pique her interest eventually.
A solo game would be more likely, I think.
Marshwiggle92 Moderator Level 112 months ago
I really want to hear more reports on the solo experience. So, if you do play it solo, let us know how it is as a solo experience.
Courageous Bob 12 months ago
Ah, wonderful! Did you have a particular moment or mechanic that really stood out for you?
theDL Moderator Level 112 months ago
I love the decisions of which cards to use for their abilities and which cards to use in the "reveal turns." Especially later in the game, the decision on how to use each card you drew is super tough and can really affect the outcomes. I also love that there's a new conflict each round, and the decisions about when to commit to a battle, or how many troops to commit because you're not sure how many your opponents will commit, or if on their reveal turn they will add 8 more combat strength like my friend did one round, haha.
Courageous Bob 12 months ago
That does sound like a good amount of tension, and something that can lead to triumph or agonising regret as you realise your mis-steps. How interactive is it between all the players?
theDL Moderator Level 112 months ago
So there's the normal indirect interactions of worker placement and of deck building, where you take something that someone else wants. The game is really elevated by the conflicts every round. There's pretty much no way to compete for first place in the combat every round, so you have to decide when you want to make the push and fight for the spoils of that battle, and it's not always easy to gauge how much strength the other players are holding or what their plans are.
TK2187 12 months ago
I recently remember struggling somewhat with #Fury of Dracula (Third and Fourth Editions)'s. Most of it is fairly straightforward, but for some reason we had a really hard time figuring out how fighting works and that really slowed down the game. And also it was hard to reference for things like "does the player automatically see if there's a Dracula card in his city or does he have to search?" We have yet to break this game out again, even though we were really looking forward it for a long time. So I hope that one bad experience didn't kill it.
I remember #Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game also being particularly terrible. But that was a long time ago.
slapsgiving14 Supporter12 months ago
You know, I've never been a big rule book reader, (I find teaching videos to be much easier to follow), but I am an avid rule book referencer, especially the first few plays of a game. With that in mind we did a lot of rule book referencing during our#Pax Pamir (Second Edition) game a couple weeks ago. (I really need to get to my first impressions post).
philryuh Owner12 months ago
Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on Pax Pamir :)
And it was the same for me too when I first soloed it. Needed to keep on referencing the rulebook, but I actually had fun with that process too. Did your group handle that part well?
slapsgiving14 Supporter12 months ago
I yeah, no problem with going back to the book every once in a while. We only had 3 players which I think was ideal for a first game especially since we had to reference the book. I think 5 would have taken too long but hope to get 4 - 5 in next time.
TK2187 12 months ago
I also usually start with a teaching video first and then go back and re-read the rulebook to make sure I didn't miss anything. I find it usually helps clarify things if I can see everything first.
WadeB1977 Moderator Level 112 months ago
Currently working through the rules for #The Gallerist. From what I can tell it seems very nicely laid out and I am generally enjoying the readthrough and picking up on most of the pieces. He seems to refer back to connecting rules at just the right time.
I recently pulled out the rules for #The 7th Continent and reread them as well to refresh my memory and potentially start playing again.
#Brass: Birmingham is next up on the list after I've played through #The Gallerist.
philryuh Owner12 months ago
I've been checking out all of the different rulebooks mentioned on this thread, and #The Gallerist has looked the best so far! Great visuals and organization. Makes me realize again a couple of things that #Obsession's rulebook could have benefitted from.
I need to go through #Brass: Birmingham's rulebook soon too.
WadeB1977 Moderator Level 112 months ago
I have to say that #Brass: Birmingham has a fairly short rulebook for a decently complex game. Reminds me a bit of the #Tapestry rules. I haven't had a chance to play through the game yet and try and apply those rules but I am shocked at their brevity.
That being said I did get in one play of #The Gallerist with Becky and enjoyed it. I think she generally liked it but she also doesn't like learning games as much as knowing how to play and just enjoying the game. I very much want to play again and certainly try to the solo experince and see how that goes. I thought the endgame triggers happened faster than I thought they would.
philryuh Owner12 months ago
Well that's good to hear, Tapestry's rulebook was so easy to go through! The only thing that was a bit of a bummer was going through the rulebook and then needing to go through a whole another set of rules for the automa haha
WadeB1977 Moderator Level 112 months ago
I like that #The Gallerist and #Obsession have such easy solitaire options for play. Makes getting the solo version to the table so much easier.
lanista Supporter12 months ago
I read #Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar, ponderous tome with a higher complexity than I'm accustomed to but it offers a few different resources (aids) that make it easier to digest and reference back. Had a short learning seassion with my dad on that one. Just before that, I read #Terraforming Mars and it was pretty straight forward. I thought I fudge a rule about placing ocean tiles (before heating 0 C temp) but it turned out I didn't.
Marshwiggle92 Moderator Level 112 months ago
#Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar is a game I have wanted to play for a long time. And, truly, the GMT rulebooks I have perused, do seem more complex than what I have generally been accustomed to...LOL, but my question is, how was the "learning experience?" Do you think this will be a game you will end up liking?
lanista Supporter12 months ago
Oh I'll definetly end up liking the game, I'm a history buff and the history theme is obviously super strong here. The fact that each faction has differing victory conditions (even allies) , abilities and set up is awesome. I had a particularly hard time figuring out battle out comes on that first playthrough but I really want to play again. We only had about 2.5 hours of setup/play so it wasnt enough but I got a preview of how the game plays out.
theDL Moderator Level 112 months ago
I just re-read through the rulebook for #Dune: Imperium in preparation for playing it today. Having not played yet, I can't truly comment on how good it is, but I think it's a very good rulebook. It explains things very clearly and times examples all the way through.
#Inis - this rulebook was good, but I think not quite as good as D:I. We played a kind of learning game and just learned as we went along and didn't have too much trouble. The only thing we were looking for and couldn't find was how new tiles get added to the game, but we discovered that it's via a specific action card. I feel that could've been in the rulebook just for extra clarity, but it's not a big issue. I suppose they could've gone the extra mile and included a page that details all of the green action cards, but they're pretty self-explanatory, for the most part, so, again, not a big deal.