Latest / Pick Up and Deliver / My Top 50 … by Art (part 3)

Transcript

My Top 50 … by Art (part 3) · Pick Up and Deliver

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to you. Pick Up and Deliver it the podcast
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: where I pick up my audio recorder as I step
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: out for a walk and deliver an episode to you
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: while I stroll around. I'm Brendan Riley. Well, good afternoon, listeners.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: It's a lovely day here in suburban Chicago. The sun
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: is out. I am on my second episode of the day.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I recorded one episode already, the last one you listen to, probably,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and now I'm recording another. This is the next in
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: my series of episodes in which I talk about my
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: top fifty games of all time. In an effort to
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: not be too repetitive with the kind of content that
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: we hear on the podcast week by week, I've decided
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: not to reveal them in numerical order of my top fifty,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: but instead to reveal them in the order in which
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I appreciate the art in the games. Thanks again to
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Rob for that idea. If you'd like to participate as well.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: The board game Geek forum for pick Up and Deliver,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: which is guild number three two sixty nine, features a
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: thread where myself and other members of the pick Up
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and Deliver audience have been talking about our top fifty
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: games and some folks are revealing them in unusual ways
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: beyond what I've done with art, which I think makes
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: it even more amusing. I hope you'll consider joining us
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: over there. So in this next episode, I'm going to
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: talk about games arranged by art numbers forty through thirty six.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: This is my third episode of the Top fifty, and
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: there will be I guess seven more after this to
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: get us up to the end of the road. So
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: let's jump in my number forty game. I think you're
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: gonna see a pattern here. Is not too dissimilar from
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: my number forty one game and my number forty three game.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: It is another Vladimir Suki game where I think the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: art is fine but the game is great. Now, this
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: is the third game from Vladimir Suhi that I've put
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: into my Top fifty, so it must tell you that
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: he really does something for me as a designer. And
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: this is Paulsar twenty eight forty nine. I have Paulsar
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: twenty eight, forty nine and number twenty on the Top
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: fifty lists, so it's nice and high up there. Obviously,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I like the art a little bit better than the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: art of the previous two games. Evacuation and Proga can
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: put regne and I can't really say why. I mean,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the board is nice. I guess I really like the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: graphic design in this one. I think that the feel
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: of the game is really neat. It's a circular board,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: which is cool and weird. I like the kind of
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: abstract sci fi cover on the front of the game,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: even though it's less visually distinct in terms of what
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: it's showing us than something like Praga or Evacuation less.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I really like the way that the art and I
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: really like the way that the art and Pulsar looks,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: and that puts it slightly ahead of those other two
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: games I mentioned. In terms of its position on the list,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I have it at number twenty, which is pretty high. This, again,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: like Evacuation, is a game I need to play more.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: But each time I do play it, I find it
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: incredibly compelling, and I really like the different sets of
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: mechanisms that come into play as you work on it.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: More importantly, the action selection criteria, the dice selection mechanism,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: which if you haven't played the game, the way it
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: works is, as a group, you roll a pool of
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: dice and those go on to a array based on value,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: and then this little divider lands where the median die
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: is or if the if the median die, or it
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: lands between them if the median space is in between
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: the two dice, And when you pick the dice you
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: go up or down on these different tracks that determine
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: bonuses and other things about how you are navigating the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: star system, and the dice you take also do clever things.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: I really like the graphic design of a bunch of
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the different pieces the satellites provide a really are the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: transmitters I guess they're called, provide a really interesting graphical
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: representation of a game implement and just overall I like
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the look and feel of this game quite a bit,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: even if it is less directly representative than something like
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Progact could put. Regne As a game, Paulsar is incredible,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: And this might be a game where I've played enough
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: that I have a good sense of what's there, but
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I haven't played enough that it feels samy yet, and
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: so it's still climbing in my estimation, which means that
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: it is at number twenty right now. That said, in
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two it was not on my list at all,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: so I guess my feelings about it oscillate like a
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: pulsar because before that, in twenty nineteen, it was my
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: number eleven, So it went from being number eleven to
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: not on my top fifty at all to back to
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: number twenty. So yeah, I'm definitely gonna have to make
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: sure to get that played sometime again soon because it's
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: a really interesting and compelling game and it deserves more
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: attention from me. That's Pulsar eight forty nine, my number
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: twenty on my top fifty, and my number forty on
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: my top fifty by Art. Thirty nine on my Top
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: fifty by art is aoh eighteen hundred. This is a
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Martin Wallace game. Again. This is landing here because it's
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: serviceable but not compelling. I love the cover art on
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: this game, except that it doesn't do anything to convey
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I guess it does a little bit if you look
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: closely at some of the details. The technology isn't exactly
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: matching our world. It doesn't convey that it is an
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: alternate history where colonialism works in a slightly different way.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: That's the premise, anyway. I really like the little faces
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that are drawn on different tiles that you get the
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: represent the different kinds of people, But for the most part,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: the art in this game is serviceable, not particularly compelling.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: That said, I really like on A eighteen hundred. It
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: has a really interesting mix of mechanisms where you are
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: building an engine that produces things, and then you are
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: trying to get those things produced so that you can
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: fulfill cards. Each time that you acquire new cards, you
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: then have new people that you have to please before
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: you can end the game. So there's this balance of
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: like how long do you keep acquiring things in order
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: to fulfill the stuff that you need to end the game.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: I like the idea, the motivation of making your people
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: satisfied instead of earn the most money or whatever. I know,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: it's all abstracted and fictional, but it's still pretty fun.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: This is On eighteen hundred is my number forty four
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: game on my collection, probably duing part to the fact
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: that I just haven't played it that much. Think if
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I played it more it would probably go up. And
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: it is down ten spots from number thirty four in
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, which makes sense because I had played
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: it more recently when I did this, or I had
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: played it more often recently in twenty twenty two, so
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: that's on eighteen hundred, My number thirty nine in art,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: number forty four in my top fifty all right, Number
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: thirty eight in art is Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. Sherlock
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Holmes Consulting Detective is a really lovely game with almost
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: no art or a feel of no art. The cover
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: looks like a magazine cover from a dentist's office or
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: something about fine living. It's like magnifying glass and a
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: picture of a big ben and it's all sort of
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: CPA tone and stuff. It conveys the mood really well.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: It does its job, but it is not compelling art
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: at all, and the game itself has even less compelling art.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: There's a couple of pictures here and there, but for
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: the most part, the resources in the game are not
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: meant to be looked at and studied, so they don't
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: want to put a lot of art in them because
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: you're not supposed to be looking at the art anyway.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: From a graphic design standpoint, I love the Space Cowboys edition.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Originally did have the Yitsari edition, which is much less beautiful,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: but the Space Cowboys Edition is lovely to look at
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: and read and very fun to play. The art, the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: map of the city of London is really nice, and
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the game itself is really good. That said, Sherlock Holmes
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: has dropped considerably in my estimation for lack of play.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: It's been years since I had new Sherlock Holmes cases
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to play, and while I do really like it, my
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: family has moved away from this style of play, and
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: as such, I just I haven't played it as much anymore.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I've played a lot of other games. I still love
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: this game. If people like it was your favorite mystery game,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: it might be Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. But on my
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: top fifty it has dropped to number forty six, which
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: might be the biggest drop of any game that's still
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: on the list, because in twenty twenty two I had
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Sherlock Holm's Consulting Detective at number twelve, so it has
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: dropped dramatically. Now. It may be that it'll go back
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: up next time. Perhaps this is one of those waxing
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: waning situations, But for now, I really like Sherlock Holmes
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Consulting Detective, but without new games to play, it is
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: losing some of my estimation. That's just as a reminder,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: its highest achievement was in twenty fifteen, the first time
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I did a Top fifty, I had it at number two.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: So it used to be very close to my favorite game.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: And now it's still in my top fifty, and I've
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: played way more games now, so still a high achievement,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: but not the same. Sherlock Holm's consulting detective. Number thirty
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: eight in art. Number thirty seven in art is Seven Wonders. Now.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Seven Wonders is an interesting case because they've since released
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: a second edition that has new art or revamped art,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I guess, but I am very used to playing the
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: original edition, and so that's the art I'm thinking of.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: This is a good example of a game where the
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: art is serviceable but not particularly compelling. I think the
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: artists did a nice job. The pictures are fun and
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: they help give an idea of what the thing is.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: But this is very much one of those games where
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: you might think about the theme in terms of like, oh,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: my military is out piecing your military, But I very
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: rarely think about the theme in terms of the specific
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: buildings I am putting into my civilization. I'm just thinking
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: about symbols, points and resources. So from that perspective, Seven
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Wonders is a game that needs compelling graphic design more
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: than compelling art. The artist's fine. I like the cover
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: just fine. But again, this mid tier. The games in
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: the high forties and low thirties or high thirties and
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: low forties are games that are here because I think
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the artist is fine and not actively bad, and that's
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: where Seven Wonders lands for the art. In terms of gameplay,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Seven Wonders is at number forty five for me. It's
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: up four spots. It was number forty nine in twenty
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: twenty two. It's highest achieve Its highest space on my
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Top fifty is number thirty seven, which is where it
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: was in twenty seventeen. Now there's the reason this game
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: stays on my stays on my collection, in my top fifty,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: in this region that it's in, and that's because it's
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: a very good game. It's reliable, it's consistently fun, like
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: I have fun with it over and over and over again,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: and every time I bring it out and show it
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: to people who've never played before, they like it. It's great,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: but it's not incredible, Like I very rarely find myself,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: oh man, what I really need right now, what's really
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: going to get me going as seven Wonders. Now. I
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: love when I have a good win in Seven Wonders. Sure,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: sometimes you'll have a really fun time. I recently had
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: a game where I got like all the blue cards
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: and I broke sixty points and blue mostly with blue.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: That was great. But the kind of intense thinking and
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: intense enjoyment that I get from games higher on the
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: list just don't happen that often or Seven Wonders. And
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: so while Seven Wonders is a great game, it's number
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: forty five on my list, it's probably always going to
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: be toward the bottom of my top fifty because of
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: that sort of highest level of enjoyment I can get
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: out of it. Nonetheless, Seven Wonders my number forty five game,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: number thirty seven in art, and then finally my number
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: thirty six game in terms of art is Underwater Cities.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Underwater Cities is my favorite of the games we've talked
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: about so far in terms of Vladimir Suhi's delicious games art,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: I think the cover of underw Cities has really compelling,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: and while the while the art on some of the
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: cards is kind of dumb, it's all very explanatory. It
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: helps you understand what's going on in the game better.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I like the pictures that are on the cards. It
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: helps promote the theme well. And one of the helper
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: cards you can get is an intelligent dolphin. Like the
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: world building that's there is fascinating and interesting and entertaining,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: and I love how the art adds to the game.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: The table presence for Underwater Cities itself is also really compelling.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: I like the little colorful discs that you use for
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the different kinds of buildings. I like the overall feel
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: of the game, and I think it's well worth playing
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: if you get a chance. Now, I will say it's
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: slipped a little bit, and I'm not sure. This is
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the first one I've encountered where I really like. I
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: don't know on a different day would Underwater Cities be higher.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Right now, Underwater Cities is my number twenty four game
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: on my top fifty list. That's down nineteen spots from
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: where it was in twenty twenty two, which was my
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: number five game, and in twenty nineteen it was my
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: number four game. Now I haven't played I've played this
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: quite a bit online. I haven't played it on the
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: table for a while. I'd be interested to see if
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I got this on the table and I put it
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: next to something like Proga couput Regni or Pulsar twenty
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: eight forty nine, the other Vladimir's who He games, how
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: would it line up? Because Underwater Cities is very compelling
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: as a table on the table, the choices you have
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to make between the cards, like when you have a
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: bunch of cars you have to decide to get rid
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: of some. It's exquisite and perhaps I am undervaluate. This
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: is the first rating that I've encountered and sharing with
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: my list with you where I'm not one hundred percent
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: sure that this is where it belongs. But I did
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the process. I tweaked what I thought was was tweaking,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: and right now anyway, I Paul Star twenty eight forty
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: nine is slightly ahead of Underwater Cities in my estimation
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: of Vladimir Suki games because Underwater Cities is number twenty
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: four and Paul Star twenty eight forty nine it's number twenty.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: So that's Underwater Cities my number twenty four game, my
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: number thirty six choice in terms of art. Well, that
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: brings me to the end of another batch of games
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: to talk to you about here on the podcast. I
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: would love to hear what your next set of games are,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: What are some more games that are in your top
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: fifty or anything else? You know, What do you think
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: of these games I've just mentioned? How do you feel
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: about them? I've included several of Vladimir Suki games so
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: far on the list, and I'd be interested to know
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: how do you rank those, how do they compare? Also,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I'd be interested to know, like, what do you think
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: of the other ones of his that I haven't mentioned yet?
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: If I'm going to mention them at all? Who knows,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: It's hard to say. You can do all of that
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: sharing over on board game Geek and Guild three two
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: sixty nine, where we have a conversation called Top fifty
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: chat that's going on. You could also send me a
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: direct message on board game Geek Wombat nine two nine,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: or you could try Brendan at rattleboxgames dot com, where
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I occasionally check my email, not often enough, I'm afraid.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Well that's about it for me today. I'm run out
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: of time and now it's time for me to head
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: on back and get some work done. I say thank
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: you for joining me today and I look forward to
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: the next time that we get to talk about games,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: about life, about our top fifties. Thanks for joining Man
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Mo Walk today.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I hope your next walk, because it wasn't as mine
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: was go bye.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by rattle Box