Rome: Fate of an Empire

Video c5r2mefPR2Q UndeadVikingVideos Discussion at 27:17 sentiment: neutral

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Overall sentiment (raw)

Neutral

Pros

none

Cons

none

Thematic elements

none

Comparison games

Feudal Kingdom

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Mechanics unknown.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

It was fantastic. It was just there was so much stuff going on that was really enjoyable.
Well, I think there's that one Warhammer guy that syn There's some synthesizer show synthesizer synthesizer shows that I watch that have been around for a long time.
We must slay them.
Thanks for nothing, Danny Nunan.
It's like, Oh, honey, I'm so sorry.
This is the longest running weekly live stream thing held on YouTube 10 years or so in a row.
Americans don't even like America.
It's not like we're keeping track here yeah, who's keeping score
Oh, really? Runner up code names.
You don't make a podcast.
I mean, the definition I don't even know what you're saying.
You're just making up words.
So defeist.
Yeah, that gumballs.com. They suck.
This is not a good website.
The two eyes are swords.
It's like, how does anybody know this guy exists?
I'm always impressed when things like that exist.
Oh, yeah. I guess you can. Yes, you can. But that's not the same because podcast is a different
It's like, oh, you know, use use use non like you have didn't make this game colorblind uh friendly.
Be excellent to one another as Bill and Ted would say.
The fact that the dice rolls were so unlucky against me.
I love the game, but it's when those dice rolls don't go your way.
It's like, Oh, you know, should he fight the wolves or should he run away?
This is the most evil, most powerful terrorist organization in the world that never wins.
It's like, 'No, nobody's died. This is realistic.'

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Video pqz7SNcrUt0 One Stop Co-op Shop Analysis at 7:43 sentiment: mixed

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Overall sentiment (raw)

mixed

Pros

awesome
smaller than Mage Knight
cheaper than Mage Knight
has a lot of tactical and strategic yumminess

Cons

Mage Knight works better in terms of theme
prefer the theme of Mage Knight
rather play Mage Knight

Thematic elements

Comparison games

Mage Knight

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Card building — Has deck building and card building.
Deck Building — Has deck building and card building.
Mage Knight mechanics — Applies many Mage Knight mechanics in different ways to a different type of game.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

And this time, we are going to the end of last year, December of 2024.
So, first in the crowdfunding corner, we've got a double feature, the latest from the Solo series, or at least at that time.
And this was Hunted Transylvania and Escape from Route 52.
So, yeah, I would say probably Hunter Transylvania might be a keep and definitely Escape from 52 would be a call if I had received copies of the final games.
But uh the new addition of campaigns I found was a bit hoham.
So if I was someone who had like bought every season of Death May Die, I would not especially rush out to get this one.
This is from Chip Theory.
And I thought this was fine.
The big kind of nail in its coffin is that I already have Decorum, which is kind of a similar game, but I find drastically better for my taste at least, especially at two players, or Hannabi or Paint the Roses.
So it does limit itself if you're playing without like workarounds like I don't know putting some like see-through sheet over the page.
So, Red Dust Rebellion is a call, but still a strong recommend for competitive play.
It's an awesome system.
And hey, let's finally get to a keep.
This is one of my favorite games from last year.
It's fully released this year. Still a favorite.
But yeah, the combat system is cool. The open world is great. The emergent kind of story that you can discover is really fun.
Like I think they went a little bit too hard in trying to make this like a video game and a video game kind of automates things that are frustrating to do as a player.
But still, it's a great game. Very exciting. Beautiful production.
Uh, you can see this one is just reading and reading and more reading the game, which I don't mind.
This is a follow-up to the Tales of the Arabian Knights.
So, this is very much like a wander around and have weird adventures and make choices.
I think it's fun for that, just like seeing what crazy stuff happens.
But yeah, if you don't want to read a lot or if you don't want just some random kind of adventuring without much control or agency, you might not like this one.
And man, we gave this one a lot of chances.
It's very quick. It's very nice to lay down on the table.
But, uh, even when playing with the Omaha variant where you have more cards and the hands are better and a bit more differentiated from each other, which I do prefer, it's still just kind of not an interesting game.
It just feels very like random and more like an activity.
And especially now that I played River Rats, which was a game on crowdfunding recently, and this upcoming Cyberpunk card game, which also uses cooperative poker, I find those a billion times better, at least for my taste.
First expansion for Sky Team.
This is a keeper mainly cuz I love Sky Team.
I said this before and I'll say it again. The Turbulence expansion is not at all necessary.
It adds a few new things that are kind of interesting.
It's got a bunch of new airports. If you love Sky Team, if you've already played it a whole bunch, it's definitely a good pickup.
It's super cheap, but uh, you know, if you haven't played your copy of Sky Team that often, then I don't think it's at all necessary.
The core game is still the best thing here and really has the coolest modules and the coolest gameplay.
So, I'm absolutely keeping my copy of Turbulence. I love it, but Sky Team is really the winner here and the reason that I'm keeping this game overall.
This is Invincible, the hero building game.
This is a bag builder with a push your luck pulling element kind of like Quacks of Quedlinberg.
And I like this one. Okay, the core mechanics are pretty cool, but I thought the scenario balance was pretty off.
I thought the gameplay got pretty repetitive, but there were cool combos to do.
The core action of pulling stuff is fun.
So, it had a lot of good things in its favor.
But yeah, just the balance really messed with me and I didn't want to play it that much cuz we couldn't really get it to be the right difficulty.
So that was a call as well.
This is the night cage with the shrieking hollow expansion.
This is a keeper largely because my kids still love the night cage and I think the shrieking hollow makes the game a bit more tactical.
It's still pretty random but also make it way more exciting.
The addition of this giant creature that you see on the board that's coming to eat us all is just so exciting and it really does change up the gameplay in a good way.
So if you like the night cage, this is a full recommend.
And the shrinking hollow is a great expansion and it's a keep for me.
Lots of expansions covered at the end of December, I guess.
And this one was great.
I already really like World Breakers for a quick competitive card game and then the solo mode in the original core game was great, but Indigo Sisterhood does the wild thing where they have a totally different type of automa, a totally different solo system for the expansion.
And I think it's great, too.
And I like them both for different reasons.
So, I mean, yes, if you like World Breakers, definitely check out the Indigo Sisterhood.
It's an awesome expansion.
And if you just like kind of solo card games, like I don't know in the Ashes Reborn, Sky Terror Horde kind of vein, might be worth a look for that as well.
But World Breakers, Indigo Sisterhood, definitely a keeper for me.
And here's another one of those solo series games, Rome Fate of an Empire.
This one is awesome.
It's basically Mage Knight, like a lot of the Mage Knight mechanics, but turned in different ways and applied to a very different type of game.
But it was also a call for me for that reason, because uh Mage Knight just works better for me in terms of theme.
This one is very much more of a mechanical feeling game.
Now, it's still awesome. It's smaller than Mage Knight. It's cheaper than Mage Knight, but it still has a lot of the tactical and strategic yumminess and like the, you know, deck building and card building and all that.
And it's it's solo only and I only really play Mage Knight solo, so you're not really missing up out much on that.
But yeah, I just prefer the theme of Mage Knight.
We already have Mage Knight, so I'd rather play that.
So, I did end up calling Rome Fate of an Empire, but still a great game.
Okay, next is Resurgence.
This is a worker placement game set in a post-apocalyptic future.
I thought it was pretty solid.
It doesn't really stand out from the worker placement bunch.
There's just so many of these and some I adore.
This one was good, but not great.
So, I didn't end up keeping it.
It really needs to be great at this point for me to keep a worker placement game.
But, I didn't have any major complaints about the gameplay.
The solo mode works well, too, and the competitive play is really solid and like you like level up your workers and I don't know, there's some cool things going on, but yeah, it didn't hold my interest indefinitely.
So, Resurgence is a call.
And finally, the one I know is going to mess up the most brackets, so sorry, uh, is Keep the Heroes Out, the boss battal expansion.
So I kept Keep the Heroes Out, even though I didn't love the balance of the game, even though I thought the deck building was a little anemic, because my my kids liked it pretty well, and everything in the boss battles expansion sounded like it was going to fix things I didn't like.
And I will say that it did.
I I think the Boss Battles expansion fixes a lot of my problems.
I love the addition of like the apprentices or whatever those like little like weaker heroes are called.
I love that you unlock these
I thought it was pretty solid. It doesn't really stand out from the worker placement bunch. There's just so many of these and some I adore. This one was good, but not great.
I think the Boss Battles expansion fixes a lot of my problems.
I do think it is fabulous. I think it is almost a must buy if you're going to get keep the heroes out, at least for me.
I know some people enjoy the base game, but I think it is so much better with the expansion.
77% thought I would keep it, and I did not.
82% thought that would be a keeper for me.

References (from this video)

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Video T0Dgm8Z-7Fk slickerdrips Review at 4:41 sentiment: positive

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Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

Offers variability with different emperors and starting decks.
Easier to get into than Mage Knight.
Has a compact design suitable for a solo game of the month series.
Deluxe edition includes premium components like dual-layer boards.
Augustus's ability to make trade agreements from anywhere is a significant benefit.

Cons

Augustus's 'city of marble' costs an extra gold for developments.
Strife cards (similar to Mage Knight's wounds) are negative points and can cause a loss if the deck runs out.

Thematic elements

Empire building, defense against invaders
Rome

Comparison games

Mage Knight
Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs
Gloomhaven

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Combat — Players need to defeat enemies and a barbarian army, with mechanics for attack, defense, and damage.
Deck Building — Mentioned as a related game, but not explicitly stated as a mechanic in Rome: Face of an Empire.
Engine Building — The game has 'some engine building in it'.
Hand Management — Discussed through playing cards for actions, boosted abilities, or as attribute cards.
Resource Management — Players manage various resources like gold, food, iron, stone, and water to perform actions and build developments.
Set Collection — Edicts have point values and requirements, and players aim to fulfill them for victory.
Tile Placement — Instead of revealing a map tile by tile, the game presents a fixed map of Rome and surrounding areas.
Variable player powers — There are 'different emperors to be' with 'different special abilities' and tweaks to starting decks.
Worker Placement — Influencing territories (capital or developments) to perform actions is a key mechanic.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

This is shrunk down Mage Knight, Roman Mage Knight with some engine building in it.
So, this is shorter, less rules. Like if you if you've looked at Mage Knight in the past and thought like that's a bit much, it's nowhere near like as involved in Mage Knight.
Augustus can do it from anywhere. So, that is another huge benefit.

References (from this video)

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Video jZrlf2apmBw The Dice Tower Discussion at 1:01 sentiment: positive

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Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

Rewarding if you put in the effort

Cons

Very thinky
A lot going on
Demanding
Easy to make mistakes in
Very punishing

Thematic elements

Comparison games

none

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Card Buying — buying cards, buying buildings, and deploying those buildings into this grid, managing your resources, moving yourself around the area you're playing in, making deals with the people there.
Grid Movement — moving yourself around the area you're playing in
Resource Management — managing your resources

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

a silly little game, way overproduced, but fun like hot potato style game.
unfortunately a two-player back and forth just a little too much going on in a small game.
So, that's pretty much it.
This says contemporary on it.
Tom, what would be your advice to aspiring game designers?
most of the advice given to me over the years has been along the lines of don't do it.

References (from this video)

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Video IsbEJRRntQc The Dice Tower Analysis at 3:05

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Pros

It actually looks kind of cool
Wouldn't be opposed to this

Cons

none

Thematic elements

Comparison games

none

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Mechanics unknown.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

So, we have a game here called Sequoia. This is from 2022.
It's It's fine. I'm giving it a six. Uh Beasty Bars is is is a fun style game where you're playing these different type of animals, and I think each additional expansion made it more complex and less fun.
Trias is an old dinosaur game that originally came with cubes, and eventually they had little dinosaurs in it instead. And it's kind of grow out to different things. This is a very I have this ranked as a seven. Probably now, the next time I go through my rankings, I'll probably rank it as a six because it's fine, but it's showing its age.
All righty, of all the games we talked about today, my favorite here is clearly David Goliath, although Hooky is a very close second.
Either way, it's always good to talk to you all.

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Video gZ1Lcs_9hCo Review at 0:10 sentiment: positive

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Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

Highly strategic and demanding play
Satisfying card play and deck construction
Significant variety and variability
Good use of small box space
Engaging and memorable design
Different leaders change the game experience significantly

Cons

Complicated and demanding, not for everyone
Steep learning curve and potential for mistakes
Rules are plentiful and can be difficult to learn from the rulebook
Player aid could be better
Cyclical nature of drawing and playing cards might feel repetitive to some
Can feel punishing, especially during learning

Thematic elements

developing Rome

Comparison games

none

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Action Point Allowance — Players take turns performing actions, with the round ending either by running out of turns or depleting their card deck.
Area development — Players develop the land by building developments from cards, deploying them to the board and gaining victory points and advancements.
Card Drafting — Players purchase new cards and add them to their deck, which are described as "souped-up cards above and beyond your starting deck."
Combat — Players can fight characters on the board by spending military action points, with consequences for not overcoming their defenses.
Deck Building — Players construct and improve their decks by purchasing new cards, which are added to the top of their deck and drawn into play.
Push Your Luck — Taking loan cards provides money but penalizes heavily if not paid back, and fighting characters can result in taking 'strife' cards if not defended against properly.
Resource Management — Players manage various 'currencies' or resources, derived from card play or board locations, to pay for actions and developments.
Set Collection — Edicts require players to achieve specific goals and reach a certain number of victory points, often involving building developments or moving up tracks.
Worker Placement — The leader figure moves around the board, interacting with locations and deploying tokens to gain recurring or one-time income.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

This is a complicated game. This is a demanding game. This is a heavy, challenging game in every aspect of that word, of that concept.
The game is going to be a challenging game to not just learn how to play, but learn how to play well, which could easily lead to a lot of people just giving up after playing this game a couple of times and going, 'Well, this is impenetrable.'
The game is going to be a brain burner. So, if you want a crunchy brain burning game, this is going to give you that.
It's one of the most not-for-everyone games I've reviewed in a long time, I got to say.
Boy, if you're looking for a whole lot to crunch on, to munch on in a small box, and you like this theme, I can't think of too many other games that are going to give you that kind of return.
Eight out of 10 from me, everybody. Rome: Fate of an Empire.

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Video FF4UN2RBx2M Board Games for One Discussion at 0:00 sentiment: positive

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Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

Engaging engine-building through a clear tableau system
Solid solo design with readable mechanics and flow
Strong thematic integration with Rome and edicts
Good overall art and production polish in prototype
Flexible action ordering and engine upgrades

Cons

Prototype has extra white space and layout quirks
Some rule explanations could be clearer in the prototype
Solo card orientation is awkward; would prefer facing-readability
Could benefit from a reminder card listing round phases

Thematic elements

Civilization-building, edicts, engine-building, exploration
Ancient Rome, capital city and surrounding regions
explanatory/review-focused narration

Comparison games

Mage Knight

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

combat_and_edicts — face encounters to earn rewards and draw/fulfill edicts that determine scoring
Deck Building — start with a basic hand of attribute cards; purchase advanced attributes to customize your engine
deck-building — start with a basic hand of attribute cards; purchase advanced attributes to customize your engine
Influence Points — place and activate influence tokens to gain ongoing or immediate benefits
influence_tokens — place and activate influence tokens to gain ongoing or immediate benefits
Resource Management — gather and spend resources (gold, stone, wood, food/wine, etc.) to activate card abilities
resource_management — gather and spend resources (gold, stone, wood, food/wine, etc.) to activate card abilities
rounds_and_edicts — short and long game variants defined by the number of edicts and rounds, with automatic end conditions
Tableau Building — place developments adjacent to the capital to build your engine and unlock bonuses
tableau_building — place developments adjacent to the capital to build your engine and unlock bonuses

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

artwork is historically accurate
This is a fun game this is a nice puzzle mixed between the exploration if it if I don't want to get Mage Knight out
the point of the game is to win by scoring points
you start at the capital with your little piece
you gain victory points by building developments and through the military

References (from this video)

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Rome: Fate of an Empire Review - Built in a Day

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