Ashes & Amber

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

• Card Drafting/Acquisition — Players acquire other cards using resources, and cards themselves can be currency. The drawing of cards is dictated by the number of cities and starting amber card.
• End-game scoring — Victory points, called Utopia points, are scored through collected cards, but can be eroded by death cards.
• Hand Management — Players manage a hand of cards, using some for currency and others for effects, while needing to discard cards from cities to acquire new ones.
• Press Your Luck — Players must decide which cards to protect and which to let burn, with the ash acting as a temporary currency.
• Resource Management — Cards represent resources like engineering or food, which are used to acquire other cards or build cities.
• Set Collection — Players collect cards to build up cities and achieve objectives.
• Variable player powers — The tribe cards introduce asymmetry, providing unique starting conditions and card options for each player.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

• This one talks more about the rise and fall of civilizations where essentially you are building up cities for your civilization.
• It's a concept I have not seen in another Civilization card game.
• The cards just simply aren't varied enough. I mean, most of them are just the same thing.
• The actual gameplay loop itself is a little bit repetitive. You know, you are basically doing the same thing each round.
• This game badly needs these in to give it any kind of asymmetry and to add a little bit to the variety and just make the game play a little bit more interesting.
• Overall, Ashes and Amber is it's an an odd one. It the concept is great.
• I don't think it works multiplayer. I think there's not enough interaction in the game to make you want to play it with other players, unless you use very specific tribes, which is not the reason you would get the game.
• It feels basically more like this is a solo optimization card game with a cool idea of a theme, you know, put onto it.
• Overall I'm giving this one a strong six out of 10. It's an above average card game, which could actually get to seven out of 10, I think.
• It's a hit and miss, but I'm giving it a 6 out of 10.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

• Card Drafting — Implied through the acquisition of cards for the city.
• city building — Players build cities represented as stacks of cards.
• event cards — Catastrophes are events that strike, removing cards from the civilization tower.
• Tableau Building — Players play cards underneath the top card to gain symbols and effects.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

• This category is hard to name. Between intermediate and expert.
• I would like to play every single game here on this watchlist.
• It's always the same story: it makes almost no sense for me to buy a lot of games that only interest me a little bit, because I simply have too many games at home that want to be played.
• But this one has so much that triggers me; maybe I’ll buy it, or maybe someone will bring it to the con, then I can try it out there.
• So, it’s a game where I have my own money, where I have a company treasury that I have to manage, and I have to bring both into alignment.
• I always find military in such games to be the least exciting component, though it is good to have some kind of threat present, and I’m curious how that’s handled here.
• And it's also a civ game where we build cities. Here you can see all the cards laid out, and I think the illustration is amazing. It just has these KDM vibes, even if it's set in a different world, and, well, yeah, we had that topic, right? Board games as works of art here, for sure.
• The resource management is straight from hell, because you never have what you need, and you can get it, you can convert it.
• That’s really exciting.
• And because of that, depending on which factions are playing, the rules and the focus of the game change a bit, affecting what you do with your actions.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

• civilization building — Card-based civilization game.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

• I don't feel any pressure to create content.
• This is my full-time job, right? I don't have another job to go to.
• I'm producing all of this content and honestly, if I could produce more, I would because I love what I do.
• The category here or the criteria here is massively popular, really well-respected, solid Euro games that have been around for a while and stood the test of time and are known as just really, really good games.
• No games do. It doesn't need all of the bling and everything else.
• I think most people in life are affected by what's called seasonally adjusted disorder.
• Entering is absolutely free. It doesn't cost you anything whatsoever.
• The secret word this month is haggis.
• All of my advertising revenue from all of my videos goes to charity.
• I don't make any money out of the videos themselves on YouTube. People call me crazy. They would be right.
• It's only 70 to go.
• I have not. No. Not Not even heard of that one.
• I would strongly recommend you just do it because you want to do it. Don't go out and spend £4,000 on a fancy camera, lights, and everything else and think 'Right, I'm going to be the next big channel and I'm going to get 50,000 subscribers in 6 months.'
• One thing that really annoys me is when the games come out at retail like the same time or even before and they're cheaper.
• I personally believe it is fundamentally, morally, and ethically wrong for me to sell a pre-production prototype copy of a game.
• It's International Unplayed Games Day. And the date that I've chosen... is the 1st of July.
• I have already got two of them on my channel, if not three, and I'm doing another one next Wednesday.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

• ash resource management — Ash tokens are consumed for actions and fade at the end of an era; strategic timing matters.
• card placement and city stacks — Players place cards into city stacks; top cards unlock actions while bottom cards can be protected or sacrificed.
• catastrophes and death cards — Era catastrophes require responses; death cards can burn or be protected, influencing scoring.
• city expansion and spawns — Discarding cards to spawn new cities or expand your civilization.
• defense and resilience cards — Down cards provide localized or global protection for cards in cities.
• draw and discard with Amber — Amber provides initial draw and ongoing card flow; players discard to manage hands.
• endgame scoring via modern era foreknowledge — In era 4–5, foresight cards and Mars-related scoring become the main route to points.
• Melding and Splaying — Players place cards into city stacks; top cards unlock actions while bottom cards can be protected or sacrificed.
• monuments and accomplishments — Monuments generate ongoing scoring possibilities; accomplishments can be staged with monuments.
• movement and rearrangement — Knights and endless moves allow positional manipulation of cards across cities.
• Resource Management — Ash tokens are consumed for actions and fade at the end of an era; strategic timing matters.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

• The golden hand is the victory points of the game. It is everything we are pursuing.
• It's part of the puzzle of this game that is both frustrating and extremely rewarding.
• Ashes and Amber, a brand new civilization development game.
• Two starting cards begin our civilization. Fire and Amber.
• We are going to Mars.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

• accomplishments and first player benefits — accomplishment cards provide end-game points; first player tokens confer a strategic edge across rounds
• ash and death economy — at round end ash cards replace burned cards; death cards reduce end-game scoring unless mitigated
• Card draw and hand management — income phase yields amber cards; the number of draws scales with the number of cards in cities; draw limits constrain late-game pace
• catastrophes — each era reveals catastrophes that affect all cities; players must fortify and adapt to mitigate damage
• city building — cities are stacks of cards placed in front of a player; players add cards to cities and can rearrange or move them to optimize effects
• city-to-city card manipulation — players can discard or move cards between cities to adjust protection, resources, and future options
• decisive moments — between rounds players encounter decisive moments that can shift card choices and future strategy
• deck access and era-specific chronicle decks — each era has its own chronicle deck; drawing from these decks shapes available actions and thematic flavor
• Hand Management — income phase yields amber cards; the number of draws scales with the number of cards in cities; draw limits constrain late-game pace
• Layer Building — cities are stacks of cards placed in front of a player; players add cards to cities and can rearrange or move them to optimize effects
• resilience and protection — resilience cards can shield or protect cards beneath them; some cards grant shields to entire city layers to guard against burns
• round-based escalation across eras — five rounds represent five ages; each era introduces era-specific chronicle cards, catastrophes, and dynamics

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

• Ashes and Amber truly is going to be a civilization building game
• you are building out these civilizations for yourself and protecting your cities
• five rounds of play representing five different ages
• catastrophes that end up affecting all of these cities
• make contact with aliens if you're able to

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.