Our Top Vital Lacerda's Games - Stella's Tabletop Diary

0:00 we've played seven Fidelis ERDAS heavy games as you can see on the side we're gonna share with you what we think about it coming up

0:22 hi it's turned and Stella from Duke University welcome back to our tabletop diary in this week episode we are going to talk about one of those very dishonest games Fidelis era mm-hmm so we only talk about the seven heavy games that we've got here on the sides we I don't think I have played any of the other games that are not this heavy I think he's got he's got a version of age of steam yeah in Portugal which is as heavy as the rest of these which we have not playing yeah but there's a these are the seven big games he's known for yes so we are going to talk about what roughly maybe how the game plays and then what we think about it and then comparing and from one to another so where should we start parent um I mean I think just to talk sort of very generally about the games they all have they don't have something that really you don't get out of other like of those very the two very clear hallmarks yeah one is that in most cases escape plan except it there is a very clear shared objective or shared incentive feature in the scoring and particularly canon and gallerist and on Mars if you all work to the same sort of thing you're all going to score well in

1:52 that it's not the sort of game where you want to go off and do your own thing because it's not going to score very well which is a bit of a Krishna's delay my belief maybe some might say that but this is the complex version I think I know what you're gonna say next but continue and the other one which is really his hallmark more than anyone else is lots of little micro actions that you get as bonuses to almost every action you do yeah and it's always what you're trying to think about I did have one more executive action which is actually part of what you just said just part of that yeah part of just it's also called executive action in this game ee you're not I think come they are some most of them has got executive actions I think consistently across all of them I think that's the term it's used and yeah a lot of small actions that you do on the side of your main action ready go so let's get to it um so they threw them Colonel Walker logically so I'm here VIN Yash the Portuguese winemaking game this was our first introduction I think for me it was it would have been both of their heaviest game that we'd played at the time yes I think cuz this was quiet this was early on I was only a year into the you know I think I played it no I played one before you so I play one more thing you'll still you okay I think that was with adrianel friend okay board give me it up oh yeah yep this was so this was

3:25 inside my first year of Hobby gaming Wow and I think two months two months earlier I played sighs one month earlier I played Panamax yeah and then a week earlier had played in viticulture and those were probably the only three heavy games before that so this was a really big step up I remember it being a long night a one-hour teach at a busy meet up yeah we were the first ones in we were the last ones out playing each olga's game beautiful at work I think this might be one of my favorite of E&O tools part wig yeah I would agree I know he's got all these big box games that he's done with retail and this is the one for me that's the prettiest as well as well the way the colors go together yeah I can't really think if that's okay keep going and yeah I was very honest very impressive well you know I think yeah this is Eagle sorry Tarrant Eagle Griffin's games components are quite impressive but yes keep going so we the first time we played it it was the 2010 version mm-hmm this is the 2016 box but we played the 2010 version and I remember the thing that stood out to me the most was the bank mechanic it was something I've never seen before and I know that's been removed for the 2016 version which we have also played now but yeah I was really taken by the bank mechanic do you like it though I mean I don't think I was okay for me I might actually sorry I think it

4:56 adds a little bit of complexity it does yeah like beautiful board so we often we do with this game look at these little components right he's like this little ones on there yeah yes so I I just think that I remember it being really thinking you know only 12 actions but there was so much to do the kinky and I immediately wanted to play it I don't think I did for about a year and a half but I definitely immediately wanted to play that again it really stood out and it's probably still one of if not my favorite game hmm and we've played 2016 now and I didn't like that it took the bank away but I think I liked everything else said brought to it it made the magnate section more streamlined made the fare more streamline cuz that was the other thing the fair having victory points inside victory points and I haven't seen I haven't really seen that maybe in a couple of lot of Bernthal games dungeon pits has it a bit but I like the magnet pals on that addition it's just gives an extra victory point at the end and extra engine building in the middle it doesn't really bring my brain extra brain power too much yes and I think it's I think one of the questions I've seen the question in the Facebook groups the various board game

6:28 Facebook groups a few times people trying to ask what is the first retailer said again they should play well even though this is not the easiest or not the it's not the least heavy it's the one that has the most familiar mechanics okay because the little grid movement thing is is if you played any sort of worker placement that's not going to be that unusual to you and so for that reason I think it's the perfect entry game because it has the most familiar the most familiar mechanics it's a beautiful game a beautiful game it's very heavy and pinky and very good yeah so that's one Nexus we have Kanban this is coming so there's the big box little version coming out soon this is the old driver station automotive edition so this is the only one where we don't have it in the huge components but it doesn't matter it still play as well I do enjoy this yes I always buy the thing that characterizes this game for me is that it's almost the easiest of them to move the pieces around yes and the hardest to explain and understand the scoring we didn't have to play for Kanban by the way and a little bit of scoring samples play truthy because that's it's the most complicated part of them if you agree

7:59 with me and run the comment sections below for me that's the most complicated part so I always keep asking what's how how does it school it's not easy to explain as well yeah it's why you government it's why you've got to remember you've got that shirt incentive bit yes do what other people are doing yeah find a way to make that work and then look at your Sandra objectives and use whatever actions you've got on the site to make those happen and you like to make wishes mean Sandra I like the knife Sandra I think it means a pretty sure ya mean sander works well I think you can you can tell the game was designed for me and Sandra which it says in the rule book as well my Sandra was in there as a variance it works well because it gives you an incentive to frags to go out the trash not not a huge obscenity but that's actually I find this is a game where if it goes to its normal length you are it's that well timed game where you can do just about everything and you've got to get it in the right order and you've got to target your Santa cards and I think if you can wrap your head around how that works and wrap your head around how the intermediate scoring is even if they score a small amount several times actually adds up it's a really nice game by the way this is kind of like almost first impression or first few times

9:29 impressions and played with a few towns like here three times but not all of this we play a few times just letting you know yeah so I do yeah kanbans among my my top ones there right it is yeah that's a good one where yeah it's just kind of like flows kind of flows properly if you want anyway yes yeah and the gallerist probably is most well-known I think would be fair to say probably and probably anything else as well they're all I mean they're all well known I think this is the one okay I would guess this is one most people to play I really love the box for this it's like half torn out package off at work yeah it's beautiful yeah I remember being introduced to this one by my friend from where there is actually pre campus I just realized that that's like three paintings in canvas anyways yeah my friend from work had seen I think it was rod OHS video on it and we were both sort of going through meetups into heavier games at the time he's the one that got you to that board game me map where I met you at the first time correct yes okay um and I remember he wouldn't stop talking about it for a few months because it was sort of he'd seen rod I go through it and it it through all these mechanics he'd never seen

10:59 before and it looked really interesting and we eventually did play it we played it with him and and my friend has got a copy at the time I didn't yeah cuz these didn't come out in Australia for a while it was a while before the certain games remains Australian shelves all right yeah and you know this one is are gonna took three plays before I properly understood it I think the third time we played it that was where I really sort of saw how how to use the micro actions and particularly how to grab the bonuses on the left hand side of the board do utilize that fully mmm that follow action is quite powerful on this one yep yeah that's the whole kicked out action thing using you there's a lot of good things to balance it's not always easy to see how it's coming out actually for the first player well some people probably be okay no for me it's like oh yeah I definitely got extra clarity three plays in yes one okay and I think the bit that stands out here is the neapolitan maples in the middle I feel like Neapolitan ice cream I mean that one being its own that's sort of a new mechanic that's the bit where what is it called um last night as well yeah I was like breaking it aside no it's not even awareness I think I think though that's

12:31 the one where the gap the the gallerist is it's one of the law it's probably the lightest of these games terms of the total number of rules and the things to do but that mechanic the sort of meeples mechanic in the middle and the fact that they play so heavily into your micro actions and getting your influence and getting your money that's what makes it not the best entry level one that's why vinyasa it's more familiar with the mechanics even though it is more thinking and tidy right I call it not it's almost like resource management but meatball management hmm it's like a I guess they are engine they are engine building of SATs right it is engine building mmm placement I don't know she's create another one yeah that's a good guy yes I can actually lisboa this borough we have only brought that once at the table once yes and it was in a busy meter and it's a I wasn't there wasn't the right tucked into it now trying to teach over the noise and then play it it was yeah it took us the full day to do it there was a lot in this phase like half a day before me pal made up yes definitely took us the full meter I think we did the teach and then we asked should we go back to one of our houses to actually play it even though it was all on the table because it was

14:02 it was yeah it was like the I think the table admits to be dark yeah anyways I think the mechanic out of this one and I've seen a little more often since but it was kind of the first time I'd seen it was the mechanic where you've got a card and then the way you play the card not necessarily what's on the card dictates what else you can do because the mechanic you've got the cards if you play it under your player board into your tableau then you do one of the six small actually two of the six small actions if you pay for them or if you play it on to the court you do the major action yes and that was yeah it was something that I hadn't seen before I hadn't taught it before and it was very it was hard for me playing it to wrap my head around that as well I've seen that since in Robin Hood memory man yes for final frontier that's got that mechanic and there was another one recently these underwater cities to a limited extent as the how you play the card dictates what happens sort of thing yes but yeah that was very new with this and I don't know if it was the best one but also multi pool use of a cards in a way like brass link aside brass

15:34 Framingham has got that as well they've got that multi-use of God or dese World War if you imagine more this game has got them some mechanics which I like yep I remember building is quite powerful building and now building and then things happen do you seems to happen the right way and it's you know not always building is very powerful I think yeah you built early now none of us really knew what we were trying to do there you built it you beat us by a hundred points this is a four player game and you beat second place by hundreds remember that because it was a almighty stomping it was no because I mean is likely like if you put the early and then the other like you you could be accumulate points but then again I know that they are always out of things that you do worry about I don't know it's like yeah you definitely you definitely went the right way getting in there early I remember my mistake was doing too many small card actions and not enough court actions right but yeah because I think because there were so many actions in this game compared with vinyasa how'd it mean so many actions like he knows had nine actions on the grace right you have nine different things you can do but four of them were building y venues wineries and so the three of them was selling or going to the fair so and then one was the bank so you sort of could portion them off more easily this one was a bit

17:05 tougher because there were ten different actions and sort of five different pockets of play that you could go for because there was the whole building bit there was the shipping bit there was the cleric bit a couple others say yeah I I would need to I definitely need to bring this to the table a couple more times I couldn't I'm like vinius where I could pick it up and feel like I sort of knew what was going on first time same with saying to a lesser extent with gallerist this one I really didn't know what was going on but that was maybe because that's the thing like galleries you need to play more so we want to play this once or twice a day yeah so wow that's true I think that's that's true for all games this game sure for any game you get more out of it the more you play yes and as more ferry ends and that's anyways we've got co2 here co2 second chance which is which we play cooperatively yeah because why not right I mean we haven't played I don't know if I don't remember other modes has got cooperative mode I don't remember that they do have cooperative mode there are so low is there's no cooperative since yeah others okay but this has got cooperative mode as well as the normal multiplayer against each other mode yeah so it doesn't and it's a semi cooperative you can very easily you know semi cooperative has I think from what I've read it is semi cooperative do we

18:38 place any copies no we play fully co-op that's right yes and I think I think what I've read it's quite a difficult semi job to win okay which is not the sort of semi co-op I like yeah I I think if you've got to work super hard to win then those really yeah yeah like Australia where you have to you have to cooperate more than you realize and if everyone's doing their own thing you just just kind of and what does that dwarf winter dwarf winter yeah yeah also you have to it's really tough that yeah we basically two-player yeah we essentially trying to the second time we played we played fully co-op and I think we still lost the first time we played my more time yeah we aren't really close yeah the first time when we send me go up that we just got no when we yeah we're trying points for completely because we more focusing with ourselves than the corpse if element and are we just like destroyed yeah that's a general question yeah so I think with co2 we the constructs are so cute as well I'm it's a cute we've got those same hallmarks where you've got all your little micro actions you're targeting executive action yep I think and we'll probably talk about this more in a different vlog I've never come across I don't think I have ever come across a co-op that is more puzzled than this one a puzzle cooperative I

20:09 felt this was more puzzling game spirit Alan has got a lot of puzzle it's not like very clear that it is a puzzle but I think it does have bustle depending on what cat each person has and then you try to work together what's the best action but I know what you mean about this that's the difference it's a different almost all the informations on the table at the start of the game right you know can you do the mechanics like it's like it's a game but you you know almost everything but a core power is it the core power the fossil fuel fossil fuel ones yeah they don't win 20 30 or 40 yeah look we'll talk about this in a different blog I've sort of been putting some thoughts together about when when a cart becomes a puzzle and does it ever stop being again but we still had a we had a good time working through this we were able it definitely is disheartening when you're on zero victory points after every round that's the game trying to just like scraping getting points but you need to pay so that we can get the co2 level down yeah it is very nicely timed in that way ya know what what we found like halfway on the game still is here true is that that those tracks what we call it is scientist the on one side of the board yeah they take resources not the game so that's actually a secret point so when we're trying to be on the

21:41 same spot so we both get that money in a week and either get money or victory points that actually helps us a lot yeah it was an interesting part of the yanks hmm okay escape plan was the next one release so yes escape plan is the most recent one we've played for the first time so we have only played at the once it is the it's the only game among these that doesn't have shared incentive does it yeah there's no well there's kind of like Hidan in incentive like when you open something you might benefit you might benefit me as well but you don't know how benefit it to you or not those business that's true those businesses that you open then it's your obviously you're trying to play to new you yeah and but still other people can get it it's not really directly OpenTable shed intent if them so it is a little bit different yeah certainly I don't go to a place and then that becomes more valuable for both of us and that's I think they're a big difference because it's the only one of these games that has like V Neos doesn't have much but it has the renowned cubes yeah whereas this one has none of it it's it's different there it's when I play this I told you before I told Tarun it's a little bit I feel like it's like a Mary trash is it way way this you call it I don't particularly like that term a Mary just American type game or what a

23:13 Mary game I will call it a Mary game let's ask all at Mary game yeah because it's really matter why I do like the theme it is thematic and it does have some sort of take that not fully take that but when you get to move around the police because you don't wanna get captured you can move it through your opponent's I know it is maybe gave it as well but you'd be small it's got lights like take that element I think anyway yeah a little bit and I guess you open yourself up to being take that it by getting notoriety but as long as you're moving a closer you could affect someone else's game is great you could choose to different this one isn't it was very different I think a couple of things that struck me a merry game but it's it feels a little bit like that a little bit I think the couple things that struck me like like a few of these the gameplay there are a couple things about the gameplay that turned out differently to how imagine imagine it from the rulebook so one was as you were getting less income as the game was going on I'd seen how that worked in lisboa mm where the value of the different products drop down to pretty much nothing yeah as the game went on whereas with a skate plan you just didn't have time to visit all of the locations and so my income was yeah the income was still like five or

24:44 six at the end of the game so it's still a way of getting money hmm I think the the first the first round where they were only like four locations on the board neither of us really knew what we were doing yes but I think it's hard to lose the game in those three turns as well mm-hmm because pretty much everything you're gonna do is gonna have some value does it need to be I can't remember does it need to be but this is shopping it to appear at the space ramp or doesn't need to be always at all totally random I think there is a shop this is shot I think there's always a shop but this is okay yeah so at least you know that's probably where people want to go at first to go and get shops get supply again things who try to help them in the game yeah cuz I went I went got a gang first up I think you went to a shop first up um and I remember is that was a mistake I remember after the second turn I'd like pin myself you know I didn't have enough movement to get anywhere useful or anywhere terribly useful but ya know we're sort of dancing around I think once the game got to the third phase and late in the second phase I could sort of see what I was trying to do I would never what to do I was never gonna get to all the buildings but I was gonna get to my one cluster yeah I had a

26:15 key so I could get into the site that you closed off for me I done enough things to get a couple of extra actions and it was almost like the places I was going didn't buy the end it didn't make a big difference it was all about working out the movement puzzle and so all this investing in gangs and investing in riot gear and stuff like that or things that would harm oh oh that would ruin my wounds at the start of the game all of that started to come to effect and it's sort of coming to that realization that you can take some wins and it's not going to harm you that badly that's what I've done wrong as well I feel like good efficient and I had a cart that used me wouldn't heal and then I didn't even use it and then at the end a half extra movement I had to escape first because I can't afford to pay the ten money to escape the second time yeah so yeah definitely so you got that one as well in the bag yeah yeah I think the we definitely were both too gun-shy on taking wins yeah yeah yeah and if we play it again we would dodge more cops that way and then sort of thinking about how that place is in with your placement and realizing like when I read the rules there were so many movement options you get a subway at a heliport yeah helipad with the gang members which I never even

27:45 really thought I would use but then I saw how valuable all of that yeah we didn't know how to start that's definitely valuable and just just a little thing like gasoline is that just that one extra movement is it's very helpful and I did mention you to you as well it's one of those games where if you don't exit you basically just lose the game so I don't know what is it cause it's like just this thing get it or lose it's like in Google if you don't reach the the Temple of Heaven if you haven't it heavenly purity then you lose so it makes me worried if I don't count all my movements correctly then I might lose so that might actually makes me a little bit inefficient because I make sure I have this I have this and then at the end had extra things that I could have done but I didn't do just to make sure that average oh you might be just like just enough I usually a little bit over yeah it's always an interesting way I found that with googling we've played at each time we've played it like everyone's got to the top really easily you don't have to yeah but if you don't know if your first game was like oh you've had that an Akron experiences right oh my god yes it's um I forgot to go to the the evacuation evacuation that's right that doesn't not that bad a flop what I will say for this game is that there were I think eight different locations so I was explaining eight different

29:18 rules plus the the movement ones so it was but there are essentially eight different actions maybe I guess because the exit had three options are like ten different actions you only get ten or eleven actions in the game yeah and so I spent a lot of time explaining actions that we weren't using we didn't go to clinic yeah there are other things as well I didn't go to actually get income you did yeah and I think that was that was the one negative for me is that you've got an hour of rules to teach because there's so many options yeah but then players can ignore half the options and still have a good crack at the game so yeah so having played at the once I think if I taught it again I would put more emphasis on the movement puzzle element of it make sure people were planning that side of it out because whichever way you choose to go and get money you should be able to make it work yeah I know that that's it could be a little bit overwhelming but maybe for advanced players probably not that's like a lot of option they can you can just use however the actions or options and then just you know completely dress and you'll be fine I don't know and we play two player which have to have the sander mechanic yeah well yes oh that's only two plays yep okay with three players you don't need to block as many things out now we have brings us to the last one on last but not least on

30:48 so this is one of the it's actually the reason the most recent relation yes so on Matt so this is Big John's William I do have short video on mass on one month well three four minutes just outlining the five of the game and it's essentially I think it's just doing work at placement back and forth from the mass and space station so you gonna have to it's kind of the game kind of gives you incentive to move often because every time you move you get bonus and the bonus usually pretty good yeah I will say that that was when I saw that mechanic like sometimes when I'm reading rules or seeing videos and sometimes I'll see a mechanic that I just think that's brilliant mm-hm or I really want to try that and you know that was what I first felt when I saw the bank in videos and when I saw the back and forth mechanic on on Mars I just thought yeah that's that really works I'm really interested to to play that and the fact that it gets longer as the game goes on really works with the game having once we played it or something I don't know how that would go but it actually it does really work particularly because you can just drop back down to earth you don't well on that one isn't it I did win our game yes I think the three player games it was a while back yep yep um I forget exactly what I did to win I think I scored a

32:19 couple of the fight non-scientist I got a couple of those objective guards which worked okay for me and I was watching the I did a lot of building at the right time I think that was a key element of it yes we did forget some of the LSS bonuses I remember that's okay and in the middle of the a the building that isn't sharing incentive as well there's no limit of shared and champ there because as the you get more resources for a bigger complex and you've got the the lab tech tiles where you use each other so it's very shared incentive in that way do you think on Mars has got similar fields to Black Angel not in the way well it's different mechanics it's dice rafting yeah what's interesting is that's driving in Julia I can Juliet they had died stealing was it drafting I think you rolled it yeah that's okay so yes maybe the theme is basically I think the thing that the thing I would emphasize teaching this again was the most counterintuitive element of the game because it's the only game I can think of where building gives you more resources you tell someone in action is building and they expect to put resources away and gain back a building

33:49 and here you are either giving up one resource to get a different resource or if it's a complex you're giving it one resource to get like four resources and so it's the only really only game I can think of where it's one of your main ways of getting resources immediately is building Wow yes and I guess it's the equivalent of your you're building something which is then gonna produce for you and many games have that way I build and then it produces every round but not right away but not right away and so that's the took me half again to wrap my head around that that was what building meant you still did well so yeah very good sir I love these seven summer off-screen now we talked about this girl and we've got our top three off fidelity this game what are they um I think and you're guessing for me are you I know you unless you change your mind you're Terrence top you know what's in the game is piñas which is over there yeah vinyasa is my top and camera and gallerist would be the other ones in the top three he's been the second is gallerist it depends on the day yeah um but those are the ones we've played the mate yes and additional plays on it I will say I enjoyed them the most on the first play as well but you know as additional

35:19 players with the others may bring them up my my first one would move the nose as well and second one is gallerist that's a fair one it one D can bend oh yeah because of that complex I'm just looking at this it might be lisboa yeah not because I want it but it's I know it's like I was thinking about co2 because I like all the thief game but that you know mechanics like there's a lot of things and then use I'm pretty sure at least boy I was basically just focusing on certain actions not all of them I just wanna beast this is nothing oh yeah it does have a bit of that with so many actions you can't afford to ignore yeah Ellen's on I remember what you did well actually you you just weren't paying resources to do the I didn't realize how much it hurt you going back to it was going in to slip a card under your bore and pay the resources to do the action I did way too much of that oh I just ran out of resource oh you didn't do that at all okay I don't remember that thank you action so they go so those are our top three favorite or Fidelis in their games now I'd like to know what's your top play favorite or fiddle or so games oh and why and maybe your least favorite so I just write in the comment sections below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can so that's it from us I think you're probably listening to us long enough so if you like this video please hit like button that will help us alone and if you haven't already subscribed to us please click the maple in the corner some you'll appear at one stage and or

36:51 just click down below and subscribe to us and we do a lot of videos how to play play true and so on and I'm also on social media Twitter Instagram so hopefully I'll see you and check to you in one of those and hopefully I'll see you later bye