0:13

Hello and welcome. I'm

0:13

Rachel. I'm Jake. And we're so

0:18

bored. The Podcast where each

0:18

episode we take a close look at

0:22

a tabletop game and discuss our

0:22

personal experiences with said

0:25

game to help answer the

0:25

question, Will this cure our

0:27

boredom?

0:28

That's right, we look at

0:28

the mechanics complexity and

0:31

replayability in a game to

0:31

determine if it's the perfect

0:33

alternative to say, well,

0:33

putting away the multiple weeks

0:38

of laundry that have been piling

0:38

up in your closet because you've

0:41

just been too lazy to put it

0:41

away so far. But now you can't

0:44

find any of your underwear no

0:44

matter how much you dig. So you

0:47

guess you just have to put it

0:47

away and hope all the underwear

0:50

hasn't been eaten by your puppy.

0:52

We have one dog who eats

0:52

clothes, and particularly, she

0:57

really likes Jake's underwear.

0:59

She likes my underwear.

0:59

She likes jackets.

1:02

She's eaten several

1:02

pairs of my pajama pants.

1:04

Yep, she's eaten some of

1:04

mine. And she's eaten T shirts.

1:07

So clothes or food,

1:09

clothes are food.

1:09

Apparently. Just as a reminder,

1:13

again, I am streaming on Twitch

1:13

semi regularly, my schedule

1:17

changes each week. So that is up

1:17

to date on my Twitch page. And

1:21

the Schedule page is up to date

1:21

each week that you can find me

1:24

on Twitch at Naughty Dog 541.

1:24

That's NAU GH, T Y D o c 541.

1:30

And I'm very excited because I

1:30

just started streaming Elden

1:34

ring. It came out last week. And

1:34

it's amazing.

1:37

And I'm very excited

1:37

because it's our one year

1:40

anniversary. So our first

1:40

episode released on March

1:50

2 2021. And well today's March

1:50

1 2020. Yo, boy beta. I'm so

2:00

happy and excited. It feels so

2:00

long and yet so short all at the

2:04

same time.

2:05

Yeah, I totally get that

2:05

feeling. I feel like it was a

2:08

lifetime ago that we started

2:08

this podcast. But at the same

2:12

time, I don't know where the

2:12

time is gone. Yet. When we

2:15

started this podcast, I was in

2:15

Tucson, I was living in Tucson.

2:19

Oh man. And if you go

2:19

back and listen to those first

2:21

episodes, the audio quality is

2:21

definitely worse. I apologize

2:25

for that. Like you can hear

2:25

traffic in the background. And I

2:29

think we've definitely figured

2:29

out how better to remove sounds

2:33

and also how better to just set

2:33

ourselves up to not have sounds

2:38

in the background. So definitely

2:38

better quality, and hopefully

2:41

other things. Hopefully it's

2:41

smoother and easier to listen

2:45

to. And hopefully we've kind of

2:45

got it all figured out. I don't

2:48

know You tell me.

2:49

But in celebration of our

2:49

one year anniversary, we are

2:52

doing another giveaway that I've

2:52

been very excited about

2:55

actually, we're gonna give away

2:55

the game that we're talking

2:59

about in this episode. Now the

2:59

link to this giveaway is going

3:03

to be accessible from our

3:03

Facebook page. We will be making

3:06

a post about it on Instagram as

3:06

well and it will take place on

3:10

gleam. It's the platform that we

3:10

like to use, there's going to be

3:13

multiple ways to enter all of

3:13

them free. And we're giving away

3:17

a copy of Dune Imperium, which

3:17

I'm very excited about because

3:21

this game is a highly rated game

3:21

in the board game community. On

3:24

board game geeks website is

3:24

consistently in the top 20

3:27

games, and it's actually

3:27

relatively new. It was published

3:30

by direwolf in 2020. It was

3:30

designed by Paul Denon, with art

3:34

by Clay Brooks role Ramos and

3:34

Nate storm. And if any of you

3:40

aren't familiar with Dune, well,

3:40

that makes two of us I'm not

3:44

super familiar with it, I want

3:44

to be I want to be more

3:48

interested in it. I tried to

3:48

read the books, and it is just

3:51

really hard to read the bugs.

3:54

I also tried to read the

3:54

book, and I'm sorry, like, I

3:57

guess it's more surprising the

3:57

Jeep couldn't get into it

4:00

because I'm very picky about my

4:00

space fantasies anyway. But I

4:05

started reading it and I was

4:05

like, this is just Star Wars.

4:08

And I'm sure someone is gonna

4:08

yell at me and be like, but dude

4:11

came out first,

4:12

it did come out first. And

4:12

it's not Star Wars. It's just

4:16

the problem I had with it was I

4:16

was reading it and they throw

4:19

all these words at you. Like a

4:19

lot of the words are based off

4:23

of Arabic or in that nature. And

4:23

they expect you to know what

4:27

these terms are, even though

4:27

they haven't really explained

4:30

them yet. And they use multiple

4:30

in a sentence. And then multiple

4:33

sentences in the paragraph have

4:33

these words and I have no idea

4:36

what's going on. And I'm

4:36

completely lost. So I really

4:40

need to go watch the movies for

4:40

what I'm saying. And then I'll

4:42

read the book.

4:43

But yeah, I mean, it's

4:43

kind of cool because this review

4:47

is coming to you from the

4:47

perspective of two people who

4:50

don't really know the dune

4:50

universe. Jake was a little bit

4:53

more familiar with it than I

4:53

was. I have no background on

4:56

this. And so I went into the

4:56

game like kind of intentionally

5:01

without looking anything up and

5:01

wanted to see how the game

5:05

stands? Like, from that

5:05

perspective on its own? Is it a

5:09

solid game? Or does it really

5:09

rely on your like nostalgia of

5:14

the dune universe? And spoiler

5:14

alert, it does stand on its own.

5:18

It's a good game.

5:19

All I really know about

5:19

Dune is this, I know what the

5:22

gums are bar is I know what's in

5:22

the box. And I know that Paula

5:27

tradies is the key throughout

5:27

hotrock. Yep, that that's the

5:30

word. You know, that's what he

5:30

is. But so I'm really excited

5:34

about this game, because I have

5:34

a lot of praise for it. Like

5:37

Rachel said, despite not really

5:37

knowing a whole lot about dune

5:40

itself. It is an asymmetric

5:40

starting game with deck building

5:45

elements and worker placement.

5:45

And it is chef's kiss ma

5:50

beautiful. As we said, this is

5:50

an asymmetric start game, each

5:55

player is going to get to either

5:55

choose or be randomly assigned,

5:59

depending on how you want to

5:59

play a character from the dune

6:03

universe. They each have their

6:03

own unique powers throughout the

6:06

game, one that can be used at

6:06

all times. And the other that is

6:10

kind of a more special one.

6:10

Typically, that is activated

6:13

when you use a specific card

6:13

from your starting deck.

6:15

Yeah, and I think we'll

6:15

talk in more detail about

6:18

specific characters and who we

6:18

played in our experiences

6:22

section.

6:23

Yeah, and I think there

6:23

are eight to 10. In the base

6:26

game,

6:26

there's a decent number

6:26

to select from what I read in

6:29

the rulebook is that there's two

6:29

per house.

6:32

Yeah, and some of them are

6:32

what's to say more useful than

6:36

others?

6:37

Definitely. Alright, so

6:37

getting into like the rules in

6:41

the setup, like so many other

6:41

games, your goal is to get the

6:44

most victory points, you get

6:44

victory points by doing various

6:48

numbers of things, you know,

6:48

winning conflicts or gaining

6:51

influence with factions that are

6:51

associated with the dune

6:55

universe. So let's talk about

6:55

some of the factions. I'm

6:59

describing some of the worker

6:59

placement slots here for these

7:02

factions. But I'm not going into

7:02

super detail or I'm trying not

7:06

to go into super detail here. So

7:06

I've got the emperor, he will

7:09

give you Solari which is the

7:09

currency of the universe. It's,

7:14

you know, your gold or your

7:14

money. And then he will allow

7:17

you to trade spice for troops

7:17

solare and intrigue cards, which

7:22

are just kind of helpful

7:22

throughout the game. Then we

7:24

have the spacing guild, they

7:24

will give you a space fold card

7:29

that lets you move a worker

7:29

anywhere before trashing it. And

7:33

we'll talk a little bit more

7:33

about what that means and how

7:36

that works. When we get into the

7:36

actual like cards and deck

7:39

building elements of this. They

7:39

will also let you trade spice

7:43

for a large number of troops and

7:43

water. Then you've got the Bene

7:48

Gesserit.

7:49

all right. That is right.

7:49

Bene Gesserit. it's an s not a Z

7:53

Bene.

7:55

Gesserit, sorry. So we

7:55

did our best to look up how to

8:00

pronounce a lot of these things.

8:00

But I'm sorry if something gets

8:03

mispronounced I'm trying real

8:05

hard. We will mispronounce

8:05

words. And I apologize.

8:09

So the Bene Gesserit

8:09

they will give you intrigue

8:12

cards, or let you trade spice so

8:12

that you can trash one card from

8:18

like your discard or your hand

8:18

and then draw two new cards from

8:21

your from the top of your deck.

8:21

And then the last faction is the

8:25

Fremen which will give you water

8:27

which is actually your

8:27

sweat. But yes, it's true, you

8:30

drink it,

8:31

and they will also let

8:31

you trade water for troops. So

8:35

that's kind of a rundown of what

8:35

the factions do for you.

8:38

And those are all worker

8:38

placement slots within those

8:41

factions. There are other worker

8:41

placement slots on the board.

8:44

The lance RAD is the green

8:44

slots. These let you trade

8:48

solare for troops, extra workers

8:48

persuasion to buy new cards, you

8:53

can also use it to buy a

8:53

temporary agent for the next

8:57

round. There are populated areas

8:57

these are the blue worker

9:01

placement slots. These allow you

9:01

to pick up troops intrigue

9:04

cards, draw cards from your deck

9:04

or to get some water. Some of

9:08

these spaces are contested areas

9:08

that you actually fight over for

9:11

control throughout the game in

9:11

different phases of combat. And

9:15

then there are desert slots

9:15

these are where you get your

9:18

spice and the other thing I know

9:18

about Dune is the spice must

9:22

flow I suppose flow spice must

9:22

flow and then there is a chome

9:29

slot CHOAM the combine honnete

9:29

ober advancer mercantiles. I

9:35

believe that's how it said, this

9:35

allows you to sell your spice

9:38

for Solari.

9:39

Yes. Okay. So those are

9:39

like the spots that appear on

9:43

the board. And then you know,

9:43

the other aspect of this game is

9:46

deck building. So if you've

9:46

played Clank or you've listened

9:50

to our episode on Clank, I feel

9:50

like the deck building is very

9:54

similar to that. And I mean,

9:54

that's partly because it was

9:57

also developed by direwolf. But

9:57

if you haven't played that game

10:01

or haven't listened to that

10:01

episode, we're gonna explain it

10:03

again here. So everyone starts

10:03

with the same deck of 10 cards.

10:08

And when you gain new cards,

10:08

which you can purchase with

10:12

persuasion, when you gain new

10:12

cards, they are added to your

10:16

discard pile and shuffled into

10:16

your new deck when you run out

10:19

of cards, the anatomy of a card.

10:19

So basically, in the upper left

10:25

corner, you'll have the title

10:25

like Queen sat hotrock, that's

10:28

the title of a card. Underneath

10:28

that you may have an associated

10:33

faction that that goes with, I

10:33

don't remember if that card is

10:38

associated with a particular

10:38

faction, not all cards are

10:40

associated with factions, but

10:40

some are and some have effects

10:44

that are dependent on having

10:44

other cards within the same

10:47

faction or of a specific

10:47

faction. And so that just means

10:51

like, Hey, if you have more

10:51

friend cards that you're playing

10:54

with right now, like in your

10:54

hand, then this card might have

10:58

an extra powerful effect or

10:58

something, yes, over in the

11:03

right corner, you'll have a

11:03

little blue diamond, that is the

11:06

cost of the card in persuasion.

11:06

So there's a market of these

11:10

cards that can be purchased five

11:10

at any time, and you will always

11:15

have to have a certain amount of

11:15

persuasion to purchase them. And

11:18

each card has its own unique

11:18

cost for that there may also be

11:21

something underneath the

11:21

persuasion cost that describes

11:26

any kind of immediate benefit

11:26

that is gained. So that might

11:30

describe like you get a victory

11:30

point or you gain more influence

11:34

in a particular faction or

11:34

something like that when you

11:37

obtain the card. And then over

11:37

back on the left side, we've got

11:43

in the middle, there's various

11:43

numbers of symbols. And these

11:47

are lined up with the worker

11:47

placement slots that are on the

11:50

board. And so this is describing

11:50

where you can place your worker

11:54

with this card based on you

11:54

know, what is shown there. And

11:58

so it might have faction

11:58

symbols, or the yellow, green or

12:02

blue symbols describing the

12:02

other worker placement slots.

12:06

And then at the bottom part of

12:06

the card, it's actually divided

12:10

into two sections. So you've got

12:10

the gray section in the blue

12:12

section. And the gray section is

12:12

what you use or what gets

12:17

activated if you use this card

12:17

to place a worker. And then the

12:22

blue section is what happens if

12:22

the card is still in your hand

12:27

after you're done placing all

12:27

your workers and you go to the

12:30

reveal step, which we'll talk

12:30

more about in a second as well.

12:34

And this is what I've

12:34

found is really interesting

12:36

about this game is that it's a

12:36

deck building card. But the

12:39

cards have two different ways

12:39

that you can use them, which is

12:43

really interesting. And the way

12:43

that you can build your deck to

12:47

build off of these different

12:47

effects. You can use the same

12:49

card two different ways. Or if

12:49

another card says you can trash

12:53

your card. Now you have a third

12:53

way to use this card if you need

12:55

to. It's really cool. Yeah. So

12:55

when when you're building your

12:59

deck, you need to consider a

12:59

couple things when you're

13:02

purchasing the card. Where will

13:02

this card allow you to place

13:04

your workers? Do you need other

13:04

cards of the same faction or

13:08

another faction to get the

13:08

required full effect of the

13:11

bonus effect. There's also the

13:11

persuasion and combat power that

13:15

you can use or secondary effects

13:15

for the reveal step. Those are

13:19

all things that need to be

13:19

considered when building your

13:21

deck. So it's not just like

13:21

quick where it's, Hey, you do

13:24

this on this turn, or this is

13:24

what you can get by using this

13:27

card, it's a little more in

13:27

depth. And I really liked that.

13:30

Yeah, and I wouldn't

13:30

even say that that's an

13:32

exhaustive list of everything

13:32

that needs to be considered.

13:35

That was some of the highlights,

13:35

and particularly where it allows

13:40

you to place your workers, it's

13:40

something important that I think

13:43

I always forget, I'm always

13:43

looking at what the bottom

13:47

effects are for placing your

13:47

workers or for revealing it at

13:50

the end. But I forgot to look at

13:50

where you can actually place

13:53

your workers. And then I ended

13:53

up having a lopsided deck that

13:56

doesn't allow me to go visit one

13:56

particular faction or something

14:00

like that. It makes it difficult

14:00

to gain influence and gain

14:04

victory points in that way. And

14:04

so that's something important to

14:07

remember. So a player turn

14:07

unfolds in this manner. First,

14:13

you reveal the conflict. So this

14:13

is a deck of 10 cards that's

14:16

constructed at the beginning of

14:16

the game that describes

14:20

basically what you're fighting

14:20

over for that round. So if you

14:23

deploy any troops to the

14:23

conflicts, the person who ends

14:26

up having the most power,

14:26

there's a first place prize, a

14:29

second place prize and a third

14:29

place if you have four players.

14:33

And so you'll reveal that conflict card at the very beginning of the round. And

14:35

people can see like what they

14:38

have the potential of gaining if

14:38

they decide to join the

14:40

conflict. And then you've got

14:40

the player turn, which starts

14:44

with you drawing five cards from

14:44

your deck. And then it's divided

14:47

into two phases, which we

14:47

already kind of talked about. So

14:50

you've got the agent phase, and

14:50

that's where you go and you

14:53

place your workers. And then

14:53

you've got the reveal phase,

14:56

which is when you're done

14:56

placing workers either when you

14:59

run out or If you decide that

14:59

you don't want to place any more

15:02

workers, you can go to the

15:02

reveal. But once you do the

15:05

reveal, you can't go back and do

15:05

an agent phase reveal is the

15:09

last thing you do. So you just

15:09

go around the table taking one

15:14

of these turns until everybody

15:14

has done their reveal. Yes. So

15:18

on an agent turn, you play a

15:18

card from your hands, and you

15:21

move a worker to one of the

15:21

slots that is described over in

15:25

like the middle left side of the

15:25

card, you'll gain the rewards

15:28

from that worker placement slot

15:28

and gain any rewards that are in

15:32

the gray section at the bottom

15:32

of that card. And then when you

15:37

do your reveal turn, you will

15:37

gain the reward that is in the

15:41

blue section

15:43

of any cards remaining in

15:43

your hand that you have not used

15:46

for agents.

15:48

Yes. So you start out

15:48

the game with only two agents

15:53

and you draw five cards. So if

15:53

you place both of your agents

15:57

somewhere, you'll have three

15:57

cards left for the reveal

16:01

turn that potentially have

16:01

revealed bonuses, they may or

16:05

may not not all cards do. Yes.

16:05

So the combat that is taking

16:09

place during the round is

16:09

measured by troops that are

16:12

being deployed to conflict areas

16:12

or conflict areas, troops can be

16:16

played to this area, if somebody

16:16

places a worker in the worker

16:20

placement slots of one of the

16:20

contested areas, there are

16:23

three, any troops recruited this

16:23

round and up to two from the

16:27

garrison can be deployed on this

16:27

turn. So as long as you have

16:31

somebody in a contested area, if

16:31

your next turn or any turn after

16:36

that, before you reveal is

16:36

putting a worker in a worker

16:41

placement slot that allows you

16:41

to gain troops, you can also

16:44

deploy all of those troops to

16:44

the conflict as well, or you can

16:47

put them in your garrison up to

16:47

you. Yes, during the reveal turn

16:51

you calculate the number of

16:51

combat powers as two for each

16:55

cube, which is in the combat

16:55

area for each player, and one

16:59

for each sword in the blue

16:59

section of the revealed guard.

17:02

So that's the bonus combat power

17:02

in the reveal. So at the

17:06

beginning of the combat phase,

17:06

players can play any number of

17:09

intrigue cards to add to their

17:09

combat power. Oh, first, second,

17:12

and third place are calculated.

17:12

Once everybody has played the

17:16

entry cards, you only do Third,

17:16

if you have four people in the

17:19

game, like Rachel said earlier,

17:19

otherwise, this is first and

17:21

second. Combat can award a lot

17:21

of different things. It can

17:25

award victory points control of

17:25

a contested area influence with

17:29

a faction different resources,

17:29

and sometimes it can get

17:32

multiple things.

17:34

Yeah. And I found that

17:34

as you go through the game, the

17:40

later and later conflict cards

17:40

end up having better and better

17:44

rewards. So the first couple

17:44

cards are probably not going to

17:47

give you victory points. But as

17:47

you're getting later, okay,

17:51

yeah, you're getting victory

17:51

points, maybe even two victory

17:53

points for winning combat. So

17:53

it's really worth it to

17:57

participate in that, because

17:57

that's one of the main ways that

18:01

you receive victory points, yes.

18:01

Okay. After combat, you have the

18:06

makers phase, which is where the

18:06

sandworms produce extra spice

18:10

that goes on any desert slots

18:10

that don't have an agent on

18:13

them. And so that's from the

18:13

player turn phase where you were

18:18

placing agents, those are still

18:18

there. And so they only go on

18:21

slots where agents don't exist.

18:21

And then it's the recall phase,

18:26

you know, you'll go in, you'll

18:26

check in see if the end game has

18:29

been triggered, which is by

18:29

running on a conflict cards, or

18:33

if someone has reached 10

18:33

victory points. And if that

18:36

hasn't happened, then everyone

18:36

takes their workers back clears

18:40

the troops and prepares for the

18:40

next round, then it just goes

18:43

like that.

18:43

Yeah, and as we said, the

18:43

goal of the game is to have 10

18:47

victory points and the most at

18:47

the end of the game. Because

18:50

once you get to 10, you finished

18:50

the round that somebody got 10

18:54

in. And there are different end

18:54

of game entry cards or ways that

19:00

you can actually earn more than

19:00

10 victory points at the end of

19:02

the game. So you can trigger the

19:02

end of the game. But somebody

19:07

else during that final turn

19:07

could actually end up having

19:09

more points than you and you

19:09

losing. Yes. So it's kind of

19:12

interesting that way, I really

19:12

like that. And that'll kind of

19:15

lead into our experiences with

19:15

the game actually. Because there

19:19

are lots of things I like about

19:19

this game. That being one of

19:23

them.

19:23

Yeah. Okay, I want to

19:23

start out with saying something

19:27

and then we can talk about all

19:27

the great things that Jake has

19:29

to say,

19:30

oh, no, you, you're gonna

19:30

you're gonna talk crap about

19:33

this awesome game.

19:34

No, I'm not. I want to

19:34

share a story. So almost a year

19:41

ago, I did an analysis on what

19:41

are the top games that people

19:46

would be interested in listening

19:46

to a podcast episode about,

19:50

oh, I know what story

19:50

you're telling.

19:54

I did this through

19:54

Facebook polls, and I did

19:58

several iterations of it and

19:58

then I put off The data into an

20:00

Excel spreadsheet like a nerd.

20:00

And I made a graph of what are

20:06

like the top 10 games that

20:06

people are interested in. And

20:09

that largely drove our first

20:09

one, I don't know, 15 episodes,

20:14

I would say. So even back then,

20:14

dune Imperium was number three

20:19

on that list. And ever since

20:19

then Jake has been trying to get

20:24

me to play this game. I was so

20:24

against it, I didn't want to

20:29

have anything to do with it, I

20:29

figured that it would require

20:33

that I have an interest in the

20:33

world in the movie in the in the

20:38

book, you know, and I wasn't, I

20:38

wasn't looking forward to an

20:42

experience that's like really

20:42

heavily reliant on me like

20:46

knowing about that world. I

20:46

wasn't excited about that. And

20:50

so it's taken almost a year for

20:50

Jake to convince me that we need

20:54

to play this game. And I'm

20:54

really glad that he was

20:57

persistent. And he did, because

20:57

this actually stands up on its

21:01

own really well. You don't need

21:01

to know anything about the dune

21:05

world, you don't need to know

21:05

the background. The rulebook

21:08

gives you a very, very basic

21:08

understanding of some of the

21:12

concepts for like the factions.

21:12

But you don't need that either.

21:16

Rachel has a great point

21:16

here. But she is wrong about one

21:20

thing you do need to know one

21:20

thing, the spice must flow rice

21:25

must flow. That's what you have

21:25

to know. Okay. But other than

21:31

that, no, you don't need to know

21:31

anything about dune.

21:33

Yeah. So I mean, the

21:33

point that I'm saying is, is

21:36

that I was wrong about this game

21:36

I had incorrectly, you know,

21:40

assumed something about it, and

21:40

about the requirements in order

21:43

to have fun with it. And I think

21:43

that's probably why this game is

21:48

still in the BGG, like top 20

21:48

list, it's been that way for a

21:53

year, well, actually probably

21:53

longer since it came out, I'm

21:56

guessing, but because you can

21:56

just enjoy it without knowing

22:01

anything about it.

22:02

And it is a very well put

22:02

together game, I think it is

22:06

awesome. So one of the things I

22:06

kind of talked about a little

22:09

bit is this play on deck build,

22:09

it's a kind of a spin on it,

22:12

because every other deck

22:12

building game I've ever played

22:15

is you get the card, and you can

22:15

use it one way, pretty much.

22:19

That's it text on the card has

22:19

one way to use it. This has two

22:24

and three. And sometimes four

22:24

ways that you can use this card

22:28

because of how they all interact

22:28

with each other with the

22:30

different factions. So like the

22:30

Bene Gesserit cards requiring

22:33

another one or from a card

22:33

requiring another friend card to

22:36

get another effect. Or you can

22:36

trash this card to get an effect

22:40

on this other card. Or you can

22:40

try to get new cards from one of

22:44

the worker placement slots. Or

22:44

you can actually use it as an

22:47

agent card or you can use it in

22:47

the reveal. There's a lot of

22:50

different ways that you can use

22:50

these cards. It's not just this

22:53

is it, this is what it does for

22:53

you. Most of the time. There's a

22:57

couple that are that way, pretty

22:57

much we didn't really talk about

23:01

it. They're called reserve

23:01

cards. These are three cards

23:05

that are always the same. They

23:05

are the Arachis agents are the

23:08

rackets liaison, they are the

23:08

fold space, and then they are

23:12

the spice must flow cards. They

23:12

always have the same effect. But

23:16

they're always available at the

23:16

market. But I really liked that

23:19

aspect that you're not locked

23:19

into how you're going to use

23:22

this card necessarily. You have

23:22

options.

23:24

Yeah. And I mean, I

23:24

wouldn't. Well, I guess I would

23:28

agree that those only have one

23:28

way really of being used,

23:31

the spice must flow, you

23:31

can trash it if you need to.

23:34

Because you already got the

23:34

victory point for so that's the

23:36

other thing that the spice must

23:36

flow is an expensive card, it's

23:38

nine persuasion. But when you

23:38

buy it, you immediately get a

23:42

victory report. And if it comes

23:42

back up in your deck at the

23:45

reveal, you get to spice or you

23:45

can trash it, you already have

23:49

the victory point get rid of it.

23:49

Actually, I

23:51

wonder about that.

23:51

Because other aspects of the

23:54

game though, say that if you

23:54

lose this, then you lose the

23:58

victory points. So like, for

23:58

example, the influence that you

24:01

gain with the different

24:01

factions. If you reach to

24:05

influence with them, you gain a

24:05

victory point. But if you ever

24:07

go below two, you lose that

24:07

victory points.

24:11

I agree with that. Like

24:11

that makes sense. And that's

24:14

what is outlined. But I think if

24:14

you're going to be able to spend

24:17

nine persuasion in one turn to

24:17

purchase this card, because

24:21

that's a lot of persuasion. You

24:21

keep the victory point. That's

24:25

what I think. Okay, that's how I

24:25

would play it.

24:28

I'm just saying that I

24:28

would maybe double check that,

24:31

but that's fine.

24:32

Another really cool thing

24:32

I like about this game is it can

24:35

change drastically in one turn,

24:35

like you can be one turn away

24:41

from winning, and somebody

24:41

trailing three, four points

24:44

behind and the next turn you

24:44

lose. So in the two games that

24:49

we've played, it has happened

24:49

that in one turn, a player has

24:53

gained four victory points in a

24:53

single round,

24:56

which is significant

24:56

when you're talking about only

24:58

10 victory points. totals

24:58

needed, right?

25:02

Like that's, that's really

25:02

significant. First, Rachel did

25:05

it in our first game, because I

25:05

triggered the end of game

25:07

scenario, got the 10. And she

25:07

was at five. And she almost got

25:14

her fifth, She almost got five

25:14

in one turn, it was so close.

25:18

Yeah, I was like two

25:18

spice away from getting a fifth

25:22

victory point. In that turn. I

25:22

think if I had two more, I would

25:27

have had an influence card that

25:27

I could have triggered to give

25:30

me another victory point. And

25:30

then I actually would have won

25:34

because I had another influence

25:34

card that said that I would have

25:38

10 extra spice at the end of the

25:38

game. And we would have been

25:41

tied at 10 points. And so spice

25:41

would have broken the tie and I

25:45

would have won. Yes. So it was

25:45

very like tense at the end,

25:51

like, Oh, who's gonna win this?

25:54

Yeah. And then the second

25:54

game we played. So the first

25:57

game we played with two people

25:57

in the atomica. But we played

26:01

Rachel and I together, and then

26:01

the game itself. And then for

26:05

the second game, we played with

26:05

four people. And I was at six

26:08

victory points, and another

26:08

person was at seven. And on the

26:12

ninth turn, because there's only

26:12

10 rounds. The ninth turn, I was

26:16

able to get four victory points

26:16

by raising my influence with

26:20

three factions and then

26:20

purchasing a spiciness flow card

26:24

with all my stuff at the end,

26:24

because I had built this deck

26:28

that allowed me to just continue

26:28

drawing cards into my hand, so

26:31

it would be able to buy a crap

26:31

ton at the end. But also in that

26:35

second game, I was playing as

26:35

Helen Ricci's. And she is so

26:41

broken her constant ability is

26:41

that on the green and blue

26:45

worker placement slots, it

26:45

doesn't matter if somebody else

26:48

is there not I can just go there.

26:50

Yeah. And that, that is

26:50

so huge, because there are green

26:53

and blue worker placement slots

26:53

that give you four troops, which

26:57

is significant, that give you

26:57

solare and allow you to draw

27:02

cards and allow you to like

27:02

participate in the conflict,

27:06

when normally that's limited to

27:06

three, there's only three

27:09

conflict spaces. But technically

27:09

Jake can go somewhere that

27:13

someone else has already been.

27:13

So now we've got four people

27:15

participating in the conflict.

27:15

Mm hmm.

27:18

And then when I'm also

27:18

able to just continue getting

27:21

four troops even if somebody

27:21

else has been there. Yeah, it's

27:26

broken. It was way Opie, she's

27:26

my favorite. She's gonna be my

27:30

girl,

27:31

you know. And it's

27:31

funny, because we're just

27:34

sitting at a table, like

27:34

finishing up our dinner getting

27:36

ready to play the game. And Jake

27:36

is flipping through all the

27:40

people and he's like, Whoa, I

27:40

want to play this chick. And I'm

27:43

like, okay, okay, well, I think

27:43

since we're playing with some

27:46

new people that we should

27:46

shuffle and do a randomized

27:49

assignment of who we're playing.

27:49

And then somehow

27:53

I want to give a

27:53

disclaimer. Disclaimer, I was

27:57

the last one to select my

27:57

character. And, yes, the card

28:01

was bent, but you were holding

28:01

the bent corner in your thumbs

28:04

like. So how would I know?

28:10

So Jake, got this one

28:10

guard that he wanted.

28:15

And she paid off big time.

28:15

She's awesome. She's my

28:18

favorite. I will play whenever I

28:18

can. And Jake one, so I have won

28:23

both of the games I've played.

28:23

So unfortunately, I'll never be

28:26

able to play this game again.

28:28

Yeah, I can't risk

28:28

losing that win streak. Now.

28:31

Since we're talking about the

28:31

characters that we were playing,

28:34

I wanted to talk about my

28:34

character that I played in the

28:37

first game, which was Baron

28:37

Harkonnen. And he was way more

28:44

useful than the person who was

28:44

playing in my second game, which

28:47

was Countess Arianna Thorvald.

28:47

So Baron Harkonnen, his just

28:52

kind of natural all the time

28:52

ability was the if you place

28:56

four troops in a single turn,

28:56

you get increased influence with

29:01

two factions that you selected

29:01

at the beginning of the game,

29:05

which is pretty Opie, if you can

29:05

manage to do that, like, all you

29:09

really need to do is there's two

29:09

different worker placement slots

29:12

that allow you to place four

29:12

troops or more in a single turn,

29:16

that's all you need, is to go to

29:16

one of those spots, and then you

29:20

automatically trigger this

29:20

ability, which increases your

29:24

influence with the two selected

29:24

factions.

29:26

And see that's not even

29:26

necessarily true that there's

29:28

only the two slots that do it.

29:28

Because there's multiple slots

29:31

that give you two workers. And

29:31

then there are cards that when

29:34

you use as an agent, you are

29:34

then able to get two more troops

29:39

out of it. Right. That would

29:39

still I mean, that even opens up

29:42

more if you build your deck that way.

29:43

Yes. I'm just saying.

29:43

Yeah, there's two definite ways

29:46

very easily to do that.

29:48

Yeah. It's so like I said,

29:48

this game, the way that the

29:51

cards work together and how they

29:51

integrate together. It's just

29:56

it's so well done.

29:58

And then you know his

29:58

other abilities. that's

30:00

triggered by his signet ring in

30:00

your starting deck is that he

30:04

can pay once a lottery to pick

30:04

up an entry card, which I found

30:08

that the entry cards are

30:08

incredibly useful. They can give

30:13

you resources, they can give you

30:13

influence, they can give you

30:18

extra combat power, or like

30:18

extra bonuses that you get for

30:21

winning a combat, or they can

30:21

give you extra things happening

30:25

at the end of the game. Very

30:25

useful. And so I really liked

30:28

his abilities, as opposed to

30:28

count as Arianna, her abilities

30:33

were, she's like a spice addict,

30:33

I guess. Okay, someone's gonna

30:37

tell me about how, yes, this is

30:37

part of the lore. But the way

30:41

that that plays out in mechanics

30:41

in the game is that when you go

30:43

to a place to harvest spice, you

30:43

automatically take one away, you

30:47

just don't get it. And instead,

30:47

you get to draw a card. So I

30:51

know that there's a way to build

30:51

a deck around that. I just

30:54

wasn't prepared to build a deck

30:54

that is all about drawing more

30:58

cards. And like, that's

30:58

typically how Jake plays or like

31:01

both of the games that we've

31:01

played, Jake, I feel like has

31:04

done a good job of building a

31:04

deck like that. But I just, I

31:07

guess I wasn't prepared to do

31:07

that. And I couldn't quite make

31:10

it work for me. And so I didn't

31:10

make like full use of that. And

31:14

it just ended up being really

31:14

annoying that it was harder for

31:16

me to collect spice. And then

31:16

her signet ring just gives her a

31:20

free water. Yep, which is, you

31:20

know, that's nice. But it's easy

31:25

to get water from the front end.

31:25

So I don't know, it just it

31:29

wasn't nearly as useful as Baron

31:29

Harkonnen. And so if I have

31:33

anything negative to say about

31:33

this game, it's just that the

31:37

characters aren't completely

31:37

balanced. You know, there's

31:39

definite advantages to choosing

31:39

one character over another to

31:43

play.

31:44

Yeah. And in my first

31:44

playthrough, I was playing as

31:48

lado a tradies. And his ability

31:48

was, whenever I went to a worker

31:53

placement slot, one of the green

31:53

ones that costs a Laurie, I just

31:56

paid one less. And that was

31:56

nice. And his signet ring was I

32:00

can spend one spice to gain one

32:00

influence with a faction where

32:05

another player has more

32:05

influence than I do, which is

32:08

kind of cool. But in that game,

32:08

I think I only ended up using it

32:12

once, maybe twice. But I use

32:12

that spending one less solare a

32:16

lot. So yes, there are

32:16

definitely starting characters

32:20

that are more useful than

32:20

others, at least on the surface,

32:23

I don't know I have only played

32:23

the two games, I'm sure that

32:27

there are different ways that

32:27

you can use them. As far as

32:30

building your deck around them.

32:30

The one that I am actually

32:34

really interested in is count

32:34

Ibn Ricci's, his card or his

32:39

character allows him to whenever

32:39

you pay for the cost on a work

32:44

replacement slot with solare,

32:44

you also draw a card. So I mean,

32:49

that's, that's nice. So you're

32:49

getting your your agent card

32:51

back, really

32:52

and see like I like that

32:52

better than like the one that I

32:55

had, where I don't get a spice

32:55

like, in my case, I was

32:59

sacrificing something to be able

32:59

to draw card in the one that

33:03

you're describing, you're doing

33:03

something that you already would

33:06

have been doing anyway and

33:06

gaining a card in addition to

33:09

that, like it's clearly a better

33:09

benefit. So yeah,

33:11

for I think for her, it's

33:11

beneficial to gain water. So

33:17

there are three slots that give

33:17

you the the spice, three desert

33:21

slots, and one of them is free.

33:21

One of them cost one water, one

33:24

of them cost two water, they

33:24

each give you one, two, and

33:27

three respectively, plus any

33:27

bonuses that are on there,

33:30

obviously, the more expensive

33:30

one gives you more spice, I

33:32

think for you, it would be

33:32

beneficial to completely ignore

33:35

the one that is free and only go

33:35

on the ones that cost you one

33:39

water or two water. That way,

33:39

you're still getting spice out

33:42

of it. But you're also getting a card back.

33:44

Yeah, the only problem

33:44

with that is that those two

33:47

slots are not conflicted areas.

33:47

And so I can't deploy troops to

33:53

the conflict if I go to one of

33:53

those spots. Whereas if I go to

33:57

the one that's free, I can

33:57

deploy troops to the conflict.

34:00

So I understand. But there

34:00

are also other worker placement

34:03

slots that

34:04

yeah, that just makes it

34:04

an extra worker, like, you know,

34:07

you only have a very limited

34:07

number of workers anyway. And so

34:11

I know it's a big deal to have

34:11

to deploy one to be able to get

34:15

spice and one to be able to go

34:15

to the conflict. And then that

34:19

leaves you maybe one to get

34:19

troops versus one that gets you

34:23

spice and allows you to deploy

34:23

stuff. So the conflict, right,

34:27

like when you have so few

34:27

people, it's really important to

34:30

try it and maximize all the

34:30

things that you're trying to do.

34:33

Yeah, so you only start

34:33

with the two agents, you can you

34:37

can get yourself a third, there

34:37

is a way to get a temporary

34:41

fourth one that you get for one

34:41

round. But yet you are super

34:45

limited on actual workers to

34:45

place. It's both punishing, but

34:51

also it makes it feel fair that

34:51

if you won, you won, and that is

34:56

as I've said before, I like that

34:56

feeling. So I grass. I mean,

35:00

we've talked a lot about this

35:00

game and how much I think it's

35:03

amazing. There is actually an

35:03

add on for this game and

35:07

expansion rise of Ix, I believe,

35:07

or Ix or Ix. It's aI Ix, I don't

35:12

know,

35:12

excuse me, that's rise of nine.

35:14

No, that no, but it is

35:14

new. As of this year, it was

35:19

released in 2022. So it adds

35:19

three new houses for a total of

35:22

six new leaders to start as all

35:22

with unique abilities, and adds

35:26

new technology from the Planet

35:26

Ix. And these are cards with

35:30

permanent effects that are

35:30

purchased with spice. So for

35:33

example, there's a market of I

35:33

think, two or three cards that

35:37

are available at any given time,

35:37

with a workplace with slot there

35:41

to purchase them. And some of

35:41

the effects are, if you win a

35:45

combat, you gain a water or you

35:45

get an extra card at the start

35:49

of your round. Or if you have

35:49

multiple spice must flow cards,

35:53

you get more victory points at

35:53

the end of the game. So they

35:56

seem pretty useful. The only

35:56

thing that I don't necessarily

36:00

like about them is that their

36:00

face up so that anybody can see

36:04

what you purchase, especially

36:04

for the ones like at the end of

36:08

the game, if you have more spice

36:08

must flow cards, you get more

36:11

victory points, then people are

36:11

going to try to prevent you from

36:13

getting those. So I wish that

36:13

you could put them face down.

36:16

And then when you put your work

36:16

or placement slot, you can look

36:19

at them. I'm not telling you,

36:19

buddy, that would be nice. But

36:22

that could be a house rule.

36:22

Anyways, there are also

36:24

Dreadnought that are deployed

36:24

for aerial control. I think this

36:28

allows you to harvest from

36:28

areas. So instead of having a

36:32

worker to place at like the

36:32

desert, if you have your

36:35

Dreadnought there, you can

36:35

actually just get spice for the

36:38

next turn is what I think that

36:38

is I wasn't able to find a lot

36:41

on that. And that's kind of what

36:41

I was reading. And then there

36:45

are infiltrators. And the only

36:45

thing I was able to find is this

36:48

is so that you can outmaneuver

36:48

your opponents. No idea what

36:51

that means. But that's what the

36:51

flavor text says in the synopsis

36:55

for the expansion. It does also

36:55

add what it calls a new

37:00

challenging mode for the game as

37:00

if it wasn't challenging enough.

37:04

So it comes with a harder version.

37:06

That sounds like this

37:06

adds quite a lot. Like this is a

37:09

pretty good expansion.

37:10

It does. And it's I mean,

37:10

we'll get to the ratings on it.

37:13

But it's it's highly rated.

37:13

Definitely sounds worth checking

37:16

out. I mean, I want to I don't

37:16

have this game yet. But I want

37:20

this game. And you're gonna want

37:20

this game to after this episode.

37:23

And you'll be able to get this

37:23

game free if you keep listening.

37:26

Alright, so let's talk

37:26

about Board Game Geek. We've

37:30

already mentioned it a couple

37:30

times, I think that this is very

37:33

highly rated on Board Game Geek,

37:33

you know, it's in there like top

37:36

20 list. And it's has been for

37:36

quite a while just looking at

37:39

the actual ratings on the game.

37:39

There are 17,000 reviews and an

37:45

average rating of 8.33. That's

37:45

pretty high, especially

37:49

something that's got that many

37:49

reviewers and has been out for a

37:54

couple years at this point, you

37:54

know, so I feel like it's kind

37:56

of been through the wringer. And

37:56

it's come out standing really

37:59

good on the other side.

38:00

Yeah, this game is very

38:00

highly rated. And as I said in

38:04

the beginning of the episode,

38:04

it's consistently in the top 20

38:07

slots for the top games on Board

38:07

Game Geek. As of recording, it's

38:12

at the number 16 slot of all

38:12

games on the BoardGameGeek

38:16

website. So this is rated the

38:16

number 16 game of them all.

38:20

And going back to the

38:20

poll that I took last year, you

38:23

know, it was number three on

38:23

that list for things that people

38:26

would be interested in.

38:27

And that's just people who

38:27

told us that's not even like,

38:30

Yeah, we didn't go to the mall

38:30

and do a Family Feud style, kind

38:34

of

38:35

the base game is

38:35

currently selling on Amazon for

38:38

50 US dollars, which is not bad.

38:41

I believe that is actually

38:41

the same on their website as

38:44

well. direwolf digital,

38:46

and then the rise of IX

38:46

or rise of nine is what I'm

38:51

going with expansion is rated at

38:51

8.88. But that doesn't only have

38:56

500 reviews. However, that just

38:56

came out earlier this year.

39:00

Yeah, this year, it's a

39:00

2022 release.

39:02

Okay, so this has been

39:02

out for like maximum two months.

39:07

Exactly. And it's, it has

39:07

500 reviews.

39:10

So I'm sure that the

39:10

number of reviews will increase,

39:14

although as we typically see,

39:14

expansions don't usually get as

39:17

many as the base game. So that

39:17

mansion is also $50, which it

39:22

sounds like it's worth it based

39:22

on everything that it adds to

39:25

the game. I would definitely be

39:25

excited to check it out. It

39:29

would be really cool if I don't

39:29

know we're local board game

39:32

store decided to suddenly be

39:32

stocking this because that's

39:36

where we went and we played the

39:36

original. So that'd be cool if

39:39

that just kind of showed up

39:39

there was available to us, but I

39:43

don't know. We'll see. Yeah. Or

39:43

maybe we'll just end up buying

39:46

it.

39:47

I'm gonna end up buying and

39:49

moving on. Let's talk

39:49

about our rating section. So

39:55

first, we have easy versus

39:55

difficult. This is talking about

39:59

how easy is it for you to pick

39:59

up the game? How easy are the

40:03

rules to understand? Do you have

40:03

to constantly be going back and

40:08

looking things up and

40:08

clarifying. So I would read this

40:11

a little bit more difficult than

40:11

I think the last several games

40:14

we've been reviewing. And part

40:14

of that is going to go into the

40:18

next section about how complex

40:18

it is. I feel like the rules are

40:22

written well, and they do try to

40:22

head off any confusion. The

40:29

rulebook has a clarification

40:29

section, which I don't know if

40:33

I've ever seen that before.

40:33

Maybe like, similar to an FAQ

40:36

section, I guess. But you know,

40:36

they're calling out specific

40:40

things that they know people get

40:40

confused about or have questions

40:44

about. And they're giving a

40:44

little bit more detail about,

40:48

you know, specific person powers

40:48

or factions, or whatever. So

40:53

there's several things that are

40:53

listed there as clarifications.

40:57

And then there are also

40:57

additional sheets that come with

41:02

the game one to describe like

41:02

the solo and the two player

41:06

rules, and then another one to

41:06

basically describe all of the

41:09

different symbols and

41:09

terminologies that you might

41:12

find out a card, because there

41:12

are a lot Yeah, to help kind of

41:16

expand on the understanding of

41:16

what that means. Going

41:18

back to the like the rules

41:18

real quick in their frequently

41:21

asked section or the

41:21

clarification. Something I

41:24

wanted to give an example of was

41:24

Rachel's power for Countess

41:28

Ariana, because the power is

41:28

whenever she gains whenever a

41:32

harvest, whenever you harvest

41:32

spice, you take one less, so we

41:36

didn't know what that applied

41:36

to, because there are cards that

41:39

in the reveal or in the agent

41:39

effects that give you spice, we

41:44

didn't know, I'm gonna go back

41:44

to one more thing I do know

41:47

about dune spice is harvested,

41:47

it's actually a byproduct of the

41:52

larval stage of the sandworms.

41:52

So it has to be harvested. So

41:57

that just means you get it

41:57

right, like you get the spice so

42:00

we weren't sure if that's what

42:00

that means is from anytime you

42:03

get it, or those specific worker

42:03

placement slots, and it is in

42:07

there, it says for specifically,

42:07

it's those worker placement

42:11

slots, all of the spice that you

42:11

get is not harvested, it's just

42:15

game.

42:15

Yeah. And then this kind

42:15

of goes into something that I

42:18

was gonna say, I don't think

42:18

it's actually in the

42:21

clarification section like about

42:21

my character, I think it's on

42:25

the other sheet about like

42:25

terminology and stuff on the

42:28

cards that describes what

42:28

harvesting is. So we spent a

42:34

couple of minutes flipping

42:34

through the rulebook and going

42:36

through all these different

42:36

pages, saying, like, I know, I

42:40

saw this somewhere, you know,

42:40

just trying to remember where

42:43

exactly, and so that definitely

42:43

does, I feel like add to the

42:47

difficulty a little bit, just

42:47

the fact that it's like, Ah, I

42:51

know this is in here somewhere,

42:51

I just can't find it. Yeah, so

42:55

I'm gonna give it I'm gonna give

42:55

it a six.

42:57

Yeah, I'm just gonna give

42:57

it a six and a half a seven on

42:59

difficulty. Yeah, the next

42:59

reading that we like to use is

43:03

simple versus complex. If you're

43:03

not sure what that means, or how

43:07

that's different from easy

43:07

versus difficult. The example we

43:10

like to use is chess. Chess is

43:10

an easy game in the sense that

43:14

there are a limited number of

43:14

pieces, and they make very

43:16

specific moves, they don't

43:16

change. But it's a very complex

43:20

game in the amount of strategy

43:20

that's brought to it. Some of

43:22

the things that we use to

43:22

dictate how complex a game is,

43:26

how to use the mechanics to win,

43:26

are there multiple viable

43:28

strategies to win, how many

43:28

moving pieces are going on? At

43:32

the same time, I'm going to say

43:32

this games are very complex. I

43:35

agree, I would give this

43:35

probably an eight. Honestly,

43:39

that's actually what I

43:39

was thinking as an eight. I feel

43:42

like there are a lot of

43:42

different strategies that go

43:45

into like how you use your

43:45

character power, how you build

43:48

your deck, what kind of slots,

43:48

you focus on working. It's a lot

43:53

more complex than just a

43:53

straight up deck builder,

43:57

because of all these added

43:57

components and different ways of

44:01

using the card, which is cool,

44:01

because that means that there's

44:05

a lot of different ways that you

44:05

can go about winning, right, you

44:09

can build two different

44:09

completely strategies, and they

44:14

can both be viable. Absolutely.

44:14

Which I love that, you know, I

44:18

love kind of finding my own way

44:18

in a board game, and figuring

44:22

out how I would do it rather

44:22

than the way that like the game

44:25

says I'm supposed to do it.

44:27

Yeah, I think that you

44:27

know, just off the top of my

44:29

head like when to focus on

44:29

factions and getting the

44:32

reputation when to focus on

44:32

combat, when to focus on

44:37

regaining resources, when to

44:37

focus on gaining new resources

44:41

like your new worker for the

44:41

worker placement slot, the

44:44

permanent persuasion power, when

44:44

to harvest by, like there are so

44:48

many different things to manage,

44:48

when to do them when not to do

44:52

them. And you can make an

44:52

entirely different strategy each

44:56

game if you want to do and still

44:56

do well

44:59

actually I'll give an

44:59

example that I feel like is

45:02

really good and like unique to

45:02

this game. And that's choosing

45:06

whether or not to use all of

45:06

your workers, because it costs a

45:09

card for you to place a worker,

45:09

it might be beneficial for you

45:15

to not use all your workers one

45:15

turn, so that you can gain the

45:19

reveal effects on a card

45:19

instead. And in the second game

45:23

that we played, I actually ended

45:23

up doing that very early on,

45:27

because I was having trouble

45:27

with just getting enough

45:29

persuasion to buy new cards from

45:29

my deck that were actually

45:33

helpful and useful, I would

45:33

consistently finish the round

45:37

with only like two persuasion,

45:37

and that was not getting the

45:40

anything that I needed. And so I

45:40

decided to only play one of my

45:44

workers that round, and save the

45:44

persuasion that I had, so that I

45:48

could actually buy something

45:48

useful. Not only does that, you

45:52

know, give me the extra

45:52

persuasion, but because I'm

45:54

skipping my second agent turn,

45:54

I'm revealing before everybody

45:58

else, and that gives me a first

45:58

pick first buy of cards from the

46:03

market, and ensures that I can

46:03

get what I'm looking for.

46:07

Right, it really behooves

46:07

you to look very critically at

46:11

what you're doing and when

46:11

you're doing it. So I think this

46:14

game is one of the more complex

46:14

games we've gone over, if not

46:17

the most complex. Yeah, that

46:17

we've reviewed so far, that

46:21

we've reviewed. So far, we

46:21

haven't done dominant species.

46:25

Yeah, I agree. Eight.

46:25

All right, our last rating

46:28

section is rote versus random.

46:28

So this is what elements of the

46:33

game are randomized and make for

46:33

a unique playing experience each

46:37

time you play the game. So we're

46:37

talking about deck builder.

46:40

Obviously, there's lots of

46:40

shuffled cards, you always start

46:43

out with the same deck. But then

46:43

what's available in the market

46:48

is pretty randomized, like

46:48

there's a pretty large selection

46:51

of cards that are available in

46:51

the market. And you know, only

46:54

five of them are available for

46:54

purchase at a time plus the

46:57

three that Jake had mentioned

46:57

earlier that are always there

47:00

and available. Yeah. So that's

47:00

pretty randomized, you know,

47:04

you've got randomized conflict

47:04

cards, which the last four cards

47:09

of the conflict are, there's

47:09

always the same four cards, but

47:13

they might be in a different

47:13

order just for the last four

47:15

slots.

47:16

So really only about half

47:16

the conflict cards are

47:18

randomized.

47:19

Yeah. And then you got

47:19

the intrigue cards, and you've

47:23

got the shuffle. Like if you

47:23

choose to shuffle how you assign

47:27

the characters that you're

47:27

playing. So there is potentially

47:30

quite a lot of randomization.

47:30

And yet at the same time,

47:33

because you have control over

47:33

what cards that you're

47:36

purchasing and placing in your

47:36

deck, it can also be very

47:39

controlled randomization, you

47:39

know, inexperienced deck builder

47:43

will tell you that it's not

47:43

beneficial to put 500 cards in

47:48

your deck, because that reduces

47:48

the chances of you getting that

47:51

one super powerful card that you

47:51

really need.

47:54

I agree, you know, I feel

47:54

like this does have some

47:57

randomized elements to it

47:57

definitely randomized. But at

48:00

the same time, I don't feel like

48:00

it's overwhelmingly random to

48:04

the point where I lose because

48:04

of the cards. And really, that's

48:08

all the today's randomized is

48:08

the cards and their order.

48:12

Unless, of course, you do choose

48:12

to do the randomized character

48:15

selection at the beginning. I

48:15

like that. I do like doing that.

48:19

That way, you're not always

48:19

relying on this. This one

48:22

particular strategy behooves you

48:22

to kind of be fluid with what

48:25

you're doing and work with what

48:25

you have. I like that better.

48:29

But I would probably give it

48:29

like a five, four or five, like,

48:32

it's not super random, but it is

48:32

potentially random enough that

48:36

it makes a difference.

48:37

Yeah, I was gonna give

48:37

it a five I think, because

48:40

again, I think you do have some

48:40

randomization, but you also have

48:43

quite a lot of control over it.

48:43

So I think it's right there in

48:46

the middle. Makes for a good

48:46

balance, I feel. Yeah, I think

48:50

it's a great balance. All right,

48:50

it is time to answer our

48:54

question, Jake, would you rather

48:54

play this game than put away

48:58

multiple weeks worth of laundry

48:58

that has been piling up in the

49:01

closet because you're just too

49:01

lazy to put it away? But now you

49:06

can't find any of your underwear

49:06

and you might as well just put

49:09

it away because no matter how

49:09

much you dig, it's not showing

49:12

up and you really hope your puppy didn't eat it.

49:14

So you asked this

49:14

question, and it makes it feel

49:17

like if I choose to play the

49:17

game, then I just don't have

49:22

underwear to wear. Yes, that's

49:22

fine. Nobody really needs

49:28

underwear. I would much rather

49:28

play dune Imperium.

49:31

Going commando playing

49:31

Dune. I like it. Yeah.

49:33

Or you know, just who

49:33

needs pants? We don't need

49:36

pants. People live for hundreds

49:36

or 1000s of years without

49:39

clothes. Why do I need them?

49:39

Yep, there it is. There you have

49:43

it. That's dude Imperium.

49:47

Thank you guys so much

49:47

for listening. We really

49:50

appreciate everyone who comes

49:50

here and listens to us every

49:53

week, you know, and again, we

49:53

are doing a giveaway so please

49:58

check out our Facebook page.

49:58

There will be pinned to the top

50:01

of the page, a gleam giveaway

50:01

that has multiple ways to enter

50:05

including something secret in

50:05

this episode that you're going

50:09

to have to go back and remember,

50:09

so hopefully you actually

50:11

listened. But, you know, we just

50:11

are really appreciative of the

50:16

support that we've gotten and

50:16

how much this has grown in the

50:19

last year. So really, thank you,

50:19

as always hit us up on Facebook,

50:25

Twitter, and Instagram at so

50:25

board podcast. So Bo, AR D

50:30

podcast, we'd love hearing from

50:30

you any house rules or fun

50:34

experiences that you have with

50:34

this game, you'll also be able

50:37

to see some of our pictures and

50:37

short stories of things that

50:40

we're doing in regards to

50:40

tabletop gaming, and interact

50:43

with us all things board gaming,

50:43

you can also email us at We are

50:46

so [email protected] So that's w e

50:46

a r e s o Bo, AR D at Gmail, and

50:53

make sure you hit that subscribe

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50:56

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51:04

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51:06

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51:09

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51:10

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51:10

but yes, also leave a rating

51:14

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51:14

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51:16

We also want to give a

51:16

shout out to the people who knew

51:19

we were going to be reviewing

51:19

dune Imperium based on the

51:22

picture we posted on social

51:22

media last week. So congrats to

51:27

Daniel Stafford, Chabuki

51:27

Cheishvili, Stephan Zyweck, and

51:32

Paul Benson. Awesome job, guys.

51:35

And we also want to give

51:35

a shout out to our artists

51:38

Mitchell Mims. He is accepting

51:38

commissions. You can go check

51:42

him out on Instagram at MIMSCOSA

51:42

RA or on his websites. Mitchell

51:50

Mims, M i c h e l m i m s.ca RR

51:50

d.co.

51:57

Once again, I'm streaming

51:57

on a semi semi regular basis on

52:01

Twitch. My schedule changes each

52:01

week. But I do keep my schedule

52:06

up to date on the streaming

52:06

schedule tab on Twitch. So you

52:09

could find me at

52:09

twitch.tv/naughty Doc 541.

52:14

That's NAU gh t. Why do C 541.

52:14

And yeah, come in, hang out.

52:20

Tell me what's going on. I'd

52:20

love it and appreciate it.

52:22

Watch. Follow anything. It's

52:22

good. It's a good time. We're

52:25

streaming Elden ring right now.

52:27

I will admit I'm not a

52:27

like a souls person. But it is

52:31

fun to watch.

52:32

Oh yeah, this is a SoulsBorne game in case you weren't aware. But that's it.

52:34

Thank you all for listening. We

52:37

will see you next time.

52:38

Bye.