Yeah. I was surprised by that too and I'm glad i bought it before SUSD did their review. Tbh, i wasnt expecting much when i bought it anyway, as Tomatomato was the first i got and it is fairly average. Good game when you're supervising kids though. I think Tomatomato would be greatly improved with some kind of timer. Maybe a 5 or 10 second timer. At first it would very easy but would quickly become harder as you have to squeeze more syllables into the same time.
I am also guilty of pnping A Fake Artist. Good game.
Which is not to say either is bad but that the theme of TM and the art of Scythe carried people's imaginations further than the gameplay. And sometimes thats all you need.
I know that i totally bought into TM because of the theme. I was playing cards that were essentially +1 green or +2 blue. But in my mind i was bombarding the planet with comets and forresting the wasteland. Thats fairly unusual for me, usually the game quickly turns into numbers but the hook of terraforming mars stuck in my imagination and didnt let go.
Edit- whatever game is the most overrated of the decade, it has gotta be a kickstarter.
At least Gloomhaven was ambitious in bringing something new, and VAST to the table. While it's been rated #1 for a while, I never see people play it outside of homes. Unlike TM, which I see constantly everywhere.
TBF playing GH outside of a private home runs the risk of spoiling things for potential future players.
This is pretty far down the list of reasons why I wouldn't take it to a meetup or something.
Which is not to say either is bad but that the theme of TM and the art of Scythe carried people's imaginations further than the gameplay. And sometimes thats all you need.
I know that i totally bought into TM because of the theme. I was playing cards that were essentially +1 green or +2 blue. But in my mind i was bombarding the planet with comets and forresting the wasteland. Thats fairly unusual for me, usually the game quickly turns into numbers but the hook of terraforming mars stuck in my imagination and didnt let go.
Edit- whatever game is the most overrated of the decade, it has gotta be a kickstarter.
At least Gloomhaven was ambitious in bringing something new, and VAST to the table. While it's been rated #1 for a while, I never see people play it outside of homes. Unlike TM, which I see constantly everywhere.
TBF playing GH outside of a private home runs the risk of spoiling things for potential future players.
This is pretty far down the list of reasons why I wouldn't take it to a meetup or something.
Sure it's also a massive table hog with insane set up and tear down times and the box has the mass of a collapsed star but other than the logistics of playing it's as good a reason as any.
Oink has a lot of games out, so in one sense it's not surprising that SUSD missed some. But I still found it unusual that the most-played Oinks in my gaming group got nary a mention: Maskmen, Twins, and Kobayakawa.
I'm super excited to add a pile of pics to this thread in a week and a half, as I'm going to be running a massive game of Shadows of Brimstone with my friends. They've been playing these characters for dozens of adventures across the last 4-5 years, though occasionally with massive gaps, so we're going to retire them after one last delve; a Mega Man style 'boss rush', with them having to defeat, well, basically a dozen bosses in a row. I've finally got them all painted, and plan to enhance the map tiles with my Dwarven Forge terrain tiles, as I have in the past, but it has been a while since I dedicated an evening to setting up a full fledged pre-built 3D map like this.
The plan after that (win or lose) is to set up a new group of adventurers, and start off with the Forbidden Fortress/feudal Japan themed setting and enemies (though the players won't be restricted to those specific classes, there's like 30 of them in the game and maybe half a dozen have seen use so far, so I'm excited to see new ones hit the table, of any sort). Building the figures for that setting has gone pretty smoothly, but that's always the case; a few days of off and on building. Priming a pile in one go isn't a huge deal. Painting them up will take months, if not years.
Hopefully I can convince the crew to come by with offers of beer and pizza to help me put a dent in the backlog over a few nights. Especially since the content from the original Kickstarter/ensuing content are only about 60% painted, and this new wave adds about 180 more figures to the mix (though I'm not worried about every hero being painted if only a few are being used, that shaves a good 15-20 figures off that, err, figure).
And then sometime next year the third Kickstarter is supposed to deliver...
At this point, I kind of might be sort of happy if that one sees a delay of a quarter or two. It's not like we're lacking for content or stuff to do here. (I'm fully aware that this is a Magic Pink'ian nightmare of my own creation)
That boss rush sounds great. Are you going to start with the smaller size bosses and work your way up to the XL and then XXL models, or pull them randomly?
My group's been playing for about half a year and I was trying to keep the Old West / Feudal Japan settings separate, but one session I managed to forget my minis for the OW sets, and so we ended up taking a portal and ended up in the Forbidden Fortress for a few adventures. Now our OW party has a Sumo tagging along.
The FF minis are a nice jump in quality from the original releases, and it was a little bit of a shock when I picked up the City of Ancients and Swamps of Death sets after getting the FF box last Christmas.
This was mentioned just a few posts back, but the setting is that each player is a luchador wrestling promoter. Mechanically, it is a climbing/shedding game (like Tichu, or Great Dalmuti, or Clubs) where you're trying to get rid of your cards first. The real wrinkle is that at the start of a hand, you don't know which card is better than which other card. Rather, the strength of each wrestler is determined during the hand itself.
Suppose a player leads one gray wrestler. The next player could play two purple wrestlers. This then establishes that purple is ranked higher than gray, so if on a future trick someone plays some gray wrestlers those can be beaten by the same number of purple wrestlers. The relationships between them are gradually revealed, until by the end of the trick you usually see a single clean ordering of all the suits. The strategy is in trying to establish a suit you have many of as a powerful one, without wasting all of those cards in doing so.
Twins
This one is a Reiner Knizia game. It is kind of poker-ish, with a little trick-taking flavor. Players get dealt 8 cards, which they are going to use two at a time over the course of a hand. There are "tricks" which are simultaneously revealed, rather than played in turns. Two of the same number and color are best, followed by the same color but different number, etc. But each of the four tricks is scored differently: in the first the worst players need to pay in to the pot, then in the second the best take from the pot. In the third the worst pays in and is eliminated from the fourth, in which the best gets everything left. Deciding when to use your best cards is very interesting.
Kobayakawa
A very minimal bluffing game. Each player has one card, and the highest card wins. But there is a face-up card in the center whose value is added to the lowest player's card. On your turn you can draw to replace your card, or change the center card. Then there is some simple betting and a showdown. It's a nice alternative to something like Skull.
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
I've also played and quite enjoyed Kobayakawa. It's a very easy-going bluffing/gambling game~
I only own deep sea adventure but i honestly haven't even played it. I thought it'd be great to have in my bag for magic tournaments but it turns out people are way more likely to be down for skull in those lull times and it's easier to drop for the next round
I'm super excited to add a pile of pics to this thread in a week and a half, as I'm going to be running a massive game of Shadows of Brimstone with my friends. They've been playing these characters for dozens of adventures across the last 4-5 years, though occasionally with massive gaps, so we're going to retire them after one last delve; a Mega Man style 'boss rush', with them having to defeat, well, basically a dozen bosses in a row. I've finally got them all painted, and plan to enhance the map tiles with my Dwarven Forge terrain tiles, as I have in the past, but it has been a while since I dedicated an evening to setting up a full fledged pre-built 3D map like this.
The plan after that (win or lose) is to set up a new group of adventurers, and start off with the Forbidden Fortress/feudal Japan themed setting and enemies (though the players won't be restricted to those specific classes, there's like 30 of them in the game and maybe half a dozen have seen use so far, so I'm excited to see new ones hit the table, of any sort). Building the figures for that setting has gone pretty smoothly, but that's always the case; a few days of off and on building. Priming a pile in one go isn't a huge deal. Painting them up will take months, if not years.
Hopefully I can convince the crew to come by with offers of beer and pizza to help me put a dent in the backlog over a few nights. Especially since the content from the original Kickstarter/ensuing content are only about 60% painted, and this new wave adds about 180 more figures to the mix (though I'm not worried about every hero being painted if only a few are being used, that shaves a good 15-20 figures off that, err, figure).
And then sometime next year the third Kickstarter is supposed to deliver...
At this point, I kind of might be sort of happy if that one sees a delay of a quarter or two. It's not like we're lacking for content or stuff to do here. (I'm fully aware that this is a Magic Pink'ian nightmare of my own creation)
That boss rush sounds great. Are you going to start with the smaller size bosses and work your way up to the XL and then XXL models, or pull them randomly?
My group's been playing for about half a year and I was trying to keep the Old West / Feudal Japan settings separate, but one session I managed to forget my minis for the OW sets, and so we ended up taking a portal and ended up in the Forbidden Fortress for a few adventures. Now our OW party has a Sumo tagging along.
The FF minis are a nice jump in quality from the original releases, and it was a little bit of a shock when I picked up the City of Ancients and Swamps of Death sets after getting the FF box last Christmas.
My plan is to pre-set the map tiles and possibly the bosses themselves, and use a set of black fabric napkins I picked up a while back to basically create 'fog of war'. Though with some models like the Harbinger or Bel'ial, I'd be worried about giving things away too easily, and possibly damage or snags, so I should probably just place them after they reveal the tile. I'm thinking a simple hallway of horrors, with likely 6 or 7 rooms branching off from there, each opening representing a different otherworld.
Jargono: Raptor and Harbinger
Targa: Guardian and Goliath
Derelict Ship: Burrower
Blasted Wastes: Terralisk
Trederra: Sand Kraken
Cynder: Magma Giant and Bel'ial
Followed by a final battle with the Ancient One.
I know some of these are fuzzy, like the Burrower and Sand Kraken aren't super thematic necessarily to those settings, but I'm focusing more on the XL/XXL enemies. I guess I could throw the Flesh Stalker into the DS and move the Burrower to another setting, but the FS can be a giant pain in the ass to kill, and I'm cognizant that for this last hurrah I don't necessarily want to throw them at a grind that'll take an unreasonable amount of time either. Though his bounce harming any model it passes through could be funny with a second boss on the map. Basically try to use one versus the other...
I completely agree that the later minis are superior to the older ones, and they've actually announced that they are making new (better) minis for the original boxes. I think the idea is to have those done for next year some time (maybe a Gencon preview followed by a wider release later on? Purely speculation on my part).
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
So they put out a balance errata for Tapestry that hopes to fix some of the imbalance with civilizations. I havent gotten to play my copy yet, so good timing.
So they put out a balance errata for Tapestry that hopes to fix some of the imbalance with civilizations. I havent gotten to play my copy yet, so good timing.
Kobayakawa was the first Oink Games game I ever purchased, the original Japanese version with the metal coins. I think that was during my first dedicated trip to Tokyo. It's a lovely distillation of Poker. I believe the newest Japanese version expands the box size to the current standard and throws in more coins, along with some rule changes to make it more Poker-like. Before, there were no raises, only in-out calls and folds. Bluffing and strategy get expanded ever so slightly with the new ability to bet more coins in a single hand.
After viewing the SU&SD reviews, I think I need to give Startups another try. I didn't really get it the first time I played it, I suppose. Also, I consider Deep Sea Adventure as one of the better Oinks and was definitely surprised that they rated it only slightly above average. Finally, shoutouts to Troll, which is a neat bluffing and risk-taking game that I wish got wider recognition.
So they put out a balance errata for Tapestry that hopes to fix some of the imbalance with civilizations. I havent gotten to play my copy yet, so good timing.
60 point swing for The Chosen in a 5p game, yowch.
I don't know exactly what the advantages of these guys are but when i play my first game im just going to pull the civs from the stack that are being given these huge VP swings. my group can choose to put them back in after we get use to the game, but i don't want to make it a bad first impression.
Any Nemesis veterans have an opinion on the expansions? I'm undecided if I should hunt those down or not.
I recieved them (stretch goals from the KS), have not gotten to play with them yet, but the mini's are really sweet looking. if anything they seem to make the game even harder, so if your finding it hard now, maybe they arent for you.
Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum
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AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
Any Nemesis veterans have an opinion on the expansions? I'm undecided if I should hunt those down or not.
I recieved them (stretch goals from the KS), have not gotten to play with them yet, but the mini's are really sweet looking. if anything they seem to make the game even harder, so if your finding it hard now, maybe they arent for you.
We haven't yet gotten them out either. Will mention when we do.
Well i got the special version...what did they call it...color drop or something? the pre-color washed mini's you had to pay extra for. I think those were sent out first.
azith28 on
Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum
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AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
Well i got the special version...what did they call it...color drop or something? the pre-color washed mini's you had to pay extra for. I think those were sent out first.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure my buddy did too. Blue / white base set guys?
The expansions are tinted red, but yeah i think the base ones were blue.
Yeah. He mentioned stuff had come in but we've been a little disappointed in the base set thus far. Nobody's in a hurry to try the expansion. But if we get 'em out, I'll post about it.
Any Nemesis veterans have an opinion on the expansions? I'm undecided if I should hunt those down or not.
I recieved them (stretch goals from the KS), have not gotten to play with them yet, but the mini's are really sweet looking. if anything they seem to make the game even harder, so if your finding it hard now, maybe they arent for you.
Haven't even played base yet. Just not sure if I should pick them up before it's less available. But thanks for the info. Definitely keep that in mind.
What's the deal with Splendor? What type of game is it, what kinds of gamers will like it? My roommate bought it several months back, and it's still sitting there new in shrinkwrap. Wondering if I should push him to crack it open. If I'm going to hate it, no sense spending the social capital.
Splendor is a lightweight engine-building game, with very low player interaction and a zen flow. It tends to appeal to players who are tactile (due to the high-quality chip components), conflict-averse, and who don't give a fig about theme. The rules are very simple and easy to explain.
Mechanically, you are claiming cards by spending resources. The cards give points, as well as discounts on future purchases. Limitations on how many and which type of resources you may claim on a turn provide the main puzzle, which is a straightforward (but sometimes difficult) optimization choice.
It has been a huge hit among the casual/new gamers I know, and as a filler-length game in my regular game group. I have also heard it called "the most joyless game I've played all year" and I can see where that is coming from, because you won't see any "aha" or laugh-out-loud moments.
Splendor is fun. not too hard to learn...its a classic game that often at least in my area was used to introduce people into board gaming. its not weighty. not long. kinda a pallet cleanser inbetween heavier games.
Summary from BGG.
Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you're wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige.
On your turn, you may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don't get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a round, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem.
All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do.
I haven't played Splendor in forever (could say that about most games, honestly) but every time I played it felt like a revelation because the play was so smooth and intuitive.
38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
Splendor is by far my wife’s favorite game. I have played 17 games of it in the last year and I’d play again. The only downside to splendor is that you really can’t chat while playing. It is such a simple game but you really need to keep an eye on what everyone is doing or they sneak the win.
Is Century: Spice Road a more talky game? What makes it better than Splendor for you?
It’s fairly obvious, looking at a player’s inventory of spices, what objective card they are going for at any given moment. So there’s no reason to resort to subterfuge.
I will make one criticism of Splendor, which I mostly like. The mechanics are engine building, your instinct on first play will be engine building, but the game is deliberately balanced to encourage going straight for points instead of building your engine. This can lead to unpleasant "surprise I win" experiences when playing with players of mismatched skill.
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CaptainPeacockBoard Game HoarderTop o' the LakeRegistered Userregular
Is Century: Spice Road a more talky game? What makes it better than Splendor for you?
The engine building is partially obscured since it's your hidden hand of cards. In Splendor, most of the information is in plain view, so it's harder to hide your intentions and strategy.
Century: Spice Road is not as straightforward. Yes, people can see what resources you have, but the cards you buy and play can switch that inventory to something completely different, allowing you to pivot and confound an opponent that thinks they can cut you off. In Splendor, if someone wants to cut you off, they either or they can't. It's a pretty cut and dry thing from a strategy standpoint.
Cluck cluck, gibber gibber, my old man's a mushroom, etc.
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Century: Spice Road is fantastic at giving people the illusion of agency. <_<
Splendor is a better game, because the chips are a better mechanism than the cards (which your access to at the beginning of the game will basically dictate how well you do). I find them both a bit simple to enjoy, but splendor is definitely worth trying if you have access to it. I've only played with four and am not sure if things change much with two it three, mind you.
Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
I'm surprised this thread is so hot on Splendor.
The response I usually see elsewhere is that it's at the absolute tipping point of whether the game is good, so like the platonic 5/10
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
I mean, if the game is on the shelf you might as well try it. I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to buy it without a specific situation in mind. There are definitely better, more robust games.
I didn't hate Splendor, but I didn't care for it. It's an engine-builder where it's unintuitive that building your engine isn't your best move. You could put in the time to learn the best strategy that goes against your first impression, but the game is nowhere near fun enough to be worth the investment.
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I am also guilty of pnping A Fake Artist. Good game.
This is pretty far down the list of reasons why I wouldn't take it to a meetup or something.
Sure it's also a massive table hog with insane set up and tear down times and the box has the mass of a collapsed star but other than the logistics of playing it's as good a reason as any.
HAY
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That boss rush sounds great. Are you going to start with the smaller size bosses and work your way up to the XL and then XXL models, or pull them randomly?
My group's been playing for about half a year and I was trying to keep the Old West / Feudal Japan settings separate, but one session I managed to forget my minis for the OW sets, and so we ended up taking a portal and ended up in the Forbidden Fortress for a few adventures. Now our OW party has a Sumo tagging along.
The FF minis are a nice jump in quality from the original releases, and it was a little bit of a shock when I picked up the City of Ancients and Swamps of Death sets after getting the FF box last Christmas.
This was mentioned just a few posts back, but the setting is that each player is a luchador wrestling promoter. Mechanically, it is a climbing/shedding game (like Tichu, or Great Dalmuti, or Clubs) where you're trying to get rid of your cards first. The real wrinkle is that at the start of a hand, you don't know which card is better than which other card. Rather, the strength of each wrestler is determined during the hand itself.
Suppose a player leads one gray wrestler. The next player could play two purple wrestlers. This then establishes that purple is ranked higher than gray, so if on a future trick someone plays some gray wrestlers those can be beaten by the same number of purple wrestlers. The relationships between them are gradually revealed, until by the end of the trick you usually see a single clean ordering of all the suits. The strategy is in trying to establish a suit you have many of as a powerful one, without wasting all of those cards in doing so.
Twins
This one is a Reiner Knizia game. It is kind of poker-ish, with a little trick-taking flavor. Players get dealt 8 cards, which they are going to use two at a time over the course of a hand. There are "tricks" which are simultaneously revealed, rather than played in turns. Two of the same number and color are best, followed by the same color but different number, etc. But each of the four tricks is scored differently: in the first the worst players need to pay in to the pot, then in the second the best take from the pot. In the third the worst pays in and is eliminated from the fourth, in which the best gets everything left. Deciding when to use your best cards is very interesting.
Kobayakawa
A very minimal bluffing game. Each player has one card, and the highest card wins. But there is a face-up card in the center whose value is added to the lowest player's card. On your turn you can draw to replace your card, or change the center card. Then there is some simple betting and a showdown. It's a nice alternative to something like Skull.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
My plan is to pre-set the map tiles and possibly the bosses themselves, and use a set of black fabric napkins I picked up a while back to basically create 'fog of war'. Though with some models like the Harbinger or Bel'ial, I'd be worried about giving things away too easily, and possibly damage or snags, so I should probably just place them after they reveal the tile. I'm thinking a simple hallway of horrors, with likely 6 or 7 rooms branching off from there, each opening representing a different otherworld.
Jargono: Raptor and Harbinger
Targa: Guardian and Goliath
Derelict Ship: Burrower
Blasted Wastes: Terralisk
Trederra: Sand Kraken
Cynder: Magma Giant and Bel'ial
Followed by a final battle with the Ancient One.
I know some of these are fuzzy, like the Burrower and Sand Kraken aren't super thematic necessarily to those settings, but I'm focusing more on the XL/XXL enemies. I guess I could throw the Flesh Stalker into the DS and move the Burrower to another setting, but the FS can be a giant pain in the ass to kill, and I'm cognizant that for this last hurrah I don't necessarily want to throw them at a grind that'll take an unreasonable amount of time either. Though his bounce harming any model it passes through could be funny with a second boss on the map. Basically try to use one versus the other...
I completely agree that the later minis are superior to the older ones, and they've actually announced that they are making new (better) minis for the original boxes. I think the idea is to have those done for next year some time (maybe a Gencon preview followed by a wider release later on? Purely speculation on my part).
https://stonemaiergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Tapestry-Civilization-Adjustments-191121-1024x791.png
60 point swing for The Chosen in a 5p game, yowch.
After viewing the SU&SD reviews, I think I need to give Startups another try. I didn't really get it the first time I played it, I suppose. Also, I consider Deep Sea Adventure as one of the better Oinks and was definitely surprised that they rated it only slightly above average. Finally, shoutouts to Troll, which is a neat bluffing and risk-taking game that I wish got wider recognition.
I don't know exactly what the advantages of these guys are but when i play my first game im just going to pull the civs from the stack that are being given these huge VP swings. my group can choose to put them back in after we get use to the game, but i don't want to make it a bad first impression.
Selling Board Games for Medical Bills
I recieved them (stretch goals from the KS), have not gotten to play with them yet, but the mini's are really sweet looking. if anything they seem to make the game even harder, so if your finding it hard now, maybe they arent for you.
We haven't yet gotten them out either. Will mention when we do.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure my buddy did too. Blue / white base set guys?
Yeah. He mentioned stuff had come in but we've been a little disappointed in the base set thus far. Nobody's in a hurry to try the expansion. But if we get 'em out, I'll post about it.
Haven't even played base yet. Just not sure if I should pick them up before it's less available. But thanks for the info. Definitely keep that in mind.
Selling Board Games for Medical Bills
Mechanically, you are claiming cards by spending resources. The cards give points, as well as discounts on future purchases. Limitations on how many and which type of resources you may claim on a turn provide the main puzzle, which is a straightforward (but sometimes difficult) optimization choice.
It has been a huge hit among the casual/new gamers I know, and as a filler-length game in my regular game group. I have also heard it called "the most joyless game I've played all year" and I can see where that is coming from, because you won't see any "aha" or laugh-out-loud moments.
Summary from BGG.
Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you're wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige.
On your turn, you may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don't get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a round, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem.
All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Personally, I liked Splendor until I found Century: Spice Road, which I now prefer.
It’s fairly obvious, looking at a player’s inventory of spices, what objective card they are going for at any given moment. So there’s no reason to resort to subterfuge.
The engine building is partially obscured since it's your hidden hand of cards. In Splendor, most of the information is in plain view, so it's harder to hide your intentions and strategy.
Century: Spice Road is not as straightforward. Yes, people can see what resources you have, but the cards you buy and play can switch that inventory to something completely different, allowing you to pivot and confound an opponent that thinks they can cut you off. In Splendor, if someone wants to cut you off, they either or they can't. It's a pretty cut and dry thing from a strategy standpoint.
Splendor is a better game, because the chips are a better mechanism than the cards (which your access to at the beginning of the game will basically dictate how well you do). I find them both a bit simple to enjoy, but splendor is definitely worth trying if you have access to it. I've only played with four and am not sure if things change much with two it three, mind you.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
The response I usually see elsewhere is that it's at the absolute tipping point of whether the game is good, so like the platonic 5/10
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?