Expeditions – Board Game Review
We’ll explore tiles, move around, get cards, play them, and all of that, just to be able to boast about it to the other players. For glory and victory points!
Check out the video to find out what wee thought aboout this sequel to Scythe!
Thank you all for watching, and for being awesome!
Timestamps:
Intro: 00:00
Overview: 00:54
Artwork & Components: 02:38
Rulebook & player Aids: 05:19
Playtime & Player Count: 06:58
A simple action selection mechanism: 08:49
Resetting,Micro Turns & Optimization: 09:34
Multiple paths to victory: 10:57
An aspect of luck: 14:00
Balance: 16:10
More euro, less interaction than Scythe: 20:07
Weight & Who is it for: 21:28
Final Thoughts: 22:28
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two nice people from Norway talking about games – what's not to like?
Sending some VPs with another comment! 😊I stayed away from this game despite being a huge fan of Scythe, mostly because I'm not a fan of text on cards (which is also why I didn't get Red Rising, another text-heavy game from Stonemayer Games). I find it makes it harder to play on the table at more than 2 players (I play most of my games at 4 players) because it's hard to read depending where you're seated, and I don't enjoy having to constantly read text on cards in my hand. I think scaling is a bit of an issue in this game in general at more than 2 players anyways (like the inability to get workers for the 3rd/4th/5th players in early rounds due to the lack of tiles for it). I don't get why Jamey stubbornly insists on calling his games 5 players ready when I see designs like this, it's just a marketing stunt at this point, but I think he's losing credibility because of it. This is really a 1 or 2 player game disguised in a 3/4/5 players game to reach a broader audience, let's call a spade a spade…There were also a few weird confusing aspects that made the game a little off-putting, like the counter-intuitive "hand" concept, or the use of strange words rarely used in the common language ("guile", "meld", "vanquishing corruption", "boast") that sound very geeky and uninviting to me.Too bad because I love the art… I'll stick to Scythe.
Thanks guys! In the first minute of your video I realized that the person I played this with taught the game wrong. We took the action that we covered up instead of the two actions that were showing. My biggest issue with this game was the pacing. I had fun with it but didn't want to play it again. I guess I need to give it another try now at a non-turtle pace 😛
I agree with you one mechs and starting cards not being balanced but I believe that it’s intentional.
My first few games we randomly dealt out mechs and starting characters but the rules state that you should determine player order first then choose your mech and characters in reverse player order. This is a rule that I always ignore for early plays of a new game because nobody knows yet which choices are good or bad. In this game however I believe it helps balance the advantage that the early players have of getting the exact worker color they want. I have now played at 1,2,3,4 players and the 4 player game felt too long and unbalanced but again we dealt out random starting mech/cards so I think it will be fine with that switch and a group of experienced players. Solo was surprisingly fun and 2/3 is where I believe this game really shines.
I really enjoyed your review. I think of all the videos I've seen covering this, yours is the only one that mentions the similarity of the action selection to the action selection in Scythe. It was something my mind went to immediately when reading the rulebook. It seems like a condensed version of that mechanic.
Great review! Very thorough and insightful. Scythe is my #2 game of all time. I love it. I think it's important that people realize that although this is a sequel to Scythe it is not Scythe 2.0. It's a very different game with some slight similarities set in the same world. It's a great puzzly engine builder that is essentially an optimization and efficiency puzzle. And it does what it set out to do really well. I think it's a slightly above average game that is elevated to being a GREAT game because it is set in the world of Scythe. This game will be best at 1-2 players (the solo mode really shines) while Scythe will be what I want to play for groups of three or more. I also think that there will be expansions that will make Expeditions even greater.
Great review and love the final thoughts! It makes me think I'd like to see a listing of both of your favorite games. What do you give a 10 to? Maybe you've done that before? But if not, it would be fun to see!
I played this at 4 and at 2. 2 was better, but the game fell very flat for me. Every single thing was just not very fun.
For instance, the first turns of gathering workers feels forced, and then once you have them, you forget about workers. The maps make almost no impact on the game. Some of the mech powers are great, while others make no impact at all. I almost never saw a card I really wanted, and usually there were 5 cards that I didn't want.
4 players was more frustrating than anything. My brain was constantly coming up with strategies and tactics that would be nullified by the time my turn came around. Someone would be blocking, the card I needed will have been taken or swept, etc. So I would settle for doing something near where I am, which I didn't really want to do. I would try to build toward something, but by the time my turn came around, it is no longer available, so I do something near me I didn't want to do….on and on.
This falls in the same category as other Stonemaier games for me. Meh. Something about them are just not that fun.
Really enjoyed your review, I was thinking is this worth getting, I was unsure but your review was really helpful, we are short of games we can get done in one evening but still provide some depth and puzzle to them. Also my partner is not a fan of the conflict in Scythe so maybe this is the answer!
The Chessplayer
As always, Thanks for Sharing. I appreciate your insights and opinions. Having fun is very important to me. I just preordered it! Also, a good point that it can be repetitive, but I think that's true for many games. Hopefully variety in the mechs, leaders, location placement, and cards will mitigate the repetitiveness.
This game for me is awesome! Wow. I’m impressed by how much I like it. And I tried it solo and it’s just so great. Played it more that any other game in my entire collection, and this one is the latest game I got. Since I played it for the first time I just want to play Expeditions. I can’t really tell what it is. It just clicked with me.
Btw, the expansion is already in development 🤩.
I will describe Expeditions as an action selection game where the action are scattered around and always come up differently. And some are being revealed along the way.
Fantastic!
I appreciate that you share the page count of the rule book.
I think it helps to gauge the complexity of the game and know what you’re getting into
I believe Jamie mentioned somewhere that the tiles needed to be that big so that the cards would fit between them. Although, looking at the pictures in your video, it does seem like there is a little space between the top/bottom of cards and the tiles. So maybe the tiles could have been slightly smaller (probably not 99% smaller though 🙂).
Have you guys played Earth? How does it compare to Earth if you have? I have Earth and wondering if this does anything different/better enough to justify it
5:06 We place the corruption tokens in a line above the icon so you can see exactly the number/colour/order as well as the icon below. There’s plenty of room on the tile for this.