Caverna: Frantic Fiends - Expansion Review

Caverna: Frantic Fiends - Expansion Review - Beyond The Base Game

Рет қаралды 7,878

Күн бұрын

Caverna: Frantic Fiends - Expansion Review - Beyond The Base Game
Orcs are ravaging the lands and threatening your caves and families! Can you defeat the ravaging orcs and bring back peace and prosperity to your people?
In Caverna: Frantic Fiends, the second large expansion for Uwe Rosenberg's Caverna: The Cave Farmers, you have to face these hostile plunderers. Luckily, you can either use your proven axes to teach them a lesson or build traps to keep them away from the cave entrances altogether. You can even push them into these traps with stone or bribe them with wood to weaken their strength. Defeating orcs will bring precious rewards, but if you fail to drive them off, all your plans might be in jeopardy.
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Who Am I?
One single batchelor from the UK talking about his passion for board games and the people who play them! I support small content creators, board game cafes and go against the status quo when it comes to the board game industry. I give my honest opinions without bias towards any publishers or designers and will not hold back if I don't like a game.
The Broken Meeple is a variety channel that hosts all kinds of board game content from reviews to Top 10 lists to playthroughs to live stream collaborations with special guests (predominantly small channels who deserve more exposure).
I look forward to engaging with you, the community on my live streams or in the comments on my videos!
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction and Background
02:49 - Overview
06:59 - What Did You Want From Caverna? This Is Tighter!
08:24 - Those Stupid Movement Cards! Swingy Luck!
11:55 - Takes Caverna To A Place I Don't Want!
13:41 - NOT COMPATIBLE WITH FORGOTTEN FOLK!
15:04 - Summary and Verdict
#brokenmeeple #caverna #franticfiends #lookoutgames #expansion #boardgames #boardgame #lukehector #supportsmallcreators #tabletop #tabletopgames #bgg #boardgamer #boardgamereview
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Full credit to BoardGameGeek and its members for any images used that aren't my own.

Пікірлер: 57

@Platonick66 Жыл бұрын

I agree with your opening ‘marmite’ statement but I think you completely miss the point with the rest. For many years my number one game, I played a 7 player for my 50th and 51st birthdays, played lots of forgotten folk during lockdown. The game then sat on my shelf unplayed with lots of memories and we went back to Agricola for its variety. This expansion has made us excited to play again because it does offer something so different, but still in the caverna world. Such a shame that you couldn’t see it for what it is, there is a lot of angst filled fun in here, you read the rules and look at each other in agony as you think how impossible it looks. Then you play, this game delights you in ‘just’ allowing you to deal with things coming your way. You teeter on the edge, the balance utterly delicious and gives a real sense of achievement. The various bonuses from despatching orks allow you to tweak your engine and allowing new strategies to form. Now building a room and making a baby early is hard, really hard. Before it was a known pattern and a must do, now there is variety, choice, tough strategic decisions to make and not just tactical ones. Yes this does mix things up hugely and puts it firmly in the ‘expert’ mode, it also brings a lovely and massively enjoyable challenge. The variety is the overwhelming benefit for me, the vast array of building with its known hierarchy is gone, as is the ‘usual’ pattern. Instead something fun, challenging and new to a much loved system. Excellent.

@NightsAroundaTable Жыл бұрын

Do you have a counterpoint to his criticism of the random cards (which seemed like the most damning element of this expansion)?

@Platonick66 Жыл бұрын

@@NightsAroundaTable we played again tonight at 3 player and I asked the others what they thought. Firstly thematically the orcs are frantic and we agree that there needs to be random element, the fact that you know before each round whether they move, 1,2 or three spaces already ;limits that randomness hugely. The reason for this ‘limiting’ is because of the mechanics, to have a random direction and a random number would clearly be too much for some. I have to again mention the ‘push’ which gives player agency at a small cost. Where we have a small issue is where, especially from the beginning, players get different cards and some may do ‘better’ then others, we did discuss drawing one card and everyone f using it especially in the first round. But we do not feel a need to do this. The dynamics of the game are different and scores much lower: tonight it was 55, 56 and 64, previously we would all exceed 100 easily. We feel that there are more resources around as many spaces are left more frequently to accumulate. A number of reasons for this, not least getting dwarves early is very hard and not so desirable, tonight we ended with 5, 4 and 3+1 captured orc (the winner). Fewer dwarves mean fewer actions. There is a different pace, we love that pace. So the randomness seems fine, an orc has never entered one of our caves, though those that build farms early have lost items occasionally. I think you have to play it to really get an idea of how it works, it is a delightful puzzle that we have enjoyed so much despite a little bit of randomness. I hope that helps

@NightsAroundaTable Жыл бұрын

@@Platonick66 Yes - thanks! As for players randomly starting with different cards, that sounds par for the course for an Uwe game? (i know he didn't design this). But AFfO distributes starting cards randomly to players. So does Agricola. Many others, most likely.

@donnakeferlis1649 Жыл бұрын

Total bummer. At least I got to see my dear sweet Fizzgig. And hearing you say "Caverna" the way you do made me smile! (luv ur accent)

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Ca-ver-na. . . . how do you pronounce it then or how does it sound more like?

@donnakeferlis1649 Жыл бұрын

@@TheBrokenMeeple it sounds like you put an r at the end.😊

@jacobramirez5974 Жыл бұрын

@@TheBrokenMeeple ugh, don't ask her to expound, I already have to hear "Luke is so clever" "Luke is so funny" all the time

@donnakeferlis1649 Жыл бұрын

@@TheBrokenMeeple pay him no mind, that's just my dumb husband trying to be funny

@draheim90 Жыл бұрын

I’m one of the weirdos who likes Agricola and Caverna equally. They’re the only games I currently have as 10/10s. Excited to try this one but also have some reservations..we’ll see how it goes. Thanks for the review by the way! Had been really looking forward to it.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

You will likely get more out of it I reckon.

@coyotemoon722 Жыл бұрын

I like both about the same as well. Sometimes I really like Agricola better.

@Ariranhaa 4 ай бұрын

I like it precisely because it isn't more of the same. I mean, if you wanna play regular Caverna just play it again, but now we have an option to play it differently. No problem with the random orc movement either, if someone is attacking you sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not, it's even "realistic" actually and adds fun IMO. My only gripe is not being balanced to use with the 1st expansion, but I guess it's fine to use it with non-outdoor people. In my table we use this expansion on a "mini campaign" mode: 1 regular match, then a frantic one (the pillaging season), then another regular, and then we sum the points. We also carry a chosen resource from the previous match to the next!

@NATOnova Жыл бұрын

Surprised to see Rosenburg go this route with this expansion. Indeed a baffling decision to exclude forgotten folk. Appreciate the honest review

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

That's what I'm here for. Save your money, keep FF!

@MrJonnyalpha Жыл бұрын

I don't think Rosenberg had anything to do with this expansion. I actually already have this as I pre-ordered it ages ago having loved Forgotten Folk. It's still in the shrink so far.

@morkar90 Жыл бұрын

@@MrJonnyalpha Agreed, it doesnt feel like a Rosenberg design. I think his name was on the design credits as he may have been on the playtest team (or even just done some light design consultancy). The Feast For Odin Norwegians expansion has him on the design credits but I think he had very little to do with the core design of that one (so I think this is a similar situation).

@uxjared Жыл бұрын

He doesn’t do the expansions. Forgotten Folk was a fan design. This is a different designer. Even Norwegians for AFfO was a different designer. I think his credit is because it’s all based around his original design (and more money for everyone involved).

@judgemario Жыл бұрын

I like the Journeyman expansion. It’s great at lower player counts.

@amchasteenable Жыл бұрын

Well done! Thanks for testing the waters with it. Good to know.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Tested and banned from future plays!

@thomasrobb1398 Жыл бұрын

I appreciate your hard work in making this video. Would like to see more of the game.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

There were only so many images, plus there's not much to show - you get the orc pieces, the new board and those cards........that's about it.

@arronthrossell3434 Жыл бұрын

Been waiting for a review of this expansion. Think I'll give it a miss.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Yeah I'm the only video on BGG!! It's weird! Though not going to complain as it makes me the hot review by default! :P

@ThomasLuongo 5 ай бұрын

My basic problem with Agricola is having to sort through 14 cards before you even start playing. The tightness of Agricola isn't the issue, it's the learning curve. This looks like it satisfies that middle ground between Agricola's high learning curve and Caverna's 'looseness.' The game is tighter but the setup is open. Caverna's strength is that you can just start playing and discover the game as you play it. Agricola demands you learn the game first and it's work. Having Caverna's open setup but with a tighter experience should hit the right balance. I have my copy of FF incoming.

@trening4 11 ай бұрын

Thanks for the review

@OsamaBinLooney 6 ай бұрын

love the base game, gonna be trying this expansion this week

@albertdommer4242 Жыл бұрын

I love base game Caverna. I haven't tried it with Forgotten Folk, but sounds like I need to.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Really worth it if you're a frequent player.

@mikaelhansson9260 Жыл бұрын

Wish I had watched this before I bought Frantic Fiends... Much like you Luke, I like Caverna a lot better than Agricola and for the same reasons. I've played Forgotten Folks a couple of times and I like that. If I had known that you couldn't combine them, I would probably have passed on this expansion. Oh well, gotta give it a try at least.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Aww man that sucks. 🙁 It's stupid that they don't warn you of these important details so I'm glad I put it in the video!

@kirbyatwood3317 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for saving me the $. This expansion has all the things I *don't* want in Caverna.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Happy to help - this is for a very small crowd of people!

@michaelmueller260 Жыл бұрын

Hmmm....for some reason I now want to go play Vindication.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

A solid game! I want to play it now also!

@jonofpdx 8 ай бұрын

Agree on the enemy cards. They add a level of randomness that break the "fairness" of the game and ultimately kinda ruin the value proposition of the expansion for me. But I actually really like the tighter, more variable gameplay. And my whole group agrees. It breaks up the impulse to go the "safe" route and diversifies strategies between games. We were already house ruling a more limited selection and a starting tile.

@IskandarStrategist1689 11 ай бұрын

No gameplay? With the new expansion of caverna frantic, because i didn't find any videos gameplay,

@TheBrokenMeeple 11 ай бұрын

@coyotemoon722 Жыл бұрын

Uwe is by far my favorite designer with 3 games in my top 10. I love Caverna, and some of the elements of this expansion seem neat. But with all that rules overhead they should have just made a new game.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

We played Forgotten Folk last week with the same mates - infinitely more enjoyable game!! My Mountain Dwarves with 6 members, a bunch of mines and donkeys, feeding completely negated by other tiles, that's how Caverna should be!

@Lemonhead209 Жыл бұрын

I pre-ordered it like 14 months ago (Having no idea it could not be added to the fantastic FF Expansion) , that is such a shame, I will give it a try as ive spent my pennys on it already. Their has been very little press about it, i wonder if they where some waht concerened with its limitations, they may errata it so you can Shoe Horn the FF expansion in at some point. (Hopefully)

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

So little press which I admit is well weird. It got delayed a fair while then just came out at Essen but no-one talking about it. Ah well being the first to a party ain't a bad thing and at least I can inform people of what's in the game as let's face it, no-one else seems to have done so!

@thomaswolf2391 Жыл бұрын

Was that first isle of skye expansion, journeyman? It soured the game so much I never played Isle of skye again.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Journeyman yes.

@ryangallagher7183 Жыл бұрын

This confirms all the concerns I had with this expansion. I think I could live with the tighter gameplay if the rest was good, but the random movement cards just seem awful.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

They are painful. And yet some don't have a problem with it and say plan ahead. IT'S RANDOM!!!

@benjoslin3782 Жыл бұрын

This may make Caverna a better solo game. The base game solo wasn’t much fun for me because the only randomness is the order the actions spaces come out.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Possibly, though for solo farming I play Fields of Arle.

@OlegKlishinArt Жыл бұрын

Sounds like it addresses common problems with Caverna, but in a very weird way. Orc tower defense sounds... unexpected, to the the least. I'm definitely interested, but cautiously. Yet I love Caverna less with each play. It's simultaneously bloated with content and stale with the same play patterns. It's even completely "solved" in solo mode. I considered houseruling room market similarly to the way this new expansion does. Forgotten Folk is a lot of fun, but it's like a temporary fix while novelty lasts. There's a reason Agricola persisted for so many years, because it has near endless variability with cards. Uwe is still my #1, though in the long run, Arle and Odin outshined my initial fascination with Caverna.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Yeah can't beat Arle.

@Dexsting Жыл бұрын

Orcs moving completely random is thematic.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

If I were playing World of Warcraft! :P

@thomaswolf2391 Жыл бұрын

Oh no no no. What a shame.

@LEGnewTube 5 ай бұрын

Been waiting forever for this. Didn't even know it had come out until I saw it in a board game store. Disappointed it's not any good.

@BadassBeazly Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the review. I'll pass on this expansion. Frantic Friends takes Caverna in the wrong direction. I'll spend my entertainment funds elsewhere.

@TheBrokenMeeple Жыл бұрын

Glad to help!