I miss you guys! I think we should try again.

We will be doing a "Top 10 Games of 2012" video later this year, probably in early November.

You guys are, by far, the best reviewers of board games in KZfaq. It's clear and compact, supplying the needed information that we need in BG reviews. Not to mention, the editing is well done. Very simple and effective. Cheers!

Great review, detailed and precise without a lot of "flannel" which many reviewers are so fond of.

Well-made review; I appreciate your writing and editing style.

Yeah, I've come to realize that I'm in a minority when it comes to TI, in that I've got a group that plays it regularly and still has fun even at the 8-hour mark. It's definitely a game that is too long for a lot of people -- and then Eclipse is a great alternative.

Ah, that makes sense. I think it's a matter of expectations -- I went into the game expecting a fairly thematic 4x game (it got pitched to me as "Twilight Imperium, but lighter"), and was a bit surprised by how much of a Euro it is. If you expected a pure Euro, I can definitely see the randomness being offputting. I consider Eclipse a hybrid between Euros and Thematic games that skews towards the Euro side, and so the randomness fits for me.

Great review! You should keep making these! I'm currently designing a boardgame and these videos help me a lot by seeing other games' pros and cons. It's going to be a sci-fi game and you take the role of a god. And the best part is that there are no dice rolling or card drawing in combat!

Nice review. I love how you pronounced designer's name and publisher :D

Can you elaborate on what you consider those problems to be? I've heard some people complain about the randomness of the reputation chit draw, but I tend to see it as a means of encouraging frequent and early combat, which makes the game much more interactive.

Nice summary ladies.

It would be awesome to see a top ten of a the year. Or even best ever video

I'm with you when it comes to TI. It is my absolute favorite game. Length and the sheer amount of rules aside, I love the back story for the game and the individual races themselves. One of the most thematic games I've played to the point that I'd gladly read a book series about the universe.

After seeing this, I want to combine the best feature of Twilight Imperium and Eclipse into the definitive space game.

what do you recommend: Eclipse or Twilight Imperium?

Agreed, I love how it scales, I really must buy the expansion that allows 3 more players!

Oh my!

Looking forward to this list! Maybe you find the time to review Mice & Mystics, Zombicide and ESCAPE - The Curse of the temple.

I've seen enough players pulling an unexpected victory after really crappy exploration draws to believe the randomness really isn't a problem. There are many ways to score points and to prevent others from holding on theirs. Reputation tiles reward early and risky combat, when games like TI punishes the players for going to war. Sure, sometimes you get a lucky 4pts draw after just one fight, but in the 30 games I played, I rarely saw the combative players scoring less than 10-15pts from tiles.

Eclipse is the ideal game for people who are intimidated by the sheer content and rulses of TI3. But Eclipse has something for everyone I think. If You want to build up your empire, so it. If You want to make the coolest modts badass ships in the galaxy, do it. If You have the desire to go to war with other players, do it. If You just want to explore, do it. And I LOVE the mechanics of bookkeeping in this game, like You said, it runs kinda automatically and YOu can focus on the game.

Are there any other games in this conquest space? I want twilight imperium but I'm struggling to get the players together who are willing for the investment. Eclipse also looks good but the resource management looks a little cumbersome and to euro. I dislike games like Puerto Rico and such. I'm itching for a great deep conquest game that is accessible enough to gather players for it.

Although I am not a fan of Eclipse you have explained this game excellently :D. I thought you may have mentioned the problems/imbalance concerning the VP and exploration draw.

I have played many good games. Eclipse, however, is the only game I given a score of 10/10. It's awesome!

If that is the way you saw it. Then no problems. I just don't think you get rewarded on an even keel and for a Euro style game this is quite strange. The exploration draw also throws up more randomness than general Euros do. Keep up the good work.

you ladies are awesome

I have Empires of the Void and its a really good 4x game and we played a 4 player game of it in under 3 hours to a conclusion, its really fun. TI3 looks too daunting to me, Eclipse looks fiddly.

Can you say your names? I loved your videos.... Good job! B-)

But I like to play with myself...

i'd recommend Twilight Imperium, simply because it looks way better (Better artwork / more appealing color) but i have heard that Eclipse takes waaaay less time to play and basically give the same experience... soooo why not both?

Sounds like a great game. I'd love to play it with these girls then a bunch of smelly neckbeards. Love the reviews.

Ugh! I played this with Rise of the Ancients 6 player and I was glad when it was over. So much book-keeping, so much downtime, the technologies are completely random and unbalanced - it's effectively economics in space - no theme is present. I know it sounds harsh, but I look more forward to getting into a game of TI3. That been said it was a relief to win by 1VP in the end - but still I expected a lot better.

Rulses are nuisances my precious..