Hansa - How to Play, and Why It's a Gem

Рет қаралды 3,211

Күн бұрын

This week's older board game gem is Hansa (not Teutonica), from Michael Schacht and Abacus Spiele in 2004. Players are merchants trying to buy goods from one place, sell in another, but they all share the same single ship. So they pay to sail it from city to city, trying to make their individual fortunes - but it is a competition, so don't end your turn with the ship in an opportunistic place for the next player!
The game features basically no luck (the goods locations are just randomised) and provides a thoughtful, dare-I-say "elegant", experience. The presentation, with artwork done by the designer, is understated, calming and mature. A new version called Traders of the Air gives it a slight steampunk theme, but it's the same game under the hood.
00:00 Intro
01:54 How to Play
13:47 Why It's a Gem
Board Gems is a weekly video series highlighting board games that aren't talked about much any more - maybe they're a bit old (though not usually crazy old), or maybe they didn't make a big splash when they came out - but are still great games today, and deserve to not be forgotten!

Пікірлер: 30

@BoardGems 3 жыл бұрын

I've uploaded a Rating Rebuttal for Hansa: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pKuAed2Ql6-VhXU.html

@timjenkins7075 2 жыл бұрын

Great video. Thoughtful insight all around!!

@greginfla7211 2 жыл бұрын

I think you’re the only channel that’s done a review of this game

@BoardGems 2 жыл бұрын

Heh, maybe. Not many channels cover older games. Though if you search for Traders of the Air you may find more. That's the new version.

@HelmerAslaksen 3 жыл бұрын

Great series! Great game! Keep it up. Love your taste in games!

@BoardGems 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the kind words! I may take a break next week, but will be doing these videos for at least a few more months. Then we'll see. :) Thanks for watching!

@Greasynils 3 жыл бұрын

Really enjoy your reviews, keep it up♥️

@BoardGems 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@BGMechanics 2 жыл бұрын

I have just played this game recently and LOVE it. Be doing my own review soon. This game is fantastic. Sad I haven’t played it before now.

@pedrostruck Ай бұрын

I agree with the fantasy-fication point.

@kim3140 3 жыл бұрын

This video has motivated me to pull Hansa off the shelf again. I agree with you on the presentation. An old map look is totally appropriate for a game set in the 14th century. I've never cared for fantasy themes and am not sure why. Maybe because they make me feel like a child, in a bad way? Not sure but something to think about. Thanks for the video.

@BoardGems 3 жыл бұрын

You're welcome! And I share your opinion on fantasy themes - they feel childish to me personally. Compare the box cover of Carolus Magnus and its new version, Eriantys. When I discovered the new version's fairy-tale fantasy setting, I went to my game room and hugged my copy of Carolus Magnus. The box is now slightly dented. 🙃 Cheers!

@mazmo_ 3 жыл бұрын

Really enjoy your videos! You are a gem !

@BoardGems 3 жыл бұрын

Aw, shucks... Thanks. 😊

@fmoros 3 жыл бұрын

we have the same taste on games! I remember I really liked this one when I discovered it on M Schacht play online site.

@BoardGems 3 жыл бұрын

Yup, I think we do! PS I now have a copy of Goldland. 😀

@InVinceIble009 Жыл бұрын

I totally agree with your arguments about new editions. And I don't enjoy fancy themes neither, especially when it's just pasted on. Most of the times, they reimplement the game with the new theme, but it makes much less sense than the initial one. In Hansa, there is a mechanical link to the theme. Although it looks abstract, there is an effort from the author to study the trades made in this era. More often than not, the games that seem abstract at first glance are much more thematic than we think; we simply don't know the theme well enough to see the links. I also am really against player powers. I really hate the idea of adding this to amazing games like Hansa or Carolus Magnus. We don't need that. It's just imposed on us by publishers, who make us think like we ought to have this if we want to enjoy the game more than the second hand copies on the market. Thanks for the thoughtful review. I really connect with your ideas and I couldn't agree more with you.

@BoardGems Жыл бұрын

That's a good point. There is a non-zero segment of the gaming population who feels like, if they're going to get a game, they want the best version of that game. Reasonable, but that translates to "version with the most stuff", even if that stuff is superfluous and adds little value. (Or takes away value, in a manner of speaking, because it distracts from the interesting core.) I understand, publishers reprinting an old classic need to add perceived value because they have to compete with all the used copies out there. I get it. At any rate, development used to mean streamline, now it means the opposite, add more extraneous content to make it look like a fuller package. Your comment is timely. I'll be making a side-by-slide comparison of Hansa and Traders of the Air later this month. Thanks for the kind words. Cheers!

@diamondmeeple 2 жыл бұрын

I bought the game a while ago, and really want to try it :-(

@greginfla7211 2 жыл бұрын

Just bought a used copy…. Well still in shrink wrap. Thanks to this dang video…… so far I have bought three games from your reviews. Hey are you at where you can play this game online?

@BoardGems 2 жыл бұрын

It used to be on mabiweb but has since been moved to Michael Schacht's own website. I don't think I've ever played a game there.

@salty-horse 3 жыл бұрын

Several random comments: 1) I thought your sitting angle was a setup for a joke, and was disappointed a bit. 2) I really appreciate your correct pronunciation of non-English names. 3) Where did you pick up the phrase "things that push my pawns"? Did you adopt any other game-related phrases? 4) The fantasy-fication of games is weird. Thundergryph has rethemed two historical Schacht games in a fantasy setting. I don't mind it in the videogames you mentioned. It helps by allowing writers to worldbuild and let as a player discover the characters and the world. Of course, it can be in a "mundane" setting, but it will always be more restrictive.

@BoardGems 3 жыл бұрын

1) I'm afraid I just had a cut on the other side of my nose... 😔 2) I usually put in the effort, at least with designer's names and game titles. When I notice KZfaqrs or podcasters get it wrong and just don't care, it really *pushes my pawns!* 3) I invented the phrase! Just trying it out. What do you think? Feel free to use it yourself. Let's make it a thing! 4) Yeah, games like Iwari were what I was thinking of. I'm not a particular fan of "worldbuilding". In games, the theme and setting can act as a mnemonic to help you remember the game mechanisms, and a made-up world creates a disconnect that makes it harder to learn. Of course it's fine and necessary for big, sprawling video games; I'm talking about games (video and board) that could be set in the real-world easily, but aren't, for no purpose that I can see other than the creators think it's "cooler".

@salty-horse 3 жыл бұрын

@@BoardGems I don't think a video game has to benefit from worldbuilding. For example, in short stories, glimpses of a larger scope and mysterious things you don't quite understand and are never explained are always fun. And you can only do that with speculative fiction. Can you provide some context for the phrase? What's negative about having your pawns pushed? Is it a result of an aggressive move by another player? Or when someone else touches your pawns without your permission?

@BoardGems 3 жыл бұрын

Well, I just wanted a phrase like "pushes my buttons" or "grinds my gears", but in a gaming context. And I like to alliterate when possible. There isn't more to it than that, I'm afraid!

@ekurisona663 3 жыл бұрын

I noticed that you didn't do rebuttals to bgg comments - is that a change you've made to the format? thx

@BoardGems 3 жыл бұрын

😔 I enjoy doing Rating Rebuttals, I've gotten positive feedback about them... but I don't know what to do with them. They're pretty long, and if these videos are an hour long, who will watch all of that? I could edit them to hell and back to tighten their length, but that's really time-consuming too and I don't think I could do that weekly. What I've been doing lately is occasionally doing a separate Rating Rebuttal video... but few people watch if they're not part of the main video. I did record the Rating Rebuttal for Hansa, but couldn't edit it in in time, so I may still post it separately sometime. But I don't know what to do with them in general. I wish someone super-smart would just tell me the best way to incorporate them. 🙂 (For the record, if I stop doing the Rating Rebuttal, it isn't a change to the format. 🙂 They were always an occasional thing. My earliest videos didn't have them, either!)

@ekurisona663 3 жыл бұрын

@@BoardGems perhaps take what you perceive to be the main criticisms from the bgg comments, and then incorporate your thoughts on those criticisms in your 'why it's a gem' segment. could something like that work?

@davidseddon2690 Жыл бұрын

I agree with you completely re fantasy themes. Worse still, fantasy fans will often score a fantasy-themed game highly simply because they like the pieces and the theme. The game can be rubbish, but it suddenly becomes the greatest thing anyway. There is a huge amount of bias to the new around on BGG for instance, but many of the new games are not better than the games 5 or 10 years before, they are just glossier and have a more "in" mechanic. Because I am a pretty philosophical sort of guy rather than a follower of trends, I thus often stay clear of fantasy games - they have to be a really good game before I will play it. Eg...Scythe...phaw! Give me Shogun or Wallenstein. The fantasy theme and bits, do not make Scythe a better game, for me. It feels like it's just a distraction. I'm not against good bits and board, but the game has to be right first. Eg, if El Grande was redone with a better board and bits...now that would be good....but please, don't set it on Mars with an Orc King and Dragons to attack the Castillo (er Mothership).