This. Jon is super organized, content is clear, clean, and he's very professional. Love the breakdown at the end of the reviews. He's not trying to be funny or clever, he's trying to help you figure out of the game is for you.

Awesome, I hope you enjoy it! It's a classic, such a solid cutthroat game.

I hadn't thought about adding this to the list, but now I will think about it. THat'd be quite the undertaking, a very long video!

My initial reaction is intrigue over the idea of a shorted game, but I don't like your actual idea much. The game is incredibly well balanced, and having a key card randomly not in the game could easily imbalance things. As a data point, I played recently and somehow accidentally forgot to put the second Constitutional Monarchy government card in the deck. I didn't realize this until the 3rd age when I was confused as to why I hadn't seen it come out, and this had drastic effects on my game. My not having access to those extra civil actions really constrained me and I think this was part of why I ended up loosing. I do like the idea of taking some cards out, at least to give it a shot. Perhaps you could pull one of each copy of the yellow action cards, and then compensate for the shorter game by having players only lose 1 yellow token instead of 2 at the end of each age. It's likely this would still cause problems since the yellow cards offer great ways to get the resources you need, but I think I'd try that over going random because losing even one tech from the deck can have huge ramifications as the game is currently balanced.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. Your logic around the Constitutional Monarchy card makes a lot of sense so definitely building in some parameters for the card removal would be important. Or maybe this game just belongs in the 'epic' category and doesn't make it to the table as often, but when it does it feels big, dynamic, and wonderful. One last comment, for how highly-rated this game is, I can't seem to find anyone who owns it or wants to play it. Do you have any recommendations for local Meetups or FLGS in the Bay Area, or somewhere online, where I might be able to find some interested players?

While the game is amazing, it does require a good time investment which is likely why many don't spring up to get it played often IRL. I know there is an open game night at Victory Point Cafe in Berkeley every Monday night as well as the Euro Gaming League in San francisco on the same evening. It's likely you'd have better success getting it played at EGL, though you'd definitely want to plan it beforehand. They have a meetup page and you may have success going down that route. There are thousands of super active players on boardgaming-online.com, and I think it's pretty easy to pair up with some of them just by posting on the TTA BGG forums. I know it can also be played on Board Game Arena, but have no actual experience there. I've played around 20 games on Boardgaming-online and while it's a stark look, it's a solid interface for playing asycronized games. Good luck!

Appreciate the recommendations. I live in San Jose so meetups in Berkeley or SF might be difficult to attend. I like the online idea and will definitely check them out! Thanks again.

I'm not saying the game is perfect, I honestly wish it was abit shorter for instance, but if I can't find a negative to talk about then I won't try to force it. This has nothing to do with a personal bias towards the game or the publisher, I've been quite negative on some games from publishers I very much want to keep working with, it's just a statement on how well designed I think the game is :)

+Laurent Goedegebuure That is true, it feels abit more cluttered now with all the separate boards, I don't see why it was necessary but I suppose it means I can fit the game on a larger variety of table shapes :P

I would LOVE to do this, but simply don't have the time and have other videos I really should get to first. Maybe someday :)

Don't worry, I realized after commenting that you linked to the Gaming Rules! video where he covers the game turn by turn :) This game is definitely going to my wishlist!

+John Parker My personal opinion is that the new version is a significant improvement over the old, and anyone who thinks they will play TTA in the future should consider upgrading. There are almost no new cards to the game however, it's more of a massive rebalancing, so if your friends are burned out on the game and then try this they may feel like it's more of the same even though it's a big improvement. One of the BEST aspects to this new version that I didn't even mention in the review is that CGE is now planning on supporting this new game with expansions, at least one this coming year I believe and hopefully more. So right now it's a way better version of the same game you know, but in a year or two hopefully a couple expansions will also help breathe more life into it for those who feel burned out. I have done previews for a few indie prototypes, though most that ask end up being turned down to a combination of lack of interest in the specific game or lack of time considering their crowdfunding plan. Feel free to email me at JonGetsGames@gmail.com to chat more about a specific game if you like :)

+Carlos Alberto Michan Amado Unfortunately the only real change you can make to the old version is the sharing of Tactics, and even then the new version is balanced for this change and put a couple less tactics in the deck to compensate. If you tried to emulate the new production cycle the numbers of production cubes would need to be modified from the base boards of the old version. I think I'd recommend playing the old version with the old version rules only, it is still an exceptional game!

+JonGetsGames Thank you Jon! Have a great day!

It actually isn't that much. A 2-player game usually takes about 2 hours, whilst a 3-player game usually takes about 4. You don't want to play this with 4 players, though.

"Ore"

Thanks for this very long answer that does not really apply on my question, that I did not get answered on my own.

This did apply to your question because resources look like stones, so Jon used the word "ore". There are some variants in the back of the manual, such as peaceful variant (no war and aggression cards), and definitely you can remove some cards that you or your group don't like in order to have a better experience.

Sorry for completely missing this comment until just now. The reason I say "ore" is because what the token actually represents varies depending on what level of mining technology it is on. It is bronze at the first level, iron at the second, then coal and finally oil. I find it's simpler to say "I spend 8 ore" instead of "I spend 2 iron and 2 bronze". I honestly haven't looked into the alternate was to play the game since 100% of the time I play the complete game. If it now just has two ways instead of 3 this is likely an improvement to simplify what type less experienced or even first time players should try.

+Steve Gale Yep, it can be played at boardgaming-online.com as well as I think Board Game Arena.

I suppose the only negative these days is that I generally find myself preferring to play something slightly lighter and slightly less mean like Nations.

@@JonGetsGames hahaha the "mean" part

For the most part I have played at boardgaming-online.com , but I also know it's avaliable on Board Game Arena. It's apparently coming out for mobile phones and tablets in an app form next week, I am very excited to try that out.

JonGetsGames Yes, I can't wait for the app... the Boardgamearena version is the older version, and I am looking for the new one... I hope the app is good! Thanks for the awesome videos!