New podcast - Imperial Steam.

Appologies for the weeks delay. Life got in the way.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1805880/10196168

Recently I watched the video below on YouTube, and as usual for Actualol it is both informative and entertaining. However, one section stood out to me, and that was on player count.

Firstly, though I am going to address the fact publishers put a wide player count on the box to increase the market appeal of the game, and often this something they shouldn’t do – they must know that some games don’t work with say five players or two players! Arkwright, my second favourite game of all time says 2-4 on the box and whilst yes it can be played with two, you’ll not have a very good experience. It is a four-player game, three at a push.

Le Havre says 2-5 on the box and woe betide anyone playing that with five. So player count is a tool used by publishers to sell games to a wider market.

You could then, as recommended in the video, check out the BGG (Boardgamegeek.com) recommended player count. This is come from people playing the game and their subjective opinion of what is the best player count. Above two players it is useful, and Arkwright does indeed show a “Best 4” on the community player count. It also has a 61% recommendation at two players, and here we have the main issue with the BGG ratings for player count – they fall over at two players.

Unless it is a two-player dedicated game, the way you play a 2-x player game with two will give you a different experience. Play Concordia on the standard 2-3 player map and the game is wide open enough for each player to do what they want without much interaction, and that would turn an excellent game into one that is as dull as dishwater. On the flipside of that, if you go for each other’s cities, if you compete for cards – snag that colonist your opponent really needs – then the game is excellent. Much better than waiting for an eternity to take your turn again in a five-player game. But who has played it what way and who has put their recommendations on towards player count on BGG?

There are some excellent two-player only games. Watergate, Jaipur, and the daddy of all two player games Fields of Arle, are just a few examples. There are also some that are just not good. However, if you happen to play only or mostly two players and decide to go for only two player games or listen to what reviewers or YouTubers say, then you are missing out on a bigger, wider, world of games. As always, it is best to do your own research, and if you are new to the hobby don’t believe everything you read. From player count on the box, to what others think is the best player count for a game.

After six plays here’s my Good ✅ Neutral ➡️ Bad ❎ views on Beyond the Sun.

Good:

✅ The use of the not-dice resource cubes. Makes for a challenging decision of what you use them for.

✅ Production. Oh how you really want to produce more then you get. Balancing ore versus population. Great.

✅ Events. Makes being first to discover a technology something you want to do.

✅ Immediate benefits on technology cards. A nice bonus.

✅ Balance of exploring space versus getting technology cards.

✅ Competition for both space and tech.

✅ Ignoring the issue below with the edge case cards, the general game is super smooth. Simple to teach and understand.

✅ If dual layer player boards are you thing then this game has them…

Neutral:

➡️ Setup. The resources cubes are a pain.

➡️ Action selection markers are too tall and skinny. Easily knocked over.

➡️ The game is expensive for what you get in the box.

➡️ I am not convinced there’s enough variety of events. Seeing the same ones often only after six games.

➡️ The main board is too big. A lot of this comes down to the issues in the ‘bad’ section. Specifically the poor use of white space.

➡️ Thematically it’s a little hit and miss.

Bad:

Hope you’re sitting comfortably as this might be ride…

❎ Graphic design is just not good. Specifically:

❎ Poor use of white space. There’s either way too much or way to little.

❎ Inconsistent use of typography. Tiny type faces combined with poor use of white space is bad. Like can’t read what the card says from sitting close to the board bad. Like cards have lots of space for bigger text but instead have lots of white space.

❎ Colours. Who signed off on having a shade of blue and purple so close to each other to be indistinguishable by colourblind folks? It gets worse as the designer said on Facebook this was because they needed different colours from those on the board to “avoid confusion” yet there’s red technologies and a red/orange player pieces! They even double coded the colours for the technologies.

❎ Wall of text event cards. Walls of text often presenting edge case rules. Some of the event cards are - in my and Mrs B’s opinion - just confusing and distract from the general smooth flow to the game. The reason we love Anno 1800 so much is how smooth it is. There’s very no wall of text cards or edge case rules.

❎ Planet cards are too small and very cramped. With ships on them they become unreadable quickly.

As far as “tech tree” games go, Anno 1800 is the superior one. By a fair margin. However despite the issues I have with #BeyondTheSun it’s a solidly enjoyable good game. You can try it out on BoardGameArena and I recommend you do!