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Scott Nicholson
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0405060708
The newest episode of Board Games with Scott is up and is a 20-minute exploration of Yspahan.



You can enjoy this video over at

http://www.boardgameswithscott.com/?p=65


and you can hear just the audio at http://www.boardgameswithscott.com/audio/?p=46



There's also a geeklist with all the episodes at
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/13268/item/401046



(p.s. A big thanks to Scott Tepper teaching me this game at BGG.CON and giving me inspiration to do my own names for the quadrants.)
Last edited on 2007-03-25 07:14:16 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Jim Cote
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"If you've got 3 players, each of you is gonna go 7 times."

This is misleading. Every player takes their actions on each of the 21 turns.
Scott Nicholson
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ekted wrote:
"If you've got 3 players, each of you is gonna go 7 times."

This is misleading. Every player takes their actions on each of the 21 turns.


Whenever you teach, you start with very general statements which then can be technically untrue as you learn more about a topic. This statement was made during the introduction, and the purpose of this statement was to convey the brevity of the game.

Then as the video unfolds, my intention was to explain that a "go" is when you roll the dice and take first pick, and then everyone else gets leftovers.

So, with three players, you will get to roll the dice, add gold, and get first pick 7 times. I assumed that people new to the game see that as "their turn". If they take leftover dice, then that's on "someone else's turn", and that's the way that I portrayed the turns to make it clear that one player has a special role each turn.

Once you've played the game, you know that this isn't technically correct. As the audience for the video are those new to the game, I try to keep things simple at first then add complexity.

All of that said, if you are new to the game and this isn't clear by the end of the video, please let me know.








Last edited on 2007-03-25 08:09:57 CST (Total Number of Edits: 4)
Jim Cote
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05060708
I understand. I guess my first thought was that you were trying to convey that the game length is the same no matter how many players because there's always the same number of total "go's".
Iain K
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0405
Great, now I've got "Barrelin" stuck in my head!

:D


Tom Hancock
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060708
Another great video. I don't think Yspahan is for me, but Scott continues to put out the good stuff.
Peter Marchlewitz
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050708
Good job again, Scott. This looks good. I read the rules quite a while ago. Thanks for putting them into perspective.
Peter
Maarten D. de Jong
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Good overview, with correct emphasis on the relative strengths of souks and caravan. You get extra credit for pointing out the multiple strategies you can take as a player. Two-and-a-half minor but important quibbles:

- the game is for two players too!
- the board does not represent Yspahan, but a trading town in the vicinity;
- 30 minutes of game play is fairly short, and will only occur with experienced players who really know the ropes already. 45 minutes is more realistic, and expect 1 hour when newbies are included in the group.
Dan Corban
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060708
Like your video for Antike, this triggered an intense desire to buy the game. Unfortunately, I just placed a rather large order a couple weeks ago, so it will likely have to wait until late this year!
Isaac -Meat is murder. Tasty, tasty murder.- Bickerstaff
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Thanks, Scott! Like Peter, I had read the rules previously, but seeing the game in action puts it into perspective. This will go on my wishlist now.
Eric
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The game wasn't even on my radar, for some reason, I assumed it was much heavier... Well, now it's selected in my wantlist! Thanks Scott!
Chapel‽
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Great work Scott.

I only wished you had a copy of Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization, That would be a good one to show IMHO.
Scott Nicholson
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I bought Through the Ages at Essen, tried it, and didn't personally enjoy it. (oh, and for those of you ready to ask, I've already sold it.)

I found that the time spent in pushing beads around and waiting between turns wasn't worth the fun I got out of it. I'll look forward to trying a streamlined version from a new publisher.

It didn't get me passionate enough to spend the time to create a video about it.