Ankh: Gods of Egypt Review - Many Unholy Merges
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- čas přidán 20. 07. 2024
- Eric M. Lang is back with another area control board game! The trilogy of RIsing Sun, Blood Rage, and now Ankh: Gods of Egypt, with its unique merging mechanic. Players will each control an egyptian god, wielding asymmetric abilities that allow them to control the board's regions and battles each in their own ways. You'll summon epic monster miniatures, play cards during combat, and heavily strategize how to put yourself in the best position before the last two players merge in the end game. This tabletop war game lacks randomness, and instead of victory points the win condition is to fully advance up a devotion track through combat and monument control. But be careful, the merging may not be the most balanced thing ever and even encouraging sandbagging. Plus, since Ankh is made with merging in mind, it definitely affects build trees and forces the different gods to be a lot less unique from each other.
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Table of Contents:
Intro - (0:00)
Overview - (0:39)
How to Play - (1:12)
Pros - (4:09)
Cons - (20:23)
Recommender Score - (47:44)
Ashton's Personal Score - (53:42)
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#boardgames #tabletop #review - Hry
Some quick catches by you guys! Doesn't change scoring.
1) Osiris can only spawn in ONE death portal when using his ability.
2) Flooding was actually a GOOD thing in Ancient Egypt, as when the nile flooded, it gave lots of nutrients for farmers. (I still don't understand why this would make your troops invincible though ahaha)
If you find anything else, let me know, thanks guys! -Ashton
Whoa! A 57:55 review. Shelfside is putting in the work. Congrats on getting better and better on your reviews. You'll be a level 20 Paladin reviewer in no time.
👍 👍
Cheers man, tons of stuff coming out for ya guys :D -Ashton
I love how thorough your reviews are honestly. So much value for people unsure about spending their money. Thank you
This
The scorpion can only destroy 2 monuments if the arm is pointing directly at it when combat in the region starts so you can counter him by standing your units in the only spot where he could destroy 2 monuments.
Osiris only summons one extra figure at an underworld token not in all.
The changes suggested are way too fiddly, followers make plague a gamechanger it's so good, it denies monument majority and can be used when you want to lose to gain devotion or force the opponent to use up his followers so you can plague him again in another fight where you stand to lose more. The game is amazing so many strategies and ankh powers.
Also guardians are cool but rarely that impactful so winning without them is possible.
Symbols for the gods would have been unnecesarily complicated.
heyo! You are correc that Osiris only spawns one extra figure, I'll make a comment with that!
We ruled it as the scorpion can destroy 3 monuments, since the rulebook says that it can destroy any monument adjacent to the claws, which means there's 3 hexes that would be destroyed. Perhaps it was only meant to be 2 though, and this should have been clarified.
The guardians are cool, but some of them are very useful, like the Satet example I gave. In our games, we found that just having more figures in general can really help with pyramid attuned, so the guardians are almost always more beneficial than not.
The game does have a good amount of strategy with the Ankh progression and scoring ways, but compared to RS and BR, it actually doesn't seem quite as varied, so that's why I brought up those comparisons.
Cheers! -Ashton
Holy moly never clicked so fast in my life really cool to see that you guys are doing Eric Lang games reviews :)
Just stumbled on this gem of a hidden channel because I looked up Ankh and their merge mechanic. So glad I did!
I think they could have used followers for monument stealing. Like you trigger the monument, you wanna steal from someone, and you bid followers to see who wins. It’s like a mini conflict and works thematically.
That is an amazing idea! I really like that, and it would have helped shore up the nitpicks of 'too many followers'. -Ashton
in depth and amazing review as always
Your video production Is getting Better every new drop ! Keep going guys 🔥
Thank you man! So many awesome games out there, many reviews to come soon :) -Ashton
Ankh is the first game I have ever backed on KS (and the only one so far) so I might be a little biased but this game has been SO FUN to play and it might be one of my favourite games ever. You made some valid points tho. Good review! Keep it up!
I enjoy it as well. Really depends on the player's taste. Merging is a punishment and a catchup mechanic at the same time. It actually pushes me to do better or atleast position myself better.
You are definitely* a lot* biased.
@@arthursimsa9005 Or they just enjoy the game? For me, Rising Sun is by far the best of Lang's trilogy, but Ankh is a firm second. Personally, I find Blood Rage to be the absolute worst by a LONG margin, to the point that according to BGG ratings, it's a 4 at best, with its drafting sorely lacking and for there to be a strong tendency for a winner to start snowballing. I don't find the supposed "flaws" in Ankh to be particularly notable, but more find that they seem to be people expecting the game to be something other than it is - it can be brutally unforgiving, but with more plays under the belt - and especially if you add the Pharoah expansion, it's a very solid and enjoyable game.
Really good and detailed review! Was very fun to watch.
thank you! More stuff coming :) -ashton
Very thorough overview! This one isn't for me and my game group, but I loved the video! Keep it up. 😀
Cool video, but I love this game.
Our group have just refused to do the merge as usually someone is near the top of the devotion track anyway, or we end the game after the 3rd conflict.
Regarding turn order and guardians, we have found that getting guardians doesn't always equal doing better. There are so many more variables that affect your game
Good review, thanks for making this.
Very insightful. I'm not sure how much I agree yet, but I definitely see your points. I hope Ankh stands up for us.
My friend Kick-started all three, but sold Blood Rage and Rising Sun. I bought his Rising Sun, but in terms of getting it actually on the table, I wish I had bought his Blood Rage instead.
I think Ankh may work for us at 2 and 3 players.
best of luck with the plays! Ankh definitely works best at 2, but again, you're not quite getting the merge mechanic that is one of the selling points. Cheers! -Ashton
It’s good to have a reviewer that I can consistently and totally disagree with, I can check out a title they reviewed bad and just confidently buy it cause I know I’ll like it.
That's true, I almost always disagree with Ashton (except for ti4)
I would Love do see you review chaos in the old world, it is my favorite Eric lang area control game
oooh, that's an interesting request- I actually sold it off a while back because I thought it was too long for what it was, but really enjoyed the design overall. Would be interested if I got my hands on it again! It did make my top 10 in 2020, lots of fun nostalgia for that one -Ashton
I didn't back Ankh nor plan to buy it in retail (Chaos in the Old World and the Matagot area control games are my jam.) but I still watched the whole review! The pacing in this 1-hr review is superb. I have subscribed a long time ago due to the funny videos but I will watch your other longform reviews after this.
thank you man! Chaos is awesome, and I have yet to try any Matagot area control games actually, will want to try some soon (don't think Takenoko counts ahaha).
Cheers, see ya around! -Ashton
Great in depth review.
I loved this game. You did a great job breaking it down. BUT when I heard the complaints about turn order, that must have just been bad luck in your games. I was last in turn order in a few of my games and I never had issues. Because depending on player count and peoples strategies, there was never a “I’m last so I never get temples or powers” problem. It completely depended on the moves other players made. They may not take an ankh power because they wanna do 2 other actions, then I would. Etc. Or just based on the nature of the markers moving up at different paces, I was able to take it to the special event just as much as anyone else. Sometimes someone wouldn’t want to start a battle so they would purposefully use tow other actions as they set up themselves more. Etc.
But I do agree on other stuff like the merge, and certain powers being better than others, etc.
I think there is a gem inside the merge somewhere but it just wasn’t ready yet.
Overall I LOVED this game. It’s easy to learn, has many elements from great games, but it’s also not to complicated. It always feels like the scale grows with every turn. Even if you are last and doing terrible you always feel like you have a chance the next round. No two games are alike! Etc.
As far as the camels and regions, I can’t speak to smaller games, but I always played with 5 people. And I LOVED having like 7 regions by the end. Each one had different conflicts. Some with everyone, some with 2 or 3, etc. so everyone had their own unique battles!
I agree I wish the followers were used more. I found when playing, if someone played plague of locusts, whoever had the most would just win because nobody would bother bidding anything knowing they would probly lose.
I will also say, I played with the upgraded components which makes a big difference. Seeing the pyramids and temples 3D makes it easier to see what’s going on and who owns what! The followers being better quality, same with the boards, etc. it’s one of those subconscious things that makes it more fun.
The upgraded components seems to help with understanding area control
thanks for the feedback man! The turn order complaints may come from this "efficiency" mindset that our group has, where we realized that its crucial to get Ankh powers before the first fight, because they pay for themselves with omnipresent, make monuments free, or give a TON of followers if you start winning combats. So this, combined with the allure of the guardians, makes getting ankh powers a little -too- tempting early, especially when they're dirt cheap.
There is an instance where you don't want to start a battle to set yourself up more, but then you're giving the priority of starting the conflict to the person after you, meaning they can just start the fight on their terms, which is generally not a good thing for you.
This game has a lot going for it, and agree that no games are alike, man that camel mechanic is really something else! Perhaps the camel region thing just works really well at 5, which is a number we just weren't able to get with our conditions, and also because the people we were playing with were actually pretty fed up with the game and didn't want to play again.
Glad to see that you feel the same about the followers! Just something else needs to be done there :)
I played with some of the upgraded components, like the plastic followers and 3D monuments, but for some reason I liked the base game cardboard more! But that's just me ahaha. I will say that compared to Rising Sun, the plastic followers and region markers feel VERY disappointing, as the owner of this game and rising Sun has told me multiple times. He was expecting something like the rising sun bling! -Ashton
What we do about the merge: Keep the devotion of the second to last player instead of the last. This way the persons merging don't feel bad, and it really acts as a catch up mechanic for both the last AND the second to last.
We also put one of EACH guardian in the game, so that everybody gets to pick one when they unlock the ankh powers. And there are no repeats, so they feel more special and there is still an advantage unlocking then first as you get to choose first.
fantastic houserule. Thank you so much for sharing this, I think this will help many a game! -Ashton
@@Shelfside Another change we implemented now is that the last player moves to be right after the Second to last after the Merge.
This way they always play their actions in a row. And It makes comunication easier as they are standing side by side.
@@OrdemDoGraveto noted, cheers! -Ashton
I'm just here to ask which company makes the magnetic token trays you were using. Can't remember where I saw them before but wanted to take a look.
Sure thing, they're called Wyrmwood Tabletop Tiles. I think you can get some off their website still! -Ashton
Very thorough . Super helpful. Thanks
Cheers! Glad ya enjoyed it :) -Ashton
Great review, Curious about how we never encountered your nitpicks as often.
Yes, Ankh powers are great, yet positioning on the board in first 2 turns, to claim those first 3 structures, the cost benefit of spending your first turns on that ankh power for a battle you're not in yet vs claiming a structure for VP, might counter it.
Several games I played where none of the Ankh powers were bought until right before the first fight.
The Merge at 3 player is certainly suspicious, we played several games without merge at 3 player, and with 4th player, if our 'score' was close, the merged players became a power house, so certainly if you are playing merge and you're coming last, the 2nd to last player could decide its in their best interest to help you out, but with a merge choice, why would they?
without a merge 5 players became so difficult for that last player, they were stuck at the bottom of the score chart, unable to claim enough points as all their actions were just for naught, they felt despondent, didn't really care to play. It also made it harder for players 3 and 4 to get needed points to get out of red, as the 5th player was dragging down regions to get that 1 or 2 points, and their usage of plague, redraw, plague, redraw made it harder for the 1st player to get the needed points to win and end the game.
So in a way, I did feel like merge and eliminate red, was kind of band-aid solution for the complete mess the game can get into. This contributes to that feeling of it being a 'prototype' and maybe it kind a was, Eric Lang was under pressure, which caused him to leave, so possibly this game would have been 1000% better if Eric could have spent the proper time needed to start again. (note Trudvang, indeed got 'started' again)
p.s. home brew 9 players, with player elimination on each combat is a very interesting game, where instead of 'adding' camels, you 'take' them
Hey thanks for sharing! Can't imagine how crazy home brew 9 players is ahaha.
We found that Ankh powers are just so good. Since you have 2 actions a turn anyways, and early structures tend to not help immensely until after you start getting Tier II Ankh powers, our group almost immediately started getting them. Plus, the guardian is an extra unit which can really help late game (and taking it away from your opponent).
Did not know that Eric Lang was under pressure! TIL. Cheers! -Ashton
Appreciate the review, great breakdown.
thank you man! Daniel will be coming out with a JOTL video soon :) -Ashton
Superb review - thank you!
Glad it could help, cheers! -Ashton
Without a doubt the best explanation of Ankh. Concise explanation of the rules and startegies without constant digression.
Cheers, glad ya got something out of it! -Ashton
I love this channel, your growth, and the length and depth of this specific review. One should aspire to be like you.
I love Ankh. It has issues - what game doesn't? Your analysis is rather spot on, and despite all that I agree with you on, I still love it.. I think it requires more plays. I think the opaqueness is one of a kind in this typology of game.
I think turn order is massive. I think followers are half baked. I think the Guardians seem great, but just like in all of the trilogies, they rarely Impact the game.
There's good balance with factions. Isis' models don't die, Osiris doesn't mind dying. Anubis wants enemies to die. etc etc etc. There are tools to work around all of these factors, available in all games. I think Faction selection and turn order selection are the BIGGEST parts of this game that need to be analyzed more.
Thanks for sharing this, enjoyed the read.
Ankh is definitely a design that requires a lot of plays, especially with how punishing it is with zero randomness. We haven't found much imbalance with factions, correct! It is just that in 2P they don't always work out, but hey, this wasn't designed to be a 2P game anyways. Turn order is huge for sure, and I'm sure people will eventually come up with strategy guides for certain factions with certain player order, in what techs to get, how to pace monument building, etc. Appreciate the words again man! -Ashton
I've played Ankh quite a few times now and I actually like a lot of the uncertainty the game brings. The map can change dramatically in an instant depending on the decisions made. I get the impression you like to keep track of your opponents as well some level of certainty but I like the surprises. It keeps it really fresh and has opened up quite a few possibilities in my plays of the game. In one game, I bluffed my opponent by playing the Plague of Locusts card. I had three of my units adjacent to his Set God figure. I spent one follower and they spent all of theirs. None of my figures died because they belonged to Set and they spent all their followers in one turn. It was a fun moment :) One criticism I do have is with the Camels. I found the best strategy is carving out the smallest possible territories (6 hexes) and then keeping one figure there adjacent to at least 1 or more monuments depending, then guaranteeing 1 devotion for dominating the region and another devotion for monument majority. As you pointed out, there may not be enough figures for the other player to challenge you, especially if I end up triggering all of the camel events. So I just keep getting 2 points per new small region which adds up very fast to a win.
If all your figures belonged to Set, you should not be able to play a card in the first place as you would not have any figures in the region.
My God figure was in the region :)@@vitorhauser8476
thanks for one of the most detailed ankh review available on CZcams.
I played at 3 mutiple times w the same players and it got to a strange meta where EVERYONE tries to stay close to each other and NOT lead! becos merging in a 3 player game is just WAY too strong especially when u can be taking turns back to back. U have too much control of the action tracks and triggers. I think 4 and 2 players seem to be the best player counts.
totally agree! The 3 player is just NOT working with this game. But hope you can find success with the merge at 4p, and if not, of course the 2P is quite enjoyable :) -Ashton
Really appreciate the level of criticism and the score system. Not enough of either. A lot of thoughtful comments.
Your complaints about the merge system reminds me of Dragonbond: Lords of Vaala “Dragonbond” mechanic. Glad it is an optional mechanic there that isn’t as important 😅
Great review :)
Thank you! More coming down the road :) -Ashton
question for you, would you feel better finishing the game in last place with all "your stuff"? instead of having merged and been given a real shot at winning.
Good question! So sometimes, people feel like they have a have a real shot of winning even without the merge, and get ticked by the merge, because now their win becomes a joint win. Other times, they have zero chance of winning, then drag someone else down to their level. But when the merge does create awesome catch-ups and tension, it is cool, but it just won't happen all the time, and that can feel poopy 2/3rds through a game.
Personally, I have never actually been merged with someone, so I can't exactly speak to that feeling. I would imagine that if paired with the right buddy though, it would be very fun! -Ashton
@@Shelfside It is a common misperception/illusion of players who are falling behind. "If I had one more turn, I could...". No. Like e.g. basketball, it is played for a set length. You have to be better during that set length. In case of Ankh what misleads people is the 5th conflict phase. In the classic "Old Kingdom" scenario (which is practically a normal game without special rules) the game most of the time ends during the 4th conflict phase. Which means that after the merge there is one more camel event, two monument control events, than the 4th (and most probably final) conflict phase happens. Which might not even go fully through all the region, as the wins happens by somebody reaching that final spot on the devotion track (at least that is my personal experience after 6 games with various player counts). Knowing this, when could exactly a player who fell behind -which means he is already not doing great on the board- catch up and gather all the devotion he missed to gather so far? It is impossible. An illusion. And Ankh points that out clearly. It is just difficult to take for some people. You are fully right that Ankh requires 2-3 games to get all the implications and tactics surrounding the merge fully absorbed by the players but from that point on it ceases to be a problem and becomes part of the strategy.
The main function of the merge is to keep the game interesting and the players involved even if he is on the last place, and with that hopefully prevent a kingmaking situation to happen. It gives motivation for the player to strive for devotion even if he is on the last place, so he and his merged partner will not fall behind as much on devotion after the merge. Or to gather followers and guardians which he can than bring into the merge "marriage". The only thing it requires from the last player to overcome this "but my stuff is gone!" mentality. Yes, your stuff is gone, but it was not a great stuff anyway, because you are on the last place. If the players can have that little mental fortitude in them, than the whole merge becomes a boon instead of a (falsely perceived) curse.
Personally I would have to say yes. I hate cooperative games and would rather lose on my own than win together.
Good review. I really like Ankh though. In the last play we gave the mergers the option, they have to discuss and agree to merge. They chose not to merge.
I also think Pharoah is close to a neccessary expansion, it adds chaos, assymetry, new cards and catch up mechanisms. The chaos is welcome as it takes away the ability for anybody to calculate whats going on, this takes away a lot of pressure on those that couldnt anyway. You get more powerful cards and catch up mechanics in the form of a second area control mini board that is tied to the summon mechanic (which means the people winning the fights dont get to add priests to it as they are not summoning).
However base Ankh was a 8/10 for me at 4 players, not as low as the 5 or 4 rating. After playing the suprisingling good 2 player and Pharoah, its a 9.5 for me. Pharoah completes the game, 2 player makes it faster and the event board sharper and more tactical.
Awesome man! I think giving the decision to merge or not merge is just the most logical thing, sick that you came up with it yourself.
My friend just didn't back the Pharoah expansion ahaha, so we couldn't cover it in time for this release. Maybe one day I get to try it, I heard you get the pharoah walking around himself too! Just the "political cards" as a thing sound fun.
Thanks for sharing, really enjoyed reading this mate. -Ashton
@@Shelfside Thanks, it made thematic sense as well to agree to merge.
Yeah the pharoah wanders the board and he a big catchup mechanic. You assign him powers before the game, he can be a VP pinata, a whirlwind of destruction or a few other interesting things. He is catch up because his movement is controlled on the council board which people losing have more presence on and win ties which is frequent with only 3 priests each in the game.
I will never play Ankh without Pharoah from now. Its like Tuscany to Viticulture or Leviathon to Abyss, it completes the game.
This review was incredibly well put together! Well done!
For me I think Kemet would be the game I would seek out first in the Egyptian area control/combat space. I haven't played it, but it sounds better and is widely loved. Whereas Ankh is polarising and in general people seem disappointed due to the massive hype CMON created.
Thank you! Appreciate the kind words! I have played Kemet a while ago, and need to play it again! It is definitely more consistently loved than Ankh, and maybe it'll be a review one day! -Ashton
@@Shelfside That's such a sweeping over generalization. I must warn OP that if you are the type who put weight on other people's opinion, then at least beware of the different online echo chambers who rely only on "anecdotal account". Shelfside is like the 2nd below average review of Ankh while there are tons glowing ones. ;) Kemet, especially Blood and Sand, is far from being consistently loved like Ashton claimed
@@Andy-td4sj that might be. Blood and sand did get some criticism.
But that’s primarily for it being a second edition and mostly criticized for the art and other subjective comparisons. There will always be haters when a new edition comes out.
The original kemet is widely celebrated.
Wery nice and honest review!
I backed Ankh on KS. But after playing a game on TTS I had very similar critiques: unnecessary merging, lack of strong battle cards, lack of controll over events triggering. So I took my pledge back. For me both BR and RS are much better games in this trilogy.
Thanks Alex! Glad that you came to the same conclusion, would 100% agree that BR and RS are likely better picks for most! -Ashton
you re really good at what you do! neither su&sd or dice tower can analize so well the tecnical aspects, the flaws of the mecanisms and the balance issues. And, in every game from medium weight on, these are the things that make or brake an experience. great service!
P.s. the fact that floods are considered positive is historically accurate. the banks of the Nile were made fertile by a type of soil, called Loam, which remained when the waters receded.
Thank you man! Yep, the floods are actually considered historically accurate as someone else pointed out, I have pinned it in a comment for everyone to see. Cheers! -Ashton
This game looks really cool especially before the cons start. I would mostly be playing with 3 players unfortunately and the mandatory merge with one of our players being of a lower skill level things would often end up not being as fun.
Good review and cool looking/interesting game but a few things in there make it not for me.
Also who's idea won with the custom cards, I cannot see a video from 9/16/21.
Play with three and just don’t merge. It’s a great experience just doing that. We didn’t like merge idea and did without. Game was awesome with three that way.
@@marcusjurado7226 I may do that if I ever buy it, personally I'd go for Blood Rage or Rising Sun first. Still trying to get my friends to play more often as is due to the kids having school now (and weekends are not an option for them unfortunately).
heyo! Yeah the game does have so much going for it, maybe this game can get an edition with some shored up merged rules? As Marcus pointed out, you can just play with 3 and not merge, which is not written in the rules so I can't speak for it personally, but it seems to be an ok solution.
For 3 players, BR will be awesome! Rising Sun really needs more people to shine because of the team mechanic.
Oh, and Vanessa won the custom card entry, with wanting to put us on the serenity! It was on a youtube community post -Ashton
@@Shelfside There were a couple of interviews recently where Eric Lang made clear that the merge is a key feature for him in this game and works as intended.
I wouldn't expect a new edition. There might be more scenarios. But based on what I heard yesterday on the BGG interview I wouldn't expect many more scenarios removing the merge. He knew it would be controversial and accepted that.
Also the merge critiques will lessen over time I think. People who dislike this will sell their copies and they will end up with people who appreciate the feature. Thus the ratio of Ankh owners who like the game as designed will gradually grow. And some of the current sceptics will come to appreciate the more tense endgames and reduced kingmaking.
Rising Sun works perfectly fine with 3. Betray without honor cost is a strong move. Also, the lack of a 4th players is somewhat compensated by more mandates per player.
@@Shelfside Ah a community post okay. I was hoping that yes there will be a version with some shored up rules in either a second edition or possibly in a digital version like in tabletop simulator.
Dont understand all the hate for the merge everywhere . I merged 3 times now and i like it . I hate kingmaker. Or making games that whatever you do it always becomes close .
Greetings from Ukraine. I really enjoyed this video, thanks for combining everything that I wanted to know about Ankh in one video.
Wish you a strong health!
Thank you! Greetings from California here! Glad the video helped you out a lot and hopefully saved you some time, if not just for understanding the rules/flow of the game! -Ashton
I appreciate the thorough review you did for this game. I have a copy & the more I read the rules, the more I come to your conclusion. I have already decided to dump the merge option. I am working out a better ending. Why waste the miniatures. Your comments give me suggestion for future changes. In the future I will wait for reviews before buying any more Lang games.
Please play it first. Most of the reviews that came out so far have some errors and misinterpretations. Don't just judge the features on what you heard - give it a try - it might surprise you.
Merge is a bold feature and one doesn't have to like it of course. But many of the actual arguments brought up against it are flawed or based on misunderstanding of what the rules say.
Thank you Ashton for this review: you have saved me a lot of money and time! I was considering finding and buying an all-in KS bundle, but now I see better to go elsewhere.
I love Eric Lang, Blood Rage and Rising Sun and another game like this doesn't fill necessary to me know.
Having said that you are one of the best boardgame YT channel out there. Period.
Always enjoyng watching your videos.
Keep up the great work ❤
Heyo, awesome man! Cheers for the comment. Definitely agree that Blood Rage and RS are much more palatable formulas. Cheers! -Ashton
Love your reviews but this one I felt was waaaay off. We have been playing it at 3 and it has been an amazing experience. The only thing we didn't like was merging, so we just skipped it and played the end of the game just like the beginning. Combat was amazing, the race to get Guardians was fun and we found that nobody got left out. You are sacrificing actions early if you are pushing towards collecting Guardians...not to mention those cool figures just go into your pool...so you still have to get them out. We pick this over the other two in his trilogy. And bashing those miniatures...thats just crazy talk lol...they are gorgeous and the quality is superior. Oh well...to each their own...I'll be back for the next review.
heyo! Glad to see ya around for the love!
We also got to play it at 3 multiple times, and with the written merge and non-merge scenarios we just did not feel anything balanced at all. I can see a lot of merit of just ignoring the merge altogether, but then that's just playing a slightly different game ahaha.
We found that the race to get guardians is really tight, where the earlier players in rotation order tend to have the speed advantage in grabbing guardians. It's not always the case that the later players get guardian-screwed, but the game will just end up rewarding earlier players because there's limited guardians that are first-come-first-serve. The guardians to go in your pool, but they stay there forever, so the fact that your army size is just bigger with guardians makes them better, plus they cost the same as warriors to spawn, so you'll always spawn them.
While I can't really prove mini quality or whatever, the god minis just feel lighter than the guardians for their size. When I compare the god minis to the "main honcho" minis for each faction in the other Eric Lang games (also CMON), the plastic mold just doesn't feel as good. Entirely subjective though ahaha.
Ankh certainly feels a good amount different than RS and BR, especially with the perfect info, so if its your pick, I can totally see it! Lots of good going in the game for sure.
Hope this cleared stuff up! Cheers! -Ashton
The real plague of locusts was the friends we made along the way
Ah
I feel like the big disconnect here is that Ankh is a streamlined semi-abstract, and you're treating it like a wild wargame. It's more Tigris & Euphrates than Eclipse, y'know? The asymmetry being relatively low keeps moves predictable and simple, the hands of cards being identical adds sharp and measurable cardplay, etc. I see all this as very good, not bad.
I can see how you'd feel disappointed by what you got if you were wanting something grainier and more similar to your average crunchy wargame, though. And it kinda advertises itself that way, so it's their fault, not yours, lol.
Hey thanks for this insight! Trying to get Daniel to play one day, so maybe there will be a follow up vid! -Ashton
I mean it's got minis and to me that's what it's all about. CMON in particular makes some neat stuff.
well sounds good if ya need the minis :) -Ashton
You don't score monument majority if you have no figures left in the region
that's correct! You still score monument majority if you have a god left in the region, which will always happen because the gods can never die -Ashton
So i ask this a lot online, how long do you guys need per turn ? My friend and i studied math and we take like 200% of the box written total game time by default.
this is a really good question! While I haven't timed our playthroughs persay, I would say that certain 'moments' in this game just take a good amount of time, like swarm of locusts and moving. For 2 player, we actually got the game in under an hour after being rather experienced, and that felt about right.
For a fun anecdote, I have a friend who is also in a math-related field who spends a LONG time thinking on his turn, but tends to win a lot of the games, so he's doing something right :) -Ashton
"Flood" in ancient Egypt was a positive thing. The Nile seasonally flooded the lands around the Nile and brought water and nutrients.That's part of what made Egypt the breadbasket of the ancient world.
Inexperienced players disadvantaged vs experienced players? I would hope so. How can that ever be a bad thing? If that weren't the case then the game would have no depth or be ruled just by luck.
No, Build Monuments doesn't mean you lose the battle. Except for Chariots all the other 6 cards have 0 or +1. It's not hard to play Build Monuments during a battle that you win.
And that's of course exactly the reason there's only this 1 pure +3 combat card and why it would be a bad idea to add more cards like that. The combat cards work great as they are. Just not your kind of game.
Same is true for all the other "improvements" you ask for - those would make another game. Those other games mostly exist already. We don't need Ankh to be more like other games.
If you have so many followers why not use them to play Plague and win a region while eradicating some hostile figures?
Ankh plays perfectly fine with 3 players. All player counts have been great.
Later players not getting events? How? That depends on the tactical choices players make during the round. All of which have to make tough choices regarding actions and when to give up an extra action for an event or whether or not to have the next player have an event. You noticed the rule that you can't take a second action if the first triggered an event?
Scorpion can't destroy 3 monuments. It's either 1 or 2.
Heyo! Thanks for this detailed writeup. I totally forgot that flooding in the nile was a positive thing, so great catch there.
The problem we have with inexperienced players in this game is that they can drag down experienced players due to the merge. This makes the experienced player just feel bad, and kind of "eliminates" the inexperienced player as the experienced guy tends to assume full control.
Build monuments does not mean you lose the battle, correct! As I even brought up in the pros, you can play build monument, build a temple, and get +2 strength. But in our games, the general lack of added strength has actually led to people losing the battles, when Chariots and Drought tended to be prevalent. If you have a lot of troops in one region that gives you more strength, players tend to play flood or drought to protect their troops, or give a big VP bonus, instead of playing "build monument", because the risk of losing the fight and losing all your troops is not worth it.
As for followers, yep we understand that you can play plague of locusts, so that's why the "lack of spending followers" was in the nitpicks. It just is in a huge contrast compared to say, Rising Sun, where there's things to constantly spend money on that gives more weight to them. Plus, the plague of locusts is not always active: it may be in your discard, or you may want to drought, or build a monument, etc. etc. To clarify, I'm not saying that there's no ways to spend followers, its just that it seems to be commonplace that they just stack, and make when using them rather fiddly. Again, a nitpick of ours we really wanted to bring up to you guys!
We had some especially poor games at 3 players, with and without merge. The merged game just felt extremely drastic post merge- where again, its the 1v2 dynamic where the merged god has SO much control over the action track. As for the unmerged game, the scenario in the rulebook is so punishing and doesn't help solve the snowballing.
In the rulebook, the scorpion wording says that it destroys all adjacent monuments the scorpion's claws are pointed at, so we ruled it that would be 3 as it also destroys something that is between its claws. Perhaps it is 2 if you interpret it a bit differently (man I wish there was a FAQ for this), but the fact is that the ability is WAY TOO STRONG without satet, and again, no guarantees you can snag satet.
Later players tend not to get the monument events in early stages of the game, which is incredibly important to setup the first conflict. In later parts of the game, yes later players may get the events they needed, but at that point they may already be behind. You are correct that has some tough choices to make in terms of the action track, but there are some instances that you are funneled into one action (like getting followers before inevitable combat if you had none before, or getting an Ankh ability that gives you a HUGE boost before combat and to snag a scorpion). Yes, we did play with the rule that triggering an event ends your turn. There is the possibility that you -can- forfeit an action, as the rulebook says you can, to not move up the trackers, but that feels bad in a game that is already so action tight as is.
Phew! Hope this helped answer your concerns, and thanks for sharing! It seems like Ankh is quite the polarizing game, and as noted in the review, it has so many awesome things! May you have many more awesome playthroughs :D -Ashton
@@Shelfside Yes, Ankh has some controversial features :-). That's the price of being innovative and taking some risk. But there's a lot of games out there and we don't need another Area Control game that's doing mostly the same things as 23 other area control games- just with a different theme and VP weightings.
Build Monuments: Even without Temple Atunement you don't run a particularly high risk of losing the battle where you Build Monument. Your opponent might already have played his/her Chariots or you have reason to think that s/he will use it in a later battle where it would be more impactful. But even if you lose that battle - it's not really that big a deal. The only battles you really need to win are the ones with your biggest monument majorities or to protect figures you can't effort to lose. There will always be battles you lose and in case of Osiris you want to lose some of them.
The main potential problem with merge players is not so much a difference in experience (that's mostly a first game problem until people figure out that you have to participate in as many battles as possible - not turtle in a couple of home regions), but combining an extrovert/alpha player and a introvert/shy play. But that's between players. If one player decides to check out - not much any game can do about that. And that already happens in other games when players realize they don't have a chance anymore. Ankh at least gives them a chance to catch up.
Followers: As I said before comparing to what other games did different can't be used as an argument against Ankh really - I'm glad that Ankh is not more like Rising Sun etc... I already have those games. I don't need another game where I spent on a wide range of battle bids every battle - RS already exists. Stronger, more varied and variable powers? Kemet already exists. Why would any of us want Ankh to be more like other games? Just get that other game. ;-)
3 player games: That's weird, because 3 player is the majority of my games and they were all interesting and tight races. Exactly because the merged god renewed competition, was engaged because they had an actual chance of winning from behind and for the leading player because it was a real challenge instead of coasting to a win.
Scorpion: Please read the rules again. Yes, it destroys what the claws point at - but first it explains that you have to point them at 1 or 2 hexes. It never destroys 3 monuments. And 2 should be somewhat rare. In a Scorpion game I wouldn't claim and build monuments in a pattern where the scorpion can take out 2 of my monuments. And in a typical "Middle Kingdom" game the game ends during 4th conflict, so there's 2 or 3 occasions the scorpion gets used - if summoned and moved in time and not blocked by an opponents figure. But even if Scorpion is terrible and broken and somehow survived play test anyway - worst case- play without it. People complained during KS that there are too many Guardians anyway. ;-)
Yes, Scorpton can be brutal. But monument majorities can change by adding a monument just as well as by removing one. It's actually more relevant for the Atunement powers. Also, play Plague against the scorpion player. Summoning Guardians and getting them into position costs at least 2 actions. And you can put figures in key locations to protect monuments (which can also be build in remote locations) - there are counterplays besides Satet. And a monument that got destroyed can not be claimed in a later event - so scorpion player(s) needs to be careful what to destroy. And there is the counterthreat by another scorpion player (in 3+ games).
I really don't see the connection to "later players". But yes, sure, some players won't get monument claims. They got more actions instead. You'll find with more games played that the early assumption that you NEED to get those events gets challenged and the value of the actions you do instead more appreciated (these are the opportunity costs one pays for getting the events).
BTW, you can't forfeit actions. All actions are mandatory. If you can take a second action you have to take it. But if the first action triggers an event (and it triggers immediately - not after taking 2 actions), then your turn ends after the event and you don't get a second action. This is not optional. Your phrasing makes it sound like you maybe got this wrong (happened to our group when we played the first time during KS campaign).
The only way to voluntarily "forfeit" an action is to pick "Move" and move all your figures 0 hexes or pick Ankh Power after you bought all 6 or Summon while you have 0 figures left in reserve. But even then you had to pick the action and move the action marker.
I wish you had games as awesome as mine. Ankh immediately became one of my favorite games - exactly because of the brilliant design decisions that were made and the ways it is different from other games. Too bad you seem have have had disappointing gameplays.
5 second in and OCD trigger. Why do you do this us and not start with Blood Rage?
Because Blood Rage is massively overrated and actually a bad game lots of people have convinced themselves is good.
@@AmstradHero Interesting take, why do you think that?
@@RenbroNL For one, the much lauded drafting is really not interesting. The first couple of rounds you are essentially only picking between one or two cards (and generally you're hate drafting because you can't let one player get all the Loki cards, so you have to do it, even if you don't necessarily want it), and then the last couple you're basically picking between whatever dross is left - so there's maybe a few cards in the middle where you're actually making meaningful choices. I do not understand how the game gets lauded for this when it's actually quite weak in this spot.
The game strongly tends to snowball, because the game is centred around win-more designs. Win the battle? You get to keep all your figures, AND you get to pillage - or you'll likely be able to pillage on your turn. You lose your card? Who cares? You're still at an advantage compared to the people who just lost their figures and have to spend rage to get the back. The rage is also a win-more mechanic: from winning pillages you get rage and then you can get more actions, which means you're in a stronger position versus the people you previously beat because not only do you have figures on the board, but you've got more actions to play with when they're still on the board.
I've played quite a lot of games of Blood Rage, and the third age of the game has almost exclusively been a waste of time because everyone already knew who the winner was going to be by the end of the second age. Someone occasionally unexpectedly taken the win, but by and large the winner of the game already held a commanding position in terms of their map positioning and clan advancements, and the only way to counter them was a combined effort of "tear down the leader" from multiple other players.
The love for this game just seems to come largely from people who are enamoured with the "Let's just start a fight all the time" mentality of the game, rather than it having any notably mechanical or design strengths, because whenever anyone wants to play it... I'll ask for pretty much any other area control or area control adjacent game. To me, Rising Sun absolutely dumpsters Blood Rage, and I significantly prefer Ankh to it. I'd take Smallworld, even with all its imbalanced flaws and the luck of the die roll, over Blood Rage any day of the year. Blood Rage is in my collection because it was a gift. That's probably the only reason it's still there. I was genuinely excited for it. But it wasn't that great to begin with, and it's only dropped and dropped the more I played it.
@@AmstradHero Woah thanks for the in-depth analysis. Good stuff! I do own the game but haven't played it that much. I do recognize everything you're describing. Especially the necessity to hate draft the Loki cards.
I think most people just don't or aren't able to think that deeply about the games they play. They just see the big stuff. Indeed the constant fighting + drafting, maybe the theme. Even when the 'detail stuff' can drastically affect the experience. And not sure I can blame them. Mediocre drafting is still drafting which is a cool mechanic. And a runaway leader problem is also something people tend to accept.
Ok this is pretty cool
I feel a need to defend the merge mechanism. This is a case of expectation dictating experience. After listening to interviews with Eric Lang, he said he designed the game AROUND the merge mechanism. So, if you go into the game expecting it to work like Blood Rage or Rising Sun, you're going to be disappointed. If instead, you go into the game realizing the merge is a NEW key mechanism of strategy in the game and something you need to plan around, you can actually really enjoy this mechanism in the game.
I think of the last game I played. It was a three player game (using the pharaohs expansion), and it had been fairly close, but I had been trailing. I put together a great Conflict Event right before the merge and I had choice in how I played the final battle in the event. I could play to gain enough devotion to put me ahead at the merge, or I could hang back and join in the merge. I chose to fight for position and avoid the merge. The other two players merged and were able to destroy me on the next Conflict Event and win the game. I could have chosen to be upset about the advantages they gained through the merge, or realize that I made the critical error that cost me the game. I chose the latter and admitted I made the strategic mistake. I think thus approaching the game in the way the designer intended it actually adds to the strategy and beauty of the game!
Well put! Thank you for sharing this, definitely puts a different lens on the merge. We do still feel like the player aids should have stressed the significance on the merge more for newcomers, but yes, with the right mindset and extremely similar skill levels, the merge is certainly novel and a fun thing to plan around.
Some of the expectations may also feel dashed because this is the third installment of that BR/RS trilogy, so it just tends to get approached in a similar manner. My friend who owns this game definitely was not happy with the merge ahaha. Cheers! -Ashton
@@Shelfside Agreed. If I hadn't seen the Eric Lang interviews I might have shared in the same frustrations about the merge. It was only from watching those interviews that I learned he actually designed the entire game around the idea of the merge. Knowing that background, we are really enjoying tweaking our strategies around that mechanism.
Great review by the way. I have really been enjoying your content!
@@BrianJenkinsDC awesome! thank you man :) See ya around! -Ashton
A lot of people wernt happy with the mergin mechanic because the Dice Tower didnt like it, so its hard to take peoples opinions on it seriously.
Your suggestion of "mergin should be optional and both parties should agree" totally misses the point and is a likely reason why many people instinctively dislike the mechanic:
If you're forced to merge with a weaker player, then that's likely your own fault to begin with, because you either beat them up too much, or you didn't go enough after the leading players.
There's no sandbagging required, just don't go after the weakest player, because there's a chance you may be forced to merge with them.
This mechanic is great, and when all players understand it and its implications, it forces a lot more fights with the player in the lead, keeping the scores fairly tight together.
In fact, I personally think that removing that mechanic would make the game super boring if you fall behind early, because stronger players will just step all over you and exploit your weakness to gain easy points.
I only agree with about half of this. Locust cards are used a lot, especially when there are more areas.
I believe this game is incomplete without the Pharaoh expansion. Those cards completely turn this game upside down and provide an explosive experience with just the right amount of asymmetry. There are 20 different cards (only two copies per card) that you are adding to your cards. This is just what the game needed and greatly enhances how the game can take explosive turns. Love it.
Hard disagree. It's not incomplete. It's great that you enjoy the Pharao so much :-), but that doesn't make core Ankh less great.
@@oerthling It’s still great I agree. It’s better with the expansion though and I’ll never play without again
cool to hear! Our friend just didn't back the pharoah expansion so we couldn't get it played, does it help with the merging?
Also I have heard that people like the relative simplicity of base Ankh, so maybe that's what CMON was going for? -Ashton
@@Shelfside It doesn’t do anything about the merger but it provides an additional board where you are playing an action selection/area majority mini game that enables you to buy new cards into your hands and they do crazy things. The interesting thing is that they are not one time abilities but instead treated exactly like your other hand cards. So your hand size is growing and the game gets a lot crazier and exciting as players and actions become harder to predict
@@Shelfside While the expansion doesn't change the merger, it does greatly change the Control Monument Event so instead of only benefiting the person who triggers the event, it can benefit those who have petitioned themselves correctly on the royal palace board. Therefore, a person may not choose to automatically trigger the Event. In addition the person with lower devotion wins a tie breaker which allows for another catch-up mechanism.
Like the Kami Unbound expansion for Rising Sun, the expansion isn't necessarily "essential". However, it greatly improves the strategy of the game and I will ALWAYS play with it unless I'm teaching a first time player.
Ahghh Kemet all in or Anhk all in. I can't decide T.T
I pretty much agreed with almost every "cons and nitpick" but i feel that the "recommender score" is to low for what the game really is, a extremely streamline area control / worker placement / bluffing combat game with almost no luck that can make you feel so smart when things go your ways and when you fall behind, you can identified pretty easy where you lose, that is a pretty hard thing to do in this kind of games, for now i still prefer Blood Rage, but i always feel that the drafting in BR is a luck mechanic disguise as a skill one, but that is just me.
I got the feeling that the recommender score is so low because you guys see the great potencial the game have, but in the end well... it disappoint you guys and that for me is a "personal score" not an objective one.
Great input! The reason why the recommender score is a 5/10 (which actually isn't that low ahaha) is because one of the central ideas of the game, the 'merge' just does not consistently work, and when that happens after you've committed a fair amount of time to a game, that can be such a sour feeling.
The game does make you feel really smart when things go your way for sure! One of the best feelings is getting a +4 or so from drought on top of glorious, oh man. But as mentioned with the scorpion guardian and weird turn order, the score just had to be lower. I would actually rate it a 4/10 if not for the 2 player, so good thing the 2 player is here!
The game has great potential for sure, and here's to hoping Eric Lang gets us more awesomeness! -Ashton
36:44 why are you adding a ronin to the fighting board lol, what do you think, that you are the Koi clan? No you are the Turtle clan :))))
Good point though the coins are super important in Rising Sun in every fight. Also: wow those are nice turtle fortresses.
Aaah that is a mistake on my part :) Just so many cool minis!
The turtle fortresses are my favorite component! The economy of Rising Sun is a lot more favorable to me overall. Cheers! -Ashton
Wowie wowie! Bunch of the stuff you didn’t like was stuff I DID like! Your thoughts have better production and editing though because mine are…. Well mine are just in my head. Anyway, love your stuff!
"Ankh was not meant to be a 2p game."
For what you wanted from Ankh, perhaps that's why 2p was included. Given the merge mechanic supposedly being a big draw for the game, it seemed odd that it was 2-4 rather than 3-4 or 3-5; this could explain why 2p was included.
I've heard many reports on people having a blast at 2! But yes, some concerns do come in with god balance, amount of setup vs. length, and just missing out on a lot of content in general. Yet some people's only gaming group is of 2 people, so can understand why they included it so that more people can get in on those eric lang-isms! -Ashton
"If you want it, just put a ring on it and it is yours for ever!". Yea i thought so before my divorce. I hope ancien egypte monster are more loyal.
Can’t wait for a Celtic mythology game from them
have you ever heard about Inis?
@@hugotavaresgomes9539 I was going to suggest Inis too.
Day 3 of going through your old videos and requesting Tragedy Looper review.
haha gotcha, will note it down -Ashton
@@Shelfside Woo! Guess I’m not going to be doing this for the long haul.
I was actually kinda looking forwards to being the annoying guy that does this sort of request for like half a year.
Edit: Still going to go through all your backlog of videos. Liking your presentation so far and there are games I've played that you've reviewed, which helps me get a feel for your tastes and how they compare to my own.
@@demonicbunny3po I'm not sure if anyone in our friend group currently owns it, so still unsure timeline on the review. But glad that you're enjoying the content :) -Ashton
I think this review had a lot of misfires. The game length is no where near 3-4 hours. Was closer to 90 for our first play at 3 and more like 80 the second play. The god minis don't feel cheap in fact they are amazingly details. And the Kickstarter plastic components are a must they are so good. You compared to rising sun metal comics which were an add on?
HOWEVER, I agree with the gameplay negatives and might be selling the game as a result...
Hey thanks for sharing! Time length is pretty variable with your player group for sure. The god minis do have lots of detail! Just wish they felt a lot better in the hand :)
Ahaha, cheers on the gameplay negatives, those were the gnarly ones! -Ashton
Seems like a lot of these problems could be fixed with more testing, strange maybe they rushed the production of this game.
certainly very strange to our entire group. Hope there is another try at merging in the future! -Ashton
The average score is *7.9* from 7,000 player reviews.
The issue I see with these games is at heart they are all the same. I feel like since I own Chaos in the Old World and Blood Rage that I'll never purchase Rising Sun and Ankh
kind of regretting selling Chaos here hahaha (including horned rat!), but always pumped for a game of BR! -Ashton
Seems like everyone piled on the "we hate the merge mechanic" without really having any legitmate reason for hating it. Funny how all game reviewers jumped on this bandwagon, it's almost like they are just taking their queues from public mob mentality and not honestly giving their own opinions.
Before Rising Sun? For shame.
don't tempt me with a rising sun review
Got the game think the review fair but I don’t think you understand the theme with the cards the way understand is it’s more a religious war then a regular war with armies so floods lotus temples fits in with this perfectly as you are a god trying to get people to believe in you not the other guy, like flood feeding your army stuff not sure what you talking about there are no armies in the game.
oh good point! Never thought of it that way. I definitely forgot about the context of flooding in ancient egypt here. Thanks for the clarification! -Ashton
Ya'll got maybe some of the best Board Game Reviews out there. Ya'll ever spend too much time on knowing how to play and always try to critically analyze and give games a fair shot. Love ya'll!
I really, really don't like BR. The game is only 3 rounds, and I really don't like the combat system at all. When those "haha" cards get flipped up, it's not fun. Hoping I will enjoy the mechanisms more in Rising Sun.
best of luck! The combat system is WAY different in Rising Sun than BR for sure. -Ashton
Spot on with how I felt about this game. There were just some issues in the design that are hard to look past. Great review!
the game is ugly. egyptian mythos and geograpy can be present with more vivid colors. Everything looks washed out.
you are a great revieer, very good job. instant sub.
A lot of people didnt like the merge mechanic before playing the game because the Dice Tower told them too, which their opinions come from their horrible and trolly fan base. Seems like a lot of people in this comment section really loved it. Be prepared for them telling you that "your not as skilled so what would you know" comments. I played this game in all player counts.. 4 is the best! With Blood Rage the best player will ALWAYS win.
Thanks for the input! 4p does seem like the best player count for sure, but 2P is the go-to if you really don't like the merge. -Ashton
@@Shelfside forsure. The only issue I have with the 2 player is the best player always wins. It's like blood rage in that sense. Not a fan of Blood Rage.
Great review!
I'll stick with Kemet Blood & Sand...
Good review
Ankh is a 2p game for me, period. Have 3-4 players? Go play Bloodrage.
Yeah you completely missed the point with this review. You are nitpicking way too much. Love your channel but you did not do a good job with this one, comparing to a lot other reviewsof I saw for this game. And I'm not biased for the game either: didn't back it, don't have it, never played it. I'm just resesrching to see if it's worth it. But you went on and on on little minuscle details while being completely negative and onse-sided.
I like to describe games by the emotions they make me feel. Playing Ankh makes me feel annoyed, hopeless, and cheated. There are numerous broken, tacked-on mechanics that unsuccessfully fix the inherently unbalanced core mechanics. Your accurate observation about the players turn order having a huge impact is a great example of how broken the core mechanics of this game are. Going last in a 5 player game means you will never kick off an event, never have the tie-breaker token, never have the opportunity to build a monument outside of combat, and never get any of the guardians. All this results with the players that are behind after the first few battles falling hopelessly behind to the point where they are simply fodder for the lead gods to get further ahead. What's more, you can't simply look at the board to strategize a battle phase. To win in battles, you will need to know literally everything about all your opponents: (number of followers; their Ankh powers; their god powers; the locations of all their monuments, soldiers and guardians; the battle-cards they've already played; and more.) This game is tedious, frustrating, long and boring.
hey thanks for this input! Seems like we quite align on our thoughts on Ankh bahahaha. Really not sure what was going on with the turn order problems. Cheers! -Ashton
I did not like this review. Felt really nitpicky. Sorry but this is a complete miss. You missed the point of this game. You point out things as Cons, that you just don't understand. For example Followers main reason is to bid in Plague bid which are huge game changers. And Flood card should kill everything? What? Are you aware what flood meant for Ancient Egypt? It was DESIRED.
Wow so many pros then tank score.
Sadly, this game seems like the weakest in the trilogy which is unfortunate because of all the hype and production that went into it. Even then, I felt its production paled next to Blood Rage and Rising Sun. The Ankh map feels bland to me and the cardboard tokens do not elevate it. Perhaps I'm a sucker for colorful, beautiful game boards, but those draw people in. No one could say that the god minis aren't impressive, but if its god minis that you want, BR or RS do area control better and their minis are amazing.
This is actually your first review I didn't like. Thanks for the good work though. I mean, your problems with theme are ridiculous imo. For ex. I think the fact that u don't need to be adjacent to each other in combat is great. U r gods, why would u care abt such stuff. As for the draught and floud being good, again u r gods, this is some kind of mystical religious stuff. But many of the flaws u pointed out r legitimate, so thanks again. Sorry if this comment is offensive.
no worries man! this comment is not offensive ahaha. Not having to be adjacent I suppose is fine, and also the draught/flood being good, but I'm thinking about those wee foot soldiers and guardians that do most of the fighting!
Cheers, and thanks for the feedback :D -Ashton
@@Shelfside I may be stretching it a bit too far, but those r also mythological creatures who serve that god. I never thought that those soldiers were people. More like helpers of the respective god. But again, there r genuine flaws with a game that u also covered, so... Thanks for being cool
all the suggested "fixes" took away from this review, stick to critique not game design.
Heyo! We try to come up with some type of solution to our 'cons' sections of videos, because we don't like complaining without offering at least some solution, and in many ways, those solutions are houserules that you can implement! Due to time constraints, we just can't playtest them obviously, but we hope they get things going down the right path -Ashton
Tell it like it is, Ankh is all about the cool minis. Take them away and replace with cardboard tokens and you would not want to play Anhk, there are other far better games.
ahaha cheers man! This game is a controversial one for sure -Ashton
Ankh is such a horrible flop…merging…lol what a shitty idea
I want to paint those minis :))) I still have not painted all my Rising Sun minis. I will not allow myself to get this game until I do. But it is 8.0 on boardgamegeek.
Also you made me want to get Blood Rage as well :))) So many minis!!! It is good that I got an airbrush now.
so many minis!!! The painting never ends :D -Ashton