Blackrock Games - It's a Wonderful World - Board Game

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The last resource is Krystallium and this can only be produced as a bonus to building something or by trading in five resources on your empire card. Krystallium is required by some of the most powerful buildings but it can also be spent as a wild resource to fill in for any other resource in the game. And I lost.. when no yellow cards appears and jsut a few, your opponent can deny it too these cards.. I felt so much dependant of the randomness for this game You can play with Empires that start with the exact same production (my preferred method), or you can flip the Empire card over and introduce variable starting productions to the game. I like that this option was included in the game.

Beyond that though, I have to say I prefer the moment-to-moment gameplay of It’s a Wonderful World to 7 Wonders. The fact that buildings can be built over successive turns means that every card feels like it is a wonder. It also means that you have a little more flexibility with how you progress. There was always that turn in 7 Wonders when every card you draw just doesn’t work for you, or perhaps you couldn’t buy the resources you need. Leisure & Decadence is the second campaign for your eclectic IAWW world, where, on any given play of the base game, your people may find themselves just about simultaneously discovering Valhalla, teleportation and the zeppelin. Now there are 48 more cards, the chance to add a 6th player, another empire card, and some extra resources and tokens. But when I say “more cards”, I mean seriously shake-it-up style cards: Corruption (29) – these don’t cost much to build, and you get a good slew of production value for them. But the cost is that you lose one production elsewhere!This expension is a campaign allowing players to live an adventure scripted in 5 scenarios which brings, collectively during the game, players to make choices that will tip the story towards Peace or World War. The theme of It’s a Wonderful World is still a bit of a question mark for me: is it set in a dystopian society, is it post-apocalyptic, or is it neither? Even with this question mark hanging over my head, I have found that this strange theme often drives my strategy. The cards, which are grouped thematically, add a flavour of theme to the game, which for me make sense. Blue Discovery cards, for example, feature things like Atlantis and the Fountain of Youth and are more rare (only one copy of each card in the game) whereas gray Structure cards are a little more common and help players increase their production. If you consider this during the game when you are drafting, it makes decisions a little easier. It’s a Wonderful World is an excellent close drafting, set collection, engine building, resource management game set in a dystopian universe. To be fair, the theme isn’t that strong, or even that important. And that is because the game-play is ruddy fantastic. Tight, fast playing, and fun. my last game, have magnetic train in first round didnt' won. I was producting a lot of yelow cubes but no cards to place them... so much waste March 21, 2020. 3:00 AM. I am roused from my slumber by a pounding on my door and a command received via text from an unknown number.

I’d say favourably . 7 Wonders has some advantages, for sure. The higher player count shouldn’t be discounted, (although an expansion to It’s a Wonderful World also takes it up to 7 players). 7 Wonders definitely has more interaction than It’s A Wonderful World. With the war mechanic as well as the neighbour resource trading, you are definitely more invested in what at least some of the table is doing in a game of 7 Wonders. It's Lonely at the Top Otherwise, this game is fantastic! I love drafting games. For me, every round presents a new tactical opportunity requiring you to evaluate a set of cards to determine which to keep and which to pass. It’s a Wonderful World uses three mechanisms to differentiate itself from all other drafting games:

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Now, I’m not going to tell you how to play the game, or even the best strategies (as I play a different one every time). But I can categorially confirm that synergies is where the extra special scoring sauce is to be found. And not just synergies between your empire card, the cards you want to build, and the resources on them. That’s It’s a Wonderful World base-game 101. I mean synergies between different types of building for Pairs, as well as negative synergies in Corruption. Losing resources sounds bad. But if you don’t have any of that type to lose in the first place, then you don’t sacrifice anything to get the better production return they offer. And if you can then combine the production boom to target cards that fit a Pair reward and/or Master Projects then whooey! Your game just levelled up! It can definitely happen, particularly if scoring cards show up early while you're building your engine and then don't appear later. It's really hard to know when you need to take scoring cards and when you need to keep working on production. Ideally you do both in each round, but that's not always possible. recycle (discard) for cubes (shown bottom-right). Cubes gained are placed onto kept cards to pay for their building cost (upper-left) or on starting Empire card where 5 will immediately be converted to a single red (wild) cube to be used on demand. Non-red cubes on the starting card may only be used to make a red cube. Before the start of the following Production phase that will allow players to produce resources and build cards, each player must choose among the cards in his Draft area which one(s) to place in his Construction area and which one(s) to discard to get bonus resources. These three advanced resources are the only ones that persist from round to round, everything else vanishes off into the ether. This use it or lose it approach to resource production means players should try and be as clever as they can with their choices of what to build. A well-balanced selection of buildings should mean very little goes to waste.

Shuffle the massive pile-o-cards and deal out 7 to each player. In a two player game, it is 10 each. Give each player their own Empire card which is dual sided. I would always suggest that the B-side which is the asymmetric side is significantly easier than the A-side where everyone starts with the same production ability. This seems a bit crazy, but it is easier I promise. It gives you a bit of direction and a head start to work from. Solo Mode

Often drafting games can be hard to teach to new gamers because of the iconography (I’m looking at you, 7 Wonders). In comparison It’s a Wonderful World is easy to teach and has a low barrier of entry because the complexity of the game isn’t in learning it, it’s in how your strategy unfolds as the game progresses. The rulebook definitely helps with learning too; it’s clear, concise, and features excellent visuals and flowcharts to accompany the descriptions of each phase of the game. It also defines the drafting mechanism and the purpose of its use in board games! In It’s a Wonderful World, you are an expanding Empire and must choose your path to your future. You must develop faster and better than your competitors. You’ll carefully plan your expansion to develop your production power and rule over this new world. place cubes - as during drafting cubes are placed on incomplete cards and completed cards may immediately be built and added to Empire tableau. Note that any incomplete card may be discarded to gain its recycle cube to your Empire card at any time. Resource cube placed on a recycled card are returned to the supply.

I have two negative comments about this game. First, the name of the game is awful. My introduction was not an exaggeration. Multiple players thought it was a Christmas game when I told them its name. Second, the last round of the game can be frustrating, especially for new players, due the number of alternatives that need to be evaluated. For example, if you draft THIS card for its Recycle Bonus, will it give you enough resources to Construct a production card that will allow you to finish the big scoring card in your Construction Area. Ok, now what about the other six cards in your hand… It is a game of efficiency and engine building, taking its core from games like 7 Wonders and Sushi Go and dialling up the fun without raising the complexity. Using the usual card drafting mechanic players will draft 7 cards in each of the four rounds. Depending on player count this is done by taking 7 or 10 cards choosing one and passing the rest to the left or right, again depending on the round.Each card has a name, an icon indicating its card type, and the number of copies of it in the game (labelled A, B, and C respectively in the picture above). Cards also have a Construction Cost (D); these are the resources a player must gather for the card if it’s in their Construction Area. The small differences in the starting empires can really change up how you progress and what you are looking to build to score points. This gives the game some decent replayability too. I think there is room in a collection for both It's a Wonderful World and 7 Wonders. I certainly won't be getting rid of one of them as it stands. There is enough differentiating them to make them their own games. That said, unlike the first campaign offering from IAWW (War or Peace), I was impressed by how small modular additions to the game mechanics through Leisure and Decadence opened up a ‘thinkier’ version of the game. (I won’t go into detail as they are nice surprises) Story