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And there it is: 5 minutes into our first game of Crusaders: Thy Will Done and I am enamored. Easy to learn, fast gameplay with lots of options. #BoardGames #BoardGameAddict #TabletopGames #GamesOfInstagram #BoardGamesBringPeopleTogether #gmes #SethJaffee #PlayTMG #Crusaders https://www.instagram.com/p/Buj8HGcHbNO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=66xhjwne8ydf
WOO! Played my second Feld game! Luna from @tastyminstrel was friggin AWESOME! The gameplay was smooth as butter with just the right amount of think. I’m already craving to try the more advanced setup where we have more control on where to place our pieces. I can’t wait!! 🤤 . . . . . #luna #tastyminstrelgames #boardgames #stefanfeld #bgg #juegosdemesa #playtmg #feld #jeuxdesociété #tabletopgame #boardgameaddict #gamer #gaymer #geekygaymerguy #ボードゲーム #j2s #brettspieler
Review: Thief’s Market
I need to tell you something, and I’m going to be straight with you. I really wanted to hate this game. Cards and dice in a small box usually means that one person is playing the game and everyone else is anxiously waiting for their turn entirely too long. I get it. I’m being super cynical right now. But seriously. It usually means that there’s no interaction and no planning. Even worse when someone can’t freaking take their turn in a reasonable amount of time.
Truth be told, I also wanted to play this game so that I could tell you I hated it. Glutton for punishment, maybe? I don’t know. I really wanted to see how miserable this game is so that I can share the misery with you all.
Still with me?
When I first played this game, I taught it to 3 new players (4, including myself). Two of those new players are (my assumption) also really new to the hobby, too. It was a perfect setup for a perfect storm. I was watching my friends listen as I taught the game and I could see the depth in the dark pupils of their eyes, thinking to themselves, “Why did I agree to this?”. MWAHAHAHAHA!
I was wrong. WAY wrong.
The rules are easy. Roll some dice. Pick and choose what you want, even stealing from another player. Do some (optional) card actions and buy more cards using your dice as currency. Collect points. Win.
I was also wrong about how I interpreted their body language. They weren’t frustrated. They weren’t in over their heads. They were absorbing and already thinking strategy. In fact, I lost miserably in the first game. Oh boy did I lose.
Let me cut to the chase: we really liked this game. We did have a couple of hang ups, which I’ll get to in a little bit.
In the game Thief’s Market, you and your opponents are all thieves...crooks, I tell you. You sit around the table and are splitting the loot. There’s no negotiation here, kids. Just straight up greed. The first-player rolls the dice, piles them in the middle of the table and takes what they want from the table.
The next player in sequence can either take more loot from the table or steal someone else’s loot. If they do the latter, they must return something from their stolen grab and re-roll the dice, potentially changing the offering in the center.
The strategy here is interesting. Feasibly, you could take the entire pile, but if someone steals from you, they must take the entire pile. It’s a bad strategy. It’s also a bad strategy to take more than you need, or simply put, to take such a desirable pile that would entice anyone to steal from you. It’s also a bad strategy to not do just that. See, you’re not just collecting or stealing sweet, delicious loot. No, you’re also trying to take the dice that will work for you based on the cards you have in front of you. And so are your opponents. And because the dice are all random, shoot...everyone may be trying to get that one combo that will work for them. Sometimes, you just have to give up and try again in the next round. OR...you can be that one person that has the card that give you victory points every time someone steals from you which makes you want to take more than you need.
When everyone has a pile of loot, they can use them to either buy cards, or execute special abilities that they have on their purchased cards. Or both. Or none because you have a pile of crap in front of you. If that’s the case, you can use some gold coins that you’ve collected from dice rolls to buy cards as one coin can be used essentially as a wild-card.
Because this is Tasty Minstrel Games, know that the production quality is top-notch. The dice are gorgeous. Heavy. They feel good to roll. The cards, including the artwork, are a fantastic matte finish. The dice are brightly colored and are easily discernible, including unique shapes of the icons to assist those that would otherwise have trouble identifying the various colors on them.
Here are the problems we had:
The icons. Holy crap, the icons. As many kooky euro games as I play, the one thing that really burns my biscuits is the use of too many unique icons with arrows and Xs and junk. GAAH! Just tell me what to do. Stop it with the icons. The cards, every card, had some strange combination of icons printed that could be referenced on (get this) a reference card for each player.
Bonus: each player got their own reference card. Not so bonus: The reference card itself was difficult to discern how to interpret the icons. We kept having to reference the rule sheet on how to interpret the rules for the icons, as the rulesheet has all of them listed with detailed explanations.
It’s a toss-up though. I imagine that I probably would have said otherwise “Oh, I hated that this game had so much text involved blah blah blah the cards were too text heavy blah blah blah.”. Still, there wasn’t a lot of icons, but what was used, seemed really challenging, not just for new players, but even for a seasoned veteran like myself. Nevertheless, we immediately wanted to play again. We liked it that much! What did we like?
We liked that the game played fast. Sometimes, games like this can either drag on too long, or end too quickly. This felt like really great timing.
Despite the iconography, we managed to learn and remember what each card in play did and even the new players were planning out their turns in advance.
I’m glad that this is a stealing game and NOT a negotiation game. Negotiations can make games linger longer than most new people are comfortable with, and could possibly turn people off of the game itself. Take what you want...but so will other people.
Strategies are not so complex. You can sort out and plan ahead what you want to do. Stockpiling coins will not only allow you to buy any dang card you want, but if you get the right engine going, you can also walk away with points at the end of the game.
We are very anxious to get another play in. We really do like this game, and I’m ashamed I wanted to hate it. Now that we got a grip on the game, it’ll be that much more fun bringing it back to the table over and over. Where does it fit in a gamenight? Well, somewhere between filler and ...not a filler? It’s a 30 minute game, sure...but it’s not like your traditional filler like Love Letter. No, there’s a lot more game here. Reminds me of Tiny Epic Kingdoms in weight. Fast enough to fill a gap in a gamenight, but heavy enough to not feel like you’re filling up time.
If you are turned off by a heavy amount of icons...I know some folks just get stressed at trying to interpret the hieroglyphics..but if you are turned off, you may look elsewhere. But, on the off chance you get an opportunity to play this game, then I really do recommend it. It’s a small box that will stay in my gamenight bag for sure. I’ve played it with both three and four players, and I think probably does better at four. Going to try to do five soon. But I think four players may be the sweet spot. With three players, it felt like it took a while for us to get any thievery going. It wasn’t until we had a sizable tableau in front of us where we thought we could finally find the necessity to steal from other players. With four, stealing happens pretty much on the first round of the game.
If you win your game, you become the King of Thieves, and should boast about it appropriately across your social networks!
Stats:
Thief’s Market
3 to 5 Players
30 to 50 minutes (plan on 45 minutes even for experienced players)
Designed by Dave Chalker
Art: Rob Lundy & Adam P. McIver
Published in the US by Tasty Minstrel Games
[thank you Tasty Minstrel Games for providing a review copy!]
Whoa! Crusaders arrived from @tastyminstrel this week! 😲 I know what I am doing this weekend!!! Look at those meeple (or cruseeples and steeples)! And this has got to be on the best box covers ever, right? I love the colors and it just looks exciting! Like some serious turmoil is about break loose. What is your favorite Tabletop game box cover? And why? #BoardGames #BoardGameAddict #games #TabletopGames #BoardGamesOfInstagram #TastyMinstrelGames #PlayTMG #SethJaffe #BoardGameArtwork #BoxCovers #Crusaders https://www.instagram.com/p/Bud-xavn0GX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1o6m64dqo168p
I love the Consult the Oracle mechanism where the dice help decide the actions you can do and how efficient you will be. #StephenFeld #TastyMinstrelGames #TMG #BoardGamer #StrategyGamer #TabletopGamer #AnalogGamer #tabletopping #playTMG #Zeus #OracleOfDelphi
So excited! I can't wait to play this! * * * * * Repost from @tastyminstrel (and @lattemeeples) - Look at this great unboxing of The Flow of History from @lattemeeples ! . . #unboxing of #flowofhistory deluxe edition. . . #playtmg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #bgg #theflowofhistory
Amun-Re is a masterpiece auction game and the new version from Tasty Minstrel Games with larger board and improved pieces makes the gameplay even more fun. #BoardGames #TabletopGames #StrategyGames #AuctionGames #BoardGameAddict #AncientEgypt #pyramids #TheNile #ReinerKnizia #playtmg #TastyMinstrelGames #AmunRe
Dairy and is a great little press your luck dice game designed by #ChihFanChen and published by #TastyMinstrelGames. On your turn you are trying to to roll and re-roll dice that add up to 10 to collect milk tiles and freeze tokens. Later you can use dice and freeze tokens to flip milk tokens for more points or abilities that make your rolls easier. Simple, quick, fun! #DiceGames #dice #FamilyGames #PressYourLuckGames #TMG #playtmg #Dairyman
