Play This, Not That - Dune Imperium vs. Endless Winter vs. Lost Ruins of Arnak

hey it's alex wrapper from board game co and it's time for the showdown the showdown between the three recent worker placement deck building games that are all pretty awesome honestly and this is going to be june imperium lost runes of arnac and endless winter and throughout this video i will abstain from moving my hands too far to this side because of that you see this is board game co when we edit we do so well this is going to be a showdown but understand first and foremost that i already have videos for each of these three games up and all three of these games are staying in my collection i am loving the combination of what these games do and i am loving how they manage to feel distinctly different in what they do and how they do it throughout this video across 14 different points i am going to compare and contrast which one is the winner in all of 14 categories and i am rating this these games according to some sort of abstract numbering system that i just made up where it'll either get three two or one points in each category depending on how well it did does that make sense not necessarily is that definitive not at all do i actually find that it aligns with how i'd rank them actually kind of yes and so to start with i'm going to assume to some degree that you know a decent amount about these games perhaps watch my other videos or other content creators who go do a good job distilling what these games do and how they do it because if i try to teach you three games in this video well it's going to be long enough already and so to start off we have art you don't need to know much about these games to know the art of the games a few google images will show you exactly what you need to know if the covers here aren't enough and the cover shouldn't be honestly because if i was grading covers alone arnak would probably win this one but in actuality my own rating for the art of these two games is arnac and endless winter are going to share a tie for the number one spot in the art with dune coming in at second place yes in my ranking system dude will get two points arnac and endless winter will get three points each arnak is amazing the fact that this game is holding its own to me against art by the miko and i love the mikko's artwork in all games i've seen it in and i love the art and endless winter every single card i have seen every board i have seen the application of everything from from the artwork on the box the beginning of the game to the idol that they released at the last minute everything in endless winter is stunning and that's true of lost wings of arnac the art in lawsuits arnac is absolutely amazing as well it pulls you in welcoming you with its lush jungle and well everything in this game is visually appealing to no end whereas dune imperium is fine that's what i'm going to say it's fine i will give dune imperium major props for the fact that they are incorporating actors real life people from the upcoming movie in a way that is actually pretty darn good they are not using movie stills or anything off-putting like that nor are they completely separating themselves from the movie entirely and just going with different characters they're clearly using the homages of homages the visjas visages some word along those lines they're clearly using the characters from the movie but they did them justice and that they get major points for that point number two is going to be interaction and dune is going to take the win here with the combat in this game dune is the winner in this game and it's not even remotely close the level of interaction in the gameplay if you want a little bit more conflict a little bit more caring about what other players are doing than doing with the fact that it introduces battle mechanics to the game a degree of combat at the end of each round dune will take the win there and this winter will come in second and that's because they have that whole cap board on the side where you'll be putting down your camps for area control aspects so there is a little more a little more interaction in endless winter than in on lock screens of arnac which comes in last with minimal to no interaction past just getting places and obviously work replacement in its own will come with some interaction to a degree and so dune will take the win in that category for modularity and expansions well this one's not fair but it's still going to be here endless winter takes the cake with an expansion and the game already feels modular although technically really isn't but then it has expansions and promo packs and multiple expansions and multiple expansions none of which i have the opportunity to play but given that it's a kickstarter game and going along with the way kickstarter is done this game is being released with a ton of expansions already included will that be a pro down the road not necessarily it depends how the expansion is actually due and what they add to the game but then arnak and dune are still going to end up in a tied second place with no modularity or expansions whatsoever so if you want a game that is not only potentially amazing or they're all amazing but not only amazing but potentially gives you more variations of how you can mix up that gameplay experience while endless winter is going to win in that category next up from there we have theme the theme in endless winter for me is the strongest from these three games now there will be people for whom dune will clearly win and honestly i can make the case an argument against all three of these in terms of which one should win but for me endless winter the theme came through the strongest in arnac it came through second meaning i did like the exploration and the building out of locations and feeling like you are an explorer and an adventurer to a degree but then whole areas of the rest of the game are abstracted in a way that don't really tie in or realistically make sense and dune probably works i'm just not someone who ever really read the books and i haven't yet watched the movie i have the barest passing identity of the theme and so for me dune is the weakest in the theme and the story it delivers and yet i'm sure there will be many for whom dune wins in this category for combining worker placement with deck building endless winter is going to do so again and this aspect what i mean is the the way those two combinations work together and how distinct they feel versus how together they work endless winter did it best for me in the way you place a worker and then you can layer on five or six cards all at once to potentially escalate and magnify what that worker does from there dune is going to do it in a way that really strongly it's so important to get your workers on the board but you're limited to what the card will allow you to do it so it does integrate it but more of a one-for-one integration as opposed to anything else and the lawsuits of arnac will be the weakest there with only two workers being placed each round and then being far less impactful to your overall strategy than the deck you are building out and the fact that almost any single card can be utilized to get you where you want to go and there are multiple caveats around that so in terms of the feeling and the connectivity between those three aspects it's going to be endless winter then dune and then our knack then we have multi-use cards the idea that the cards in this game will let you do different things and in that aspect dune is going to win first and foremost you see in these games all of the cards and all three of these games have the ability to potentially let you go places or do stuff or magnify your options or them being used for abilities in this category rnac comes in the last with the fact that the cards in the game are going to basically give you a tiny little symbol on the corner which lets you travel and it's not overly impactful and most of the time you'll use it for its ability but then here and there you'll use it for the card itself and so are not the multi-use cards while they exist were less i guess inspiring or interesting to me than in dune and endless winter dune takes the cake in this one because of the aspect i love how every single round ends with you revealing all the cards you didn't use and taking the bonuses on the end for cards that were left in your hand at the end of the round you see in dune every card comes with a placement bonus and then a stuck in your hand at the end of the round bonus and that it's a lot of fun to reveal your hand and get all those bonuses at once and use them for multiple other effects from advancing your combat to buying more cars to doing different things in this game and then endless winter comes smack down the middle with cards that you will use for their benefit you will augment the worker placement and then some of them can be utilized as the passing of each round to get also get bonuses in between each round so it does a combination more of a hybrid and it works well but it will be in the middle of me there in terms of getting enough done and this is a big one for me in games in terms of that feeling of i got as many things done in this game as i hoped to i was able to play them i was able to experience the full game and i wasn't left wanting dune comes in at a strong win for me dune is the only one of these three games where i have consistently felt like i got the perfect amount done after dune is going to come endless winter where i'm left kind of just wanting to do a drop more but overall they do a solid job of getting most done you feel like you got your monoliths on the board you built up your camps it's usually the deck building where i kind of wanted to get a little bit more of a of an engine going there and then arnak is going to be the worst of those where every single game of arnock i have played i i i feel like i only got 40 of the game done and it's fun i love this game don't get me wrong but i'm still debating whether to add a fictional sixth round and and i haven't yet i haven't felt the need to i've enjoyed my plays enough that i haven't but but maybe i want a sixth round i don't know maybe i just want expansions more stuff more engine i don't know and then associated with this one is going to be play time versus rating you see dune wins in getting the most done but the question is in terms of my rating of the game my own personal impression of how i feel versus the play time of that game our knack is going to come in first because the flip side of not getting enough done is i have consistently knocked out two player games of this in 45 minutes which is pretty rewarding for the level of depth and strategy i actually get out of it three player games i haven't been able to get in under an hour but still pretty solid for the gameplay experience provides and the endless winter is going to be next on that because while endless winter and dune come in at roughly the same play time and the times i've played these games i find that i prefer endless winter as a whole and so that one will edge out a little bit over there in terms of worker placement flexibility how impactful is worker placement we've had we've talked about the cards and how impactful that is but how impactful is worker placement in these in these games and to that end dune will give you the most flexibility in terms of how and where you can place your workers you see in dune there are a host of spots across the board i don't remember the amount of locations off hand but it's got to be more than 20 different locations you can place your workers from the very beginning of the game there's a lot of flexibility now they will have different costs and different things that make some more common than others but nonetheless it's letting you get a lot done with placing your workers and where you can place them versus from there lost runes of arnac will come in second in the sense that it does give you only five locations at the beginning of the game but as the game progresses you'll unlock more and more locations throughout the course of the game but endless winter gives you only four locations to place your workers and with expansions i think you get a fifth one but that's not a significant amount of places to place your workers and so for that category worker place and flexibility will be dune then or not then endless winter in terms of worker placement tension that's gonna be directly opposite of the rest in terms of the tension of the worker placement in terms of which one makes you feel like it matters the most because of those only four spots it's going to be endless winter now endless winter does not have a locking out mechanism anyone can go to those four spots but there is a very impactful first player bonus in each of those spots and that tension of getting there first and getting that bonus well in terms of worker placement tension endless winter is going to win this round next up is going to be dune despite having more spots available than lost wings of arnac there are enough key spots that people want to go to and especially because of the the factions and building up your influence in those factions the tension of where to place your work is in dune ends up being second for me even though it has like twice as many spots to go to as lost wins for arnak and then finally the last ones of iron knight comes in third and this one rarely have i felt the actual tension of where to go in this game there's occasionally times where you're like oh you got compasses i wanted compasses but you rapidly pivot there's enough things you can do enough different ways to do it that i rarely felt someone going to a spot on the board significantly impacted the way i was about to play the rest of the game in terms of components endless winter is going to be a strong win in this category absolutely and it's it's unfavorably it's a kickstarter game with the kickstarter price tag but endless winter comes in by far with the best components from these three games from deluxified anything from resin boards from miniatures from from dual layer boards not resin boards dual layer boards resin components all these different upgrades and everything in endless winter that make it a complete deluxified game our knack will come in second with some pretty solid components now it is a little pricier as well than a typical retail game but it comes in with some solid extras that really they have deluxified components for gems for arrowheads for tablets things that make you feel like you bought an upgrade kit even though you really didn't and then dune is solid no complaints but also nothing that makes me particularly go wow either and so for that it will be endless winter then our knack then do next up we have components versus price because this is where we we counter that unfairness in terms of well okay great you gave a lot but how much did you pay for it so in components versus price arnak will win first in that one arnac does have a cheaper price than endless winter and still manages to give you a deluxified feel to the game endless winter will come in second because of the price versus the amount they gave you is still pretty solid and then dune sadly is still third in that respect from there we have ease of teaching where arnak is going to take the lead once again in terms of how easy these games are to teach arnac by far was the simplest for me the simplest to get people up and running and teach them what you do every single round it's very simple if you play deck building at all if you played worker placement at all rnac by far was the simplest to get up and running from there i would say dune worked pretty well as well dune came in second in this category is still being accessible a few other things to teach such as the house factions and the way different components turn into different components the way you want to sequence things and all that and then the end of game round is a new thing you have to explain but still all things considered pretty decent an endless winter is going to be the worst in this aspect from the sheer number of different things they have going on the board from where you're going to place your monoliths to where you're going to place your campsite to the cars you're going to do and how the cars work and burying your cars there are a number of different things in endless winter that need to be taught that still not the hardest game to teach but certainly harder than these two next up and lastly we have fiddliness in terms of fiddliness arnak will come in at a clean win again for the third time in a row arnak is the least fiddly by far now all of these are worker placement deck building games which means they are mixing enough that any one of them could theoretically be called fiddly but arnac by far is the least fiddly from those three to me followed by dune where it's like i said it has a little bit more going on it's almost gonna be the reverse of the teaching to say the same idea as the teaching thing in terms of the more stuff going on the combat aspect the different entry cards all those things will add to doing a little bit in terms of the fiddliness level and then endless winter by far is the most fiddly of these three games coming in with just way too many different things going on and a game that works in a game that works really well but nonetheless the fiddlius and so how does all that compare we have set 14 different points rated three two or one points respectively across all these points if you add them all up we end with with arnac and dune coming in at a tie at 27 points each with endless winter pulling 31 points and again this is the least scientific method i've ever used i'm sure i can give a ranking scale to each of these different 14 things of how impactful it is in terms of my decision at the end of the day i would say this ranking scale kind of lines up with how i feel about these games i like all of i forget that i love all three of these games i am happy to have all three of these games in my collection and they all do things slightly different in their implementation that makes me want to continue to own all three but endless winter is my favorite versus arnac and dune coming out a tie because arnak feels a little bit more similar to endless winter at the end of the day it does feel a little more similar dune with its combat manages to feel like a very different beast and so while arnic and its accessibility and everything else is well awesome i like the combat of dune and i kind of want to add that to my collection as well and again i'm adding all through this my collection in terms of my wife's opinion she has forbidden me from getting rid of lost wings of arnak at all ever and so well all three of them are going to stay in that sense uh from the three by the way my wife has not played dune my wife has played endless winter and has played arnac and prefers arnac the most from those three in case you wanted a different viewpoint that's basically it that would be the matchup of these three games i hope you enjoyed this video if you have any questions down below all three of these i tremendously enjoy i think if you enjoyed any one of these then i would highly recommend checking out the other two as well if you enjoyed none of these well that's possible as well i just recently did a video where comparing wingspan and evidel and i saw a decent amount of comments saying neither of these games were for me and that makes sense to me sometimes games have enough overlap in the field that they deliver that trying one means you should you should explore the others see if it's going to come down to which one you prefer perhaps you want all and sometimes games just aren't for everyone and that's okay too until next time i'm alex rocket from board game co i hope you enjoyed this comparison video let me know if you have played or if or when you're watching this and when you've played it because endless winter sadly is not a commonly available game because it's still going to be on kickstarter or still coming from kickstarter for quite some time so whether you're watching this video now or i don't know a year and a half from now let me know which of your which of these three games is your favorite and why until next time i'm alex robert from board game co and i hope you have a good one

Channel: BoardGameCo

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Length: 16min 57sec (1017 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 02 2020