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Replayability and Tactics

Discussion in 'AGL' started by MikeWy, Oct 8, 2020.

  1. MikeWy

    MikeWy Well-Known Member

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    Firstly I don't know what AGL stands for so sorry if I am posting in the wrong area.

    I currently play Warhammer Underworlds which I think is a brilliant game with plenty of depth and tactics for my liking. My only gripe is the amount of time I have to spend planning and building a deck before each game. I also buy things I don't really want just to keep up to speed with the deck building.

    This has lead me to considering Arristeia as an alternative, but looking at the scenarios they appear to have very little variation in objectives and tactics.

    So, my question is this, is this a game you could play weekly and not get bored? Is there enough depth to the tactics? As far as I can see so far it is all about controlling zones and little else in way of scoring objectives unlike underworlds which has hundreds of ways to score glory (victory points)

    So is this more of a family night board game or is it a table top war game with more similarities to Warhammer underworlds?

    Note that I also own crystal hall so any comparison to crystal hall (more of a family game but probably my favourite one); or Warhammer underworlds would be appreciated. Thank you.
     
  2. Neengash

    Neengash VaudeVille Soul
    Aristeia! Warcor

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    Hello @MikeWy and welcome to the marvellous game of Aristeia!

    What you are asking about can have a "short answer" and a "long answer", so ...

    Short answer: Replayability and Tactics are huge in Aristeia. In my opinion, you could play it weekly and not get bored (that's really subjective though).

    Long answer, replayability and tactics on Aristeia:
    • To play you have to chose 4 characters, no restrictions, right now we have 32 characters so thats 863.040 possible combinations, and every character feels unique since it has it's own actions and tactic cards.
    • At the begining of every game you have to build your deck (18 cards), that consists of 2 parts:
      • 10 "general" tactic cards: There are 3 decks of 10 cards each, you have to choose which one of the three you'll use (you don't pick cards individually)
      • 2 tactic cards of each character: Each character has 4 tactics among which you have to chose 2.
    • Each game is played in a different scenario (as you pointed out, different ways to get victory points): Currently there are 12 Scenarios (but more are expected in the future)
    • Each game is played in a different stadium: Right now there are 2 of them, but another one is getting released on Novembrer (so every scenario can be playen on different maps)
    • There are MODs that change some minor aspects of the game, those are generally used on tournaments.
    If I'm not forgetting anything those are the mechanicall aspects of replayability.
    Apart from those, there is the fact that no game (even with the same characters, tactic cards, scenario, stadium and mod) will feel exactly the same due to the randomness of the dice, so your strategy is continuously adapting to the current state of the game.

    Finally I'd like to point out some aspects that i feel are awesome about Aristeia!:
    • Preparation fase: each round, you choose (without your adversary knowing) the order in which your 4 characters will activate, here you generally have to try and guess how your opponent will try and order their chacaters to counter it.
    • Switches: Dice rolls are not just to "succed" or "fail" or simply assign a different amount of wounds to the enemy character. Dice have 3 simbols: :2::1::3: (and 2 special ones :7::8:) characters have theis "general switch", which means that on any of their rolls, if you get the combination of simbols required to activate the switch you can "consume" those simbols to do so. Those switches cover a really wide variety of effects: healing, moving, dealing damage, imposing states and more.
    • Expansions are self contained: That means that you don't need to buy a character expansions because it has a card or something you need for another character. In every expansion you get a certain amount of characters and their unique cards (which can only be used if you use the character on the game).
    • AGL (which stands for Aristeia! Global League) is the sistem used to rank all players globally. You can check all AGL info here : https://aristeiathegame.com/agl/
    • Rules are continuously checked, updated and released for free: https://www.aristeiathegame.com/downloads

    As of today Aristeia! is one of my favourite games, for the reasons above and some more (I love the aesthetics, for example).
    And just in case you we're trying to find a way to play it with more people, this november we get the expansion that expands the game to a 3-4 player experience.

    Hope this helps you :D
     
    AdmiralJCJF, Damiel, Croepoek and 4 others like this.
  3. MikeWy

    MikeWy Well-Known Member

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    Thank you neengash. Hopefully I will be able to get a trial game in before the next season of underworlds is released (December) so I can decided whether I want to switch games or not.

    Only just hearing about this game and there are not many players near me at the moment, but there is a growing interest amongst the infinity players half of which also currently play underworlds and like me are on the fence about potentially switching to Aristeia.
     
    Neengash likes this.
  4. HarlequinOfDeath

    HarlequinOfDeath Tha Taskmastaaa
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    Aristeia! is less popular that is true. But this is all about marketing as well as not being a huge IP in my opinion.

    (Nice. The edit deleted my original post...)

    A player in my area said once: Aristeia! is Warhammer Underworlds done right.

    There are many reasons why A! is better than WHU in my opinion. Maybe I write sth. about it at the weekend. But to tease it a bit: I am going to sell my WHU stuff. ;)
     
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  5. Ealthril

    Ealthril Well-Known Member
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    Wow, @Neengash did a great job summarizing everything in his post. I fully agree with what he's written.

    Regarding replayability, as mentioned, you'll never have a similar game between 2 games, even if you chose exactly the same characters on both side, with the same cards...

    What I really love into that game is the fact that you don't have time to whisper, every single dice roll or Tactic played requests your attention and a decision from you. Games are often really tight regarding end scores, because it's a game with a lot of thinking, every thing can happen, even at the very last moment, so be careful and stay focused !

    If you're looking to competitive area, you can play also on TTS with the worldwide community. This summer, we just had the biggest event ever, gathering 128 players !

    Regarding purchases, and competitiveness, you will find that even the corebox is really competitive, after 5 years being released, which is incredible for such a game. New releases are not a race for power, they are all about giving new tools and tricks and mechanics to the game.

    So have fun and see you soon on this marvellous game. :yum:
     
  6. MikeWy

    MikeWy Well-Known Member

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    As you have played both I would be interested to hear more.
     
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  7. MikeWy

    MikeWy Well-Known Member

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    So I managed to get the core set and chemical brothers second hand for £30. Guess I will be giving it a go in the next few weeks. Only a couple of other players atm though.
     
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  8. Croepoek

    Croepoek Well-Known Member

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    Join the international Discord channel https://discord.gg/HKT6hm and you can also play online via the Tabletop Simulator :hugging_face:
     
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  9. HarlequinOfDeath

    HarlequinOfDeath Tha Taskmastaaa
    Warcor

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    Hard to tell you why I don't like WHU anymore. There are many reasons and just a feeling of that I don't want to play it anymore as well as I don't want to support GW with how they try to make money, see their newest 40K app.

    And I don't like the Grimdark settings anymore. Especially the newest range from Beastgrave was - apart from the latest releases - not my taste. For example, I played Wood Elves back then and man these Elves-Beastmen-hybrids look so ugly, especially the faces. The more I look at GW miniatures the more stocky they look compared to other miniatures on the market, not just the CB ones.

    But that point is a matter of taste I guess.

    The gameplay is different in my opinion - yes there are hexes and cards and so on but it feels different - so let's focus on other things I think CB does very well:

    Aristeia! has way better balancing and it will improve for sure. WHU needs rotation as well as bans to keep it balanced. You have to buy the newest releases as well to keep up with the meta. In Aristeia! you can win with just the Core set.

    That way WHU is a money grave. While the boxes are priced ok you have to buy and buy and buy... with the rotation even more. And I don't like the arguments from fans that it is a living card game. When Shadespire got released it was called a competitive tabletop miniatures game. Even the Nightvault box names it that way. We know what happened at the end of that season...

    During a match Aristeia! feels more going back and forth. While the matches are longer this feels more enjoyable to me.

    The characters feel more unique and very well designed. Especially their backgrounds. You have to think about it: Every character has an own page with an awesome story. That is impressive for a boardgame. Some characters were even further developed and introduced into Infinity.

    The skin idea from modern videogames is just awesome and you are encouraged to do own conversions, control panels etc. A thing I have never seen done in WHU.

    Aristeia! has a smaller community but a very healthy and warm one. There is a great TTS mod as well as projects for fan characters. There is much room for improvement in growth but that is a long discussion and CB has just a smaller fanbase as well. I am not sure about the correct approach how to get more people into the game. It has much potential and maybe the multiplayer will help.

    Aristeia! has an awesome support by @-V- and the A!-team. You can even get in touch with them via the forum or with the characters ingame via their Twitter accounts.

    CB supports the competitive part of Aristeia! with free rules and scenarios as well as an online tool for a worldwide ranking.
     
    #9 HarlequinOfDeath, Oct 11, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2020
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  10. -V-

    -V- A! Team member
    CB Staff

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    :point_up_2:THIS
     
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  11. MikeWy

    MikeWy Well-Known Member

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    So had my first game today, just the introductory teams. Will have another game later in the week.

    First impressions are that it is fun and despite orange team being stronger still pretty balanced if you know what you are doing. Green team (my opponent) had Hexer who is an army unto herself. I think I will use Hexer, gata, hammerhead, and not sure who else yet in my next match (I have only core and chemical brothers).

    With regards to comparisons to other games I think underworlds has far more depth and tactics to it though I can see how more depth and tactics will come into the game with more characters and experience, it is still a far cry from that involved in underworlds though as far as I can tell.

    That said I still really like the game, it has its own appeal just like I love the game crystal hall, it is here to stay, I'm just not sure it will replace underworlds at this stage.
     
    #11 MikeWy, Oct 17, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2020
    AdmiralJCJF likes this.
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