Why The One Was Bad

I’m going to give an example of this from the real world, something that you might have seen in other places. I see it not too often, but it depends on the person. Someone comes in with a request. They need a website, let’s say, to process a transaction on part of a page. The developer creates a page that processes a transaction, but the usability is very low.

They made sure to meet the requirements of the request. But the requirements don’t get to the need of the usability of the process. For the developer, it is a case where they created only what was asked for. They didn’t spend the time or might not have thought they had the time to ask questions like “Why?” or “What’s the use case?”.

The insert I got with Frosthaven, I got the Folded Spaces one, felt the same way. Does everything fit in the box, yes, then our goal is complete. Does that mean it’s useable? No, it is not.

Structural Integrity

Now, I will say, some of this was on us when we glued it together. We should have used more glue. But even that wouldn’t have made a massive difference. Part of the issue with the structural integrity and the glue is that you are trying to glue to a shiny surface. I get how the glue adheres to the foam side, but the shiny finished side, even the ones I glued more heavily, the glue hasn’t held.

And it isn’t just the glue. You can get around some of that with hobby nails. But there are large trays to hold cards. The Frosthaven box is large, and the large trays are about a foot long. There are seams, where two pieces meet, in towards the middle of those. So a major point of failure is in a really risky spot, and it will fail. And that is not something that is easily fixed with hobby nails.

Monster Sorting

Then there are the monsters. And this is the area where I have the biggest issue. I think the structural integrity can be worked around, but needs to be worked around by choices you make to go above and beyond.

But the biggest issue is how the monsters were sorted. In the insert I got for Gloomhaven, which I really liked, all the monsters laid out so you could see them. This is where I really see the issue, and the seam on the long box, of the requirements being met, but functionality not being considered.

All the monsters are put vertically into three different bosses. For the bosses, that isn’t too bad. You don’t need them too often, and there aren’t that many. But for the medium and smaller monsters, there are a ton. And when cardboard standees are packed vertically, shockingly, you can’t see them. So you need to paw through them all and hope you don’t accidentally miss them. It’s a horrible and completely non-functional design choice.

So I Bought A Better Frosthaven Insert

Now, when the insert wasn’t holding together, I got annoyed. Quite annoyed in fact, at both Folded Spaces, for the reasons above and at Cephalofair Games. I don’t know if they rushed through the process, or thought that it was fine, either way, I got an insert, but not one at the quality I’d have wanted to pay for. And, because of it, I needed to get another Frosthaven insert.

I found a much better insert. So much better it’s basically a night and day difference. Why, because this one doesn’t have seam problems. And it is set-up to handle the monsters in a way that works really well. I found a 3D printed Frosthaven insert that I bought and had shipped from Australia.

The Insert.

3D Printed

Let’s start by talking about the 3D print quality. I think that is the concern, besides time about 3D printing an insert. I would likely print one myself, but getting this one, I have no quality concerns. And I think that the creation of this insert went above and beyond what is needed.

Mainly, the person 3D printed moveable dividers for everything. And when I say everything I mean everything. They make it so that you can split up each item type and crafted footwear versus purchasable footwear, it’s a lot of effort. And they built them as standing inserts so not just between the cards but actual divides that slot in and support themselves in the box.

And the quality of the 3D print is very good. It is not a thin printing. That is my biggest concern when I get something 3D printed, it is going to be done as thin and in as flimsy a way as possible so they can print more faster. That is not the case here.

Monster Storage

And I complained a lot about monster storage for the old one. Though the card boxes were actually the worst part. The monster storage made it so much slower to get a scenario together. Well, this insert fixes it.

It actually is about as ideal as you can get. Especially for us using the Frosthaven app, but overall it is lightyears ahead of what the Folded Spaces one was. It uses the initiative tracking tokens on the top of the monster boxes to show what monsters are in the box. And then each box holds the monster activation cards (though some like scout are shared) and the monster stat block cards.

In fact, the stat block cards are used as the cover. It is a super clever way to save on plastic and create a really functional and visible system. So it makes setup of a new scenario that much faster. And for Frosthaven and Gloomhaven setup speed matters, especially when trying to get two scenarios into an evening.

Use Of The Frosthaven Box Space

Now this takes up more room in the box than other it does in the other system. But because of other smart design decision and usability decisions, it still has more room in the box while being useable. Let’s move on to that, though.

That is something that just boggles my mind. How is there more space now in the box with a custom 3rd party insert that I could fit in the tiles. Now, I won’t because that is one thing that Folded Space got right, a nice little envelope system (that doesn’t fit in the box), but that sorts the map tiles as well as you could.

I get some of how it can do that. It doesn’t have special boxes for the player boards that you have active. We kept the ones from Folded Spaces. But missing out on player storage is a minor complaint, and not really even a complaint. We never had player character storage besides the character boxes that came with Gloomhaven for Gloomhaven. So going back to that would have been easy. This is just a bit nicer.

And speaking of character storage. This fits all of the characters. Folded Spaces didn’t fit up to two of them, I believe. Possibly three to make it actually comfortable. So this had more room in the box and can fit all the character boxes.

Final Thoughts

I have a bit of an issue with what Cephalofair has done and said about this insert. I know that a number of people have massive issues with this insert and how functional it is. And Cephalofair has been, generally, radio silent on it. Which is odd for them, they tend to apologize often for things beyond their control.

This is something that they controlled. Maybe not fully, maybe Folded Spaces provided this option and they just thought about speed. But radio silence or basically as much is not a great look. And what can they do after the fact? Nothing but apologize. I already got a product that is not great, they can’t fix that. I agreed to get that product. But say that they are revisiting it repeatedly, say you want to make it better, that would be nice. And maybe they have, but it’s been hidden away, in a lot of ways, for a company that apologizes and takes a front facing stance on most other things.

But I don’t need to worry about that anymore. I own a better insert and the Folded Spaces one is going in the trash. So it isn’t really an issue for me anymore. But I want you to know, there is much better insert out there. If you buy Frosthaven now, buy that one from Etsy. It will be so much better and more useful. Only after a play or two I see the difference already. And it is too good not to share because of how much of a difference it is.

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Frosthaven

So we can talk about a lot here with the game. Mainly I want to highlight a few things that are different from Gloomhaven. For example, there is the town building aspect. We got to see some stickers for that. I tried not to show off too many. And oddly enough that is the element that makes me interested in getting the removable sticker pack. That gives you a reset of the game.

For Gloomhaven you don’t need that. You can just remember what scenarios, with some simple note taking, are available to you and where you are with prosperity. But for tracking how the town is build, the removeable stickers make way more sense.

I also want to call out two other things that I glossed over pretty quickly. The stickers for the rule book and the hidden information, whatever it is, I’m assuming more stickers, in the punch boards. I guess the “locked” book and the secret envelopes as well. Frosthaven has really upped the legacy game like elements a lot. There is a lot to unlock in the game which is going to make the experience different.

3D Terrain

And then, like I said, I made it harder to go with as I added in 3D terrain. Why, because it’s cool and because Frosthaven is going to be a game that I play for 200 hours. I already know that, which means it’s going to be a bigger experience to enjoy and I’m okay with giving it some bling.

And I am not at all disappointed with the terrain. Big E 3D did a great job with what they’ve created. I only had one minor quibble with color choice, but most everything was amazing. You can checkout the full collection here. Now, it is not cheap, but the amount and quality are worth it. Plus, I did see it on sale when I bought it, so you can wait for that if you want. But checkout the pictures of it I took during the stream below.

Upcoming Streams

So it’s been an odd week and a half with streaming. Last week it was all about what I am going to start this week. And the answer to that is ISS Vanguard. So on Wednesday I plan on starting that. It might be more focused on set-up and some of the first scenario, but we’ll see how far I get and how much time i have to get everything prepped over the next day and a half. That stream will be at 8 PM Central.

And then on Monday, I want to get back to some solo games. Frosthaven with the 3D terrain is worth showing off. But let’s find a solo game to play and get it to the table. What will the experience be like and is it really meant to be played solo. I think I know which game I want to play, I just need to learn the rules. Monday streams are at 8:30 PM Central time.

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Top 5 Board Game Add-ons

5. X-Trayz

These are from GameTrayz, I company that for personal reasons I can’t fully support. But that’s besides the point that they make really good trays and their component bins with covers get used pretty often by me. It started out with Tiny Towns where I used it to store all of the houses and tokens. I think I have the different ingredients for Quacks of Quedlinburg in them as well. And Lost Ruins of Arnak has it for their resources.

Why are they so handy, you can use bags for things. You can, but bags you dump out and refill at the start and end of every game. These you keep whatever you aren’t using in there. It’s a nice sturdy option for storying components.

4. Aeon’s End Starting Cards

This is the one that is from the company and it’s a big absurd. Aeon’s End is a deck building game where everyone’s starting hands are almost the same. I say almost because each character has at least one card different. That means before each game you need to go find your characters unique card(s) as well as build out their starting deck.

Well, Indie Board and Cards was smart and they created packs for each of the core boxes. So it’s not cheap to go in on this, it’s five packs. But, when integrated you don’t need to build those decks again. And that is going to help with the set-up and teardown of the game.

3. Marvel United Divider Cards

This is one that I actually need to buy more of. That might seem confusing, they are dividers that go between the characters. Well, yes they are. But I don’t own them yet for Marvel United X-Men, and eventually Marvel United Multiverse. It makes it much easier to find the character cards, and it stores okay. I only put it at as okay, because Marvel United in general only stores okay.

2. Potion Explosion Marble Holder

These top two are the nicest wooden components that I have for a game. I do have one more, but I need to put it together still, actually two more. But this is a replacement for the cardboard holder for the marbles.

Why is this one so great, because the original one, you would take it from the box hoping it wouldn’t fall apart. There were ways that you had to hold it and elements that would become loose every time. With the wooden one, it’s much more solid and just as functional. This one it just looks nicer and works better. But the top one makes the game much easier to play.

1. Gloomhaven Insert

That top one is, of course, an insert for Gloomhaven. Gloomhaven is an amazing game, but one of the biggest issues is that it’s a beast to set-up. Well, the insert doesn’t take care of all of that, but it takes care of a chunk of it. And that makes Gloomhaven so much easier to play. I had put together my own storage solution before getting a real one. But I can’t imagine playing Gloomhaven with baggies like some people probably do because that’s what they have in every other game.

Gloomhaven just has too many tokens. There are cheaper solutions, but the insert for me was the way to go. And if a simpler solution still makes it hard to set-up, I do think that an insert really makes it so much easier that it’s worth the money.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of upgrades or add-ons that you can get for a board game. Some people love to get an insert for everything in hopes it’ll be easier to table. Other people want to bling out their board game with fancy components to make it more thematic.

Right now with Frosthaven just in, I am debating about buying 3D printed terrain for it. Just something to add to the immersion of the game. But is it worth it to add in stuff that will just make it trickier to travel with? I’m not sure I want to travel with it anyway because it is a beast, but adding more makes it trickier.

What are some things you’ve add-on to your board games to make them fancier or more functional?

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Campaign Game Expectations

Branching Narrative

Let’s start out with story. I want a good narrative and I want a branching narrative in a game. Now, this doesn’t mean I need 10 different endings. Though I appreciate what Tainted Grail does, giving a lot of different end game moments. But I’m fine with just a story that gives me choices in what I do. The illusion of branching narrative.

What I mean by the illusion is that I can make a choice and that’ll change how something goes. It might make a few scenarios different. But the main story beats, I’m going to end up there no matter what. So do the decisions I make matter? Yes, for how the story is shaped and told to me, but where I’m going to end up not really. But there needs to be real, meaningful feeling decisions.

Tainted Grail does a good job of this, Stars of Akarios, you end up on a planet and can choose to go many ways. Gloomhaven, the story is much more linear throughout. In a few spots, it does branch but only changes stuff in a minor way. Sword and Sorcery, about once per box would you have a decision to make. Clearly there are other stuff that determine how much I like a game than just story. But now, I expect more from story because companies are doing more.

Storage Solution

I didn’t put these in any order, but this might be number one. I want a campaign game to come with a storage solution. And not just any storage solution. Sleeping Gods gives you baggies to save your game. That is not a storage solution that I’m talking about. Though, it’s better than not having the baggies.

What I am talking about is something that makes it easier to play and faster to the table. Gloomhaven I had to buy an insert for that. Sword and Sorcery it doesn’t have that at all. But Tainted Grail allows you to save characters and locations in an okay system. But when I look at good, I look at my Gloomhaven insert or Stars of Akarios.

I want to be able to pull out a whole tray of tokens and that that on the table. I don’t need to worry about getting them to the right spot or within reach. There is just a tray for that, and for the cards. And, ideally, you can have all your character stuff in a single spot. Make it easy as possible on me to get it back to the table. Yes, it is still a big game, but you can make it easier.

Scaling – Player Count and Difficulty

This one might not be the most obvious, but at times some games require you to play with four characters. Sleeping Gods you play with 9 characters plus the Captain, I believe. Now, you activate as the whole crew, but for a lot of people that is a lot. I always saw it just as a turn and knowing my abilities. But I totally get why it would be a lot.

And it isn’t just how many characters you control, it is how many monsters you control and how hard they are. Gloomhaven is a great example of this. The fewer players that you have, the fewer monsters there are on the board. But if a scenario is too easy or too hard, you can lower or raise the difficulty. That is great.

Now, sometimes games do need or expect four characters. So some games handle that in different ways. Oathsworn they are allies who activate on a simpler system in combat. That way you only need to think about a character or two. For Middara, they kind of slot in with another character. So think of lending health or stuff like that. Bad guys don’t change, but your heroes get stronger with fewer.

Interesting Mechanics

Interesting is a relative term. I think I mean that I want a mechanic that feels different or feels unique to the game. Stars of Akarios gave me unique tactical space dog fights. Gloomhaven has the dual use cards with the top and bottom. Tainted Grail leans into the exploration and survival, but also has the chaining combat system. Each of those feels different.

What I don’t really want is to only grab a handful of dice with an ability card and roll to see if I activate it. Now, something like Oathsworn has an element of that, you just grab dice and roll them. But it offers more than that, the card play and the battle flow system are unique. And the grabbing of dice is a push your luck element.

I hope it doesn’t come across that I don’t like rolling dice, rolling a handful of dice is satisfying. But if that is your mechanic, or main mechanic, that is old at this point. Sword and Sorcery, for example, mainly has your activating a card which tells you what dice to roll, and you can take actions to add dice. It’s why over time Sword and Sorcery has slipped so much for me.

Good Character Progression

Finally, I want good character progression. And this is also in two ways. Kind of like the scaling can be done in two ways. But I want good character progression where I get to know more about the character. This isn’t a must, but it is appreciated. Awaken Realms often has this as an add-on to their games. Echoes of the Past is that for Tainted Grail. You complete objectives, you get to read story about the horrible past your character has had.

It doesn’t need to be as blatantly obvious as that. But also in Tainted Grail, you find certain things that only a given character can do. Generally there are other ways to do them, but it’s easier for that character. And you find out more details about that characters past that way, or story, and it feels good to have something unique for that character.

But I also want to level up my characters fairly often. And leveling up can slow down as time goes on. But within the first few sessions I should get something new. I want to feel like my character is doing better and is stronger in the game. Generally this is more mechanical. For Gloomhaven, it’s less XP to level up early levels. For Tainted Grail, it’s chapters early on giving you things you’d normally spend XP for.

Final Thoughts

Now, this list probably isn’t everything that I want. Personally, I would love voice narration and app assistance for most any game. This goes back to the ease of play I talk about with an insert. That makes it easier to play and get to the table. But not flipping through a book also makes it easier and simpler to play.

So I want that for more games, but I don’t know that it is needed for every game. At least narration so I don’t have to read large swathes of text. But it’s also important that it’s done well. Don’t just have the designer of the game, or a random friend, read it, it needs to be well done. And same with the app, the app needs to be well designed as well, because a bad app can hurt ease of play if not careful.

What, to you are the important things to get you interested in a campaign game? What is often the biggest barrier for you to getting a campaign game to the table?

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Culling Board Games

The premise is pretty simple, what games are in my collection that are taking up space which I don’t like or I know I’m not going to play again. The execution is harder. I like board games a lot. For me, I like to keep a collection that has a lot of games in it. I have the shelf space, but that shelf space is filling up and as I talk about at the start, I have games from crowdfunding that are coming in. So I need to find more shelf space.

So what made me decide to stream some of this. Firstly, it is more content on the channel, and I hope that seeing what I have in my collection gives you an idea of what I like in gaming. To go along with that, it keeps me motivated to go through my collection. It would be easy for me to just skim it and find a few games. Going through Kallax cubby by Kallax cubby I now am forced to look at each game. Plus there are a few other content creators who talk about it a lot.

I mention them but Max from Tablenauts has a saying of ABC, Always Be Culling. And because of that and the games I have coming, it is time for more. I need to go through my collection and cull. Plus Alex from BoardGameCo does a video showing what is leaving his collection. I wanted to be different and go through my whole collection.

The Drink

So last nights drink was finishing off a bottle of Suntory Whiskey. It’s a Japanese whiskey and an enjoyable one. I didn’t talk about it too much, but it is part of my goal to drink through/clear up room in my liquor cabinet. I’d like to get less stuff in there, since some of the alcohol has been sitting there for a while. It was something I drank more before having a kid, stuff for mixed drinks really stand out, and now, I lean towards just sipping drinks.

Upcoming Streams

So next upcoming stream is on Wednesday with a start time around 8 PM Central. I’ll try and get the video up a bit sooner than I did with this one so you know it is coming. But what will I be streaming? I am going to do a play of Spire’s End. It is a story driven game, kind of a campaign game, but one I can generally play in a single sitting.

The next few weeks on Wednesday it won’t be a campaign game. I want to get through some other games that can be played solo. I also want to create more time for just chatting as I play. Campaign games tend to be harder to chat while playing. Mainly, they tend to have a whole lot more going on in them. So expect a few roll and write games and smaller games to get played. Any you think that I really need to try?

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