I don’t think I need all of them, but I do love the three. I will probably gonna reconsider that with the new arrivals coming soon. I will probably keep Tikal if I have the choice - the tent placement is just too good, plus the advance variant eliminates the random tile draw. Mexica is too similar to El Grande. I need more plays of Cuzco
Now I’m thinking about Renature - very similar to Mexica but more cutthroat.
One day I’ll probably cave and shell out the cash for the nice version of Tikal.
I’d say the biggest difference is between Mexica and the other two. It’s somewhat simplified/stripped down and doesn’t have a scoring phase where each player takes actions for scoring (not an improvement or otherwise, just different).
I don’t mind the 2008 edition, but it’s fiddly to use with the thin cardboard. The grids from the 1999 and the 3M edition are nice and the plastic tiles are chunky, and they slot nicely on the grid board. I don’t bother with the paper money, I use poker chips. The 1999 is fancy, but comes in a big box. 3M is more compact and practical.
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Battle Line: Medieval - if we strictly stick with the medieval theme: it comes in two editions, but the art are the same. The box cover though is nicer in the Roland’s Revenge edition (subjective opinion, ofc). The art on the cards is just super nice.
Top to bottom: GMT edition, Roland’s Revenge edition, cards from BL: Medieval.
I own and love Battle Line: Medieval from GMT (The Roland’s Revenge was very limited to 100 copies). I have also heard from people who prefer the zany Scottish theme of Schotten Totten, or the beige art of Antiquity Battle Line
I wonder if it’s possible to purchase just the fancy buildings from the reprints? Those look fantastic, but while I haven’t seen the new editions in person, I think I prefer the board/tile art of the originals (of which I have Tikal and Java). Those boards were always gorgeous, and I feel like the new art is not as detailed?
At least one person has made custom 3D pyramids for Tikal mostly using cardboard, but using magnets to keep everything stable. Clever!
I see that the Dice Tower also did a comparison video:
One of the things that highlights to me is that the new art changed the scale of the scenery (essentially saying the pyramids are smaller). I can conceive of that desire being a motivation to do the new art in the first place, iff it’s based on real-world data; but I still think the end result doesn’t measure up [pun slightly intended].
And this one is the 2015 IELLO edition - this is the one I currently have. The money consist of cardboard coins unlike IELLO’s 2020 edition, which is made of cards, I believe. The 2020 edition’s art is mostly the same with the property cards and the cheque cards.
I think I’ll keep my copy of Friday the 13th. The art and the arcane writings on the cards looks cool. But the Japanese edition looks cleaner but remains charming.
I now own Megawatts. The French edition of Power Grid. Same art. But the map is now France/Quebec. Which is a nice variation. But I didn’t know it exists until now.