Yay... BGWS returns. I assume the new house and studio are sorted then. (note i haven't seen the video as yet so if you explain please excuse my ignorance- just couldnt contain my Yay.)

Excellent. Downloading now.

"medium weight" ???

wow... you're generous Scott... great video by the way. welcome back!

-DK

Scott is just really smart.

Glad that BGWS is back up!

Yay, welcome back! Great segment, btw. I got the Blue Planet/Planet Earth DVD set for an early Christmas present and I'm hoping to teach Reef Encounter to my partner - this will certainly help (it's been a while since I've played).

The version of the video that started downloading in my iTunes podcast was over 400 megabytes... over 10 times bigger than the WoW boardgame review, which was also over 30 minutes long. Yikes!

Did anybody else notice this?

I think medium weight's about right.

The game really isn't *that* complicated. Learning it from the book, on the other hand, rates as harder as the game, while not complicated is different.

Glad BGWS is back up and running too.

AB

I did, and I'm working on it. In the last 6 months, I got a new Mac, which meant I needed to get new versions of every piece of software that I use in producing the show.

The tried-and-true settings that I had used in Final Cut Express that I had figured out for a good balance of quality and size were gone, and my first attempts produced no sound on a PC (but sound on a Mac). The next try produced a 600 MB file. This try is using the default iPod settings, which gave a 400MB file (that's a lot higher quality than the last episode, but that quality isn't really needed).

But, I'm going out of town in a week, and each render takes about an hour. So, rather than keep re-rendering which would push the release back _yet_another_week, I'm posting it, and will keep working on it in my end; once I figure out what settings to use, I'll reupload a smaller file size.

Yet another game I want to buy now thanks to Scott...

I actually liked the size and quality on this one. It'll be a shame to go back, but then I watch on a computer not a portable media device.

This was a good episode and I think you did a great job of explaining how this game works. I wouldn't say it's anything over medium-weight once you understand how it plays, but because the game is so circularly-referential it is a challenge to explain. You can't easily understand how any particular part works without understanding how it all fits together...and of course, you can't understand how it all fits together without understanding how each particular part works. But strictly in terms of weight, it's medium.

Great job!

Have fun on vacation.

A medium weight? Hmm... Not exactly.
We played this game last night for the second time after having recently (finally!) purchased it.
We absolutely love it. What a great, great game.

In terms of weight I'd say it's a light/medium weight game to learn and get the grasp of things, but it's definitely a medium/heavy weight game to actually be able to play properly and coherently.

It's somewhat of a brain burner, especially when playing with more than 2 players, with constant changes to the overall balance of things, more hectic and having more to consider in each play. It can be played and enjoyed from a purely tactical perspective from the get go, but if you are actually looking to achieve some strategic coherence, then things get much more complex, and thus heavier.

So I'd average things out by saying that it feels more like a medium/heavy game, in spite of being an easy game to learn. The effort does payout though... It's a terrific game and a great way for Scott to come back!

Cheers!

Man, I don't even think it's easy to learn ... though Scott does his usual masterful job explaining it. He's a much better explainer than speller (explanation) :-)

It's hard to learn just from the rules alone. After a few turns it becomes more intuitive, although I would also hesitate to call this game a "medium weight" game. I'd call it medium-heavy, at least. Even the author himself calls it "complicated." I guess I factor "complication" into a game's weightiness as well. It really is a gamer's game, heavy as it is.

For some reason with had no problem with the rules whatsoever. We just opened the box I read them once and then proceeded to explain the game. We played it without any errors afterwards.

As for the weight I agree that medium is very optimistic. I think this is a very unusual, deep and complex game. I would rate it heavy, or at least medium heavy.

Rules easy to learn???? I find SPI's Panzergruppe Guderian series 10 page rules on "Drive on Stalingrad" (12 hour game) a delightful essay compared to REEF. Yes I was taught REEF.

Thanks Scott,

I think I'll be able to bring this to my gaming group. I'm sure I won't be able to teach it with as much finesse, but at least I know the "Om-Nom-Nom" rule now.

Scott's video & this file here on BGG, http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/16986, helped the rules click for me. I had little trouble explaining it to my wife, and was only able to beat her by 1 point in our first game .

Great review. I was looking for a few more games to buy, and this is definitely going on the list now.

Perfect review I must say!

This one is a bit more complicated to plan and play as many others out there, therefore I enjoyed your presentation (in fact, played it two times to catch everything, simultaneously reading the rules when I was not at my laptop watching).

One minor addition it would use is the recent rule change from the Author himself about Action 6 - playing the obtained Larva immediately. Though re-working the Videos would be too lenghty I guess...

In any way, a great one again!

Joe

Thanks, Scott.

Excellent video. I was having a really tough time grasping the alga rules and you cleared it up for me. Your video also acted as a guide for me to teach this game to others. Thanks for your model program as it aided me in learning the game as well as teaching it. Thanks so much.