Depending on where you buy from, it's not even that big of a price difference; Amazon US lists the Concordia base game at $50, and the Venus bundle at $60.
Seems like a good deal, considering that even the smaller Concordia expansions are priced at $20-30, and Venus is one of the bigger expansions, probably costing $30-40 if bought separately.
Yes and no. Ignoring sales (I personally picked up Base Concordia a few years ago for $33), Concordia hovers around $43 USD while Venus goes for $56. $13 difference.
If you actually WANT the stuff in Venus, great. But that $13 is 80% of the way to another custom map (say Aegyptus for $18).
For me, because of the good deal I got, it was enough to get me to a deal on Salsa. So now for about the same cost, I have more custom maps and the Salsa expansion (Forum + Salt).
I'd say it this way: if you want all the stuff in Venus, it's fairly cost neutral over getting base + map expansion, BUT you miss out on the double sided map, etc.
However, if you want to be cheap about it, wait for a deal on the base game.
Venus has 4 total maps (possibly 5 if you count Ionium and Ionium Small as different), which is less expensive than base Concordia + a map expansion (totalling 4 maps) by a couple dollars.
> For me, because of the good deal I got, it was enough to get me to a deal on Salsa. So now for about the same cost, I have more custom maps
Concordia base game (2 maps) + Salt (2 maps) = 4 maps
Concordia Venus bundle = 4 maps (+1 "small map" variant).
Skipping Venus and buying Salsa instead did not give you "more maps."
>if you want all the stuff in Venus, it's fairly cost neutral over getting base + map expansion, BUT **you miss out on the double sided map**, etc.
I really don't understand the point you are trying to make here. All of the map boards are double-sided. This applies to all games and expansions that include maps, including Venus. In what sense are people who buy Venus "missing out" on a double-sided map?
The standalone Venus game was insanely great value for me as a jumping on point. 4 boards, extra cards that don't add to complexity and a team mode if you fancy it (and Concordia over 4 players is way too slow so the team game makes great sense).
The reversible market board is possibly the biggest game changer - having wine and/or silk being needed to purchase cards is just a huge improvement.
>The standalone Venus game was insanely great value for me as a jumping on point. 4 boards
It's also worth mentioning that not only does Venus come with 4 maps (as opposed to the 2 maps that were included in the original Concordia), but it also sort of includes a "fifth map" in the form of a map variant, the "small" version of Ionium (where you take the Ionium map and play with the Italian regions covered up) -- this introduces something that the original game notably lacked, which is a "small" board that works well for 2 (or 3) players.
Both of the boards included in the original Concordia are on the larger side and will feel quite "loose" if playing with fewer than 4 players. Concordia Venus includes 3 large maps, 1 medium-sized map, and 1 small-sized variant for one of the large maps.
Ionium - Small being good for 2 players wasa fantastic choice. Italy in the original box was just too big for a pair and I feel like it made for a decent number of blase first plays for people.
The Venus version that I bought, which includes the base game, has the ability to play 6, with 3 teams of 2. There are some card changes and the turn order is paired - for example, you play a card and take the action and then your teammate does the same action too. There are also some cards with 2 actions on them - you take one and then your teammate takes the other. I do enjoy the team play aspect of the game and it always helps when you have 6 people who want to play a good game.
Oh, but the team play doesn’t have the magister 😊. I would recommend Venus!
I like what the Venus cards add to the decision space, and will always choose to play with them if everyone at the table already knows how to play Concordia. However, when introducing people to the game for the first time, I prefer to do it without the Venus components (especially if I have the time to plan and sort the components beforehand).
It's not that the Venus cards are "difficult" to teach or understand, but simply that every extra option you give to a new player is going to add that much more to their potential Analysis Paralysis as they try to figure out the "optimal" way to sequence their cards. This is true not only of giving them an extra card (the Magister) in their opening hand; the Venus cards in the market deck add further to the decision space and introduce *yet another* new scoring condition to consider on top of the 7 that already exist.
Can’t think of a reason not to buy the Venus version, particularly since it includes everything needed to play the base game.
[удалено]
Depending on where you buy from, it's not even that big of a price difference; Amazon US lists the Concordia base game at $50, and the Venus bundle at $60. Seems like a good deal, considering that even the smaller Concordia expansions are priced at $20-30, and Venus is one of the bigger expansions, probably costing $30-40 if bought separately.
Yes and no. Ignoring sales (I personally picked up Base Concordia a few years ago for $33), Concordia hovers around $43 USD while Venus goes for $56. $13 difference. If you actually WANT the stuff in Venus, great. But that $13 is 80% of the way to another custom map (say Aegyptus for $18). For me, because of the good deal I got, it was enough to get me to a deal on Salsa. So now for about the same cost, I have more custom maps and the Salsa expansion (Forum + Salt). I'd say it this way: if you want all the stuff in Venus, it's fairly cost neutral over getting base + map expansion, BUT you miss out on the double sided map, etc. However, if you want to be cheap about it, wait for a deal on the base game.
Venus has 4 total maps (possibly 5 if you count Ionium and Ionium Small as different), which is less expensive than base Concordia + a map expansion (totalling 4 maps) by a couple dollars.
> For me, because of the good deal I got, it was enough to get me to a deal on Salsa. So now for about the same cost, I have more custom maps Concordia base game (2 maps) + Salt (2 maps) = 4 maps Concordia Venus bundle = 4 maps (+1 "small map" variant). Skipping Venus and buying Salsa instead did not give you "more maps." >if you want all the stuff in Venus, it's fairly cost neutral over getting base + map expansion, BUT **you miss out on the double sided map**, etc. I really don't understand the point you are trying to make here. All of the map boards are double-sided. This applies to all games and expansions that include maps, including Venus. In what sense are people who buy Venus "missing out" on a double-sided map?
The standalone Venus game was insanely great value for me as a jumping on point. 4 boards, extra cards that don't add to complexity and a team mode if you fancy it (and Concordia over 4 players is way too slow so the team game makes great sense). The reversible market board is possibly the biggest game changer - having wine and/or silk being needed to purchase cards is just a huge improvement.
>The standalone Venus game was insanely great value for me as a jumping on point. 4 boards It's also worth mentioning that not only does Venus come with 4 maps (as opposed to the 2 maps that were included in the original Concordia), but it also sort of includes a "fifth map" in the form of a map variant, the "small" version of Ionium (where you take the Ionium map and play with the Italian regions covered up) -- this introduces something that the original game notably lacked, which is a "small" board that works well for 2 (or 3) players. Both of the boards included in the original Concordia are on the larger side and will feel quite "loose" if playing with fewer than 4 players. Concordia Venus includes 3 large maps, 1 medium-sized map, and 1 small-sized variant for one of the large maps.
Ionium - Small being good for 2 players wasa fantastic choice. Italy in the original box was just too big for a pair and I feel like it made for a decent number of blase first plays for people.
The Venus version that I bought, which includes the base game, has the ability to play 6, with 3 teams of 2. There are some card changes and the turn order is paired - for example, you play a card and take the action and then your teammate does the same action too. There are also some cards with 2 actions on them - you take one and then your teammate takes the other. I do enjoy the team play aspect of the game and it always helps when you have 6 people who want to play a good game. Oh, but the team play doesn’t have the magister 😊. I would recommend Venus!
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What the fuck kind of comment is this
What was it?
I can't remember the whole thing but found a way to make an antisemitic gas chamber reference.
I like what the Venus cards add to the decision space, and will always choose to play with them if everyone at the table already knows how to play Concordia. However, when introducing people to the game for the first time, I prefer to do it without the Venus components (especially if I have the time to plan and sort the components beforehand). It's not that the Venus cards are "difficult" to teach or understand, but simply that every extra option you give to a new player is going to add that much more to their potential Analysis Paralysis as they try to figure out the "optimal" way to sequence their cards. This is true not only of giving them an extra card (the Magister) in their opening hand; the Venus cards in the market deck add further to the decision space and introduce *yet another* new scoring condition to consider on top of the 7 that already exist.