Wow not done one of these for a while. I think the last one was between two versions of Love Letter also.

This verses was a lot lot harder to pick a winner for.

Both of these have great wooden tokens for tracking points won. Archer has cute dolphin shaped tokens called intel tokens, whilst Batman has the bat logo.

Both introduce new mechanics to the Love Letter formula. Batman in reality introduced what at best could be described as a minor new mechanic, which was getting a point for guessing another players card when playing the Batman number 1 card. Archer meanwhile bought the Hidden Identity card into play. Which if guessed correctly wins you the round.

The art on both is really good, with the Archer art matching the show it is based on. But I have to say I do prefer the better comic book art of Batman.

Love Letter: Batman  was number 58 in my Top 100 games, whilst Archer: Once You Go Blackmail…  was number 63. On bgg Love Letter: Batman  at the time of my Top 100 was number 388 in the rankings and Archer: Once You Go Blackmail…  was position 2049. Which is pretty good evidence that the gamers over on bgg agree with my ranking of the games.

So what did I decide when this match up was thrown up by the ranking engine? I actually bottled it, and sat on the fence calling it a draw. I couldn’t really decide between the two. I think they are pretty close in the rankings really, and they are my favourite versions of the game. I really like what both versions bring to the table. The Love Letter: Batman may play a little quicker with the point for guessing another character. But these are both easily the best versions of the game for me.

Hope the cop out was not too much of a disappointment and the next one (whenever that appears) is more entertaining for you.

This was a real easy match up for me. I like the original Love Letter. But if you followed the count down of my Top 100 games you will have noticed that Love Letter did not break into the list. It actually sits ranked at 119th. Whilst Archer (I’ll call it that for brevity) came in 63rd. That’s a big gap. Aren’t they basically the same game? To some extent yes they are. But it is the differences that make all of the difference!

Let’s start with the components. In the original Love Letter you are keeping score with red cubes. Whilst in Archer those components are rather cool looking dolphin tokens.

I actually prefer the artwork from the Archer cartoon to the original. But that’s personal taste.

But those are cosmetic differences. Each version of Love Letter usual has a tweak to the game play in some way (unless it’s the Adventure Time one). And it’s these differences that I really like. 

In Archer the card that is normally put to one side is now part of the game play (called the Hidden Identity) and some of the card actions interact with that card. One of them allows you to try guessing the Hidden Identity, if you do, you win the round. 

I love that change. I feel they took the idea from Lost Legacy and removed the bit from the end of Lost Legacy that Jonathan doesn’t like, the investigation round (I think I covered that in more detail when we played Lost Legacy yonks ago).

So it’s the combination of art, components and tweak to game play that made this such an easy one, even no brainer in choosing Archer over the original. 
 

This is a Top 5 clash for me. Both of these games made my Top 5 games for 2017. So this is going to be one epic match up.

Scythe, my game for 2016, my favourite game in my collection, and ranked number 7 on the BGG, verses Star Wars: Destiny, holder of the number 3 spot in my Top 100, and ranked number 255 on the BGG.

This is another other those odd match ups. Two completely different games. How do you chose? How can you even compare them?

Good questions, and anyone more gifted in writing and expressing themselves would be able to answer those questions.

Let’s look at Scythe first. This game is just beautiful. The art by Jakub Rozalski is just stunning. I’m using these words but they do not do justice or even capture how amazing the art is. Production values are just out of this world on this. When all set up Scythe just looks epic. Especially if you are using the extended larger board. Having player boards that are slightly different gives enough variety on the replay-ability side. For a game that plays up to 7 players (although I think I will only ever play it with a maximum of 5) if everyone has played the game before this plays very quickly. It’s a game that can be taught in about 10 minutes, but will take a new player a game or two to get into how to think tactically. Within a couple of turns a new player will get the hang of a turn. The nice thing is there is a card that can be used by new players to give them an idea of stuff to try achieving on their first few turns. The game does have a solo mode that I haven’t played. But it’s good to know it’s there if I want to ever play solo. I like the combat, it’s simple and quick. Very similar to Kemet in a way. I like that each faction has an ability that breaks one of the games core rules!

New game on the block Star Wars: Destiny has just come from nowhere! Naturally I love the theme. The art on the cards is amazing, and really does do a great job of capturing the well loved characters and settings from the movies. I will say the collectible side of the game I’m not a huge fan of, and would have preferred the lcg model. Component quality for the game is up to the  usual FFG high standards. Although the dice look a bit plasticy  and the images on the sides stuck on. They aren’t in real life, and feel very satisfying in the hand when rolling. I love the deck construction side of this game. For me this game gives me the Dice Masters and Ashes hit with the dice, and the deck construction of Ashes, MtG and Netrunner. Games are usually quick and have a nice flow to them. This game is slick.

And the winner is…

Scythe

It had to be. I love Star Wars: Destiny. Which can be seen by how highly I rate the game. It was a hard decision, and very close. Both games I adore. I get so much out of playing them. But in the end the collect-ability of Destiny gave it to Scythe.

I knew my two favourite Jamey Stegmaier games would eventually go head to head against each other. It’s like the Merseyside derby (Liverpool vs Everton for none football fans) but with boardgames. 

Alternate East European history vs wine growing in Italy.

Both games look stunning. But Scythe has jaw dropping stunning art.

For me Scythe just has an epic feel to it. There is a bit more player interaction in Scythe via the combat, and having to watch neighbours moves so you can claim bonuses.

I do enjoy the worker placement of Viticulture. Throw in Tuscany with all it brings to the table with the new board and modules, lots and lots of replayability and depth. 

Momma and Poppas gives unique starting resources to each player in Viticulture. But Scythe and it’s player and faction boards giving unique action combos and starting resources pips Momma and Poppas.

For me Scythe is the winner here. Theme, art, mechanics it wins hands down.

This match up didn’t attract as much comment as previous verses. Maybe folks are getting bored of them. Mind you I know which one Jonathan would have chosen. He’s a growing wine in Italy through and through.