Czech Games CGE Edition Lost Ruins of Arnak

There was a big dent on the box of the product.

Great game... Many actions to do every round and you get rewarded for earlier game investments... Must play for all board game fans

I have still yet to fully unbox the game, but I have watched several videos on how to play the game, so that when I'm finally ready, I can just jump right in. I am very excited for this game... it has won a few awards for it's design and gameplay. From deck building and resource management to worker placement, this game seems to have it all. From the videos I've watched, everyone who has played it is quite amazed that all of those mechanics work together... and it's NOT complicated. I got my hands on a used copy of Through the Ages and I've taken a couple of looks at the game manual and it definitely turned me off... it looks quite complex. But not Arnak. From what I've watched, it looks quite simple actually, but there are definitely several strategies one can discover and use in order to win. Yes sir or madam, though I haven't played it yet, this is one that I am very excited about.

Artwork of this game is so wonderful and captivating. This game combines deck building and worker placement themes nicely which makes gameplay rich and intense.

As others have said, this is an excellent board game. The art is absolutely beautiful, and it is genuinely fun to explore the new sites with their corresponding guardians. The research track is sometimes said to be less fun, and it is more or less buying victory points. However, as an academic, I can really appreciate that thematic implementation of an expedition. The search and discovery it represents, with the magnifying glass going first followed by publishing research, is satisfying along with the research assistants it enables you to recruit along the way that come when you publish your research (i.e. move your journal token up the track). The art in the research track is fun as well, and I think it has Latin notes scribbled in small font along it as well, as the researchers get progressively more excited by their discoveries! I thought this was going to be a downside, but it surprised me in how much I enjoyed the track as a thematic game mechanic. Two other important notes: 1) With new items and artifacts played out in each game, along with the new worker placement sites and guardians that are randomly laid out each game - the game is highly replayable with lots of variety. 2) The game uses a lot of mechanics, part worker placement, part deck building (with thin decks), part resource management, and part exploration. However, in my mind, I like this a lot as it forces you to not focus too much on just perfecting one particular mechanic or part of your engine and forget what you are playing. By masterfully integrating a number of different mechanics, it allows those mechanics to fade into the background as you focus on thematically running an expedition. My only negative is that there are a lot of options to choose from, and towards the end game it can invite analysis paralysis that can delay the game. I hope that this goes away with more play throughs. In general, there are enough options and mechanics to choose from each turn that no matter what you do, it will net you points in a positive way with some fun combos to boot. There is just the right amount of randomization and luck to make you feel rewarded with an earned victory when a strategy pays off, and also not feel too bad about it when you don't win. I look forward to trying the Expedition Leaders expansion soon!

Gutes Spiel