Episode 199: Embarcadero

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1) The Pegs discuss their recent game plays including Oath, The Snallygaster Situation, Gorinto and many more;

2) All the Pegs review Embarcadero; and

3) Look back at Nevada City.

Show Notes

00:01:11 – A Fireworks Grande Finale

Banter

00:08:00 – Pooping with a View

00:19:35 – The Holmeses Get a New Dog

00:24:42 – Jeremy makes his New Years Resolution with Restoration Games

00:28:41 – Magic: The Gathering Dungeons and Dragons expansion

00:29:53 – Space Base: Shy Pluto with Harper

Plays

00:34:34Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile (2021) – Leder Games; Designer: Cole Wehrle; Art: Kyle Ferrin;

00:51:14Gorinto * (2021) – Grand Gamers Guild; Designer: Richard Yaner; Art: Josh Cappel;

01:03:11Spicy (2020) – HeidelBÄR Games; Designer: Győri Zoltán Gábor; Art: Jimin Kim;

01:09:50The Snallygaster Situation: Kids on Bikes Board Game * (2021) – Renegade Game Studios; Designer: Michael AddisonJonathan Gilmour; Art: Scott O’GaraHeather Vaughan;

News

01:19:33 – OnePipWonder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqs78TB5QQo&t=3294s

01:24:11 – Restoration Games news: Crossbows and Catapults, Unmatched

01:27:35Synk!

01:29:17Queen’s Dilemma

01:32:13Unfathomable

01:34:58One-Handed Gloomhaven

01:37:55Amazon crack down

01:40:50TSR Confusion

REVIEW: Embarcadero

01:49:45 – Rules Breakdown

Embarcadero is a 1 to 4 player hand-management, tile-laying game designed by Adam Buckingham and Ed Marriott, with art by Janos Orban and published in 2021 by Renegade Game Studios.  In Embarcadero, players complete to dock ships and complete buildings in San Francisco’s famous Embarcadero, laying tiles and raising structures to core points by meeting goals and landing combos.

The game takes place over three rounds, and each player will take five turns per round.  A player’s turn consists of two main actions: Playing a card, and buying a card.  When playing a card, players will select a card from their hand and either discard it for resources indicated on the card, or play it for its action.  Actions will either be to Launch Boats or Build Buildings; in either case, tiles are placed on the board following certain placement rules and with associated costs when appropriate. Cards played in this way may also trigger a bonus action or set up an end-game scoring goal, with various kinds of actions and goals available.

Docking ships will also grant the player access to various resources, which in turn are necessary to construct buildings. 

In general, players are attempting to build both up and out – docking boats upon which they will build structures, and building new buildings upon those structures.  Various mid- and end-game scoring will be dependent on the size and height of a player’s buildings.  In addition, placing structures next to other players’ structures will advance you on the Council Track, which provides various bonuses as well as end-game points depending on how far down the track you have traveled.

Points are earned over the course of the game through card play, at the end of each round based on majorities around each of the three wharves along with goal cards that are set at the beginning of the game, and at the end of the game via the Council track and certain cards that may have been played over the course of the game.  Whoever has the point points, wins!
So, do the Pegs think Embarcadero is hotter than the Bay-area housing market, or is this one ship that’s best left sunk?  Find out when we return to the studio to review Embarcadero.

01:51:52 – Review

02:15:00 – Ratings

ReRoll

02:28:05Nevada City * (2020) – Rio Grande Games; Designer: Alan D. Ernstein; Art: Claus StephanAntje Stephan;

Check out our original review for Nevada City during Episode 174.

02:34:21 – Some Final Thoughts from Our Green Peg

Gameplay Photos

* Disclosure: These titles were received free of charge by the publishers or distributors. If you are interested in submitting a title for review, please read our Review Policy.

One thought to “Episode 199: Embarcadero”

  1. Hey guys – Thanks for your review of Embarcadero. Sorry for the confusion on the levels and the naming of the components. If it helps, you can think of the structures as the walls of a building and the building tiles as the roof of that building that you place when you complete a building.

    Hopefully to clear it up: When you place a building tile, you count the number of layers of structures below that tile. So you have a ship, and you place structures on the ship. The first building tile you place is level 1. Place structures on that tile, and the next building tile up is level 2. The highest you can build is level 4. That means 4 layers of structure cubes, with a building tile on top. You cannot place any structure cubes on top of the 4th building tile, so no structures on level 5.

    Hopefully that helps a little. Thanks again for a really detailed review and discussion!

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