7 WONDERS DUEL REVIEW / Our Thoughts On This Game

cax and i have now played a 
few games of seven wonders  
duel and we’d like to share our thoughts on 
it with you today here on legendary tactics
so seven wonders duel and we’d played a bit of 
seven wonders before yeah we’ve been back in the  
day we played in fact that’s one maybe to dust 
off eh i think so now that i’ve we’ve gotten to  
duel a little bit here yeah i always liked uh 
seven wonders i thought it was a a nice yeah a  
nice design it’s it’s well implemented yeah it’s 
a well put together game and find a review on that  
in the in the coming months yeah yeah we’ll 
have to bring that back to the the table and  
well the channel is a good excuse to play lots of 
different games exactly but at uh at the forefront  
today is seven wonders duel which i think was 
it’s a hit for me yes i i think it is uh sort  
of uh you know after the just the first few 
games we’re still figuring out the strategy but  
um but overall i think it’s a it’s a fun game it 
plays quite quickly yeah i could see it actually  
going pretty fast especially if once you get 
the hang of the ebb and the flow in the game  
yeah um yeah and it delivers the the seven wonders 
feel like it feels like 7 wonders 100 um but uh  
but is

obviously it’s a two-player version of
uh seven wonders yeah and that might be a bit of
a detraction in some ways because you don’t have
the kind of the chaos of three or four players but
yeah but i mean you can’t play seven wonders
with just two players otherwise right so i
think it solves that and the whole pyramid
and the unknown cards behind certain cards
that get revealed as the game goes is kind of
a good um kind of catch-up mechanism for that
idea yes yes so so what did you now you have
the analog game so what do you think of the
components we’ve played yeah so we played i found
the cards really nice it’s a nice cardboard feel
there’s some pretty actually oversized cards in it
uh i like that yeah i thought uh no i thought it’s
a very well uh constructed well-built game with
quality components yeah yeah i thought that at
least they’re adequate they’re they may not stand
out as being particularly amazing but they’re
very they’re they’re serviceable yeah they’re
sufficient um there’s there’s no kind of like
crazy uh miniatures or anything to worry about
just you know tokens i guess just the one token
that you uh you know you move your military piece
with but that’s about it yeah it’s a it’s a very
low uh you know it’s like it takes no time to
set up there’s no you know stress and kind of
keeping track of components and setting
things up that way not at all not really
it’s a five minute setup yeah and then the rules
what do you think yeah the rules you know what
i was actually a little bit surprised at the
difficulty level of the rules expecting it to be
pretty light fair i noticed that uh you know you
being the rules guy it did take a little bit of
pouring over just to kind of get your head around
it well i think if you already play seven wonders
it’s actually very straightforward but i hadn’t
played in a little while and i remembered uh a
lot of how seven wonders worked but uh to be
honest i i wasn’t a big fan of how the rules
were laid out there was a lot of kind of i felt
like there was almost like assumptions that were
made as far as the um like card text or like what
credibility is those kinds of symbology and all
that it was it was a i think it’s fine once you’ve
played a few games i don’t think it’s it’s a
problem at all and and no no no not at all and pl
don’t let that be a deterrent to uh to not getting
it because it really is a great game yeah like i
would watch i would much rather watch a video on
how to play than read the rules on it it’s just uh
it just wasn’t as as friendly as it was like just
yeah but it wasn’t that it was hard it was
just that it i felt like it almost made
assumptions that you already knew what was
kind of going on and when you may not have
yeah yeah in terms of paying costs and all
that you know i could see there being a lot
of room for um misinterpretation but but again
once you start playing it and if you have some
background with seven wonders especially i i think
you’ll pick up the rules pretty quickly so um now
gameplay what are your thoughts on uh oh gameplay
i i think uh first off i really really love the
idea of the way they they you build the card deck
i think that is so clever so that that’s one uh
that’s one thing that really really um impressed
me i also do like how you start off with the
the four different um uh wonders at the very
beginning of the game i think that’s a good
a good way to sort of start you kind of kind of
start steering your ship in a certain direction
yeah exactly and you can you can build your
civilization around getting those wonders
completed uh you know as well um because i imagine
uh you know if you if you’re the first one to
build four um then uh you’ve got a bit of an edge
and you know as in terms of uh um you know final
scoring or whatever so it’s it’s good um yeah so
the gameplay for me i thought it’s very smooth
the turns are quick um and uh there’s enough uh
just you know sort of decision making there’s
decision points uh but it’s not necessarily
something where you need to you know it’s
not a brain burner in in that sense but there’s
enough that you need to take into consideration
that the the decision points are interesting yeah
i would definitely call this one like light fare
yeah but uh that being said i think there’s
still enough on the bone here to really
sink your teeth into something and and sort of
puzzle out different strategy uh you know uh
approaches to the game which kind of makes it uh
you know it makes it really fun i think yeah yeah
like there are some moves that felt obvious and
other ones that did not feel obvious at all and
um and that’s fine you know i think yeah overall
it’s a lighter game um which is which is great
because it’s going to get to the table more often
and with more varied uh players uh so i think they
they succeeded in that front but if you’re if you
love strategy games and deeper strategy games i i
think that there’s enough as you said meet on the
bone here to keep you uh to keep you satisfied
that way well it’s funny you see getting to the
table because that for me is a sign of a game of
a good game is when i want to play it immediately
following and that’s exactly what i said to you uh
when we played the other night after we were done
i wanted to play again so it wasn’t because you
lost it’s because you just wanted to play again
right no because i wanted to figure well i did
lose yes yes but i also i i it was also figuring
out the uh sort of figuring out the unlocking
some some doors what what you know where did i go
wrong and how can i correct it so it was kind of
solving the solving the puzzle yes absolutely and
it does it does feel a bit puzzly as a game it’s
you know if you like that kind of feeling of you
know trying to optimize and uh your setup and
puzzle through something i think it’s it’s got
some some good stuff there and then as far as
the theme goes yeah i mean i i’m a history
buff so seven wonders uh you know even the
original all of that any anything in the ancient
ancient civ genre for me is is a home run so that
that’s never a problem and i i i love a lot of
the stuff they worked into it here too with the uh
uh well we had the the call colossus and uh you
know all those different uh yeah the sphinx and so
forth yeah so that was me it was it was right up
my alley how about yourself yeah well i mean the
theme is fairly generic because like for example
you can build the sphinx and the colossus in the
same civilization that is true yeah hanging
gardens and um it’s it’s fine i don’t i don’t
feel the theme is pasted on uh like you know some
games especially in the euro genre where it’s like
you know the the engine is designed first and
then they just add the theme in second okay but
i didn’t feel the theme was super strong either i
didn’t feel like i was making decisions based on
um managing my civilization i felt it was
based on you know what gave me the the the
the the best um tactical advantage yeah best
tactical advantage so it wasn’t it’s not a a
world builder where you you can say wow i built
this amazing civilization oh no no no no you know
but uh but the theme is integrated reasonably
well and it does uh work you know i it’s
it’s it’s right in that middle ground between you
know uh something where it’s so it’s dripping in
themes so much that it almost impedes the gameplay
versus uh you know something where a theme is
it’s basically the afterthought yeah yeah so it’s
right in the well no i remembering that it’s light
fair i think is very important if you remember
that it’s a light fair game then you know the
theme of you know ancient civilization are also
it’s going to be light fair but it’s going to
add to the flavor of what you’re doing yes and it
is everything is very abstracted as well you you
build your army you move your military strength
one or two spaces or three spaces down a track
you know like it’s very abstracted in that
sense we should mention too it is all card
driven yes it is yeah and things like production
and so forth again like you have a card on your
you know in your little city area or whatever
and it produces a brick and that’s you know but
there’s you know there’s no like when i think of
a game like brass you know and brass is so that’s
when where the the theme really is is where you’re
building literally a network of manufacturing and
and you’ve you know building coal and iron and
cotton mills and you know that kind of thing and
and the mechanics are really deeply integrated
with the theme right um this one is not quite
as deep as that but it’s oh no i imagine not
yeah yeah so final thoughts what do you think
overall well you know like i said earlier it’s a
game that i wanted to get to the table immediately
following the previous game so that’s that’s
always a sign of a really a well put together
enjoyable game yeah it’s light fair but i think
that actually might mean it gets to the table
more often because uh you know it’ll be it’ll
be um appealing to a broader swath of of gamers
yes and and for me i i really like it i think it’s
a great game uh it doesn’t necessarily call to me
in the same way where i’m like i have to play this
you know game like 10 times in a row or or the
next night or anything like that but it’s it’s
fine you know it’s it’s enjoyable i think it’s
a good either warm up or cool down uh game for
uh for people who like heavier fare but that’s
also my preference is the heavier fare right yeah
yeah i guess if i had one criticism it would be
uh the score keeping at the end and the the
you know you’d have to go through all the
different uh you know and it it is common
when you have the the score sheet there but
with like a cascadia for example or those kind of
games where you have to go through and you do have
to kind of tally up everything in the end so yeah
and it’s a bit of a point salad as well in that
point solid game being where there’s lots of
ways to get points um and there is that’s true
that’s true yeah um but overall though i i think
it’s a it’s a solid game and if you like seven
wonders i think you’ll you’ll like this one too
it it definitely carries the uh the feeling of
playing seven wonders over into the new two-player
format um so for that for that i think it succeeds
at exactly what it was trying to do yeah and if
you played seven wonders and have some uh ideas
opinions and thoughts on it please uh comment
below and let us know we’d love to hear them
yeah and thanks again for watching um this is
nato this is cax and this is legendary tactics you