The Gallerist

EXPANSIONS: The Gallerist: KS Stretch Goal Pack #1 The Gallerist: KS Stretch Goal Pack #2

G

it feels like a "bonus-management-game" ... but somehow I like it

A clever, thematic game with fabulous production quality.

I admire the design and the way the game operates, but for me there was too much to take in, so I really didn't know what strategy I should try to follow.

For our first (4 player) game it took close on 5 hours to complete, by the time we'd waded through 90 mins of setup and rules. The expected mid-game scoring for a ticket pile depletion didn't happen because the bag unexpectedly emptied of meeples.

For virtually every move we had to refer to a very useful member-created player aid which detailed step-by-step all the things you had to do for each worker you placed. If we skipped looking at the aid we tending to forget one of the 7 or 8 things you had to remember to do, in the right order. Without that aid we'd have been all over the place, so a big thank you to user schnel and his aid found here: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/126498/one-page-player-aid-gallerist-version-10

Although the kicked-out worker feature seems pretty neat, it does disrupt the flow of play and can result in a fair bit of downtime before your turn comes round. And with only four worker placement spots the kicked-out action happens quite a lot (in a 4 player game, maybe it wouldn't with fewer players).

A great game but too many fiddly rules with a plethora of possible end game bonuses to try to choose from means I'm not hurrying to play it again.

Having only played Kanban before this (in terms of Vital's designs) I am starting to get a feel for his designer fingerprints. Very intricate Euros; apparently simple decision trees with blossoming webs of possibilities leading off of them. The theme comes through well enough though not as strongly as in Kanban, but the decisions are indeed wonderful. Everything clicked halfway through and I'm really keen to give this another go and re-evaluate.

edit: 3 plays in and still just scratching the surface. I particularly like the shared incentives aspect of promoting artists, and the variety of constraints to be juggled (commissions, assistants, visitors etc).

Another Beautiful game from Vital's little workshop. I am always pleasantly surprised by themes he picks for his games and then executes them perfectly. You really feel like you own a posh gallery while playing this game. On another note, kicked-out actions are cool, but kind of corrupt the natural flow of the game, so the fluidity is compromised in yet another Lacerda game. This is the only major flaw because it can lead to big downtime and AP moments.

Beautiful, well designed, complex, a bit to heavy and rather un-engaging. Despite all the thought that went into this, I struggle to connect the theme with the mechanisms. A heavy game like TtA feels way more accessible and easier to grasp (the connection between theme and mechanisms is in my opinion very important, and when it's there it makes a game easier to gel with).

I also get the impression that the complexity of the rules and the board hide the fact that the game isn't very complex strategically.

Would not suggest this game, but might play it if someone else does.

Own the [boardgame=193148]KS Stretch goal pack #2[/boardgame] and the [boardgame=256676]Scoring expansion[/boardgame] promo.

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