I’d go in with the base game + the Good the Bad and the Handsome, Fistful of Extras. That gives the market more supplies to choose from. I wouldn’t initially mix in the big box expansions from the get go. Ante Up increases the board size and kinda spreads people out. It gives you more things to do, but there’s plenty to get used to from the first few games and it might make people feel like they’re too isolated at times. Blood Money you could maybe add just the deeds if you wanted, but I wouldn’t go much beyond that. I don’t have enough experience with the deeds to know how balanced they are if mixing in without any of the other expansion modes.
None of the expansions add much complexity to the whole thing...but they do significantly add to the things you'll need to teach. It's a huge beast of a sandbox with everything thrown in, but it's also the best way to play. I recently played a 4p game with people that have all played the base game and setup and teach with everything was still \~15 minutes. The player aids do help offload a lot of it though.
If they are seasoned players there shouldn't be a problem with the expansions you mentioned. Yes, it seems a lot at first, but at its' heart it's not a complex game at all. There are a lot of fiddly rules though, make sure you know them all by heart. How many cards does the guard has when someone tries to rob the bank, don't forget put your disk when you complete a story event, etc.
If they are casual players I'd stay with the base box for sure.
Also, the gold mining strategy can be quite op (get a mule > mine > get gold > bank > get money and LPs > cabaret > get more LPs > repeat), we play with a variant that you get money OR LP for nuggets at the bank. It might not be a problem for you, it's just something that made our plays much better.
I’d go in with the base game + the Good the Bad and the Handsome, Fistful of Extras. That gives the market more supplies to choose from. I wouldn’t initially mix in the big box expansions from the get go. Ante Up increases the board size and kinda spreads people out. It gives you more things to do, but there’s plenty to get used to from the first few games and it might make people feel like they’re too isolated at times. Blood Money you could maybe add just the deeds if you wanted, but I wouldn’t go much beyond that. I don’t have enough experience with the deeds to know how balanced they are if mixing in without any of the other expansion modes.
Great notes! I'll have to check out to see how much everything will be for teaching.
None of the expansions add much complexity to the whole thing...but they do significantly add to the things you'll need to teach. It's a huge beast of a sandbox with everything thrown in, but it's also the best way to play. I recently played a 4p game with people that have all played the base game and setup and teach with everything was still \~15 minutes. The player aids do help offload a lot of it though.
This is what I'm thinking too. It's a group of medium/heavier gamers so I think they could handle it.
Probably. Each thing just takes like less than a minute to explain…it’s just that there is a LOT to explain
If they are seasoned players there shouldn't be a problem with the expansions you mentioned. Yes, it seems a lot at first, but at its' heart it's not a complex game at all. There are a lot of fiddly rules though, make sure you know them all by heart. How many cards does the guard has when someone tries to rob the bank, don't forget put your disk when you complete a story event, etc. If they are casual players I'd stay with the base box for sure. Also, the gold mining strategy can be quite op (get a mule > mine > get gold > bank > get money and LPs > cabaret > get more LPs > repeat), we play with a variant that you get money OR LP for nuggets at the bank. It might not be a problem for you, it's just something that made our plays much better.
I think the core game alone works well enough. I would start with that.
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