Nucleum

Nucleum arrived with bear-sized hype: Luciani, Barrage and Brass in the same sentence, plus the promise of a heavy point-salad euro that would clear tables. In the way it flows, though, it reminded me more of Imperial Steam, even if the borrowings from those other two are obvious. Its real distinction is that, within all that complexity, it is noticeably more user-friendly than either of them. At least when you are not me, having to teach the monster while also acting as traffic police for the table.

Every round offers an excessive number of things to do, and the game keeps you constantly busy and productive: you are usually scoring points, you usually have another idea to pursue, and even if you take a 40–50 point beating at the end, you rarely have a bad time. The variable setup meaningfully changes strategies from game to game, so it does not feel exhausted after two or three attempts. There is plenty to chew on here, along with substantial replayability for anyone who wants to dig in.

Interaction, however, depends heavily on the table composition. At four I found it clearly better and genuinely interactive, while at three we all played much more solitaire, without the cuts and disruptions that give the system life. The semi-asymmetric starting options can look uneven and seem to push you into somewhat limited strategic directions, though the final scores do not necessarily confirm that any of them are actually broken.

Its weight comes at a cost. There are enough rules and small details to track that your grand coyote plan can easily fall apart, while the rulebook, although easy enough to read and capable of conveying the general idea, leaves room for mistaken interpretations. It is one of the very good games from the past year, but not a perfect one: something still keeps me at arm’s length, even if I cannot fully isolate what it is. If your group loves heavy, unliftable point-salad euros, buy it without a second thought. If not, there are better titles to spend your time on.

Updated session

The later experience, this time with Court of Progress, did not elevate the game for me. A previous session with the ships had made a very good impression, but the Court of Progress additions did not sit well with us: they feel a little like “win more” content and, while they add replayability to a base game that can feel somewhat solved, they reinforce a snowball effect that now tires me out. They do not make it bad; they simply were not the direction I wanted.