First vs Second Editions

[player1772]

I have asked people what they thought of the newer 2019 version compared to the older first edition and have gotten many mixed responses. Some think the 2019 version is unbalanced, while others think it is a step up from the previous version. I'll agree that the newer edition looks nicer, but is the gameplay better? Personally, I find that yellow tile 6 (exchange 2 workers to get any tile on the board) is way overpowered in the new version. Does anybody else agree with this? And if you are able to pair it with yellow tile 14 (receive four workers instead of two when taking dice action) then the game becomes completely broken. I have, however, seen some really good players still win when their opponents had these tiles, but it is extremely rare. And that makes the boats much more important in the newer editon because you are going to want to have first pick at these tiles when the new round starts.

And then there's the question of how the game should truly be played - with players using the same board or different boards? It's clear that the game designer intended for people to use different boards, since there is only one of each board included in the physical game besides board 1. But I continue to see many people playing with the option for both players to use the same board. I understand that not all of the boards are equal, but that is not the way the game was intended to be played.

What do you guys think? Is the 2019 version of the game unbalanced/broken? Also, what do you think about players changing the game rules and choosing to use the same board? Can you even say it is the same game when the rules are altered in such a way?

[Vandaley]

Arena is the old version for this reason, thus many people agree with you.

[peterabc]

Yellow tiles 6 makes 2019 version unbalanced, while other changes are good(changes points of yellow tiles 15 and 26, can buy doing actions). Another advantage of 1st version is that players can see what tiles are bought in black market.
Arena is 1st version with same board, and recently I played games with 2019 version while KT6 can only buy with silvers. I think this rule is good but it's improbable to become a official rule in BGA.

[flolem]

Personaly, I play in BGA with the new graphics (2019 edition) but with first edition rule (as it is the one on BGA).

I prefer second edition except for this tile 6... and in opposite, the second edition fix better the point scoring tiles (the one that give 3 pts per color of goods sold is little too overpower in first edition)

I would like to play arena on the new version with the tile 6 first edition.

And then there's the question of how the game should truly be played - with players using the same board or different boards?

As for this... well, playing with same board means a competitive play. But yes the tabletop version... it is not possible to do this except with board 1 and 2...
There are other games with asymetrical start and not all of them are well balanced.
Should it be the same on CoB to respect tabletop version of the game ?
Hard to answer.

I don't think someone with board 8 will won all the time against other ugly board... but at high level, maybe.