This game feels very similar to the old video games (Ezio Collection). The mechanics just make sense if you know how those games worked. And after a rather slow start the story and gameplay really picked up. My girlfriend never played AC before and she likes it a lot as well.
I prefere painted miniatures so i painted the needed minis before every chapter. It would have taken way too long to do everything at once. But this is mainly do to the great quality and details of those minis. You could do a slapchop method and be done with it a lot quicker, but it's just fun to paint every detail. Well i have to admit painting 30 crosbowmen wasn't as much fun, but we needed all of them! So that's just something to work through.
The game looks beautiful on the table, we wanted to know how the story progressed and had a lot of fun because it is very interactive planing your next move. Planing doesn't burn your brain though since there are a few elements of luck you can't 'calculate'. Which speeds gameplay up quite a bit. This is a great game for people who like coop games that play fast and if you like the old Assassins Creed this is a must have. I had tons of flashbacks even though this is a new story.