by Mecoides
I haven’t played the East expansion but I love the Britannia expansion.One of the weaknesses of a large board with fewer players is the lack of competition for space (even when using a 2-3 player board). Britannia addresses this by essentially having the board broken up into smaller distinct parts to fight over. It seemlessly incorporates a whole new dimension to the game. To be sure, ignoring the colonies would be a mistake but, just like any other aspect of Hansa Teutonica, it’s usually better to go where the others aren’t going.
I think Britannia certainly changes the gaming experience more than I would imagine the East expansion does. At this point, I only play Britannia and consider playing the base game only if I feel like something a bit simpler.