Tomorrow preview.

Well I got Mage Knight: The Board Game for Christmas and tried to play the walkthrough last night. I'd played the game once before with a couple friends so I was vaguely familiar with how things went, yet it still took me 2.5 hours just to set up along with the walkthrough and play the first round of the game. It then became apparent that there was no real point to the walkthrough scenario for a solo player (unless I was doing something wrong) so I packed up. I'll have to read the main rulebook and then try one of the real scenarios to get a better appreciation for how the game plays solo. Hopefully I also get better at cutting down the setup time, what a beast of a game in that regard!

Heh, my wife got me Mage Knight as well. Haven't cracekd it yet.

Having games like Earth Reborn and Mansions of Madness make me chuckle at this. Mage Knight in all honesty doesn't seem that bad. Starcraft tends to be on the tedious side as well.

Anyone play Merchants of the Middle Ages or Merchant of Venus here?

I got Escape! The Curse of the Temple.
My family played it several times. Very intense and fun. My daughters enjoyed as did my wife. I may get some good play out of this one.

It is a good ten minutes of chaotic fun.

Played this on Christmas with the kids, a lot of fun and my son actually sleeved every single card in the game, for the reason you state. We were playing with 5 players and it definitely made it more challenging.

Also played Blood Bowl Team Manager, which is a really nice 35-45 minute play, lot of strategy involved and things can swing pretty quick.

How are these D&D board games? I just read a little bit about this one and looks pretty interesting. My buddy and I were talking this past week that we wanted to get a role playing or war board game to mess around with.

Got King of Tokyo, Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries and the Eclipse Expansion over the holidays. Haven't gotten into TtR:NC yet, but have played the other two.

King of Tokyo is awesome. It's like Yahtzee with a more flexible scoring system and giant monsters. Games are quick, the rules are incredibly easy to pick up and even losing is somehow fun. Basically, you have six dice and three total rolls. After each roll, you can keep any, all or none of the results and roll again. The ability to strategize which dice you are keeping and which you are re-rolling does a great job of curbing the 'random' feel that dice games usually give. Our resident 'I hate everything random' player even commented on how he didn't at all feel screwed by the dice. There's still a strong random element to the game, but having this control really helps to offset that. We've played it with three players, we'll be giving it a crack with four (maybe five) this evening.

Eclipse: Rise of the Ancients is a modular expansion that adds a whole slew of things to the original game, most notably four new alien races, rare technologies and beefier ancient aliens with some special rules. We played a three player game with EVERYTHING included, and we were able to play each of the new races except for the Magellan. Including the beefy ancients does a pretty good job of slowing expansion early, while the new technologies (which are for the most part defensive - Intelligent Hull which provides +1 to attack rolls AND a point of hull, point-defense systems that allow you to attempt to shoot incoming missiles out of the sky, etc) give the game a bit more balance. We've only given it one run through (three players), but with the expansion the game seems to have even more options for different winning strategies. Tonight we'll be giving it another go with at least four players, and possibly five.

I have played this one several times and it is enjoyable. There are a number of scenarios and given some of the randomness, I think there is some replayability.

I just got eliminated on turn three of an Eclipse game. Playing as the peace-loving researching Hydran Progress, I had an overexuberant Orion Hegemony neighbor I couldn't box out with exploration tiles. Complete and utter shit luck the whole time.

I love this game.

My order that has been on hold since July finally got a tracking number. Not sure how, but it says it was shipped on the 27th and is suppose to be here on the 29th. I don't think I have ever gotten something from CSI in two days. Add in weather and I'm guessing early next week. This is definitely one of those orders you start off with and watch it grow as time goes on and since you are getting free shipping anyway. Next thing you know it's like, "Oh crap, that's huge." I'm likely done with getting games outside of birthdays and Christmas for some time anyway. Even the most wanted game feels like I might get it eventually.

Game day Sunday. We are starting at noon. Not sure the number of people, but it looks like 5. Probably 4. Im taking Game of Thrones, Eclipse, Escape! and maybe one or 2 others. Havent looked yet. One guy has Cards Against Humanity. And Im sure other games will be played. Im thinking a good 8 or 9 hour session with breaks to watch the Rams.

Picked up D&D board game: The Legend of Drizzt and Ticket to Ride. Having a couple guys coming over tomorrow night to try them out- can't wait!!! ;)

I played Merchant of Venus once about two years ago. I enjoyed it a lot. So much so, I just punched my own copy of the reprint last night. Even more components than I remembered. I'm going to try to get it on the table this weekend, but probably only so far as to figure it out and pick a rule set, either the classic game or FFG's take on it.

Never had that happen so early. You must have just been steam rolled.
Not that that is a bad thing. =)

You haven' played ticket to ride?








In the words of XKCD, you are one of today's lucky 10,000!

Well, he had connected to me by the end of turn one. He drew a Materials discovery tile and dropped two cruisers on my home planet in turn two. As the Hydrans, you have one interceptor and two materials to start. I had absolutely no hope. I managed to squeeze out a cruiser with improved hull and a gauss shield, but the dice didn't go my way and I had lost my home sector by the end of turn two. Turn three was just mop-up. It was ridiculous. And awesome.

Edit: It was a pretty perfect storm that wiped me out, but being neighbors with the Orion Hegemony as the Hydran Progress is a tough go even when everything isn't stacked against you.

Yes, Merchants of Venus many, many times. So much so that some of the money has food and drink stains.

Got my dreadball game, just need to find opponents now :)

Made my call, opted for MoV.

Just got home from Game day.
Played Cards Against Humanity. What a crazy game. With the right group this is a really fun game. Raunchy, Hilarious, and a good time. I really enjoyed it,.
Then Game of Thrones. I was Baratheon. Struggled, but got to the point where I was one castle from winning and armies that had a chance to take a castle. Greyjoy also was one away from winning. Before the turn we bid on the tracks. I bid everything on the iron throne. Hoping to go 1st and get a castle. But I made a mistake not trying to get higher on the sword track. I was unable to either castle because of this. And Greyjoy got their 7th castle to win.
Next was Munchkin. It was the one where you played as spies. It was fun. A different spin on it. Lost that too.
Then we played Mission:Red Planet. This is a fun game. Im glad it got to the table. The guys enjoyed. Its a pretty simple, but strategic game. And lost again.
Played on last game of Cards Against Humanity. And lost that also.

Had a great time. We started about 1 and playeed until 9. We watched a football game and took a break to get food. But a nice long day of games.

Played some Axis and Allies over the weekend and had a blast. Are there any war games that any of you would say were better than A&A? I'm thinking about getting the 2nd edition Europe and Pacific but was wondering if any of you suggest a different (better) game...

We had a New Year's Eve board game fest. Lady H_B made some homemade mole and tamales and we had friends over for some gaming.

We played:

1. Zombicide (won)
2. Arkham Horror (lost)
3. Pandemic (lost)
4. Two games of Defenders of the Realm (lost and won)

Co-op gaming goodness!

Played a marathon game of Cards Against Humanity at New Years. Fucking hilarious.

My personal favorite winner:

"The Pope - Kid Tested, Mother Approved."

I love Cards Against Humanity as well. I think my favorite combo that I've ever played was:

The new Lifetime movie about ___________ was called ____________.

I filled in the blanks with "the Virginia Tech shooting" and "the Big Bang Theory."

I once played that and didn't win the round. Travesty.

Cards Against Humanity is basically Apples to Apples at that point in the night where you've gone through the deck a time or two, long enough to be holding onto cards like Hitler and Helen Keller so you can play them for maximum "wrongness" value.

SI

I did have MechaHitler. :)

TableTop is back, this time with Dodger!

Cards Against Humanity is a fantastic game! Totally Apples to Apples for dirty minded people.

The maker of Axis and Aliies is making a WWI version.

Axis & Allies 1914 World War I Announcement | Axis & Allies .org

Got my one order in and my Christmas was very much a board gamers Christmas. The big thing was getting Cosmic Encounter. I'm going through and reorganizing my whole collection. I'm starting to use GMT trays and Plano boxes as well. I really got tired of the plastic bags. I'm still not 100% set, but I'm a lot closer.

I think for this year I'm going to sit back and wait to set what comes out that will be awesome and get it in 2014. There's not a lot on any BGG geek lists for games coming out in 2013 that get me that excited. My goal for getting games in 2013 is down to Suburbia, Agricola, and maybe Sekigahara when it gets reprinted. All of those will be birthday and Christmas gifts if I can stand the wait. I'm mostly looking at going to the three conventions in MI(two being a stone's throw for me), building my own gamers group, and playing my own stuff. I already recruited a guy for my gamers group that has over 400 games.

Question for 7 Wonders players: Has anyone played the 2 player variant? If os, impressions or thoughts? It's a game that looks really fun but due to family situation, it's typically just my wife and I who can play on a regular basis so it's harder to find time to play with more than two. We typcailly play Dominion, Pandemic, Blokus and a few others but I want to expand our gaming cabinet

7 Wonders is playable with fewer, but it's not nearly as good a game. The 2 player variant involves the two players taking turns playing the third hand. Sadly, my normal gaming group doesn't like the game very much, so it doesn't get much table time. I think it's fantastic with 4+.

I haven't played a board game since August, because I started buying computer games again after getting a new video card and Civ V. I also recently purchased both Blood Bowl and Ticket to Ride for my computer and have been playing online quite a bit.

While I don't count online versions of board games played, I did keep track of the physical board games that I played last year using BGG.

I played a total of 86 different games. Twelve game I played more than once last year:

Agricola (10 times)
At the Gates of Loyang (5 times)
Pandemic (5 times)
Friday (3 times)
Kingdom Builder (3 times)
Bios: Megafauna (2 times)
Campaign Manager 2008 (2 times)
Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt Board Game (2 times)
Flash Point: Fire Rescue (2 times)
Imperial 2030 (2 times)
Ora et Labora (2 times)
Power Grid (2 times)

Kingdom Builder was easily my favorite game to play last year and I wish I could have played it more than 3 times.

Attack! and the Expansion. I have been reading up on these. They seem more detailed and more flexible than A&A. The basic game of Attack! it like $9 on Amazon. The Expansion is $89.
I am really intrigued by this game. But My wife and I have put a limit on spending this year. So it may be awahile before this one is purchased.

Cardboard Children – Board Game of the Year 2012 | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Rab Florence says the game of the year is Spartacus, a surprising tie in to the STARZ show.

UndeadViking, a well known reviewer on BGG, put it as his number two fully admitting it had flaws, but yet being too fun to deny.

Kingdom Death: Monster not only took the mantle of largest KS for a board game, it more than doubled it finishing over 2 million. First time designer, no publisher, base game with 10 expansions(even if small ones), and over 5K in orders. The dude literally did a KS to just find somebody to make him the miniatures in the first place.

:popcorn:

I three got Mage Knight from Christmas.

I haven't really dug into it yet either.

I've got to say that of the 2012 releases I've played, Spartacus is the run away winner. Just a helluva lot of fun. The only games that come close are a couple of 2011 releases in Eclipse and Kingdom Builder.

Anyone have any suggestions for computer or apps games for any of the mention games in this thread? I was really hoping for a Dominion game somewhere but can not find one...

Carcassone is pretty good, and the Ticket to Ride ones are also great.

I think there are some online Dominion games, though nothing official.

Check out VASSAL - it has a lot of modules for boardgames. Some are better done than others.

www.vassalengine.org

I have some modules for Vassal and overall, it's very enhhhhhh

Vassal is basically awesome for wargamers and specifically for chit based wargames.

The designer of Forbidden Island is making Forbidden Desert.

I just installed VASSAL a couple days ago to try out the Mage Knight module. It seems pretty fiddly but it might allow me to play a game over multiple days, which I can't do with the physical board because I have nowhere to leave it set up.

There is also an app called OCTGN that I have tried in the past for playing Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game. It seemed a little more straight forward but doesn't seem to have as much of a user base.

Dola

To the original question, there are lots of great board games on iOS, but outside of that the best site I've seen online is Yucata. There are a few big names on there like A Few Acres of Snow, Thunderstone, and Stone Age but mostly it appears to be stuff I've never, or only vaguely, heard of.