Board Games

[Buccaneer]

I don't venture much into this thread but I just watched the Fortune and Glory video. That games looks insane, as in the amount of decks, tokens, die, etc. Is that typical of most of the newer board games??

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I don't venture much into this thread but I just watched the Fortune and Glory video. That games looks insane, as in the amount of decks, tokens, die, etc. Is that typical of most of the newer board games??

Not from what I have seen.

EDIT: I should expand on this. It does kind of go based on what type of game. Certain games can get a large number of items in them but that one did seem to be above the norm. The Game of Thrones game isn't as item heavy but the board is huge. I did buy some games to be civilized and can be not so messy. There are games I bought to get figures and such because I want to blow crap up.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Not from what I have seen.

EDIT: I should expand on this. It does kind of go based on what type of game. Certain games can get a large number of items in them but that one did seem to be above the norm. The Game of Thrones game isn't as item heavy but the board is huge. I did buy some games to be civilized and can be not so messy. There are games I bought to get figures and such because I want to blow crap up.

Thanks. I'm familiar with war games having a lot of (the same kind of) pieces and big charts but I had never seen a game that had so many different kinds of decks and pieces. Yikes.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Dungeon Crawler came in. I haven't really played to it say how well I like it or not. Packaging was ok. The sets of cards needed to be plastic wrapped but weren't. They have a thin cardboard strap that goes around each of the three types of cards but that's it. When I opened the box, cards were everywhere. Nothing was damaged though.

I am impressed with their online resources for learning the game. They have a 40+ minute video walk through for a starter game and then they have a three part interactive starter game. The interactive game isn't a complete game, but it more than covers what is done during each round.

There's three types of games but only solitaire is doable with just a Starter pack. Even to do a "standard" solitaire game requires the Starter + one expansion pack. You can do difficulty settings if you want a quicker or longer game based on the number of quest(1-3) you need to complete to win the game.

I got Dungeon Crawler and tried to play it solitaire a couple days ago and couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do. The instructions are really lacking.

[Matthean]

You try the online resources yet? I haven't done a play through yet but that's based on limited time. I haven't touched Dominion either and only did a play through of King of Tokyo due to its ease of play. I think for me the difficult part is all of the abilities the creatures you face have. Even if the manual is small, there's still 8 pages of abilities.

EDIT: I think I can handle the basics, but again, I'll have to do a play through to see.

[tarcone]

I picked up Pandemic today. Going to sit down and play it with the family tonight. Im hoping it isnt too much for my 10 year old, but we will see.

[Glengoyne]

The online resources, namely the file section for the game on BGG, really help for most games. Most everything in my collection includes a rules summary or other supplements to help summarize the game for explanation or play.

One game I have actually has a fan created rule book, because the original rules were so poorly written and organized.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

The online resources, namely the file section for the game on BGG, really help for most games. Most everything in my collection includes a rules summary or other supplements to help summarize the game for explanation or play.

One game I have actually has a fan created rule book, because the original rules were so poorly written and organized.

Oh yeah I always go there, BGG has nothing for Dungeon Crawler unfortunately.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I picked up Pandemic today. Going to sit down and play it with the family tonight. Im hoping it isnt too much for my 10 year old, but we will see.

In my experience a ten year old will pick up on it pretty quickly. I think my daughter was nine when I introduced it to her. Just stick with the "Easy" setup rules for a while, before you start to include the additional Epidemic cards.

[Danny]

Nah, put all epidemic cards in the deck and make them cry like a baby!

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Oh yeah I always go there, BGG has nothing for Dungeon Crawler unfortunately.

You look at the PDFs on their site? The rule book is dated 2010 as where the PDFs are from 2011 and are suppose to expand on the info more.

As promised we have comprised a more detailed guide for players. This is the first installment for beginners, and effectively replaces the guide that comes with the Unbound Starter. It includes all errata and clarification up to date, and most notably, has also expanded on the number of "Play Steps" adding 2 additional gaming Steps for play. These two additional Steps divide the actions that were condensed in to clearer individual Steps. Resetting cards, removing Locks, remove Poison counters, remove Time Counters, Dropping cards and removing cards have all been separated.

We hope this will help you to better enjoy your DC gaming experience and we look forward to delivering the other format installments over the next few months!

DUNGEON CRAWLER :: Rules & Errata

EDIT: The Stater Guide PDF even has you sort out 23 cards in order from the Crawler and Dungeon decks and walks you through a 7 round game.

[Matthean]

http://geekchichq.com/furniture/emissary/

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Matthean

The Emissary

Yes those Geek Chic tables are pretty freaking awesome. They are great in person too.

[Danny]

Yeah I would love a tables like one of theirs someday

[Matthean]

Episode #2.

I think the thing that strikes me about Settlers of Catan is that its "nice." It didn't really grab me in the way Small World did. Not a bad game but not one I would think would pass my rating of, "But is it fun?"

[Fidatelo]

My biggest problem with Catan is that inevitably someone falls behind early and gets blocked to a point where there is no hope of coming back. Unfortunately they have to play out the rest of the game, usually totally disinterested, and it's not really a fast game. I don't like games where someone at the table is basically bored for 1-2 hours.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

My biggest problem with Catan is that inevitably someone falls behind early and gets blocked to a point where there is no hope of coming back. Unfortunately they have to play out the rest of the game, usually totally disinterested, and it's not really a fast game. I don't like games where someone at the table is basically bored for 1-2 hours.

It did seem like the guy from Heroes got blocked to a degree with the thief getting stuck in his area. I can see where somebody getting blocked with it and then nobody is rolling 7s. Looking at reviews and videos I think I would get Agricola over Settlers first. Agricola looks to have a nice variety in terms of the level of game play you want out of it.

[tarcone]

Im looking for a good strategy game that isnt too complex. Small World looks like it might be of interest to me. Anyone play it? And, if so, could you give me a description of it and how you liked it.

Thanks

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Im looking for a good strategy game that isnt too complex. Small World looks like it might be of interest to me. Anyone play it? And, if so, could you give me a description of it and how you liked it.

Thanks

My experience with Small World is limited to the 2-player ipad version, but I did do a lot of research at Board Game Geek. I've seen it described as a combination of Risk & Civilization. The game is played out in 10 turns. During setup, you randomly select 6 combinations of a "tribe" and a special power. The combination will tell you the number of armies you have for that turn. For each territory you control at the end of a turn, you get a Victory Coin. On your next turn, any armies you have left over (keeping one in each territory you control) can be used to conquer neighboring areas. This is the Risk portion of the game. After a couple of turns, you may only have 3-4 extra armies. You have to decide when that tribe will go into decline. On that turn, you turn your army pieces over. They can no longer capture any additional territories, but still count for Victory Coins. On your next turn, you get to pick another tribe and start conquering again. That's sorta the Civilization side of the game. But with map so small, clashes are inevitable. The player with most coins after 10 turns wins.

We've enjoyed it so much we will be buying the board game as well. There are several expansions that add additional civilizations & powers. I definitely recommend it!

[tarcone]

Awesome. Thanks for the review. Sounds like a fun game.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Im looking for a good strategy game that isnt too complex. Small World looks like it might be of interest to me. Anyone play it? And, if so, could you give me a description of it and how you liked it.

Thanks

In case you didn't see it before.

Originally Posted by DanGarion

1st Episode of Tabletop is out!

[tarcone]

This looks like an awesome game. I will be buying it.

[Danny]

Small World is a good game and I enjoy playing it (and I own it), but I also think it's generally overrated. I actually think Olympos is a better game (the designers follow up game).

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Yes those Geek Chic tables are pretty freaking awesome. They are great in person too.

Yeah I saw some at PAX East. Amazing.

/tk

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Danny

Small World is a good game and I enjoy playing it (and I own it), but I also think it's generally overrated. I actually think Olympos is a better game (the designers follow up game).

I was watching another review when I saw a link to a review of Olympos so I watched. It's in four parts but each are short. I think his account was a basic one limited to 10 minutes as where he got it upgraded as he does roughly hour long reviews for games that warrant them. My take from the review is that Small World always seems like more of a party game as where Olympos is much more on the sit down and think game.

Part 1: Talks of games getting mass hype and others flying under the radar and his distaste of Small World


Part 2: Breaks down the side board.


Part 3: Breaks down the main board. The time track is what really stands out for me.


Part 4: Summary of his take on it. In another video he placed it in his Top 10 of the Year at #8.

[Matthean]

King of Tokyo

Second walk through doing a solo 6 player game to further solidify the game play before I try it with other people. I learned my lesson with being too aggressive in staying in Tokyo with 5-6 players involved. Two of my monsters paid dearly for my error. Once I got down to four monsters the game opened up nicely. Cards got played much more than the first time. I almost had the Rapid Healing/Friend of Children combo go off, but I had another monster buy it so the other monster didn't get it. Even Bigger won the day as the winning monster won with 2 life left.

Rapid Healing being spend two energy to gain one life. Friend of Children is gain an additional energy anytime you gain energy. Even Bigger is +2 health and your max health becomes 12 versus 10.

Thumbs up so far and I think as I play it more I'll only like it more as well. I think it scales well with more players but you definitely have to play conservative to start if you have 5-6 players. Only real possible complaint is players going brute force style and thus limiting the usefulness of cards. I prefer not playing a game of seeing how many damage and heal dice players can roll on their turn mixed in with monsters inside of Tokyo merely rolling for damage.

Next weekend I'm aiming for at least one walk through of Dungeon Crawler and Dominion. Once school is done, I'll take time to go to some of the local game shops.

[Fidatelo]

Played some Dominion last night with a couple friends, it was the first time we've played in a couple months. I continue to love the game, and really love the variety, even with just the base set. We played 4 games throughout the evening, and each one required very different strategy and had a very different feel. Great game.

[tarcone]

I heard over at BGG that Barnes and Noble is having a red dot sale. You can pick up Risk Legacy for 1/2 price. Im out in the county for basketball games today. Going to try and stop by a B&N and see if I can find it.

[Danny]

Anyone here play Ogre? I am strongly considering backing the kickstarter for the new Designer's Edition. It's not normally the type of game I play, but it sounds really cool and would have a unique place in my collection

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Danny

Anyone here play Ogre? I am strongly considering backing the kickstarter for the new Designer's Edition. It's not normally the type of game I play, but it sounds really cool and would have a unique place in my collection

I own the original and the expansions. Played them a lot back twenty years ago or so. Lost them, and repurchased them a few years back. That new set still sits un-played and un-punched in my game book case. I play every year at conventions, typically Ogre with miniatures. I just haven't broken down and cut out the many many pieces that come in a set with an exacto. That is what is required with the original set.

I jumped in on the Kickstarter on day 1. A full sized premium boardgame treatment for an all time classic was a no brainer for me.

It is a war game through and through, hex based and counting hexes for range and movement. At its most basic, one player controls an army of vehicles, tanks, missile launchers, and infantry. The opponent controls one Ogre, a massive robotic weapon built and controlled by a "skynet" like intelligence. All the human player has to do is stop the Ogre, that is it.

[Danny]

Thanks for the info. Like I said, wargames aren't usually my thing (especially since I'm not interested in historical battles), but the idea of this huge team of units trying to take down this one big super tank seems pretty awesome. Plus the game plays quickly and isn't too rules heavy (for a wargame), so thats a plus.

[tarcone]

Fortress America getting reprinted. I loved this game. Man, I wish this thread hadnt started. Im going to be dropping a lot of money on board games again.

[Danny]

I signed up for the Ogre kickstarter. The game is really different from what I have and seems pretty awesome. At this point with my collection as big as it is, I think i am only going to try to add games which add something unique for me and this certainly does.

I also placed an order for Nuclear Winter 68 which seems like a ton of fun as well and very different from what I have. It was either this or a reserved copy of Trajan. Trajan looks like a great game, but I have so many really great euros, I decided to go with a more unique game for me.

I actually like the idea of wargames, my issue is I have no interest in replaying historical scenarios or playing ones that are super complex or take a really long time. Both Ogre and Nuclear Winter are alternate history type things which I find much more interesting and both are playable in 60 minutes or so. Does anyone know of other games in that mold? It's also a bonus if it includes solo play.

[Matthean]

Mage Knight sold out even faster than the first printing. Whatever preorders filled or copies you see in a store is it until the fall. Since I preordered in the beginning of the month, I'm still expecting my copy in a week or so since the preordered copies are just now hitting stores.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Mage Knight sold out even faster than the first printing. Whatever preorders filled or copies you see in a store is it until the fall. Since I preordered in the beginning of the month, I'm still expecting my copy in a week or so since the preordered copies are just now hitting stores.

Wow that is surprising to me. This is making want to look into it. I have pretty much ignored the buzz about the game to date.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Wow that is surprising to me. This is making want to look into it. I have pretty much ignored the buzz about the game to date.

I was interested in it after reading it described as King’s Bounty on a table.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Wow that is surprising to me. This is making want to look into it. I have pretty much ignored the buzz about the game to date.

The negatives that I have been hearing is possible downtime in a multiplayer game. I know quality of the pieces has been brought up with both printings as well. The cards are the main issue as multiple people say the cards are of subpar quality and to sleeve them asap.

Here's one specific post about components that come from China in a 5 page thread about the game's components.
Shockingly awful card stock / quality. | Mage Knight: Board Game | BoardGameGeek

Here's an overview for the components for the 2nd printing.
Brief review of 2nd printing component quality | Mage Knight: Board Game | BoardGameGeek

I'm hoping mine getting here later on will help counter some of the issues with moisture.

EDIT: The rules are on the lengthy side. There are two books. One person made a PDF version of the rules in a flowchart type of manner. The flowcharts are rather compact and still take up seven pages.

[Matthean]

Mage Knight arrived on time. It was surprisingly dry considering the reports of moisture and the rain we have been getting. The cards do feel rather different, but I'll have to play with them more to see how much or not I think they will hold up. Some of the components have the same covering as the cards do and they did kind of stick together, but they came apart rather easily with no issue. Nothing was missing or damaged. The cards come stored on their sides so there is a minor amount of bending, so that's the only somewhat complaint.

New Tabletop with 3 quickie games being played, Zombie Dice, Get Bit! & Tsuro.

[Solecismic]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Played some Dominion last night with a couple friends, it was the first time we've played in a couple months. I continue to love the game, and really love the variety, even with just the base set. We played 4 games throughout the evening, and each one required very different strategy and had a very different feel. Great game.

I'm finding that the expansions are destroying my enjoyment of the game. It seems better with the basic set and Intrigue, minus a couple of the power cards.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

I'm finding that the expansions are destroying my enjoyment of the game. It seems better with the basic set and Intrigue, minus a couple of the power cards.

I read somewhere one reviewer said he only really liked the base game, Intrigue, and one other expansion. I think it was Seaside, but I'm not sure. It was that or Prosperity.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

I'm finding that the expansions are destroying my enjoyment of the game. It seems better with the basic set and Intrigue, minus a couple of the power cards.

I guess this is one of those things that works out for everyone then, because I've enjoyed the the addons for the most part. The only issue we have had is when I just play with my wife we don't play with any attack cards because she doesn't like them in 2 player, she gets frustrated with me attacking her. I'm willing to accept that one.

Originally Posted by Matthean

I read somewhere one reviewer said he only really liked the base game, Intrigue, and one other expansion. I think it was Seaside, but I'm not sure. It was that or Prosperity.

Funny I watched a bunch of online reviews from this one guy about the game and after that I decided Intrigue was the least likely one I would enjoy. I've got Seaside so far and next will be Prosperity and Hinterlands.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Funny I watched a bunch of online reviews from this one guy about the game and after that I decided Intrigue was the least likely one I would enjoy. I've got Seaside so far and next will be Prosperity and Hinterlands.

Man, Intrigue is awesome. I haven't been all that impressed with the cards I've read about in the other expansions.

[Matthean]

30 year anniversary edition of Survive: Escape from Atlantis can be ordered at a low early bird price.

Stronghold Games » Blog Archive » Survive: Escape from Atlantis! 30th Anniversary Edition (MAILING LIST SPECIAL!)

A restock of Eclipse is forthcoming as well next month. Preorders are being taken.

Second edition of Sentinels of the Multiverse is coming out in the fall. Mostly adding counters and a bigger box to store the expansions in.

Finally found a game, Taluva, worth looking into only to find it out-of-stock and no real level of encouragement of it coming out again in reprint or new edition form. It's overpriced on markets and people had said they looked all over the internet for it. I tried and struck out. Today I randomly was looking around and saw a place that had it for normal pricing and free shipping. I ordered and got my confirmation e-mail only to get an e-mail from them saying it was out-of-stock, and I wasn't going to be charged. (shakes first) I did find another place listing it, but I can't get the register part to work so I e-mailed them.

At this point I'm going to start tapping resources to get a gaming group going. One group at church is kind of dead and when they had game events they had some of the biggest turnouts. I figure it would be good just to make it a flat out gaming group and let it build from there. I think we could do 3-5 tables easy.

[Matthean]

Took longer than I wanted, but finally got the OK on the gamer group at church. I haven't said anything outside of talking to two people and there are 7 people in the FB group so far. Also found out Survive: Escape from Atlantis! will be here on Monday. This kind of makes up for my modem dying and all of the silliness of getting a new one.

[tarcone]

Im going to Geekway to the West gaming convention tomorrow here in St Louis.
They have a library of games to play. Im going to see if I can round up a Game of Thrones game. Looking to buy that one.
Also, they have a market. So I will be looking to buy a game or two. Im pretty excited.

[sachmo71]

Anyone coming to Dallas for bggcon?

Regarding Small World - I get the knocks on it, but the game is fun for me. I've seen it described as a party game, but I think there is more depth there. The rules are simple, but I don't think that is a bad thing. I played with my wife and kids (8 and 9 years old) and it was a very lite game. A few weeks ago I played with my groups and it was rather cutthroat and tense. The race combinations make a big difference, but it's also on how you play. I think this is a hard game to NOT enjoy.

[sachmo71]

Dola - fans of 7 Wonders might be interested in this Kickstarter. I originally pledged to get the game, but decided I've been spending too much on games lately so I'll wait to see if it makes it to the shops someday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHJ3DmCGr1E

[britrock88]

[Matthean]

Nice interaction going on and it was fun to have Wil's wife playing. Hilarious random moment as well.



Indepth(37 minute) review of Tammany Hall

[gi]

Played Battlestar Galactica without expansions for the first time. Excellent game and look forward to the next time my group plays it.

Hoping the expansions don't make it take too much longer though.

Anyone played with both expansions? Did it enhance gameplay?