Board Games

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

We're doing a second -- just waiting on furrball to let me know if he's in.

He's driving today, but he is in (spoke to him about 30 mins ago).

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So, I filled out my Dreadball survey to get all my goodies, hoepfully it will be here next month.

The only bad thing is that I looked into how much it would cost to get my minis painted.. Eek!.

Originally Posted by Matthean

There is no such thing as cheaply painted minis.

You just gotta man up and paint them yourself. It is therapeutic.

It is fun to improve your skill over time. I just started painting again about four months ago, and about a month in I thought I was developing mad skillz. Now I look back at those minis, and they work great for war gaming but they would find no place in a painting showcase.

[Matthean]

The game designer of Mice and Mystics posted a painting guide for the game so at some point I'll try to do it for that game. I might do it for some others, but some games are simply being left unpainted unless I disconnect my brain for long periods of time.

[Glengoyne]

Played some board games this weekend.

Flashpoint: Fire Rescue was great. A lot of fun for the whole family. It took probably three plays to get the rules straight. The rulebook separates the rules between the introductory and advanced games, and that makes it a little hard to look things up. Plus the definitions of key words are spread out throughout the rules. So how you resolve a Hot Spot, Flare up, or Explosion in each version of the game took us a little time. The varying specialist roles present strategic and tactical choices for everyone. That and the theme is pervasive. This is my first choice for cooperative game, especially with children or new gamers.

Mission Red Planet: Someone here was asking about this one a while back. I liked it. The roles, hidden bonuses, and very accessible area control make is work very well as a light euro experience. This is right in that sweet spot of gaming complexity and experience that allow a game to hit the table frequently. That said, it didn't "grab" me as a must buy or must play again.

Sewer Pirats: I enjoyed this more than any game I've played in quite a while. So a complete surprise from this one. Thematically, you manage a team of animals, rodents, and pests in a quest for the best treasure. This means food goods of various types as well as "multipliers" like ketchup or hot peppers. Ketchup add value to french fries, likewise peppers kick up left over Chinese food. We played the advanced game, where you draft your team. Each of the animals has a different ability. There are meaningful decisions to be made throughout as you work out your set collection strategy.

This game hasn't fared well so far on BGG as well as ratings go, but mostly it has been under the radar. I found the game fun and accessible with enough strategic depth to present an appeal to experienced gamers.

[Matthean]

I have Citadels so I'm curious about Mission Red Planet since a number of gamers say it's better. It's on my wishlist but low. Flash Point might be my favorite co-op right now. Mechanics could be better, but it's fun.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Matthean

I have Citadels so I'm curious about Mission Red Planet since a number of gamers say it's better. It's on my wishlist but low. Flash Point might be my favorite co-op right now. Mechanics could be better, but it's fun.

I think that RP is a game with a lot of replay potential. Knowing what kinds of cards are possible, and spotting/foiling your opponents' familiar maneuvers. It might really shine given a lot of plays with a group.

[tarcone]

I really like Mission Red Planet. What a fun gaming experience. Not only does it have the screw your neighbor aspect. but it also has hidden missions that you can try and accomplish for extra VPs. And there are cards that you put on different sections of the map that add to the game.
I really recommend this game. Im glad I got it at an auction on BGG. It was a steal at $19.

[tarcone]

Im kickstarting Lost Valley. It looks like a really cool game. Lots of replayability. And a fun looking mechanic.
Also going to buy Israel Independence from Victory Point Games. need another solo game. Love this theme.

[Danny]

Tarcone, I own all of the VPG states of siege games. Israeli is fun, but also by far the simplest. There are not too many meaningful decision, but you can play a game in about 10-15 minutes and reading the historical info and playing is cool.

[tarcone]

Danny, Which SoS game would you recommend? Im looking for a game with replayability. I didnt realize that Isreal only took 15 minutes. I want something with a little bit more time investment.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Played some Eclipse tonight. We have a group of 5 of us that play regularly. My roommate Tony and I are the odds-on favorites to win, but Andrew and Jessie have won a few each, and Youmna has at least one win under her belt.

Tonight was utter domination.

We had a four player game this evening, and I played as the science race, the Hydran Progress. I was up against the Machenema (borg-like, with good ship-building and upgrading bonuses) and two humans. With some aggressive early expansion I was able to isolate myself while grabbing a ton of resources. Early favorable diplomatic relations with my human neighbor (whom I couldn't completely cut off) kept me completely untouched from a military standpoint, and before the game was halfway over, it was pretty clear that I was going to win. I managed to put up 67 points - far more than we've ever seen at our table (low to mid 30's are usually good enough to win). If you can manage to isolate yourself and get some nice tiles to set up your empire, the Hydran Progress are extremely powerful.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I think what I love most about Eclipse is that non-military strategies are perfectly viable. There are many different ways to win.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Danny, Which SoS game would you recommend? Im looking for a game with replayability. I didnt realize that Isreal only took 15 minutes. I want something with a little bit more time investment.

I would choose between these for ~ 30 minute games with medium complexity (for the series). In general I would choose whichever theme you like best. If theme is equal I would probably go with Ottoman Sunset all else being equal.

Ottoman Sunset
Zulus on the Ramparts
Levee en Masse (also has an Ipad App)
Empires in America

For games ~60+ minutes there is

Malta Besieged (would go with this one between these two)
We Must Tell the Emporer

Dawn of the Zeds would also be a good choice for longer slightly more involved ones, but they are working on a deluxe gold banner edition, so I would wait.

[Matthean]

I gave one last effort for a Sunday gaming group, and it pretty much was near a total no show. I did talk to the one new girl and we came to the conclusion it would work far better doing it on Fri./Sat. so I'm working on doing that instead.

I started working on my Samurai Battles miniatures again. I sit around and watch football so I figured I could at least put those together as well.

[Matthean]

Plaid Hat Games has been working on a game related to a PC game and it looks to be Bioshock: Infinite. If you get the collector's edition of the PC game you get a miniature to be used in the board game.

Age Gate | Bioshock

[Fidatelo]

I played a game of Mage Knight the board game last night with 2 of my friends, first time I've ever played. What a crazy, awesome, epic, crazy game! There are so many little pieces and cards and rules and holy moly it's a lot to keep track of. Lots of fun, though, and so unique compared to other games I've played. We played for 3-4 hours and were only about 2/3 of the way through before we packed it up. If I was single or possibly even just didn't have kids I would buy that game in heartbeat. As it stands I just can't picture myself having the kind of time to finish game in one sitting, nor the ability to leave it set up to play over multiple sittings, so it probably just isn't for me. But super cool.

[Matthean]

Dice Tower previews Legendary.

[Matthean]

Gamed with some friends. Played Three-Dragon Ante which is a friend's game. We sucked at the first playthrough, but the game went better the next time. One mechanic that could kill the game for people is having to pay for drawing cards when you are down to one, and you fill the top card off of the draw pile to see what you have to pay. Cards are numbered 1-13 so there can be a huge swing. The rest of it is decent. It's around a 6.5 on BBG and that sounds about right.

We talked about games, and I kind of got ideas for what games the one guy would like so I pulled out No Thanks!. They absolutely loved it. I'm 2 for 2 in having that game be a huge hit with the people I show it too.

We then played a game of Summoner Wars with the guy since I hardly get chances for 2 player games, and I gave him the Phoenix Elves while I took the Shadow Elves. I did a horrendously stupid move that could have cost me the game, but I survived and pulled out the victory in the end. He liked it and wants to play it more since I have so many factions that he wants to see how other stuff plays as well.

[Matthean]

Escape: The Curse of the Temple



Also looks good.

[tarcone]

Found a great deal on Hannibal Rome vs. Carthage. $24.99 plus $6.99 shipping. This game looks great.

Hannibal Rome vs Carthage The Board Game Deal - Tanga


Escape looks like a blast. Im looking for this one. New addition to my wish list

[Matthean]

The Tanga deal is tempting. It is one of, if not the best card driven wargame. I was thinking about getting it but I don't think it gets played to justify it. It's a deeper game so it is going to need some plays to get decent at it.

I could toss War of Honor onto my CSI order that is on hold as well as it is dirt cheap right now with CSI's sale, $23.99. So tempting. I did see there is a 9 Clan box you can order but it is like $130+. Ideally that's what I would want, but not at that price.

Speaking of my order on hold, the Eclipse expansion has printing errors in it so the publisher is going to print off some extra stuff and add it in so anybody who has it preordered will have to wait hopefully only until December as it had a late November release date.

[Matthean]

Ok, thought about it and my head cleared to where I remembered I have one wargame, I have two on the way, at least four on my wish list, and that's without going into the games that are part of a series. I struggle getting 2-player games as is. Realistically, the people who I would play wargames with I would just play Summoner Wars with anyway. I know someone mentioned it might be going OOP, but I think it will be like Brass. It will go away for some time and then it will get reprinted latter on after interest builds up again. I don't see how a Top 40 game simply goes away forever. Up Front is getting reprinted and that has been OOP for a long time. I see the deal, I recognize the awesome, but I'm putting the money into Suburbia since that will get played way more.

[Matthean]

My preordered copy of Mice and Mystics came in. Quality is rather high. Some stores are getting copies early due to PHG's distributor screwing up and sending them out before they were suppose to. CSI got their shipment in and sold out in a day. This will be the new hip hard to get game until PHG gets enough shipments in to counter the initial wave, which is going to take time since it will require their 2nd print run to be out.

[Fidatelo]

Smash Up - the shufflebuilding game of total awesomeness - arrived in the mail today. It looks like it should be fun but of course I'll have to wait until I can get together with some people to play it. I might take it to work next week and see if anyone is game.

Anyone else get this one? Thoughts?

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Escape looks like a blast. Im looking for this one. New addition to my wish list

Preorder is up at CSI. $32.99

[tarcone]

Okay I went on a spree the last week or so. This is it until around Christmas.
I bougt sentinel of the multiverse, which looks like a lot of fun. I havent been able to sit down and play. Did a little solo today to get the feel. I think it my girls will enjoy it.
Next was what I bought at Tange. Hannibal Rome Vs.Carthage. This should arrive tomorrow (Tues.). Looking forward to this one. I cant wait to crack in the box.
Then for my plane trip I got Isreal Independence and the expansion. This should arrive Wed. I hope. I really want to play this. I love the theme.
Then I backed 2 games on Kickstarter. Lost Valley which is a republish where you are a gold explorer thrying to find gold and survive.
Then I back Stormin' The Castle. You are one of 4 fantasy races attacking a castle. I really think this game will be tons of fun.

[Matthean]

The publisher for Stormin' the Castle had a KS project that was 200% funded and then they pulled it since they wanted to make it "better." It does look interesting though. I haven't seen a castle siege game that clicks for me yet. I'll be interested to hear more about it once it hits.

Mostly been watching hours of videos on games I have on order or are on my wishlist. So not helping.

[Vince, Pt. II]

So we've put in a pair of games of Battlestar Galactica in the last week. The first was a five player game, and was a ton of fun. The second was a four player game, and it was considerably less fun. It seems as if the game is very dependent upon balance, and that certain things can tip that balance in either direction quickly. With 5 players, you end up with a 3 vs 2 matchup (although there is a slight chance that it's 4 vs 1), and that seems to be the balance sweet spot. The 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 1 you end up with in a four player game seems too heavily weighted in either direction.

In our four player game, the Sympathizer was revealed as our Population was one tick into the red, so instead of becoming an enemy player, the Sympathizer was thrown into the brig and then continued to be a human for the remainder of the game. The only time the game was difficult was during the first half...when it turned out we were all human. The crisis cards basically had us sweating our tails off as wave after wave of Cylon ships kept being thrown at us. At the midway point, we got our first Cylon, and he managed to get all three of the rest of us into the brig. An extraordinarily lucky sequence of crisis cards led to a fairly easy win for the humans in the end, however. We hovered around 2 or 3 food for a while, so it was always a little tense...but we didn't see a single Cylon ship for our entire final jump cycle. I think a modification where you were to separate the "Cylons Attack" crisis cards so they are forced to be spread throughout the deck of crisis cards would go a long way toward eliminating these random fluctuations of difficulty. Two or three of those in a row, and you could be looking at 20 raiders, 3 heavy raiders and two base stars that will simply destroy you. Then again, several crisis cards in a row without a single Cylon Attack card makes the game laughably easy for the humans.

The game tends to be a little too random for my taste, and the incredible swing in game balance (usually hinging on a single random event) makes the large time investment (2 hours, easily) a real downer if the game doesn't go well. When the game DOES go well, however, it's as much if not more fun than any game I own.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Boss Monster: the Dungeon-Building Card Game by Brotherwise Games — Kickstarter

Here's another Kickstarter for a card game in which you play the bad guy in an 8-bit fantasy themed dungeon crawler. Your job is to develop a dungeon that has enough treasure to lure the randomly picked heroes into your dungeon and then kill them. My friends and I are intrigued, but the game seems like it wouldn't have much replayability, and the game doesn't seem to have much depth. $20 gets you a copy of the game though, so it's not like it's expensive.

[DanGarion]

Got an email that I should be getting Manhattan Project in a couple weeks. Looking forward to checking it out, still a couple months till I get the expansion that that Kickstarter was for though.

[PurdueBrad]

For my birthday the wife got me Red, White, and Blue Racing and Face to the Mat Wrestling by Plaay (makers of Second Season football, which I love). I haven't tried the racing game yet but the wrestling game is absolutely phenomenal. I'm pretty much addicted to it right now. I definitely recommend it for solitaire play and haven't yet tried the 2-person version.

[Matthean]

I'm getting better at ignoring games that get hyped, but this video for Tzolk'in does a good job showing why it will likely be the game of Essen.

[WSUCougar]

Anybody own or played Victory Point Games Darkest Night?

[Matthean]

Geek and Sundry add a news show about tabletop games.

[PurdueBrad]

Hey guys, looking for a recommendation.

I've been playing a couple solitaire sports games and would like to expand that to the war game genre. Anybody have any decent solitaire war games they can recommend?

[Matthean]

Played a bunch of games of "We Didn't Play Test This At All." In short, it makes Fluxx look coherent. One game ended on the first turn with only the starting player going. Another ended in the first turn after two of four people went. Entertaining in only the "so bad it is good" b-movie kind of way. There are actual combos in the game, but I wish you luck in pulling them off. Of the seven games we played, only one had a combo in it. I wouldn't be surprised if half of the cards had one or more people instantly winning or losing based on some random condition: if all other players are wearing blue, you win, everybody plays rock, paper, scissors, if a player doesn't pick (insert one of the three) they lose. It's kind of like being kicked in the nuts and going, "Thank you mistress, may I have another."

Myst. Two teams race to build a puzzle and then play a short area control game to see who wins. Novel in concept, but it has nothing to do with Myst outside of the images. The area control aspect is underwhelmingly developed. I was more disappointed in the poor use of the Myst name than I was in the game play, and the only interesting game play was how fast you can build a puzzle.

Quarriors! Another game that could be stellar if not for the random factor. I jumped out to a fast lead in the first game, and I think I had a decent plan in how to win, but got stuck in points after other players got going. Game two and I was off and running in no time. I was able to weed out three of the crappy dice early on and later took out two more and thus the size of my dice pool was small enough I kept getting good stuff. I won running away. I don't mind some random factor or dice but at some point there becomes enough randomness that it over takes the game. It does here as well. Kind of frustrating because to a point I was really liking the game.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

Hey guys, looking for a recommendation.

I've been playing a couple solitaire sports games and would like to expand that to the war game genre. Anybody have any decent solitaire war games they can recommend?

Field Commander series, Thunderbolt Apache Leader, a number of games from DVG or Victory Point Games. Best place to ask is here. One thread on the first page of posts covers the topic.

[Danny]

Are you looking for a true war game or a war themed game? Would you prefer a smaller tactical scale (individual troops) or more of a strategic large scale (whole armies). Are you interest in WWII, ancient battles, any other periods? Was is your ideal play time? Ideal complexity?

[PurdueBrad]

Originally Posted by Danny

Are you looking for a true war game or a war themed game? Would you prefer a smaller tactical scale (individual troops) or more of a strategic large scale (whole armies). Are you interest in WWII, ancient battles, any other periods? Was is your ideal play time? Ideal complexity?

Hey Danny-

I'm pretty into more modern battles (particularly Vietnam) and think that a smaller scale game could be a really cool idea (hadn't considered that so I'm open to either) and, as for time, I do want some depth out of it so anywhere from 90 minutes to 6 hours.

[Danny]

Here are my two main suggestions.

Here is a design for solo play Vietnam game which has a listed play time of 4 hours, but not too complex. It is on a small tactical scale.

A Week In Hell: The Battle of Hue | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

It has to be ordered through Battles Magazine website
www.battlesmagazine.com 11-19-2012

Also, lock n load publishing has a series of smaller scale tactical games which use the same core set of rules. These are two player games, but uses a system that allows you to easily play both sides and solo it. I am linking to the vietnam game in the series. These are decently complex

Lock 'N Load: Forgotten Heroes; Vietnam | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

Lock and load also has a highly regarded series World at War which is a alternate universe World War 3 type deal. This is slightly lighter in complexity than their series I talked about above.

World at War Series | Family | BoardGameGeek

Here is also the link to two card based modern war games (though not traditional hex and counter. These are more large scale, but solo very well.

Andean Abyss | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
Labyrinth: The War on Terror, 2001-? | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

[Danny]

FWIW though, Vietnam is heavily under represented in comparison to say WWII in games.

[Danny]

And from the previous suggestions, I would not go with Victory Point games, or the leader series based on your preferences. Going with Thunderbolt Apache Leader would be an option though

[Matthean]

Not a Vietnam game, but an alt history one from L'n'L would be Nuklear Winter '68. The expansion just got funded so there will be 25 scenarios total with both. It has 2-3 armies but plays well solo in part with the chit pull.

[PurdueBrad]

Wow, thanks a ton guys!

[Vince, Pt. II]

Played a "let's learn how to play this" game of The Game of Thrones board game (2nd edition) last night with three players. I love the intrigue and strategy elements in the game. Placing your orders on the board hidden and then resolving them one by one so they aren't necessarily what you originally intended is awesome. Combine that with balancing your power tokens between holding land and saving them to bid on your position for the Iron Throne or to defend against wildling attacks, and there's a great deal of strategy involved.

We actually played the entire game wrong, being under the impression that Raiding orders allowed you to cancel ANY neighboring orders. This turned the neck and the Twins into a battle for flanking positions between the Lannisters and the Starks, which the Starks eventually won on the strength of a card that restricted the use of Raid orders.

The game seems like it would be much better served with more than three players - a lot of the intrigue is lost as soon as someone gets ahead because it quickly becomes 2 vs 1 at that point. The Lannisters did set up an agreement with the Baratheons to combine forces against the Starks, and then promptly demolished several Baratheon holdings immediately. It was fun to watch that play out...but my roommate was not all too pleased at her boyfriend when he stabbed her in the back like that

[Warhammer]

The best one of the GoT games I have played was Storm of Swords.

I played a game of Kingmaker over the weekend. I forgot how much fun this game was. Sure there are some flaws, but the diplomacy aspect, and the event cards make this game a hoot. There is some combat, but it is relatively simplistic so even non-wargamers will give it a go.

[Glengoyne]

I've gotten Spartacus: A game of Blood and Treachery to the table a few times now, and it has been quite successful. This was the game I came away from GenCon talking the most about. It demoed really well, but by the time I'd convinced myself to sit down and demo it, I'd already spent my budget and then some. So I waited a few months. The game has been a hit. There is lots of scheming and foiling of plots, with some one on one gladiatorial action sprinkled through out. It has really been successful with light and gateway gamers, even the "real" gamers that have played have enjoyed it. The rules are simple and straight forward, and I look forward to doing this again with the "longer" play rules.

Another game that I've enjoyed of late is Libertalia. This is another pirate themed game. In the game each player has an identical deck of 30 cards. The game is played over three rounds. For the first round, nine of the player's cards are selected randomly. All players use the same nine cards from their respective decks, for each of the seven "days" within a phase, the players secretly lay down one of their cards. The cards each perform an action from lowest value to highest, then the players select treasure from the day's portion. This selection is done from the highest value card to the lowest.

So there are times where you want to play a high value card to get the treasure you desire, but the powers enacted by the lower value cards sometimes spell doom for the higher valued cards. There are multiple ways to score points, but mostly you will succeed by out thinking/guessing the other players by playing cards that benefit you the most while avoiding the damage others might set out to do.

[tarcone]

GoT is a great game with 6 players. I like it much better that way.

[Matthean]

I'm positive Hold The Line has been mentioned before. Worthington Games is doing a Black Friday sale and Hold The Line looks to be $15+s/h. It retails for $49.99. I checked s/h for me, and it would be $8.05. This a 13 scenario light wargame covering the American Revolutionary War. The game uses action points and dice rolling, and it plays quick. It comes on a mounted board and comes with Command and Colors style type of terrain. Cowboys, Prussia's Defiant Stand, Medwar Sicily, Chainmail, and Caesar's Gallic War are the other games offered.

[tarcone]

Miniature Market - Dungeons & Dragons, Warmachine, Magic the Gathering, Board Games, Games Workshop, Heroclix is announcing its Black Friday sale on Wednesday. This OLGS already has some of the cheapest prices around. So I can only think this sale is going to be a good one.