Board Games

[Matthean]

Looks very much similar to Forbidden Island with a new theme, which is to be expected.



Seems like the demo guy is trying to cram as much as possible in the time frame given. I still need to get a lot more plays out of Castles of Burgundy, but this will be worth picking up in a year or so.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

I picked up the Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game core set a week ago, pretty much strictly for solo play. I've played 15 times since, and I absolutely love it. I'm still using the pre-built decks against the beginner scenario, but I can't wait to start making my own decks and trying the harder scenarios as well as a bunch of custom scenarios that I've found over on BoardGameGeek. I can easily see myself getting sucked into buying some Adventure Packs down the road.

You still playing this Fidatelo? I just ordered the core set - mostly for solo as well. Are there any "must have" expansions?

[cschex]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Looks very much similar to Forbidden Island with a new theme, which is to be expected.



Seems like the demo guy is trying to cram as much as possible in the time frame given. I still need to get a lot more plays out of Castles of Burgundy, but this will be worth picking up in a year or so.

Excited about a more complex version of FI. My daughter really enjoys that (she's 6) and while we're on Mice and Mystics right now, I think she'd get a kick out of Forbidden Desert.

Castles of Burgundy is going to be the next two player purchase for my wife and I. I'm really excited about it as I've messed around a bit with the online version and it's just really fun.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

You still playing this Fidatelo? I just ordered the core set - mostly for solo as well.

In total I have played 96 solo games (all of them tracked lovingly in this Google Doc ), however I've only played a handful of times in the past 6 months. I still love the game, and I am positive that I will get back to it in the not-too-distant future.

Ironically what happened is after I played through the core set I started to make my way into the adventure packs, but then became overwhelmed with the deck-making aspect once I had all these new options. This is really odd because I have been playing CCGs for as long as they have existed so I'm no stranger to deck-building, and in the past I loved it. But for whatever reason, perhaps age or having kids or both, making a new deck became this daunting task. By the time I got home from work, got the kids in bed, cleaned up, etc the thought of pouring over all the cards just seemed too tasking. I can think of numerous times where I sat there staring into the box for 10 minutes and then just closed it up and put it back.

I truly believe that once I get over this mental block I'll be right back into the game and probably rip through another 50+ plays. I've still got, all unplayed, 4 scenarios from the first series of adventure packs, the Khazad-Dum major expansion that I just got for Christmas, the Hobbit expansion, and a bunch of fan-made scenarios that I bought on Arts Cow. There is just too much appealing content there for me to ignore long-term.

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Are there any "must have" expansions?

If you got through the wall of text above, you'll know I haven't really explored the expansions yet. So I can't fairly say if any are 'must have'. I can say that of the ones I own, the one that excites me the most is The Hobbit. It looks super fun and I love the idea of finding treasures in one scenario that can then be used in the next.

[CleBrownsfan]

Thanks for the feedback/reply! I'm fairly new to the card / deck building. What does that mean? Go through the cards to put your "ideal" stack together? Could you just make the decks random and play? Or is that part of the game - to build/stack decks to your liking?

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Thanks for the feedback/reply! I'm fairly new to the card / deck building. What does that mean? Go through the cards to put your "ideal" stack together? Could you just make the decks random and play? Or is that part of the game - to build/stack decks to your liking?

Deck-building is an important aspect of the game, and is pretty much required to be successful against everything but the initial scenario. You need the correct card synergies in order to adequately fend off the nasty stuff coming out of the encounter deck. What I've found is that you pretty much need to tailor a deck to the scenario you are attempting, and very few decks are strong against all scenarios.

One of the more fun aspects for me is to not read any of the scenario or encounter cards in advance of playing them. It makes it feel like I'm truly exploring and encountering the stuff just like the characters would be. The end result is almost always that I get trounced, but then as I gain information about the scenario I modify my deck to counter it, which lets me get further, which leads to getting trounced by a new unknown. Tweak my deck again, rinse, repeat. I find this to be very rewarding, but maybe I'm just sadistic.

One thing to be aware of is that some scenarios are very, very hard, especially solo. I honestly feel that the third scenario in the core set, Escape From Dol Guldur, is virtually impossible solo, no matter what you do with your deck. The way it is set up just seems to require more than one player to defeat, which is kind of disappointing. I got more than enough enjoyment out of the first two scenarios, however (Journey Along the Anduin is my favorite, it is hard but solvable, almost like a puzzle).

[CleBrownsfan]

Gotchya - just got the game in so I'll be ready some rules tonight

[Vince, Pt. II]

So got a better run at Descent (2nd Edition) in today, and started the campaign for real. We played the starter quest "First Blood" and the first half of "Fat Goblin". I'm running as the Overlord (basically the Dungeon Master), and I have four friends playing as the adventurers. The team they are running:

Grisban the Thirsty (Fighter)
Leoric of the Book (Mage)
Widow Tarha (Mage)
Ashrian (Healer)

The first battle (First Blood) was a joke, as the heroes won it on turn two. They got an extremely lucky first turn, taking out my basic Ettin and stunning 3 of my 5 Goblin Archers. The berserking dwarf then took Mauler down in one turn to end the quest.

The first encounter of Fat Goblin was much more balanced. My goal was to make off with four bundles of grain, while the heroes were trying to secure the same four bundles into storage before I could get them. I quickly managed to snag one of the bundles of grain, but Ashrian's stun effects halted me in my tracks (literally). Though he managed to lock up my Goblin Archers for a couple of turns, I was able to get off a mind control spell and move him the hell away from my archers so they could start getting out of Dodge with the grain in tow. I got a second bundle of grain out the door and had a third most of the way there when my luck broke. Widow Tarha sprinted over and killed two of my goblins in one turn, stealing the grain in the process. Though I was able to kill Tarha before she could get the grain stored away, the heroes used some great teamwork to daisy chain the bundle (that had been mostly stolen) all the way back to the storehouse. I managed to kill Tarha, Grisban and Ashrian several times, but Leoric finally secured the last two bundles of grain. We'll be firing up the second half of the encounter in our next session.

Overall, I like the game. Positives:
-Although the rules are a little involved, they're not too difficult to understand.
-The heroes really have to use teamwork to get through the challenges, and the Overlord has to use everything in his arsenal to keep the heroes off his back. There were several points during that second quest where one side or the other seemed to be on the verge of a crushing victory. A well played card or a clever move swung the momentum back each time.

The negatives:
-Looooong setup time. There are a ton of little pieces, and finding which map segment goes where can be a pain. Although each map segment is marked, there are quite a few of them in the box, and several of them are very similarly shaped.
-Zero exploration. For a dungeon crawler, the fact that the entire map is visible and that every player has perfect knowledge of the whole situation is a little...off.
-Line of sight is...pretty easy to game. You draw lines from any corner of your square to any corner of their square. As long as you can draw a line that doesn't go through something, you have line of sight. Very rarely will you find that you don't have an option to get to someone with line of sight.

Still need more time before I come up with a definitive opinion on it, but so far so good.

[Danny]

Vince fwiw thats how descent is supposed to be. It's not really a dungeon crawler but more of a fantasy tactical miniatures game

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Got a few plays of 'The Walking Dead' in last night. It's a fun little solitaire play. Good strategy and it doesn't take more than 20 minutes for a single play. I found myself getting the 'what, more zombies?' feeling in a couple of games. There's a shotgun card which carries great power but also provides a one in six chance that another zombie hears you and attacks. I was unfortunate enough to hit that chance twice in a row, resulting in three zombie attacks instead of one.

I'm interested in playing the four person game. In that one, as you are killed, you switch to the role of a walker/zombie. Once two are dead, it then becomes a team game where the survivors try to survive and finish all scenarios while the walker team's sole purpose is to try to kill the survivors to win. So you can lose initially and become a walker and still win in the end.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Danny

Vince fwiw thats how descent is supposed to be. It's not really a dungeon crawler but more of a fantasy tactical miniatures game

Yeah, I know. For a game called "Descent: Journey Into the Dark" there's not much 'dark' though. I do like the tactical aspect of it (one of my favorite things so far is the varied objectives), but I think it would be cool if some of the quests were more exploratory in nature.

[Matthean]

Hanabi comes out at the end of March. It's a co-op card game where you have cards facing away from you, and you need other players to help figure things out. It's been out before but not just the game itself in the US. This would be a cheap, nice, light, co-op that I think would work rather well.

Had to switch out Snow Tails for Formula D in my wishlist. I think Snow Tails would only work at my house versus where we game due to setup, has some rule issues that would bug me, and I would need to house rule anyway. I'm just not sure when I would get Formula D though. It's kind of an "at some point" kind of thing.

[Marc Vaughan]

Been playing 'Robo Rally' with my boys recently - its one of those 'simple but complex' games, no chance at all involved but gets extremely complicated (and somewhat funny) the more people are involved in it.

Its set in a factor with conveyor belts etc. and you play as robots racing from a set position to a destination.

You get a deck of cards which all allow you different types of movement with a 'speed' (ie. the order in which your move happens in amongst the players) - you have to set up 5 moves at once which are then played out one at a time.

For instance you might setup:

Forward 1
Forward 2
Turn Right
Forward 1
Turn Right

The complication comes in that other robots can ram you and move you around the board, plus each robot has a laser and shoots automatically in front of themselves at the end of a turn - if you're in their path then you get hit and take damage ... which means you get less cards to choose from the next turn.

(for an example of how one little shove can change things - my eldest son won tonight after shoving me one square forward ... the resulting reposition meant I moved not onto a safe square but onto a fast moving conveyor belt which took me off the map and effectively destroyed my robot)

I'd definitely recommend the game - not only is it good fun, but its also a subtle way of teaching people to program because you're effectively simulating the 'flow' of a simple series of computer orders.

[Matthean]

This was a contender for a racing game as well. It might get placed back on the wishlist. Again, I'm not really busting my butt to add a racing game just yet.

[Warhammer]

Is that original RoboRally or the AH version?

I'd love to get me some Crash and Burn.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Hanabi comes out at the end of March. It's a co-op card game where you have cards facing away from you, and you need other players to help figure things out. It's been out before but not just the game itself in the US. This would be a cheap, nice, light, co-op that I think would work rather well.

Had to switch out Snow Tails for Formula D in my wishlist. I think Snow Tails would only work at my house versus where we game due to setup, has some rule issues that would bug me, and I would need to house rule anyway. I'm just not sure when I would get Formula D though. It's kind of an "at some point" kind of thing.

Hanabi looks interesting.

On Snow Tails...What are the Rules Issues that you need to house rule? I've found it to be among the most balanced of the racing games I've tried. I love the genre, but many of them end up with one player running away from the field such that they'll never be caught.

I enjoy Robo Rally as well. My son loves it, but understands that he doesn't have the attention span to stick with the whole game. So he just tries to run his robot into the pits(insta-kill) and shoot his sister and father as many times as possible along the way.

[Warhammer]

Formula De works best as part of a racing season.

[Matthean]

The amount of trees that get placed on the sections for them looks like it would be more difficult to navigate than would be fun. The other rule where if you have a balanced sled you get to move up one spot per your position makes me think somebody could be in last and shoot to the lead at the end although I doubt it happens often enough to be an issue. Everybody would have to know that it could happen and plan for it. As usual, this is probably a rule that in my head doesn't work but in reality it does.

[Danny]

Hanabi looks awesome and I have two copies on the way to me as we speak.

Anyone who doesnt want to wait can order from GameSurplus. This is not the edition that is scheduled for late march, but it supposed to be exactly the same.

[Danny]

GameSurplus

[Danny]

Snow Tails is an ok game. I played it a couple times and traded it away. I enjoyed myself, but nothing there to really grab me and say to myself "Yeah lets play that some more.

[Danny]

Formula D I also traded away, but is a more fun game. I traded it because its not that great with 2 or 3 which is what most of my plays are.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Danny

Hanabi looks awesome and I have two copies on the way to me as we speak.

Anyone who doesnt want to wait can order from GameSurplus. This is not the edition that is scheduled for late march, but it supposed to be exactly the same.

Already saw this posted on the geek and added an order.

Originally Posted by Danny

Snow Tails is an ok game. I played it a couple times and traded it away. I enjoyed myself, but nothing there to really grab me and say to myself "Yeah lets play that some more.

I think this is part of problem trying to cover various genres. Some of them just aren't that strong. I might ultimately get Escape: The Curse of the Temple as a racing game simply because it is done in real time even though it is a co-op game.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Matthean

The amount of trees that get placed on the sections for them looks like it would be more difficult to navigate than would be fun. The other rule where if you have a balanced sled you get to move up one spot per your position makes me think somebody could be in last and shoot to the lead at the end although I doubt it happens often enough to be an issue. Everybody would have to know that it could happen and plan for it. As usual, this is probably a rule that in my head doesn't work but in reality it does.

I think those two things are are the catch up mechanics that keep the game from being a run away. The trees slow everyone down, and that slingshot when balanced can be really big when played right. I used to avoid the tree tiles when building a course, but changed my mind after re-playing the same course with the trees after playing without them.

[cschex]

Played my first game of Castles of Burgundy with my wife tonight. I love this game. My kind of Euro - strategic options without being overly complex for complexities sake and very easy to learn. Scales great to two player as well


Also, the newest Sentinels of the Multiverse expansion started shipping out this week, so we're excited about getting that soon

[tarcone]

I just bought Attack! and its expansion on a BGG. It looks like the type of war game I have been looking for. Politics, diplomacy, world expansion, war, economics.
Check it out on BGG.
I was a fan of Supremacy in the 90s. I have been looking for a game that was a little more in depth then Axis ans Allies. But not Hard to learn and/or play.
I think this scratches the itch.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by cschex

Played my first game of Castles of Burgundy with my wife tonight. I love this game. My kind of Euro - strategic options without being overly complex for complexities sake and very easy to learn. Scales great to two player as well


Also, the newest Sentinels of the Multiverse expansion started shipping out this week, so we're excited about getting that soon

I've got to get my wife to try this one. I think she'll like it, but that two hour play time for my first play with three players had her and my daughter balking. After the first play, the game goes much faster. Just have to get over that first play or two.

[Matthean]

I really wonder about my reading comprehension for rules. I read the rules for Hanabi and got locked onto one rule which made it feel fundamentally broken only to factor in some other rules later on. I swear anytime I learn a new game I'm getting 20% of the rules wrong.

CoB was another game I got a number of rules wrong. I even thought I had them down after a couple of plays only to watch Richard Ham's playthrough and see I had another rule wrong. I need to play a game versus somebody because solo two-player is a bit long for what it is. To me it plays smooth but just thinking for both sides adds too much time. I would much rather crank out a game of Summoner Wars. I need to try the two-player variant for Tikal because I think that would play quick, and I could get the rules and strategies down.

[cschex]

Originally Posted by Matthean

I really wonder about my reading comprehension for rules. I read the rules for Hanabi and got locked onto one rule which made it feel fundamentally broken only to factor in some other rules later on. I swear anytime I learn a new game I'm getting 20% of the rules wrong.

CoB was another game I got a number of rules wrong. I even thought I had them down after a couple of plays only to watch Richard Ham's playthrough and see I had another rule wrong. I need to play a game versus somebody because solo two-player is a bit long for what it is. To me it plays smooth but just thinking for both sides adds too much time. I would much rather crank out a game of Summoner Wars. I need to try the two-player variant for Tikal because I think that would play quick, and I could get the rules and strategies down.

Matthean, if you want, they've added CoB to Boite a Jeux (((( Boîte à Jeux ))). It's turn based, not real time like board game arena, but I'd be more than happy to play with you if you're wanting to try it out vs someone/ If other people want to join in I can set up a 4 player as well

[Matthean]

I probably can't do much until late next week due to school and all of my teachers deciding the week after Spring Break was the best time to have tests and projects to be done.

[cschex]

No rush, whenever you want to try it out with other folks, let me know via the thread or PM

[DanGarion]

So awesome! One of my close friends that comes to our monthly game night surprised me with a copy of King of Tokyo today from Amazon!

We had another game night on Saturday and we played the 5 person version of Settlers of Catan, it was new for two of the people. Everyone seemed to have lots of fun and enjoyed themselves. With that many people it can be a really long game, especially since we have one person that didn't want to do any trading until very late in the game.

We had the robber moved twice very early in the game and then no one hit 7 for about 40 turns... (rolling a 7 is a 17% chance). Overall in about 60 turns 7 was only rolled 3 or 4 times total.

Then we played a quick and dirty 4 person Cards Against Humanity that was a blast as always.

[albionmoonlight]

6 Board Games That Ruined It for Everyone | Cracked.com

Anyone play Alien Frontiers that they mention. Sounds very interesting.

[Matthean]

Amazon has it for preorder for just over $26.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

6 Board Games That Ruined It for Everyone | Cracked.com

Dear Lord, is there anything that doesn't have a set of hipsters trying to be too cool for the rest of the world?

[cschex]

So, my next big order from CSI will be later this month when all of the Sentinels of Multiverse expansion content hits. I've got a gift cert and want to hit $100 for the free shipping, so I'm debating on the last 30 or so bucks to get there. I'm down to:

King of Tokyo + Power Up
Ghost Stories
Legendary

It's myself, my wife and our 6 yr old daughter currently (one on the way in a few months) and co-ops are a big hit in our house. However, KoT has a lot of appeal for the relatively simple mechanics and fun theme. Anyone have thoughts on any of those games they've played?

[Matthean]

Are you only playing 3-player?

[cschex]

2-3 player get the majority of plays. I have a regular lunch "group" with co-workers but heavily thematic games don't go over as well with that crowd. I make a local meet-up once a month or so but not enough to ensure 4 player + up

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Amazon has it for preorder for just over $26.

Excellent. I have only played "Lords of Waterdeep" once, but really enjoyed it.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

6 Board Games That Ruined It for Everyone | Cracked.com

Anyone play Alien Frontiers that they mention. Sounds very interesting.

Alien Frontiers is really pretty good. I avoided it for a while, but I think it really hits the nail on the head for what my most common circle of gaming friends like to play. It is light to medium in complexity, and very accessible. I think all of us first time players had our own strategies developed pretty early on. I'll be picking this one up.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Dear Lord, is there anything that doesn't have a set of hipsters trying to be too cool for the rest of the world?

I didn't actually read the article, I just skimmed looking at their recommendations and counter parts. But, I certainly have no trouble with anyone disparaging the games they call out as exercises in boredom or whatnot. While no one would ever confuse me with a hipster. I've got over 150 board games in my house, and none of them are Monopoly or Risk or any of the other "old school" games referenced in the article.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

6 Board Games That Ruined It for Everyone | Cracked.com

Anyone play Alien Frontiers that they mention. Sounds very interesting.

That does sound interesting. Reading up on BGG, seems like it's Agricola in space using dice instead of simple workers. Different locations require different die rolls (singles, pairs, three of a kind or runs), though there are cards you can get that will help you modify your die rolls.

I have a couple people in my game group that absolutely HATE randomness, so probably not for us. I'd like to give it a shot at some point though.

[tarcone]

Just got my copy of Tammany Hall from UPS. I am so excited. I think I will be sitting down tonight and checking it out. This game looks amazing and right up my groups alley. Lots of politicians I play with. (Local NEA President, oone guy ran for alderman in our town, stuff like that).
It should be a blast.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by cschex

So, my next big order from CSI will be later this month when all of the Sentinels of Multiverse expansion content hits. I've got a gift cert and want to hit $100 for the free shipping, so I'm debating on the last 30 or so bucks to get there. I'm down to:

King of Tokyo + Power Up
Ghost Stories
Legendary

It's myself, my wife and our 6 yr old daughter currently (one on the way in a few months) and co-ops are a big hit in our house. However, KoT has a lot of appeal for the relatively simple mechanics and fun theme. Anyone have thoughts on any of those games they've played?

Originally Posted by cschex

2-3 player get the majority of plays. I have a regular lunch "group" with co-workers but heavily thematic games don't go over as well with that crowd. I make a local meet-up once a month or so but not enough to ensure 4 player + up

KoT is probably decent with 3, but that would be about it. I know people play it two-player and add in a variant for only getting one VP for being in Tokyo at the start of your turn. One of the future expansions will add teams since the first expansion hints at it and has "Expansion No. 1" on the box. This could allow single players to have more than one monster.

No real issue with Ghost Stories as long as you understand that's it's one of if not the most difficult co-op to win at. If you want something with roughly 50% of winning, this won't be it.

For Legendary, I prefer the idea of controlling a single character versus a mash up of team members, but I have heard too much good about it to really not make it an option.

If you are trying to include the 6-year old, you might want to look at Blokus or Qwirkle. Both should be had for cheap. Survive: Escape from Atlantis is another good family game as long as everybody accepts getting screwed repeatedly although I have seen some people play it nice as possible. If you want more serious, Samurai plays best with 3. It counters the typical gang up on the leader by using secret scoring. From my own wishlist, Suburbia, which is like Sim City without the disasters.

[cschex]

Yeah, we have Blokus, that one's a hit. Survive is one i've been looking closely at because it just looks like a blast to play. Thanks for the rec on Samurai, I'm a fan of Knezia's older designs but haven't played that one.

I'm leaning towards Ghost Stories because the idea of a hard co-op for my wife and I is fairly appealing.

[tarcone]

Escape! The Curse of the Temple is a great game. It lasts 10 minutes. Would work great with 2,3, 4. This a hit woth my family. It is intense, fun and difficult. I am sweating when the game is over. I highly recommend this game.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Dear Lord, is there anything that doesn't have a set of hipsters trying to be too cool for the rest of the world?

Cracked is a bunch of hipsters now?

[Matthean]

The nice thing about Survive is there is so little of strategy due to the randomness that just about anybody could win. If I don't win one of my strategy based games, I'm going to do well. I suck at Survive.

[Matthean]

My game group has been erratic as hell in terms of attendance, but it might have finally turned the corner. We used two tables tonight and this could be normal with the potential for 3. There's only four in the room, so it would be fun to get to a point where I have to reserve a second room at the church.

[CleBrownsfan]

Buddy came over and we played a a game of Zombicide. Real fun and intense co-op if you enjoy the theme. We beat the scenario (10) with 3 out of the starting 6 survivors.