Board Games

[AnalBumCover]

Oh, and Exit: The Pharaoh's Tomb

[NobodyHere]

I need to find a good group to play with.

[sachmo71]

I have to tell you about a memorable game I played on Saturday. The game is call Star Wars: Rebellion, and it's basically a tactical wargame set during episodes 4,5,6 and Rogue Squadron. Incidentally, it's Scott Weeks favorite game, and I can see why.

We were playing the Rebels and we were on the ropes. The game ends when two turn markers meet. One marker goes up each turn, and the other marker goes down based on the Rebels performing missions and things. We were nearing the end of the game, and our base was found. I was bugging Scott to move it, but he told me to hold on. Knowing he'd been through this many more times than I had (it was only my second game ever), I kept my cool, sort of.

We had very few units left. Almost all of the planets available were covered by imperial units, meaning we could not move there. We had two fleets, and we tried to break through an Imperial armada. We lost that battle. We were down to a frigate and a Correllian cruiser. The Imperials moved in for the final battle. Somehow, the cruiser held out. The turn ended, the Empire had no units that could scratch our crusier, and the game was over.

The Rebels survived with on cruiser squadron and no base. Sounds like it would have made a great movie, right?

If you like Star Wars, you should play this game. Start with the base game before moving to the expansions, for your own sanity.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

What are you guys playing to pass the time until the New Year comes? I'm keeping it simple for my small non-gaming group of friends: Love Letter, Bang! The Dice Game, How to Rob a Bank, and Splendor.

We've been playing a lot of "party" games: Codenames, Joking Hazard, Shut the Box, and Farkle. I've been dying to get Charterstone back to the table and to get a more than 2 player game of Gaia Project in, but it's been tough with the holidays to get everyone together.

[bob]

Thanks for the long Charterstone review, Vince.

We have also played a bunch of Codenames over the holidays, as well as Keep Talking And No One Explodes (not exactly a board game, but close enough). Between those two, no one wants to play anything else lately.

I'll wait on Charterstone for a sale.

[nilodor]

We got a bit more time to play Pandemic Legacy Season 1 over the holidays with our friends. We have completed 4 of the 12 in game months and our record is 4-2, which is pretty good for pandemic. The legacy changes to the game are pretty cool and it's super fun opening packs and modifying the game rules, adding new characters and mechanics. The gameplay itself is fun and stressful without feeling like the game is cheating against you. It's probably the best board gaming experience I've ever had. If you do decide to play the game I would suggest following along with these guides to make sure you've implemented the new rules properly/opened the right things:
Compiled FAQ (Spoilers Hidden, each month hidden Separately) | Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 | BoardGameGeek

**SPOILERS** What doors to open in which month - here is the list. | Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 | BoardGameGeek

[Vince, Pt. II]

Heh, we have been playing a lot of Keep Talking as well. Great minds...

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

We've been playing a lot of "party" games: Codenames, Joking Hazard, Shut the Box, and Farkle. I've been dying to get Charterstone back to the table and to get a more than 2 player game of Gaia Project in, but it's been tough with the holidays to get everyone together.

I'm interested in what you think about Gaia Project-when you have time in your busy social calendar that is

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

I'm interested in what you think about Gaia Project-when you have time in your busy social calendar that is

Check out post 3447 on the last page. If you are already familiar with Terra Mystica, skip to the bulleted list. Otherwise read the whole thing

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by nilodor

We got a bit more time to play Pandemic Legacy Season 1 over the holidays with our friends. We have completed 4 of the 12 in game months and our record is 4-2, which is pretty good for pandemic. The legacy changes to the game are pretty cool and it's super fun opening packs and modifying the game rules, adding new characters and mechanics. The gameplay itself is fun and stressful without feeling like the game is cheating against you. It's probably the best board gaming experience I've ever had. If you do decide to play the game I would suggest following along with these guides to make sure you've implemented the new rules properly/opened the right things:
Compiled FAQ (Spoilers Hidden, each month hidden Separately) | Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 | BoardGameGeek

**SPOILERS** What doors to open in which month - here is the list. | Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 | BoardGameGeek

We finished mission 4 of Season 2. We are 2 and 2. Adding cubes is throwing us off, I think.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Ok, more detailed Charterstone thoughts!

LIKE!

[sachmo71]

A quick review of Master Of Orion!

This is a pretty abstract but enjoyable tableau-builder. The only link it has to the board game are the names of some of the cards and the races, and the overall "story". You are basically vying to win the seat of Galactic Emperor by having the most victory points at the end of the game. The game is quick, usually 30 to 60 minutes. The game ends in one of three ways:
1. The turn track reaches round 8.
2. One player has a morale of 0 or less.
3. One player has built 5 cards in each of their 4 systems.

Each player starts the game by choosing a race card. Each race has a specific advantage, which is listed in text under the race picture and is also highlighted in yellow on the player card. Very easy to understand and use. Some of the other racial advantages include being able to draw more cards, getting more actions, building a bonus of a specific type of resource, etc.
One interesting thing about the race cards is that each one has the Human race on the reverse side, so everyone has the option of playing the Humans instead of one of the other races. The Humans don't have a big advantage but start the game with bonus resources, which is an advantage in itself.

The race cards are where you keep track of your Morale, you resources and your actions. Each card has a turn summary printed on it to help you keep track of what you can do on a turn. All of these items are tracked with cubes of your team color. The board has dots to show where each race starts out on resources, and you start with 10 morale. As you spend resources and use actions, you move the cubes down toward 0. Actions are tracked by moving one of your action cubes to the appropriate action box on your race card.

Each player is dealt 5 resource cards, five Advisors are chosen at random, and the first player is the player who most recently played the Master Of Orion computer game or has been to space. So, random.

On a turn, you collect resources. The amount you collect is based on the cards you have played to your 4 systems. Many of the cards have resource production in the upper right-hand corner of the card, and represent one of the three resources in the game. The resources are food, fleet and tech. These resources are spent to build cards, attack other players, and perform actions laid out on cards in your systems. The amount of resources you collect on a turn also determine how many actions you take on a turn. This is called the exertion level. The resource track on each race card is divided up into three brackets. If you are in the first bracket, which is about 1-3 resources, you only get three action cubes. However, you also get to take an extra card and get to move your morale up by 1. The middle bracket, 4-6, allows you 4 action cubes. 7-9 allows you 5 cubes, but you lose a morale. Some races have an advantage at high exertion.

Once you have determined how many actions you will have, it's time to play. Each player does one action, then play moves to the next player, and so on until you have used all of your action cubes. Actions that you can take are as follows:
1. Attack another player - very abstract, but if your fleet resource number is equal or greater than the person you want to attack, you get 2 victory points and they lose 1 morale. That's it. There are cards that come into play here, but no die rolling or anything.
2. Build a card from your hand - using the resources you have in your pool, you can build one card from your hand into one of your system. Each player has 4 systems, and each system can have a maximum of 5 cards in it. Cards determine resource income, usually have a special effect after being built or will allow you to take another action, or just have an always-on power. The interesting thing here is that as you build cards into a system, when you build one card on top of another, you replace the effect of the previous card with the effect of the new card. The only effects that are not replaced are "at the end of the game" effects, which you will always get.
3. Exploit a card - each card for the most part has a value in the lower left corner that will give you some resources if you exploit it. Usually this is 3 food, 2 fleet, 1 tech, or draw 4 cards and keep 3. These can really help get you the needed resources to build what you need, or set you up for a higher exertion level in the next round. That reminds me, exertion is determined by your highest resource, so if i have 7 food, 1 fleet and 0 tech, i will still get the 5 action cubes on my turn. So it's not all that hard to get the most actions on a turn.
4. Research - draw 2 more cards. you can spend cards pretty quickly, and you really need those cards for exploiting and building up resources. The 8 rounds of the game go fast, so you have to maximize options.
5. Trade resources - if you have a plethora of resources, you can trade them for others. The trade value is 3 food = 2 fleet = 1 tech = 3 food. You can go back and forth on this scale to get what you need, but this action only allows you to trade a single resource value for another.
6. Propaganda - this will allow you to recover 3 morale. This is the only default action that is limited to once per round.
7. Hire an advisor - the game has multiple advisors that are similar to the heroes from the MOO games. Each one has a specific strength. One of them allows you to build a 5th system, one allows you to get extra victory points when attacking, one gives you resources as an action, etc. They add variety to the game and can make some killer combos.

That is really the meat of the game. You take turns placing action cubes and trying to get the most victory points. Victory points are calculated by cards, those that you earned during the game by attacking other players, and by your morale. You can get negative points by having a morale below 0, so generally you don't want to go to that range.

What I like about the game:
1. Everything is right there in front of you. Each race card shows you exactly what you can do, has symbols that are consistent between cards and board to tell you when something can happen, and the rulebook was written by people who have obviously run into most of the questions that will crop up during the game.
2. There are a lot of strategies to pursue. Combining the race abilities with advisors can really present some interesting strategies. There favorite now is the victory point bomb, where you get a bunch of points for blue cards, but to get those points you have to lose morale for each blue card...which usually causes the game to end because someone is at 0 moral or below.
3. System mechanism is cool. I like that each system can only have one "working" card at a time. This keep you from getting bogged down and requires you to really think about where you are in the game before playing a card.

There isn't much I dislike about the game. I wish it lasted longer at times, because I'm a slow-build type of player and this game demands that you maximize every play you make. 8 rounds can go by quickly. I've not seen anyone get to their max build of 20 cards in the 5 games I've played. Usually we end on 8th round or 0 morale.

I really, really like this game. It's quick, easy and fun. And it's space!!

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'll have to check it out. Sounds a bit light for my tastes, but I have an eclectic enough group of friends that it might work well for some of my less-board-game-savvy friends.

[Fidatelo]

My copy of Legend of the Five Rings TCG came in today. I absolutely loved the original L5R CCG back in the day, though it did sort of spiral out of control after a time. I'm really interested to see how FFG has streamlined things and whether it can scratch that old itch sufficiently. Finding someone to play against will be a challenge, though, since I mostly game in group settings.

[stevew]

Monopoly Gamer Edition is actually pretty fun. Doesn't really play like a skinned Monopoly clone and you can buy several extra characters that have unique abilities. Feels sort of like Mario Kart the board game

[Arles]

Originally Posted by stevew

Monopoly Gamer Edition is actually pretty fun. Doesn't really play like a skinned Monopoly clone and you can buy several extra characters that have unique abilities. Feels sort of like Mario Kart the board game

I play it with my wife and two boys a bunch. Quicker gameplay and the fighting a boss when you pass go concept is fun. It's a great version of monopoly for younger kids and it's fun for adults.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

My copy of Legend of the Five Rings TCG came in today. I absolutely loved the original L5R CCG back in the day, though it did sort of spiral out of control after a time. I'm really interested to see how FFG has streamlined things and whether it can scratch that old itch sufficiently. Finding someone to play against will be a challenge, though, since I mostly game in group settings.

Let us know if it does, I was looking at it as well.

[MIJB#19]

To add to the Codenames experiences, I was underwhelmed by the pictures edition. It felt like Codenames, but I have a clear preference for the 'original' with words. Fwiw, currently I've got them rated as an 8 and 7 on BoardGameGeek, but it feels like it should be a 2-point gap in between.

[bob]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

To add to the Codenames experiences, I was underwhelmed by the pictures edition. It felt like Codenames, but I have a clear preference for the 'original' with words. Fwiw, currently I've got them rated as an 8 and 7 on BoardGameGeek, but it feels like it should be a 2-point gap in between.

Completely agree. I feel like the picture version makes people be far more literal and less creative in their clues... But I've noticed that people seem to prefer the version that they played first.

[AnalBumCover]

Speaking of Codenames, I brought a giftwrapped Codenames: Disney to our white elephant gift exchange this past Christmas with the hope of stealing it back (a strategy I'm usually successful at doing). Alas, when I saw a young girl (~10 yo) open up the gift, she beamed with delight, especially since most of the previous gifts have been the of the typical blanket/mug/picture frame variety.

I didn't have it in my heart to steal the game from her. I guess I'll have to buy my own copy.

[Thomkal]

damn those 10 year olds

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

Speaking of Codenames, I brought a giftwrapped Codenames: Disney to our white elephant gift exchange this past Christmas with the hope of stealing it back (a strategy I'm usually successful at doing). Alas, when I saw a young girl (~10 yo) open up the gift, she beamed with delight, especially since most of the previous gifts have been the of the typical blanket/mug/picture frame variety.

I didn't have it in my heart to steal the game from her. I guess I'll have to buy my own copy.

although stealing from her would have been a good life lesson.

[sachmo71]

played 5 more games of Pandemic: Legacy Season 2.
we've played games and won 3. we narrowly missed the 4 losses in a row card. this game is hard. starting the game with plague in play and 4 steps away from end games is hard. it borders on not fun.

In season 1, there was tension, but here I am just getting frustration. I know i need to play the "game" more and do searches, but since we have to build 3 supply centers every turn just to stay close, there just isn't enough time. We'll see how we do next time, but I don't forsee the 50% rate others are seeing.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

I need to find a good group to play with.

Well one of my New Years Resolutions was to get out more so I found a local board game group on meetup.com. We played a couple games. One was Sub Terra which is a game where you try to escape a cave. It's a cooperative game but we screwed from the start and half the group was knocked unconscious in the opening turns(although I think the group interpreted some of the rules wrong). Then I played a game called PhotoSynthesis which was about growing trees. I had no idea what I was doing at the start so my strategy was off. I almost won though. You kind of have to grow trees and block opponents trees from receiving sunlight. So it's perfect for someone who wants a cutthroat ecologist game.

[tarcone]

Good for you. Go to cons also.
We have a nice sized one in St. Louis. I have met some people. One guy in particular has hooked me up on a local quarterly event. And also, the 24 hour gaming event. Where I met another group of people. But basketball started and I cant drive the hour right now to game with them.

Maybe Im not the gamer I want to be either.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

So it's perfect for someone who wants a cutthroat ecologist game.

I love that this is a sentence.

Photosynthesis has intrigued me for a while, so good to hear a review for it. What did you think of the gameplay?

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Let us know if it does, I was looking at it as well.

I haven't played against an adult yet, or completed a game, but I have played a few partial games with my sons (ages 7 & 8), and from it I am really, really excited about this new version. Enough is the same that it feels familiar (2 decks, strongholds, provinces, honor, rings, shugenja, attachments, etc), but enough has changed that it feels very fresh. And of the major changes, almost all appear to be very positive. The idea of battle not killing participants had me the most worried, but the way you use Fate to manipulate how long a character stays in play is really, really cool. And that change, along with provinces being 'broken' rather than destroyed, helps to prevent the snowball effect that could often happen in old L5R. The way the rings work now is brilliant. And the art and card design is beautiful.

It's been neat to see how it has grabbed the attention of my kids. They are really drawn to the theme and the clans, and have asked to play several times now. They are able to understand the rules and can play at a basic level, knowing how to attack/defend and calculate the outcome of battles, resolve the rings, bid for honor, etc. But they struggle with comprehending many of the events and card abilities, and of course don't really have a grasp of anything but the most basic tactics. The game plays pretty long and so they tend to lose interest after a few turns, or in a couple of cases they get into arguments and storm off. I can see a time in a few years where the 3 of us will be having some awesome evenings playing this or other similar games.

But, those times are still far off and I really want to play now! So I'm considering going out to some local events at game stores for the first time since the heyday of the old L5R. I'm not sure if I'll get the courage to actually do it, but if any game can push me there it will be this one.

[AnalBumCover]

Charterstone is $37.95 right now on Amazon.

[Thomkal]

Just got word from the publisher that Scythe the digital edition, will soon be available on Steam. So add it to your wishlist

[ColtCrazy]

Just got a copy of This War of Mine in to review. Excited about this one.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

I haven't played against an adult yet, or completed a game, but I have played a few partial games with my sons (ages 7 & 8), and from it I am really, really excited about this new version. Enough is the same that it feels familiar (2 decks, strongholds, provinces, honor, rings, shugenja, attachments, etc), but enough has changed that it feels very fresh. And of the major changes, almost all appear to be very positive. The idea of battle not killing participants had me the most worried, but the way you use Fate to manipulate how long a character stays in play is really, really cool. And that change, along with provinces being 'broken' rather than destroyed, helps to prevent the snowball effect that could often happen in old L5R. The way the rings work now is brilliant. And the art and card design is beautiful.

It's been neat to see how it has grabbed the attention of my kids. They are really drawn to the theme and the clans, and have asked to play several times now. They are able to understand the rules and can play at a basic level, knowing how to attack/defend and calculate the outcome of battles, resolve the rings, bid for honor, etc. But they struggle with comprehending many of the events and card abilities, and of course don't really have a grasp of anything but the most basic tactics. The game plays pretty long and so they tend to lose interest after a few turns, or in a couple of cases they get into arguments and storm off. I can see a time in a few years where the 3 of us will be having some awesome evenings playing this or other similar games.

But, those times are still far off and I really want to play now! So I'm considering going out to some local events at game stores for the first time since the heyday of the old L5R. I'm not sure if I'll get the courage to actually do it, but if any game can push me there it will be this one.

That is a glowing review.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I love that this is a sentence.

Photosynthesis has intrigued me for a while, so good to hear a review for it. What did you think of the gameplay?

Yeah I'm for any game that I can ask "Can I cast my seed over your wood" (This did happen and the answer is yes). But it is a game where you have to think a couple turns ahead. The game is basically growing your trees and chopping them down for points. As your trees grow they get points to spend. But you can block other trees from the sun on the hexagonal map and they can block you. I had fun even though we closed down the place (Panera Bread) in which we were playing.

[bob]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

Charterstone is $37.95 right now on Amazon.

Dang, missed this, but honestly have no clue when I would have been able to play this anyway. I wish I knew how the game was doing commercially to see if I need to snag a copy now vs waiting for down the road.

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Heh, we have been playing a lot of Keep Talking as well. Great minds...

Thanks to this thread (and not the Video Game or Steam Thread, interstingly enough ), I just installed this and played with the wife. An instant hit! I can't wait to bring this up with the rest of the family.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Apparently the CIA has a pair of Board Games (developed in-house) that they use to train recruits, and they were recently released due to the Freedom of Information Act.

hxxps://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/03/the-cia-uses-board-games-to-train-officers-and-i-got-to-play-them/

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

My copy of Legend of the Five Rings TCG came in today. I absolutely loved the original L5R CCG back in the day, though it did sort of spiral out of control after a time. I'm really interested to see how FFG has streamlined things and whether it can scratch that old itch sufficiently. Finding someone to play against will be a challenge, though, since I mostly game in group settings.

Look online, there's a really big community for L5R on discord and the Jigoku client

[jeff061]

I recently finished off Pandemic Legacy season 1 with my wife, which was a fantastic experience. Just started season 2.

Also discovered 7 wonders duel, which has been great fun.

If I have any time to myself I still go to my goto for single player, Arkham Horror.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Look online, there's a really big community for L5R on discord and the Jigoku client

I've actually gotten into the game in a big way in the time since that post. I've started going to a game store and playing with a group of guys every wednesday night, and also entered a couple of tournaments. I now own 3 core sets and a copy of all the existing expansion packs. I also have played a couple of games on jigoku, which is interesting but not nearly as fun as playing in person.

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

played 5 more games of Pandemic: Legacy Season 2.
we've played games and won 3. we narrowly missed the 4 losses in a row card. this game is hard. starting the game with plague in play and 4 steps away from end games is hard. it borders on not fun.

In season 1, there was tension, but here I am just getting frustration. I know i need to play the "game" more and do searches, but since we have to build 3 supply centers every turn just to stay close, there just isn't enough time. We'll see how we do next time, but I don't forsee the 50% rate others are seeing.

We are 3 for 4 and lost that 1 on a seriously bad luck epidemic draw. I've found the difficulty on par with Season 1 so far. Creating the right characters and developing with the right complimenting skills makes a huge difference.

[albionmoonlight]

Played Scythe yesterday. Really really enjoyed it. Great artwork/pieces (the guy who owned the game got the kickstarter bundle with all the cool piece upgrades).

It seems like a game with a ton of replayability because the different setups and bonus cards will dictate what strategy you will want to employ to win. So it is not a situation where everyone finds the best way to play and just races to try and get there first.

Finally, there's a real elegance in how the pieces on your player board are used to help process a lot of information in a efficient and understandable manner.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Played Scythe yesterday. Really really enjoyed it. Great artwork/pieces (the guy who owned the game got the kickstarter bundle with all the cool piece upgrades).

It seems like a game with a ton of replayability because the different setups and bonus cards will dictate what strategy you will want to employ to win. So it is not a situation where everyone finds the best way to play and just races to try and get there first.

Finally, there's a real elegance in how the pieces on your player board are used to help process a lot of information in a efficient and understandable manner.

The digital version of Scythe is in beta now. Check the Asmodee site to see if you can get it (need steam for it). I have checked it out because a lot of people seem to like it. But the theme and "too mathy" have so far prevented me from going much farther with it.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

The digital version of Scythe is in beta now. Check the Asmodee site to see if you can get it (need steam for it). I have checked it out because a lot of people seem to like it. But the theme and "too mathy" have so far prevented me from going much farther with it.

I can't speak to the digital game, but I will say that the board is a lot more intimidating than the gameplay. It is a strategy game, so you need to think ahead, but once you start playing, a lot of the intimidating-looking mechanics end up being pretty intuitive.

(I was pretty tired yesterday, so when the guy pulled out the board, I admit to thinking I would just see if others wanted to try a side game. But I'm glad that I stuck with it.)

[Vince, Pt. II]

I have only one Scythe play under my belt, but I was very impressed. You touched on several of my favorite aspects - the variability from game-to-game and relative simplicity of the mechanics make it pretty accessible.

That being said, for a game with giant armored mechs it is a relatively plodding game. Advancements are pretty incremental, and especially in the early going it takes quite a bit to get things rolling. This didn't bother me at all while playing, but afterwards when I was considering the game, the juxtaposition between what I "expect" from something containing giant mechanized war machines and the pace that Scythe plays at was almost jarring.

[jeff061]

Wife and I played our first couple games of The Manhattan Project. Another game that plays great with 2 players, if I didn't know better I would have thought it was designed for 2.

Right now we do a lot of 7 Wonder Duels for quick games, Manhattan Project if we are up for a longer one.

Also purchased Android: Netrunner, we'll see how that goes. Finished off Pandemic Legacy Season 2, which we actually had an easier time with than Season 1. Looking forward to Season 3.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I have only one Scythe play under my belt, but I was very impressed. You touched on several of my favorite aspects - the variability from game-to-game and relative simplicity of the mechanics make it pretty accessible.

That being said, for a game with giant armored mechs it is a relatively plodding game. Advancements are pretty incremental, and especially in the early going it takes quite a bit to get things rolling. This didn't bother me at all while playing, but afterwards when I was considering the game, the juxtaposition between what I "expect" from something containing giant mechanized war machines and the pace that Scythe plays at was almost jarring.

I liked it, also. But I get exactly what you are saying here.
The cost of the game also kept me away from buying. It is a game that I will play but wont go out of my way to play.

While I have never played solo, people are saying that it is the best autorama out there. They say the AI is fantastic.

[tarcone]

I picked up The Battle of Armageddon recently. Havent played it yet, but am really looking forward to playing.
It is based on the end times in the bible. It is card driven. Supposed to be a blood bath. Lots of variability in the 6 sides.

It was on the GMT P500, but got pulled. Some are saying because of the theme. But the designer is selling it.

In fact, if you are interested in some really cool war type games go to micro design games. It is a canadian based game company, but the cost of games isnt outrageous and includes shipping.

Check out The Cuban Missle Crisis.

http://microgamedesigngroup.com/index.html

[Warhammer]

Has anyone played Blood Rage or Rising Sun? What are your thoughts?

[Vince, Pt. II]

Similar to Scythe, I have one play of Blood Rage under my belt and really enjoyed it. There seemed to be many paths to victory, and I absolutely loved the subversive mechanic that led me to the victory - as Loki, I actually lost every single battle I engaged in throughout the game. Although the first one or two losses were unintentional, the rest were VERY intentional as I realized the strength of the bonuses I received for losing the battles. It led to incredibly fun strategic decisions: within just a few turns, everyone was aware that I was actively trying to lose battles; I had to "offer" them greater and greater rewards, or they would simply also try to lose to deny me the benefits.

I would love to get some more plays in. I have not played Rising Sun, but I hear great things.

[Warhammer]

Not sure if I posted this here or not, but Sagrada is a neat little game. You are building stained glass windows for a church. There are three scoring cards that vary from game to game and are public. Every one has a secret scoring card that is based upon the value of a single color of dice on their board. Everyone picks a window that they are attempting to complete. The window is a 5x4 grid with restrictions on die value and color.

Each turn, the starting player rolls dice equal to 2x the number of players plus 2. They then do a Settler’s style draft of the dice. After you draft a die, you can opt to use a tool using favor tokens (given at start based upon the difficulty of your window) to manipulate your board. Restrictions on die placement is all dice must be adjacent, dice orthogonal adjacent cannot be the same value or color, plus any window restrictions.

The beauty of the game is it works for both gamers and non-gamers. For non-gamers, you are looking at completing out your board. For gamers, it is a cutthroat game of screwing over the competition by taking the dice they need when they come up. Depending upon your board, it can be difficult to just complete your window due to placement restrictions so proper planning is necessary.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Has anyone played Blood Rage or Rising Sun? What are your thoughts?

I've played Blood Rage, but not rising sun.

I really like Blood Rage. Conflict is a must, and the card draft really allows some flexible strategies. I still recall my first game, after thumping an opponent in battle...."Wait...You get how many victory points for getting your ass kicked?". That really opens up some options and shakes up play.

For a similar but different, "Guys on a Map", conflict, area control game I also really like Inis. lots of interesting combos, bluffing and maneuvering.

Now I've got to go check out Rising Sun.