Board Games

[cschex]

Originally Posted by Matthean

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

The designer of Forbidden Island is making Forbidden Desert.

Wow, that's awesome news. We got Forbidden Island for Christmas as a good co-op game for our 6 year old to play woith us (wife and I love Pandemic so we figured it'd be a good choice). We've played pretty much every day since we got it (it helps she's obsessed with Avatar: the Last Airbender and the elements coincide). I think Leacock is a great designer and this looks awesome.

[CleBrownsfan]

Found a neat site to play Dominion online: hxxp://dominion.isotropic.org

[finketr]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Found a neat site to play Dominion online: hxxp://dominion.isotropic.org

played a game there once and got the shit kicked out of me. and by that, I mean, like 48-3.

[tarcone]

I cant figure VASSAL out. I wanted to play Game of Thrones (2nd ed.) on it. But ha no idea how to set up a game.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by finketr

played a game there once and got the shit kicked out of me. and by that, I mean, like 48-3.

Contrary to a lot of people's opinion, there is a lot of skill in Dominion. I see this every time my wife plays and beats me. It was confirmed when I recognized the 2011 champ at the world boardgame championships was a former magic the gathering champion, Randy Buehler.

[Vince, Pt. II]

For those who play Settlers: a kickstarter for a modular Catan board. Looks pretty awesome, and has already reached its funding goal.

[Warhammer]

I'm not a huge Dominion fan, but it certainly does take some skill.

[finketr]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Contrary to a lot of people's opinion, there is a lot of skill in Dominion. I see this every time my wife plays and beats me. It was confirmed when I recognized the 2011 champ at the world boardgame championships was a former magic the gathering champion, Randy Buehler.

well, yeah, i know that... but it was just being unprepared and not vetoing the "take over the other player's hand" card. coupled with the throne room which let him do it three "turns" in a row... brutal.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by finketr

well, yeah, i know that... but it was just being unprepared and not vetoing the "take over the other player's hand" card. coupled with the throne room which let him do it three "turns" in a row... brutal.

Oh...those cursed alchemy cards. I play with the entire rest of of the universe, but not the Alchemy set.

I wasn't infering btw that you were some sort of know nothing rube, rather that when you venture onto the online sites, some of those people have mad skills that no casual player will be able to cope with.

[Matthean]

I got a couple plays of Dominion in. I had only played once before and it was a 5 player game that was brutal from the interaction standpoint with Witches, Assassins, etc. This time it was just two player and we started with the basic setup and then did the interactive one. I only made it close in the first game due to getting 12 VP on my last turn. The second game I won though.

[finketr]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Oh...those cursed alchemy cards. I play with the entire rest of of the universe, but not the Alchemy set.

I wasn't infering btw that you were some sort of know nothing rube, rather that when you venture onto the online sites, some of those people have mad skills that no casual player will be able to cope with.

QFT, Glengoyne...

But i'm mostly a beginner as only get to play when visiting family as my wife and I have the original but not much free time to play after the 1yo goes to sleep...

but i got the shit kicked out of me.

i hate alchemy.

Now, the beatdown was bad, but also my opponent was giving strategy tips that may seem condescending in retrospect on what to do in the beginning game to do much better the next time around...

my current start strategy, especially if i get 3/4 coins in the first two turns is to get two silvers and go from there.

[CleBrownsfan]

I just bought Arkham Horror using some Xmas amazon gift cards. I have read it can be very overwhelming and hard to grasp at first. Any recommendations or anything that may help the 1st few game plays/ setup easier? How about expansions- any must get expansions??

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

I just bought Arkham Horror using some Xmas amazon gift cards. I have read it can be very overwhelming and hard to grasp at first. Any recommendations or anything that may help the 1st few game plays/ setup easier? How about expansions- any must get expansions??

Arkham Horror is very likely my favorite board game. I've played it about 50 times or so. I have all of the expansions.

The Dunwhich Horror is a great expansion. If you go with any of the larger ones, the additional maps, I'd recommend that one. I never play with Kingsport or Innsmouth. I like the expansions for the new cards and characters, but Kingsport, as a map, isn't very good. It adds nothing to the game really and just forces a character or two to go there and play whack-a-mole to prevent bad things from happening.

As for the smaller expansions, I really like the King In Yellow.

For help playing.

I would go to the Fantasy Flight site and print off the most recent FAQ. It goes a long way clarifying some rules and issues that arise.

I downloaded some other guide that really help simplify the game, but can't remember where I found it. I will look and see.

[cschex]

I've been looking at AH, but it's mainly just my wife and I who can play. How is it for solo'ing or two player?

[Matthean]

Playlist of a playthrough.

Arkham Horror - YouTube

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by cschex

I've been looking at AH, but it's mainly just my wife and I who can play. How is it for solo'ing or two player?

I think if you each took two characters it'd be great. My wife and I have tried to play it just the two of us, unfortunately our dog was having none of it and kept barking at us. He's an odd dog.

Still, we've had friends over and played it and my wife really enjoys the game.

[Matthean]

Z-Man is putting out a 5th year edition for Pandemic and its expansion. It has new art and two new roles in the base game.

[DanGarion]

We got The Walking Dead board game for Christmas (the comic book version) and really enjoyed playing that, I lost both games my wife and I played together. When we played with friends we had a group of 6 and I guess no one really won since it ended up being last man standing at the end.

Everyone had a blast playing cards against humanity as well...

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Z-Man is putting out a 5th year edition for Pandemic and its expansion. It has new art and two new roles in the base game.

After buying it a month ago... *facepalm*

[tarcone]

Ran across this at BGG. Dice Tower KS project. They are looking for support and have some great "stretch" rewards.
The Pandemic viruses look sweet. But a lot of promo packs that might interest you.
Dice Tower are great at reveiwing games. Probably my favorite.

The Dice Tower - 2013 by Tom Vasel — Kickstarter

[WVUFAN]

Anyone try Lords of Waterdeep?

[dzilla77]

Originally Posted by WVUFAN

Anyone try Lords of Waterdeep?

I played it once, seemed like it had lots of strategic options. I thought it had a similar play style to Pillars of the Earth. Its on my playlist for my boardgame weekend coming up.

Sorry, not much info for you, but I think if you have pillars of the earth and liked it, you would like Lords of Waterdeep.

[SirFozzie]

I found a local store to run a dreadball league. Now I just gotta find players...

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by WVUFAN

Anyone try Lords of Waterdeep?

Own it and played it. Very simple to learn and it played better than I thought it would. I would prefer it to be 3-5 players though.

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

I found a local store to run a dreadball league. Now I just gotta find players...

I know CoolStuffInc added a bunch of stuff for it, but I don't know if it is stuff that came with the KS project or what.

[WVUFAN]

Before each Christmas, they have a calander and board game shop that pops up called "Go!". It's a seasonal store only, so after Christmas, they often offer all their games and calenders at deep discounts.

I picked up Axis and Allies for 20 bucks, and they were offering Lords of Waterdeep for 15 bucks. I bought it, but I haven't really looked at it much so far.

[DanGarion]

We played our first game of Flash Point tonight. The wife and I got fairly lucky dice rolls early in the game which kept much of the fire from overrunning the house. It was hilarious as every time my wife and I rolled to advance the fire it would also go to a location she had just moved from. We had a running story that her firefighter was the most incompetent firefighter on the squad. We ended up not only saving the required 7 POI we were able to save all 10 POI as well as the blank ones. Fun game seems easy to learn. We only played the basic setup looking forward to trying it out with the roles and experienced rule set.

[Glengoyne]

I really like flashpoint. Still not at a point where we can win consistently, or even very often as far as that goes. The advanced game can be really tough, but we find the wins very satisfying.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by WVUFAN

I picked up Axis and Allies for 20 bucks, and they were offering Lords of Waterdeep for 15 bucks. I bought it, but I haven't really looked at it much so far.

(shakes fist)

Someday I will stumble upon a deal like that. I'm pretty sure I could sum up the rules to LoW on a single sheet of paper and not even needing all of it. There's a player aid on BGG for each of the houses. I need to get mine laminated at some point.

Flash Point was rather fun for me. It was likely my second favorite play at a Con outside of Cosmic Encounter. My needing to get it depends on if I can ever get a couple who have it to join my gaming group. They have a game night on Thursdays so it would mean two nights in a row.

Found out a guy I recruited for my game group has Legendary.

[DanGarion]

Our last two monthly game nights have been 7 or more people. Back in December we played an entire night of The Resistance and everyone had a blast (10 total participants).

I'm hoping to have the wife and I try our luck at The Manhattan Project sometime this week.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Playlist of a playthrough.

Arkham Horror - YouTube

Thank you for this link. I watched from start to finish the past couple days and it gave me a great overview how to play AH. I have a buddy coming over tomorrow night to try it out. Do you suggest we play 2 investigators each or shall we give it a go with one each? My first thought is two each because if/when we fight the boss at the end it would be pretty damn tough with only two investigators.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Thank you for this link. I watched from start to finish the past couple days and it gave me a great overview how to play AH. I have a buddy coming over tomorrow night to try it out. Do you suggest we play 2 investigators each or shall we give it a go with one each? My first thought is two each because if/when we fight the boss at the end it would be pretty damn tough with only two investigators.

I would go with two each, if you think you can handle it. It will also allow you to get the flavor of the different characters.

To be honest, I don't know how tough it is to fight the boss at the end. We never play that way. When we play, if the the Old One awakens, the game ends.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I would go with two each, if you think you can handle it. It will also allow you to get the flavor of the different characters.

To be honest, I don't know how tough it is to fight the boss at the end. We never play that way. When we play, if the the Old One awakens, the game ends.

Why do you play game ends when the Old One awakes? Just curious...

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Why do you play game ends when the Old One awakes? Just curious...

It's just a house rule that me and my friends came up with when we first got it. It's more conceptual than anything. None of us fancied the idea or concept of taking down Chthulhu or any of the other Great Old Ones with shotguns, rifles and dynamite. That's it really.

I wouldn't say that's how everyone (or anyone) should play it, but that's how we've done it for years now.

That said, there are a few cards in the Outer Planes where you encounter a Great Old One and have fight him mano-y-mano. We do play with those cards. They are horrible those cards.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Played a six player game of Battlestar Galactica today. Was great fun, but got to see some of the hiccups with the game. I was a human the entire way through, but for some reason or another my roommate (who was also human the whole way through) was convinced from nearly the beginning that I was a cylon. Queue Admiral Tigh throwing me into the brig on the second turn, and me staying there for well over half the game. The game can get real boring real quick in the brig. My old college roommate revealed himself as a cylon shortly after the sleeper phase kicked on, but then the humans got incredibly lucky with a string of 6 or 7 crisis cards with no cylon ships appearing. Playing a cylon can be pretty boring if there's no ships to activate.

The cylons ended up pulling out a narrow victory thanks to a little luck and some brilliant play by the non-revealed cylon. By the time we finally pulled a cylons attack card, we had made it past 8 on the jump cycle, and were a few steps on the FTL track away from winning the game. The revealed cylon player (Chief Engineer Tyril) immediately attacked Galactica, damaging the FTL and keeping us from forcing a jump. His second base star attack hit two characters hanging out at the science lab, putting them into sick bay. With one more jump track move needed to win the game, the final cylon player revealed himself, placing two more damage counters on Galactica and destroying her with 6 damage tokens.

Fun, fun game. Wish there were a way to make it drag a little less. When a player is stuck in the brig or has run out of cards, there's not much to be done and it can be frustratingly slow.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Played a six player game of Battlestar Galactica today. Was great fun, but got to see some of the hiccups with the game. I was a human the entire way through, but for some reason or another my roommate (who was also human the whole way through) was convinced from nearly the beginning that I was a cylon. Queue Admiral Tigh throwing me into the brig on the second turn, and me staying there for well over half the game. The game can get real boring real quick in the brig. My old college roommate revealed himself as a cylon shortly after the sleeper phase kicked on, but then the humans got incredibly lucky with a string of 6 or 7 crisis cards with no cylon ships appearing. Playing a cylon can be pretty boring if there's no ships to activate.

The cylons ended up pulling out a narrow victory thanks to a little luck and some brilliant play by the non-revealed cylon. By the time we finally pulled a cylons attack card, we had made it past 8 on the jump cycle, and were a few steps on the FTL track away from winning the game. The revealed cylon player (Chief Engineer Tyril) immediately attacked Galactica, damaging the FTL and keeping us from forcing a jump. His second base star attack hit two characters hanging out at the science lab, putting them into sick bay. With one more jump track move needed to win the game, the final cylon player revealed himself, placing two more damage counters on Galactica and destroying her with 6 damage tokens.

Fun, fun game. Wish there were a way to make it drag a little less. When a player is stuck in the brig or has run out of cards, there's not much to be done and it can be frustratingly slow.

I think you've just described every game of BSG I've ever played.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Yeah, I'm intrigued to try The Resistance this weekend. Picked it up (should be arriving today) for a game night we're holding tomorrow. I like the premise (Werewolf/Mafia with more impetus for interaction throughout and without eliminating any players as the game goes on), but it will be interesting to see how it actually plays out.

[Matthean]

You kind of have to go for it with The Resistance. If everybody just sits there and there's little communication, it is a boring play. Now, if you are a spy and the other person isn't and you fail a mission, simply say something like, "Damn, I didn't think you were a spy," and let the fun times roll. The game is really just a framework. The more vocal and willing people are to throw others under a bus the better it gets.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Matthean

You kind of have to go for it with The Resistance. If everybody just sits there and there's little communication, it is a boring play. Now, if you are a spy and the other person isn't and you fail a mission, simply say something like, "Damn, I didn't think you were a spy," and let the fun times roll. The game is really just a framework. The more vocal and willing people are to throw others under a bus the better it gets.

This is exactly how I feel. And as you play more and more rounds along with a little bit of beer it really opens the game up. We had 4 couples and 2 singles and everyone had a blast. Couples were trying to play each other out of the game and it really adds to it when you have close friends because they play on each other. Not to mention it's a great icebreaker game.

[Warhammer]

The Resistance isn't bad, but its not great either. I am finding that in a lot of games that are trying recreate Mafia/Werewolf style of play that they really don't hold up all that well.

[DanGarion]

Anyone have an opinion about Hegemonic, I realize it hasn't come out yet but I'm not experienced in 4x games. Wondering what I should get.

[Vince, Pt. II]

The 5 (Or So) Board Games To Get Excited About In 2013

I'm a sucker and these all sound great.

[mckerney]

My copy of Tammany Hall should be shipping very soon.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by mckerney

My copy of Tammany Hall should be shipping very soon.

Mine too!

[tarcone]

Mine 3.

And Im really interested in Hegemonic. You need to go to BGG. There are threads over there titled "Convince me to KS Hegemonic" or similar.
This looks better then Eclipse and along the lines of TI3. But not as epic in scope.
It is $69 as a KS price which is $6 cheaper then MSRP. I am on a spending freeze, so I wont be KSing this one. But I will probably buy it when it hits retail.

[tarcone]

Someone Convince Me To Kickstart Hegemonic | Hegemonic | BoardGameGeek

[Matthean]

I guess the question becomes Hegemonic versus Exodus as that's proving to be a TI3 light game. 4X games are reaching to deck builder status. There becomes so many of them fewer of them stand out.

[Matthean]

It's also obvious the designer has his sights on Eclipse since he did a lengthy breakdown between the games. I get it, but it just seems like people only compare a 4X game to Eclipse versus anything else out there.

Hegemonic Compared to Other 4X Games (e.g. Eclipse) | Hegemonic | BoardGameGeek

[Danny]

I have Eclipse and SPace Empires 4x. I dont plan to add another space 4x game to my collection unless it does something really unique.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I have to be honest and say that I haven't played any of the other 4x games...but Eclipse is pretty fantastic. Is it surprising that everything is being compared to it?

[CleBrownsfan]

Played a session of Arkham Horror over the weekend. Couple questions:

1) When the Ancient One awakes do you lose clue tokens you haven't spent? Or can you save/use them for more rolls in combat?

2) When casting a spell - it says to exhaust but it's active until the end of combat. Does this mean that I only have to successfully cast it once for the entire time fighting the Ancient One? Or do you have to cast it each turn to "activate" it? I had a spell that gave me NINE rolls and that pretty much saved us to beat the Ancient One.