Board Games

[tarcone]

Just finished game night. 4 of us. 2 games each of Munchkin and Pandemic. Great time. Very enjoyable.
The guys liked Pandemic. 1st time they had played. This was my 1st time playing Munchkin. I really enjoyed it as well.

[tarcone]

I have some awesome news. My wife decided to buy an ipad. Of course, I was very supportive of this decision.
And you know why dont you? Yes, Im going game shopping tomorrow. I can hardly wait. Im chomping at the bit.
King of Tokyo is in stock- Buying that.
Then it comes down to a decision. I will be buying Fortress America and Dominion OR Eclipse.

Oh what to do. Im hoping one of these games is on the dent and ding shelf. Lots of great deal there.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I have some awesome news. My wife decided to buy an ipad. Of course, I was very supportive of this decision.
And you know why dont you? Yes, Im going game shopping tomorrow. I can hardly wait. Im chomping at the bit.
King of Tokyo is in stock- Buying that.
Then it comes down to a decision. I will be buying Fortress America and Dominion OR Eclipse.

Oh what to do. Im hoping one of these games is on the dent and ding shelf. Lots of great deal there.

I don't have an iPad so I will secretly hate you for doing this, but get Summoner Wars when it's out for the iPad.

[Matthean]

Forgot to add, I got Lords of Waterdeep down to a teachable level. The game really needs the mentioned in the base game expansion. The options for lords are: do the two types of quests stated the lords gets additional victory points for, or build buildings. Yay? It would be nice to see doing more types of quests for lesser points, one quest type for like 10 victory points, or extra victory points for Intrigue cards. Right now it comes across as rather bland in terms of what you need to do.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I have some awesome news. My wife decided to buy an ipad. Of course, I was very supportive of this decision.
And you know why dont you? Yes, Im going game shopping tomorrow. I can hardly wait. Im chomping at the bit.
King of Tokyo is in stock- Buying that.
Then it comes down to a decision. I will be buying Fortress America and Dominion OR Eclipse.

Oh what to do. Im hoping one of these games is on the dent and ding shelf. Lots of great deal there.

Eclipse is fantastic, but it's a lot less accessible than Dominion. What's your game group look like? The game is also better with more players (5-6), although I've thoroughly enjoyed my 3 and 4 player games.

Dominion is much easier to bring casual gamers into and is much less time-intensive for learning curve and setup, and is also a fantastic game.

[tarcone]

Ok, I made my way to my FLGS this morning. I sat there looking at 3 boxes. I knew I was buying King of Tokyo. So it was down to Eclipse vs. Dominion and Fortress America.
I finally decided on Dominion and Fortress America. It took a good 30 minutes.

I think my group would really enjoy Eclipse, but we have Game of Thrones board game in the rotation. And we have only played it once. So that needs more play time. And my daughters will be able to play Dominion with me. And I doubt they would grasp Eclipse.

So I bought King of Tokyo, Fortress America and Dominion. KoT and Dominion will get play time at school when I strart the board game club.

When the next run of Eclipse comes out, I will order early so i can get in on a cheaper price. I just couldnt justify $90. $67, yeah. So in October I will pre-order.

Next up is Munchkin Deluxe.

[cschex]

Great call on Dominion. I just got it a couple of months back and am loving the base game and I'm looking forward to introducing my daughter to it as she gets older. I'm about ready to look into some of the Expansions

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by cschex

Great call on Dominion. I just got it a couple of months back and am loving the base game and I'm looking forward to introducing my daughter to it as she gets older. I'm about ready to look into some of the Expansions

Intrigue is awesome. I don't have experience playing any of the others, but reading card details none of the other ones really grab me at all.

[Glengoyne]

I just nabbed a copy of Claustrophobia, one I've had on my waiting list for a long time. A two player in the mold of Space Hulk with some variety from turn to turn. The variability comes in that the player's actions are limited by dice rolls. Also as players are wounded their options become further limited. The dice mechanic isn't as restrictive as it probably sounds. In any case, this game looks great, and should be appealing to my son and daughter.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Intrigue is awesome. I don't have experience playing any of the others, but reading card details none of the other ones really grab me at all.

I've probably posted no less than three times in this thread, but my take on Dominion expansions is this.
Intrigue gives you a lot of opportunity to make decisions from turn to turn. This has a big impact on game play. If you are seeking complexity in the game Intrigue is a must. If you favor lighter game play, go for other expansions first.

When introducing the game to new or newish players, I avoid most of the Intrigue cards.

I really like Prosperity, and would consider it my favorite expansion. Seaside and Intrigue would be considered "tied" for the next spot.

[Galaril]

I just one of the games "The Peloponnesian War" I have looking to nab for a few years but has always been well over $100 on ebay for a new unused copy but I found a new copy for 55 boxes on ebay

[Matthean]

A game I'm keeping an eye on is Title Chase Basketball. It's a gateway type of basketball season sim where 2-7 players build a team and then play a season in an hour. The preorder price is at $33, but I'm still wanting more info. Minorly interesting note is that it's being put out by GMT Games who are much more known for war games.

GMT Games - Title Chase Basketball

Title Chase Basketball is a fast-paced game nominally about professional basketball. The game focuses on team building, getting into the playoffs and winning it all. Title Chase Basketball should not be confused with a simulation. It is a game meant to pit players against each other and as such can be completed from the start of the season to game seven of the finals in about an hour.

The first half of the game is a card-driven game where you build up your team by improving positions, winning key games and gain ground in the standings. You will need to decide what teams surge ahead and which ones will fall by the wayside. Do you build a team of all-stars quickly and have a giant bulls-eye placed on their back for the other players to shoot at. Do you turn your team of journeymen into a solid-all around squad. Or maybe you want those one or two superstars that can guarantee you a deep run into the playoffs. The way that you build your team is up to you.

At the end of the regular season, the game switches to a full-on dice game using the teams you created during the regular season. Teams match up in best of 7 series where your dice are the ones you labored to improve earlier. As your dice are expended in each series, the games get closer and closer and often it comes down to one final toss of the die.

Although the game does not use hard and fast statistics and has no built in way to produce them, I find that it really scratches that sports itch that I used to spend hours on back in the day with Statis-Pro Basketball. With Title Chase Basketball Carla & I can play it together even though she has only a passing knowledge of the sport. The game is meant to be played by players of all levels of sporting knowledge and still be fun. You don’t have to understand the triangle offense or why you take out your 44% free-throw shooter when you have the ball with 30 seconds left and are up by 3.

[Danny]

Are you familiar with the p500 system? The game likely won't see a release at a minimum of 3-4 more years.

[dzilla77]

Originally Posted by Danny

Are you familiar with the p500 system? The game likely won't see a release at a minimum of 3-4 more years.

To explain Danny's point - the P500 system is a way for publishers to guarantee they break even on a game by requiring 500 pre-orders before they will commit to publishing a game.

It was unclear (at a quick glance) from GMT's site how many pre-orders they had already and without that info, it is difficult to tell when (if?) the game will actually be published.

[tarcone]

If you are looking for a basketball game, I found this game. It is more of a game simulation, though. And I have no idea how euros turn into dollars, so I cant give a price.

nestorgames - fun to take away

[tarcone]

We had a 3 person gaming session last night. Started around 5 pm and finished at midnight.

We played a couple games of King of Tokyo. Then a game of Ticket to Ride. Then Castle Panic. Finished with Fortress America.

Really enjoyed the games. I watched TableTop games about Castle Panic and wasnt real impressed. I liked it when we played though. It was a good time.
Ticket to Ride is ok. I wouldnt buy it.
King of Tokyo is fun. My girls will enjoy it.
Fortress America is a good olf fashioned, line em up and shoot em down. Thebalance of the game is very good. The USA gets beat up early, but the tide turns. The invaders won by turn 8. But had the USE done a couple things differently, they would have won.

Now to learn Dominion.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Danny

Are you familiar with the p500 system? The game likely won't see a release at a minimum of 3-4 more years.

I just checked BGG before it went down. Under 100 preorders, but on the higher side. Still, it looks to be some time before it gets released.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by tarcone

If you are looking for a basketball game, I found this game. It is more of a game simulation, though. And I have no idea how euros turn into dollars, so I cant give a price.

nestorgames - fun to take away

About $47 shipped. $59 if the expansion is included.

[Mustang]

Well.. times come. Gotta wade through my collection and really pare down to those things I want and play. Defintely have too much stuff just sitting around.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Well.. times come. Gotta wade through my collection and really pare down to those things I want and play. Defintely have too much stuff just sitting around.

You can ship the ones you don't want to me...

[tarcone]

Already sent a PM. Get in line.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Put me in the back of that line

[britrock88]

Intrigued, at least...

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Well.. times come. Gotta wade through my collection and really pare down to those things I want and play. Defintely have too much stuff just sitting around.

My wife has started relegating a number of games to the upstairs utility room as I have overflowed the office book cases and downstairs closet. I can't really complain as her litmus test for moving the first wave of games upstairs was..."Is it still in shrink wrap?".

[bob]

Has anyone played Chrononauts? If so, a general review would be much appreciated.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by bob

Has anyone played Chrononauts? If so, a general review would be much appreciated.

I have it, it's been a couple years since I played but it was pretty fun. That's all I can remember right now.

[Matthean]

Don't try playing a new game you haven't really read through the manual when your brain feels done for the day. All the more so when the manual says you will lose a lot to start out. I at least got set up and the initial mechanics for Friday down, but I need to go back and give it another go when I'm willing to deal with it. I actually looked through the one deck I use to see if I could actually beat the first challenge with it, and I couldn't.

[Galaril]

Just picked up Small World the base game and played it with my my 5 and 9 year olds and had a blast. Quite surprising a little game.

[tarcone]

I watched the Smallworld episode on Tabletop. But could you give me a little more on the game. I have looked at it, for play with my daughters.

[Galaril]

It really is alot of fun in my opinion. You have 15 races and about 20 special abilities/attributes that you can combine to make all sorts of races with cool abilities. The map is broken up into different types of terrain and there maps for each number of players in a game. So, one map each for 2,3 4, and 5 players. The object is to conquer territories and with that you receive coins (victory points). Their are ten rounds and I think once we know the game better rules wise it should take about an hour per game. Their is minimal dice rolling and no event cards (with the base version) to use. Based on the race you choose and the special ability with it you are given a certain number of race tokens(armies) to place on the board. So, for example if a territory has another players army their just one you would have to place three of your armies there to conquer it and remove that one army from the game. Each territory requires at least two armies to conquer and one more army for each defensive fort, Troll Lair etc plus any rival armies. The makers of this game are the same that does ticket to ride and in an odd sort of way it is a variant of that game with Risk mixed in. Their are half a dozen different expansions that add different things like more races, abilities and event cards. I recommend you check out the Boardgame Geeks website page for this one as someone is selling a new base game with a couple of expansions for $55 plus shipping that I was looking at before my kids corned me into buying in store for $50 dollars Hope that all helps.

[Vince, Pt. II]

What Galaril said. Small World is basically Risk light with fantasy elements thrown in. You don't roll dice to conquer, you just make sure you bring enough troops. In the beginning, you pick a race/ability combo from five sets of them that are randomly generated, for example Flying Humans. You get a certain number of "Armies" based upon the race and class, and you start conquering. Each race has benefits - the humans mentioned get extra coins for controlling farms, dwarves get bonuses for controlling mines, giants require less troops to conquer a territory when coming off mountains, etc. The real twist to the game is that you are pretty limited in terms of forces. After your first turn, on each subsequent turn you have the option to put your current race "into decline.". When you do that, you take every tile of that race off the board, leaving only one in each concurred territory. They still earn you coins, but they can't move or expand, and their bonuses no longer count. On the next turn, you pick a new race and start conquering again.

The decision on when to put a race into decline and pick a new race is a pretty cool mechanic, and it definitely spices up the game.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Concurred = conquered. Hooray auto-correct.

[EagleFan]

This got me through several days of no power (just during daylight hours). Bought it when I was a kid and it has survived for about 30 years. Found it again when we moved recently.

Sher-co Baseball | Image | BoardGameGeek

[tarcone]

Awesome.
I still have my Statis Pro Baseball game from 1980. Back then I made 8 teams. Put 4 teams in 2 divisions and started playing. I decided I would play a 162 game season. I was about 13 when I started this. I kept 8 categories of stats for the offensive players and 8 for the pitchers.
I never made it to the end. Or at least not yet. I am on game 158 I believe. I pulled it out last summer and played a little. But put it away. In the back of my mind, I dont want to finish it. I guess Im holding onto a great memory and am afraid it will go away if I finish the season. Or something like that.

[Matthean]

The expansion Small World Realms looks kind of cool since it brings in a modular board into play.

[tarcone]

Hey Matthean. Im downloading Summoner Wars right now on my wifes ipad. It costs 8 bucks to unlock all the stuff. It is a free download otherwise.

Ive never played before, so Im curios as how it plays.

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Hey Matthean. Im downloading Summoner Wars right now on my wifes ipad. It costs 8 bucks to unlock all the stuff. It is a free download otherwise.

Ive never played before, so Im curios as how it plays.

I've been checking daily for a week. This was an Instabuy for the $8 bundle.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by tyketime

I've been checking daily for a week. This was an Instabuy for the $8 bundle.

I've been waiting impatiently as well, downloaded an hour ago, can't wait to try playing later.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by dzilla77

To explain Danny's point - the P500 system is a way for publishers to guarantee they break even on a game by requiring 500 pre-orders before they will commit to publishing a game.

It was unclear (at a quick glance) from GMT's site how many pre-orders they had already and without that info, it is difficult to tell when (if?) the game will actually be published.

Also keep in mind that p500 is now like p700 these days. Usually a game will actually need 700 preorders before going to print. The 500 will usually just mean that eventually it will go to print for sure, but again likely won't until it hits around 700

[Danny]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Hey Matthean. Im downloading Summoner Wars right now on my wifes ipad. It costs 8 bucks to unlock all the stuff. It is a free download otherwise.

Ive never played before, so Im curios as how it plays.

I'm trying to download but there's an error where t says unavailable, happening to a lot of people

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I watched the Smallworld episode on Tabletop. But could you give me a little more on the game. I have looked at it, for play with my daughters.

Originally Posted by Galaril

It really is alot of fun in my opinion. You have 15 races and about 20 special abilities/attributes that you can combine to make all sorts of races with cool abilities. The map is broken up into different types of terrain and there maps for each number of players in a game. So, one map each for 2,3 4, and 5 players. The object is to conquer territories and with that you receive coins (victory points). Their are ten rounds and I think once we know the game better rules wise it should take about an hour per game. Their is minimal dice rolling and no event cards (with the base version) to use. Based on the race you choose and the special ability with it you are given a certain number of race tokens(armies) to place on the board. So, for example if a territory has another players army their just one you would have to place three of your armies there to conquer it and remove that one army from the game. Each territory requires at least two armies to conquer and one more army for each defensive fort, Troll Lair etc plus any rival armies. The makers of this game are the same that does ticket to ride and in an odd sort of way it is a variant of that game with Risk mixed in. Their are half a dozen different expansions that add different things like more races, abilities and event cards. I recommend you check out the Boardgame Geeks website page for this one as someone is selling a new base game with a couple of expansions for $55 plus shipping that I was looking at before my kids corned me into buying in store for $50 dollars Hope that all helps.

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

What Galaril said. Small World is basically Risk light with fantasy elements thrown in. You don't roll dice to conquer, you just make sure you bring enough troops. In the beginning, you pick a race/ability combo from five sets of them that are randomly generated, for example Flying Humans. You get a certain number of "Armies" based upon the race and class, and you start conquering. Each race has benefits - the humans mentioned get extra coins for controlling farms, dwarves get bonuses for controlling mines, giants require less troops to conquer a territory when coming off mountains, etc. The real twist to the game is that you are pretty limited in terms of forces. After your first turn, on each subsequent turn you have the option to put your current race "into decline.". When you do that, you take every tile of that race off the board, leaving only one in each concurred territory. They still earn you coins, but they can't move or expand, and their bonuses no longer count. On the next turn, you pick a new race and start conquering again.

The decision on when to put a race into decline and pick a new race is a pretty cool mechanic, and it definitely spices up the game.

Tarcone,

Your welcome

[Solecismic]

Played Race for the Galaxy last night for the first time. I really enjoyed it, though I think the balance might be a little out-of-whack for those lucky enough to have a strong military presence early. In our first game, the early military victory points outweighed a great production machine late. And in the second game, early military enabled one player to grind out 12 cards before anyone could put together a production machine. But maybe there's a way to get production running sooner.

One thing I'd add with Race for the Galaxy: the rules and the cards look quite overwhelming at first glance. But it comes together very quickly once you grasp the turn mechanism and stare at the the icon key a lot during your first game. I think there's good reason for it being rated so highly.

We also tried Dominion with just the base set last night. One friend is a little burned out on it (so am I, really), and was trying to combat the Witch with anything else. Very unsuccessfully. The Witch is so powerful I'd almost recommend banning it from base-set-only games.

I taught my son (9 now) Dominion (also base-set-only) last week. He loves it, but I didn't have the heart to tell him that accumulating five Thieves isn't a great strategy. I'm not sure I'd ever even get one, unless my opponent was both Moneylending and Chapeling.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Danny

I'm trying to download but there's an error where t says unavailable, happening to a lot of people

Known issue that's been posted a number of times on BGG.

[tarcone]

Galril and Vince,
Thanks for the excellent reviews. It helped. Sorry I didn't respond. 

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Played Race for the Galaxy last night for the first time. I really enjoyed it, though I think the balance might be a little out-of-whack for those lucky enough to have a strong military presence early. In our first game, the early military victory points outweighed a great production machine late. And in the second game, early military enabled one player to grind out 12 cards before anyone could put together a production machine. But maybe there's a way to get production running sooner.

One thing I'd add with Race for the Galaxy: the rules and the cards look quite overwhelming at first glance. But it comes together very quickly once you grasp the turn mechanism and stare at the the icon key a lot during your first game. I think there's good reason for it being rated so highly.

We also tried Dominion with just the base set last night. One friend is a little burned out on it (so am I, really), and was trying to combat the Witch with anything else. Very unsuccessfully. The Witch is so powerful I'd almost recommend banning it from base-set-only games.

I taught my son (9 now) Dominion (also base-set-only) last week. He loves it, but I didn't have the heart to tell him that accumulating five Thieves isn't a great strategy. I'm not sure I'd ever even get one, unless my opponent was both Moneylending and Chapeling.

Yes, we basically sepnt our first game of Race for the Galaxy just trying to figure out all the icons and have any clue how to run the game. It was kind of a bear to figure out on our own. But once we got through that first game we were excited to get right back to it and have played quite a bit since then. Definitely not a "one time" game to trot out.

My 9 year old loves Dominion too. Seven Wonders is another one that worked well for him, he was able to jump rihgt into it.

[dzilla77]

RftG is probably my favorite game right now (although with a few more playings Eclipse will probably surpase it.)

My group haven't found that military is faster than production. I think the key is you have to play to your initial homeworld's strength. Also, early on I use a lot of explore actions to find the right cards.

[Matthean]

I think the strength of military was mentioned on BGG, but it's something that goes away after more plays.

I tried Memoir '44 Online and it's interesting, but I need to get some more plays before I get a better feel. While maybe not too restrictive, moving based on cards certainly limits what I felt like I wanted to do.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by dzilla77

RftG is probably my favorite game right now (although with a few more playings Eclipse will probably surpase it.)

My group haven't found that military is faster than production. I think the key is you have to play to your initial homeworld's strength. Also, early on I use a lot of explore actions to find the right cards.

Yes, if you play the base game, it definitely skews towards production. The first expansion makes it swing towards military, and the 2nd expansion makes it balanced. Stay away from the 3rd expansion. It really ruins the game for me. Prestige is too unbalancing IMO. You can also tell that the 3rd expansion wasn't part of the original game (the first two expansions were designed together with the base game, they split it up to make the game easier to learn).

[dzilla77]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Yes, if you play the base game, it definitely skews towards production. The first expansion makes it swing towards military, and the 2nd expansion makes it balanced. Stay away from the 3rd expansion. It really ruins the game for me. Prestige is too unbalancing IMO. You can also tell that the 3rd expansion wasn't part of the original game (the first two expansions were designed together with the base game, they split it up to make the game easier to learn).

That's the key, we are playing with the first two expansions.

[Matthean]

After getting my butt beat on the 2nd mission for Memoir '44, I decided to try and look up some tutorial videos so I could just understand the game better. Apparently I just suck at the game. I have yet to beat the 2nd mission online and a number of times it's not even close. I think the average win rate for my side is in the 60% range and yet...