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New Board Gaming |OT2| On Tables, Off Topic

clockpunk

Member
I look forward to participating in this thread!

Just ordered a copy of Forbidden Desert the other day - I love Tobago, and even Tom Vassel (who loved that title) recommended FD over it, so... fingers crossed! The rulebook reads well.

Just annoyed that the lone promo card will cost half the price of the full game to acquire!
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
Hi all,

I'm a bit of a Marvel geek and my eye caught a box titled "Legendary Marvel Heroes", it looks pretty sweet; you play a SHIELD agent and you acquire superheroes to fight for you and stop the scheme of a villain. My girlfriend wasn't that interested, but the box says it's suitable for 1 player. Anyone have any experience with this game, and solo-play in particular?
 
Man, it feels like ages since I've played board games (in reality it only has been a few months).

The Resistance is really the most fun I have ever had with friends and cards. It is amazing.

We played a round where my friend dealt out the cards, it was 7 people but he only put in 1 spy card. Needless to say the Resistance won quickly and easily. When we asked our friend why he didn't say anything he said, "I just thought I didn't catch anyone elses eye).

Classic Sean.
 
Huge Star Trek Attack Wing player here. Love the customization and the feeling of a slugging match between Starships. Had the pleasure of playing in some of the OP events for competition and have a few friends locally who play for fun.

A fleet I recently fielded;

Z6IL58m.jpg
 
Hi everyone!

I'm relatively new to the board game scene, but I have some good friends who have a big collection of games, so I've been able to experience some of the newer, more popular games.

Always interested in learning about new, fun experiences. Thanks for the recommendations so far in this thread!

Think I'm gonna head to the store tonight and check out Agricola, Seasons, and One Night Ultimate Werewolf.

Also, am I to understand that Marvel Dice Masters is impossible to find in stores? What's the deal with that game?
 
Started with Catan, then moved on to Agricola (which my circle of friends still plays a lot), and more recently Power Grid (which is cool but I'm not sure if I liked it as much as Agricola yet).

I find PowerGrid much less frenetic and frustrating/confounding than Agricola (not that there's anything wrong with those things). Also, there is a lot more variation in the different mid-games of Agricola than PG.

Have you tried Puerto Rico? It would complete the BoardGameGeek triumvirate (of three years ago, when I last paid attention).
 

Faiz

Member
Short of a Geek Chic, this is the best table I've found for gaming: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50242313/

Seems awfully narrow to me - I was really shooting for 48" width for our new table, but ended up settling for 42".

Also, am I to understand that Marvel Dice Masters is impossible to find in stores? What's the deal with that game?

It's a fun game whose demand exceeded initially expected demand. It's also a CCG model so the collectibility aspect is driving demand somewhat as well. Limited reprints of the Starter Set have been showing up in shops, but are still getting allocated - a larger shipment of reprints is due within the next month I believe.
 
Battlestar Galactica

Finally, we have come to my favourite game of all time: Battlestar Galactica. Don't let the license fool you, this ain't your run of the mill cash-in garbage designed to rob fans of their hard-earned. This, my Ameritrash-loving friends, is legit.

Brilliant. I love BSG so much. It is probably my favourite game since getting back into board games.
 

Angst

Member
Seems awfully narrow to me - I was really shooting for 48" width for our new table, but ended up settling for 42".
Our table is 31.5" (80 cm) which sucks. I'm buying a new table soon and I'm getting a 90 or maybe 100 cm wide table this time (35"/39"). There's no way I could fit a 48" table in our apartment.
 

TwiztidElf

Member
I picked up a copy of the reprint of Kingsburg, and we've been really happy with it.
Plays surprisingly fast for a 70-90 minute game.
 

Shiv47

Member
Hi all,

I'm a bit of a Marvel geek and my eye caught a box titled "Legendary Marvel Heroes", it looks pretty sweet; you play a SHIELD agent and you acquire superheroes to fight for you and stop the scheme of a villain. My girlfriend wasn't that interested, but the box says it's suitable for 1 player. Anyone have any experience with this game, and solo-play in particular?

It's not so much that you play as a SHIELD agent; it's a deck-building game, where you start off with generic agents and add super hero cards to your hand as the game goes on to build your playing deck. It's a lot of fun, more so if you like Marvel. The expansions are definitely worth getting as well (FF and Spidey-themed packs). I haven't played it solo yet, but I imagine it plays just as well as with a group.
 

Mr.Towel

Member
Hi all,

I'm a bit of a Marvel geek and my eye caught a box titled "Legendary Marvel Heroes", it looks pretty sweet; you play a SHIELD agent and you acquire superheroes to fight for you and stop the scheme of a villain. My girlfriend wasn't that interested, but the box says it's suitable for 1 player. Anyone have any experience with this game, and solo-play in particular?

I haven't played the Marvel one, but if it's anything like the other deck building games I've played (Resident Evil is a big favourite), solo play is pretty fun. The deck building games I've played have very little player-to-player interaction, so they're more like competive solo games that multiple people are playing at once, anyway.
 

Faiz

Member
Our table is 31.5" (80 cm) which sucks. I'm buying a new table soon and I'm getting a 90 or maybe 100 cm wide table this time (35"/39"). There's no way I could fit a 48" table in our apartment.

Sure, 48" isn't necessarily ideal for everyone. If you can't fit it, you can't fit it. That was the goal as there are a number of minis games that really do best with a full 4 feet depth.

We had a hard time finding a table at 48" anyway though, and I don't get to do as much minis gaming as I'd like either, so the 42" compromise was made.

Clearly, everyone's needs are different but I could see 35" running out very very easily for a number of larger board games.
 
The OP looks fantastic, good job. Board games deserve more of a presence on this forum, and have rapidly overtaken videogames as my hobby of choice over the last couple of years.

In order of complexity, here are three of my favourite board games from my favourite genre: Traitor/Deception games!

Fantastic post!
 
Hi all,

I'm a bit of a Marvel geek and my eye caught a box titled "Legendary Marvel Heroes", it looks pretty sweet; you play a SHIELD agent and you acquire superheroes to fight for you and stop the scheme of a villain. My girlfriend wasn't that interested, but the box says it's suitable for 1 player. Anyone have any experience with this game, and solo-play in particular?

Legendary is a great game especially with the first expansion Dark City. I play every Wednesday with a friend. It's also probably my wife's favorite game along with love letter. There is actually a pretty interesting solitaire community on board game geek that sets up weekly challenges too. I wouldn't necessarily recommend every co-op for solo but legendary works well and there are two difficulty levels for solo built into the rules.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Been looking hard at board games the past year. Picked up the LOTR one (Reiner Knizia) as I think I need to get gf into the co-op side of things first as some of these games are quite complex. I have Arkham Horror waiting to be played for the first time as well.

Need to put aside the 4 hours though for the first playthrough. Starting to dig a lot of these games more than videogames to be honest. Also been interested in the BSG board game since playing it at a mates a couple of times, although he ruined it by accusing me of being a cylon at the beginning of the game.
 

EYEL1NER

Member
Bought and waiting on:

Ultimate werewolf: one night
For Sale
Camel Up
With the Spiel des Jahres news surrounding it, this one has caught my eye now. I think it looks like a pretty fun game and am awaiting someone to pick it up for NA release.
Played Nexus Ops and Claustrophobia yesterday with a friend. I love Claustrophobia.
I want to play Nexus Ops but I am not sure which version I want to get. Normally on BGG when I see a bunch of people hating on updated designs from FFG, I just kind of roll my eyes and say "Yeah, whatever." It seems like a lot of people overreact to them. But I am finding that they are dead on when it comes to Nexus Ops. The coloring on all the old components looks fantastic.
 

Reule

Member
Shadow Hunters (I think it's called?) is similar to it in that you're on teams but don't know who is who. Masquerade has no teams but all secret identities trying to screw everyone over and make money. Lifeboat has teams of two (sometimes) trying to survive on... a lifeboat. I've had fun with them all.
Nice! Definitely what I'm looking for. I'll look into getting any of these three soon. Lifeboat actually sounds like a lot of fun.

Yeah, the recurring thing I've heard from people who have played Betrayal is that you need to get into the B-movie feel of it and roleplay the characters/situations a bit. Playing that game dry doesn't seem like it would be fun for anyone.

The Resistance, though, is one of my favorite games, and it always seems to be a crowd-pleaser. There's another version of it (Resistance: Avalon) that is the same exact game, but incorporates some interesting new roles. You could try working it into your existing game, as well.

As for games similar to it, well, you have a few options because there are are quite a few hidden role games- either games that are purely about the hidden roles (like Resistance, Werewolf, Two Rooms and a Boom, Lifeboat, Shadow Hunters), or games that use hidden roles as a jumping-off point for a bigger, crazier game (so like Betrayal, Shadows Over Camelot, Room 25, A Study in Emerald, Battlestar Galactica). I love these types of games and I've had to play as a spy/traitor/etc. so many times, it's honed my performance quite a bit.
The great thing about the hidden role games is that It's worked to get people out of their shells and talk to people they don't know. We've been looking at The Resistance: Avalon, Shadows Over Camelot, and Werewolf. Just reading over Two Rooms and a Boom, it sounds amazing. Going to check all of these out.

Left to right, top to bottom: Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Sekigahara, Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, Coup, Skull & Roses, Railways of the World, Love Letter, Descent, Expedition: Northwest Passage, 7 Wonders, String Railway, Tales of the Arabian Nights, King of Tokyo, The Resistance

FYI, the Wall of Games is neither exhaustive nor complete; I chose them because they have an expressive look to them, or I took a good photo of them. If you want to see a game on the Wall of Games, tell me and I'll add it!
Got'cha, thanks. A lot of them caught my eye.
 
With the Spiel des Jahres news surrounding it, this one has caught my eye now. I think it looks like a pretty fun game and am awaiting someone to pick it up for NA release.

I want to play Nexus Ops but I am not sure which version I want to get. Normally on BGG when I see a bunch of people hating on updated designs from FFG, I just kind of roll my eyes and say "Yeah, whatever." It seems like a lot of people overreact to them. But I am finding that they are dead on when it comes to Nexus Ops. The coloring on all the old components looks fantastic.

Both versions are ugly IMO. I like the new models slightly better than the old ones, but the new tiles slightly worse. I would just get the FFG set. It has all those new optional rules seamlessly integrated.
 

EYEL1NER

Member
Both versions are ugly IMO. I like the new models slightly better than the old ones, but the new tiles slightly worse. I would just get the FFG set. It has all those new optional rules seamlessly integrated.
The new tiles are definitely worse. The coloring on the new ones is a dark and muddied mess. The vibrant colors on the old ones is distinctive and looks so much better. I do like the new models, but I prefer the old colors quite a bit.
 

Var

Member
Marvel: Dice Masters: worth the hype?

I don't think it is worth the crazy prices going around right now, but the game itself is awesome. It is really easy to learn, and a ton of fun to play. An average game right now for my friends and I takes about 20-30 minutes, so its a pretty quick play as well.
 

spirity

Member
Dawn of the Zeds or Darkest Night? I've been eyeing both but not sure what one to get.

Also, kind of interested in a war game just to try one but nothing too heavy - is Memoir 44 any good?
 
Great OT! I was thinking of picking up the X-Wing miniatures game. Anyone had any experience with it? How is it?

I think it's a lot of fun and the models are great, but it's a huge money sink if you let it be and I find it difficult to get to the table very often.

The starter set is not really enough to enjoy the game by itself, honestly.
 

BowieZ

Banned
Played Mascarade with some homebrew cards/tokens yesterday, it was okay but I found it extremely tricky remembering ANYTHING as soon as cards are turned over. This was for a group of 5 and also 7 players. I can't imagine playing with the full 13 suggested players. Does anyone have any comments about that one?

Also recently played and enjoyed: Red November, Archipelago, Carcassonne, Escape The Temple, and Bang! (The Dice Game) -- which is a really nice mix of Werewolf-esque hidden roles and King of Tokyo-esque risk-vs-reward.

As for games similar to it, well, you have a few options because there are are quite a few hidden role games- either games that are purely about the hidden roles (like Resistance, Werewolf, Two Rooms and a Boom, Lifeboat, Shadow Hunters), or games that use hidden roles as a jumping-off point for a bigger, crazier game (so like Betrayal, Shadows Over Camelot, Room 25, A Study in Emerald, Battlestar Galactica). I love these types of games and I've had to play as a spy/traitor/etc. so many times, it's honed my performance quite a bit.
I really do prefer social deduction/bluffing/hidden role games, so would like to expand outward from the Resistance/Werewolf/Love Letter fold. Heard good things about Two Rooms and a Boom, and also the Werewolf: Inquisitors.

Anyone have any advice?
 

Faiz

Member
Great OT! I was thinking of picking up the X-Wing miniatures game. Anyone had any experience with it? How is it?

It's a great game! There are a few caveats though.

It's a minis game and can get a tad expensive, depending on how far you as the player wish to take it, but isn't as expensive as MOST minis games. If you plan to have enough ships for two players, expect to spend around $100 for two starter sets, and some extra ships to build out two full sized squads to face each other. But the sky's the limit of course. I've only invested about $160 have around 20 ships - but some people buy multiples of every ship and have spent several times what I have.

You CAN just play an intro game with just one starter set to see if you like it, but having only 1 X-Wing and 2 TIEs doesn't really give you the best idea of how the game really plays.
 

Rom1944

Member
Lately i have been playing Republic of Rome
p6160236.jpg


this game is loads of fun especially if you play in the early republic in wich Rome is so frail that anything can come crushing it down specially hannibal barca.
you play as part of the senate and versus the board but also versus the players you have to achieve the perfect balance to not destroy Rome while trying to win.
 

Karkador

Banned
Played Mascarade with some homebrew cards/tokens yesterday, it was okay but I found it extremely tricky remembering ANYTHING as soon as cards are turned over. This was for a group of 5 and also 7 players. I can't imagine playing with the full 13 suggested players. Does anyone have any comments about that one?

I think the point of the game is that you do have trouble remembering. There is a bluffing element to it, in that in the rare moment when you do know what someone has, you can leverage it for a bluff pretty well in the haze of people trying to remember who's got what. Generally, though, I think it's more about casting more and more doubt on other players' memory. That game gets really twisty when I reveal my own card and it's not at all what I thought it was, and then I try to retrace the steps that led to that and realize someone along the line really misled me.
 

Neverfade

Member
Lately i have been playing Republic of Rome
p6160236.jpg


this game is loads of fun especially if you play in the early republic in wich Rome is so frail that anything can come crushing it down specially hannibal barca.
you play as part of the senate and versus the board but also versus the players you have to achieve the perfect balance to not destroy Rome while trying to win.


I've wanted to try this for a while but it seems incredibly dense and I'm afraid I might fry a couple peoples minds even though we usually play complex games as is.
 

Neverfade

Member
I think the point of the game is that you do have trouble remembering.

This. If everyone remembered all the roles it wouldn't be any fun. Try to focus on 3 or 4 cards and remember those. Like Kark said, leverage over one or two people is all you really need to make some killer moves and get some coinage.
 

Mr.Towel

Member
Anyone play that new Adventure Time card game? Me and my girlfriend are big fans of the show but are hesitant to buy the starter decks because it could be a cheap cash grab.
 
I've wanted to try this for a while but it seems incredibly dense and I'm afraid I might fry a couple peoples minds even though we usually play complex games as is.
I played it once and wasn't impressed. It was really long and waaaaaaaay too dependent on luck. For a game that long I'd rather not get fucked over by a bum die roll.
 

Blizzard

Banned
I'm still cautiously optimistic, but I wonder if my first ever Kickstarter experience (Inceptor) will turn out to be a failure.

After near-constant updates, and apparently being about to finalize production details, there have been no update emails, no emailed surveys, no comments from the authors, and no answers to posted questions in over a month. =/

I guess I should read up on what happens if a Kickstarter meets its goal and the authors vanish into the mist -- that may just be an expected risk.
 

EYEL1NER

Member
I didn't get to any Elder Sign tonight. I read the rules online last week but have read rules for so many other games since then that I didn't remember too many. I play on re-reading them online and then sending a link to them to my coworker so he can read them and then we will get to it next Monday night when I am off work again.

We did get in a game of Smash Up though. My Robot Aliens destroyed his Ghosts of Cyber Apes. And we played some MtG. I used his black-red deck and lost pretty horribly to the green-white deck. I wanted to get some more games in, but I have been showing him the Vengeance trilogy over the past weeks and tonight was Lady Vengeance. Next week should allow for more gaming, since Castle Ravenloft should get here before that. And he ordered Mage Knight, so I am looking forward to that getting here in two or three weeks.
I have Ghost Stories sitting in my locker too, someone who went on vacation left it with me. I need to read up on that because I have been really wanting to play it and see how hard it is. Apparently the guy who bought it found it way too hard and house-rules the hell out of it, enabling him and another guy to win every game. Which frustrates the hell out of my coworkers. So I am excited about him and I tackling it soon. I know it is supposed to be harder than Pandemic, but he and I won our first ever game of that when we played it, much to my chagrin when I read on BGG all of the complaints of people losing their first couple games even when playing it wrong. So I feel good about our chances.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
I am a huge Ghost Stories fan but I think its difficulty, definitely on Easy, is overstated a bit. Definitely doable, and >50% once you get the hang of it.
 

sasimirobot

Junior Member
More about Ultimate Werewolf: One Night

Since my copy of the game won't get here until Thursday, last night I made a impromptu version using my copy of Love Letter Kanai vers. since it was a birthday get together. It went like this with some role playing thrown in:

Princess/Prince - bitten by werewolves so are werewolves

Clown- seer

Knight- robber

Minister- Trouble maker, looks like one with that smile

Soldiers- Villagers

We had a great time as I thought, but here is my problem.

Does anyone know where I can get the Android app for this game besides google play/amazon? I live in China and those app sites are blocked for this region.

edit: never mind I think I found it...
 

Leunam

Member
Had a third big game night at my apartment on Saturday. The most frustrating thing about some of my friends in the group is that they don't shut up when I'm trying to explain the rules, then they need clarifications on stuff that was explained at the beginning of the game. It's all fun afterwards since we usually get the rules on the first go around, but I'm going to have to put my foot down next time considering these are all my board games and I'm fronting cash for pizza and drinks. :/
 

ultron87

Member
Yay, new thread!

Had some people over on Sunday for some light games. Played One Night Werewolf which remains great and has been written about a ton.

Got to try out Mascarade with six people. I'd only played with four previously and this was a much more interesting experience. With four you actually can somewhat easily track the various possibilities of what everyone is, so it becomes what feels like a rather scripted game where the only "bluff" point is whether someone actually swapped with you or not. With six players tracking everything was harder, so there was a lot more uncertainty. Even then things just felt kind of random with not a ton of strategy happening. I think part of the problem was that people weren't being particularly aggressive in the swapping they were doing and trying to get the better roles. I think we'd need to play a few games in a row to really get that down. It might all be worth it for the absolutely beautiful moment where someone goes to swap, puts the cards under the table, and then gets the amazing panicked look on their face of the person who just lost track of which card was which in their hands.

Also played Snake Oil, which is in the now well worn "judge" genre where you're trying to be funny with the cards you pick. This one differentiates itself by requiring actual performance from each player in that you have to do your best Harold Hill to the judge as you try to explain why he or she, currently playing the role of a witch, desperately needs a Lightning Elephant. I personally really enjoyed it, since it was fun to do dumb voices and develop ludicrous pitches on the fly and I really like games that make everyone laugh. My favorite was doing a Hulk Hogan impression and getting to say "brother" a lot as I sold a Pro Wrestler the Table Spring, the newest invention in powerbomb resisting technology. You definitely need a group that has people that are willing to put on a show and do some improv to make it fun. It might be the most group dependent game I've played since Once Upon a Time.
 

Faiz

Member
Had a third big game night at my apartment on Saturday. The most frustrating thing about some of my friends in the group is that they don't shut up when I'm trying to explain the rules, then they need clarifications on stuff that was explained at the beginning of the game. It's all fun afterwards since we usually get the rules on the first go around, but I'm going to have to put my foot down next time considering these are all my board games and I'm fronting cash for pizza and drinks. :/

I'd advise caution there. Putting your foot down could be a one way ticket to the end of your game nights. Not everyone deals with learning rules the same and for a lot of people the bigger point of the gathering is the gathering itself, not the games and learning rules is a chore for them.

If you generally get the rules on the first go around, I think your group is already doing particularly well.

By "fronting" the money I assume you mean you are paying for it then people chip in to pay you back? That's what it usually means. If so, not much to complain about there unless you are still getting royally stiffed.
 

Leunam

Member
I'd advise caution there. Putting your foot down could be a one way ticket to the end of your game nights. Not everyone deals with learning rules the same and for a lot of people the bigger point of the gathering is the gathering itself, not the games and learning rules is a chore for them.

If you generally get the rules on the first go around, I think your group is already doing particularly well.

By "fronting" the money I assume you mean you are paying for it then people chip in to pay you back? That's what it usually means. If so, not much to complain about there unless you are still getting royally stiffed.

Putting my foot down might seem a little strong here. I don't mean it as an ultimatum, I just need to get the two or three guys who talk over everyone else to settle down for one minute so everyone gets to hear the rules at the same time.

And no, by fronting money I meant I'd pay for food and drinks as part of hosting game nights. I don't mind it actually, but hey a little courtesy in regards to learning the rules in exchange would be nice.

I'd say half the group wasn't into board games before but I've been able to bring them around pretty easily and they've responded well to it. These are some kinks that I think will work themselves out pretty soon. I guess I just needed to vent.
 

joelseph

Member
Gamed for 14 hours straight over the break and dominated. Good buddy thinks he is the best Smash Up! player, had to put him in his place on a random game with me sporting Plant Dinosaurs. Lily Pad is a beast. Next game up get convinced to a do a 7 player BSG, not my favorite. Choose Balter and actually got a Cylon card from the beginning. Talked a few people out of taking President from me. Looked at Admiral after the Sympathizer passed to him and saw that he was holding 3 human cards. Nominated him Vice President and convinced everyone I was good. Late game the Sympathizer was complaining that Cylons would lose if they didn't come out. President's choice 2 crisis in a row let me drop -4 food for the win. Toaster powers! Other games played and enjoyed: Robo Rally, Bang Dice!, Coup, and Crokinole.
 

Faiz

Member
And no, by fronting money I meant I'd pay for food and drinks as part of hosting game nights. I don't mind it actually, but hey a little courtesy in regards to learning the rules in exchange would be nice.

If you are doing this pretty regularly it'd sure be nice of your friends to at least bring some drinks to the party or something.

Overall I get where you are coming from, just wanted to throw some cautionary words in there.
 

Razorwind

Member
If you are doing this pretty regularly it'd sure be nice of your friends to at least bring some drinks to the party or something.

Overall I get where you are coming from, just wanted to throw some cautionary words in there.

I find his advice here simply useful.

http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/rules-explanations/

Introduce mechanics slowly, its fine to go easy mode and just have a good time.
Game master/owner usually also does the most homework needed, my friend spent crazy hours learning descent, and we only played 2 quests so far =p
 

Leunam

Member
I'll definitely watch that video, I could always use the help. I have several other games I need to learn by the time we do our next game night and I'm sure this will come in handy.

And we all know that the first time we play a game we take it nice and slow as we can bear since we're all trying to learn the game, but the interruptions are frequent and that's what I'm trying to control.

If you are doing this pretty regularly it'd sure be nice of your friends to at least bring some drinks to the party or something.

Overall I get where you are coming from, just wanted to throw some cautionary words in there.

I appreciate it, thanks. One of my friends regularly brings enough beer for a few rounds, but not much else from the other guys. If I think it's becoming a problem on that front then I'll say something but for now it's cool. People aren't showing up just for free food and drinks, for instance.
 
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