[JetBlackPanda]

Announcement after an embargo on the 16th that Dominion was ready (guess what, it wasn't). Also they had acquired 150 other licences (RGG, Mayfair, FFG) including Rftg and a Catan MM game coming soon. $8M venture funding. Website only showed the old beta login for a few hours, then later on the proper site became available but couldn't cope under the strain. They announced later that they were going back to beta. There seem to be issues with security among other vulnerabilities. Other downsides include no offline (app) play. Check out the forums here for a running commentary over the last few days. http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?board=28.0

What a fucking cluster!! At least my real dominion cards will load.

Wow.

Edit: didn't want to kick this off the last page so here it is.

Before I throw it up on BBG Market wanted to put it out there that since the original buyer found it locally after I had to postpone, I have my 1st edition of the Descent base set for sale. Shoot me a PM if you're looking.

[Petrie]

Not a fan of the TTR expansion cards not fitting into the original box. My damn OCD.

[JetBlackPanda]

I hope this is ok in this thread.

What do you guys think of the Dungeons and Dragons Starter set? The new reprint 4e red box for a complete noob (Never played a single tabletop RPG) ??

Its like 13 dollars on Amazon right now.

[jstevenson]

Wife and I had our first go with the LOTR LCG.

The first scenario / example is way too easy... or maybe we messed up the rules. Gonna re-read to be sure we weren't cheating.

Wife's eyes glazed over, but she was a good sport and started to get the hang of it by the end.

Excited to tackle the harder scenarios and start nabbing expansions, though keeping the cards sorted seems like a disaster right now

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Anybody who went to Gen Con, did you happen to check out the Spartacus game? Early buzz seems pretty positive, I just wanted some more impressions.

[AstroLad]

Wife and I had our first go with the LOTR LCG. The first scenario / example is way too easy... or maybe we messed up the rules. Gonna re-read to be sure we weren't cheating. Wife's eyes glazed over, but she was a good sport and started to get the hang of it by the end. Excited to tackle the harder scenarios and start nabbing expansions, though keeping the cards sorted seems like a disaster right now

I am going to try this game once more but my first experience with it last year was very similar. A lot of work in terms of rules and reading FAQs and forums for not a ton of payoff. That and all the quality in the game seems to come from the metagame aspect (deckbuilding) -- as in scenarios are either way too easy or require pretty extensive deckbuilding to beat. Not that it's bad and the art and concept are awesome. Just that there are SO MANY other good games to play instead.

[jstevenson]

I am going to try this game once more but my first experience with it last year was very similar. A lot of work in terms of rules and reading FAQs and forums for not a ton of payoff. That and all the quality in the game seems to come from the metagame aspect (deckbuilding) -- as in scenarios are either way too easy or require pretty extensive deckbuilding to beat. Not that it's bad and the art and concept are awesome. Just that there are SO MANY other good games to play instead.

Yeah, but I could use one game scratching my CCG itch a bit... meta game could be awesome in that regard.... that said, there doesn't seem like much metagame in the core set (unless it's only possible to beat the scenarios by intermixing decks).

Also rad is that I could play it solitaire. Back when I was big into (and really good at) SWCCG, I played against myself for a couple hours a day... so this could be fun in that regard.

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Wife and I had our first go with the LOTR LCG. The first scenario / example is way too easy... or maybe we messed up the rules. Gonna re-read to be sure we weren't cheating. Wife's eyes glazed over, but she was a good sport and started to get the hang of it by the end. Excited to tackle the harder scenarios and start nabbing expansions, though keeping the cards sorted seems like a disaster right now

Got to be honest and was pretty disappointed in this game. I had an initial excitement, played a couple of games, bought a super cheap expansion and then had no desire to play it again. I ended up trading it away a few weeks ago.

[BattleMonkey]

Wife and I had our first go with the LOTR LCG. The first scenario / example is way too easy... or maybe we messed up the rules. Gonna re-read to be sure we weren't cheating. Wife's eyes glazed over, but she was a good sport and started to get the hang of it by the end. Excited to tackle the harder scenarios and start nabbing expansions, though keeping the cards sorted seems like a disaster right now

Best thing to do is create a method to organize the scenario cards by symbol. Yea the intro scenario is very easy, but difficulty ramps up a lot. You will often come to a scenario, lose, and then try to tailor your decks to beat it. Its great if you play it with folks used to CCG like games.

[Gaming Truth]

Anybody who went to Gen Con, did you happen to check out the Spartacus game? Early buzz seems pretty positive, I just wanted some more impressions.

I loved it

[Affeinvasion]

I really wanted to try Spartacus, but the exhibit hall closed at 6...missed out on a bunch of stuff so I could play heroclix with my friends. Definitely going for two days next year.

[_tetsuo_]

The Well of Darkness quest are hard as hell in Descent 1st ed. God damn.

[Dreavus]

Having lots of fun with Yomi, despite the fact that many of the times I've played I seem to either get stomped or I'm the one doing the stomping. I'm not sure if this is from inexperience or just runs of rotten luck for me or my opponent... maybe a bit of both. There have been some really close games along the way too, though. Had an amazing comeback with a Checkmate buster from Rook (needs all 4 aces to play) while I was sitting at 4 HP... bringing my opponent down from 51 HP to 1 HP. Eked out a win in the following round with a slightly faster attack somehow (I lucked out, I was totally expecting a throw). I can't wait to try this game out with more people in the coming week.

For characters, I've played Setsuki 3 or 4 times now and I love the idea of her playstyle (lots of combos with lots of card drawing to keep them coming), but having only 70 life can be painful. I also find myself stuck at 3 cards sometimes, which REALLY sucks when trying to activate her innate ability. I think I need to suppress the Magic: the Gathering side of my brain and start chucking cards at every opportunity and dodging more, since losing cards isn't a big deal for her (provided you can get down to 1 card left).

[Xater]

I hope this is ok in this thread. What do you guys think of the Dungeons and Dragons Starter set? The new reprint 4e red box for a complete noob (Never played a single tabletop RPG) ?? Its like 13 dollars on Amazon right now.

I think it's pretty good. Great introduction but also nothing more. Also isn#t the 5th edition on it's way?

[BattleMonkey]

I hope this is ok in this thread. What do you guys think of the Dungeons and Dragons Starter set? The new reprint 4e red box for a complete noob (Never played a single tabletop RPG) ?? Its like 13 dollars on Amazon right now.

There's a separate PnP RPG thread with lot of hardcore rpg folks who can help ya.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre...&highlight=pnp

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I loved it

Must have missed this post earlier, thanks. What did you like about it? What is the gameplay like?

[JetBlackPanda]

There's a separate PnP RPG thread with lot of hardcore rpg folks who can help ya. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre...&highlight=pnp

thank you sir.

I think it's pretty good. Great introduction but also nothing more. Also isn#t the 5th edition on it's way?

thanks! 5th edition is like 2 years away according to the stuff I heard out of Gencon. I am just looking to dip my toe in the water with my friends and see if this is something we can enjoy as a group.

[Xater]

Today I also just decided to just get the English release of Cosmic Encounter. It doesn't look like it will ever get a German one and I found a shop with a price that was not outrageous. my group is kind of competitive so I assume this game should go over well with attacking each other and stuff.

[AstroLad]

After months without playing Agricola -- two games in two days! Including a base-game high-score of 59 points last night. Even though the game takes ~120m, it definitely gives you that "let's play again" feeling thanks to the cards. We played with the straight E then I decks, but will probably mix things up next game. The I deck gets pretty nuts in terms of interactions if it's not diluted at all.

[Affeinvasion]

I forgot to mention that I picked up my kickstarter for Evil Baby Orphanage over the weekend. The cards aren't the best quality, and they won't fit in the smallish box when sleeved so I may have to make a custom tuck-box. Overall though the theme is pretty funny and the game mechanics look pretty solid. I'll wait to see how it plays (I need to stop getting games that require 3+ players), but it looks pretty quick/fun.

Speaking of 3+ player games? Does anybody have any suggestions for 2 player games. We have stuff like Dominion, but those games are so much better with more players. Anything that is the best at 2 players, but can still add more?

[AstroLad]

Speaking of 3+ player games? Does anybody have any suggestions for 2 player games. We have stuff like Dominion, but those games are so much better with more players. Anything that is the best at 2 players, but can still add more?

Race for the Galaxy, Innovation, and Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper spring to mind.

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I forgot to mention that I picked up my kickstarter for Evil Baby Orphanage over the weekend. The cards aren't the best quality, and they won't fit in the smallish box when sleeved so I may have to make a custom tuck-box. Overall though the theme is pretty funny and the game mechanics look pretty solid. I'll wait to see how it plays (I need to stop getting games that require 3+ players), but it looks pretty quick/fun. Speaking of 3+ player games? Does anybody have any suggestions for 2 player games. We have stuff like Dominion, but those games are so much better with more players. Anything that is the best at 2 players, but can still add more?

Best at 2 players but can add more? War of the Ring and Battleship: Galaxies come to mind, but honestly those are two player games with multiplayer jammed in there. These next couple games are primarily multiplayer games that work really well as two player games.

Cyclades. Seems odd but I prefer the two player game to the three player game here. The two player game becomes less about the auction and focuses more on the map. It works well and I think a better game than the three player version. The four and five player games still are great.

Dungeon Petz. Surprisingly works well as a two player game. The way it works is spaces gets blocked in a fixed order. So some turns forces you to go for another action. It adds another layer of decisions and priorities to a turn.

Agricola. Different board setups make this game work with any number of people. The two player game is more about a high score race than denying your neighbor goods but it still works.

Pandemic or just about any co-op for that matter. Co-op games work with any number of players because the game is more focused on trying to beat the board and not each other. Two player Pandemic can be a bit easy but with a number of different difficulty levels so you can raise the difficulty if it starts becoming too easy.

[Neverfade]

Le Havre on iOS is .99 cents. If you have an iOS device and don't buy it, you're a bad person.

[Xater]

Le Havre on iOS is .99 cents. If you have an iOS device and don't buy it, you're a bad person.

Thank you for the heads up. Bought it immediately.

[Smiley90]

Thank you for the heads up. Bought it immediately.

Join us here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=468889

[Xater]

Join us here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=468889

I probably should. Don't know why I have not done that yet.

[bloodydrake]

all the gencon pics and videos are making me salivate..
the FFG stuff looks really awesome, tho FFG really does have the chrome part down pat.

Watching the 4 part video on FFG's page really makes Gencon look like so much fun.

Also Sounds like the new Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery is a real hit,can't wait to see more reviews when it hits shelves.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardga...lood-treachery

[Affeinvasion]

unfortunately it's only available for pre-order from Gale Force 9 right now.

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

all the gencon pics and videos are making me salivate.. the FFG stuff looks really awesome, tho FFG really does have the chrome part down pat. Watching the 4 part video on FFG's page really makes Gencon look like so much fun. Also Sounds like the new Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery is a real hit,can't wait to see more reviews when it hits shelves. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardga...lood-treachery

I'm actually pretty hyped for it. The early word makes it sound great.

unfortunately it's only available for pre-order from Gale Force 9 right now.

Yeah, $40 MSRP is not bad but it an MSRP that low might mean a pretty cheap game once it hits retailers.

[Affeinvasion]

Even if it's only 10% off somewhere, I will gladly pay that.

[bloodydrake]

ya 40dollars for a good game is a very fair price as long as components are half decent quality.

always nice when a game like this or BSG surprises everyone by being a good game with a licensed IP

[AstroLad]

Game night last night:
-Six-player (three team) game of Ticket to Ride Team Asia. Man what a love it or hate it game. House ruled that you basically can't talk about gameplay at all since the table-talk rules caused confusion last time. I really enjoy it. I've seen on BGG that the preferred strategy is to immediately use a turn to dump your hand tickets but I've not seen that be dominant at all. Fact is as long as you take care of your own business you should be OK. And the game gets quite chaotic near the end anyway so all perfect plans are very likely to be ruined.

-Two games of King of Tokyo (5p & 7p). One of those games that people might not get that hyped for beforehand but once you start playing everyone is super into it. When you have people chanting at someone rolling dice ("Smash, Smash, Smash!") or reacting a great deal to roll results ("No hearts -- you're dead next turn!") to me that's an ideal board-gaming situation. :D

[BattleMonkey]

I wish my group would like King of Tokyo. No one hates it, but it's always just the game that is used as filler between other games or before a larger game. No one really taking it seriously nor really gets into it. Odd seems like everyone else is crazy about it.

[AstroLad]

That's lame. It's definitely a filler but in my experience the only people who don't like it are those who just flat out don't like dice-chuckers (boooo).

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I wish my group would like King of Tokyo. No one hates it, but it's always just the game that is used as filler between other games or before a larger game. No one really taking it seriously nor really gets into it. Odd seems like everyone else is crazy about it.

That's a shame. King of Tokyo has been a huge hit at our game nights. We've played at least once a meeting for the past 5 weeks, maybe 6. It's replaced 7 Wonders as the, "what do we drag out when waiting for more people" game. It's also a popular one to close out the night with. I really like that game.

[Affeinvasion]

That's lame. It's definitely a filler but in my experience the only people who don't like it are those who just flat out don't like dice-chuckers (boooo).

Those are the worst kind of people in the world. Rolling dice is one of the most objectively enjoyable things that one can do.

[bloodydrake]

Those are the worst kind of people in the world. Rolling dice is one of the most objectively enjoyable things that one can do.

When I first was getting back into boardgaming I was captivated with the idea of not relying on dice to determine how games go.. the way games like carcassonne and puerto rico and caylus flowed without the luck of the bones...loved it.

but after a couple years i've moved back to liking some randomness.. I like something in the middle best I think.

Games like Cyclades and Bloodbowl Manager really don't require dice to be awesome but these add just that little extra excitement to it I really enjoy..and sometimes when its feeling hopeless its always great to comeback on luck when you seem down and out.

[Petrie]

I wish my group would like King of Tokyo. No one hates it, but it's always just the game that is used as filler between other games or before a larger game. No one really taking it seriously nor really gets into it. Odd seems like everyone else is crazy about it.

CSI needs to get that back in Stock or someone else needs a similar price on it. Do want.

[Affeinvasion]

I also find it's difficult to continue playing with the same people if I just win every time we play. Randomness keeps me down (sometimes).

[BattleMonkey]

That's lame. It's definitely a filler but in my experience the only people who don't like it are those who just flat out don't like dice-chuckers (boooo).

Well like I said, they don't hate it, they just don't rave or seem to love it like so many others do. It's quick to play filler. They felt same about Quarriors but to me that is not as fun just because it has a bit of set up which drags down the whole quick play aspect.

[AstroLad]

KoT strategy I'm going to try next time is to get into Tokyo and then just start SMASHING everyone else. Usually I try to play pacifist but I think if you go in at high health, don't get dinged too bad, and then go really aggro everyone has to spend time recovering instead of targeting you.

b/c let's face it, killing every other monster is INFINITELY cooler than winning on points.

[Gaming Truth]

all the gencon pics and videos are making me salivate.. the FFG stuff looks really awesome, tho FFG really does have the chrome part down pat. Watching the 4 part video on FFG's page really makes Gencon look like so much fun. Also Sounds like the new Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery is a real hit,can't wait to see more reviews when it hits shelves. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardga...lood-treachery

Sweet. It's one of the two games I picked up at GenCon (the other being the classic Power Grid).

Speaking of which, did anyone else go to GenCon? Later today when I'm not at work, I was thinking of posting my thoughts about the games that I demoed (that premiered at GenCon):

- Spartacus (?)
- Kingdom Builder (Queen Games)
- X-Wing figure game (?) (FFG)
- Power Grid: First Sparks (Rio Grande)
- Smash Up! (AEG)

[fenners]

- Kingdom Builder (Queen Games) - Power Grid: First Sparks (Rio Grande)

They've both been out for a while ;) I'd love to hear thoughts on the other ones!

[bloodydrake]

always love hearing impressions of games..so post em up :)

[tm24]

PLease post your impressions about Smash Up. Really looking forward to that

[Xater]

Smash Up and X-Wing would also be of great interest to me.

[Smiley90]

PLease post your impressions about Smash Up. Really looking forward to that

Me too, esp the Playdek iOS app...

[BattleMonkey]

Huh apparently FFG is going to be at Star Wars Celebration this weekend. Guess it makes sense since they are doing all the Star Wars games and it's a con about the size of Gencon, but just all SW fans. Guess I'll see if they have demos of the upcoming SW LCG, reactions to the new format seem mixed so far, but I think perhaps many are just upset since the dropped the LOTRO style coop system they were originally using.

[Gaming Truth]

I'll only go over the games I demoed that are new to the community, though I'd be interested in other people's thoughts about Kingdom Builder. I liked the demo game, but it seemed expensive to buy at the con.

Spartacus:

Neat game that holds true to the spirit of the show. The point of the game is to raise your influence to a certain level and there are many ways to do so. There's the political intrigue part of each turn where you (and possibly other players) scheme to do nasty things to other players. There's the gladiatorial part of each turn where two players get to duke it out for fame and glory. There's a third undercurrent, which is money. Though it doesn't directly lead to influence, it's really important for asset acquisition and maintenance (slaves, gladiators, equipment) and for auctions (for assets and the right to host the games).

It's a pretty easy game to learn/teach, thematically fun (especially the part where the host chooses life or death for the loser in the games), and pretty interactive (the pleaded/begging/scheming). I love how they allow for different game setups to control the length of the game.

I had two plays so far: A one-turn introduction at GenCon, which was enough to buy it, and a full game later with two friends. Our game was very competitive, varied in terms of the strategies we employed, extremely close (all three had a chance to win within the last two turns), and we laughed the entire time.

Summary: I wouldn't have a problem calling it the game of the show for me.

Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game:

I need to start by saying I have no experience with field combat games like Warhammer or Battleship Galaxies. This is written from essentially a newbie's perspective.

As a big geek of Star Wars, I was immediately drawn to the booth and it already had a 5/10 rating from the start.

The figures seem pretty well-detailed for out-of-the-box components. The movement templates make moving across the board straightforward (no debating about lengths, angles, etc.). The selection of movements (hidden choice a la Robo Rally) and the movement types (relaxed, normal, and stressed) add a nice level of complexity to a basic part of the turn. Line of sight is handled by a simple straight piece of cardboard.

As we played the demo, it felt pretty good and actually felt like dogfighting. The powers seemed varied enough and there's pretty decent depth for the choices a player could make.

I'm 75% about this game. It was fun to play, but there were a few factors that held me back from getting it. First, the MSRP of $45 + $15 + $15 to have enough figures (min 2 per side) was enough for me to stop and think about it. Secondly, having seen the other types of field combat games out there, I know there are other games out there that are far more complex. Not that being more complex is necessarily a good thing, this is where my lack of experience makes it hard to give it a complete grade.

Summary: This is on my maybe-yeah list. I definitely have to get it from CSI if I do get this, but I'll need to sit on the idea for a little while.

Smash Up!

When I was told to look for this game before the convention started, I was hyped on this game by a fellow goer. The way he described it, I imagined Rampage the video game translated to a board game. My head was swirling with images of a cityscape board and monsters climbing all over the towers, knocking S down. Imagine my surprise when I sat down to what essentially was a card game. His description was accurate, but my imagination let me down.

Smash Up! is a card customization game where the customization basically happens at the beginning of the game when players draft their team combinations. As an owner of Puzzle Strike, that's already strike one because new players have a significant disadvantage against advanced players. As experience grows amongst players, it'll probably level out.

With your two race combinations, you will spend each turn playing an action and deploying a minion to a location. The goal is to overrun a location and the participating players will be rewarded with points based on their contributions. The locations are varied and you can tell that some are themed towards specific races.

Our demo game went to 7 points (a full game goes to 15+?) and … I won with 13 points in 5 turns. Pre-draft, I had guessed that the Robots and Zombies would make a strong team, but had no idea it'd be game-breaking (again, without prior experience, my opponents stood no chance). I think the score ended up 13/4/2/1.

Summary: It was fun to play, but I really hate it when I break a game. It has "Quarriors" written all over it for me, which is a heavy strike two because I just don't see the balance between the races in this game (don't get me started about Quarriors ...). Basically, I'd have no problems playing it if someone else had it but I'll never buy this game.

[AstroLad]

Bummer that Smash Up! disappointed. Sounds to me almost like Small World or something where there are all these combos you have to know or be left in the dust even though the overall mechanics are super simple.

You have me modestly interested in the X-Wing game though.