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New Board Gaming |OT2| On Tables, Off Topic

Nezumi

Member
Looking for some good two player games for my GF and I. We still haven't found a regular group since moving a year ago and so mostly only play with eachother. Because we lack two player games at this point in time we mostly play Tides of Time, Cribbage, and Hive. We aren't intimidated by complexity, but we do like novel gameplay concepts and a strong theme.

You should check out Raptor.
 

sneaky77

Member
Looking for some good two player games for my GF and I. We still haven't found a regular group since moving a year ago and so mostly only play with eachother. Because we lack two player games at this point in time we mostly play Tides of Time, Cribbage, and Hive. We aren't intimidated by complexity, but we do like novel gameplay concepts and a strong theme.

I've been slowly introducing games to my gf, she has really enjoyed World's Fair 1893, which is a quick area control game, Lords of Waterdeep as a worker placement intro, and elder sign
 
Has anyone played The Last Friday? Friday the 13th has got me in the mood for a board game inspired by the genre, how does it compare to Letters from Whitechapel?
 

Experien

Member
Has anyone played The Last Friday? Friday the 13th has got me in the mood for a board game inspired by the genre, how does it compare to Letters from Whitechapel?

I own it and about to sell it off this weekend. Played it twice and I think it is pretty, darn awful.

It is 4 chapters long. First chapter, Jason hides keys and then tries to chase and kill all the kids before they get keys and get into cabins. If at least one kid gets into a cabin, the 2nd chapter is played where all the kids chase Jason to kill him from where they were left on the board in previous round. Then if Jason dies or not, Chapter 3 is Jason trying to kill the chosen one (closest to Jason at the end of Ch.2 or the one that kills Jason) while other kids sacrifice themselves and offer interference. Chapter 4 is Jason trying to stay alive without being killed by the Chosen One.

If Jason doesn't perfectly hide the keys and have a good first round, might as well not bother with the rest of the rounds because he will not have a chance to win. Jason can only get power-ups if he has more dead bodies on the ground than alive kids but it is so hard to kill people because the kids can move so much faster on most of the board. And it always seemed incredibly easy for kids to bury the dead bodies.

My first play was Jason, only killed one person because I decided not to go for the objective in Chapter 3 cause there was no way to catch up. 2nd play was a little more fun as a kid but it was still pretty unbalanced.

The worst part is that the game seems to drag on so long because Jason has to think so hard and drag out his moves while kids can frolick around. It is like one character is playing this hardcore strategy game and the other players are stuck in this campy, light-hearted, runaround fest and so it feels like it drags on forever. Definitely expect 2-3 hour game with your only decisions that you take are just moving a few spaces each turn.

You can play single chapters but I think I'd just rather not play it.
 
Has anyone played The Last Friday? Friday the 13th has got me in the mood for a board game inspired by the genre, how does it compare to Letters from Whitechapel?

Yea its got some neat ideas but it really is unbalanced and drags on too long. The single chapter mode is kinda better? I was pretty hyped for it but it's just kinda boring really and the game heavily favors the campers, the designer of the game himself says the killer wins about 40% of the time only, which feels like hes being generous.

I've seen various house rule suggestions, I wanted to try one, essentially that in chapters where the killer is "on the run" and being hunted, that when he moves he kills campers, while the campers kill on their turn. This creates more suspense as it's really dumb to have entire chapters of the game where the "killer" is running away the entire time and if a player finds you, you are dead. With the simple rule tweak the killer has a fighting chance and it's not as easy for players to simply coral you, which they easily can do.

The only advantage the killer has is that he gets special powers, but once used they are gone for all four chapters of the game, and to get more is really tough, as stated you have to kill campers and it's hard to do. It's also stupid rule cause in like half the game the killer is not allowed to kill anyone, so he automatically has no chance of getting power ups and the final chapter earns you nothing, so you got only three chance to earn powers. Why I want to try the game some time again with the house rule of letting the killer kill on his turn in any chapter. Because when he can't kill, all the players do is swarm your player's pawn, once someone knows where you are, its pretty much game over as you have 5 other players surround you. At least let the killer.... kill
 
I own it and about to sell it off this weekend. Played it twice and I think it is pretty, darn awful.

It is 4 chapters long. First chapter, Jason hides keys and then tries to chase and kill all the kids before they get keys and get into cabins. If at least one kid gets into a cabin, the 2nd chapter is played where all the kids chase Jason to kill him from where they were left on the board in previous round. Then if Jason dies or not, Chapter 3 is Jason trying to kill the chosen one (closest to Jason at the end of Ch.2 or the one that kills Jason) while other kids sacrifice themselves and offer interference. Chapter 4 is Jason trying to stay alive without being killed by the Chosen One.

If Jason doesn't perfectly hide the keys and have a good first round, might as well not bother with the rest of the rounds because he will not have a chance to win. Jason can only get power-ups if he has more dead bodies on the ground than alive kids but it is so hard to kill people because the kids can move so much faster on most of the board. And it always seemed incredibly easy for kids to bury the dead bodies.

My first play was Jason, only killed one person because I decided not to go for the objective in Chapter 3 cause there was no way to catch up. 2nd play was a little more fun as a kid but it was still pretty unbalanced.

The worst part is that the game seems to drag on so long because Jason has to think so hard and drag out his moves while kids can frolick around. It is like one character is playing this hardcore strategy game and the other players are stuck in this campy, light-hearted, runaround fest and so it feels like it drags on forever. Definitely expect 2-3 hour game with your only decisions that you take are just moving a few spaces each turn.

You can play single chapters but I think I'd just rather not play it.

Yea its got some neat ideas but it really is unbalanced and drags on too long. The single chapter mode is kinda better? I was pretty hyped for it but it's just kinda boring really and the game heavily favors the campers, the designer of the game himself says the killer wins about 40% of the time only, which feels like hes being generous.

I've seen various house rule suggestions, I wanted to try one, essentially that in chapters where the killer is "on the run" and being hunted, that when he moves he kills campers, while the campers kill on their turn. This creates more suspense as it's really dumb to have entire chapters of the game where the "killer" is running away the entire time and if a player finds you, you are dead. With the simple rule tweak the killer has a fighting chance and it's not as easy for players to simply coral you, which they easily can do.

The only advantage the killer has is that he gets special powers, but once used they are gone for all four chapters of the game, and to get more is really tough, as stated you have to kill campers and it's hard to do. It's also stupid rule cause in like half the game the killer is not allowed to kill anyone, so he automatically has no chance of getting power ups and the final chapter earns you nothing, so you got only three chance to earn powers. Why I want to try the game some time again with the house rule of letting the killer kill on his turn in any chapter. Because when he can't kill, all the players do is swarm your player's pawn, once someone knows where you are, its pretty much game over as you have 5 other players surround you. At least let the killer.... kill

Bummer. Guess I'll buy it anyway and then never play it!
 

chifanpoe

Member
Picked up Monopoly Gamer today at Gamestop. Played 2 games of it with my kids. Each game took about 45 minutes or so. It was pretty fun and the kids (11/7) both had a blast. They enjoyed ganging up on me and the boss battles. The new rules make it a Monopoly/Mario Kart type game worth getting. If only I could track down a Rosalina power-up so we don't have fights over Peach next time.
 

Spookie

Member
Aww yiss. Appears Tasty Meeples in the UK is a CMON retailer and is selling The Godfather next week. Got the last copy so should have it by middle of next week. Super keen to play it!
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Feast for Odin is out for delivery!

I've been reading the rules, but I'm curious if there are any good videos or resources that will help me out after I finish a read through?
 
Feast for Odin is out for delivery!

I've been reading the rules, but I'm curious if there are any good videos or resources that will help me out after I finish a read through?

https://youtu.be/3pP3KFRAOm4

I usually watch his play through as he played a lot of games that I like. Unlike Rahdo you are not barrage with stream of thought style (don't get me wrong I do like Rahdo) , Tom of Slickerdrips is often more slower but not to the point of putting you to sleep. He played two player game against himself so there is not a lot of downtown and he often tried to go through all the rules. He is becoming my favorite YouTube board game channel.
 

Blizzard

Banned
I was going to send this to HashtagLegend, but I'll just post it here since multiple people are getting it. A few easy things to overlook in Feast for Odin:

  • You can only put one of each type of tile horizontally in the feast phase.\
  • To get bonus spaces, you must surround all 8 adjacent spaces, not just 4.
  • Read the income-covering rules and examples carefully, since this is an important mechanic.
  • You can buy ships using money without taking an action. You can also load ore onto them outside of an action.
  • When you use a dice space, you get to roll up to 3 times, though you must accept the final roll.
  • In the mountain phase, remove the leftmost resource on every mountain tile. If any tiles are empty, then you remove the EMPTY tiles. In the original rules it was easy to misinterpret (people would see a tile with silver + ore, remove the ore, and then remove the tile -- this is wrong -- silver can be left by itself after the mountain phase).
  • In the final round, you can choose to pay yourself your income in silver, or simply add it to your final score. You do NOT do both.
  • When you add silver to non-flipped islands, do it even if someone owns the island that would have been flipped.
  • When the rules say the market spaces are bad, they are not joking. It's hard to starve so you should pretty much never use those spaces unless you get forced to due to starvation, or you have an occupation that improves them.
  • Houses use the same placement rule as islands and the main board, EXCEPT you cannot put ore in houses, and you can put green tiles next to each other in houses.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Woah, really? :O

I've definitely not been doing that in the few games I've played, ha.
Yep, page 8.

"Place silver on the other exploration boards even if the
exploration board that is supposed to be turned has already been
claimed by a player."


Of course you only put silver on UNCLAIMED boards though.


*edit* I forgot to mention, here is the solo scenario thread: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1664063/feast-odin-weekly-solo-competition-now-playing-pir/page/1 (I don't get any sort of ad revenue etc. so I hope this is OK to link)
 
Been digging more into solo-able deckbuilding style games...

noticed Gloom of Kilforth; what's the word on the street about it? it looks interesting but I don't know what to think of it yet.

Also, been slowly playing more LotR LCG and love it to death <3 Just got a friend to play as well so now I have a solid co-op buddy.

Gloom of Kilforth is not deckbulding nor deck construction (I am not sure what context you are using the word deckbulding) it's more like Arkham Horror board game or Eldritch Horror. You have locations you visit, you turn over encounter card at that location and roll to beat the test. If you win you get reward which build up your character to ultimately fight the boss. There is event deck that flip every day / night cycle which in turn limit you option and act as timer.

If you are looking for deckbuilding by the old definition, ie constructed a deck to fight each other or against AI like LoTR ccg, then I would recommend Arkham Horror LCG but the deck construction element is not the main emphasis like LOTR.

If you are saying deckbuilding as in game like Legendary, then I would recommend Legendary Encounter Aliens. If you want something really meaty, then my favorite solo / 2 player co-op game is Mage Knight. It has light deckbuilding but a lot of puzzle strategy but the game is a bear to learn.
 

Noaloha

Member
Yep, page 8.

"Place silver on the other exploration boards even if the
exploration board that is supposed to be turned has already been
claimed by a player."


Of course you only put silver on UNCLAIMED boards though.

I'm a little confused; I suspect I'm missing some nuance! I have been using the "only put silver on unclaimed boards" ruling as a basis to stick to. So, if a board moves from supply to a player's area, no silver'll be getting added there.

Why then are the quoted instructions above not contradictory / cancelling? I'm away from convenient rules and a little tipsy, so forgive my uncritical thinking; I'm seeing one ruling of putting silver on boards to be turned that have been claimed, then another ruling saying 'never if claimed'.

I'm sorry for whatever obvious thing I'm missing!

How can a board be described as 'already been claimed by a player' but still then have silver put on it? Maybe point out a practical example to aid my simpleton noggin?
 

Blizzard

Banned
I'm a little confused; I suspect I'm missing some nuance! I have been using the "only put silver on unclaimed boards" ruling as a basis to stick to. So, if a board moves from supply to a player's area, no silver'll be getting added there.

Why then are the quoted instructions above not contradictory / cancelling? I'm away from convenient rules and a little tipsy, so forgive my uncritical thinking; I'm seeing one ruling of putting silver on boards to be turned that have been claimed, then another ruling saying 'never if claimed'.

I'm sorry for whatever obvious thing I'm missing!

How can a board be described as 'already been claimed by a player' but still then have silver put on it? Maybe point out a practical example to aid my simpleton noggin?

Sorry, I'm probably being confusing because I didn't quote the entire page 8 section of rules. Let me try to simplify:

1. If an unclaimed island is supposed to flip, it loses all silver on it.
2. All OTHER unclaimed islands get silver added to them.
3. I just wanted to emphasize step #2 happens even if the board that would flip has been claimed.


Example: You own island A. When island A is supposed to flip (which doesn't happen), you still add silver to islands B and C and D.


If you already played this way, then I was just being confusing and I apologize. :p
 

Fury451

Banned
Been digging more into solo-able deckbuilding style games...

noticed Gloom of Kilforth; what's the word on the street about it? it looks interesting but I don't know what to think of it yet.

Also, been slowly playing more LotR LCG and love it to death <3 Just got a friend to play as well so now I have a solid co-op buddy.

It wasn't solo, but I always though that Warhammer:40k Conquest could've worked as a co-op game too- especially after playing Arkham LCG. I get why they went competitive with it though, seeing as how adversarial that universe is.
 

Experien

Member
Opened and set up Dice Forge and is everything laid out so nicely in the box. Definitely room for expansions and I stupidly had a longer time than I'd like to admit setting up the starter dice.

I probably won't get to play it until Tuesday but looks like it could be great fun.
 

Noaloha

Member
If you already played this way, then I was just being confusing and I apologize. :p

I get it now. And I actually didn't note that specific. Up to now I guess I've been good(-ish), but I definitely appreciate the edge-case nod. Thank you for the clarification

And no, no, I apologise. Your post was a really great effort-post, much appreciated. I infered too much.
 
Bears Vs Babies, silly simple fun. I mean if you liked Exploding Kittens, it's a filler like game. Only issue I can see is that the game could potentially drag? We had alot of down time due to table talk so game took longer than it should have probably but I think it might annoy some people that it's not faster. Course length of game is also dictated by amount of cards used, so like the kickstarter added cards just make it longer. Take out the extras and stick to base game potentially.
 
Gloom of Kilforth is not deckbulding nor deck construction (I am not sure what context you are using the word deckbulding) it's more like Arkham Horror board game or Eldritch Horror. You have locations you visit, you turn over encounter card at that location and roll to beat the test. If you win you get reward which build up your character to ultimately fight the boss. There is event deck that flip every day / night cycle which in turn limit you option and act as timer.

If you are looking for deckbuilding by the old definition, ie constructed a deck to fight each other or against AI like LoTR ccg, then I would recommend Arkham Horror LCG but the deck construction element is not the main emphasis like LOTR.

If you are saying deckbuilding as in game like Legendary, then I would recommend Legendary Encounter Aliens. If you want something really meaty, then my favorite solo / 2 player co-op game is Mage Knight. It has light deckbuilding but a lot of puzzle strategy but the game is a bear to learn.

Already suggested mage knight to somebody else on the last page but I'll second it here anyway. The deck building as said is pretty light, you start each game with a preset deck that you add half a dozen or so cards to during play. The new cards make a real difference though and are the primary way you become strong enough to beat the end battles in solo/coop. It also has special skills to choose as you level and units you can recruit. It's less of an orc-bashing romp (although it has that) and more of a hand-optimization tactical puzzle. I really love it and don't get to play it half as much as I'd like. One thing some people don't like is that the combat is deterministic - there's no dice chucking or similar, it's purely about maximising the amount of block and damage points you can get from your current cards. Takes a while to explain though so watching a playthrough is a good idea. I think most people recommend the Ricky Royal one.

Edit: here.
 
Gloom of Kilforth is not deckbulding nor deck construction (I am not sure what context you are using the word deckbulding) it's more like Arkham Horror board game or Eldritch Horror. You have locations you visit, you turn over encounter card at that location and roll to beat the test. If you win you get reward which build up your character to ultimately fight the boss. There is event deck that flip every day / night cycle which in turn limit you option and act as timer.

If you are looking for deckbuilding by the old definition, ie constructed a deck to fight each other or against AI like LoTR ccg, then I would recommend Arkham Horror LCG but the deck construction element is not the main emphasis like LOTR.

If you are saying deckbuilding as in game like Legendary, then I would recommend Legendary Encounter Aliens. If you want something really meaty, then my favorite solo / 2 player co-op game is Mage Knight. It has light deckbuilding but a lot of puzzle strategy but the game is a bear to learn.

Thanks for the input. I've looked into Legendary, but man... I really hate the art. If the art in a board or card game is off, it's really hard for me to enjoy a game regardless of how well it plays :(

I like the amount of deckbuilding in LotR LCG, but I can't seem to find anything else on the market that is similar in the amount of pre-game deck building you do, which I love.

I might grab Arkahm sometime soon, but I'm waiting to see how deep I can get some friends into LotR LCG.

It wasn't solo, but I always though that Warhammer:40k Conquest could've worked as a co-op game too- especially after playing Arkham LCG. I get why they went competitive with it though, seeing as how adversarial that universe is.

Yeah I really like the aspect of LotR LCG the fact that I can play on my own whenever I want solo, I just wish it was more present in other games, though I feel more and more solo games are being released.

Already suggested mage knight to somebody else on the last page but I'll second it here anyway. The deck building as said is pretty light, you start each game with a preset deck that you add half a dozen or so cards to during play. The new cards make a real difference though and are the primary way you become strong enough to beat the end battles in solo/coop. It also has special skills to choose as you level and units you can recruit. It's less of an orc-bashing romp (although it has that) and more of a hand-optimization tactical puzzle. I really love it and don't get to play it half as much as I'd like. One thing some people don't like is that the combat is deterministic - there's no dice chucking or similar, it's purely about maximising the amount of block and damage points you can get from your current cards. Takes a while to explain though so watching a playthrough is a good idea. I think most people recommend the Ricky Royal one.

Edit: here.

I keep randomly running into Mage Knight on my searches. I'll check out how it plays soon to see. thx
 
Picked up Monopoly Gamer today at Gamestop. Played 2 games of it with my kids. Each game took about 45 minutes or so. It was pretty fun and the kids (11/7) both had a blast. They enjoyed ganging up on me and the boss battles. The new rules make it a Monopoly/Mario Kart type game worth getting. If only I could track down a Rosalina power-up so we don't have fights over Peach next time.

Saw the standard edition in a toy store a few days ago. Mario theme and minis is rather tempting. Thought about getting it but decided that I'd rather get Ticket to Ride (10th anniversary edition if possible) instead. Fast forward to today, saw the collector's edition in a different toy store and immediately caved. LOL. Can't wait to play this tonight.

P.S. Collector's edition manual is the best quality board game manual I ever have.
 

Neverfade

Member
Played Escape from 100 Million BC last night. Pretty fun, essentially an Arkham Horror style skill-check fest (not surprising, considering this is also a Kevin Wilson joint), but a pretty cool theme laid over it.
 

Protome

Member
Has anyone played The Last Friday? Friday the 13th has got me in the mood for a board game inspired by the genre, how does it compare to Letters from Whitechapel?

The other responses to your post are pretty spot on imo, The Last Friday is pretty abysmal. It's a shame though, I love Letters from Whitechapel so was excited about a similar game. It's marginally more fun to play a chapter at a time rather than trying to play a full game of it though.
 

zulux21

Member
Bears Vs Babies, silly simple fun. I mean if you liked Exploding Kittens, it's a filler like game. Only issue I can see is that the game could potentially drag? We had alot of down time due to table talk so game took longer than it should have probably but I think it might annoy some people that it's not faster. Course length of game is also dictated by amount of cards used, so like the kickstarter added cards just make it longer. Take out the extras and stick to base game potentially.

I played my friend's copy of it.

while I didn't hate exploding kittens and would play that again I don't think I ever want to touch bears vs babies.

it wasn't funny.
it wasn't fun to play.

the mechanics are simple, but not well thought out.
and it's just completely random. My wife went nearly the entire game without getting bodies, and yes she could have spent a turn pulling a single card from the discards it doesn't exactly result in a way for her to do anything when she is getting 2 less cards per turn (3 players so got 3 potential draws compared to the single card from discard)

I mean I can have fun with random games, but when the best the game has to offer mechanically is a small joke when you combine a head with a silly body it can just stay away from me.
 
Whats a good deck builder game to convince hardcore magic people to escape their bubble and try more things?

Also do you guys sleeve every game you keep that primarily uses cards? I just sleeved all of smash up and have a ton of extra black sleeves and am trying to decide if things like pandemic, forbidden island, one deck dungeon, and hanabi should be sleeved.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Whats a good deck builder game to convince hardcore magic people to escape their bubble and try more things?

Also do you guys sleeve every game you keep that primarily uses cards? I just sleeved all of smash up and have a ton of extra black sleeves and am trying to decide if things like pandemic, forbidden island, one deck dungeon, and hanabi should be sleeved.
Millennium Blades for humor and heavy CCG theme but not deck building shuffling per se.

Dominion for classic deck building where you make choices from a fixed set of options.

Valley of the Kings if you just want to try a tiny deck builder before investing anything.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Whats a good deck builder game to convince hardcore magic people to escape their bubble and try more things?

Also do you guys sleeve every game you keep that primarily uses cards? I just sleeved all of smash up and have a ton of extra black sleeves and am trying to decide if things like pandemic, forbidden island, one deck dungeon, and hanabi should be sleeved.

Mage Wars, it's Magic but adding a whole new dimension to a genre they love with unit placement. Also doesn't require to buy a million booster packs, just the main expansions.
 

zulux21

Member
Whats a good deck builder game to convince hardcore magic people to escape their bubble and try more things?

Also do you guys sleeve every game you keep that primarily uses cards? I just sleeved all of smash up and have a ton of extra black sleeves and am trying to decide if things like pandemic, forbidden island, one deck dungeon, and hanabi should be sleeved.

I sleeve games that tells would be decently easy to show up and would matter.

pandemic/frobidden island i don't have sleeves
hanabi I do.

most deck builders are a must since you have a starter deck that gets discolored faster than all the other cards.
 

EYEL1NER

Member
Whats a good deck builder game to convince hardcore magic people to escape their bubble and try more things?

Also do you guys sleeve every game you keep that primarily uses cards? I just sleeved all of smash up and have a ton of extra black sleeves and am trying to decide if things like pandemic, forbidden island, one deck dungeon, and hanabi should be sleeved.
Codex maybe, though it isn't really a deckbuilder by the strictest definition.
 

Neverfade

Member
Mage Wars, it's Magic but adding a whole new dimension to a genre they love with unit placement. Also doesn't require to buy a million booster packs, just the main expansions.

Even better, I'd say Mage Wars Academy boils it down to an even more concentrated Magic feel.
 
Millennium Blades for humor and heavy CCG theme but not deck building shuffling per se.

Dominion for classic deck building where you make choices from a fixed set of options.

Valley of the Kings if you just want to try a tiny deck builder before investing anything.

Mb is on my to buy list for sure, votk looks dope, dominion I dunno it seems fun but the theme seems fairly bland. I'd want to play dominion before I paid for it.

Mage Wars, it's Magic but adding a whole new dimension to a genre they love with unit placement. Also doesn't require to buy a million booster packs, just the main expansions.

Sucks I can't afford the mass drop had the first 3 mw for like $110 :| its also on my to buy list with summoner wars

Also mage wars academy is on my to buy list

I sleeve games that tells would be decently easy to show up and would matter.

pandemic/frobidden island i don't have sleeves
hanabi I do.

most deck builders are a must since you have a starter deck that gets discolored faster than all the other cards.

That mostly makes sense. The issue I have is some games need clear sleeves since the cards are double sided, and some need red/blue sleeves to distinguish sides or types of cards. Getting 400 black seemed like a good idea but now I've got over 200 extra maybe I should buy more smash up expansions :V

Codex maybe, though it isn't really a deckbuilder by the strictest definition.

Not heard of codex will look into it
 

zulux21

Member
That mostly makes sense. The issue I have is some games need clear sleeves since the cards are double sided, and some need red/blue sleeves to distinguish sides or types of cards. Getting 400 black seemed like a good idea but now I've got over 200 extra maybe I should buy more smash up expansions :V

see I just went crazy and bought 100 packs of 100 clear sleeves for $40 off ebay (aka 10,000 sleeves)

I have like half of them left lol.

legendary with all the expansions takes a lot of sleeves :p
 

Blizzard

Banned
Mb is on my to buy list for sure, votk looks dope, dominion I dunno it seems fun but the theme seems fairly bland. I'd want to play dominion before I paid for it.
If Millennium Blades ($60 USD on Amazon right now) is a hit, definitely grab the Set Rotation expansion ($30-ish USD).

As for Dominion, that's a fair complaint. It has a standard medieval fantasy theme, but it is a classic for a reason. Here's what I'd suggest:

1. Try to find a local board game store that has a playtest / playing area. They should have a copy of Dominion and you can try it out.

2. What is the draw of Magic for you and your friends? If what you love is carefully constructing an optimal deck from a full range of choices, Dominion does provide that, a sort of competitive optimization given a specific list of cards to choose from. If what you love instead is a strong theme and flavor text, avoid Dominion.

3. What is your budget? Millennium Blades has a ton of content but is going to run $60-ish (or $90 with Set Rotation). Dominion is going to run $30-ish + $30-ish per expansion (don't buy any expansions until trying the game). Valley of the Kings is going to run $20, or $50 for the base game plus BOTH expansions.


I haven't played some of the other suggestions like Mage Wars Academy, but they are probably good choices. If you simply want to try deckbuilding mechanics with decent theme, dropping $20 on Valley of the Kings (or even $14 for the standalone Afterlife expansion, since you can buy them out of order and then mix/match) is by far the most compact and lowest risk way to experiment.

If you only get one shot on selling them on other card games, and if you fail they will forever play only Magic, and they have a sense of humor, I think Millennium Blades is the way to go -- but try simulating a game by yourself first so you understand the rules, otherwise you may turn people off by being too slow.
 

TeddyBoy

Member
Can someone help me identify the board game I was playing?

It's an RPG type board game with three levels, you pick a character and you go across one of the three levels slowly defeating enemies, picking up followers or just getting additional stat boosts.

You can get turned into a frog at points in which case you drop all your gear and your character figure is replaced with a frog.

To get to the end goal you need to have a Talisman which can be found by random cards, events or a mission.

The end zone you can either choose craft or might, choosing might you have to play a game dice with death where you have to role dice against death until you win.

To win you need to reach the end goal (a giant tower surrounded by gold), and roll dice to remove one health from all other players until they die.
 
I have a question about mage knight.
Can you "win"? Like, there's an end objective that you can reach and then you have the score, or simply you play till you die and calculate the final score?
 

Blizzard

Banned
Can someone help me identify the board game I was playing?

It's an RPG type board game with three levels, you pick a character and you go across one of the three levels slowly defeating enemies, picking up followers or just getting additional stat boosts.

You can get turned into a frog at points in which case you drop all your gear and your character figure is replaced with a frog.

To get to the end goal you need to have a Talisman which can be found by random cards, events or a mission.

The end zone you can either choose craft or might, choosing might you have to play a game dice with death where you have to role dice against death until you win.

To win you need to reach the end goal (a giant tower surrounded by gold), and roll dice to remove one health from all other players until they die.
It's Talisman. I've had a really bad experience with it but some people like it.
 

Protome

Member
Bought a bunch of stuff on Friday because I have more money than sense and was passing by the board game shop I used to live near.

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Also had a board game day for the first time in ages yesterday. Mostly played a few lighter games that we all enjoy to get back into it.

Shiba Inu House - This was the only new game we played, it's incredibly simple but pretty fun. Everyone has a hand of cards (the same cards) and everyone draws a Doghouse card, then has to find the cards in their hand and arrange them to match the image on the card. How quickly you do it gets you more points.
It has adorable artwork, is super easy to play and is a bit of a laugh so it's a good little warmup/filler game. My one issue with it is that there was a misprint in the original run. All the cards in your hand are meant to be double sided but three of them have the same thing on both sides. The game comes with an extra pack of replacement cards to fix this but there's nothing in the box to explain that, so we assumed they were promo cards or something and ignored them then realised a couple of rounds in that we were getting impossible combinations. Was fine once we realised this though.
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Game of Thrones: Hand of the King - Another really simple game, it's just set collection but with a neat little mechanic where you're all taking turns to move one character around and he collects all the cards you want on his way until he eventually can no longer move. I don't really have any appreciation for Game of Thrones but the art work was really pretty and the gameplay was fun enough.

Sheriff of Nottingham - Hadn't played this in quite a bit but it's definitely one of those games that the moment you start playing you're like "OH RIGHT, THIS GAME IS THE BEST." It helped that the four of us playing all know each other pretty damn well, so bluffing and double bluffing was so hard to do and even harder to detect. Love it.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
I have a question about mage knight.
Can you "win"? Like, there's an end objective that you can reach and then you have the score, or simply you play till you die and calculate the final score?

The main goal changes slightly depending on which scenario you are playing. But for the most part, the goal is to conquer two cities. Your first few games will end in utter failure. You still earn points as you go based on the actions you take and the "state of the world", so you can use that as a metric for how you're doing in terms of learning how to win the game.
 
The main goal changes slightly depending on which scenario you are playing. But for the most part, the goal is to conquer two cities. Your first few games will end in utter failure. You still earn points as you go based on the actions you take and the "state of the world", so you can use that as a metric for how you're doing in terms of learning how to win the game.

Great, thanks!
 

Experien

Member
Sheriff of Nottingham - Hadn't played this in quite a bit but it's definitely one of those games that the moment you start playing you're like "OH RIGHT, THIS GAME IS THE BEST." It helped that the four of us playing all know each other pretty damn well, so bluffing and double bluffing was so hard to do and even harder to detect. Love it.

You should look into Oh Captain!. I found I enjoyed it more since it is easier to play and not as math heavy at the game. Probably more of a streamlined version but the cards have abilities.
 

Palmer_v1

Member
Played Dice Forge this weekend. It was alright. All of these engine building games always end too fast for my taste. Need to play it more, but it felt like there weren't very meaningful choices to be made. The best action was usually self evident.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Bought a bunch of stuff on Friday because I have more money than sense and was passing by the board game shop I used to live near.

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There's nothing wrong with picking up a Scythe expansion or Viticulture EE. They're both very solid games.

If you at all like Viticulture EE, Tuscany EE is highly recommended. It adds 4 seasons instead of 2 and I think it's basically a "best of" collection of Viticulture expansion stuff.
 

Experien

Member
Played Dice Forge this weekend. It was alright. All of these engine building games always end too fast for my taste. Need to play it more, but it felt like there weren't very meaningful choices to be made. The best action was usually self evident.

Well I am sure it will get some expansion like Seasons since the box has enough room. I am anxious to try it out.
 

joelseph

Member
Played Baseball Highlights and Keyflower this weekend.

Taught Baseball, learned Keyflower.

Lost the World Series in game 7. I had built a Robot deck that was trying to prey on Cyborgs. Unfortunately my opponent built a nasty Human deck that took advantage of Robots. Still a close series. Don't get to play it as much as I used to but Baseball Highlights 2045 is still in my top 10 1v1 games and top 10 deckbuilders. Good stuff.

Keyflower we only played 1v1 but had the expansion that helps with the lower player count. This was my first play so my win was purely luck. One of my winter tiles was for unfinished scrolls and I was able to get 2 buildings that produced scrolls in my town. I scored 21 points off that Winter tile which was cool. I also had mostly tile upgrades and was able to get the Barn and store all my unused resources for another 20 points. My opponent tried to build an engine around a 3 different resources = 5vp scroll but only netted 25 points from it and couldn't keep up. Think the final score was something like 71 to 65. Happy I own this, I love me engine builders.
 
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