I just couldn't get down with Small World. I admire the art and variety in the play afforded by the race/job pairings. But I found the game a little too light for my tastes. I'll probably give it a couple more chances, but if I have a choice to play other games with gamers who like trickier games I'll always choose something else.
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Boardgame-Age
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Grabbed my brother Pandemic recently and the family has played it a few times. I like the mechanics of the game, find it entertaining enough while it lasts, but... either we're playing this hilariously wrong or the damn thing cannot be beaten. I mean, we're an experienced gaming family; we play all sorts of shit, from Life to Puerto Rico to Vanished Planet and all kinds of stuff in between, but this is just kicking our ass.
What's worse is that it feels so cheap. We never die because of outbreaks, it's always because we run out of Player Cards. Which feels so arbitrary. We've all the vaccines, we're traveling around and nearly have everything extinct... when we run out of cards and automatically lose.
Seriously, are we missing something? Is there some suggestion(s) or hint(s) that you folks could give us because it's making us lose interest in the thing.
What's worse is that it feels so cheap. We never die because of outbreaks, it's always because we run out of Player Cards. Which feels so arbitrary. We've all the vaccines, we're traveling around and nearly have everything extinct... when we run out of cards and automatically lose.
Seriously, are we missing something? Is there some suggestion(s) or hint(s) that you folks could give us because it's making us lose interest in the thing.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I played through The King in Yellow expansion for Arkham Horror a couple times over the last two days or so. The first game I got utterly annihilated by the Act cards. I shuffled the deck quite a few times but I get drawing, "A New Act Begins", in what seemed like every other Mythos phase. The second game started out rough but I was able to turn it around in the end. Joe Diamond took the brunt of abuse, getting sucked into gates, losing his sanity, getting Lost in Time and Space. Everything that could go wrong went wrong with him. Learning from my mistakes I was able to keep the Act cards in check and luckily didn't draw too many of them. In the end I was able to acheive the "All Gates Closed" victory condition with two spots left on the doom track with Shub and more than half of the Terror Level raised. Overall I am really happy with the expansion and I may just incorporate it into my base game.
AstroLad said:
Yeah, it's like... I'm enjoying this, yeah, this seems interesting - oh SHIT EPIDEMIC card! Okay, we're okay, okay... I wish these people would listen to me on their roles, oh hey that worked out... damn it, OUTBREAK! another OUTBREAK! ... nevermind, we're good, medic's heading there to clean up... we're good, tide is turning... wait it's over??!!!!
Who the hell thought this was a good idea? Know how in the past I've added my own 'fixes' to games? I'm thinking of doing that with this one too, 'cause it's really damned annoying to spend 45 minutes on something and have it just... END.
aphoushole
Neo Member
Vinci said:
Maybe I've been playing it wrong the whole time but once you've discovered all 4 cures you've won the game. You don't have to clear the board to win, unless you're crazy.
aphoushole said:
I think you have to clear the board to win. At least I think that's in the rules. You don't win unless you've turned the vaccines over to the sunny side, which only happens if you've cleared all cubes. If they're not turned sunny side up (haha), you can continue getting more disease cubes to add on each person's Infector Phase.
EDIT: A possible fix...
Thinking of the Player Cards as your group's budget, imagine running out as you simply running out of money... When this happens, you have to get more funding. To do that, every player turns in whatever cards they have in their hands and all player pawns are returned to Atlanta.
As a penalty, for running out of money and having to secure more funding, add one more Epidemic card to the Player Card stack, shuffle them, and then everyone is given the original number of starting cards. In addition, if you've sunny-side upped one disease, you go through the Infection Cards and remove all the cards of that disease.
The idea of course is to give the players more time to work with, but make sure the intensity of the game increases to match this. Thoughts?
Sounds like you're playing something wrong then.
From the rules:
Players collectively win the game immediately
when the cures for all four diseases (Blue, Yellow,
Black, and Red) have been discovered. Players do
not need to administer cures to every infected city
in order to win the gamevictory is instant when
any player discovers the fourth and final cure.
I don't know where the discrepancy is occurring though.
From the rules:
Players collectively win the game immediately
when the cures for all four diseases (Blue, Yellow,
Black, and Red) have been discovered. Players do
not need to administer cures to every infected city
in order to win the gamevictory is instant when
any player discovers the fourth and final cure.
I don't know where the discrepancy is occurring though.
Evlar said:
I have both Vinci and Small World (I was given the latter as a gift recently) and can see some of the complaints. Small World is a lovely game and plays in a very similar manner, but Vinci has a cleaner design and I like the way the chit system works. The board/bit interaction seems to be a bit more elegant to me. That said, it's hard to argue with Small World as a nice, light strategy game.
Meanwhile, I got a good deal on Stone Age at DragonCon and hope to give it a whirl this weekend. I'll report back.
FnordChan
I agree with this completely. My complaint is not that the game's too light for what it is, but that it's too heavy for what it is. Over/underweight is always a matter of perception, but I picked up the game with the expectation that it would be on the lighter side, but it's a really fiddly game from a rules perspective, and the fact that you have to play it several times to even begin to get a sense of the basic rules (powers especially) made it feel overweight to me. Pretty game though.Evlar said:
Khalifa Jayy
Banned
Just wondering if anyone has played Rummikub. I played it a few nights ago at my girl's house and I had a good time. Her mom & dad are really damn good, but I was able to keep up even though it was my first time playing. Thinking of picking up a copy for our house soon.
aphoushole said:
This is correct. Once you find all 4 cures the game is over and the players win. You can wipe the the viruses if you want to stop them from infecting again but as long as you keep them under control it shouldnt be a problem. Also dont forget the rules that let you remove all the cubes from one city for only 1 action after you find a cure and the medic can remove all the cubes for free.
Neverfade said:
I could've sworn it said you had to administer the cures as well. Well shit, that explains at least a couple of the defeats. Still going to come up with a mechanism for doing away with the stupid 'ran out of player cards' endings though. It's just too anti-climactic.
Justin said:
Yeah, knew all that. We just were playing under the assumption - as I said, swear it was in the rules but obviously I was wrong - that you had to remove all the cubes to win. So yeah, this makes winning easier.
Thanks for the help, folks.
Fragamemnon
Member
My copy of Elusive Victory should be here tomorrow. Can't wait to unbox it and play it this weekend-I have my Obama shirt ready since I am going to play the muslims and my Jewish friend is going to play the IAF side. Much beer and fun will commence, this system is honestly one of the best two player systems I've seen.
Just worried we might not have a scenario small enough to finish in a day. Crossing my fingers there is something that doesn't take two ( since he's busy at work lately).
Just worried we might not have a scenario small enough to finish in a day. Crossing my fingers there is something that doesn't take two ( since he's busy at work lately).
Holy hell does Space Hulk look awesome. After seeing all the talk about it on BGG i took a look at the manual (could only find the old one online) and after seeing it was 105 pages long I immediately closed it. Then I found this three part walkthrough that makes it look pretty simple.
Has anyone seen the new version 3 manual online?
Has anyone seen the new version 3 manual online?
BattleMonkey
Member
Quality of Space Hulk is great, the cardboard on everything even the tokens is some of the thickest I've seen in a game and all glossy as well as textured pieces. Just gotta finish putting the Genestealers together and get a game in.
Also yesterday got to try 'Chaos in the Old World' that I picked up at Dragoncon last week. Surprisingly good game, very flavorful with each player having a unique play style suited to their chaos god. Seems daunting at first but the game rules are extremely simple and it plays real fast actually.
Also yesterday got to try 'Chaos in the Old World' that I picked up at Dragoncon last week. Surprisingly good game, very flavorful with each player having a unique play style suited to their chaos god. Seems daunting at first but the game rules are extremely simple and it plays real fast actually.
Here's the Space Hulk reference sheet PDF just in case you lucky owners of the game don't already have it. /jealousy
BronzeWolf
Banned
So was this Space Hulk release a really limited thing?
I don't seem to find it anywhere
I don't seem to find it anywhere
I just got back from my weekly game night and can report on Stone Age. It's a worker placement game ala Agricola but with an element of dice luck. Each player has a group of cavemen who they send out to collect resources or do various other tasks such as farm, build tools, or go to the love hut to provide more cavemen. With the resources you collect (with food being the easiest to acquire and the others - wood, brick, stone, and gold - being increasingly difficult) you can then buy either civilization cards (which give immediate benefits as well as points in the end game) or huts (which give immediate points). You get to roll one die per caveman you send to gather resources which determines how many (if any) of said resources you acquire. Tools add points to die rolls and farms reduce the amount of food your folks need.
My friends and I enjoyed this a lot, though we admittedly didn't have a real firm grasp on how points were going to be tallied at the end. Another player and myself focused on collect-all-of-a-kind civilization cards while the other player focused on cards that provided bonuses for tool gathering. He maxed out the latter and proceeded to almost lap me on the 100 point scoring track. So, yeah, lesson learned on that one. That said, we had a grand time. I'd say Agricola is the better game in it's category, but Stone Age is a bit more laid back and plays faster. We also had a lot of fun pretending to be cavemen and, for some inexplicable reason, referring to the huts in the game as "housen". Two clubs up.
OgChan
My friends and I enjoyed this a lot, though we admittedly didn't have a real firm grasp on how points were going to be tallied at the end. Another player and myself focused on collect-all-of-a-kind civilization cards while the other player focused on cards that provided bonuses for tool gathering. He maxed out the latter and proceeded to almost lap me on the 100 point scoring track. So, yeah, lesson learned on that one. That said, we had a grand time. I'd say Agricola is the better game in it's category, but Stone Age is a bit more laid back and plays faster. We also had a lot of fun pretending to be cavemen and, for some inexplicable reason, referring to the huts in the game as "housen". Two clubs up.
OgChan
Any good, fairly accessible two player games? I'm hoping to get my wife and I playing more board games together. The only drawback is that she's very casual - the only thing we play right now is trivial pursuit. BUT, I do think there's hope. She's a medium-gamer - she played through RE5 on easy and likes some XBLA stuff. So it's not as if she has 0 patience for geek stuff and learning systems.
I'm already eyeing lost cities - I have it on XBLA and think it might be a good place to start. I see Agricola works with 2 people - is it any good with 2 or do you need more? Any other suggestions for fairly easy (but still good) stuff?
I'm already eyeing lost cities - I have it on XBLA and think it might be a good place to start. I see Agricola works with 2 people - is it any good with 2 or do you need more? Any other suggestions for fairly easy (but still good) stuff?
I played Tikal (jungle themed archaeological dig game) for the first time tonight, only 2 players though.
Draw a tile, place it on the board, spend 10 points via several differently priced actions like move, place a worker, dig for treasure, uncover ruins, build camp, etc etc. Your turn is so simple yet there's a lot going on the board. I really like the temple claiming mechanic. You and your opponent all have pieces on there, you're both spending points to uncover the temple further (thus making it more valuable).... do you claim the temple for yourself, or spend those last points uncovering a level, to maybe risk your opponent taking it on his turn!
I don't have much bad to say about this. Its really easy to teach too. I'd put this in an almost gateway category, but it has a much more developed strategy element to it than most of its ilk, imo.
Try it!
Draw a tile, place it on the board, spend 10 points via several differently priced actions like move, place a worker, dig for treasure, uncover ruins, build camp, etc etc. Your turn is so simple yet there's a lot going on the board. I really like the temple claiming mechanic. You and your opponent all have pieces on there, you're both spending points to uncover the temple further (thus making it more valuable).... do you claim the temple for yourself, or spend those last points uncovering a level, to maybe risk your opponent taking it on his turn!
I don't have much bad to say about this. Its really easy to teach too. I'd put this in an almost gateway category, but it has a much more developed strategy element to it than most of its ilk, imo.
Try it!
BattleMonkey
Member
hectorse said:
Only GW approved stores will carry the game, so your average hobby store will not have it unless they carry a full selection of other GW products. Supposedly normal GW approved stores can carry it, it's not web online apparently as stores like thewarstore and FRP let you order it over the phone at a discount.
platypotamus
Member
GDJustin said:
Agricola works fine with 2, but it is not the place to jump in if you are looking for something accessible for a casual wife. Get her hooked on games first
Catan Card Game is still my wife and my favorite 2 player game. If you guys like it, you can grab an expansion pack (with 6 expansions in it!), for one of the best deals in gaming too, as each of those expansion sets are awesome.
Dominion is casual, and works out pretty well 2 player, though I like it better at 3-4.
I'm not as much of a fan of Lost Cities, but both Ingenious and Great Wall of China (same designer) are pretty awesome. GWoC supports more than 2 as well, though I've only ever played it one on one.
I'm on a huge Race for the Galaxy kick lately, and the wife and I have played it 2P quite a bit, but I'm not sure if I can recommend it mainly as a 2P game, especially if you're looking for something a bit more casual. It's got a bit of a learning curve.
BronzeWolf
Banned
BattleMonkey said:
So GW doesn't like money
Lakedaimon
Member
hectorse said:
Games Workshop isnt a big fan of anyone selling their product at less than full MSRP, and despite those pesky "no price fixing" laws does about everything they can to screw over companies who offer a flat discount. GW dosent like to settle for selling their stuff at 55% wholesale to a FLGS when they can steer most of the business to their own webstore or retail locations and pick up 100% of the msrp.
Allegedly Space Hulk is a "limited edition" and they only plan to churn out 100,000 copies. My guess is this is partly to justify limited quantities to third party stores and partly because the cardboard contents of the game are not produced in-house.
That being said I think its a really nice boxed set, and id love to see a few more missions (and possibly the old system where you "bid" to see who played Marines) released via the website.
cmonmanreally
Member
i picked up settlers of catan about a month ago and im having a blast. the difficult thing is getting a group of people together to dedicate some time to playing it. anybody own any of the expansions? are they any good?
Neverfade said:I'll take it a step farther -- Catan doesn't even get good until you expand it.
Traders & Barbarians is my preference, but Cities and Knights adds a ton of stuff. Just research a bit to see which is right for you as your first xpac.
Yeah, I find that it is best to read the manual for any games/expansions you are thinking of buying. Here is the link to the manuals for catan and expansions.
http://www.catan.com/gamerules.html
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Personally we play Cities and Knights with Seafarers. If you were to only get one expansion get Cities and Knights. It plays like Catan on steroids. The expansion adds city development which will give you various bonuses as well as the looming threat of a barbarian invasion. It's so good we don't ever see us playing the base game again.cmonmanreally said:
My only recommendation is make sure you give your self at least 90 minutes to play because C&K definitely lengthens the game.
platypotamus said:Agricola works fine with 2, but it is not the place to jump in if you are looking for something accessible for a casual wife. Get her hooked on games first
Catan Card Game is still my wife and my favorite 2 player game. If you guys like it, you can grab an expansion pack (with 6 expansions in it!), for one of the best deals in gaming too, as each of those expansion sets are awesome.
Dominion is casual, and works out pretty well 2 player, though I like it better at 3-4.
I'm not as much of a fan of Lost Cities, but both Ingenious and Great Wall of China (same designer) are pretty awesome. GWoC supports more than 2 as well, though I've only ever played it one on one.
I'm on a huge Race for the Galaxy kick lately, and the wife and I have played it 2P quite a bit, but I'm not sure if I can recommend it mainly as a 2P game, especially if you're looking for something a bit more casual. It's got a bit of a learning curve.
Thanks! I'd already ordered Lost Cities, so we'll see how that goes first. If she's into it, Dominion seems to be a good place to go next. Although the price ($33) seems steep for what you actually get out of the box, compared to other similarly-priced games.
Catan seems like a pretty good choice, but the Amazon reviews are more mixed, and it concerns me that some reviewers noted that getting into the card game might be tough if you haven't played the board game (which she hasn't).
Ingenious seems to be a good option, as well.
Lakedaimon
Member
Justin said:
Yeah maybe my memory of first edition is too fuzzy or the new version just has bigger tiles because I set the relatively basic first mission up on my kitchen table and it took up a lot more space than id expected. Id probably have to play the larger maps on my ping pong table
BattleMonkey
Member
hectorse said:
This has always been an issue with gamers and GW, in how they conduct business, but in the same case they have been pretty successful for more than 25 years while most competition has crumbled or had to go big changes.
This is simple how they have their system set up, they aren't going to make an exception just for Space Hulk which they will likely sell out themselves anyways. GW doesn't want game stores to simply buy some of their products and order a couple things here and there. They want you to fully stock and support their game lines so they make you buy into packages when you sign a contract with them. Most game companies let you simply order from a distributor or direct a book here or there, some figs, but for GW you gotta buy at least a complete display. This is why you see stores with absolutely no GW product, and then those that do have large displays.
It makes sure that a store that wants to stock the games they make, they will completely support it which for a game store often means that they have to put much of their effort in selling only GW product lines. Obviously this bullish business attitude has made many enemies of the company, but has also been very successful for them since they have some of the best selling miniature games worldwide, so stores that want a good investment on a popular game line, will go to GW, and end up fully stocking and supporting GW.
As for the limited production run thing, as been said the whole thing is not made inhouse at GW while usually all their product lines are so this is leading to limited print run. Not big difference from Fantasy Flight and their board games as often there games go discontinued for months as they have to get a new batch eventually reprinted. Will GW order reprints of space hulk? They seem to be saying they won't, but I bet if it sells out quick enough they will see fit to do more runs. They did a limited run on the city of death bundle of buildings when it came out which sold out quick, and eventually got reprinted.
BattleMonkey
Member
Justin said:OMG this is why I dont do miniatures. Out of the four guys I have put together so far I have broken 2 of them while punching them out.
Update: Here is part of my sorry ass army
Your supposed to use clippers to get figs off sprues with that kind of plastic, otherwise you will break most of the figs. Your going to destroy the genestealer figs with your hands.
Neverfade said:
Call thewarstore.net or frpgames
BattleMonkey said:
I actually got all the genestealers out without breaking but a few of the soldiers look like they have been through hell. It has been about 20 years since I have had to deal with anything packaged like this. I am going to the hobby store after work and picking up some kind of blade to try to fix the small little bumps left over from the frame and to shave down the bottoms so they can actualy stand up.
I guess the lady at the GW who sold me the game should have offered some clippers instead of offering me paints, painting class, a free painting lesson, subscription to a magazine and finally some 70 dollar academy where they will teach me how to play miniature games.
BattleMonkey
Member
Best is some simple clippers or small scissors to cut out the figs, then an exacto blad to trip the excess plastic edges.
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