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platypotamus
Member
Wow, I can't believe there's still spots open. Alright, I joined just so that it filled, but I'll still be AFK, mostly, for what's left of today. Tomorrow has become a bit of an unknown but if I'm going to be AFK, I'll at least not be in the middle of lecturing, so I can play on my blackberry if I have to.
Unrelated note:
Thunderstone - I really want to like it, but so far don't
Played two games with the wife yesterday. Both of us are pretty 'meh' on the game so far. It feels even more like solitaire than Dominion did before the expansions. There's some sloppy math on the design: light penalties get doubled to form your attack penalty from darkness. So you have to first solve for the end light penalty after modifiers, and then double that for the attack modifier... why not just build the doubling into the original numbers, make it less prone to errors? The rules are pretty unclear on some things too, though BGG's rules forum has helped there. Mostly, it seems to lack the strategic elegance of Dominion. Perhaps good deck building strategies will come to light in subsequent plays, but as things stand now... I don't know. Killing monsters adds them to your deck, they are ultimately the source of your VP, but unlike the Green cards in Dominion, it's much more difficult to pace your acquisition of them, as they are revealed just three at a time, and your ability to kill one/any of them is reliant on your hand.
I'm hoping the lack of depth is more about not knowing the cards yet than about the game itself, but both my wife and I have some doubts on that front. The fact that the Rules forum on BGG currently has 74 threads, and the strategy forum has 1 thread sort of captures my fear here.
Unrelated note:
Thunderstone - I really want to like it, but so far don't
Played two games with the wife yesterday. Both of us are pretty 'meh' on the game so far. It feels even more like solitaire than Dominion did before the expansions. There's some sloppy math on the design: light penalties get doubled to form your attack penalty from darkness. So you have to first solve for the end light penalty after modifiers, and then double that for the attack modifier... why not just build the doubling into the original numbers, make it less prone to errors? The rules are pretty unclear on some things too, though BGG's rules forum has helped there. Mostly, it seems to lack the strategic elegance of Dominion. Perhaps good deck building strategies will come to light in subsequent plays, but as things stand now... I don't know. Killing monsters adds them to your deck, they are ultimately the source of your VP, but unlike the Green cards in Dominion, it's much more difficult to pace your acquisition of them, as they are revealed just three at a time, and your ability to kill one/any of them is reliant on your hand.
I'm hoping the lack of depth is more about not knowing the cards yet than about the game itself, but both my wife and I have some doubts on that front. The fact that the Rules forum on BGG currently has 74 threads, and the strategy forum has 1 thread sort of captures my fear here.
Race for the Galaxy was, not very unexpectedly, a bridge to far for the misses. I'm totally in love with it though. Have been playing the solitaire computer version and though I still haven't won a game it's very enjoyable to play. It really feels like you are racing for the galaxy.
So, in order to satisfy the more casual needs of my gf, I ordered today;
- Ticket To Ride + Switzerland expansion
- Small World
- Pillars of the Earth
- Catan Card Game + Expansions
I'm especially looking forward to the last one as I'm sure it'll be easier than RtfG.
So, in order to satisfy the more casual needs of my gf, I ordered today;
- Ticket To Ride + Switzerland expansion
- Small World
- Pillars of the Earth
- Catan Card Game + Expansions
I'm especially looking forward to the last one as I'm sure it'll be easier than RtfG.
Awesome gateway. I like Nordic Countries a lot better than Switzerland though, but dsfdf.
This one's pretty tricky as a gateway imo. It's a finicky little game. And you really have to actually use all the different races and powers before you know what you're doing (sort of like RftG how you have to through all the cards a few times).
I think it's superficially less intimidating than RftG (few symbols) but it's actually a deceptively tough game to learn, especially all the various interactions. It's way heavier than vanilla Catan imo.
Got "Cash n'guns" along with Stone Age today.
CnG is a casual "party game" about bluffing your way to keeping money your gang stole from a bank. Comes with foam guns
Anyway, as soon as I can get a group of 4-6, I'm busting it out. It has some pretty racist stereotypes in it, but since it is a euro game, I figure they just don't know any better
All the more fun since between the wife and some of my friends, we'll have most of those stereotypes knocked out anyway.
I'm interested in Small World. The wife likes confrontation games so I"m casting about for some light ones. War of the Ring seems to be more my style, but is probably too heavy for her.
CnG is a casual "party game" about bluffing your way to keeping money your gang stole from a bank. Comes with foam guns
Anyway, as soon as I can get a group of 4-6, I'm busting it out. It has some pretty racist stereotypes in it, but since it is a euro game, I figure they just don't know any better
All the more fun since between the wife and some of my friends, we'll have most of those stereotypes knocked out anyway. I'm interested in Small World. The wife likes confrontation games so I"m casting about for some light ones. War of the Ring seems to be more my style, but is probably too heavy for her.
I bought this combo in order to be able to put TtR on the table when there's some friends over.AstroLad said:
Nordic Countries is only 2-3 person while TtR + Switzerland covers a possible 2-5 players.
I'll prolly pick Nordic countries up once the original starts getting borin.
Really? I thought from reading up on it is was a rather 'light' wargame. I'm at least sure it will take less effort/time to learn it to her than RftG which I'm still trying to grasp myself.
I played the card game once or twice back in the '90's and couldn't remember it as being that though. But having said that I was into Warhammer 40k at that time which pretty much makes any other game look 'easy' and 'simple'. I'm just going to hope for the best assuming that it will be easier due to the lack of the complicated symbology behind RftG.
I guess I'll be going for Lost Cities and Jambo next to cover the more casual/medium 2 player need.
duracell017
Member
hmm ima try this Race game in solo mode on game genie. i dunno how to play it lol.
Visited the Morning Star Games shop in Savannah.
HOLY HELL! How did I miss this place for the past couple of years?
Ended up dropping a ton of $$$, scored a NIW 50th Anniversary Axis and Allies for the bro-in-law for $200, got Dominion for myself, and the wife bought the 3 new LNOE expansions (which really is just 1 expansion broken up and made more expensive) and Carcasonne Castle (picked that over Lost Cities).
They had lots of stuff, including a old RPG section where an open, but unpunched Star Frontiers:Knight Hawks box cried out to me. Gonna revisit that baby next time I am there, that was a wicked cool space combat game, at least when I was 12
Anyway, Dominion looks cool, but WOW, was that theme meaningless. Now I understand when folks say it could be about remodeling furniture or something. Still, I'll give it a try if the wife agrees. Definitely see the need for card covers, that game is a shuffling BEAST.
Castle Carcassone is my first physical (non-xbla) Carc game, and I like the quality. I suspect the big box Carc set is soon to follow if the wife likes it.
The new LNOE expansions (store owner was pulling them from the shipping boxes to sell to us) are cool, LOTS of variety. But in the end you are getting about 100 cards, 4 hero minis, 7x2 new zombie sculpts, and a handful of cardboard cutouts for $75 retail. A bit steep IMHO, good thing we got a nice deal. They add some nice depth, to include sewers, barricaded walls, armed zombies, and new tactics and unique item decks for the heroes to really tear up the zombies. Added in with "Growing Hunger" and LNOE is a pretty detailed tactical zombie game.
Saw "Conflict of Heroes" and about passed out from glorious wargame counter goodness. Is that game(s) any good? I don't really play wargames anymore, but C&C:Ancient Battles and CoH are making me reconsider.
Anyway, as soon as the wife is done with her homework (soooo glad those days are over for me we will be trying these games out.
HOLY HELL! How did I miss this place for the past couple of years?
Ended up dropping a ton of $$$, scored a NIW 50th Anniversary Axis and Allies for the bro-in-law for $200, got Dominion for myself, and the wife bought the 3 new LNOE expansions (which really is just 1 expansion broken up and made more expensive) and Carcasonne Castle (picked that over Lost Cities).
They had lots of stuff, including a old RPG section where an open, but unpunched Star Frontiers:Knight Hawks box cried out to me. Gonna revisit that baby next time I am there, that was a wicked cool space combat game, at least when I was 12
Anyway, Dominion looks cool, but WOW, was that theme meaningless. Now I understand when folks say it could be about remodeling furniture or something. Still, I'll give it a try if the wife agrees. Definitely see the need for card covers, that game is a shuffling BEAST.
Castle Carcassone is my first physical (non-xbla) Carc game, and I like the quality. I suspect the big box Carc set is soon to follow if the wife likes it.
The new LNOE expansions (store owner was pulling them from the shipping boxes to sell to us) are cool, LOTS of variety. But in the end you are getting about 100 cards, 4 hero minis, 7x2 new zombie sculpts, and a handful of cardboard cutouts for $75 retail. A bit steep IMHO, good thing we got a nice deal. They add some nice depth, to include sewers, barricaded walls, armed zombies, and new tactics and unique item decks for the heroes to really tear up the zombies. Added in with "Growing Hunger" and LNOE is a pretty detailed tactical zombie game.
Saw "Conflict of Heroes" and about passed out from glorious wargame counter goodness. Is that game(s) any good? I don't really play wargames anymore, but C&C:Ancient Battles and CoH are making me reconsider.
Anyway, as soon as the wife is done with her homework (soooo glad those days are over for me
we will be trying these games out.platypotamus
Member
Played another round of Through The Ages with the wife yesterday. She won, again. :-\ She doesn't even play Civilization, dang it!
I loooooovvvvvvvvveeee this game though. Every single turn you have some compelling choices to make. Every single time. Unfortunately, there's way more than you would like to do than you will be able to do, which can make it a bit frustrating. It's very odd on the surface that we'll finish games with some aspect of our empire basically still being Dark Ages level. OTOH, there's multiple solutions for each of your non-food/resources needs (culture, science, military, happiness), which is kind of interesting.
Yeah, totally love the game. Next play tentatively scheduled for Monday or Tuesday.
I loooooovvvvvvvvveeee this game though. Every single turn you have some compelling choices to make. Every single time. Unfortunately, there's way more than you would like to do than you will be able to do, which can make it a bit frustrating. It's very odd on the surface that we'll finish games with some aspect of our empire basically still being Dark Ages level. OTOH, there's multiple solutions for each of your non-food/resources needs (culture, science, military, happiness), which is kind of interesting.
Yeah, totally love the game. Next play tentatively scheduled for Monday or Tuesday.
Played carcassonne: castle and Dominon with the wife tonight.
Castle is the first physical carcassonne game I've played. Very fun, especially once we figured out how to block each other.
Dominon. What to say. WOW! Now I know why it is so popular. Sure, the theme is completely superfluous, but it is so simple, yet complex, that it does not matter. The wife, as usual for euro games, lost sight of the need for VPs at the end, but she took to the game much better than RFTG. I think a few more plays will hook her.
Can't recommend dominon highly enough. For such a dry concept on paper, it really plays well. Fuck that 30 minute play time though, is that even remotely possible? I feel RFTG is a faster game.
Anyway, now Thunderstone is on my list because the fantasy theme might draw in the wife ( though I really just need to let her win more she did win the second game of C:castle though.
Castle is the first physical carcassonne game I've played. Very fun, especially once we figured out how to block each other.
Dominon. What to say. WOW! Now I know why it is so popular. Sure, the theme is completely superfluous, but it is so simple, yet complex, that it does not matter. The wife, as usual for euro games, lost sight of the need for VPs at the end, but she took to the game much better than RFTG. I think a few more plays will hook her.
Can't recommend dominon highly enough. For such a dry concept on paper, it really plays well. Fuck that 30 minute play time though, is that even remotely possible? I feel RFTG is a faster game.
Anyway, now Thunderstone is on my list because the fantasy theme might draw in the wife ( though I really just need to let her win more
she did win the second game of C:castle though.XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Finally broke this out and gave it a spin, full 4-player game. First time for all, so we went with the simple game. It took a little while to get through the rules and a few turns, but we picked it up quickly - it's nowhere near as complicated as it might appear just reading through the rules.platypotamus said:
I managed to get my culture per turn up pretty quickly thanks to Michaelangelo's +1 culture bonus for each happy face on theaters/temples/wonders, which I used to eventually reach 15 per turn. 2nd place wasn't that far behind though, as he got Genghis Khan towards the end and stocked up on cavalry, which gave his quite a high number of strength bonus points at the end.
Took about 3.5 hours, though we can likely get the simple game down to 2 hours easily now that we got it down. Excellent, excellent game, we can't wait to try the advanced/full versions.
spikydavid
Member
jason10mm said:Played carcassonne: castle and Dominon with the wife tonight.
Castle is the first physical carcassonne game I've played. Very fun, especially once we figured out how to block each other.
Dominon. What to say. WOW! Now I know why it is so popular. Sure, the theme is completely superfluous, but it is so simple, yet complex, that it does not matter. The wife, as usual for euro games, lost sight of the need for VPs at the end, but she took to the game much better than RFTG. I think a few more plays will hook her.
Can't recommend dominon highly enough. For such a dry concept on paper, it really plays well. Fuck that 30 minute play time though, is that even remotely possible? I feel RFTG is a faster game.
Anyway, now Thunderstone is on my list because the fantasy theme might draw in the wife ( though I really just need to let her win more
Bwah-ha-ha!
Trust me, playing two player (even three or four player) you can get through a game in ten minutes
A lot depends on the cards that you have out, as some naturally lead to longer turn combinations ('Village', 'Festival', even 'Market') with the additional actions, but cards like 'Mine', 'Chapel', 'Woodcutter', 'Remodel' make the game super quick
Yeah, I guess we were more focused on scoring action cards than VPs and it took a while before the card "upgrade" ability of remodel and the mine became apparent. Gotta get some card sleeves, I don't think I've ever shuffled that much in my life. The wife has that casino style shuffling skill, but I just tend to mash then together and I'm gonna mess up the cards pretty quick. How convenient that an ad for sleeves is in the box
platypotamus
Member
Neverfade said:
Basically, skip everything but the summaries in the yellow(?) boxes. Then go back and read the rest if you need clarification. The yellow boxes are brilliant though.
jason10mm said:Anyway, now Thunderstone is on my list because the fantasy theme might draw in the wife ( though I really just need to let her win more
I wasn't such a fan so far. I really want to like it more though.
XiaNaphryz said:
After my first game, i was convinced that Mikey was completely overpowered. Maybe he is a little bit in the simple game. I lost pretty hard relying on him in my second game though.
jason10mm said:
I got a chance to play the Last Night on Earth expansion(s) today. We pulled the trigger and got the complete expansion online--Grave Weapon Zombies, Hero Pack 1, and Survival of the Fittest. SotF is DEFINITELY required for any LNOE fan. Like you said, the sewers, barricades, survival decks, and grave weapons add a ton of fun and depth. I especially like the barricades and survival decks. Hero Pack 1 is good--the new heroes and fun and strategic. Grave Weapon Zombies is not at all a necessity, unless you're a completionist. It IS really nice and convenient to not have to move around the grave weapon pieces. My friend ended up painting the new Grave Weapon Zombie, and it really adds a lot to the theme.
Overall it's a great expansion. We have pretty much everything LNOE related now, and it's become such a huge game. I love it.
Played Game of Thrones a few days ago. It was only with 3 people though and I think that made it not the best game ever. I still had fun, but most of the 10 turns was taken up by expanding into neutral spaces instead of fighting it out with other player houses. I think part of this might have been that we didn't get any Muster cards drawn until well into the game. Next time I might take the suggestion I saw on BGG of arranging deck 1 into groups that ensure a somewhat even distribution of supplies and musters.
I managed to win at the end because Stark left a castle unguarded that I was able to ferry a footman up from the South to capture it using my Baratheon sea dominance. That gave me seven castles and the victory.
My house is planning to start a 5 player game of Diplomacy with orders due every 2 days. This will either be awesome or destroy our friendships.
I managed to win at the end because Stark left a castle unguarded that I was able to ferry a footman up from the South to capture it using my Baratheon sea dominance. That gave me seven castles and the victory.
My house is planning to start a 5 player game of Diplomacy with orders due every 2 days. This will either be awesome or destroy our friendships.
Qaz Kwaz said:
Have you gotten any of those $10 Flying Frog store only packs? Usually just some cards and a new scenario. I'm thinking about getting them since I already have the rest of the stuff. I really want the slime zombie pack. Might even leave them unpainted 'cause they look so cool
I know Dunwich Horror is the first stop go-to xpac for AH, but I have a question regarding that.
How well does it work simply implementing just the items and, more importantly, the Arkham/Other World encounters? I find the base game's Arkham Encounter decks to be insufficient, and as such, my main priority is beefing those up while still having just the base-game board playable.
How well does it work simply implementing just the items and, more importantly, the Arkham/Other World encounters? I find the base game's Arkham Encounter decks to be insufficient, and as such, my main priority is beefing those up while still having just the base-game board playable.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Granted I haven't played Dunwhich Horror but I would imagine the new encounter cards may make reference to the new board. So at the very least if you were going to use the encounter cards you should use the boards. As for the items I have the King in Yellow expansion and the items that came with that expansion seems like they can be used without the other stuff.Neverfade said:
joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
No encounters in KIY?
Edit: Looking at the AH Wiki, it lists the contents as:
# 63 Arkham Location Cards
# 42 Dunwich Location Cards
This may be what I'm looking for, as I'd assume the ones referring to Dunwich board would all be in the Dunwich location deck. I'm also pumped about the madness/injury cards. Seems like going down in a fight once is enough to sway the whole game a little too much for new-fish like myself.
Edit 2: What in the ever loving shit? I just looked at some of the Injury/Madness cards on that wiki. Amnesia is ridiculous. Limiting you to only 4 clue tokens. Effectively shutting you down from accomplishing the primary goal of the game. Um... what's the strategy when you pull that one? Cause 'suicide on the next monster' comes to mind.
jason10mm said:Have you gotten any of those $10 Flying Frog store only packs? Usually just some cards and a new scenario. I'm thinking about getting them since I already have the rest of the stuff. I really want the slime zombie pack. Might even leave them unpainted 'cause they look so cool
We've gotten them all BUT the radioactive zombies. They're a bit overpriced, but the scenarios are fun.
Neverfade said:
While Dunwich Horror is probably the best bang for your buck of the AH expansions, if you're just looking to beef up the base encounter decks you may want to go for one of the small box expansions instead. Dunwich's big focus is on adding the extra board and the cards associated with it, and while there are things like Injury and Madness cards and new investigators that can be incorporated into any AH game, it's mostly about the new board. I recommend Curse of the Dark Pharaoh as the best way to expand upon the base game; per BGG it adds "45 Arkham location cards, 27 new gate cards, 21 new spell cards, 7 new ally cards, 4 benefit and detriment cards, 18 "barred from neighborhood" cards and 22 exhibit item cards, representing the ancient relics from Egypt." Just chuck it in and you're ready to go.
FnordChan
platypotamus
Member
I feel like I shouldn't admit this, but I've never played Diplomacy.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Just made my first big order in a while:
Plus the LNOE expansions I've been putting off getting since Growing Hunger.
Plus the LNOE expansions I've been putting off getting since Growing Hunger.
Freest Rolexes
Member
Merino said:
Where did you find a copy of TTR:Switzerland? I can't find a single online or local retailer who has any copies for sale, even for exorbitant prices. I ended up picking up Nordic Countries because it too is out of print (in the US at least), but some stores still have stock sitting around.
Galaxy Trucker is one of my absolute 4p favorites at this point. Haven't gotten Big Expansion yet but that's #1 on my next order. It's just so much fun watching peoples' ships get blown apart.
Lucky you, Nordic Countries is better and used to be the rare one.Freest Rolexes said:
Freest Rolexes
Member
It doesn't seem so fun when it's your ship getting blown apartAstroLad said:
Actually, it is pretty fun. What isn't fun is not drawing a passenger pod thing until the other 3 players are done with their ships.AstroLad said:
I was going for the cheap, no other box necessary route, but I'm happy with Nordic Countries. I was kinda hoping for both of the small player editions. My wife and I really like TTR. The only game we come close to playing as much is Dominion.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
There are, it's just that King in Yellow doesn't have a board. King in Yellow is actually a pretty cool expansion. It adds some great items and the story told in the expansion is just cool. Plus it's cheap.Neverfade said:
Four-player Galaxy Trucker is awesome, always scrambling for parts.Freest Rolexes said:It doesn't seem so fun when it's your ship getting blown apart
platypotamus
Member
I've always been interested in Galaxy Trucker, but the wife always makes a face when I look at it in board game stores. I think it's a theme issue.
However, I see it's the same designer as Through the Ages.... so yeah, she might be open to it now.
However, I see it's the same designer as Through the Ages.... so yeah, she might be open to it now.
Freest Rolexes said:
Both Switserland and Nordic Countries where available at a dutch webshop (www.gezelschapspellen.com) though on later email contact it turned out that Switserland is now on back-order at the supplier.
Is there anyplace I can find out which games are out of print and might become unavailable soon?
Freest Rolexes
Member
Merino said:
For those two particular games I checked their status at the publisher''s website, DaysofWonder.com. Other than checking a publisher's website, I don't know of any other way except finding that a game you wanted isn't available at any stores and checking the geek.
NEVERFADE: work permitting i'll be at pax east this year with my wife. we gots to get our game on. if there are enough people for a nice boardgaming table i might bring along my rares like roborally complete and union pacific.
anyone else from boardgaming age going to pax east?
anyone else from boardgaming age going to pax east?
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