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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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It's great.
But you have to go in understanding that the base set is only going to get you so far. I have a couple of friends who like to play (one has bought his own cards and the other uses mine) and my daughter will play as well. I've gone pretty far off the deep end (over a thousand cards) but I have a nice situation where I can build decks for each race and then test them out and tweak them to make them all competitive within my collection. That means anyone can just grab a deck and (hopefully) have a good time.
It's quick, easy to learn and has some nice depth. Tournament play is a different story as then you really need to dig into the nuances of card-play timing, etc. But I don't do tournament play so I have a blast with it.
BattleMonkey
Member
FFG sent me replacement token sheets for LOTR LCG. Course the fucking postman decided to fold the cardboard sheets to shove them into my mail box, ruined a bunch of the tokens and part of one of the dials.... seriously wtf, it's two sheets of thick cardboard and he decides it's ok to just bend it in half?
So I guess it would be worth considering the expansions too, the two expansions containing the 4 new races sounds like a given, but what about these battle packs? Which ones are worth getting if I dont wanna just buy them all?
UpperCaseN
Member
wow, sorry to hear that. Personally I would be furious but I guess there's really nothing that can be done? Filing a complaint with the post office is bound to go nowhere.
BattleMonkey
Member
Yea post office don't care. Complaints are meaningless to them and all they would do is give you a form to fill that will never get a response.
Unless it's coop, there are no friendly 2-player games, ever
Even something as cute as Flowerpower is one big screwage fest!I personally have started using dice for the tokens anyway. More manageable.
narcosis219
Member
It's strictly 2 player in that there are two sides that take turns battling, and the boards are meant to be top vs bottom. Because they're so long. There are campaigns that use two boards but they still only involve two sides. Not to mention only two army colors.
You can do "teams" of 2 v 2, but that's mentioned in the rulebook only for family type settings (parents helping children make better choices).
The game isn't that entirely strategically deep, so teamplay will be boring because you only have so many actions due to the fact that your actions are dictated by which cards you draw. Not like you really have anything to collaborate on.
I'd recommend playing only with 2.
It's a great "war game". Super light, quite random, and fun if you like playing around with minis. If you don't get sick of the battle system, the campaign book has plenty of scenarios to keep things fresh for a while. Just make sure you enjoy setting the game up because set-up takes a bit of time for each game you play.
Unless it's coop, there are no friendly 2-player games, ever
See, I think of Thurn and Taxis as a fairly friendly two-player. Maybe I just mean the player interaction is less stark. You might be picking up that Ulm card I needed for later use, whereas there's no fooling yourself when the other guy drops a 13 in your lowland space. Of course, I can't say much, since I started that first in our game
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
There is an overlord variant that plays more but you will need two copies of the game.
Since we're nigh upon the impending Vita release: Astro (and anyone else who wants in), you should add me on PSN, same name as here, so we can Hot Shots Golf it up.
To keep this on topic, taught the GF Stone Age. Surprise, she liked it. Even though she didn't like that lap-and-a-half I took around the VP track due to the cards. Booya.
To keep this on topic, taught the GF Stone Age. Surprise, she liked it. Even though she didn't like that lap-and-a-half I took around the VP track due to the cards. Booya.
Yep.
Lumines for 20 bucks or less for life maybe.
Your loss -- highest-rated best-selling Vita game!
Don't be a MartyChinn!
See, I think of Thurn and Taxis as a fairly friendly two-player. Maybe I just mean the player interaction is less stark. You might be picking up that Ulm card I needed for later use, whereas there's no fooling yourself when the other guy drops a 13 in your lowland space. Of course, I can't say much, since I started that first in our game
Well fine, be picky. What I meant was "2-player only" games (of course there are exceptions, but for the most part you are forced to interact with the only other player in the game). Multiplayer games tend to have more solitaire style, so when tweaked for 2-player it's not as interactive. There really is no way to mess with other players in Thurn & Taxis beyond screwing with the card display, since you're not competing for routes. Happy now?
Icefire1424
Member
Good morning GAF!
So here's the deal. Back in the day, I was a casual tabletop gamer (Warhammer), loved the strategy / tactical aspects of it. Havent been into gaming for years now, but getting the itch, and really want to get back into it, albeit not on such a large scale. Thinking a good board game is the way to go.
I'll delegate to the experts on this one (you guys). Looking for a solid WW2 wargame, but nothing overly complicated (would love to be able to get the wife into it), but something requiring a good tactical mentality. Looked into Axis and Allies (and its million incarnations / expansions), Memoir '44, etc, but there are just so many out there, not really sure where to start.
...and there it is. Where do I start GAF? Mid-February in Upstate NY seems like a good a time as any to get back into gaming. What should I be checking out?
(Oh, and definitely picking up Settlers of Catan, either way - heard way too many good things about that.)
Thanks!
So here's the deal. Back in the day, I was a casual tabletop gamer (Warhammer), loved the strategy / tactical aspects of it. Havent been into gaming for years now, but getting the itch, and really want to get back into it, albeit not on such a large scale. Thinking a good board game is the way to go.
I'll delegate to the experts on this one (you guys). Looking for a solid WW2 wargame, but nothing overly complicated (would love to be able to get the wife into it), but something requiring a good tactical mentality. Looked into Axis and Allies (and its million incarnations / expansions), Memoir '44, etc, but there are just so many out there, not really sure where to start.
...and there it is. Where do I start GAF? Mid-February in Upstate NY seems like a good a time as any to get back into gaming. What should I be checking out?
(Oh, and definitely picking up Settlers of Catan, either way - heard way too many good things about that.)
Thanks!
BattleMonkey
Member
Memoir 44 is a great game. It's light and easy to learn/play. It is not super tactical, but it really does have lot of tactical thinking involved when you actually get down to it. Good for a casual player. Also you only need basic Memoir 44, anything else is just an expansion set.
Tide of Iron is pretty nice, a bit pricey and a large game that can put people off, but it strikes a good balance of simple yet strategic game play.
Conflict of Heroes is another great WW2 tactical game, similar level of complexity to Tide of Iron but maybe a little bit more tactical, and it's a much cheaper game. It's not as pretty or complex component wise (just lot of cardboard chits), but is one of the best for striking a balance between fun and tactical. Might not be the best game to teach a more casual player though. I usually recommend Memoir 44 for someone to start with.
platypotamus
Member
It's Cold War rather than WW2, but I still think you should check out Twilight Struggle. It's 2P only, but my wife places it at Number 2 on her favorite boardgames list (right after Through the Ages).
Intimidating rulebook, but not super complex once you figure it out. Games take about 3 hours (if you get through the whole Cold War without nuclear holocaust), there's a lot of territory control (not armies, influence), the space race, and historical events that you have to respond to to take advantage of or mitigate the consequences of. I want to play it now.
As a counter perspective, I think it's a boring chit-flipping tug of war.
Not being a fan of Agricola, I can understand why it's highly rated. I'll NEVER understand how Twilight Struggle is BGG#1 though.
(P.S. this is not really an invitation to "explain" it to me.)
I think Battle Monkey's suggestions are solid.
Not being a fan of Agricola, I can understand why it's highly rated. I'll NEVER understand how Twilight Struggle is BGG#1 though.
(P.S. this is not really an invitation to "explain" it to me.)
I think Battle Monkey's suggestions are solid.
I played my first game of Eminent Domain last night. I was expecting an altered Race for the Galaxy, but man, ED is way different. It's a deck building game, sure, but the way it makes you think is absolutely completely unlike any other deck building game I've played. The logic in the game is real interesting. Just wish there was more variety in the art.
Yeah, ED is pretty fun. I agree about the art, and those fucking ships. Man I don't like those ships (I could almost justify laying down over 100 for Eclipse if it didn't have those shitty ships). I like how it takes many elements from games I love and makes something new without replacing the original games it borrows from.
My Boardgame lust always seem to come in waves. In the past few weeks I bought Power Grid + Expansions, Smallworld Underground and the Expansion for Stone Age. I still feel the need to get some more stuff. Eying stuff like Race for the Galaxy and King of Tokyo right now. But after that I'll probably be alright again for a few months.
Is there a place where you can maybe play RFTG online, so I could get more of a feel for it?
Is there a place where you can maybe play RFTG online, so I could get more of a feel for it?
Hey guys, just played my first game of Defenders of the Realm last night. How exciting! We lost and possibly could have won if we didn't delay the turn and would have just attacked the general. It was fun though and I'm wondering if anyone played the expansion. I like how the game is relatively simple to learn but there is a deep strategy there as well as a lot of luck of course. I'm wondering about the expansion which ups the player count to 6.
Does it ruin the experience to play with more than four? I thought it worked well and don't want to get it too complicated. Could anyone share their experience?
Does it ruin the experience to play with more than four? I thought it worked well and don't want to get it too complicated. Could anyone share their experience?
UpperCaseN
Member
any chance you've played Pandemic? Does the game suffer from the same "calculate" the endgame?
Can you elaborate? I haven't played Pandemic (I have it but haven't tried it yet) but I think I know what you're talking about. There are four phases to the game, early war, mid war and late war. In the early war phase you're only drawing one card that puts minions on the map. In the mid war you're picking two, and in the late war phase you're picking up three. You advance through each phase as a general is killed. The pace only picks up to an insane level during the late war phase when you're drawing three darkness falls cards to place minions.
Things can get out of hand very quickly and we ended up being scared to fight the last boss and waited too long, eventually losing the game. So I think there is some calculation to be done near the end to coordinate how to kill the general, then again it was our first game so we wasted many cards and it's only really during the late game phase. You can set your own pace because the phases only move forward with each general killed.
As I said above we wasted many one time use special abilities early on when we should have saved them. Each person also has quests to do during the game and these bonuses can usually be used to help the team even on someone elses turn. So really there was some calculation near the end, but it was pretty simple. What are our chances of killing the general? Not good, then do something else until we get enough attack cards.
In the early to mid phase of the game we really took our time and you have so many options on your turn. You can attack minions, go try to do your quests, make warp gates, heal tainted lands, etc. A very fun game that lasted 6 hours! Our next game won't be as long for sure as we spent a lot of time reading the rules to figure out how to play.
I kind of like the fighter tokens. They're completely superfluous and over the top (and the money for their production could have been spent on more art), but there's some sort of toy box fun to be had by attacking planets with them pew-pew style before you discard them.
The Ulthuan expansion adds the elves (dark and high) to the factions so that is definitely worth getting. I've grabbed all the big box expansions (the March of the Damned and Legends) and bunch of battle packs.
I don't really have any method to what I get, I've bought most of my stuff from amazon so once or twice a week they'll dump a battle pack into my gold box deals of the day. If it's under $10 I usually just snag it (especially because I have Prime and free 2 day shipping).
BattleMonkey
Member
Other versions of risks are the same basic game, though do think many are better as they add flavorful rules and objectives. There are risk like games that you could maybe look into that are a bit more complex like say Axis and Allies. If you like Game of Thrones and have around 5-6 players, the board game is definitely worth a look. Conquest of Nerath is also ok Risk like game with a little more meat to it
Doogington
Member
Perhaps Small World or Chaos in the Old World.
narcosis219
Member
RISK LEGACY
UpperCaseN
Member
sounds, pretty awesome! 6 hours is way too long for my tastes, though! What I meant about Pandemic is that 1 of the things I dislike is that at the end of the game, when you run down the player draw pile, it's game over. So if you see there's like, 6 left, you know there's only 3 turns left in the game and people will stop playing so that we can figure out how to win in 3 turns. I'm guilty of this, I mean we all want to win, but I just really hate that it often comes to that. Plus I've had a few too many games with crippling difficulty, but I read that that's because we always random draw our characters. I traded Pandemic away but I love the co-op nature of it, so I've been looking for a replacement (that's not Forbidden Island, I kept that). I've made up my mind on Flash Point Fire Rescue but that doesn't mean Defenders is out of the question as well
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
I have Tide of Iron and checking local prices the difference is only 10bucks between these two base games. so don't let price be a big issue.
That said Tide of Iron is great as long as you and who ever you are going to play with don't mind that the default map scenarios, it came with ARE NOT balanced. Some scenarios heavily favor the Germans or the allies.. I think it was somewhat intentional but not alot of people are fans of the almost no win scenario..the later addons of Day of the Fox and Normandy really drastically improve the balance of the scenarios..there's a hardcover as well and tons of unofficial player made scenarios.
Its great fun.. I love the board tiles that really give you endless combo's and size of maps. Setup can be abit fiddly due to putting all the men on the bases, but if your a miniature war gamer you might really like having all the men as plastic minis and tanks and guns ect.
Once you understand the rules we have found its a nice balance between complexity and ease of play.
Conquest of Nerath.
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
IF you like the kind of game Risk is but want something that plays abit different check out if you can find a copy of DUST I've played it twice and its quite fun.
Heres link to a cheezy video review of it.
http://vimeo.com/8647538
As well something different but does have area control and a sense of combat but with some more resource management as well is SHOGUN..really unique and and original Dice tower makes the rolling of units much more interesting since unit pieces can get stuck in the tower intentionally and come out later to change the outcome of roles.
heres a quick video review that gives a good overview
http://youtu.be/aCDLeVdcC9M
I'll third the recommendation for Risk Legacy. It's similar enough to Risk, but the unique twists it adds really make it an interesting step up from the original.
My latest board game column is up at Kill Screen and Pitchfork. It's that piece about Dominion and Donald X. Vaccarino I mentioned earlier. Thanks for your help.
Why do people only recommend "Risk-ish" games? Why not some easier eurogames? That's probably how most people here started getting really into the hobby.
I also think I will be able to go to Essen this year. I'll let you guys know once I know for sure, there might be some of you who want me to buy stuff for them. Nevefade?
I also think I will be able to go to Essen this year. I'll let you guys know once I know for sure, there might be some of you who want me to buy stuff for them. Nevefade?
Randy Monk
Member
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
In this case simply because the request said him and his friend LOVE Risk..if he was like we liked risk but its very limited we're really bored of it and are looking for something else thats fun.. you see what I mean
UpperCaseN
Member
new math trade up on BGG, this week only
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/127881/spring-training-math-trade
I've got at least 2 to put up, including 1 of my winnings from last time. I didn't read the description close enough and got an old edition grrr
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/127881/spring-training-math-trade
I've got at least 2 to put up, including 1 of my winnings from last time. I didn't read the description close enough and got an old edition grrr
Another vote for Risk Legacy here. Such a great game. My group is six games in and we've enjoyed every minute. Risk 2210AD is excellent too. I hear Godstorm is very similar to 2210AD but I haven't played it.
And Axis & Allies is an excellent step up as well.
Thanks for the heads-up, Gryphter. I'm going to probably be putting up a couple more things for trade this weekend.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Excellent. I have a couple things I want to trade away.
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