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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)

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AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Agreed on Leaders. Quite love it myself. Feel similarly in that I'd never play it with people new to 7 Wonders but with vets from now on probably wouldn't play without it.
 

Emerson

May contain jokes =>
The last few days I've become obsessed with the prospect of designing and creating my own board or card game. I certainly have no idea what the hell I'm doing but I do think I have a few good ideas. I know a few people in here are doing/have done so. Any tips for where to begin? We'll see where it goes haha.
 

MichaelBD

Member
Finally got to do Dungeon Petz today. Pretty nice game, kind of agricola like though the whole taking care of pet thing is both fun and a bit odd. The oddness comes with how you determine scoring of your pets for sale/exhibition.... using the current turn's needs of a creature seems kinda counter productive as you are not really raising the pets in any form, you just got to try and plan ahead to draw cards of specific colors that might improve the chances for higher scoring. Kinda expected it to be more like actual pet raising and training so that aspect of it kind of dissapointed, but the group thought it had great fun theme. Will try some more.



FFG really didn't do a whole lot of design on the game, most of the game is exactly as it was back in the old days of GW's original release of the game. They simply updated the components and there was a few tweaks to certain old things. It's not a miniature game at all, it's a war game really and that in itself is unique for something published by FFG which mainly stays away from those outside of Tide of Iron.
I knew there was another HH game from Games Workshop. I didn't know this most recent one was a reprint of sorts. When I watched the video FFG put out about it, I got the impression it was basically a new game.
 
Played my first game of Horus Heresy last night (acquired it through a BGG trade). It's got the FFG stamp all over it which is a plus for me. Basically it's a 2 player war/strategy/area control miniatures game. Given the size of the box it's actually pretty light and the only reason the box needs to be so big is the way the board was designed and implemented. If you look at games like A Game of Thrones (new edition) and REX, that 6-panel board design folds out to a pretty large play area. The HH board is a large tri-fold surface that folded is the size of the box bottom. The minis are small and in a very un-FFG way even though there are 8 decks of cards, the order decks are the only ones that have a significant number of cards to them. So opening that huge box presents you with a lot of dead space.

We took it easy going over the board, units, and rules and played a very lax intro scenario (the game comes with 6 of them). As the Imperium player I was getting beat down pretty handily but a rules check post-game had me realizing we missed some major rules.

It's definitely cool and I want to play again. I'm concerned about replayability with the 6 scenarios but really I wonder how often I'll get to play it considering how many games I already have (and keep adding to). I had been hesitant to get the game because there are no dice (and I love dice) and a miniature game without dice just seemed wrong. But FFG did some nice stuff with the card-driven combat and the way the bombardment deck resolves the random events like corruption, bombardments, and laser defense. It all just seemed to work.

I love Horus Heresy, wish I could play it more. It's very dense but so rewarding. Don't worry about the replayability, the later scenarios are so variable in their set up that you could just play one of them FOREVER. Fuck I love that game, so much epic stuff happening each turn, such a heavy warlike slog, what stories. I want another game now.
 
If you haven't already it might be worth flinging the question in one of the boardgamegeek.com forums.
Rummaging around the database there might throw up something.

Thanks man,is this the game that i was looking for.

Buzz-Flutter-s-Big-Electronic-Game-Book-With-Removable-Bug-Shaped-9780887059797.jpg
 
Anyone have a link to the rules?

someone babelfished the German rules but uploaded a word doc on bgg.
This is a cut and paste from there

Edit : Link
*********

Game idea:
 
Zooloretto with dice! Each player is a director of a small zoo and tries to fill its cages with animals. Each animal in a cage brings points. But when the cages are full, if a player must bring in more animals they are placed in the stable and these animals score minus points. At the end the player with most points wins.
 
PLAY PREPARATION
A game for 2-4 zoo directors starting from 7 years.
 
Depending upon number of players the appropriate number of dice are laid out:
 
2 players - 6 dice
3 players - 8 dice
4 players - 10 dice
 
These dice form the supply. The remaining dice are not needed and are put back into the box.
 
Then the game board is placed in the middle of the table.  With 2 or 3 players, use the side with 3 trucks.  With 4 players, the side with 4 trucks is used.  Each truck shows 3 crates.
 
The score sheet is a player’s zoo.  There is a cage for each animal - the top line represents the reptile cage - there is only room for 1 reptile in the zoo.  The second line represents the ostrich cage - this cage will hold 2 ostrichs.  The lion cage on line 5 will hold 5 lions.
 
Each player receives a score sheet (zoo) from the pad of paper and a pencil. The youngest player is starting player and begins.
 
The game takes place over several rounds.  The player has 2 options on his turn:
. Roll 2 dice and put them in trucks
. Take all dice from a truck and place them in your zoo
 
Afterwards the next player in clockwise direction follows. If each player took dice from a truck, the current round ends, and a new round begins.
 
. Roll 2 dice and put them in trucks:
 
The player takes two cubes from the supply and rolls them. Now he must put the two cubes on free crates of the trucks on the game board. Important: The die result may not be changed. He can put either both dice on one truck or each die on a different truck. On a truck dice fit according to the number of crates - at the most 3 per truck. If no more dice are in the supply, the player cannot select this action - he must select action B.
 
. Take all the dice from a truck and place them in your zoo:
 
The player takes all cubes of any truck and puts them on his score sheet. He must immediately register the symbols illustrated on the dice in his zoo (score sheet). Important: The player may select only one truck, on which there is at least one die. If a player selects this option, he is out of the current round and plays only in the next round. Note: This truck is now available for the other players!  Since the players who took dice have dice on their paper, one can see who does not play any more in the current round. As the player notes the symbols in the zoo, he must follow these rules:
 
Animal symbols:
The player places an “x” in the corresponding cage for each animal.  Use the spaces to the right of the pictured animal (from left to right). If there is no space left in which to place an ‘x’ for the animal, this animal species in the stable (at the bottom of the score sheet) must be marked with an ‘x’. If the animal species in the stable is already marked with an ‘x’, this animal die is ignored. The first player to fill an cage of an animal species announces loud. He gets a bonus and marks the bonus field with an ‘x’ to the left of the appropriate cage. Important: other players cannot receive the bonus for this animal species - only the first player to fill for each animal species.
 
Coin Symbols:
For each coin symbol the player marks a coin field with an ‘x’ in his zoo. The coins must be filled from left to right. If there are no more free coin fields, then the coin dice are ignored.
 
End of a round:
After each player takes dice from a truck, the round is over. All dice are put back into the supply and the next round begins with the player who was the last to take a truck.  Note:  Even if all players except one took dice from a truck, this last player left continues his turn until he too takes a truck.
 
Game end:
If a player has after he takes a truck has only in only one cage with free fields or all of his cages are completely filled, the current round is still played completely. After each player took cubes from a truck, the game ends and the scoring follows.
 
Scoring:
Each player determines the plus and minus points for his zoo and registers the final points into the Scoring sheet on the right side:
● for each animal marked with an ‘x’ in his cages the player receives 1 plus.
● for each marked with an ‘x’ bonus beside a cage the player receives the appropriate number of points indicated in the hexagon.
● the 6 possible coins are subdivided in 3 groups. For each group completely marked with an ‘x’ the player must decide how to use the coins.  A complete coin group brings either 1 plus point to the player or the player may use it to eliminate the penalty for an animal species in the stable - to do this simply cross out the stable.
● for each animal stable marked with an ‘x’ and not eliminated using a coin group, the player receives minus 2 points.
 
Now each player adds his points and registers the final result into the lowest field on the score sheet. The player with most points wins. If there is a tie -  the player with most coins wins. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.
 
Example (see German score sheet): The player receives 1 plus for each animal in his cages. With the crocodile and with the lions he gains the bonus, since he filled these cages first (before his opponents). Only the 1st coin group is completed and he used those coins to eliminate the penalty for the crocodile stable. He still receives minus 2 points for the ostrich in the stable.
 

protonion

Member
I researched some of the more recent games and I fell in love with Lords of Waterdeep. A couple of friends confirmed that it is indeed awesome.

A DnD worker placement (!) game that may even appeal to people who hate them. I know because I'm one of them.
 
I researched some of the more recent games and I fell in love with Lords of Waterdeep. A couple of friends confirmed that it is indeed awesome.

A DnD worker placement (!) game that may even appeal to people who hate them. I know because I'm one of them.
A guy in my group brought it last week. The verdict was favorable to everyone who played in that game. It looks interesting I might have to give it a shot if he brings it again.
 

Keasar

Member
I researched some of the more recent games and I fell in love with Lords of Waterdeep. A couple of friends confirmed that it is indeed awesome.

A DnD worker placement (!) game that may even appeal to people who hate them. I know because I'm one of them.

Ive actually been interested in this one, any here on GAF with first-hand experience with it?
 

Steenbock

Neo Member
I've played Lords of Waterdeep a couple times now, and I'm very happy with it. It's a great mix of lite Eurogame style mechanics, coupled with a stronger theme and more ways to directly interferer with other players.

It's easy to learn and teach, seems to play equally well with any number of players, has a lot of variety from game to game, and plays remarkably quickly. We played our first full game over lunch at work, and even with four new players, we wrapped it up in less than an hour! Our second game had five players, and we STILL managed to get done in an hour!

If you're into the more 'hardcore' Eurogames, you may find it a bit thin, but at the very least, it should serve as a great introductory game for players that might be intimidated by games like Agricola...
 

SickBoy

Member
So with regards to Risk Legacy, how long do those who are playing it figure a session lasts with four or five players?

I think we're some way away from trying this in my group, but I know the time commitment might be a bit much for some of the people I play with.

EDIT: And to the poster above, I've only played them on iPad, but Tigris :)
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
So, I can't say anything official.. but..

if you bought any copies of Tammany Hall as investments, you might want to sell them. Like, before tomorrow :)
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Ok, buddy's selling both, can only afford one... Puerto Rico or Tigris & Euphrates?

Puerto Rico. 100%.

T&E is a great game, really great. But it's got weird fiddly mathy based rules (Knizia!) that are hard to explain.

Puerto Rico is 100% information game, super fun, and has that Agricola feeling of actually building something. So yeah, that.
 

Dreavus

Member
I really really need to play Puerto Rico more. I've only been at 2 games so far since my brother picked it up, and both times I came out with the feeling that I had much more to learn.

Do people follow set strategies in that game? Or is it mostly dependent on what kind of resources are flipped up? I find it hard to decide what to do sometimes when all buildings are available to everyone at essentially any time (assuming you can pay for it).
 

Zalasta

Member
Ok, buddy's selling both, can only afford one... Puerto Rico or Tigris & Euphrates?

I will be the dissenting voice and say T&E. I think Puerto Rico suffers too much from player advantage, specifically in the seating. Not only in the opening play, as well as if there is one person that doesn't know exactly what he's doing, the guy on his left will benefit greatly from it.
 
Just got the new Catacombs expansion Horde Of Vermin. Looks to add a nice bit of nastiness to the main game, poison is a lovely way to build threat and tension and the new monsters are tiny and weak but look to be able to cause serious trouble if used properly. A few new items and some cool new room cards too. There's even some variants for base game monsters that ups their toughness, which is really neat. Can't wait to bust it out, and I've been reading about the Labyrinth variant that has got me a little inspired.
 
Just got the new Catacombs expansion Horde Of Vermin. Looks to add a nice bit of nastiness to the main game, poison is a lovely way to build threat and tension and the new monsters are tiny and weak but look to be able to cause serious trouble if used properly. A few new items and some cool new room cards too. There's even some variants for base game monsters that ups their toughness, which is really neat. Can't wait to bust it out, and I've been reading about the Labyrinth variant that has got me a little inspired.

I think it looks great, I'm wondering if I should buy it or not. I really like the game, but on september I'll be leaving the country for a couple of years and will have to get rid of most of my collection :/

MY POOR BABIESSSSSS
 
I went ahead and bought me Puerto Rico. But he said he'd hold onto T&E for me since I'll be getting paid next week and he wouldn't mind waiting a week. So yeah, now I've got both.

So my collection is now:

Carcassonne
Catan
Agricola
Ticket To Ride
Puerto Rico
Tigris & Euphrates

So now I just have to get Twilight Struggle and I'm more or less almost set on all the games I wanted to buy...

Well, I say almost because Die Macher is impossible to find at decent prices

Any other absolute essentials you guys think I'm missing out on?

(I'm not including Monopoly, Risk and Scrabble, as they're not exactly note worthy, in this context)
 

Mashing

Member
Sentinals of the MultiVerse w/ Rook City expansions is pretty fun game. Played three games of it this past weekend. Got our asshes handed to use by Spite in the first game, then beat Citizen Dawn (a pushover) and then barely beat Spite in the third game (I was the only hero left at the end).
 
So this past weekend I got a couple new (new to me) games to the table. The first was Around the World in 80 Days. It's actually a fairly decent, quick playing family game that can be used as a gateway. The object is to make it around the world in, get this, 80 days. The person who does it in the least amount of days is the winner. The way it works is there is a row of face up cards each representing a different mode of transport, either a train or a boat. Each card has a numerical value associated to it and that is the amount of time spent using that mode of transport. Each leg of the journey requires you to expend a certain type of transport card, for example it will cost you a train card and a boat card to travel from London to Paris. You will add up the number on the cards and that's how many days you spend on the journey. Like I said it's really simple. The twist to the game is depending on where the card is located in the face up display you can perform an action associated with that space. It was a fun game, really short, and easy to teach.

The next game we played was Biblios. Biblios is an interesting card game in the same vein as For Sale. There are two phases to the game and the object is to get the most points in a particular group. If you do, you win the die associated with that group and that is your point value for the final scoring. The first phase is the gifting phase where you deal out a number of cards and keep one, place one in the auction pile, and gift the remaining cards. The next phase is the auction phase. You place a card from the auction deck up for auction and players bid on it. It was a nice filler that got a couple plays from us on Saturday. My wife and I played the two player game last night and it was the first game I played with an auction mechanic that actually worked with two players.

I went ahead and bought me Puerto Rico. But he said he'd hold onto T&E for me since I'll be getting paid next week and he wouldn't mind waiting a week. So yeah, now I've got both.

So my collection is now:

Carcassonne
Catan
Agricola
Ticket To Ride
Puerto Rico
Tigris & Euphrates

So now I just have to get Twilight Struggle and I'm more or less almost set on all the games I wanted to buy...

Well, I say almost because Die Macher is impossible to find at decent prices

Any other absolute essentials you guys think I'm missing out on?

(I'm not including Monopoly, Risk and Scrabble, as they're not exactly note worthy, in this context)
I personally think 7 Wonders should belong in everybody's collection. It's short enough to be considered a filler yet deep enough to still feel like a meaty experience. I would also recommend the Leaders expansion a little later on. It adds maybe five minutes to the game length and it's easy enough to integrate into the game. I like Leaders because it helps build a strategy for the game. It also plays up to 7 with no real hit to the game's length no matter how many people you have playing.
 
Alien Frontiers, Betrayal at the House on the Hill, and Shootin Ladders: Frag Fest manuals all read, in preparation for PAX East gaming nights. A buddy of mine picked up Lords of Waterdeep and is bringing it as well.

Holy shit the rules for Alien Frontiers are simple. It's basically roll dice and do shit with them. The end.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Once you add in the cards Alien Frontiers is one of the brain-burniest worker-placement games out there. Even more so than Rosenberg's games imo.
 
Once you add in the cards Alien Frontiers is one of the brain-burniest worker-placement games out there. Even more so than Rosenberg's games imo.
The expansion is going to be even worse in regards to the brain burn. A guy in my group had made a print and play version of the expansion so we go to test it out. It adds player powers and even more places to place your ships. I can't wait for it to be released.
 
Anyone play Titan for the iOS?

It's on sale and am curious if it is worth it...
I actually just picked it up last night and played around with it. It was my first time playing Titan ever and it's definitely an old school design. You basically move around the map mustering units and attacking other players. The winner is the person with their Titan still alive. The only thing I'm not 100% on is mustering. I think it depends on the points you get for winning battles. Other than that it's fairly straight forward.

The app itself is well done and does a good job of walking you through the different phases. From what I understand they added the tutorial video and in game tutorial recently. It definitely helps when first learning the game.
 

Mashing

Member
Once you add in the cards Alien Frontiers is one of the brain-burniest worker-placement games out there. Even more so than Rosenberg's games imo.

Amen to that. You CANNOT map out your moves ahead of time. It's a VERY AP prone game.

With that said, I lost my copy (with only 2 plays) :(
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Yeah I've owned it since it came out but haven't had the chance to play it yet. There's someone in my game group who's dying to try it out though so it's just a matter of sucking it up, learning & teaching, and bringing it to game night. Love the art and bits in that game though.
 

fenners

Member
Yeah I've owned it since it came out but haven't had the chance to play it yet. There's someone in my game group who's dying to try it out though so it's just a matter of sucking it up, learning & teaching, and bringing it to game night. Love the art and bits in that game though.

Real easy to play, and plays quickly. Total 'screw the leader' etc type game, works fantastically well.
 
Yeah I've owned it since it came out but haven't had the chance to play it yet. There's someone in my game group who's dying to try it out though so it's just a matter of sucking it up, learning & teaching, and bringing it to game night. Love the art and bits in that game though.
Tammany Hall? It's actually really easy to teach. Hell all the rules are on the board. The only thing that is kind of weird is how slander works and even then it makes sense thematically. Suck it up and do it I really like Tammany Hall.
 

Hero

Member
I went ahead and bought me Puerto Rico. But he said he'd hold onto T&E for me since I'll be getting paid next week and he wouldn't mind waiting a week. So yeah, now I've got both.

So my collection is now:

Carcassonne
Catan
Agricola
Ticket To Ride
Puerto Rico
Tigris & Euphrates

So now I just have to get Twilight Struggle and I'm more or less almost set on all the games I wanted to buy...

Well, I say almost because Die Macher is impossible to find at decent prices

Any other absolute essentials you guys think I'm missing out on?

(I'm not including Monopoly, Risk and Scrabble, as they're not exactly note worthy, in this context)

I will back the others in saying Dominion.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Tammany Hall? It's actually really easy to teach. Hell all the rules are on the board. The only thing that is kind of weird is how slander works and even then it makes sense thematically. Suck it up and do it I really like Tammany Hall.

Yeah I read through the rules like a year ago. Of course learning a game and getting it to the table are two different things. :D I'll probably bust it out Monday though just to knock another game off the backlog. (Which I've actually been really good about.)
 

MrMan2k3

Member
So with regards to Risk Legacy, how long do those who are playing it figure a session lasts with four or five players?

I think we're some way away from trying this in my group, but I know the time commitment might be a bit much for some of the people I play with.
The first few games of Risk Legacy I played only lasted about an hour each, but as more rules and components have come into play the sessions have gotten closer to 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Some of the people I'm playing with are notorious for taking their sweet time when playing Risk, though. Our games of Risk 2210 typically go for about 5-6 hours, so Risk Legacy is much shorter than that.
 
Anyone have impressions on Puzzle Strike? It's still pricy, but on a bit of a sale currently on Sirlin's direct site.

I played some of the print-and-play version of Yomi (real stuff was too expensive) and I really liked it, so I think that I like Sirlin's stuff in general. Also, my wife loves Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (the only video game we play together) so I think that she would be down for giving a board game of the same type a try. Just wondering if any GAFfers have given it a try already.
 

Deadstar

Member
What is the preferred method to shuffle for board games? I don't do the card shuffle with dominoin cards because they are thin and would obviously bend. I used the card deck shuffle technic with the pandemic cards because they look stronger but the edges are starting to tear. Why don't these games print on how quality material like a regular deck of cards?

What's the best way to shuffle cards that are weak? I usually hold the deck side ways in my hand and move card from the back to the front for a few minutes.
 

Slacker

Member
So with regards to Risk Legacy, how long do those who are playing it figure a session lasts with four or five players?

My group of four is averaging around 1 to 1.5 hours per game, aside from one that went really wheels off and was over in 15 minutes. :) It's a great game, I don't think you'll be disappointed. :)
 
What is the preferred method to shuffle for board games? I don't do the card shuffle with dominoin cards because they are thin and would obviously bend. I used the card deck shuffle technic with the pandemic cards because they look stronger but the edges are starting to tear. Why don't these games print on how quality material like a regular deck of cards?

What's the best way to shuffle cards that are weak? I usually hold the deck side ways in my hand and move card from the back to the front for a few minutes.

Air cushioned cards cost way more. Waaaaaaaaaaaay more.
 
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