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[Karkador]

Played my first offline game of Black Friday today (I've played it a few times on Yucata now). It's a economic/stock market game where you are trying to ride a stock market bubble to its inevitable crash - by the guy who designed PowerGrid, so it's rather quirky and colorful where a lot of these games aren't.

We played the rules a little bit wrong, though. Combined with other our newbie mistakes, it made for a game where the bubble burst a bit early, stalling the market halfway through the game. We struggled so hard to fight this crazy downward spiral. Even though we sort of broke the game by playing it wrong, it was fun and felt like a story we lived through.

 

[superrobot]

Played my first offline game of Black Friday today (I've played it a few times on Yucata now). It's a economic/stock market game where you are trying to ride a stock market bubble to its inevitable crash - by the guy who designed PowerGrid, so it's rather quirky and colorful where a lot of these games aren't.

We played the rules a little bit wrong, though. Combined with other our newbie mistakes, it made for a game where the bubble burst a bit early, stalling the market halfway through the game. We struggled so hard to fight this crazy downward spiral. Even though we sort of broke the game by playing it wrong, it was fun and felt like a story we lived through.

I'm not surprised you had problems with the rules. They weren't easy to understand when I tried on Yucata.

 

[Karkador]

I'm not surprised you had problems with the rules. They weren't easy to understand when I tried on Yucata.

It's a bit notorious for having come out at first with a really bad rule book, but we thought the game is actually rather easy to play. It's just that messing up that one little rule has some huge consequences. It felt like when I played Container, where we were sternly warned by the guy teaching us the game to be careful not to make any stupid moves, or it will cause the game's economy to collapse and the game will come to a grinding halt.

 

[Var]

Thinking about getting into Marvel Dice but still haven't been able to find a starter set.

 

[EYEL1NER]

Thinking about getting into Marvel Dice but still haven't been able to find a starter set.

Same here. I have been thinking about it and have been trying to track down a starter set. I really don't know anything about it though; I am pretty much interested due to the hype. I did see that sexy pic of the dice a while back and have contemplated buying some boosters just to maybe get a Punisher or Venom-spider die (the gravity feeds full of boosters, mainly AvX boosters, are the one thing I can find a bunch of). I did try Quarriors! once and I liked it, but the little I do know about Mahvel tells me that you probably won't have a bunch of a certain dice-type due to the nature of the booster-system (though apparently you don't need a bunch of one class of die?) and that you have to buy boosters. I don't know how I feel about either of those...


In other news, I leave the country again on Wednesday. Tomorrow I plan on sorting through my new acquisitions and trying to figure out what will fit in my duffel bag.
Since I got here at the end of March I have picked up the following:
Rampage
Loat Cities
Smash Up Sci Fi Double Feature expansion
Power Grid
Bora Bora
Tsuro
Castles of Burgundy
Three different types of Love Letter
K2
Thunderstone Advance
Thunderstone Advance Caverns of Bane
Lords of Waterdeep
Guilottine
Jaipur
Hanabi
Flash Point
Mermaid Rain
Twilight Imperium 3rd Ed
Blood Bowl
Elder Sign
Forbidden Desert

Blood Bowl and Elder Sign are the thin-style FFG boxes, so I can manage those. A Love Letter variant, Guilottine, Hanabi, and Jaipur are small enough to fit in my carry-on. The Smash Up expansion is a mandatory one to take and there are several hundred MtG cards I have to take to a coworker who ordered them, which is more space lost. The only other things I would really love to take would be Waterdeep and Thunderstone. Caverns of Bane can fit in the Towes of Ruin box but it is still quite a beefy box. Waterdeep is thin enough but is pretty tall. I might be able to manage Waterdeep but I don't know... My duffel bag didn't weigh much the way here but it was already pretty full. And I also bought new clothes to take back with me. I might just fill up a spare Dead Hooker Bag I was issued a while back and pay the fee for having another one.
Although now I find out I will more than likely be on a different shift as the guy I game with. So if I didn't take anything even, the Ravenloft and the King of Tokyo (that I just bought within the last couple minutes) that are being delivered straight there might be a bit too much to add to the collection there...

Edit: I guess I am glad that I did not talk myself into placing an order for this GMT 'buy 3, get 50% off each game' sale. Labyrinth GWOT, Twilight Struggle Deluxe, and Dominent Species would have added quite a bit to my 'not enough baggage space' frustration. Though I could have chose APO shipping for only like $17...

 

[Mista Koo]

I'm tempted to buy Alien Frontiers for $60, except Amazon page doesn't say which edition it is.

 

[EYEL1NER]

I'm tempted to buy Alien Frontiers for $60, except Amazon page doesn't say which edition it is.

I'll be a nice guy I guess and not swoop in and steal it (though it looks like there are at least 5 copies available so that is moot anyway; can't see if there are more or not on mobile site right now). I imagine it is the 4th edition though, the odds of someone turning up a bunch of new copies of earlier editions is less likely that a box full of fourths sitting around somewhere.
I specifically do not want the fourth edition though. I do not know which version I played on TT Day, but it did not have the bases that the fourth has. It did have the score track and rocket score markers though, so maybe second or third? Haven't figured it out yet.

Anyway, probably fourth edition. If you buy it, i would be curious to know which one you get in. That is a great price for a fun game.
I only played it once and that was my introductory 'learning' game. As soon as the game was over though I knew I wanted it. Such disappointment when I got online to buy it later... I need to call the store and ask what version their demo copy is, because I will track one down. This won't become another Manila for me...


Edit: Looks like 55 in stock at the moment. I didn't realize that this had such a high rank on the 'Geek. 99? Well-deserved I guess.

I think now that maybe the odds of a non-4th Edition are higher than I initially thought, especially if someone in the question section is answering that they received first editions fairly recently. I will still pass for now, a decision I will likely come to regret. I will hold out and hope I can stumble across a copy for $45 or so somewhere down the line.

 

[Mista Koo]

I'll be a nice guy I guess and not swoop in and steal it (though it looks like there are at least 5 copies available so that is moot anyway; can't see if there are more or not on mobile site right now). I imagine it is the 4th edition though, the odds of someone turning up a bunch of new copies of earlier editions is less likely that a box full of fourths sitting around somewhere.
I specifically do not want the fourth edition though. I do not know which version I played on TT Day, but it did not have the bases that the fourth has. It did have the score track and rocket score markers though, so maybe second or third? Haven't figured it out yet.

Anyway, probably fourth edition. If you buy it, i would be curious to know which one you get in. That is a great price for a fun game.
I only played it once and that was my introductory 'learning' game. As soon as the game was over though I knew I wanted it. Such disappointment when I got online to buy it later... I need to call the store and ask what version their demo copy is, because I will track one down. This won't become another Manila for me...


Edit: Looks like 55 in stock at the moment. I didn't realize that this had such a high rank on the 'Geek. 99? Well-deserved I guess.

I think now that maybe the odds of a non-4th Edition are higher than I initially thought, especially if someone in the question section is answering that they received first editions fairly recently. I will still pass for now, a decision I will likely come to regret. I will hold out and hope I can stumble across a copy for $45 or so somewhere down the line.

Bought it. If I regret this decision later I'll blame you

Didn't understand why you don't want the fourth though. Did you like the non-transparent pieces better?

 

[Neverfade]

Why in the world is that game $60?

Edit: Oh. Game Salute. /fart

 

[EYEL1NER]

Bought it. If I regret this decision later I'll blame you

Didn't understand why you don't want the fourth though. Did you like the non-transparent pieces better?

Yeah, I liked them better. I took one look at the bubble colonies and thought 'Those are ugly.'
I also do not particularly want a double-sided board, because I will never get or use rocket dice.

 

[joelseph]

My most recent purchase

 

[Experien]

My most recent purchase

Please tell me how it is! I looked on the KS but I passes but been curious about it and how well it plays.

 

[fenners]

Please tell me how it is! I looked on the KS but I passes but been curious about it and how well it plays.

Much the same here.

 

[Karkador]

My friend has that game and we played it recently. It's a neat little game in a small box, but the asking price is a bit steep for what it is. I want more games like it, though.

 

[joelseph]

My friend has that game and we played it recently. It's a neat little game in a small box, but the asking price is a bit steep for what it is. I want more games like it, though.

I am enamored with micro games.

 

[sasimirobot]

Played Targi with my girlfriend tonight, first time since it came in the mail this morning. Am I doing something wrong? The game took me about 1 hour to get my head around the instructions, then we played it wrong. Had to youtube a video to see how to play, finally got around to a "real" game...I don't know. I guess after "Love Letter" I am spoiled of games that are "wam bam thank you mam" lets get to playing.

Last night played a few rounds of LL and with new players, after 5 minutes we were having a roaring time. Targi at home with the GF felt like a slog. I can totally see how deep and thought out the game is, but its just not fun. I will force a few more games out of us, but maybe I dove too far in the deep end with this game.

Still have Pandemic in the box, so will try that tomorrow and update.

 

[joelseph]

I guess after "Love Letter" I am spoiled of games that are "wam bam thank you mam" lets get to playing.

Yup. I would say that the average game is going to require one person to not only read the entire instruction book but check the developer's site for rule updates, cross reference Boardgame Geek's forums for rule questions, watch a few different how to play videos on Youtube and play a game or two by themselves before introducing it to players that are specifically interested in mastering the new game! It's worth it when it clicks but can be a uphill struggle for sure!

 

[joelseph]

Star Realms finally arrives.

 

[AstroLad]

Yup. I would say that the average game is going to require one person to not only read the entire instruction book but check the developer's site for rule updates, cross reference Boardgame Geek's forums for rule questions, watch a few different how to play videos on Youtube and play a game or two by themselves before introducing it to players that are specifically interested in mastering the new game! It's worth it when it clicks but can be a uphill struggle for sure!

This is pretty much required for any FFG game.

 

[ultron87]

Lol. I'm currently preparing to teach my friends Twilight Imperium to play this weekend. My plans are to print out reference sheets, send them the rules to maybe read, run a solo game by myself and do a rehearsal of my rules explanation. And this is all after spending a couple hours clipping ships off sprues and sorting a billion tokens into bags. With all of this we can hopefully teach the game in less than an hour.

 

[Palmer_v1]

Star Realms finally arrives.

Bang: The Dice Game has been a fairly popular filler game for my groups. 4 people or less, we play Love Letter. More, it's Bang!.

 

[Karkador]

Played Targi with my girlfriend tonight, first time since it came in the mail this morning. Am I doing something wrong? The game took me about 1 hour to get my head around the instructions, then we played it wrong. Had to youtube a video to see how to play, finally got around to a "real" game...I don't know. I guess after "Love Letter" I am spoiled of games that are "wam bam thank you mam" lets get to playing.

Last night played a few rounds of LL and with new players, after 5 minutes we were having a roaring time. Targi at home with the GF felt like a slog. I can totally see how deep and thought out the game is, but its just not fun. I will force a few more games out of us, but maybe I dove too far in the deep end with this game.

Still have Pandemic in the box, so will try that tomorrow and update.

Don't feel too discouraged. A lot of us take a while to learn the rules of a new game. I will often try to set up a new game by myself the day before, and walk through a little bit of it to learn the rules and think of how to best introduce it to others.

The first game I bought and tried to learn was Netrunner (a pretty complicated game to learn) . My girlfriend and I sat down and just tried to play while following along with the rules. It took us 3 hours to finish and we still didn't have a good idea of how everything worked.

We got it after another game, and it went much, much faster. You also start to intuitively understand the rules to other games as you get used to playing board games and see certain patterns in the way a lot of them work.

For what it's worth, Targi looks like a game that could be fairly complicated to get the hang of. If you guys now made it over the hump, though, you should try it again. A lot of games I didn't understand the first time seemed really bad. Then I tried it again, got it, and liked it a lot.

 

[Phthisis]

Played Targi with my girlfriend tonight, first time since it came in the mail this morning. Am I doing something wrong? The game took me about 1 hour to get my head around the instructions, then we played it wrong. Had to youtube a video to see how to play, finally got around to a "real" game...I don't know. I guess after "Love Letter" I am spoiled of games that are "wam bam thank you mam" lets get to playing.

Hmmm... What exactly were you confused by? Maybe I can help.

 

[Mista Koo]

Why in the world is that game $60?

Edit: Oh. Game Salute. /fart

What's the average price for games of that size? This is my first one.
Besides I lived in a place where a lot of video games are forever full priced. I'm pretty sure I'll play this more than some video games I've bought for the same price.

Yeah, I liked them better. I took one look at the bubble colonies and thought 'Those are ugly.'
I also do not particularly want a double-sided board, because I will never get or use rocket dice.

While the colored things look better, the new colonies look like they're of a higher quality.
At this point I honestly don't mind whichever version I receive lol.

Bang: The Dice Game has been a fairly popular filler game for my groups. 4 people or less, we play Love Letter. More, it's Bang!.

I too just received my copy of Bang: The Dice Game. My group likes original Bang, I on the other hand played it twice and it was terrible. The first time the game dragged on forever and I was OP, the second time I was eliminated too soon.

 

[Palmer_v1]

What's the average price for games of that size? This is my first one.
Besides I lived in a place where a lot of video games are forever full priced. I'm pretty sure I'll play this more than some video games I've bought for the same price.


While the colored things look better, the new colonies look like they're of a higher quality.
At this point I honestly don't mind whichever version I receive lol.


I too just received my copy of Bang: The Dice Game. My group likes original Bang, I on the other hand played it twice and it was terrible. The first time the game dragged on forever and I was OP, the second time I was eliminated too soon.

I've never actually played the original Bang, but several others in my group have, to mixed reviews. The dice game is generally more popular with all of them. Most commonly, they say Bang can drag on and there are times you do absolutely nothing cause your cards. The dice game is much faster and you'll do SOMETHING every turn. It's also been extremely easy to teach to new players.

 

[Karkador]

I like Bang the Dice Game, but I wish there was a better way to find out who's on what side. The only time I played it, it felt impossible to tell who's who from the attacks, as people just seemed to be attacking whomever (and at the whim of their dice rolls).

 

[Mista Koo]

I like Bang the Dice Game, but I wish there was a better way to find out who's on what side. The only time I played it, it felt impossible to tell who's who from the attacks, as people just seemed to be attacking whomever (and at the whim of their dice rolls).

Yeah I don't think the hidden identities work well even in the original Bang. Everyone pretends to be a deputy, and the sheriff can't kill anyone just in case they are actually a deputy.

 

[Karkador]

I thought it might be interesting if you could look at a player's identity when you roll two beers and share with them to restore their life (it's like having a drink with them and learning about their life).

 

[Neverfade]

What's the average price for games of that size? This is my first one.

60 is usually the MSRP for something like that, but most games are heavily discounted at online game stores. I'd wager CSI would sell it for 33.99 - 37.99 if they carried it.

But Game Salute doesn't use traditional distribution and you can only buy GS games directly from them or sometimes on Amazon. Either way, you're paying full MSRP, and I refuse to support it.

 

[sasimirobot]

Played Pandemic with my Chinese GF tonight, so instructions took a while... Went well, I think, because I watched a few youtube videos (ok maybe 4/5) before I busted it out. Still lost with only using 4 epidemic cards, but wow, that was great! Couple of questions:

1. After you draw the card out of the bottom of the deck during an epidemic, that card is discarded and lost forever right?

2. If I want to introduce new people to this game, I was thinking just play without role cards for the first time, maybe just a few rounds so they get their head around it?

3. What is the best beginning strat, cure as fast as possible? I feel like we ran through the deck quite quickly, but had not outbreaks and the infection numbers seemed to not do too much with only 2 players...

 

[ultron87]

1. After you draw the card out of the bottom of the deck during an epidemic, that card is discarded and lost forever right?

It gets reshuffled on top of the deck with the rest of the already used infection cards. So you can easily draw it again, which is obviously bad since it has 3 cubes on it.

2. If I want to introduce new people to this game, I was thinking just play without role cards for the first time, maybe just a few rounds so they get their head around it?

I wouldn't play a full game this way because everyone being the same is kind of dull, but explaining the basic turn actions before introducing the roles makes sense.

3. What is the best beginning strat, cure as fast as possible? I feel like we ran through the deck quite quickly, but had not outbreaks and the infection numbers seemed to not do too much with only 2 players...

We usually focusing on curing/eradicating one disease as soon as possible just to take some of the heat off. This also makes some of the infection draws dead, which is nice.

 

[sasimirobot]

It gets reshuffled on top of the deck with the rest of the already used infection cards. So you can easily draw it again, which is obviously bad since it has 3 cubes on it.

I wouldn't play a full game this way because everyone being the same is kind of dull, but explaining the basic turn actions before introducing the roles makes sense.
.

Ah! I see. Also I wouldn't play a whole game with no roles, just a few round of turns for everyone to get the feel of it. Also, for some odd reason, my GF wants to play more Targi because she "won". Fuck this I'm not sugar coating these games anymore...

 

[Ohnonono]

I got 3 copies of Marvel Dicemaster starters! Payed 20 a pop, but I have people who are gonna pay over retail for them anyway so we can start using it as filler between Netrunner. Pretty excited cause my FLGS has TONS of boosters he opened and I am sure will give me lots of dice for the price of free/cheap because he cant sell them anyway without starters.

 

[Palmer_v1]

I like Bang the Dice Game, but I wish there was a better way to find out who's on what side. The only time I played it, it felt impossible to tell who's who from the attacks, as people just seemed to be attacking whomever (and at the whim of their dice rolls).

I usually roll for Gatling Gun or Beer when I'm not sure who anybody is. Otherwise I target whoever will be difficult to kill later, i.e. Vulture Sam. Outlaws generally make themselves known pretty quickly, while Deputy/Renegades are harder to identify.

 

[sasimirobot]

because I dared to look at this thread when I was drunk, I just ordered Skull and Roses.

 

[Karkador]

Sasimi, you're the best


Question for everyone, regarding the new OT - would it be better for us to have a monthly/quarterly/bi-annual thread in the OT? Like the seasonal anime threads or the iOS Gaming threads?

This OT we're posting in was created all the way back in 2010. Not only is our current OT rather outdated now (though a lot of the games mentioned in it are still very good), but it probably seems really crazy and weird for anyone new to the thread to come and read through four years of posts just to find out what's cool about board games.

If we go monthly or quarterly, we can constantly refresh the topic with the newest stuff, which is what we end up talking about here anyway. Our little community here is needlessly hidden away from the larger GAF masses, so it would also give the thread more views and more people posting.

Thoughts?

 

[DJ_Lae]

I just started getting into board games again (first time since the 90s, I think, Labyrinth and Axis & Allies and the like) thanks to a friend and some deals.

So far I'm only in for Alhambra ($15), Ticket to Ride ($20), and Lords of Waterdeep ($30). The only trick is going to be finding groups of people large enough to play as my wife doesn't like board games and my kids aren't old enough to play.

 

[ultron87]

because I dared to look at this thread when I was drunk, I just ordered Skull and Roses.

I still need to try that out with regular cards just to make sure my group likes it, then I'll pick it up the next time I see it in stock somewhere.

Question for everyone, regarding the new OT - would it be better for us to have a monthly/quarterly/bi-annual thread in the OT? Like the seasonal anime threads or the iOS Gaming threads?

We probably don't get enough post volume to justify a monthly or even quarterly thread since we've only had around 2500 posts this year so far. Bi-annual or even just annual would probably work. We should definitely see if we can get the new thread outside of community for a bit when that time comes, just to see if we can get some more visibility. We could probably just do something like a thread for the rest of 2014.

 

[Karkador]

All of those are good choices, DJ Lae. Why doesn't your wife like board games?

 

[DJ_Lae]

All of those are good choices, DJ Lae. Why doesn't your wife like board games?

Not entirely sure, to be honest. I have a feeling I can change her mind but I have no idea how something like Waterdeep would be with only two people.

 

[CoconutTank]

Star Realms finally arrives.
http://i.imgur.com/labcFXV.jpg?1[IMG][/QUOTE]
I'd love to hear a report/review about Star Realms if you don't mind! Supposedly it's a deckbuilder game in a sci-fi theme with combat involved, and compares favorably to Dominion/Ascension.

 

[Experien]

I just started getting into board games again (first time since the 90s, I think, Labyrinth and Axis & Allies and the like) thanks to a friend and some deals.

So far I'm only in for Alhambra ($15), Ticket to Ride ($20), and Lords of Waterdeep ($30). The only trick is going to be finding groups of people large enough to play as my wife doesn't like board games and my kids aren't old enough to play.

I hear you dude (minus the wife and kids), I ended up starting a MeetUp group for board games cause the majority of people I knew weren't into games. That is an expensive route to start a group so many you should look on the site for any groups near you that play.

Also, BoardGameGeek has area forums you could look to see if anyone is nearby.

 

[Neverfade]

Sasimi, you're the best


Question for everyone, regarding the new OT - would it be better for us to have a monthly/quarterly/bi-annual thread in the OT? Like the seasonal anime threads or the iOS Gaming threads?

This OT we're posting in was created all the way back in 2010. Not only is our current OT rather outdated now (though a lot of the games mentioned in it are still very good), but it probably seems really crazy and weird for anyone new to the thread to come and read through four years of posts just to find out what's cool about board games.

If we go monthly or quarterly, we can constantly refresh the topic with the newest stuff, which is what we end up talking about here anyway. Our little community here is needlessly hidden away from the larger GAF masses, so it would also give the thread more views and more people posting.

Thoughts?

I think that's a terrible idea personally, so my vote is no, or if it has to be refreshed, yearly at the shortest.

I think more relevant conversation is lost with refreshing as a whole. Boardgames are pretty timeless. Admittedly, opinions can change, but there's some pertinent information that can be searched through and I'd rather have it all in one place than a witch hunt through the forums to find christ knows how many threads.

 

[SCHUEY F1]

Picked up the expansions for Eldritch Horror and Suburbia today.

The backlog for Dice Masters sucks.

 

[EYEL1NER]

I may be still fairly new to this thread/gaming and have not contributed much but I'll throw my $.02 into the ring on the "New OT" question:
I personally don't like the constant OT refreshes on most threads. For some it makes sense, like the "What are you watching this month (new movies coming out for 'X' month)" threads. Other though like the funny pics thread getting updated every year don't make sense to me. There have been some threads where towards the end it just seemed like people wanted to rush an OT out so they could have more threads with their name on it or something. Not saying that is the intention here.
I vote that it keeps running through 20k posts. I prefer a huge board game thread that I can search through for info rather than a bunch for every month or something. As a previous poster said as well, board games are pretty timeless. Sure the 'hot' new game will change every now and then and a section of the OP could reflect that and be updated once in a while. But Carcassonne, Catan, TtR won't stop being recommended as entry-level classics, a lot of FFG stuff like Arkham will still be considered hardcore, and most info helpful to newcomers will still be the same.

If new threads HAVE to get created, like if there is some new trend where mods want to see people move away from one OT, then yearly threads I guess.

 

[Icefire1424]

Would also agree with yearly threads if we're looking for a recurring timeframe. Might even be a good opportunity to call out several "Games of the Year" or something highlighting a few released from that year worth consideration to someone looking over the thread.

 

[Karkador]

Fair points raised concerning the new OT. How do you effectively search through this thread, though? GAF's search options are somewhat lacking, as far as I've ever figured out.

Personally, I have not looked at anything of this thread past 6~ months ago. I agree that there are timeless games that would feel silly to put in every monthly OT like "these games are still good nothing to report". There is also a lot hype for new games (or stuff we've newly bought/played) that drives a lot of the discussion here.

I really only brought up the idea to try to get more people on GAF aware and involved in board games. It's crazy that this is a huge gaming forum and yet this thread feels relatively empty. I might even argue that this thread belongs on Gaming side.

 

[Var]

I think a yearly thread would be cool. It could be done like the Steam one.

 

[platypotamus]

We should start up yucata-ing again with the new thread

 

[joelseph]

I'd love to hear a report/review about Star Realms if you don't mind! Supposedly it's a deckbuilder game in a sci-fi theme with combat involved, and compares favorably to Dominion/Ascension.

Gladly. After Thursday I will have a few games under my belt and will write up a report.