The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)

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SCHUEY F1 said:
My wife and I are really enjoying Elder Sign so I'm thinking of picking up Arkham Horror. Does it play fine with 2 people and do others significant others enjoy it?
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2 is fine with AH, you can even play 2 investigators each to switch it up. If your wife likes the theme of ES then that is a gimme, but realize AH is much heavier than ES -- it's not difficult to understand so to speak, but there is a goddamn fuckton of things to remember. The "feel" of the game is similar, so as long as she's ok with a bit more time investment I can't see her disliking it.




Other news: I believe I'm going to drop some money on PrintrBot LC 3D printer, mainly for use of making components to pimp my boardgame ride.
 
Neverfade said:
2 is fine with AH, you can even play 2 investigators each to switch it up. If your wife likes the theme of ES then that is a gimme, but realize AH is much heavier than ES -- it's not difficult to understand so to speak, but there is a goddamn fuckton of things to remember. The "feel" of the game is similar, so as long as she's ok with a bit more time investment I can't see her disliking it.




Other news: I believe I'm going to drop some money on PrintrBot LC 3D printer, mainly for use of making components to pimp my boardgame ride.
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Thanks. If the game is taking a long time we could always leave it set up and come back to it the next day.
 
You know you're a board-game addict when you regularly browse the BGG recommendations forum and Geeklists for games to want.
 
Played Eclipse today with 2 other people. First game took 5 hours with learning rules and all that. The game basically devolved into Starcraft at the end with so many combat phases. The 2nd game took 1hr 40m and was intense. I played a super peaceful approach the 2nd game and was able to get great explores that let me colonize big time. Was able to gather a bunch of resources from discovery tiles and was able to build shitloads of orbitals and monoliths. Unfortunately, i lose due to not being in combat and not getting rep tiles, which lost me the game, but gave me future ideas for future playthroughs. We all really bought into the hype and were completely satisfied after our marathon gaming session
 
I think I want my next game to be a civilization game. Would you guys recommend Eclipse, Through The Ages or Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game?

Or feel free to suggest other cool games you love, my birthday is coming up. Kinda sorta want King Of Tokyo too, I love crazy dice games.
 
Captain_Spanky said:
I think I want my next game to be a civilization game. Would you guys recommend Eclipse, Through The Ages or Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game?

Or feel free to suggest other cool games you love, my birthday is coming up. Kinda sorta want King Of Tokyo too, I love crazy dice games.
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Tough question, all three are great games. Eclipse and Through the Ages feel the most a like. The difference is TtA is a more abstract Civ game. There is no map, whatsoever, and you are basically pushing cubes from one location to the other. That being said, it's amazing how much it feels like you are building a civilization with just a few sparse pieces.

Eclipse has a similar civ management to TtA. Basically each cube represents something just depends on where it's located. However, Eclipse doesn't feel like a civ game to me. It feels more like a game of space economics to me.

Sid Meier's Civ is basically the computer game in a box. There is a certain level of abstraction in order to keep the board from getting too cluttered (you have a small handful of plastic pieces representing armies and scouts). The battle system is not my favorite but serves it's purpose. The tech pyramid is my favorite aspect of the game. There are no tech trees in the game instead you literally are building a pyramid of tech. For example, if you want to build a Level 2 tech you must have at least two Level 1 techs below it.

Now in order to pick it depends on the number of players you will have playing. Eclipse plays best with four can accommodate up to six. TtA plays best with three but can accommodate four. Civ plays best with two or four and can accommodate five with an expansion. If you are playing mostly three player games go with TtA. Four? Civ or Eclipse, again Ecplise is more of an economic game.

Hope that helps sorry about the rambling.
 
joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
Tough question, all three are great games. Eclipse and Through the Ages feel the most a like. The difference is TtA is a more abstract Civ game. There is no map, whatsoever, and you are basically pushing cubes from one location to the other. That being said, it's amazing how much it feels like you are building a civilization with just a few sparse pieces.

Eclipse has a similar civ management to TtA. Basically each cube represents something just depends on where it's located. However, Eclipse doesn't feel like a civ game to me. It feels more like a game of space economics to me.

Sid Meier's Civ is basically the computer game in a box. There is a certain level of abstraction in order to keep the board from getting too cluttered (you have a small handful of plastic pieces representing armies and scouts). The battle system is not my favorite but serves it's purpose. The tech pyramid is my favorite aspect of the game. There are no tech trees in the game instead you literally are building a pyramid of tech. For example, if you want to build a Level 2 tech you must have at least two Level 1 techs below it.

Now in order to pick it depends on the number of players you will have playing. Eclipse plays best with four can accommodate up to six. TtA plays best with three but can accommodate four. Civ plays best with two or four and can accommodate five with an expansion. If you are playing mostly three player games go with TtA. Four? Civ or Eclipse, again Ecplise is more of an economic game.

Hope that helps sorry about the rambling.
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Thanks man, no worries about the rambling, detail is useful. I usually play with 2 to 3 people, with some bigger game nights thrown in. I love Vlaada Cheval's designs, but was worried that TtA would be too abstracted. I like my plastic bits. However it also looks like a really deep, engaging game with lots to offer.
 
I'm considering getting Summoner Wars for my gf and I, or waiting for Image Wars to hit soon. We do still have Dominion sealed for a deck builder, but I feel like the fantasy themes would go over better. Thoughts or other suggestions?
 
Updated my BGG games list and used their filters to see I own 107 base board games (number doubles with expansions, though I own lots of little ones like the $5 BGG ones). No wonder I never get to play half of them! It's time for a cullin' ... but that's always such a chore, like board-game spring cleaning. Plus I've been going back to old games that I didn't give much of a chance (like Mystery Rummy) and actually enjoying them. Key target will probably be heavy, long games like Game of Thrones. Love 'em but just never have the chance.

Petrie said:
I'm considering getting Summoner Wars for my gf and I, or waiting for Image Wars to hit soon. We do still have Dominion sealed for a deck builder, but I feel like the fantasy themes would go over better. Thoughts or other suggestions?
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Check out Thunderstone on yucata.de -- fantasy deckbuilder.
 
JetBlackPanda said:
Played Puerto Rico today for the first time.

amazingly fun!
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I had the same experience a few days ago. Really good game. Talked my friend into buying Caracassone instead of a Dominion knock off (we have dominion and expansions, but no tile placing games) and I'm eager to play that.

I feel like I still have so many of the basics to play. My friend bought Power Grid and I feel a little bad because we never play it and when we do we realize we were doing something wrong. It's the first game we've had trouble finding fun in.
 
Staccat0 said:
I had the same experience a few days ago. Really good game. Talked my friend into buying Caracassone instead of a Dominion knock off (we have dominion and expansions, but no tile placing games) and I'm eager to play that.

I feel like I still have so many of the basics to play. My friend bought Power Grid and I feel a little bad because we never play it and when we do we realize we were doing something wrong. It's the first game we've had trouble finding fun in.
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I'm not a big Power Grid fan either. "I totally see the merit," but just generally don't like brainburny games that leave people prone to AP. Throw in some dice and maybe I'll like it more. :D
 
Captain_Spanky said:
I think I want my next game to be a civilization game. Would you guys recommend Eclipse, Through The Ages or Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game?

Or feel free to suggest other cool games you love, my birthday is coming up. Kinda sorta want King Of Tokyo too, I love crazy dice games.
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JJJS gave some good advice, but as a second opinion I just have to say TTA is pretty mind numbing. I tried to get into this a couple times with a hardcore boardgame buddy and we did not have a great time, probably because of the abstracted-ness. It may do a good job with what it has, but up against Civ and (so-far) Eclipse I just don't think it competes. You did say you love Chvatil's designs so maybe you will enjoy it more, I just think the other two are better choices for what you're looking for.
 
Neverfade said:
JJJS gave some good advice, but as a second opinion I just have to say TTA is pretty mind numbing. I tried to get into this a couple times with a hardcore boardgame buddy and we did not have a great time, probably because of the abstracted-ness. It may do a good job with what it has, but up against Civ and (so-far) Eclipse I just don't think it competes. You did say you love Chvatil's designs so maybe you will enjoy it more, I just think the other two are better choices for what you're looking for.
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That probably sounds about how I'd react to be honest. I really like Dungeon Lords/Petz but its as much about the tangible pleasure of building something up and the lack of tactile and visual element counts against it, as does the lack of interaction. The people I play with like two things: visuals and the ability to fuck each other up. Although my sort-of-girlfriend doesn't like fighting as much (she really liked Agricola and said it was her favourite of all the games I own) she has also said she much prefers games where you "see" things. She found 7 wonders a little flat, for example, because it was just cards. I really like it though.

I mostly enjoy games with heavy interaction, negotiating, bluffing, double crossing etc. I'd say my favourites are Chaos In The Old World, Battlestar Galactica, Runewars, Descent and Dungeon Lords. Heck this is my collection for the curious.
 
AstroLad said:
Check out Thunderstone on yucata.de -- fantasy deckbuilder.
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Could you tell me a bit about why you think it's a better choice? I've never gotten into deck building that isn't a TCG so.


Mage Wars interests me most simply because I'd be getting into it right in the beginning. I don't want to latch on to a dying product.
 
Petrie said:
Could you tell me a bit about why you think it's a better choice? I've never gotten into deck building that isn't a TCG so.
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Thunderstone is freaking incredible. I'll edit this post explaining why in a bit, but my brain is very foggy right now!

Edit: Ok so Thunderstone. It was the first major deck builder after Dominion, and in my opinion remains one of the best. It initially marketed itself as deck building with a purpose, and although it's a little snide it does remain true. In Dominion, I've found, you are building up to buy points. Which is exactly what you're doing in Thunderstone. Except the points are monsters, with various special effects that make buying them challenging. The artwork is evocative and fantastic. And although it started up as a twist on Dominion over the years it really started exploring a unique design space. The heroes felt like heroes, leaders with appropriate abilities, the village items and other cards always offer interesting abilities, as well. Furthermore the addition of traps, treasures and boss monsters really filled out the design space.

I own Dragonspire and Heart Of Doom (the final expansion). Not tried Thunderstone advance but it is, by all reports, even better. Start there
 
Captain_Spanky said:
Thunderstone Advance: Towers Of Ruin is the most recent base set.
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So all the expansions that say: require Thunder stone will work with it? Is that the one I want, or is the first base set the way to go?

I see Thornwood Siege on Clearance for $16 on CSI, worth grabbing with Advance or just stick with the base set?


Sorry. You guys got me pumped.
 
I played Tribune the other day. It's good, but then there is this thing:

pic265424_md.jpg


Wow, what could be the purpose of this, you ask? Well, it's a marker for which faction you can't bid on this turn. You know, something that could have been done with a little round token. Instead there's a giant cardboard chariot, for no reason at all.
 
Learned and been playing Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper with my wife this weekend. Wow, what an awesome game to play with your semi-game partner. I know people are always looking for these and let me just say I highly recommend it. It plays in about 45m tops, is fairly easy to learn, and has tons of bluffing and guessing. Basically the main way of scoring is to play melds of "evidence" cards that point to one of five suspects, as well as "suspect" cards that are worth more. Whichever suspect has the most points at the end becomes Jack for that hand and their points are worth double. You can also call for a vote at the beginning of a turn as to who you think will be Jack by the end. The kicker is that there is one Alibi card for every suspect, and if that is played they can't be Jack. But one alibi can cancel out another so nothing is ever certain. Also there are five "victim" cards and if you can get those five out and have the one card called Ripper Escapes, you basically get a shit-ton of points.

Tons of fun. Only downside is that the rules really suck for explaining how the game works, so if you get it just ask me -- it's actually quite simple even though at this time yesterday both my wife and I were puzzling over the rules.
 
AstroLad said:
I'm not a big Power Grid fan either. "I totally see the merit," but just generally don't like brainburny games that leave people prone to AP. Throw in some dice and maybe I'll like it more. :D
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That's a good burn. You guys might like First Sparks. Follows similar principles but isn't so brutal in the end turns with everybody sitting there doing a zillion different maths -- now that I think about it Power Grid would benefit HUGELY from computerized bookkeeping.
 
Flynn said:
That's a good burn. You guys might like First Sparks. Follows similar principles but isn't so brutal in the end turns with everybody sitting there doing a zillion different maths -- now that I think about it Power Grid would benefit HUGELY from computerized bookkeeping.
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How does a game called "Power Grid" not involve Godzilla coming in and wrecking shit on the last turn? Throw in ten green dice and let's make it happen.
 
Petrie said:
So all the expansions that say: require Thunder stone will work with it? Is that the one I want, or is the first base set the way to go?

I see Thornwood Siege on Clearance for $16 on CSI, worth grabbing with Advance or just stick with the base set?


Sorry. You guys got me pumped.
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There's only one expansion for Thunderstone Advance, the upcoming Towers Of Bane. All new expansions will clearly be labelled Thunderstone Advance.

Now it's not a Descent 2nd Edition situation, older Thunderstone sets (i.e. those simply labelled Thunderstone: Bla of Bla) are, technically, compatible with Thunderstone Advance. However they cleared up a lot of artwork, iconography, concepts and so on with the new sets so mixing old and new will require a bit of work. Perfectly do-able though. For example Diseases (a card which gave a fixed -1 penalty to attack) was changed to Curses (variable penalties). The titular thunderstones (if it turns up the next monster defeated, no matter how easy, ends the game) were changed to Thunderstone guardians (essentially boss monsters). All the changes are much better imo, I've just not picked up Thunderstone Advance yet.
 
This weekend I bought and played the following:

Fluxx (in Spanish)
It's ok. I see it as a good game to start an evening. It doesn't last much, and gets people in the mood for other games.

Nuns on the Run
I played guards and 3 members of my family played novices. They had tons of fun sneaking around and avoiding noises so I wouldn't come after them; on the other hand, they were so good at it (or I was so bad as a guard) that I could never find any of them (never saw anyone, and the only time I got a sound I took a wrong turn). I know they liked it a lot because they keep talking about it. I'm sure they'll want to play this in the future.
 
Captain_Spanky said:
That probably sounds about how I'd react to be honest. I really like Dungeon Lords/Petz but its as much about the tangible pleasure of building something up and the lack of tactile and visual element counts against it, as does the lack of interaction. The people I play with like two things: visuals and the ability to fuck each other up. Although my sort-of-girlfriend doesn't like fighting as much
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Eclipse is probably your game, then. It has all of those things you seem to like plus, for your girl, the ability to position yourself so you won't be attacked by others players very much. You're going to pay near MSRP for a copy until the third printing though.
 
Ventrue said:
I played Tribune the other day. It's good, but then there is this thing:

pic265424_md.jpg


Wow, what could be the purpose of this, you ask? Well, it's a marker for which faction you can't bid on this turn. You know, something that could have been done with a little round token. Instead there's a giant cardboard chariot, for no reason at all.
Click to expand...

Begone chrome hater!
 
JetBlackPanda said:
How is small wonder on iPad?
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It's a great implementation of a nice enough game - it's only 2 players (I believe) - the gui is rock solid, the feel is fine. The gotcha is whether you enjoy Small Wonders or not. No online multiplayer that I know of, unless they've patched that in recently...
 
Jables Swan said:
What's the best ipad version of a board game? Ticket to Ride looked all right.
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It's awful. No async, maps are done as seperate apps. Basically, Days of Wonder have no idea what theyre doing on iOS.

The answer to the question though is Carcossone. Uses GC, has ELO and chat. top tier stuff. Ascension and Summoner Wars get silver and bronze. Come join us in the iOS boardgame thread
 
Not a fan of DoW's views of the market but TTR iPad is OK as long as you don't mind no async. Basically it's OK for local play. Other apps that are good for no-async local play are San Juan, Titan, and Ghost Stories.

The best iPad games overall (all of which have async) imo are (1) Carcassonne, (2) Summoner Wars, (3) Ascension, (4) Neuroshima Hex, and (5) Le Havre.
 
Neverfade said:
Eclipse is probably your game, then. It has all of those things you seem to like plus, for your girl, the ability to position yourself so you won't be attacked by others players very much. You're going to pay near MSRP for a copy until the third printing though.
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Thanks dude. We usually pay about that in the UK anyway. In fact sometimes my local game shop is cheaper than online!
 
1st edition of Descent is exactly what we were looking for after being disappointed by 2nd edition. We played for 3 and a half hours today and only made it to the 2nd area of the dungeon, eventually losing to the overlord but everyone was ready to go again afterwards.

Why is nearly everything about this game so expensive/hard to find :(
 
Captain_Spanky said:
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck that is outrageously tempting
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If you use the voucher exchange (£5 ==> £10) with the clubcard vouchers it costs even less, essentially £8.
It's nuts.
They got TTR and TTR Europe and Dixit in around christmas, but I never saw them in the stores.
I have TTR Europe otherwise I'd have been on it like a shot.
 
superrobot said:
If you use the voucher exchange (£5 ==> £10) with the clubcard vouchers it costs even less, essentially £8.
It's nuts.
They got TTR and TTR Europe and Dixit in around christmas, but I never saw them in the stores.
I have TTR Europe otherwise I'd have been on it like a shot.
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Wonder what the chances are that they ship to Australia?
 
superrobot said:
If you use the voucher exchange (£5 ==> £10) with the clubcard vouchers it costs even less, essentially £8.
It's nuts.
They got TTR and TTR Europe and Dixit in around christmas, but I never saw them in the stores.
I have TTR Europe otherwise I'd have been on it like a shot.
Click to expand...

What's voucher exchange?
 
Captain_Spanky said:
There's only one expansion for Thunderstone Advance, the upcoming Towers Of Bane. All new expansions will clearly be labelled Thunderstone Advance.

Now it's not a Descent 2nd Edition situation, older Thunderstone sets (i.e. those simply labelled Thunderstone: Bla of Bla) are, technically, compatible with Thunderstone Advance. However they cleared up a lot of artwork, iconography, concepts and so on with the new sets so mixing old and new will require a bit of work. Perfectly do-able though. For example Diseases (a card which gave a fixed -1 penalty to attack) was changed to Curses (variable penalties). The titular thunderstones (if it turns up the next monster defeated, no matter how easy, ends the game) were changed to Thunderstone guardians (essentially boss monsters). All the changes are much better imo, I've just not picked up Thunderstone Advance yet.
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Thanks for all the advice! The cheapass in me was tempted to go with the older sets since they seem to be in firesale, but I grabbed Thunderstone Advance. Can't wait for it to get here and see how we like it"

Seriously though, thank you for all the guidance.
 
Tesco's clubcard voucher exchange. You get 'rewarded' with clubcard vouchers for regular grocery shopping with tesco, and every so often they send you for example, £10 in vouchers which can be used in store or online.
You can wait for the voucher exchange where you can double the value of some of the vouchers in Tesco/Toys or Tesco/Furniture or Tesco/Wine or whatever (you specify the department).
Then your £10 will buy you £20.
 
Ordered a game off Tanga which advertises on BGG, even with shipping it was cheaper than anywhere else and figured why not. 3 weeks later now and it just shipped despite getting a shipping notice 2 weeks ago. Yea don't think I'm going to be using them again any time soon.
 
Petrie said:
Thanks for all the advice! The cheapass in me was tempted to go with the older sets since they seem to be in firesale, but I grabbed Thunderstone Advance. Can't wait for it to get here and see how we like it"

Seriously though, thank you for all the guidance.
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It was my pleasure. I really like Thunderstone, and think it's the best of the genre personally. It even has a solo tower defence mode, co-op, tournament rules, themed sets, scenarios, loads going for it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
 
BattleMonkey said:
Ordered a game off Tanga which advertises on BGG, even with shipping it was cheaper than anywhere else and figured why not. 3 weeks later now and it just shipped despite getting a shipping notice 2 weeks ago. Yea don't think I'm going to be using them again any time soon.
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That's what happens with Tanga. They're not quick.
 
BattleMonkey said:
Ordered a game off Tanga which advertises on BGG, even with shipping it was cheaper than anywhere else and figured why not. 3 weeks later now and it just shipped despite getting a shipping notice 2 weeks ago. Yea don't think I'm going to be using them again any time soon.
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That's their M.O. They buy bulk copies super cheap, get 4-500 orders right away and then take forever to process them.

They are normally selling junk games as well, though TMG seems to be using them as a pre-release discount of sorts with a small number of their new titles available for cheap.

Tanga is really at it's best with group orders. Since the shipping cost is the same for 6 copies you can get killer deals.
 
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