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[Keasar]

Hi boardgaming-gaf

I got some money for my birthday and was looking to spend it on a game but I don't now which. It should play well with only two players but doesn't have to be two players only. Other then that it shouldn't be too dependent on luck.

Stuff we already own and enjoy:

Android Netrunner
Race to the Galaxy
Agricola
Hive
Elysium

I would recommend BattleCON: Devastation of Indines. A fighting-card-game that makes fighting games like Street Fighter, Guilty Gear and Blazblue turn-based. And there is absolutely no luck involve, only skill and being able to read your opponent. And there are options to play 2v2, 1v2, 1v3, 1v4, Giant boss modes, 1-4 player co-op dungeons. One box of Devastation of Indines yields an absolute ton of game for the money, and it can be combined with their other BattleCON games War of Indines and Fate of Indines for even more characters.

Another game from the same company that I've been playing lately and recommend is Pixel Tactics. Its a 1v1 dueling game about strategic deployment of troops, trying to take out the enemy leader before your opponent can harm yours. Very fun and very strategic. Each card can be a leader, a unit with different functions depending on where on the field its placed and also a "Order" (a powerful effect at the expense of the card). So there is a lot of variety within just one deck of cards.

 

[sobaka770]

Any "expert" Mage Knight players here? I've played 5 games and still can't wrap my head around how people are able to take down dens, keeps, towers, etc within the first day. I'm starting day 3 of my latest solo game and am on track to defeat 0 cities. I had no available units until day 2 (all keep or tower, no village), so I had no way of generating early advantage for anything but the most basic orc. On top of that, my map is a path from hell in that I am required to deal with high move terrain to get ANYWHERE. Do I chalk this up to bad draw luck, or are pro players able to still take this garbage down?

I picked up Mage Knight 2 weeks ago and played several times solo conquest since. This game is phenomenal and I don't even know why I was waiting to pull the trigger on this one for so long.

Anyway, since I managed to beat the conquest now (after some exhilarating last-turn siege wins) I probably can give some advice as to how to improve, even though I'm no expert by any moeans.

First thing: spend an hour (or several) watching a Youtube walkthrough, or even a 4-player game report. This is not just about seeing the basics but also seeing the advanced moves that players do which may improve your play. It's a big time investment but Mage Knight is a time-consuming game anyway.

Second, it's okay not to block and take wounds. The game is about knowing your deck and taking calculated risks, so take them. There are 16 cards in the deck and if you don't get movement or attack in the first turn the chance for getting a good offensive hand on subsequent turns increases by a lot so plan accordingly. Don't wait until you have perfect cards to clear a monster, a lot of abilities heal or discard wounds, so be aggressive. Play cards sideways if it's worth it to get early xp.

Last, being proactive pays. Learn the enemies and take calculated risks early on. Get those levels early so you can snowball later. Don't be afraid to be the bad guy, pillage villages and burn monasteries if you see the opportunity. Do all you can to get momentum on your side. Time is limited and you will need to move fast so don't lament a great 7 fame shrine if it wastes you 3 turns detour, just open next tile and see what it offers.

Any other pro-advice to further improve?

 

[antiquegamer]

If you're open to a 2-player co-op, our recent favorite is Robinson Crusoe

Just an excellent survival/resource management game with a very, very strong theme.

Even splurged and bought the Daedalus Productions box insert kit ( daedalusproductionsinc.com/ ). Took two evenings to put together, but, wow, am I blown away by how good this is. Really does make set-up and break down incredibly quick.

This is one of my favorite co-op/solo games. I would have splurged on Daedalus stuffs if I didn't already spend hours making insert for Eldritch Horror, Mage Knight (man this one is tempting for speed up set up time) and Robinson Crusoe (set up isn't too bad for this game, but your make it looks awesome on table.

Speaking of co-op game, my Thunderbirds came in the mail yesterday. I try a solo game earlier and if you like Pandemic or any of Matt Leacock game, this game is one of his best. I think it's even better than Pandemic and the game is very thematic and beautifully produced. Even if you don't care for the IP, the game is still great (though if you love or grew up with Thunderbirds this game is a must have). I know it has dice which some of you guys hate but I love a game where luck of the dice can be mitigated or reduce yet still provide the tension and difficulty needed for co-op game.

 

[Lyng]

Just went on a buying frenzy.

Got Castles of Burgundy, Keyflower, Dominare and Ticket to Ride.

Think I am good for the next year now haha

 

[neorej]

Imperial Assault arrived yesterday, and after being overwhelmed by the content in the box, we just sat down, ignored everything, read up on how turns, phases, movement, and attack work, and look everything up as we go along. In hindsight, we missed a few things, so we're revisiting the tutorial tonight, but we had serious amounts of fun. The asymmetrical setup allows for the game to go one way, and then take a turn the other way and back again.

My GF complained that "all I had to do was activate a terminal", when I pointed out to her that in order to activate that terminal I had to rush past a hulking Wookiee who would cut my health down by half and a smuggler who is able to shoot the other half.

We really liked the synergy between characters, using the abilities, rolling a high damage only to be defended with a dodge, Tom Vasal was right; this is Star Wars in a box. Looking forward to playing tonight with the more advanced rules, and maybe get Aftermath started.

 

[joelseph]

Hi boardgaming-gaf

I got some money for my birthday and was looking to spend it on a game but I don't now which. It should play well with only two players but doesn't have to be two players only. Other then that it shouldn't be too dependent on luck.

Stuff we already own and enjoy:

Android Netrunner
Race to the Galaxy
Agricola
Hive
Elysium

Shadowrun Crossfire!

 

[Experien]

Pulled the trigger on Time Stories last night with MM's 10% off. It made the game like $31, doesn't seem that bad.

 

[Affeinvasion]

I ended up getting Fury of Dracula and with the discount essentially got free shipping.

 

[Socat]

Hi boardgaming-gaf

I got some money for my birthday and was looking to spend it on a game but I don't now which. It should play well with only two players but doesn't have to be two players only. Other then that it shouldn't be too dependent on luck.

Stuff we already own and enjoy:

Android Netrunner
Race to the Galaxy
Agricola
Hive
Elysium

The Game of Thrones LCG is primarily designed for the 2 players, but also includes excellent multiplayer rules, so if you are wanting to stay in the same vein as Netrunner, that is what I would recommend, and being that it just rebooted and only has the core set available, now is the best time to start in

 

[neorej]

Hi boardgaming-gaf

I got some money for my birthday and was looking to spend it on a game but I don't now which. It should play well with only two players but doesn't have to be two players only. Other then that it shouldn't be too dependent on luck.

Stuff we already own and enjoy:

Android Netrunner
Race to the Galaxy
Agricola
Hive
Elysium

I highly recommend Machiavelli; there's hardly any luck involved, as it's a purely strategic game, and it works just as well for 2 as for the maximum of 7.

Other than that; I cannot recommend Smallworld enough, as it also relies on strategy rather than luck to win any game.

 

[Nezumi]

Thanks for all the recommendations. Decided to get Robinson Crusoe and Smallworld. BattleCON looked really cool as well, but 80€ was a bit too steep a price for my taste

 

[joelseph]

CV has arrived! Thinking about cutting the box down to size

 

[BomberMouse]

CV has arrived! Thinking about cutting the box down to size

It's unnecessarily big due to the board, love the art on the game and the idea of it, but I feels it runs for a bit too long. Not gonna get rid of it though.

 

[joelseph]

It's unnecessarily big due to the board, love the art on the game and the idea of it, but I feels it runs for a bit too long. Not gonna get rid of it though.

It's one of those universal games that can hook gamers and non-gamers alike. I like to play it at family events.

 

[joelseph]

Pandemic base game is currently 19 bucks on Amazon Prime. That is insanely good price. Buy this game if you don't own a copy.

 

[BomberMouse]

Man, I wish I enjoyed Pandemic more.

It's one of those games I simply found incredibly boring and easy. Game basically plays itself.

 

[joelseph]

Man, I wish I enjoyed Pandemic more.

It's one of those games I simply found incredibly boring and easy. Game basically plays itself.

Were you playing with only 4 infections because easy is not the word that comes to mind. =)

 

[BomberMouse]

Were you playing with only 4 infections because easy is not the word that comes to mind. =)

It's been over 5 years but I think I was playing with the normal game infections and then tried with 2 more in the deck. Always too easy, there was one role which basically broke the game from what I could remember. Probably the expansions fixed this.

 

[Draxal]

Thanks for all the recommendations. Decided to get Robinson Crusoe and Smallworld. BattleCON looked really cool as well, but 80€ was a bit too steep a price for my taste

Battle Con Fates is the intro version of Battle con, Devestation's the version with the most characters.

 

[AstroLad]

It's been over 5 years but I think I was playing with the normal game infections and then tried with 2 more in the deck. Always too easy, there was one role which basically broke the game from what I could remember. Probably the expansions fixed this.

Hmm...you can get good at it but it's not an auto-win game even at Normal afaik. The expansions do ratchet up the difficulty but I've never found it a particularly easy game on Normal (not a hardcore player mind you). It's not Ghost Stories, but you do have to think. I'm loving Legacy but Pandemic is a bit played out for me. The Cure is quite good though -- and actually more challenging than base fwiw.

 

[BomberMouse]

Hmm...you can get good at it but it's not an auto-win game even at Normal afaik. The expansions do ratchet up the difficulty but I've never found it a particularly easy game on Normal (not a hardcore player mind you). It's not Ghost Stories, but you do have to think. I'm loving Legacy but Pandemic is a bit played out for me. The Cure is quite good though -- and actually more challenging than base fwiw.

Maybe I was playing it wrong ¯\_(&#12484_/¯, I just remember one of the roles was way overpowered. I was also never playing with more than 3 people, which I think made the game easier.

 

[Keasar]

Thanks for all the recommendations. Decided to get Robinson Crusoe and Smallworld. BattleCON looked really cool as well, but 80€ was a bit too steep a price for my taste

Like Draxal said, you can start with one of the smaller editions since they are all standalone games. Fate of Indines being the smallest with about 10 characters. War of Indines being the next size with 18 characters and Devastation of Indines at 30 or so. Fate and War doesn't come with all the options like boss battles, dungeon mode etc. but they all bring the same excellent fighting game. And each character is unique from one another so if you like the game you can expand into the other sets for completely new stuff.

 

[AstroLad]

Maybe I was playing it wrong ¯\_(&#12484_/¯, I just remember one of the roles was way overpowered. I was also never playing with more than 3 people, which I think made the game easier.

Yeah I'm not enough of an expert to say one way or the other. We like medic a lot, but clearing cubes off the board is just satisfying.

 

[Blank!]

It's been over 5 years but I think I was playing with the normal game infections and then tried with 2 more in the deck. Always too easy, there was one role which basically broke the game from what I could remember. Probably the expansions fixed this.

Just a thought, but make sure you're shuffling the deck "right". Originally, we just shuffled the entire infection deck altogether and ended up with most of the epidemic cards at the bottom... so like, nothing happened for the first half of the game? We stopped and read the rules again before even finishing. It was still easy with 4, but found it decently challenging at 5 (losing once, winning once).

And yeah, we found the medic to be one of the best classes. Researcher/Scientist combo was also quite a pair. Contingency planner seems like the worst/most luck-based of the bunch. Wasn't really a fan of him. We're quite enjoying the game and will probably branch out into expansions at some point.


I'd like to try imperial assault but the fact that the minis aren't painted is a pretty huge detractor for me. I have zero interest in painting miniatures and playing with bland characters would really detract from the experience for me. That and a passing investment in X-wing... I don't know if I could afford both.




I'd like to give Eldritch Horror/Arkham horror a shot but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'm leaning toward Eldritch as it seems a bit more streamlined/less complicated than Arkham so I'd have an easier time getting the girl into it but not quite sure.

 

[BomberMouse]

Yeah I'm not enough of an expert to say one way or the other. We like medic a lot, but clearing cubes off the board is just satisfying.

Yeah, I think it was the medic, the one that lets you clear 3 cubes instead of one.

 

[Femmeworth]

Looking forward to playing Elder Sign for the first time tomorrow. Just going to play it with Unseen Forces and hopefully build the SO up for Gates of Arkham eventually. Might start my first game of Eldritch Horror on Halloween. Most likely playing that solo.

 

[super-famicom]

Looking forward to playing Elder Sign for the first time tomorrow. Just going to play it with Unseen Forces and hopefully build the SO up for Gates of Arkham eventually. Might start my first game of Eldritch Horror on Halloween. Most likely playing that solo.

I just bought Elder Sign on the Google Play store for $0.99, it's the same price on iOS as well, if anyone is interested. I figure I'll play the mobile version and see if I like it before pulling the trigger on the board game, though I do want Eldritch Horror more.

 

[antiquegamer]

I just bought Elder Sign on the Google Play store for $0.99, it's the same price on iOS as well, if anyone is interested. I figure I'll play the mobile version and see if I like it before pulling the trigger on the board game, though I do want Eldritch Horror more.

Keep in mind that digital version is a lot harder than the analog counterpart.

You two got me excited about setting up Eldritch Horror for my daughter and her friends. It might be too much for them though, they not as "nerdy" as my kids and have very limited exposure to "hobby" board games. Last time I try to teach them how to play Ticket to Rides and it was not very pretty but Eldritch Horror is co-op (which is easier sell) and a lot like Monopoly, you move, and then roll dices to do things. I can do all the bookkeeping for them and they can just do encounters.

 

[joelseph]

Regarding overpowered Pandemic characters: Operations Expert was deemed most powerful in the first printing 5 years ago and has since had it's special action tweaked IIRC

 

[Experien]

Yeah, I think it was the medic, the one that lets you clear 3 cubes instead of one.

Medic is quite powerful but even with him, it shouldn't be that easy.

 

[emag]

Man, I wish I enjoyed Pandemic more.

It's one of those games I simply found incredibly boring and easy. Game basically plays itself.

Regardless of the difficulty (which can be ramped up or down by adjusting the amount/frequency of cubes added), Pandemic plays pretty much the same. If you're not into this kind of multi-hand solitaire vs. randomness, you're probably going to find this whole genre of games boring.

 

[mercviper]

For base Pandemic I would rate the character strengths in this order:

1) Researcher
2) Op Ex (#1 after revision)
3) Medic
4) Scientist (#2 with Researcher)
5) Dispatcher (+1 for each Medic/Scientist/Researcher in game)

Medic is by far the fun role of the group, and while his trait is strong, overall you save more actions and, more importantly, cards with Researcher/OpEx. The biggest problem with medic is that his ability doesn't help you win the game. It only prolongs you from losing.

Re:Legacy

Finished the campaign this week, over a total of 14 games. Both losses were pretty much unavoidable without prior knowledge, which is kind of unfortunate. I still enjoyed the game immensely and it was a great game to play with the wife, especially considering we really hit it off by playing Pandemic in the first place.

End game spoilers:

Spoiler

Final score was 930 out of 1000. Half of the board was afflicted by Faded status so we spent the entire first game of December dropping cures to vaccinate the board. Got all but two, but made game 2 much easier to manage, i.e. actually possible. The other loss was back in September, when finding the Paranoid Soldier forced us to lose the Op Ex and turned my wife into a civilian. We went from winning in one turn to losing in four because of the betrayal and the lost objective.

Final board state: http://i.imgur.com/C76cElM.png?1

 

[Karkador]

Halloween gaming!

Tonight, I think we'll be playing some casual games with friends. If I really wanted to frighten them, I'd bring out something painfully complicated and make them play, haha.

Here's what's tentatively on the list:

1 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf: We've had some fun with regular Werewolf before, I got this specifically so no one feels left out, and so we can play with less players. Oh yeah, and this game is a lot of fun.

2 - Snake Oil: I had an idea to make this "spooky" by changing the rule, so rather than pitching a product for the customer to buy, you're pitching an idea for how your 'product' will kill them, or how they can use it as a weapon to kill a monster that's chasing them or something. All in silliness, of course. If that's a no-go, we can switch to the similar, and more appropriately themed Cat & Chocolate.

3 - Tokaido: Not Halloween themed, per se, but pretty much as close as you'll get to a (good) Trick or Treat board game, when you think about it. We should play for candy instead of VPs..

4 - Dixit: I think I'd impose a horror-themed rule to the clues.

 

[sasimirobot]

7 wonders is amazing. I can't wait until my gaming group gets past the first 3/4 games, I can tell its going to be a big hit.

Dominion
Was so not interested because of some BS from dice tower, but those guys are just too jaded or something. An awesome, awesome, awesome, 2 player game. Won't sleeve these btw, no matter what I paid for it, card quality is tops (made in America), but also want wear and tear to remind me how much we enjoy it. I own these board games they don't own me.

 

[Dreavus]

7 wonders is amazing. I can't wait until my gaming group gets past the first 3/4 games, I can tell its going to be a big hit.

Dominion
Was so not interested because of some BS from dice tower, but those guys are just too jaded or something. An awesome, awesome, awesome, 2 player game. Won't sleeve these btw, no matter what I paid for it, card quality is tops (made in America), but also want wear and tear to remind me how much we enjoy it. I own these board games they don't own me.

In terms of Dominion, yeah I think they're a bit jaded on it. It's a pretty "pure" example of the genre since it was one of the first (or was it the first?) non-tcg games to be a "deckbuilder". The core set keeps it very simple but you can get as complicated as you want with the expansions. Still a great game even if it hasn't hit our table in a while.

 

[AstroLad]

I think Dice Tower just said in their last show how Dominion kind of still remains the best in terms of a 'pure' deckbuilder? They definitely respect the heck out of it. They're very Cult of the New but I actually like it.

 

[BomberMouse]

7 wonders is amazing. I can't wait until my gaming group gets past the first 3/4 games, I can tell its going to be a big hit.

Dominion
Was so not interested because of some BS from dice tower, but those guys are just too jaded or something. An awesome, awesome, awesome, 2 player game. Won't sleeve these btw, no matter what I paid for it, card quality is tops (made in America), but also want wear and tear to remind me how much we enjoy it. I own these board games they don't own me.

Or maybe they have different taste. I think there are better deck builders out there.

 

[fenners]

Dominion
Was so not interested because of some BS from dice tower, but those guys are just too jaded or something. An awesome, awesome, awesome, 2 player game. Won't sleeve these btw, no matter what I paid for it, card quality is tops (made in America), but also want wear and tear to remind me how much we enjoy it. I own these board games they don't own me.

This is likely why there was discussion about quality of printing/cardstock/country of origin - basically Rio Grande moved production to the States via Hasbro & in the process the quality tanked & significantly changed compared to existing card runs. They're fixing it & new runs should be better.

 

[Femmeworth]

Trying to play Elder Sign didn't go well. We were supposed to start at 7 but the SO's sister and her boyfriend didn't show up on time. Though it ultimately didn't matter since I still needed to punch out the tokens and sleeve the cards. By the time I was done with that and setting up the game, everyone was too tired. T_T The game takes up a lot more table space than anticipated. Not sure how I'm going to manage that. (We use a coffee table that is ~25" x ~50".) Next time we get together I'm just going to show them a video of how the game is played, which is really what I should have done. I'm not the best teacher anyway. :\ Also I should play it with the SO and/or solo before next time as well.

 

[Blizzard]

Trying to play Elder Sign didn't go well. We were supposed to start at 7 but the SO's sister and her boyfriend didn't show up on time. Though it ultimately didn't matter since I still needed to punch out the tokens and sleeve the cards. By the time I was done with that and setting up the game, everyone was too tired. T_T The game takes up a lot more table space than anticipated. Not sure how I'm going to manage that. (We use a coffee table that is ~25" x ~50".) Next time we get together I'm just going to show them a video of how the game is played, which is really what I should have done. I'm not the best teacher anyway. :\ Also I should play it with the SO and/or solo before next time as well.

Personally I feel like sleeving cards for something like Elder Sign isn't worth it to me. A game and cards like that are potentially used so seldom I don't think there's much wear to justify the expense. It's not like Dominion where the decks are constantly being shuffled as far as I remember.

 

[Femmeworth]

Personally I feel like sleeving cards for something like Elder Sign isn't worth it to me. A game and cards like that are potentially used so seldom I don't think there's much wear to justify the expense. It's not like Dominion where the decks are constantly being shuffled as far as I remember.

I want to sleeve anything I might play with someone other than the SO. And I find shuffling with sleeved cards so much easier. Worth it for that alone.

 

[Affeinvasion]

I like the tiny little sleeves for the item and spell cards. They're fun.

 

[Mr E.]

Baseball highlights super deluxe, Ticket to ride UK/Penn and Finca are due to be acquired.

 

[Lyng]

So tried Keyflower and Castles of Burgundy.
Keyflower is fun. Pretty straight forward to play but feels like it has a lot of hidden depth. Need to explore it more.

CoB is just...wow. What a fantastic game. Typical Feld that focuses on simple actions and maximizing these with combos and smart thinking. A masterpiece.

 

[joelseph]

Baseball highlights super deluxe

Amazing game!

 

[sazabirules]

Arkham Horror probably wasn't a good choice for one of my first board games. We started it and didn't finish the full game due to everyone learning all of the game mechanics. Next time we play it should go more smoothly.

 

[Blizzard]

So tried Keyflower and Castles of Burgundy.
Keyflower is fun. Pretty straight forward to play but feels like it has a lot of hidden depth. Need to explore it more.

CoB is just...wow. What a fantastic game. Typical Feld that focuses on simple actions and maximizing these with combos and smart thinking. A masterpiece.

I only remember playing Keyflower once, but I was -awful- at it.

 

[antiquegamer]

Trying to play Elder Sign didn't go well. We were supposed to start at 7 but the SO's sister and her boyfriend didn't show up on time. Though it ultimately didn't matter since I still needed to punch out the tokens and sleeve the cards. By the time I was done with that and setting up the game, everyone was too tired. T_T The game takes up a lot more table space than anticipated. Not sure how I'm going to manage that. (We use a coffee table that is ~25" x ~50".) Next time we get together I'm just going to show them a video of how the game is played, which is really what I should have done. I'm not the best teacher anyway. :\ Also I should play it with the SO and/or solo before next time as well.

I am sorry you had terrible experience. I usually do a dry run or solo run of most games I am bringing to the table especially to non-gamers. And yes despite small box, FFG games tend to take up half of the dinning room table.

 

[AbsolutBro]

Anyone else have problems with getting board games from Amazon? Ordering is easy enough, but my games always atrove beat to shit. Twilight Imperium, SoB: City of the Ancients, now Conquest of Planet Earth. Boxes all fucked up, even though the actual Amazon box is fine.

Maybe it's UPS? My Execution Force: Assassinorum came from GW and it was beat up too. GW was nice enough to replace the game at least.

 

[Blank!]

Anyone else have problems with getting board games from Amazon? Ordering is easy enough, but my games always atrove beat to shit. Twilight Imperium, SoB: City of the Ancients, now Conquest of Planet Earth. Boxes all fucked up, even though the actual Amazon box is fine.

Maybe it's UPS? My Execution Force: Assassinorum came from GW and it was beat up too. GW was nice enough to replace the game at least.

We recently got Pandemic/King of Tokyo in perfect condition from amazon. I'd say it's the distributor.