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[zulux21]

miniaturemarket has legit amazing holiday sales. Just picked up so much stuff from them -- for presents, for friends, and for myself. I don't really bother much with CSI sales because they're usually really weak (although I use them for all regular purchases).

yeah coolstuf also has a holiday sale but minature got me to place an order

lots of great prices in the sale and 13 pages of games on there. sadly there were a few expansions for games I am interested in on sale but the base game wasn't so I skipped those

I was gonna get love letter letters to santa edition and shadows over Camelot card game but they were sold out

 

[AstroLad]

yeah coolstuf also has a holiday sale but minature got me to place an order

lots of great prices in the sale and 13 pages of games on there. sadly there were a few expansions for games I am interested in on sale but the base game wasn't so I skipped those

I was gonna get love letter letters to santa edition and shadows over Camelot card game but they were sold out

Yep, had a pretty big haul myself:
Jamaica Boardgame (Thanksgiving Sale)
$30.00
Trains (Thanksgiving Sale)
$20.00
Carcassonne: Gold Rush (Thanksgiving Sale)
$14.00
Coconuts Duo (Thanksgiving Sale)
$11.00
Android Netrunner LCG: Feedback Filter Playmat (Thanksgiving Sale)
$6.00
Master Fox (Thanksgiving Sale)
$20.00
New York 1901 (Thanksgiving Sale)
$25.00
Machi Koro: Millionaire's Row Expansion (Thanksgiving Sale)
$9.00

 

[platypotamus]

I haven't been playing nearly enough board games lately. Maybe Terra Mystica once a month. I'm not complaining about that, because that game is rad as hell, but I want to play more

 

[AstroLad]

I haven't been playing nearly enough board games lately. Maybe Terra Mystica once a month. I'm not complaining about that, because that game is rad as hell, but I want to play more

I got in a real slump what with kids and a house now. But have gotten back into the swing through several methods:
-Game nights with other couples. We do this a few times a month. Either folks come over in the evening after we put the girls to bed or we get a babysitter.
-Game night with family. Lighter fare since our oldest is just four, but she is impressively starting to get a hang of rules. We're seriously into Plucky Pilots right now.
-Pandemic Legacy with wife. This game is so fun.
-Game lunch at work every month or so.

I don't attend any regular game night anymore really (I used to every Monday), but we've now got a ton of little game nights here and there which really has me back into the swing.

 

[BattleMonkey]

MM was amazing, too bad so much of the good stuff already sold out

 

[Lyng]

Battlelore yay or nay?

 

[Jakoo]

Random aside:

How much design do you think Nintendo cribbed from Forbidden Island/Desert when coming up with Desert Island Escape mode in Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival? I've never played it but boy, it seems like a lot.

 

[JSR_Cube]

How did I not know about the new Concordia: Salsa expansion that's already in stores? It looks great -- adding variable player powers that can be earned using the Tribune action as well as Salt as a "wild" commodity and two great new maps.

I've always felt that Concordia was a little too simple and straightforward of a game; Salsa seems to flesh it out fully.

I am interested in Concordia but never got around to grabbing it. Maybe the expansion will help.

Speaking of expansions I didn't know about, I ordered my Marco Polo mini expansion over the weekend.

 

[joelseph]

MM was amazing, too bad so much of the good stuff already sold out

Their vendor table discounts at Cons are amazing. Last day they start putting stuff up for 80% off. Bananas.

 

[platypotamus]

I got in a real slump what with kids and a house now. But have gotten back into the swing through several methods:
-Game nights with other couples. We do this a few times a month. Either folks come over in the evening after we put the girls to bed or we get a babysitter.
-Game night with family. Lighter fare since our oldest is just four, but she is impressively starting to get a hang of rules. We're seriously into Plucky Pilots right now.
-Pandemic Legacy with wife. This game is so fun.
-Game lunch at work every month or so.

I don't attend any regular game night anymore really (I used to every Monday), but we've now got a ton of little game nights here and there which really has me back into the swing.

Yeah, one of our main gaming couple partners just had twins, so we were kind of writing them off, but apparently they played Battlestar Gallactica until 4 in the morning last week, so apparently they are more hardcore than I am

 

[yayaba]

Any else has this problem (first world problem admittedly) where once you get into a few LCG's they kind of just take over to the detriment of everything else?

I'm pretty new to this hobby, about 8 months or so and I was loving my table top gaming with all the cardboard and chits and variety, gaming with my wife or our friends. But then I really started getting into LOTR LCG a few months ago and started playing that exclusively and not really wanting to play anything else. Fast forward to last month I picked up AGOT LCG 2nd Ed and the one-two punch of addicting deck building coupled with brilliant mechanics basically means all my board gaming money goes to FFG and no one else.

I want a brilliant co-op game with unlimited replayability? LOTR.

I want a challenging 1v1 game with a brilliant system where challenges happen on 3 fronts all while navigating a plot deck that oversees how each round is played out? AGOT 2nd Ed.

There are a ton other games I'd love to try, all the other Feld games, Race/Roll, Marco Polo, etc but everytime I think about gaming I wind up playing one of the aforementioned LCG's cause they're just so damn... good.

 

[AstroLad]

Any else has this problem (first world problem admittedly) where once you get into a few LCG's they kind of just take over to the detriment of everything else?

I'm pretty new to this hobby, about 8 months or so and I was loving my table top gaming with all the cardboard and chits and variety, gaming with my wife or our friends. But then I really started getting into LOTR LCG a few months ago and started playing that exclusively and not really wanting to play anything else. Fast forward to last month I picked up AGOT LCG 2nd Ed and the one-two punch of addicting deck building coupled with brilliant mechanics basically means all my board gaming money goes to FFG and no one else.

I want a brilliant co-op game with unlimited replayability? LOTR.

I want a challenging 1v1 game with a brilliant system where challenges happen on 3 fronts all while navigating a plot deck that oversees how each round is played out? AGOT 2nd Ed.

There are a ton other games I'd love to try, all the other Feld games, Race/Roll, Marco Polo, etc but everytime I think about gaming I wind up playing one of the aforementioned LCG's cause they're just so damn... good.

Yes -- Netrunner has taken up most of my non-family/friends gaming time. Our Netrunner group actually used to be the core of a weekly game night, and now we all basically play Netrunner instead. But again, outside of work I've really pivoted back to board gaming, especially with folks new to the hobby.

 

[Femmeworth]

miniaturemarket has legit amazing holiday sales. Just picked up so much stuff from them -- for presents, for friends, and for myself. I don't really bother much with CSI sales because they're usually really weak (although I use them for all regular purchases).

Looks like a nice sale. Not too much that I really want though.

 

[antiquegamer]

MM was amazing, too bad so much of the good stuff already sold out

They went fast especially popular titles. I took too long and couple items were sold out as I was browsing the selection.

 

[BattleMonkey]

They went fast especially popular titles. I took too long and couple items were sold out as I was browsing the selection.

Yea I had several items go out of stock as I was browsing.

 

[sasimirobot]

Been gaming a lot recently. A LOT!

Last Sunday was 6 hours of 7 wonders (+cities), three player game, I lost every single game btw. The past few nights has been Pandemic the Dice. Finally beat it with my drinking buddies, we are lucky if we can even get the game started.

Dominion has been hitting the table quiet often with the GF and also for some reason the drinking buddies like it also. I thought it would be too dry or whatever, but they don't really think about games as much as we might tend to, so they love it!

Going to get the Wonders and Leaders expansion to 7 wonders since it seems to be an evergreen hit.

Have some Seiji Kanai games coming from America, because I always end up giving away my card games when I travel (passed on Love Letter and Jaipur at random guesthouses in Asia).

Been a good few months.

 

[FallingEdge]

Played a full game of Twilight Imperium this past weekend. It was fucking fantastic. Really hope our group can play it again sometime soon.

 

[RobotNinjaHornets]

Played a full game of Twilight Imperium this past weekend. It was fucking fantastic. Really hope our group can play it again sometime soon.

Twilight Imperium terrifies me. Just the idea of a game taking basically an entire day seems like so much...effort. Not to mention awkward to plan. How do people manage it?

Spoiler

Also nice avatar

 

[ultron87]

Played a full game of Twilight Imperium this past weekend. It was fucking fantastic. Really hope our group can play it again sometime soon.

Nice! Yeah, we played it a third time over the other weekend. I did enjoy it quite a bit but a few factors in how we set up the game and the objectives that came up made it so the game took 12 hours instead of the usual 8-10. The last two hours were brutal.

We have to plan months ahead of time to get 6 people together who are all willing to take basically the entire day to play a game.

 

[Karkador]

What is it that takes so long about Twilight Imperium? What's the procedure like?

 

[ultron87]

What is it that takes so long about Twilight Imperium? What's the procedure like?

Basic turn flow is a standard setup phase -> players take actions till everyone passes -> wrap up phase.

The length comes from the middle part, because if you have six players everyone is taking on average 3-5 actions per turn and there can be 10 turns. Some of those actions are simple stuff like moving a fleet and building some units. But there are also "strategy actions" where you use a card you picked in the setup phase that could result in an additional building phase for everyone, or give everyone the chance to shuffle units around, or result in a 15 minute debate about a law that the galaxy might enact. And then if someone invades a planet there is a fleet battle and a ground battle and those aren't fast to resolve because there's a good number of dice involved.

It's a grand ridiculous thing that gets far too granular for its own good, but I love it enough to play it once every 9 months.

 

[Karkador]

So is it the scope of things (each player having a bunch of different little things to move around and manage) that gets the game up there in length? People seem to love it, maybe because of how epic the scale is?

 

[ultron87]

Yeah, that's basically it. I think it is also the theme. If you want to play a game where you can theoretically simulate every part of a crazy space opera with your friends Twilight Imperium is the game for you.

If you throw in every optional module you've got a game where you one player can be the Borg from Star Trek slowly spreading across the galaxy and absorbing technology from the other players, while another player is assassinating someone's representative at the Galactic Council to get them elected as the Minister of War. Meanwhile the player with the race that lives in stars has finally fixed up their old Death Star equivalent and just destroyed a system by causing the star to super nova. The other player almost stopped them but the one fighter that got past the destroyer's anti fighter barrage wasn't able to roll a 9-10 followed by a 10 when it made a suicide run against the Death Star.

 

[Armoured Priest]

Got my shipping confirmation for my copy of the Ghostbusters board game. Have a game night planned for Dec. 4th.

 

[espher]

I've played a couple of games of Machi Koro of late where we randomly draw ten stacks of cards (like Dominion's Kingdom cards) and replace a stack with a new random one when it is depleted.

I kind of like it. The games feel quicker and there's a little more engine-building to it. The only downside is some cards can end up almost entirely dead, so we've discussed culling the deck a bit.

 

[BattleMonkey]

So is it the scope of things (each player having a bunch of different little things to move around and manage) that gets the game up there in length? People seem to love it, maybe because of how epic the scale is?

The game gives you lots of options on how you play, it's not a game that can be broken down into numbers or I win situation. You play out actual politics and conflict on a small scale table setting. The game also tends to go long because of how it starts and players will spend several rounds just building up their little corner of the galaxy before really interacting with the other players.

 

[super-famicom]

I've played a couple of games of Machi Koro of late where we randomly draw ten stacks of cards (like Dominion's Kingdom cards) and replace a stack with a new random one when it is depleted.

I kind of like it. The games feel quicker and there's a little more engine-building to it. The only downside is some cards can end up almost entirely dead, so we've discussed culling the deck a bit.

Playing Machi Koro the standard way allows one strategy (furniture factory with forests and mines; alternatively cheese factories) to absolutely break the game. In my experience, it ended up not being fun for the people who didn't follow that particular strategy.

The 10 card variant improves things a lot in my experience. One of the expansions actually lists the variant in its rules.

Edit- has anyone purchased the Machi Koro Deluxe Edition with all the expansions included? I am tempted to go that route sinces I only have the base game and I've heard the card size changed in the expansions, but reviews have been lackluster. People had a missing card or two, and warping/faded colors on the cards.

 

[AstroLad]

Playing Machi Koro the standard way allows one strategy (furniture factory with forests and mines; alternatively cheese factories) to absolutely break the game. In my experience, it ended up not being fun for the people who didn't follow that particular strategy.

The 10 card variant improves things a lot in my experience. One of the expansions actually lists the variant in its rules.

Edit- has anyone purchased the Machi Koro Deluxe Edition with all the expansions included? I am tempted to go that route sinces I only have the base game and I've heard the card size changed in the expansions, but reviews have been lackluster. People had a missing card or two, and warping/faded colors on the cards.

Yes, it's actually the official rule in Harbor and Millionaire's Row I believe. I've heard the same re Deluxe -- that the card stock isn't quite as good. A lot of places seem to have the expansions pretty cheap right now, so I just picked them up individually.

 

[super-famicom]

Yes, it's actually the official rule in Harbor and Millionaire's Row I believe. I've heard the same re Deluxe -- that the card stock isn't quite as good. A lot of places seem to have the expansions pretty cheap right now, so I just picked them up individually.

I was thinking of doing the same, but card size difference will bother me. I've read that the smaller size is the new standard, so if you want all cards to be the same size you can send IDW your base game cards and exchange them for the newer sized versions.

 

[EYEL1NER]

Armada Wave 2 finally arrived at MM! My order shipped today, so I have on the way copies of Flick Em Up, Patchwork, the Legendary: Guardians of the Galaxy expansion, a Ravyn Warmachine warcaster for the Retribution faction, and some Wave 2 Armada ships.

I wish I had gotten Warhammer Quest and added Codenames when they got that in-stock. I'll wait for a sale on both in the future though. Now that I have been back in the U.S. for a couple days, I can hopefully start playing some stuff. I can't wait to try out Flick Em Up. I also have a shitton of BattleCON items from the War: Revised Kickstarter to inventory, sort, and probably sleeve.

 

[super-famicom]

Armada Wave 2 finally arrived at MM! My order shipped today, so I have on the way copies of Flick Em Up, Patchwork, the Legendary: Guardians of the Galaxy expansion, a Ravyn Warmachine warcaster for the Retribution faction, and some Wave 2 Armada ships.

I wish I had gotten Warhammer Quest and added Codenames when they got that in-stock. I'll wait for a sale on both in the future though. Now that I have been back in the U.S. for a couple days, I can hopefully start playing some stuff. I can't wait to try out Flick Em Up. I also have a shitton of BattleCON items from the War: Revised Kickstarter to inventory, sort, and probably sleeve.

Codenames is in stock at Amazon. It's $19.95 with free shipping for Prime members, which is about $1.50 more than what I paid (including shipping) when I ordered it from CSI. Plus 5% back when using a Chase Freedom or Discover It card.

I know large orders get free shipping on the other sites, but if you don't want to wait until another big purchase, the Amazon option isn't too bad.

 

[Xater]

Man hearing th SU&SD guys talk about Star Wars Rebellion makes the game sound amazing. Hope I can read the rules soon.

 

[EYEL1NER]

Codenames is in stock at Amazon. It's $19.95 with free shipping for Prime members, which is about $1.50 more than what I paid (including shipping) when I ordered it from CSI. Plus 5% back when using a Chase Freedom or Discover It card.

I know large orders get free shipping on the other sites, but if you don't want to wait until another big purchase, the Amazon option isn't too bad.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll give it some thought. I was advised that I still could have added it to my standing order when MM had it but I opted not to. It sounds like a good concept for a party game and so simple to learn and play. I don't host/attend parties or have a group I game with though, so the likelihood of it getting played is low. But it seems like a sure winner and the possibility of having a group to play with later down the road makes me want it. But at the same time, "the possibility that I'll have friends in the future" is what has left me with a large amount of u played party games. I know a lot of people dislike Cards Against Humanity but I would be happy to even be able to play that.
"When I move..." Is what I keep telling myself. My goal in the next six months (I was hoping to have accomplished it already but need to work on renewing something at my current job first) is to change jobs and get back to the U.S. full time and then move from Middle-of-Nowhere, SC to Colorado Springs, CO. I know there are a ton of FLGS in that area and if I got a job out there, the sheer number of coworkers I would have would be large enough that I would have to actively try to not make friends or schedule weekend gettogethers. So maybe I'll buy Codenames now and repeat "When I move..." a couple more times to myself.

 

[Morfeo]

Yeah, that's basically it. I think it is also the theme. If you want to play a game where you can theoretically simulate every part of a crazy space opera with your friends Twilight Imperium is the game for you.

If you throw in every optional module you've got a game where you one player can be the Borg from Star Trek slowly spreading across the galaxy and absorbing technology from the other players, while another player is assassinating someone's representative at the Galactic Council to get them elected as the Minister of War. Meanwhile the player with the race that lives in stars has finally fixed up their old Death Star equivalent and just destroyed a system by causing the star to super nova. The other player almost stopped them but the one fighter that got past the destroyer's anti fighter barrage wasn't able to roll a 9-10 followed by a 10 when it made a suicide run against the Death Star.

How does it compare to something like the Game of Thrones board game? Really like that there is no dice involved in the combat there.

 

[Blizzard]

Robinson Crusoe is $53 on coolstuffinc. I planned not to get new/expensive games for a while, but I'm seeing it out of stock other places. Does anyone know if it is going out of print permanently or anything?

I'd like to know if it's safe to wait for further price drops, or if I should grab it while it's still available.

 

[ultron87]

How does it compare to something like the Game of Thrones board game? Really like that there is no dice involved in the combat there.

Well, there's a load of dice in TI for the combat and things definitely can come down to that, especially if two relatively even fleets are fighting.

I think Game of Thrones is more about diplomacy and deception than TI, because there's room to actually cooperate on attacks and you can more directly back stab someone with all the hidden order shenanigans. In TI cooperation really just comes down to saying "of course I'd never attack you", until you totally attack them and maybe voting together on a law that benefits both of you.

 

[Morfeo]

Well, there's a load of dice in TI for the combat and things definitely can come down to that, especially if two relatively even fleets are fighting.

I think Game of Thrones is more about diplomacy and deception than TI, because there's room to actually cooperate on attacks and you can more directly back stab someone with all the hidden order shenanigans. In TI cooperation really just comes down to saying "of course I'd never attack you", until you totally attack them and maybe voting together on a law that benefits both of you.

Ok thanks. TI seems way more popular than GoT though, is it also a vastly better game in your opinion? Even though they are probably quite different games, I would guess they appeal to alot of the same people considering the overall gameplay?

 

[antiquegamer]

Robinson Crusoe is $53 on coolstuffinc. I planned not to get new/expensive games for a while, but I'm seeing it out of stock other places. Does anyone know if it is going out of print permanently or anything?

I'd like to know if it's safe to wait for further price drops, or if I should grab it while it's still available.

The game us going back to Stronghold and they will be releasing their own edition next year.

 

[Affeinvasion]

Ok thanks. TI seems way more popular than GoT though, is it also a vastly better game in your opinion? Even though they are probably quite different games, I would guess they appeal to alot of the same people considering the overall gameplay?

I think GoT is way, way, way more approachable than twilight imperium. It's not as long and it's a lot more straightforward from a mechanics standpoint. GoT is in my top 5 games. I'll probably never play TI again even though I like it in theory.

 

[ultron87]

Ok thanks. TI seems way more popular than GoT though, is it also a vastly better game in your opinion? Even though they are probably quite different games, I would guess they appeal to alot of the same people considering the overall gameplay?

I have to assume GoT is more popular. It's got an absurdly popular license instead of "space cats and space turtles!", it is way more approachable (often suggested as a step up from Risk), and takes 2-4 hours instead of 10.

Like, I'd play Game of Thrones with anyone that I've played board games with before. Twilight Imperium is something I'd only suggest for a pretty small subset of that group. Only crazy people want to play a thing for 10 hours over a day or two.

TI might come up more often as the hyperbolic ideal form of an Ameritrash game, but in terms of people buying and playing I'd assume GoT wins by a mile.

 

[Blizzard]

This may be the first time I've ever heard Twilight Imperium described as "Ameritrash" in any form.

The game us going back to Stronghold and they will be releasing their own edition next year.

Any ideas on whether the new edition will be better or worse? I don't know much about Stronghold.

 

[Boogiepop]

Okay guys, I need help here. Have a board-game loving friend, and one thing he's talked about in the past is a game that was like maybe a version of Risk or something, but it had a key feature where you write rules or something to that effect as you go? It's something I've heard him get excited about it before and he doesn't have it, so I think it'd potentially be a good Christmas gift, but I can't quite remember what it was.

Also, any slightly more off the wall/less common suggestions as a back-up/addition/future addition? Like, I know he's had a lot of fun with stuff like Catan, Tsuro, Carcassonne, Survive, etc in the past, so I guess I'm looking for something that's good but he may not know?

Edit: Actually, any particularly great expansions/alternate versions for those/other well known board games? As I believe he hasn't delved into such things...

 

[ultron87]

This may be the first time I've ever heard Twilight Imperium described as "Ameritrash" in any form.

I mean it absolutely is. It is super thematic, has a big fancy board, and tons of fiddly ship miniatures to move around, and has a lot of player interaction including combat that is solved by dice and "take that" action cards.

I don't use the term as a negative. Just an easy shorthand.

Okay guys, I need help here. Have a board-game loving friend, and one thing he's talked about in the past is a game that was like maybe a version of Risk or something, but it had a key feature where you write rules or something to that effect as you go? It's something I've heard him get excited about it before and he doesn't have it, so I think it'd potentially be a good Christmas gift, but I can't quite remember what it was.

Probably Risk: Legacy?

 

[Lyng]

This may be the first time I've ever heard Twilight Imperium described as "Ameritrash" in any form.

Really? I think TI is close to the very definition of Ameritrash.
Lots of bits and fiddliness, takes a million years to play, heavy on the dice, dripping with theme.

 

[Boogiepop]

Probably Risk: Legacy?

Ah, that's indeed the one! Thanks a ton for that!

 

[Draxal]

This may be the first time I've ever heard Twilight Imperium described as "Ameritrash" in any form.

Twilight Imperium is like the perfect description of Ameritrash. Ameritrash != bad.

 

[Affeinvasion]

I find it hilarious how the dice tower guys call it amerithrash now.

 

[Blizzard]

I mean it absolutely is. It is super thematic, has a big fancy board, and tons of fiddly ship miniatures to move around, and has a lot of player interaction including combat that is solved by dice and "take that" action cards.

I don't use the term as a negative. Just an easy shorthand.

Any term with "trash" in it automatically has a negative connotation to me, but maybe it's a regional/English language thing.

 

[ultron87]

Any term with "trash" in it automatically has a negative connotation to me, but maybe it's a regional/English language thing.

Oh yeah, that's fair. There are so many awesome games that can fall under that definition now that I just enjoy using it. I also use it to annoy my friend who is primarily all Euros all the time and saying stuff along the lines of "Well I'll be over here with my Ameritrash blowing things up and you have fun managing the fishing fleet of your 13th century European township".

 

[AstroLad]

It's a term of endearment. I don't actually really ever hear people use it negatively though obviously "trash" itself is negative. It's just kind of a wink-wink thing referring to usually long games dripping with theme, especially sci-fi or fantasy epics where the theme isn't just pasted on.