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[Deadstar]

Hey just a public service announcement for anyone who doesn't know. Xenoshyft is having it's kickstarter for the expansion and they are offering the playmat and the premium lane boards on this campaign. If you missed them before they are totally worth it. This expansion looks super awesome so far.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/xenoshyft-dreadmire

 

[JetBlackPanda]

looking for some recommendations today.

as much fun as me and the wife are having with Warhammer Quest. It doesn't really play well with the rest of my family when they come over.

We play a ton of Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, Agricola, along with Dixit, Clue, etc.

I think this group enjoys worker placement games where we are against each other.

any other ideas? what are some of your favorites?

 

[RaySpencer]

Yes, I am not sure why the Adventure Card Game, I think it was confusing and misleading. Not sure if it's licensing thing or they just don't want to call it LCG. As Monkey said, Pathfinder is trying to distill the feel of RPG into a card game while Warhammer Quest is more like LOTR and Space Hulk card game. I find Pathfinders game to be boring and while I love the idea of character leveling the game just fell flat. We went through the first two scenarios and never touch it again. My in-law really want to try it so I might give it another go but it's going to be hard knowing I can play Warhammer Quest instead. In Warhammer Quest, the quest set up card really help make each quest difference.

I don't know anything about the LOTR game (not really into LOTR) and I didn't know Space Hulk had a card game. Haha.

Good to know they are different enough to make them both worth owning. Well, it sounds like lots of people don't like Pathfinder, haha.

 

[antiquegamer]

I don't know anything about the LOTR game (not really into LOTR) and I didn't know Space Hulk had a card game. Haha.

Good to know they are different enough to make them both worth owning. Well, it sounds like lots of people don't like Pathfinder, haha.

After reading you post, I dig up the Pathfinder card game and set it up last night and play through one of the quest and yes it was just as boring as I remember it to be. I was really excited about the game few years ago when I re-discovered board games and I thought the game concept was fabulous. I even forced my poor kids to slough through the first few scenarios even when they were both grumbling about how boring it was. I thought the game would get better as we leveled up but it never did since you just do the same thing over and over. I finally gave up and stop forcing my poor children to play it with me. I probably scar them for life.

 

[Blizzard]

looking for some recommendations today.

as much fun as me and the wife are having with Warhammer Quest. It doesn't really play well with the rest of my family when they come over.

We play a ton of Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, Agricola, along with Dixit, Clue, etc.

I think this group enjoys worker placement games where we are against each other.

any other ideas? what are some of your favorites?

Tzolk'in and Lords of Waterdeep are decent if they like competitive worker placement. Tzolk'in in particular is a bit unique since it uses big gears to move workers into place and you have to think ahead.

 

[woo and indeed hoo]

Tzolk'in is certainly worth your consideration but it is a pretty heavy game that is not conducive to quick play if any of your group is prone to analysis paralysis. I have one in my group as well as one who gets impatient if other players don't make their moves as quickly as he does i.e. in less than a minute. Not an ideal combination for me with Tzolk'in and that's a shame as I like the game and tend to stumble my way through to a win in it even though I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing much of the time. I have a much easier time with Catan in contrast but cannot compare it to the other games you list as I have not played them.

EDIT - what about Istanbul?

 

[Blizzard]

Tzolk'in is certainly worth your consideration but it is a pretty heavy game that is not conducive to quick play if any of your group is prone to analysis paralysis. I have one in my group as well as one who gets impatient if other players don't make their moves as quickly as he does i.e. in less than a minute. Not an ideal combination for me with Tzolk'in and that's a shame as I like the game and tend to stumble my way through to a win in it even though I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing much of the time. I have a much easier time with Catan in contrast but cannot compare it to the other games you list as I have not played them.

Agricola can be very dry/heavy/slow as well, so I figured I'd at least mention Tzolk'in since they play Agricola.

 

[woo and indeed hoo]

Agricola can be very dry/heavy/slow as well, so I figured I'd at least mention Tzolk'in since they play Agricola.

Well I know what to buy and bring in and insist on playing if I want my friend's head to explode then . How is Caverna in comparison in this respect? All I really know of it is that it is effectively a follow up to Agricola but is supposedly the superior game.

 

[Blizzard]

Replying to your edit, Istanbul might work too. It's not strictly worker placement, but is kind of interesting with the actions. I still feel it's a bit biased towards rushing the mosque for dice bonuses, but with 3+ players I suppose anything could happen.

 

[woo and indeed hoo]

Replying to your edit, Istanbul might work too. It's not strictly worker placement, but is kind of interesting with the actions. I still feel it's a bit biased towards rushing the mosque for dice bonuses, but with 3+ players I suppose anything could happen.

I have played it five or so times now and it has always been either four or five players. Like Tzolk'in I still don't really feel like I have a handle on the game but it could be a good fit for the GAFer who asked for suggestions. I'll see if I can wangle a two or three player game of Istanbul with its owner. That might help me to get my head around it.

 

[Taborcarn]

The new Kickstarter for Tiny Epic Western looks pretty cool. Worker placement + 3-card poker seems like it would be my kind of thing. Considering making it my second backed project ever (first was Divinity Original Sin II).

looking for some recommendations today.

as much fun as me and the wife are having with Warhammer Quest. It doesn't really play well with the rest of my family when they come over.

We play a ton of Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, Agricola, along with Dixit, Clue, etc.

I think this group enjoys worker placement games where we are against each other.

any other ideas? what are some of your favorites?

I had a lot of fun with Champions of Midgard the other day. The dice combat is fun, and giving blame to opponents can be a good take-that moment. Although the components quality wasn't so great. Straight out of the wrapper some of the cards (especially the mini ones) started to curl. And some of the dice were scuffed.

 

[mercviper]

looking for some recommendations today.

as much fun as me and the wife are having with Warhammer Quest. It doesn't really play well with the rest of my family when they come over.

We play a ton of Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, Agricola, along with Dixit, Clue, etc.

I think this group enjoys worker placement games where we are against each other.

any other ideas? what are some of your favorites?

Belfort and Castles of Burgundy are pretty fun worker placements. (building themed)

Level 99's Argent: The Consortium is good too if you want something more aggressive. (wizards and magic themed)

If I had to place Roll for the Galaxy in a category I guess I could put it under worker placement. (space empire building)

 

[JetBlackPanda]

thanks guys! I am going to check them all out and let you know what I go with.

 

[RaySpencer]

After reading you post, I dig up the Pathfinder card game and set it up last night and play through one of the quest and yes it was just as boring as I remember it to be. I was really excited about the game few years ago when I re-discovered board games and I thought the game concept was fabulous. I even forced my poor kids to slough through the first few scenarios even when they were both grumbling about how boring it was. I thought the game would get better as we leveled up but it never did since you just do the same thing over and over. I finally gave up and stop forcing my poor children to play it with me. I probably scar them for life.

I played a brief demo of Pathfinder ACG at PAX a couple years ago, and bought it immediately. I haven't gotten around to actually playing it with friends yet though. It's a bummer that you feel that it doesn't get more interesting, I hope that doesn't happen to me. Haha.

Buy oh well, if it does, I can buy Warhammer Quest ACG. And I'm trying to start learning full on D&D 5E. So I will get my fix somehow!

 

[XiaNaphryz]

It took them forever, but my Twilight Struggle Collector's Edition copy finally came in today. Woo!

 

[nicoga3000]

It took them forever, but my Twilight Struggle Collector's Edition copy finally came in today. Woo!

*high five*

 

[AstroLad]

Enjoyed are first playthrough a good deal, but man does that game have some terribly written rule. Should be able to learn in 10-15m based on actual complexity, but took multiple readthroughts, watch-it-played, and then reading BGG Rules forum (which was nice because I caught erratas and necessary clarifications there). Not a big fan of when a rulebook is clearly written by non-English speakers and clearly hasn't undergone any polishing. Can't even imagine what it must be like to play some of these games for people who almost never get games in their native languages.

 

[fenners]

Enjoyed are first playthrough a good deal, but man does that game have some terribly written rule. Should be able to learn in 10-15m based on actual complexity, but took multiple readthroughts, watch-it-played, and then reading BGG Rules forum (which was nice because I caught erratas and necessary clarifications there). Not a big fan of when a rulebook is clearly written by non-English speakers and clearly hasn't undergone any polishing. Can't even imagine what it must be like to play some of these games for people who almost never get games in their native languages.

What game, Astrolad?

 

[AstroLad]

What game, Astrolad?

Damn lol...T.I.M.E Stories sorry.

 

[Noaloha]

I only know it through kinda forum osmosis, but is Suburbia 'worker placement' or just tiles.

 

[nicoga3000]

I only know it through kinda forum osmosis, but is Suburbia 'worker placement' or just tiles.

No worker placement - all tiles. I mean, there's the investment icon, but I would hardly call that worker placement. Amazing game, if you're looking into it.

 

[Noaloha]

Suburbia good for 2p competitive, repeatable? It's been on radar for ages, but for whatever reason always just on the periphery.

 

[nicoga3000]

Suburbia good for 2p competitive, repeatable? It's been on radar for ages, but for whatever reason always just on the periphery.

May be one of my favorite 2p games. It's competitive, but not in a cutthroat way. You're obviously trying to "win", but you can do so by building off of your opponent (versus trying to screw them).

 

[Noaloha]

May be one of my favorite 2p games. It's competitive, but not in a cutthroat way. You're obviously trying to "win", but you can do so by building off of your opponent (versus trying to screw them).

Duly noted, thank you. I think I watched a Rahdo vid on it a year or two ago and it's been languishing at the back of my brain ever since.

 

[joelseph]

Enjoyed are first playthrough a good deal, but man does that game have some terribly written rule. Should be able to learn in 10-15m based on actual complexity, but took multiple readthroughts, watch-it-played, and then reading BGG Rules forum (which was nice because I caught erratas and necessary clarifications there). Not a big fan of when a rulebook is clearly written by non-English speakers and clearly hasn't undergone any polishing. Can't even imagine what it must be like to play some of these games for people who almost never get games in their native languages.

Agreed! Plus for me I get what they are trying to do with the restrictive data sharing mechanics but the entire first scenario I sat there thinking "this is dumb let's all just see the card!". I have heard first hand Marcys case plays much different and the mechanic makes more sense there. Still a top 5 Game of 2015 for me.

 

[Blizzard]

Warhammer Quest ACG is getting super frustrating. I'm not sure I'll get to play it again outside of solitaire mode.

I tried putting together the advice I gathered from BGG and here. We tried using pretty much the most powerful and easy combo (priest and archer). We tried avoiding wounds from too many engaged enemies (didn't get any wounds from that). We focused down Grump to get the exploration bonus (defeated him).

And despite all that, despite getting two of the same pieces of gear yet again, despite having the most powerful character (priest) with his weak rest boosted by the awesome rest-boosting armor (extra success at basically no cost for him), the priest STILL died before the archer.

We didn't even make it to the final location this time! 3/4 or 4/5 turns in a row we rolled nemesis symbols. For the third quest in a row, we got the river place with 5 enemies, and any shadow enemies follow you, plus giant bats that follow you anyway and can't be damaged in the shadows. Yet somehow we were supposed to survive, plus an additional 12 exploration or so, plus an additional 6-10 enemies killed or so, from two characters?

I just don't understand how we're getting the same cards repeatedly and how you're supposed to tank so many wounds, even with all those things going well. 9 exploration followed by a place that activates all enemies when you leave, followed by the river. And so many unblockable wounds. Even the armor-boosted rest feels like a zero-sum game for the priest -- you might recover 2 wounds, but then you're almost guaranteed to take 2 wounds from any given action, if you have 1-3 enemies engaged. Aiding heals you both 1 wound...but then you take 2+ because you took an action anyway. Defeating Grump doesn't stop his unblockable nemesis ability either.

*edit* And like the dwarf, the priest has no way to make any enemies retreat, so you're stuck and can't even escape them by driving them to the shadows. Trying to attack them doesn't help much because you still take all of their damage as they die.

 

[antiquegamer]

Coop game need to be hard or you will be done in one sitting or two. I think one of the reason the game is set up so you can move on even when you are defeated. If you think this was maddening wait till you get to later quest.

I find abilities to exhaust enemies are a big help. I used Waywatcher to pretty much suppress nasty enemy. Also my Warrior Priest tends to die first also because he usually the one that engage and grab the enemies off Waywatcher (I think it work as it should) I was lucky to get plate armor and later a healing item which essentially extended my HP by 9.

Also I feel the game is much harder at 2 than the intended 4 because you get more options each turn plus more bodies to engage enemies. I find a lot of time the biggest problem is taking on spawn. May be they should adjust location spawn to number of players.

 

[Blizzard]

That would help a lot. Having 6-9 enemies with only 2 players is really rough.

 

[antiquegamer]

I won the first quest, barely got a win on the next and pretty much lost the rest of the quests. I set up for another game and I can't get enough of it. Also you said the game might be only good for solitaire but I found that having extra eyes to look at the board help when I played these type of Coop game with my kids or my in-law they often see things that I sometimes overlooked.

 

[Blizzard]

It's mostly that I don't want to spend limited game time with my friend making us both frustrated. I'd rather one of us win than both of us always have bad luck and lose.

 

[mercviper]

The extra bodies to help spread the damage around definitely help in warhammer acg. Was playing with a friend. We failed mission 1 horribly 3 times with combinations of 2 heroes before switching to four. We still lost, but it was close enough we pushed onward and won the remaining four quests. It's a lot to do with aggro management and when you only have 6 engagement slots to shuffle the enemies around its a lot harder to manage.

To whomever was asking about suburbia, I like the game but I think you're better off getting Castles of Mad King Ludwig. It's got a similar feel to it in terms of building placements but it's more interactive and replayable imo.

 

[joelseph]

All this talk about how hard it is makes me want to try it!

 

[nicoga3000]

I'm still waiting for an in stock update from CSI on WHQ ACG. I'll stick with LOTR until then, but I'm getting antsy to try it

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I hadn't checked BGG's rank list in a few weeks...Twilight Struggle has finally been dethroned from #1???

 

[Neverfade]

Someone offer me something dope in trade for WQ:ACG. Can't wait to get rid of it

 

[woo and indeed hoo]

I hadn't checked BGG's rank list in a few weeks...Twilight Struggle has finally been dethroned from #1???

I just checked; Pandemic Legacy Season 1 has knocked it down to number 2. I haven't played either so can't really comment.

 

[nicoga3000]

Someone offer me something dope in trade for WQ:ACG. Can't wait to get rid of it

What are you looking for?

 

[AstroLad]

I just checked; Pandemic Legacy Season 1 has knocked it down to number 2. I haven't played either so can't really comment.

I don't think BGG rankings are useless but I also think people get way too worked up about relative rankings. I mean how on Earth can you compare TS & P:L? It's like saying who's a better player Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan? Pretty pointless. That said, I predict that P:L won't hold on to the space for that long. I mean, heck, even by the time Season 2 comes out it'll sort of be obsoleted in some ways. Really fun game but also has that flavor-of-the-month factor which is what I think pushed it so high.

 

[woo and indeed hoo]

I don't think BGG rankings are useless but I also think people get way too worked up about relative rankings. I mean how on Earth can you compare TS & P:L? It's like saying who's a better player Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan? Pretty pointless. That said, I predict that P:L won't hold on to the space for that long. I mean, heck, even by the time Season 2 comes out it'll sort of be obsoleted in some ways. Really fun game but also has that flavor-of-the-month factor which is what I think pushed it so high.

I have only been playing board/card games for less than a year after a break of 30+ years so I use rankings and so on as a way to put things on my radar without delving through the tens of thousands of dross games. However just because a game is highly rated doesn't mean that I will like it. Just for fun I checked the top 100 games in the BGG rankings. I have only played five of them. The top rated of that number [in the top 20] I like and am happy to play occasionally but would not rush to do so. Two other highly placed games I was rather disappointed by given the ridiculous amount of hype for them and I would play them again if the rest of the group was itching to but would far rather play something else. One I've grown to quite dislike and am going to ditch soon. The last and lowest ranked of those five is the one I like the most but it's 2 player only so I don't get to play it as often as I'd like. I steer clear of all the serious business discourse though just as I do on here. Discussion about a game is interesting but all out war to prove whose opinion is right I just can't be bothered with.

 

[Karkador]

Speaking of which, I finally own Twilight Struggle.

 

[woo and indeed hoo]

Speaking of which, I finally own Twilight Struggle.

Have fun*!

* if that's the right word for that game.

 

[joelseph]

Visiting Texas, I'm eating next to the same cruise line that BGG takes in March. Think I will come back to Texas in November for the adult BGG con.

 

[antiquegamer]

It's mostly that I don't want to spend limited game time with my friend making us both frustrated. I'd rather one of us win than both of us always have bad luck and lose.

I perfectly understand, there are many games I avoid playing with other people (like Arkham Horror).

So I started another game today with War Priest and Waywatcher. First quest was a lost. It was close game and I sort of knew where I pick the wrong action and push where I shouldn't have which ultimately overwhelm my team. I think certain combination of location and enemies could make the game very difficult but I also feel that the decision you make on what action to take and the push your luck aspect have a lot to do with success or failure. Things can and do get out of hand really quick.

I went into 2nd Quest and won (I think this is the easier of the five quests). I don't know if you keep replaying the first quest but may be you should just take a lost, upgrade your guys and move to the next quest. Also do you use Aid action on Waywatcher? I think that is one of the most valuable action you can take, I would aid and put tokens on War Priest for attack, let him pull in the enemies early on and take them out so they don't get out of hand. Also her aid action let you wound one enemies for free, this sometimes kill those annoying bats or wound enemy with resilient. Also timing of when to travel also help, you can ditch many enemies in the shadow (aside those pesky bats) and move on.

Also if you want to play with your friend and make thing easier, you both can each control two characters.

 

[joelseph]

How would you compare the difficulty to Shadowrun Crossfire?

 

[ClayKavalier]

I went to a local board game group for the first time last night. It was pretty cool, it was fun meeting other people into board games and playing in a big group, but I got roped in to trying Tales of the Arabian Nights and good lord is that game torturous.

The people who brought it weren't clear on the rules so it took a good half hour before we even got started, and another half hour or so before we fully understood what was going on. The game itself is just really dull too. At the beginning it was pretty interesting to see what different things were happening, and the situations are fun at first when people are deciding whether to grovel to or court a vengeful princess or whatever. But after an hour and a half the little stories start getting old and the fact that you basically have no agency makes the game really boring.

I get that you're supposed to make it fun by acting out the stories or whatever, but it took us three and a half goddamn hours before someone met their win conditions. After the second hour on every turn I wanted to just roll the die and see how many points I got, I didn't care about what an evil spirit did to me or whether I recovered from being Lost or whatever.

It's a shame because there's the makings of a really great game there. Some encounters let you actually make a choice without having one specific character trait, and some statuses let you interact with other players (for example you can recover from being wounded by giving a wealth to a player on the same city with a certain trait). If you had more agency and if you could interact with other players more consistently it could be really fun, as it is it basically feels like playing Candyland with a story tacked on as you just roll the die, see how many points you get, rinse and repeat until someone randomly gets their win condition.

Overall it was still fun but it was painful being stuck doing that while another group went through like four or five different games while we played the one.


We also just did early May in Pandemic Legacy and holy shit, I take back my previous complaints about it being easy.

Spoiler

We got absolutely slaughtered. Our character selection was pretty stupid, we looked at the Colonel and said "Wow, this guy sucks, why would we ever use him?" and then like two turns in, "Wow, we completely fucked up by not using the Colonel."

 

[Spyware]

This week i played: Takenoko (with Chibis exp!)
It is so prettyithinkimightdiiiie. Thankfully both my SO and I like to play it too. We've decided we like it most with the official extra rules/variants (no drawing of already completed goals, panda can't eat the first bamboo thingy and extra points for sets of goals). It's a pretty simple and calming game. It's like we're not actually playing against each other so it doesn't feel like you're being mean to the other player. I like that.
We usually played it during breakfast this week and it's been a great way to start the day

I have played it a couple of times and must admit that I am yet to see what all the fuss is about. I'll play it if my group wants to but there are so many games I would choose ahead of it.

Yeah it really depends on the Haunts you get. Some are really cool and lots of fun to play but most seem to be just... boring and way too unbalanced. It's disappointing to get one of those since the fun ones are proof of what can be done with this system. Ohwell.

 

[AbsolutBro]

That would help a lot. Having 6-9 enemies with only 2 players is really rough.

Going to be honest, when I played WQ:ACG with a friend, rather than do "2 players -> 2 characters w/ more wounds and double actions" we did "2 players each playing 2 characters". I honestly don't get why they don't just recommend that in the first place. It made the game much more manageable, although I wouldn't say "easy".

How would you compare the difficulty to Shadowrun Crossfire?

Having played both, Shadowrun: Crossfire is much, much harder than WQ:ACG. You are basically expected to lose in Shadowrun: Crossfire for your first few runs. Even with 4 "players" (see above for "2 players running 2 characters each") with 20ish Karma each, we still routinely fail the basic Crossfire mission. Shit's hard.

 

[Iced]

Hoping for some table advice. Here is what I'm currently rockin':

The table itself is a simple folding banquet table. 72x30 inches. I bought 2 yards of felt fabric from Michael's in an attempt to make it look more presentable and to cover the gap in the middle of the table. Although it's functional enough, it feels very cheap. I bought some table cloth clamps to keep everything straight, but as I was playing on this with friends last night, it kept bunching up.

I've considered buying a playmat, but I would need a rather large one to cover the table and it will be expensive to do so.

Hoping someone here has been in a similar predicament and can give me some tips on how to get a nice, smooth, decent looking surface without breaking the bank. Keep in mind the table folds, so I can't really modify it in any way. I need something that I can place on top of it.

Thanks for any recommendations!

Edit: I should mention I'm in Canada (Toronto), so in order to not break said bank, I need to get supplies locally! Shitty dollar and all that.

 

[NuffDREW4two]

What's your budget?

Ideally, I think a neoprene sheet from a scuba diving or fabric shop would be best.

Not sure if a 0.5" thick high density foam sheet would work, but then you'd probably want to use an adhesive spray to attach your green fabric so it looks a bit better.

I spent about $100 CAD to buy three 2' x 4' pieces of MDF board, added cotton batting, and wrapped it with felt and secured it with a staple gun. Used spray adhesive to help keep everything in place. The felt was the most expensive part.

Edit: don't forget to iron out fabric before gluing it to something.

 

[Iced]

Ideally I would love to only spend about 50 bucks, but I'm sure that's not realistic.

I saw a video tutorial for what you did. I like the idea, but I live in a relatively small apartment so I need a solution I could store easily - ideally!