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New Board Gaming |OT2| On Tables, Off Topic
- Thread starter Karkador
- Start date
One of my favourite gaming memories is calling up the designer for an obscure but super critical ruling on a weird situation mid-game; turns out he was best buddy of one of my co-workers.
BomberMouse
Member
Yeah, I like lifeboats and never played lifeboat. 3 players is not goos though, you need at least 5.
I seem to be the only person still actively blogging/caring about Lifeboat on BGG, so the designer would comment on my blog a lot and generally seems like a nice guy. He's probably sick of me already, but I have to bother his Subscription feed one more time when I finish my custom tokens & box for Lifeboat.
I've been out of actual board gaming for some time now because of kids, work and other equally important things stealing all the free time. I've also moved to a new city and a new job, and so my old gaming group from work was left behind.
But not totally. We've been playing 3P iOS Agricola, Waterdeep and Le Havre. I like them all, especially Agricola and Le Havre as they are simple but deep. Le Havre is not very good on iOS though. Waterdeep is shallower, but enjoyable.
We play async, with usually one or two actions per day, so the games may take almost a month to finish. I don't mind the slow pace since it means analysis paralysis is no problem, and I do like to strategize and optimize my game especially with resource management games like these. The "problem" is that I'm way better at analysing the games than the other guys. I used to be the top player of our group in live games, but with the async, they can't touch me. (Out of the nine last games, I've won 8 and one ended in a ragequit.) Waterdeep has been close and we'll continue playing it, but I doubt the guys want to get back to Agricola any time soon. So please recommend 3 player iOS board games with some strategy but also luck components. I could mention we've also played Ascencion but it was never popular enough for constant play. A good theme is a plus since one of the players does care about that.
But not totally. We've been playing 3P iOS Agricola, Waterdeep and Le Havre. I like them all, especially Agricola and Le Havre as they are simple but deep. Le Havre is not very good on iOS though. Waterdeep is shallower, but enjoyable.
We play async, with usually one or two actions per day, so the games may take almost a month to finish. I don't mind the slow pace since it means analysis paralysis is no problem, and I do like to strategize and optimize my game especially with resource management games like these. The "problem" is that I'm way better at analysing the games than the other guys. I used to be the top player of our group in live games, but with the async, they can't touch me. (Out of the nine last games, I've won 8 and one ended in a ragequit.) Waterdeep has been close and we'll continue playing it, but I doubt the guys want to get back to Agricola any time soon. So please recommend 3 player iOS board games with some strategy but also luck components. I could mention we've also played Ascencion but it was never popular enough for constant play. A good theme is a plus since one of the players does care about that.
platypotamus
Member
Played my first game of Tzolken this weekend. It gave me one of those "you are thinking too hard" headaches.
My sister won the game having exactly 0 points going in to the monument scoring part of the final scoring.
My sister won the game having exactly 0 points going in to the monument scoring part of the final scoring.
BomberMouse
Member
Would you recommend it? I've been eyeing it but I dunno.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
It's a great game. The first few times you play it you feel a bit out of control. That feeling does go away after a few plays and you get a handle on the gear mechanic.
Eclipse. It's a space empire building game with economics, tech building, space battles, exploration, and variable player powers. Really fun game and just enough luck in it.
platypotamus
Member
I don't generally feel comfortable recommending something after a single play, but I can say that I very much want to play again and was already eyeing the expansion a bit on BGG, so... there ya go.
BomberMouse
Member
woot, gonna add it to my list then.
I'm currently in the states and I wanna get a bunch of games for future playing when I move out of the country in a few months.
Bizarrely played 4 different games today and none of them with my usual gaming group.
A few of the QA guys at work have been starting to play boardgames over lunch, mostly Dominon/Ticket To Ride so far. Today, introduced them to a couple of new experiences for them "Hey! That's My Fish!" & "Escape! Curse of the Temple".
Both big hits in different ways. Hey! looks simple & kiddy at first glance, and about half way through they realized how cut-throat & nasty it is. Second game was fantastically nasty, tight, and fun.
"Escape!" was just as big a hit & we played it again immediately. Folk kept coming into the breakroom to see what all the fuss & noise was about :
And came home to my elementary age kids asking to play games - unfortunately a pair I'd left at work, so we played an old Haba dexterity co-op castle game & "Godzilla Stomp". Twice each. Woot.
A few of the QA guys at work have been starting to play boardgames over lunch, mostly Dominon/Ticket To Ride so far. Today, introduced them to a couple of new experiences for them "Hey! That's My Fish!" & "Escape! Curse of the Temple".
Both big hits in different ways. Hey! looks simple & kiddy at first glance, and about half way through they realized how cut-throat & nasty it is. Second game was fantastically nasty, tight, and fun.
"Escape!" was just as big a hit & we played it again immediately. Folk kept coming into the breakroom to see what all the fuss & noise was about :
And came home to my elementary age kids asking to play games - unfortunately a pair I'd left at work, so we played an old Haba dexterity co-op castle game & "Godzilla Stomp". Twice each. Woot.
Yesterday I finally got to play X Wing again, next week is a store championship so it was nice to test my strategy, which... didn't work... at all. My two best ships (TIE Bomber and TIE Phantom) never had the chance to fire and I kept missing attacks with my TIE swarm. In the end I managed to get 2 shields of the Rebel player before he wiped out all of my ships and that's it. So maybe I need another strategy 
I also got to play Pathfinder the Adventure Card Game once again, the "it's a bad game but it's still very enjoyable" one, and for the first time it wasn't a 'hunt the villain' type of mission. All four of us agreed to keep playing Pathfinder until we finished the Rise of the Runelords adventure path, so today I bought the three remaining adventure decks (4, 5 and 6) and the Slave 1 for X Wing.
I also got to play Pathfinder the Adventure Card Game once again, the "it's a bad game but it's still very enjoyable" one, and for the first time it wasn't a 'hunt the villain' type of mission. All four of us agreed to keep playing Pathfinder until we finished the Rise of the Runelords adventure path, so today I bought the three remaining adventure decks (4, 5 and 6) and the Slave 1 for X Wing.
Impeccable
Member
So my birthday was on Monday and my wife bought me both Pandemic AND Lord of the Rings (Co-op one).
Haven't had much time to play because of having family barbeques and other distractions but last night we sat down together and begun out board gaming life. We chose Pandemic to start with, it appealed more to her. We spent a bunch of time on our first game while accidentally breaking rules and going "We should have done that back seven turns ago." for both the benefit of us and the evil viruses. Through our flukes and non-perfect game we managed to win!
Then my three year old daughter woke up and we post poned round two. Luckily, she went back to bed quickly and my wife scurried back to play more... we were already addicted.
This time she was Scientist and I was a Dispatcher. We rushed to try to stop the middle east from being over run but it snowballed very quickly and before we knew it - we lost.
So yeah, we really are enjoying it so far and can't wait to play more games this evening together. Thanks again for all the suggestions to everyone here, I'll be back to post more stories and need more suggestions.
Haven't had much time to play because of having family barbeques and other distractions but last night we sat down together and begun out board gaming life. We chose Pandemic to start with, it appealed more to her. We spent a bunch of time on our first game while accidentally breaking rules and going "We should have done that back seven turns ago." for both the benefit of us and the evil viruses. Through our flukes and non-perfect game we managed to win!
Then my three year old daughter woke up and we post poned round two. Luckily, she went back to bed quickly and my wife scurried back to play more... we were already addicted.
This time she was Scientist and I was a Dispatcher. We rushed to try to stop the middle east from being over run but it snowballed very quickly and before we knew it - we lost.
So yeah, we really are enjoying it so far and can't wait to play more games this evening together. Thanks again for all the suggestions to everyone here, I'll be back to post more stories and need more suggestions.
TumblingHippo
Member
Any thoughts on how AEG is handling the sequel to Love Letter, Lost Legacy? Makes me wonder, if someone gets all three separately, will they just come out with an edition that has all three parts together?
Also, the box to Seventh Hero is almost comically large, so much wasted space for the 82 cards included, yet it still can't fit the instruction booklet inside of it.
Also, the box to Seventh Hero is almost comically large, so much wasted space for the 82 cards included, yet it still can't fit the instruction booklet inside of it.
I think they're handling it a bit poorly, and I would not be surprised if Lost Legacy sells far less than Love Letter.
I'm gonna speculate here and say that at the end of the day, the Love Letter audience is already satisfied with Love Letter, and the actual audience for Lost Legacy are not people AEG is targeting with their marketing.
Right, and then there's that. Seventh Hero is a game I would probably want to buy, but the box is ridiculously huge for no reason, and that's just how AEG does. The decisions are bone-headed.
Yeah I post on the Rules forums more than anywhere else on BGG by far. Those things are an awesome resource.
TumblingHippo
Member
And there's still room for Love Letter and the 2 upcoming Lost Legacy expansions, too.
I'll second that Seventh Hero is pretty good. Hits that spot of Love Letter simplicity and trying to deduce what other players have.
To not play a pretty sweet game because the box is a bit oversized is also boneheaded.
I will gladly play it, but I wont get my own copy
Ok, well if your only reason of not owning it is because of the box size then I add the addendum that that is additionally boneheaded.
To answer the question above about the LL releases: Sure, it'd be awesome to get all three decks at once, but ultimately, I think buying 3 separate decks at 6 and change is probably roughly equivalent of what I'd end up paying for a release with all 3 decks. My bigger annoyance is from what I heard (my copy arrives tomorrow) it comes in a fucking cloth bag again. I'd take a Twilight Imperium sized box over this bullshit.
So ultimately, I'm glad SH is a larger box. I'll be putting all of my AEG microgames in there. Its a win-win-win.
-tetsuo-
Unlimited Capacity
Basically how I learn every game. Read the rules, do a rough first play through and then go to the rules forums for the game to clarify all the things I was confused about.
I have given up trying to organize Lock N Load games in the box they come in. Now EVERY counter type has its own slot in a Plano box and the box holds all the rules. boards and such. Helps tremendously with set up time. LNL is good because you can play a pretty fast game (once you get the rules down.) Sorting through baggies took me an hour to set up a very small game once. NO MORE. It also makes its so i can play "Out of the box" in a way. This ends up determining how often I play solo games honestly. If i can grab rules, a map and a box I will play. If i have to sort through a bunch of shit, I will not.
I would NEVER be able to play a wargame without BGG rules forums. LNL in particular is opposing die roll based double modifier carry over the difference to a damage roll nightmare hellscape. That is just for infantry. For some reason I still think it is the best of the bunch especially for non-solitaire specific solitaire.
Space is an issue for me. I don't have a giant shelf to devote to board games, so even if I want to have a ton of games, I just can't store tons of big boxes all over the place. This is something my main board gaming friend has to consider all the time, too.
I also like having space in my bag to take games around to other places. When boxes are big, I can take one or two games. When boxes are small, I have (and can offer) many more options. I understand that some games are big, and have to come in big boxes, and that's fine; but when a little card game comes in a big box, it's an encumbrance and a needless waste. It's taking space for what could be another game (or it is the other game that needs to be left out).
On the other hand, I hear the opposite from publishers and retailers. Publishers want big boxes to have store presence. Retailers want big boxes to prevent theft. These are both real concerns, but I think making bigger boxes is the inefficient way to solve these problems. I've been to many game shops that are not exactly killing it in their store atmosphere and design of their retail space.
If you want to keep calling me "boneheaded" for having a life situation, I'll just say that you're reminding me of the elitist things people say in this hobby, like "if you don't have the money to spend on board games, you don't belong". I imagine that's a sentiment you might take issue with, being someone who was just insisting you save every penny you can when you buy board games.
I just hope tabletop games don't become like video games and ditch good paper manuals altogether in favor of mostly relying on gamefaqs.
I hate to tell you this, but in so many cases we are there homie. It's also full of developers so you know JUST ERRATA IT AFTERWARD. Tactical wargames can be so bad though. Mark Walker wakes up one morning and its like hey... now when a tank gets shaken the crew has to makes moral checks as opposed to just being shaken as well! WHY NOT! FAQ IT.
EDIT
on't forget to apply the positive terrain modifier if you happened to get busted on in a forest hex!!I picked up Nuklear Winter 68 a couple weeks ago. My first LnL game. Excited to get that on the table after I finish learning Red Winter.
BTW, I highly recommend GMT counter trays. They usually fit inside the boxes for games I use them for, and if not, they stack real nicely. 20 bucks for 10: http://www.gmtgames.com/p-173-counter-trays-10.aspx
I'm starting to just use them for everything.
You're the one who brought up the term boneheaded. I was just pointing out the irony. I don't have a beef with you or if you want to own Seventh Hero or if you even like it. No horse in the race. I'm just saying, box size rates about a 2 on the boardgame problems scale, particularly in this case. It's larger than is needed for 80 cards, sure, but its not a 'big box' by any stretch.
Yes, I did use that term: towards a company's decisions, practices, and how the company measures its market (which is also a comment about the industry at large). I did not lob it at any one person in particular.
I'm ready to drop it. We're all friends here, I just don't see the need for personal attacks.
TekGryphon
Banned
Caverna has been a really pleasant surprise. It's impressive how accessible it is to almost anyone. The ability to role play your own farm without it turning into an Agricola knife fight is great for the new or casual crowd, while point maximization is a challenge for even the hardcore types (provided they don't ruin it for themselves by min-maxing in excel).
I also just got Castaways in the mail. Wife is traveling but I'm looking forward to playing with her when she gets back. I decided to do this over Robinson Crusoe because reviews said Castaways was stronger on theme. We'll probably do away with the journal winner at the end part, though.
I also just got Castaways in the mail. Wife is traveling but I'm looking forward to playing with her when she gets back. I decided to do this over Robinson Crusoe because reviews said Castaways was stronger on theme. We'll probably do away with the journal winner at the end part, though.
antiquegamer
Member
My friend picked up Leviathans and added it to our selection. Really, really impressive unboxing with that one. Some fantastic art, 2 novellas, Insane figures, two textured, reversable map boards, 2 rulebooks... it is crazy. Reading that rulebook though....WOW. We haven't even tried to play it yet.
Not my pics
I played this at PAX couple years ago and meet the designers and they seems really passionate. It's too bad about the situation they are in. The game offer a lot for the money but $100.00 is a lot to ask for people to shell out. I might pick it up on my next board game shopping spree.
Yeah I have some GMT trays for GMT and other games. It works well with paper maps or bigger boxes but LnL boxes are thin as all hell. The mounted boards + rules take up an entire half of the box so when you punch the counters you are pretty much stuck with baggies. I will try to get some decent pics in here of some hex and counter stuff cause we lack it but my new solution is already working out better. I even have 2 large spare areas in the plano box that can be used to pull out units for a scenario the night before I play it just in case its a more complex set up. I hope you like NW ! I have come close many times to picking it up.
here is a vid of FH:Vietnam2nd ed. It shows the storage issue. Not a huge deal but annoying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNvLsQlmUQA&index=12&list=PLTxuy1GbxpXmw_1LbnznRPkTbBQIp5xPK
SillyEskimo
Member
Blood Bowl: Foul Play arrived on Tuesday. I read the instructions, popped the chits, and played Destiny on the PS4. Hopefully the wife and I can get a game in soon.
In the meantime, Descent: Shadow of Nerekhall and 2 DnD board games arrived last night (Castle Ravenloft & Wrath of Ashardalon). Those will keep me busy reading rules, punching cardstock, and painting miniatures for awhile. Who am I kidding? I'll be playing Destinty, lol!
In the meantime, Descent: Shadow of Nerekhall and 2 DnD board games arrived last night (Castle Ravenloft & Wrath of Ashardalon). Those will keep me busy reading rules, punching cardstock, and painting miniatures for awhile. Who am I kidding? I'll be playing Destinty, lol!
Woohoo! Getting mine on next week as it just shipped from CSI yesterday, along with:
-Netrunner Upstalk
-Kids of Carcassonne (3-y-o daughter loves Carc)
-Dungeon Fighter (just couldn't resist this anymore -- love dexterity games and this one is really fun)
-Splendor (forgot to remove from order
)Yes, more of this. I think there's maybe like three of us who regularly post in this thread whose eyes won't glaze over about those types of games, but I for one appreciate anything you have to share.
I'll contribute my own as well, from the fun, quick-playing Battles of the Bulge: Celles by Revolution Games:
I love the map. Mark Mahaffey is the artist; he also did the amazing map for Red Winter, which I am also currently playing.
BomberMouse
Member
I know I don't post very often but this makes me feel old. I remember when you were talking about bringing in that third player.
I backed up that Dungeon Lords kick starter. Let's hope it delivers in time, unlike that alien frontiers one, ugh.
I can say you don't want to wind up on the small game shelf, and you don't want your games to get pushed back into the back of the shelf.
That's why we switched to FFG/Days of Wonder square style boxes in various sizes.
Haha yep -- we're like a little extended family in these threads!
platypotamus
Member
Yep, and I've been following his example and posts about her so I know how soon I can get my 18 month old playing
I already give her a lot of my crap common magic cards to play with/eat
Congrats!
platypotamus
Member
Well done!
So much BSG <3
Congrats, wondered where you were lately.