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[Kuntz]

I recently caught the board gaming craze, slowly expanding my choices, but the hardest games to find are games I can play with 10+ people, from 6 to 77 years old, when I make gaming evenings at work (I also tend to avoid the classic games everyone got at home)

For this Friday's session we'll try "A fake artist in New York", "Timebomb" (the japanese one), and some french games I'm not sure there are english equivalents.

Any ideas?

Also had my first session of Zombicide with a dozen 10-13 years old. They loved it even if they got absolutely wrecked. I'll make them try Secret Hitler tomorrow because they like werewolf.

Yes, almost all my board games sessions are work related... My friends are non gamers and all the local meetups are done by me (closest one is a 1hour drive, thanks countryside).

I'll stick around this thread for a bit, hopefully it won't be as financially dangerous as the LEGO thread.

 

[Lupercal]

I recently caught the board gaming craze, slowly expanding my choices, but the hardest games to find are games I can play with 10+ people, from 6 to 77 years old, when I make gaming evenings at work (I also tend to avoid the classic games everyone got at home)

For this Friday's session we'll try "A fake artist in New York", "Timebomb" (the japanese one), and some french games I'm not sure there are english equivalents.

Any ideas?

Memoir 44 Overlord is doable with 8, Codenamed is 2 teams of 5 and a captain max I think, so 12.
Camel up is great for young kids.

 

[JSR_Cube]

What a crazy week for kickstarter board games already.

I am in for Outlive and on the fence for Anachrony. Didn't want to get in on This War of Mine as it is pure co-op and my group doesn't love those.

EDIT: forgot about the Mistfall expansion too.

I gave up on Dark Souls and still have my Saltlands pledge right now.

 

[SillyEskimo]

I'll stick around this thread for a bit, hopefully it won't be as financially dangerous as the LEGO thread.

Board games don't even come close. Its more comparable to video games in terms of price and releases worth buying. Lego never, ever ends.

 

[BowieZ]

Combined Catan: Cities & Knights with Catan: Explorers & Pirates this week:

Works great. We simply made these alterations to the rules as a whole:

1. Initial placement is settlement + road first, then second is a road plus your choice of city or harbour.

2. Harbours count as cities (re: barbarian attacks) but do not produce any additional resources.

3. The third Science upgrade grants you a resource of your choice + 1 gold when you receive nothing from a non-7 die roll... rather than the original resource only, because with the gold mechanic, that upgrade isn't quite as impactful.

4. Play to 20 points ideally, although we called it quits after 14 due to mitigating circumstances (took less than 90 minutes to get to 14 points).

(None of the pieces are from Seafarers, so as you can see we had to improvise a little with empty hexes here and there... next time I will be buying blue paper to slide underneath those tiles, but we all did like sailing through Twinings Strait.)

 

[BattleMonkey]

Board games don't even come close. Its more comparable to video games in terms of price and releases worth buying. Lego never, ever ends.

My monthly CSI bill really makes my Lego expenditures look pathetic.... so mileage will vary

 

[SillyEskimo]

My monthly CSI bill really makes my Lego expenditures look pathetic.... so mileage will vary

This hobby is much more comparable to video games though, which is the point to take away from my post. Of course people will spend different amounts on different things.

 

[AstroLad]

Yeah, I probably spend around $5-600/year on BGs. Which is an insane amount and probably 4x what I actually need. Do that for a couple years and you can stop buying games forever and have games for every situation and player count. Of course to cut off like that you have to get out of Cult of the New, which is tricky. I'm not Cult of the New on KS -- never got into that really, but for quality releases/quality designers I really do pick up the new hotness, whether it's new Pandemic, good stuff from Bauza, whatever.

 

[DagsJT]

My coworkers love Sushi Go. Great choice! I actually made an android app to keep track of players' scores. You may find it useful

I reeeally want to buy codenames. It looks fantastic.

Just used the app, works great and looks nice too!

Do you fancy making an app for Lost Cities scoring?

 

[Blizzard]

BattleCON Devastation has not turned out so well. I have the box organized for super quick setup, but my girlfriend stopped playing halfway through our second duel. She won the first but it took so long we didn't do best 2 out of 3. Then today we played again, and she didn't have any fun so we scrapped it.

Today I was playing Runika against her Marmelee. I don't really understand Marmelee...her whole thing is building up concentration counters, but she loses them all if she's ever stunned, even if she goes first. AND her styles are weak and her priorities seem low. She only had two basic ways to get stun guard that I remember, a +2 and a +5 (from a base)...and all I had to do was hit her at least once every 3 rounds. That meant she would always lose her counters and never get to 3.

It was even meaner because Runika starts with the 5 active equipment cards and lots of bonuses (free +2 soak, +1 power, +2 priority, 0-1 range bonus, +2 stun guard). It was just evil.

So, if anyone wants to try BattleCON on Mumble or something, let me know.

 

[ameleco]

Hey guys! I'm currently very new to board games as in I've just played Catan at a friends house and a few others. I want to start with one that everyone says is good: Ticket to Ride. I was looking at getting Europe/expansion + US+ expansion but I'm not sure which version of US I want. There's a 10th anniversary edition and I'm not sure I want that one? The cost of the 10th anniversary edition is more, but people say the board is larger, the cards are larger, etc so that could be nice, but that also means its not compatible with the other sets since the pieces are larger right? Does anyone have both that could help? I apologize if this question has been asked a billion times and I'm sure it has.

 

[Xater]

Hey guys! I'm currently very new to board games as in I've just played Catan at a friends house and a few others. I want to start with one that everyone says is good: Ticket to Ride. I was looking at getting Europe/expansion + US+ expansion but I'm not sure which version of US I want. There's a 10th anniversary edition and I'm not sure I want that one? The cost of the 10th anniversary edition is more, but people say the board is larger, the cards are larger, etc so that could be nice, but that also means its not compatible with the other sets since the pieces are larger right? Does anyone have both that could help? I apologize if this question has been asked a billion times and I'm sure it has.

The Anniversary edition has bigger score markers and trains. Those could be problematic to fit on expansion maps. I'd go for a regular game to be on the safe side. Also unless you really want a US or Europe board I'd say just get one has game. There are a lot of map expansions out there, some even with be game mechanics. Most people me included think Europe is the better base game. The map is slightly more interesting and has a couple more interesting mechanics. The game just have slightly more meat on its bones and is therefor longer interesting without getting anything extra.

 

[Lyng]

Hey guys! I'm currently very new to board games as in I've just played Catan at a friends house and a few others. I want to start with one that everyone says is good: Ticket to Ride. I was looking at getting Europe/expansion + US+ expansion but I'm not sure which version of US I want. There's a 10th anniversary edition and I'm not sure I want that one? The cost of the 10th anniversary edition is more, but people say the board is larger, the cards are larger, etc so that could be nice, but that also means its not compatible with the other sets since the pieces are larger right? Does anyone have both that could help? I apologize if this question has been asked a billion times and I'm sure it has.

How many players? If 2 and 3 you should go for Nordic Countries. If more then go for Europe

 

[Xater]

How many players? If 2 and 3 you should go for Nordic Countries. If more then go for Europe

The India and Africa expansions are great for lower player counts. I would never recommend Nordic as the only base game you are stuck with a 3 player max game.

 

[ameleco]

The Anniversary edition has bigger score markers and trains. Those could be problematic to fit on expansion maps. I'd go for a regular game to be on the safe side. Also unless you really want a US or Europe board I'd say just get one has game. There are a lot of map expansions out there, some even with be game mechanics. Most people me included think Europe is the better base game. The map is slightly more interesting and has a couple more interesting mechanics. The game just have slightly more meat on its bones and is therefor longer interesting without getting anything extra.

How many players? If 2 and 3 you should go for Nordic Countries. If more then go for Europe

The India and Africa expansions are great for lower player counts. I would never recommend Nordic as the only base game you are stuck with a 3 player max game.

Player count varies but at least 3 consistently. I want to a game night going where we'd get more like 5 or 6. So maybe not Europe, but India or Africa?

Edit: Thanks for the quick replies guys

 

[Xater]

Player count varies but at least 3 consistently. I want to a game night going where we'd get more like 5 or 6. So maybe not Europe, but India or Africa?

Edit: Thanks for the quick replies guys

You do need a base game. Europe is good for up to 5. If you want something for 6 players get the Asia map. You can play with 6 players with teams of two on that one. 3 players is fine on Europe,but if you want something even tighter get the Africa or India Expansion. Personally I think you should stay away from the small card expansions. They don't change the game up enough, the maps are way more worth it.

 

[Lyng]

The India and Africa expansions are great for lower player counts. I would never recommend Nordic as the only base game you are stuck with a 3 player max game.

We actually bought Europe and Nordic. So when its only the wife and me we play Nordic.
I really love that map and the mean nature of it.

 

[EYEL1NER]

I completely forgot about it, after the initial announcement, but the Descent 2E: Road to Legend app has been released. I have yet to ever play my copies of either Edition due to the Overlord requirement; not easy to get it on the table when you have no friends or gamer buddies. So a coop mode on the app where the app takes the place of the Overlord was immediately desirable to me when they unveiled it because it meant I could play it solo. I saw a thread on BGG just now and rushed to download it. I loaded up the intro quest and it seems like it is intuituve. The introduction to the quest was voiced, it immediately tells you what tiles to lay out after, and tells you what to do from there. And there is a link to a rulebook pdf online (though I would have rather had the rulebook located in-app rather than require an Internet connection to view the rules, in case I took the game and iPad somewhere outside the house).
Anyway, here are the links:
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/es/app/road-to-legend/id1098000926?uo=4&mt=8&at=10lazE
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fantasyflightgames.rtl

 

[Palmer_v1]

I completely forgot about it, after the initial announcement, but the Descent 2E: Road to Legend app has been released. I have yet to ever play my copies of either Edition due to the Overlord requirement; not easy to get it on the table when you have no friends or gamer buddies. So a coop mode on the app where the app takes the place of the Overlord was immediately desirable to me when they unveiled it because it meant I could play it solo. I saw a thread on BGG just now and rushed to download it. I loaded up the intro quest and it seems like it is intuituve. The introduction to the quest was voiced, it immediately tells you what tiles to lay out after, and tells you what to do from there. And there is a link to a rulebook pdf online (though I would have rather had the rulebook located in-app rather than require an Internet connection to view the rules, in case I took the game and iPad somewhere outside the house).
Anyway, here are the links:
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/es/app/road-to-legend/id1098000926?uo=4&mt=8&at=10lazE
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fantasyflightgames.rtl

Your iOS link is the to Spanish language page. Here's the English one: https://itunes.apple.com/app/road-to-legend/id1098000926?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=4

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I played a solo game of 51st State: The Master Set last night and thought I'd share some thoughts.

So I'm no fan of the original 51st State. I thought the rules were poorly written and the game just didn't flow correctly. Despite that, I did end up giving 51st State: The New Era a shot. It was a kind of pseudo redo of the original 51st State that also worked as an expansion. It took me a few plays to get into it, but I ended up really liking that game.

Imperial Settlers came along and was yet another reimplementation of the 51st State system. I never had an opportunity to play that game, but from the previews and reviews I've seen it does make the system more streamlined. 51st State: Master Set is yet another reimplementation of that system but it follows more in line with the Imperial Settlers.

I have to say, as a fan of The New Era, I think I like The Master Set better. It's easier to play and it'll be easier for me to teach, which is a huge plus. The solo game included is good, but I'm not sure how well it replicates a multiplayer game. The rule book is fine, but it tries to be a breezy and conversational and most of it is kind of cringe inducing. It's like they tried to emulate some of Vlaada Chvatil's rule books, but not as clever or funny. Thankfully they include a cheat sheet that does a good job with summarizing the rules so I don't have to look for answers in the actual book.

 

[EYEL1NER]

Your iOS link is the to Spanish language page. Here's the English one: https://itunes.apple.com/app/road-to-legend/id1098000926?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=4

Weird. That link took me to, and still takes me to, the English page. But I do see the "es" in there after the ".com."

 

[Xater]

Has anyone here played Quadropolis? That game seems like it would be way up my alley. Family game weight, city builder, set collection, tile placement it's all there.

 

[zulux21]

hopefully no one's wallet is gonna kill me for this post.

but coolstufinc is running a 10% site wide flash sale (130 min left after this post.). discount taken when you go to check out.

 

[Taborcarn]

Yeah I saw that CSI sale and even though I made a board game order last week, I was thinking about getting some sleeves and deck boxes with the discount, and would it be worthwhile to get without shooting for the free shipping price point.

 

[joelseph]

Has anyone here played Quadropolis? That game seems like it would be way up my alley. Family game weight, city builder, set collection, tile placement it's all there.

I plan to next week at Geekway. This is on my short list of hype. Days of Wonder is on fire.

 

[Xater]

I plan to next week at Geekway. This is on my short list of hype. Days of Wonder is on fire.

Please let me know what you thought. The game looks really cool.

 

[Fireblend]

Well, since both Love Letter and Coup have turned out to be huge hits with my coworkers during lunch (I was worrying Love Letter would be boring, but as it turns out it was just as well received, and I actually think it's a better 2p game than Coup which IMO has a somewhat lame endgame ), I just ordered Codenames. Those 3 and Sushi Go! should be enough for our lunch game selection.

 

[EYEL1NER]

Well, since both Love Letter and Coup have turned out to be huge hits with my coworkers during lunch (I was worrying Love Letter would be boring, but as it turns out it was just as well received, and I actually think it's a better 2p game than Coup which IMO has a somewhat lame endgame ), I just ordered Codenames. Those 3 and Sushi Go! should be enough for our lunch game selection.

If you are playing Love Letter as a 2P game, get R (or the rethemed versions of R called BraveRats). I'm not saying Love Letter is bad as a 2P game (a lot of people actually say that but my wife likes it as a 2P game and it is quick and I don't mind the luck factor), but R is specifically designed for two people. It was designed by the same person who did Love Letter, Seiji Kanai, and has the same artwork as the Kanai Factory edition of Love Letter. BraveRats is the same with anthropomorphic rats. I own both but like the art of R better.
I do promote R a lot ITT but it really is a great fast and simple 2P game. And if you play LL sometimes with 2 people, then R is flat-out the better game.
Here's the page for BraveRats and R (R is listed as a version of BraveRats): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/112373/braverats

BraveRats, first released as R, is a simple and short simultaneous action selection game for two that's played with cards. Both players have a hand of eight cards, numbered 0 to 7, with each card having a special power. Both players choose a card, then reveal them simultaneously. The highest card wins the round, and players play until someone has won four rounds. The cards' special powers greatly influence the game.

 

[nicoga3000]

So I just noticed Dark Souls is nearing the end of the Kickstarter campaign. Have they released information on the rules or campaign or anything yet?

 

[AstroLad]

Player count varies but at least 3 consistently. I want to a game night going where we'd get more like 5 or 6. So maybe not Europe, but India or Africa?

Edit: Thanks for the quick replies guys

i love ttr but you absolutely shouldn't play it with 5+ imo. except the team asia map which even then i'd prefer to play it with experienced players. game just goes on waaaaaay too long with 5, and there are so many better options for gateway games at 5 like King of Tokyo/New York, Camel Up, Mysterium, Codenames, Jamaica. ymmv ofc but Ticket to Ride for me has worked in nearly every case except when the player counts get too high.

 

[toddhunter]

Has anyone here played Quadropolis? That game seems like it would be way up my alley. Family game weight, city builder, set collection, tile placement it's all there.

I have it and to be honest I think it is a very over-hyped and middle of the road game.

There just isn't much to do, your choices are limited and you spend more time setting up the tiles than actually playing. I also think the theme really doesn't come through. It is basically "put yellow on a 4 next to green since that is the most points and you have no other choice anyway".

It is by no means terrible, but would be much better as a mobile app.

More positively, 12 Days has been a good addition to the family game playing. It is similar to sushi go in weight with a Christmas theme and a bit more adding up at the end. Worth a look.

 

[ultron87]

Working on our list of stuff to try at Gen Con (since event reg is on Sunday).

Currently have:

Bear Valley
Automobiles
Dark Moon
Greedy Goblins
Quadropolis
CRISIS
Spirit Island
Mystic Vale

Also True Dungeon and some crazy laser tag LARP.

 

[joelseph]

Bear Valley! Yes! I was hot then cold now hot again for this game. There is a really good review up on the bgg forum.

 

[Dreavus]

BattleCON Devastation has not turned out so well. I have the box organized for super quick setup, but my girlfriend stopped playing halfway through our second duel. She won the first but it took so long we didn't do best 2 out of 3. Then today we played again, and she didn't have any fun so we scrapped it.

Today I was playing Runika against her Marmelee. I don't really understand Marmelee...her whole thing is building up concentration counters, but she loses them all if she's ever stunned, even if she goes first. AND her styles are weak and her priorities seem low. She only had two basic ways to get stun guard that I remember, a +2 and a +5 (from a base)...and all I had to do was hit her at least once every 3 rounds. That meant she would always lose her counters and never get to 3.

It was even meaner because Runika starts with the 5 active equipment cards and lots of bonuses (free +2 soak, +1 power, +2 priority, 0-1 range bonus, +2 stun guard). It was just evil.

So, if anyone wants to try BattleCON on Mumble or something, let me know.

Oh jeez, sounds like a very one sided match-up. IIRC Runika is probably one of the top rated fighters and is somewhat frustrating to play against. It's not unwinnable, but it's very hard to know as a new player what artifacts you should be deactivating first, and as the Runika player you get to enjoy the buffs and throw all those decisions onto your opponent. She's one of my favourites to play but I avoid it against new folks because she feels kind of bad to lose against.

Also something to note is that her artifact gets turned off when she is hit, not on damage, and she loses the effect immediately. This makes the soak and stun guard artifacts a little bit more manageable for your opponent since you can "get through" the soak one in the same turn you land a hit (I definitely played this wrong the first time), or turning off the range one can mess with the Runika player's plans for the current turn if you go first.

I never understood Marmelee either, and it sounds like the people who have played as her with my copy had a similar experience to your girlfriend. Honestly, she has no business being in the novice/beginner flight IMO, and that's the only fighter I would say that for (possibly Karin too, but most people have fun working out the wolf combos on their own and it ends up being okay). Losing all concentration on most hits feels super punishing to me (I am pretty sure you are technically stunned even if you get hit by the reactive player if you don't have enough stun guard), and even burning them for the effects seemed good, but getting there is tough.

Basically, I'd say the one-two punch of fighting against Runika while also playing as Marmelee contributed to the bad first impression.

Did you pull the same characters for the second time you played? If she's willing, I'd say try again with another match-up, not just changing her character but yours as well. I think you both might have a better time. Hopefully she's not soured on it from now on but I can understand the game not being for everyone

 

[Blizzard]

Basically, I'd say the one-two punch of fighting against Runika while also playing as Marmelee contributed to the bad first impression.

Did you pull the same characters for the second time you played? If she's willing, I'd say try again with another match-up, not just changing her character but yours as well. I think you both might have a better time. Hopefully she's not soured on it from now on but I can understand the game not being for everyone

Yes, the rules even mention that Marmelee can be stunned by the reactive player. She seems like someone who would belong in flight 3-4 minimum, so flight 1 is odd.

The first time we played was Pendross vs. Karin, and that went much better. Thanks for the tips.

If we play again we'll definitely use other characters.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

So I just noticed Dark Souls is nearing the end of the Kickstarter campaign. Have they released information on the rules or campaign or anything yet?

They haven't released the full rules. Probably won't happen for a while, but they have given a fair amount of detail, walkthroughs and current thinking on Reddit AMA's.

They go through the basic rules in both the exploration video and boss fight video (which is the core game loop):
Exploration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL2hngajqNs
Boss fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOM3OCAQMP8

There won't be an official campaign. They said that it would be too difficult to create a brand new canon plot line to Dark Souls to follow in the game. Currently the closest idea (which isn't finalized) is that you may play through scenarios. For example, "Undead Burg scenario" and it limits the types of enemies and other things you encounter. However, that's purely an idea at this point and isn't a promise for the game.

They said they're going to be supporting the game post-launch as well (and if you look at how they've handled Guild Ball, you can see what they mean) so there's the potential for more to come later, but don't plan on it if an official campaign is critical to you being willing to kickstart.

AMA summaries (campaign is talked about in #1 and #2):
http://steamforged.com/dark-souls-faq
http://steamforged.com/dark-souls-faq-2
http://steamforged.com/dark-souls-faq-3
http://steamforged.com/dark-souls-faq-4

 

[antiquegamer]

Mythos Tales got new update on Kickstarter and the artwork look really good.

I don't think I am going to back Darksouls, the miniatures look nice but the entire campaign reminded me of Conan (who know of that will ever ship) Also without campaign to tie the quest together just seem to be missing the point of Darksouls.

 

[Musan]

I was able to play Nippon today, and while I think it is a solid game, it just doesn't seem too exciting. Compared to Madeira, where your place in the game is constantly shifting. An apt analogy would be Caverna versus Agricola. In the former, the whole of the game is open to you, while you feel much more limited in what you can accomplish in the latter.

I guess it just comes down to a general philosophy, where I prefer to have my choices more constrained, but having more impact. I guess that's why I really like Race for the Galaxy.

 

[EYEL1NER]

Mythos Tales got new update on Kickstarter and the artwork look really good.

I don't think I am going to back Darksouls, the miniatures look nice but the entire campaign reminded me of Conan (who know of that will ever ship) Also without campaign to tie the quest together just seem to be missing the point of Darksouls.

I saw the update too. Can't wait to get my hands on it (still need to play SHCD first though, but I've been saying that since I started posting in |OT1|).

I couldn't bring myself to back Dark Souls either. For one thing, I like the games I have played in the series (played a bit of Demon Souls, played a bit of Dark Souls, own the second game and current gen port) but I am not a die-hard fan. I also would want a good story in a dungeon-crawl type game and I wouldn't get that from a Dark Souls game. The minis look cool but I would want them all, so that would cost quite a bit more once I bought into all the add-ons. And I've spent way too much on KS projects since I signed up anyway. I mean, I could afford to back this, but I already have a ton of projects that are awaiting fulfiment and probably don't need to add to that. I'll regret not backing it, like I did with a couple other big mini-heavy games like Conan. But oh well. There are other things I want too; I can't have everything.

 

[Rudimental]

Plauge Inc - price is ok and the game concept seems well put together (I enjoyed the mobile title). Not sure it will be a winner thematically though. Would rather save the world with friends.

This looks like Pandemic: Contagion with more depth. That was fun, though it did feel fairly abstract so I imagine this one will too. Contagion suffers a bit in that upgrading your disease is just bar-filling and there are limited effective strategies. I wonder if Plague Inc's trait cards will fix that or go the other way in making upgrades too luck-based. I might back this, see how it turns out and then get rid of which one is worse (if at all, since Contagion is still nice as a light and fairly quick game to play from time to time).

edit: maybe I'll just have to wait until it gets to retail. KS shipping doubles the price, TIA.

 

[Lyng]

I was able to play Nippon today, and while I think it is a solid game, it just doesn't seem too exciting. Compared to Madeira, where your place in the game is constantly shifting. An apt analogy would be Caverna versus Agricola. In the former, the whole of the game is open to you, while you feel much more limited in what you can accomplish in the latter.

I guess it just comes down to a general philosophy, where I prefer to have my choices more constrained, but having more impact. I guess that's why I really like Race for the Galaxy.

I think its all about taste. I like the more tight gameplay of Agricola instead of the more free floating almost salad like gameplay of Caverna. But I think thats because I think Uwe is best with tight mean games, where point salads should just be left in the cabable hands of Stefan Feld.

I really enjoy Nippon, I think its a fantastic economic game, sadly havent tried Madeira yet though. Might like that even more.

Race for the Galaxy is awsome. One of the few games I rate a 10.

 

[Fireblend]

Has anyone played Dale of Merchants? The sequel/expansion is on Kickstarter and it looks charming as hell and the reviews seem pretty positive. The awesome looks and seemingly simple rules make it look like something I could easily convince my gf of playing with me, not to mention I don't have any deck building game.

 

[AstroLad]

I've been tracking board-game plays (previously using ScoreGeek -- a good multiplatform tool -- now using BG Stats, which is iOS only but a little prettier) and it's interesting the effect it has. It's definitely lead me to play more and actually a greater variety of games (mostly because BG Stats shows you up front how many different games, people, and locations you've played at the last 30 days). I used to think the cure for Cult of the New folks was the 10x10-type challenges (play the same ten games at least ten times in a year) but I actually think digging through your back catalog and playing a wide variety is a better solution.

I guess tracking can get to a point where it undermines the actual gaming, but for now I think I've found a pretty good balance.

 

[Vard]

I've been tracking board-game plays (previously using ScoreGeek -- a good multiplatform tool -- now using BG Stats, which is iOS only but a little prettier) and it's interesting the effect it has. It's definitely lead me to play more and actually a greater variety of games (mostly because BG Stats shows you up front how many different games, people, and locations you've played at the last 30 days). I used to think the cure for Cult of the New folks was the 10x10-type challenges (play the same ten games at least ten times in a year) but I actually think digging through your back catalog and playing a wide variety is a better solution.

I guess tracking can get to a point where it undermines the actual gaming, but for now I think I've found a pretty good balance.

Looks very nice. Also cool that it imports plays into BGG! I do like a good stat tracker (for tracking music listens I've been using last.fm for over a decade now) so I may have to get this... Link for others who are interested: Board Game Stats by Eerko Vissering
https://appsto.re/us/WWXm1.i

 

[zulux21]

played a few new games tonight.

Bomb Squad Academy.

Bomb Squad is a real time co op game where you program a robot to take out bombs, bomb squad academy is the bonus game that came with the kickstarter that is a press your luck type game to earn as many points as possible. The big difference to most of the press the luck games I have played is that everyone takes their turn at the same time. It worked decently well with 3 players, and lead to some tense moments, but it really feels like the game would shine best with 4 players so I will have to try that later. Overall a fun little game and I am happy I own it.

Firefly a fistful of credits.
This game feels like a good game, that didn't get play tested very well and thus has a number of big mistakes and flaws left in it. Overall the theme and things that go on is interesting enough, but a lot of wording of stuff is poorly done especially since who ever proof read the stuff decided when you are referring to all persons it's all person's which makes the cards read odd. The big thing that is messed up with the game though is the timer mechanism. When all players together roll 9 1s on a D6 they lose. with each time you get one of these you trigger something, either an event (which can be good or bad) or summon monsters. the events that summoned monsters and the summon monster stuff on average brought on 3 enemies to face, of which a player can only kill one in a turn. The end result was we weren't rolling 1s for a bit, and then in the time it took to clean up the new monsters so we could move again we just summoned more and basically went from winning without much problem to dead because our frequency of 1s greatly increased. Tying a death timer like that to a random die roll is just really bad gameplay. I feel with a number of tweaks the game could be fun, but I wasn't impressed with it.

I also played legendary.
like usual it was fun. Iceman gets goofy with a bunch of blue cards in your deck

 

[Dreavus]

I've been tracking board-game plays (previously using ScoreGeek -- a good multiplatform tool -- now using BG Stats, which is iOS only but a little prettier) and it's interesting the effect it has. It's definitely lead me to play more and actually a greater variety of games (mostly because BG Stats shows you up front how many different games, people, and locations you've played at the last 30 days). I used to think the cure for Cult of the New folks was the 10x10-type challenges (play the same ten games at least ten times in a year) but I actually think digging through your back catalog and playing a wide variety is a better solution.

I guess tracking can get to a point where it undermines the actual gaming, but for now I think I've found a pretty good balance.

I've thought about getting into this for a while but never went through he trouble of indexing all my games. Looks like a cool app. I do love stats...

 

[Protome]

A Fake Artist Goes To New York is my new favourite party game. Ended up playing a handful of games today and it went over great. Especially when people started putting silly terms (someone wrote "The Great Depression" on all of the cards...)

For people who don't know, basically one person writes a thing on a card for each player, except one who gets an X instead. Then everyone has to take turns trying to draw a part of that word, then after two turns of that all the artists need to guess which of them doesn't actually know what they're drawing.

I might upload some of our terrible drawings if people are interested.

 

[SillyEskimo]

Blood Bowl is coming at the end of 2016. Six teams will be out when the game launches with more teams in the works.

http://recalcitrantdaze.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/warhammer-fest-2016-part-one-blood-bowl.html?m=1

Lots of pics. Double sided pitch. Looks like my hobby budget is swinging towards GW this year!

 

[EYEL1NER]

Blood Bowl is coming at the end of 2016. Six teams will be out when the game launches with more teams in the works.

http://recalcitrantdaze.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/warhammer-fest-2016-part-one-blood-bowl.html?m=1

Lots of pics. Double sided pitch. Looks like my hobby budget is seinging towards GW this year!

Nice, I saw mention of something Blood Bowl related while on BoLS earlier (was looking for more info on the Leman Russ mini) but I didn't check it out. It is looking pretty cool and looking like it will satisfy BB fans. I'm just not that big of a Warhammer Fantasy fan, be it the looks, lore, or other (though I have bought into BB Team Manager, Warhammer Diskwars, and have the Warhammer Quest Adventure Card Game shipping next week). I wish a 40K expansion would release with Space Marines and maybe some 40K Orks to bolster the regular ork forces but I figure they would have already tried something like that in the past if they thought it would work.

 

[SillyEskimo]

If GW just gives me Necromunda now, they'll have covered all of my major legacy favorites.

I am currently painting Space Hulk (after all these years). I believe Warhammer Quest will likely be next on my list.