That looks... uhh... I want to say awesome, because I'm a mech, armored core and table top fan...
But the designer and artist in me is like... damn... that looks ugly yo.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
New Board Gaming |OT2| On Tables, Off Topic
- Thread starter Karkador
- Start date
That looks... uhh... I want to say awesome, because I'm a mech, armored core and table top fan...
But the designer and artist in me is like... damn... that looks ugly yo.
Further to recent post asking about TTR Nordic (or rather, a TTR version which might fit a certain circumstance), we bought it and played three games today. I'm zero for three, she brutalised me in the last game 182pts to 113. Really, really enjoyed ourselves.
Also picked up Biblios after seeing it mentioned here over the last couple pages. Again, a big hit with both of us. Love how fast and how full of micro-dread choices the game is. Really well paced and effortless game to agonise over.
If you'll indulge me, I'd like to list the games we have and to ask for further recommendations for strong 2p titles.
Agricola
Claustrophobia
Dominion
Netrunner
Hive
CV
Pandemic
Warhammer: ACG
Forbidden Desert
Biblios
Love Letter
TTR: Nordic
A rudimentary 600 card M:TG cube
In terms of tastes, I've yet to run up against a game-type that bounced off me. However we've come to conclusion that she's not a fan of games which ask you to, for example, build decks outside of the game. So, for example, Netrunner we both enjoy the playing, but she's no interest in the building/experimenting/refining factions part of it. We also don't have a huge table, Agricola's footprint is about as large as we can manage (and that's tricky).
I want to jot down a loose to-get list that I can glance at. If you have a moment, let me know your personal picks for 2p games (basically: tell me what game or games I should pick up next). If you identify a gap in type of game (like, something which plays wholly differently) to what we own, I'm especially interested in that - I don't mind whether the game is a split opinion affair that you happen to fall favourably upon, or mentions of games that are just universally lauded in the 2p space. And feel free to recommend deck-builders / big footprint games despite my previous paragraph, for the benefit of anyone else reading the thread who might be wondering about the 2p giants and lesser-knowns.
Also picked up Biblios after seeing it mentioned here over the last couple pages. Again, a big hit with both of us. Love how fast and how full of micro-dread choices the game is. Really well paced and effortless game to agonise over.
If you'll indulge me, I'd like to list the games we have and to ask for further recommendations for strong 2p titles.
Agricola
Claustrophobia
Dominion
Netrunner
Hive
CV
Pandemic
Warhammer: ACG
Forbidden Desert
Biblios
Love Letter
TTR: Nordic
A rudimentary 600 card M:TG cube
In terms of tastes, I've yet to run up against a game-type that bounced off me. However we've come to conclusion that she's not a fan of games which ask you to, for example, build decks outside of the game. So, for example, Netrunner we both enjoy the playing, but she's no interest in the building/experimenting/refining factions part of it. We also don't have a huge table, Agricola's footprint is about as large as we can manage (and that's tricky).
I want to jot down a loose to-get list that I can glance at. If you have a moment, let me know your personal picks for 2p games (basically: tell me what game or games I should pick up next). If you identify a gap in type of game (like, something which plays wholly differently) to what we own, I'm especially interested in that - I don't mind whether the game is a split opinion affair that you happen to fall favourably upon, or mentions of games that are just universally lauded in the 2p space. And feel free to recommend deck-builders / big footprint games despite my previous paragraph, for the benefit of anyone else reading the thread who might be wondering about the 2p giants and lesser-knowns.
woo and indeed hoo
Banned
Lost Cities and Jaipur would be my recommendations. I'm glad you both like TTR Nordic too; such a good game.
Speaking of 2P games, Tim Fowers just launched a Kickstarter for one
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fowers/fugitive
Looks fun, and I think I'm gonna grab it with Paperback as an add-on.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fowers/fugitive
Looks fun, and I think I'm gonna grab it with Paperback as an add-on.
Yep I think I get what you guys are into and it's similar to my wife and I.
Just to be clear, there is a difference between a "deckbuilder" in the sense of Dominion, where all the deckbuilding is confined to in-game, vs. a game you play with decks constructed outside of the gameplay (like Netrunner, Magic, LOTR LCG, etc.). I mention this only because my wife loves the former, but kinda like you guys it's just not practical for us to play the latter. It almost doesn't have that much to do with taste more so than those are "lifestyle" games that require a lot of dedication on both sides. To your list I would consider, depending on thematic and game-weight preferences:
Light 2p: Lost Cities or Battle Line, Patchwork, Carcassonne
Medium 2p: Baseball Highlights 2045, 7 Wonders Duel, Castles of Burgundy
Heavy 2p: Twilight Struggle, Elder Sign or Eldritch Horror, Race for the Galaxy, Legendary: Aliens
EYEL1NER
Member
Ah, cool deal. I've seen an ad for it on Facebook that has been promoted a bunch over the last few weeks saying "Coming Soon." Gonna go check it out now.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Jaipur is another 2-player game that's occasionally mentioned, but it feels more fiddly than Biblios. You have to sort a bunch of different-valued, different-colored tokens, randomize other tokens, and count those tokens for scoring.
My big recommendation would be 7 Wonders Duel. It's a nice tight game with multiple winning paths and pretty art.
Played my first Battlecon game in quite a while the other day.
It was Demitras (me) versus Larimore (my opponent), both new to our characters. We ended up going 1-1 with not enough time to tiebreak it but it was good fun anyways.
It was a cool match up, possibly a bit in Larimore's favour, or at least that's how it felt. Demitras' thing is charging up passive priority bonuses so he ends up extremely fast, being able to outspeed dashes in some cases. Then you can spend your speed bonus on a big "payout" attack by using up your speed boost tokens for added power. On the downside he has lots of minus-power on his moves so he doesn't do a lot of damage leading up to that.
Larimore has a move where he can spend all 5 of his tokens (that he charges from previous turns) to "become the active player" meaning no matter how fast I am he goes first. This gives Demitras fits because he relies on going first as much as possible and doesn't have the tools to retaliate effectively if going second. It was always a big mind game when he had that move in his hand with 5 tokens ready to go, haha.
Goddamn I love this game. If only head-to-head wasn't such a pain to get going at meet-ups, but that is the eternal struggle of fantastic 2-player board games.
It was Demitras (me) versus Larimore (my opponent), both new to our characters. We ended up going 1-1 with not enough time to tiebreak it but it was good fun anyways.
It was a cool match up, possibly a bit in Larimore's favour, or at least that's how it felt. Demitras' thing is charging up passive priority bonuses so he ends up extremely fast, being able to outspeed dashes in some cases. Then you can spend your speed bonus on a big "payout" attack by using up your speed boost tokens for added power. On the downside he has lots of minus-power on his moves so he doesn't do a lot of damage leading up to that.
Larimore has a move where he can spend all 5 of his tokens (that he charges from previous turns) to "become the active player" meaning no matter how fast I am he goes first. This gives Demitras fits because he relies on going first as much as possible and doesn't have the tools to retaliate effectively if going second. It was always a big mind game when he had that move in his hand with 5 tokens ready to go, haha.
Goddamn I love this game. If only head-to-head wasn't such a pain to get going at meet-ups, but that is the eternal struggle of fantastic 2-player board games.
EYEL1NER
Member
I'm not sure if it is my style of game or not but it looks nice, it is a cheap price, and Fowers makes great games. So I'll be in for a copy.
Dimitri2401
Member
For 2 players, I'd strongly recommend the following games (mostly eurogames):
- Castles of Burgundy : point salad at its best. Best at 2 players.
- Five Tribes : I'm a big fan of this game (and of Bruno Cathala in general). The 2 players variant is great, but not for AP prone players.
- 7 Wonders Duel : fast, tense and fun game, with a really clever design (I didn't enjoy 7 Wonders, but I love this one).
- Keyflower : marvelous game, fantastic at 2 (or more).
- Roll for the Galaxy : works brilliantly at 2 (or more). Completely replaced Race for me.
- Imperial Settlers : great design, super fun game, but very mean.
- Neuroshima Hex : Quite abstract, but awesome. Best at 2.
- Arboretum : it reminds me a bit of Lost Cities, but deeper and way more enjoyable in my opinion.
- Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective : I really liked solving mysteries with my SO.
Dimitri2401
Member
I love dice, I guess that's why
Also, the iconography of Race is terrible for beginners. Roll has text, therefore it's more accessible (even though I've had some troubles teaching it).
Castles of Burgundy is indeed great at 2p. I grew more into it as I played. Thank you for the other suggestions!
toddhunter
Member
Patchwork is another fine 2 player game.
Just got into Ohio tonight, trying to decide when to arrive there.
It's worth it though.
One of the best games for two you can find.
Also very portable, fast to setup and more strategic then roll.
A few more are:
Splendor
The Duke
Theseus: The Dark Orbit (crazy how underrated this game is. It's amazing with two)
I'm on the way there right now! Excited to try a bunch of stuff from the library.
BattleMonkey
Member
Yea friend is there, saying how its so much better at Origins, so much less hectic and crowded than Gencon, while still having much of the same content
BattleMonkey
Member
Buddy just got himself a nearby cheap airbnb and is using uber so no idea really how the rest is if you want to be nearby at a hotel.
The best 2-player games I've come across have been Battle Line (prev mentioned), Patchwork (prev mentioned), & Starfighter (new sug). I own 7 Wonders Duals but haven't played yet.
BTW skip the reprint on Odin's Ravens. Not sure how the original played but the reprint is more of a children's game. Very simple and not that interesting.
BTW skip the reprint on Odin's Ravens. Not sure how the original played but the reprint is more of a children's game. Very simple and not that interesting.
antiquegamer
Member
Speaking of Eldritch Horror, I played that yesterday with my daughter with the new Sign of Carcosa expansion. I am not sure if I like it, I find the game to be more fiddly than ever with the added cards. May be because I often play solo and this didn't bother me but having to go look through big ungainly stack of small tiny card for one condition or item has become very cumbersome. It make for constant downtime and my once nicely sort out conditions deck no longer quite work because there are just so many more type. I find with expansion they should just do special decks of conditions / unique asset that are just for that particular elder one instead of adding more and more to these decks. I know many board gamers love getting to use "everything" together, and always complain when their old expansion get left out, I think I rather prefer to have thing separate and more thematic and get add in for particular game than having an "all in" game.
Honestly for Eldritch all I really want is just more encounter cards, new investigators, and new GOOs. Going back to the Arkham days I don't like how in many cases they really ramp up the fiddliness and complexity to almost comical degrees sometimes. That's why I picked up Forsaken Lore and Strange Remnants only for now.
That general issue is actually why I canceled my preorder of Dead of Winter: The Long Night. I was hoping they'd just spice the game up a bit with little new things that integrated with existing rules and mechanics but instead it looks like they went absolutely apeshit with new stuff. Like a building that has special search conditions, and then you can draw all these different-colored "pills" out of piles, and get a good or bad effect, and then there's raiders that have all their own rules...just way too much for a game I think is already at its limit of what it should be complexity-wise (even though I quite like it).
But then I get the other side -- if they went with subtle expansions that were seamless additions or even, God forbid, streamlined the game, some of the hardcores would complain about how it wasn't worth it. That's the tough part is that they're also trying to appeal to people who honestly play these games way too damn much with the same people over and over. I definitely get that sense with Dead of Winter and with most FFG expansions. Though FFG is smart enough that they sort of alternate between the different types of expansions. I mean if I got an expansion like The Long Night and tried to integrate, pretty much forget ever introducing any non-hardcore gamer to it. Which is pretty unfortunate for a game that at its core is almost a light but meaty group game like Shadows over Camelot.
That general issue is actually why I canceled my preorder of Dead of Winter: The Long Night. I was hoping they'd just spice the game up a bit with little new things that integrated with existing rules and mechanics but instead it looks like they went absolutely apeshit with new stuff. Like a building that has special search conditions, and then you can draw all these different-colored "pills" out of piles, and get a good or bad effect, and then there's raiders that have all their own rules...just way too much for a game I think is already at its limit of what it should be complexity-wise (even though I quite like it).
But then I get the other side -- if they went with subtle expansions that were seamless additions or even, God forbid, streamlined the game, some of the hardcores would complain about how it wasn't worth it. That's the tough part is that they're also trying to appeal to people who honestly play these games way too damn much with the same people over and over. I definitely get that sense with Dead of Winter and with most FFG expansions. Though FFG is smart enough that they sort of alternate between the different types of expansions. I mean if I got an expansion like The Long Night and tried to integrate, pretty much forget ever introducing any non-hardcore gamer to it. Which is pretty unfortunate for a game that at its core is almost a light but meaty group game like Shadows over Camelot.
toddhunter
Member
If you enjoy burgle bros check out The Fugitive on kickstarter.
It looks very solid and is already funded through the roof.
Apparently there was a spreadsheet macro error that almost shipped 1400 copies of Scythe to wrong places. Fortunately they caught it at the last second.
The second early Scythe review is out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXA00ZCzSZ4
It's humorous. In the end, the guy says his favorite thing about Scythe is that it's pretty unique. It's sort of like Terra Mystica in one way, but really it does its own thing.
The second early Scythe review is out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXA00ZCzSZ4
It's humorous. In the end, the guy says his favorite thing about Scythe is that it's pretty unique. It's sort of like Terra Mystica in one way, but really it does its own thing.
bleh, scythe looks so boring. not looking forward to being forced to play it.
Who would force you? Most game groups I've been at, if 5 people are playing 1 game, the other 15 can play other games.
I take it you don't like Euro games? :b
antiquegamer
Member
I am currently trying to convince my daughter to play the Gallerist with me (I doubt she will bite even of I guilt her with "it's Father's day weekend") . My previous attemptt to get my brother-in-law to play send him running to play with his phone. I took it several times to local meet up even on Euro day bur everyone I ask just shook their head. It will be one of those Euro that I will forever play solo.
Have you watched Paul Grogans how to play video? He is excellent at teaching complex games, and he might make it easier for you to teach it without loosing the players.
in my regular board game group one of the people backed it. we don't break into smaller groups, it's just the single group, thus when it comes in I am going to be forced to play it.
in general not a huge fan no. if you have players of equal skill playing they can be great, but if you are playing with experience gaps they tend to just drag on.
beyond that the backer is the person who I talked about throwing a hissy fit a few months ago, so that won't make things better when going to play it.
antiquegamer
Member
I forgot about Paul Grogan's Gaming Rules! video. Thanks for reminding me. I normally just watched Watch It Played (which go into more details) so I did that last night and have my daughter watch Gaming Rules! before we played earlier (yes I guilt her into playing, though she was mildly interested in the game because it looks pretty and when she was younger she wanted to be museum curator).
But you can see why many people would balked at this set up
Anyway she clobbered me 202-166. :/
so I played the recent egypt time stories expansion and I have to say that this not explaining symbols things is annoying. when you run into symbols you don't know it's a huge pain. Beyond that I don't like the scoring system at the end. minor
I have also been asked by my gaming group to ask people in here a question about time stories.
In regards to Bob is it just us or
If we had taken the losing win condition on our first run we would have gotten double the score we got on our correct run.
I have also been asked by my gaming group to ask people in here a question about time stories.
In regards to Bob is it just us or
is he a dick?
There was a huge crowd tonight and I got there a bit late. I played:
- Jamaica, which sounds like a Puerto Rico style Euro, but which turned out to be sort of like Camel [C]Up with pirates. Eh.
- Race For the Galaxy with one new player. A guy who was introduced to the game last time destroyed us. In particular I made the mistake of getting an early 6-cost development in order to secure a "first" goal the same turn another player got it. This meant I couldn't afford anything and had expensive cards for MANY turns after that. I was picking explore forever.
- Love Letter, since my girlfriend hadn't played it. Tragically, not the Batman version.
Having just played Eclipse for the first time in a while, I have no sympathy! ;P
I don't LOVE Jamaica or Camel Up (though I own both) but I think I like Jamaica a touch better. It's actually pretty different from Camel Up with the action selection. There is a lot of randomness though in terms of landing on other ships and getting into fights unintentionally. The comparison is pretty interesting though because they do kind of give off the same vibe, similar length, player count, complexity even if their mechanics differ pretty substantially. You've almost made me want to just get rid of one and keep the other.