I've been out of it for a bit due to travelling for vacation but now that the flights are done and I'm somewhere I can relax with the Internet, I've caught up on what's going on.
Made sure to back the Millennium Blades reprint KS for the Set Rotation expansion and promos, since time is running out on that.
I received the email saying that the pledge manager for Codex is now closed and the game is due to ship soon, so hopefully Sirlin's comments about shipping two months early come true (if anyone could accomplish that, it's him).
And the Armored Core RTS game went live? It looks so cool but I need more info on gameplay before I can decide what I wanna back at. Spots for the $210 pledge are still available and at the rate I have seen them fill over the last day, I think I should has another day or two before I have to make the decision on that pledge point.
Asmodee is in negotiations to purchase F2Z Entertainment, who own Z-Man and Plaid Hat (among other studios), so that is some potentially bummer news.
I'm on the fence this year. I have no vacation days left...So I would have to get creative with that. I also don't know if my brother is coming into town. That will make a big difference.
As part of my 40th birthday party I and a few friends will be gathering to play X-Wing. I'm the only one who has played. I don't get to play often at that, having only been able to play a few times total. Does anyone have a recommendation on a scenario good for 2-3 people playing roughly 200 pts per side? I have a decent selection Empire and Rebel ships (classic only, no EU/rebels/TFA), no capital ships though I'm open to buying one of anyone thinks it would make for a particularly memorable scenario.
I'm gonna start off with a small demo using just a few ships, then go into the main game. I'm not going to throw them into the deep end. Atmosphere with these people should be "casually competitive".
I find that 2 is not great to play with, 4 is the sweet spot. It can be a bit of a bear to teach to, you might want to find some videos to help. But after the first game everything should sink in.
You can play online to get a feel for it, but it contains none of the game art and you'll have to know the rules beforehand. But I recommend it, I'm having a lot of fun on this site. http://terra.snellman.net/
It is a very intimidating game, and difficult to teach, but honestly pretty comprehensible once it clicks. It's my favorite board game at this point. I think it works just fine with 3, but 2 doesn't really work out well.
Terra Mystica is one of thise games that seems extremely complex but really isn't. Halfway through the first game it will probably click. You will know how to play the game, rules wise, but not how to play it to actually score points lol.
Good choice. Being walking distance is clutch. Even though I live 20 minutes west of the con, staying downtown was the coolest way to experience Gen Con ever.
I like it alot with all counts. With two it is much less cutthroat and more of a old school engine efficiency game.
If you like that, then I think you will enjoy TM even with two.
Hope this is allowed here. I'm a big fan of modern board gaming and have been eyeing a table from geek and son, but in the meantime (or maybe forever with how expensive those tables are), I've backed this kickstarter for a gaming mat.
Thought I'd pass it along since it's a great product (seemingly) and it's underfunded at the moment.
Hope this is allowed here. I'm a big fan of modern board gaming and have been eyeing a table from geek and son, but in the meantime (or maybe forever with how expensive those tables are), I've backed this kickstarter for a gaming mat.
Thought I'd pass it along since it's a great product (seemingly) and it's underfunded at the moment.
Been looking at tables as well but this sounds like a great substitute for now, will have to make some measurements at home but would gladly like to back it for one, thanks for passing it along.
Hope this is allowed here. I'm a big fan of modern board gaming and have been eyeing a table from geek and son, but in the meantime (or maybe forever with how expensive those tables are), I've backed this kickstarter for a gaming mat.
Thought I'd pass it along since it's a great product (seemingly) and it's underfunded at the moment.
I backed Quiver's first run of mats. They were half the price and they are decent mats but originals were I think thicker. I couldn't imagine spending that much on a mat though.
The first KS became so cheap for me because they sent me the wrong mat. They said to keep it and they would send me the right one. I told them I would send it back or throw some money at them but they said not to worry about it. So I imagine this one is really pricey to regain losses from last one.
I backed Quiver's first run of mats. They were half the price and they are decent mats but originals were I think thicker. I couldn't imagine spending that much on a mat though.
The first KS became so cheap for me because they sent me the wrong mat. They said to keep it and they would send me the right one. I told them I would send it back or throw some money at them but they said not to worry about it. So I imagine this one is really pricey to regain losses from last one.
Nice! Maybe I should do that with my cheap $20 folding table... Would help for those dice games and all their noise.
In other news, moved out of the apartment into a HOUSE. Now my games don't have to live in a closet in leaning towers of doom.
Still not quite sure how I want to arrange them, so I put party games on the right side column with increasing max player size going to the left. Anything out of place on top was like, small shit I didn't know where I should put lol.
My first core set Netrunner box arrived today! Can't wait to get it to the table with the GF tonight with a bottle of wine (or 2) and have a long over due two player game session.
Having it be app driven seems pretty smart at least. The disadvantages of the original I'd always heard were lengthy setup and someone being forced to play the keeper (which would've always been me, since I'm the only one in my group who would buy such a thing).
Having it be app driven seems pretty smart at least. The disadvantages of the original I'd always heard were lengthy setup and someone being forced to play the keeper (which would've always been me, since I'm the only one in my group who would buy such a thing).
They are just moving setup to be in the middle of the game instead, as you move through mansion, you have to stop game to setup what the app tells you to. The game is heavy on components. Also the game had preset story scenarios, it's now being made mostly all randomized which is kinda off putting, it's gonna hurt the narrative aspect of the game which was originally a selling a point.
But yea screw them still, game is not that old, and they expect us to pay another 100 bucks to buy a whole new set to play 2E. And from what they have shown, majority of the components are exactly the same.
They shoulda done it like Descent 2E, a game of similar age, which they added app and feature support too, they didn't ask people to buy a whole new game .
Played Scythe yesterday. It was interesting, but kinda long. There was one rule interaction that kinda put me off, and I'm not sure we were playing right.
Basically, movement being stopped by walking onto a hex occupied by an opponents worker. It seemed weird that someone could use 1 move action to drop off a bunch of workers in various tiles, whereas it takes me multiple move actions AND popularity penalties to clear those same tiles.
Edit:
TIL that the new BGG forum is broken for me at work. Great.
Just made it up on the spot. Here's my process/procedure!
BIG POST INCOMING!
Materials
Folding Table - I went with one from Walmart. Pick a size that works for you. My space requirements were such that a 6' long table was about the max I could fit. It's ~29" deep. It's one I've had for a year or two, so I don't remember the exact cost. I want to say $25-30.
Craft Foam Sheets - You need enough to cover the surface of your table. These are $0.33 for 1~8.5"x11" sheet. You can also buy the large pack of 12"x18" like I did for $7-10.
Spray Adhesive - I used Loctite brand at $5 a can. You should only need a single can.
Staple Gun - You'll need something to reinforce the bond between the table material and the table itself. I would suggest using something between 3/8" and 5/8" long staples.
Table Material - There are a TON of articles out there about what to use. A few major points of interest: avoid high-pill fleeces, overly stretchy fabrics, and bargain bin junk. People often use Speed Cloth (the material on pool tables I think?), but I wasn't going to spend a ton of money on a folding table game setup. Instead, I found a good faux suede. Microsuede would also work fine. I got it for $12/yd. As my table is 72" long, I went with 80" long.
Total cost will vary depending on what you have around. I already had a table and staple gun, so it ran me ~$25.
Procedure
Move table to a well ventilated area. Make sure you can get it to and from your final location without having to fold it in half!
Clean and dry the surface.
Begin adhering foam sheets to table surface. Spray the foam away from the table (to avoid overspray). You should look to cover the entire playing surface. The sides and bevel (if your table has one) aren't important). See pic below. Note that you can go over the middle crack - I didn't, but hindsight says I should have to make this step even easier.
Trim sheets of foam as needed to fit and round the corners. As you can see in my picture, you don't have to do a good or clean job. This is foam layer is simply a way of deadening dice rattle as well as giving a slightly less harsh surface when dragging cards, chits, board parts, etc across.
Drape your table material (I'm going to just call it cloth from here on) over your table and line things up.
Trim the cloth so that you've only got 3-4" of overhang around all edges.
Staple the cloth to ONE of the outward facing short edges. See pic 2. This is done so that the overhang is already set on the 3 additional sides.
Spray a generous amount of adhesive to the foam sheet surface you've created. Once this is done, lay the cloth across the table. This step is best done with two people to help float the cloth into place. Otherwise, you'll have to be extra careful.
Work out any bumps and bubbles. There is no "best way" to do this - just be careful and diligent. You MAY get all the bumps out; you may not.
Once you've finished smoothing the surface, go around and spray adhere the overlapping cloth along the outward facing edge.
Staple the cloth to the remaining 3 outward facing edges for extra reinforcement.
Finally, go through and staple the cloth to the underside lip. See pic 3. It's absolutely imperative that you staple to the non-recessed lip, otherwise your staples will puncture the table surface from the underside. If you're table doesn't have a lip, you can probably get away with spray adhesive here.
Simple, quick, dirty, cheap. It will absolutely do the trick for you if you just want a simple table to game. I didn't like putting my cards and pieces on plastic or wooden tables. I also didn't like playing on table clothes because they would slide a bit. Also, my wife likes to use decorative ones, so that became an issue, too.
Just messing around on it last night, I have already noticed a HUGE difference in the way parts and pieces move across the surface. I'm no longer afraid of using unsleeved cards and dragging them across the table. Rolling dice is also great as it doesn't make NEARLY as much noise. And of course, the material is such that stuff has a LITTLE bit extra grip, meaning I don't bump and slide crap all over on accident anymore.
Ref Pic 1
Ref Pic 2 (sorry for terribly quick Sketch-up drawing)
They are just moving setup to be in the middle of the game instead, as you move through mansion, you have to stop game to setup what the app tells you to. The game is heavy on components. Also the game had preset story scenarios, it's now being made mostly all randomized which is kinda off putting, it's gonna hurt the narrative aspect of the game which was originally a selling a point.
But yea screw them still, game is not that old, and they expect us to pay another 100 bucks to buy a whole new set to play 2E. And from what they have shown, majority of the components are exactly the same.
They shoulda done it like Descent 2E, a game of similar age, which they added app and feature support too, they didn't ask people to buy a whole new game .
As someone who has never played Mansions of Madness, I also feel that this decision is VERY misguided. Now, Runebound 1e and Runebound 2e were released a year apart because Runebound 1e was kind of broken. I think that was a smart decision as 2e went on to do very well.
I still want to get a complete collection of this one day...
However, if MoM 1e was not broken and was playing well, the decision to release a 2e that only supports play via an application is insane. If they wanted to do a 2e that updated the rules a bit and released a companion app (like Descent 2e did), fine. But doing it as an app only thing is super shitty.
Played Scythe yesterday. It was interesting, but kinda long. There was one rule interaction that kinda put me off, and I'm not sure we were playing right.
Basically, movement being stopped by walking onto a hex occupied by an opponents worker. It seemed weird that someone could use 1 move action to drop off a bunch of workers in various tiles, whereas it takes me multiple move actions AND popularity penalties to clear those same tiles.
Edit:
TIL that the new BGG forum is broken for me at work. Great.
And you played it correctly. It only takes 1 Move action to drop workers on up to 3 territories, but it takes 3 different character/mech movements to clear. If you had 3 mechs within 2 spaces, you could clear them all in the same turn theoretically, using a fully upgraded Move action.
Also bear in mind that Polonia's power to not loser popularity for combat vs. mech/character + workers does NOT apply if you're just mowing down isolated workers. Isolated workers are not combat, but you still stop if you hit them.
Overall I think that is just the intended design. The focus is on efficiency and control rather than combat, and combat has penalties associated.
"Only" took 2 hours to teach and play our first, and only, game of Net_runner. Holy shit, there is a huge language barrier for non native English speakers for this game. You thought the obtuse l33t speak was bad for us, imagine teaching it to a Chinese girl. But...
She loved it! We had a great time. This game is shining very bright right now
"Only" took 2 hours to teach and play our first game of Net_runner. Holy shit, there is a huge language barrier for non native English speakers for this game. You thought the obtuse l33t speak was bad for us, imagine teaching it to a Chinese girl. But...
She loved it! We had a great time. This game is shining very bright right now
Oh yeah, the game is dense even for native speakers to pick up. As you said all the cyberlingo even on the cards themselves makes it that much harder. Once you finally digest it all though it plays really smoothly and intuitively for the most part, maybe except for a few little points like timing windows (e.g., that there is a rez window before start of turn).
I think I am one of the few on here happy about MoM 2E. It's a game I had always wanted to play but knew I never would due to the keeper aspect. Now I am really looking forward to it.
I think I am one of the few on here happy about MoM 2E. It's a game I had always wanted to play but knew I never would due to the keeper aspect. Now I am really looking forward to it.
It's mainly a kick in the balls to the people who purchased the 1st edition. Game is not very old, was expensive, and they are wanting even more money now to upgrade the game, while selling largely the same components to players over. Descent 2E got app companion upgrade added and didn't require people to drop another $100 on it.
I guess it'll work for GoT fans who don't care for the GoT games on offer right now, but one of the fun things about Cosmic Encounter is how weird and off-the-wall it gets with the wide variety of alien races you can get for the game.
I guess it'll work for GoT fans who don't care for the GoT games on offer right now, but one of the fun things about Cosmic Encounter is how weird and off-the-wall it gets with the wide variety of alien races you can get for the game.
It's mainly a kick in the balls to the people who purchased the 1st edition. Game is not very old, was expensive, and they are wanting even more money now to upgrade the game, while selling largely the same components to players over. Descent 2E got app companion upgrade added and didn't require people to drop another $100 on it.
Finally got a chance to play Istanbul (with Mocha expansion) over the weekend. The designer's (Dorn) touch is definitely felt in the tile/movement element and random card draws as well as the resource conversion mechanisms. If I were regularly supplying games with a more casual group, I'd definitely pick it up. As it is, it's a little too light and has too much overlap with my/our existing games.
I also got Takenoko onto the table. It's really cute and well-suited for family play, although the improvement tiles feel out of place -- they come up very rarely, are very limited in placement, and exceedingly situational in use. It's not something we'll play again in my primary group, but I'm looking forward to my kid(s) being old enough to play this at home.
I guess it'll work for GoT fans who don't care for the GoT games on offer right now, but one of the fun things about Cosmic Encounter is how weird and off-the-wall it gets with the wide variety of alien races you can get for the game.
I dislike Cosmic Encounter -- gameplay seems more arbitrary than Fluxx and the theme doesn't help at all -- but I'd give it another chance with a more GoT retheme.
Wanted to get a good adventure game for when me and my wife are tired but still feel like playing a game, but without the stress of having to use our brains to much.
So bought talisman and the reaper expansion.
Actually really enjoyed the game. It fits the bill perfectly. Just a random fun adventure.
Thanks for the thorough steps and the sketch as well . I thought the table material has stretchy edges like bed sheet at first so I was worried that it might come loose.
Now time to convince my wife to build it ourselves as well.
I posted this in the other Dark Souls thread, but if anyone missed the Dark Souls Kickstarter and are looking to pledge, Steamforged opened up a late pledge option. http://steamforged.com/late-pledge
(As much as I love the IP, I just can't pull the trigger)
My first core set Netrunner box arrived today! Can't wait to get it to the table with the GF tonight with a bottle of wine (or 2) and have a long over due two player game session.
The Mansions of Madness talk makes me want to play Arkham Horror. That game still has some mechanics that in prefer over Eldritch (such as monster movement). I also like the town setting.
For the people interested in the Netrunner playmats, I bought them off of taobao.com. I actually made a mistake when ordering and now have an extra set that I am willing to sell for 22$ for the set + shipping if anyone is interested PM.
The Mansions of Madness talk makes me want to play Arkham Horror. That game still has some mechanics that in prefer over Eldritch (such as monster movement). I also like the town setting.
I'm in the same boat. Theme and story are 90% of why I play Cthulhu games, and in my mind, Arkham is still the best in those areas. EH didn't cut it for me.
