The art is different. The game is always language independent, though that doesn't apply to the rulebook.
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New Board Gaming |OT2| On Tables, Off Topic
- Thread starter Karkador
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The art is different. The game is always language independent, though that doesn't apply to the rulebook.
Yeah, it's obvious something is happening between then since before Gencon, but the whys & the why nots are going to be very interesting to hear.
VC money always has an endgame... Asmodee has a very definite, defined trajectory towards that goal, but I don't know who or what can buy them out to make the VC money happy.
Affeinvasion
Member
It may come down to Asmodee not wanting to pay money to a company that they consider themselves competing with at some level.
I meant the art on the coasters themselves. For example, one of the gangs is called "The Snakes". Would that say "Les Serpents" on the French version coasters? It doesn't really matter to me, but I'm curious!
In non-FFG/GW news, SU&SD and Dice Tower posted reviews and close-to-final impressions respectively and man if this doesn't look like the clear disappointment of the year. Buyer beware on this one -- definitely check out the SU&SD video at least as it touches upon all the points others have made, but without spoilers. I've watched spoiler impressions too just because I know I won't ever play the game and they're all pretty consistent. I hate to throw an excellent designer into VG sequelmania but man do I wish Daviau had just gone in hard on Pandemic: Legacy S2. Or even just any Existing Game: Legacy. Seems like a lot of the problems with the game are that the core (designed from scratch) is just not very good compared to other Euros. Which shouldn't be that much of a surprise, unless you had Rosenberg or Feld on board to design.
VCs in the world of boardgames has seemingly always led to trouble. Like people are overestimating the size and potential of the market a bit. This definitely happened in the app space where a few companies got big investments and now sort of disappeared. While the hobby has been on an amazing trajectory the past decade, little things like BGG.Con not making their KS for an early BGG.Con, slightly smaller attendance at GenCon, and the like illustrate to me that there may be a saturation point with this and we might be close to it.
Of course I don't know which way that cuts w/r/t this FFG thing. FFG and GW have historically made some pretty puzzling decisions and been the bad guys in some cases (GW more so with their history) so it's just really hard to speculate without so much as a few anonymous leaks even.
Alls I can say is that BBTM is probably still in my top 20 games of all time, and it would have never happened absent this partnership. I'm finally now getting into Space Hulk: Death Angel and it seems fantastic too. The only GW-FFG stuff I stayed away from was the super-long epic games that just don't interest me regardless of theme, but the partnership produced some real gems.
VCs in the world of boardgames has seemingly always led to trouble. Like people are overestimating the size and potential of the market a bit. This definitely happened in the app space where a few companies got big investments and now sort of disappeared. While the hobby has been on an amazing trajectory the past decade, little things like BGG.Con not making their KS for an early BGG.Con, slightly smaller attendance at GenCon, and the like illustrate to me that there may be a saturation point with this and we might be close to it.
Of course I don't know which way that cuts w/r/t this FFG thing. FFG and GW have historically made some pretty puzzling decisions and been the bad guys in some cases (GW more so with their history) so it's just really hard to speculate without so much as a few anonymous leaks even.
Alls I can say is that BBTM is probably still in my top 20 games of all time, and it would have never happened absent this partnership. I'm finally now getting into Space Hulk: Death Angel and it seems fantastic too. The only GW-FFG stuff I stayed away from was the super-long epic games that just don't interest me regardless of theme, but the partnership produced some real gems.
On Dice Tower right now they're about 2/3 through I think, and their games have been going over three hours (with three I believe). Yikes.
toddhunter
Member
For those who don't want spoilers, they basically say it is a very long and heavy euro game which also has lots of random luck.
Not a winning combo.
sasimirobot
Junior Member
I finished my board game list and I really would love some suggestions about games to add to my collection. I am mostly looking for either good games that fill a niche that are not served by anything else in my collection or for great games that might suit our gaming group based on the games in that list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cr_XjeRaYBa7pdcfQul-v-nvzKEQgExDEClwJYasdNM/edit?usp=sharing
I hope that request is fine and would love to get some recommendations
I'll see if I can come back here in the future to write impressions on some games that we are playing.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cr_XjeRaYBa7pdcfQul-v-nvzKEQgExDEClwJYasdNM/edit?usp=sharing
I hope that request is fine and would love to get some recommendations
I'll see if I can come back here in the future to write impressions on some games that we are playing.You really misunderstood what I meant. I meant if other companies get to do games with GW licenses I might get a game I can enjoy out of it.
And now Potion Explosion has been nominated for the "Game of the Year" award in Italy.
The winner will be revealed on september 23th.
Codenames is crazy good, but I never heard of Potion Explosion. Just watched a video review and it looks kinda cute, but I am a bit worried about the marble picking being too ...easy? I mean considering the marbles can just "explode" in a vertical row, the different moves and expected explosions should be super easy to figure out, right?
Castef
Banned
If you play "well" you usually get at least 1 explosion per turn. Fact is: the marbles you get have to be of the colors and quantities you need for fulfilling recipes. And that is where it gets a bit tricky. Also, you can only keep 3 marbles after a move, so any marbles in excess are discarded. Maybe a 3 marbles take is more useful than a 10 marbles move.
If you play "well" you usually get at least 1 explosion per turn. Fact is: the marbles you get have to be of the colors and quantities you need for fulfilling recipes. And that is where it gets a bit tricky. Also, you can only keep 3 marbles after a move, so any marbles in excess are discarded. Maybe a 3 marbles take is more useful than a 10 marbles move.
Yeah, that makes sense, so there is this neat element to consider which marbles to pick and which potions to brew/use etc. and the tactility probably adds a lot to the experience as well, but I am more worried about the "puzzle" with the marbles itself, like shouldnt it always be obvious with a single glance which marbles will lead to an explosion (as its missing the horizontal explosion element from games like Candy Crush, which makes the puzzles these games present that interesting) ? Is this aspect of the game still fun then even if there is no challenge to it or is it a bit more intricate than it might seem now?
EYEL1NER
Member
It is a lot, I guess. I've been into tabletop gaming for a bit over 2.5 years now and I just came out of the "Buy everything you see that looks good" phase. I backed this when I still had my last job and didn't really need to think about where my money was going at all (not that I'm doing poorly right now during my stretch of unemployment; if I was then I would be looking for another job instead of enjoying it). Plus I had already backed a BattleCON pledge for over $200 and then backed Sirlin's Yomi for over $200, both games I really wanted, so a $200 pledge wasn't new to me and didn't carry as much sting. This is also the Deluxe edition with all the extra content that will be pieced out individually at retail later, and I would prefer to have it all up front rather than have to chase it down later on.
I get what you are saying though.
Congrats. My copy arrives sometime today. I usually go out and find someone to play X-Wing with on Wednesday night, Wing Wednesday, but I think I might have to go without for a week so my wife, daughter, and I can try this out.And now Potion Explosion has been nominated for the "Game of the Year" award in Italy.
The winner will be revealed on september 23th.
Castef
Banned
Consider this. Before performing your move (by picking 1 marble and possibly generating explosions to get more marbles...) you may:
- Get a professor's aid token, which gives you -2 points, yet allows you to get a marble (without generating explosions...), so that you can ready a better move.
- Drink completed potions to apply their special effects and possibly manipulate the dispenser for readying a better move.
There is a lot to think about your move.
And now Potion Explosion has been nominated for the "Game of the Year" award in Italy.
The winner will be revealed on september 23th.
Congrats, I like the game a lot. That is some tough competition though.
Still need to know if the upcoming expansion will be language independent.
Aaaah, that helps a lot with my concerns. Thanks for taking your time to reply.
Will put it in my shopping cart and buy it later today.
Castef
Banned
Still finalising the components. As far as I see we could keep it language-independent.
Castef
Banned
Aaaah, that helps a lot with my concerns. Thanks for taking your time to reply.
Oh, hey!
Waiting for feedback then!
I fell down a Heroes of Normandie hole. Picked up Shadows over Normandie and have gotten really into the system. I ignored it for a long time but it really packs depth in while making things simple at the same time. I like all the crazy mythos stuff being available as well.
That would be nice. Then I would definitely pick it up in Essen.
EYEL1NER
Member
That's cool that you are enjoying it. I was way late to the HoN Kickstarter and only found out about it when it was coming out at retail. I planned on buying it after it cooled down a bit but then all the news about misprints and typos put me off. The further news that no errata would be provided to backers/customers and the only option was printing the correct tokens off on sticker paper and attaching it to cardboard yourself sealed the deal. I am pretty sure that they fixed things in later printings/editions, but it hadn't been fixed by the time Shadows went up on KS, so I skipped that.
I know it has its fans, there is a ton of content (but some KS exclusives, which will probably be frustrating to track down), and its got good art. I'll buy it eventually, I imagine.
Ah K! To be fair I thought it was an interesting topic regardless and just used your comment, whatever it actually means (even now I'm not totally sure) as a jumping off point
Man,
I am being pitched the absolutely most creative games I've ever seen recently.
I won't be able to publish them all, but I think this industry is hitting peak creativity right now. Lot's of people are pushing genres and components in ways that I've never seen before.
I am being pitched the absolutely most creative games I've ever seen recently.
I won't be able to publish them all, but I think this industry is hitting peak creativity right now. Lot's of people are pushing genres and components in ways that I've never seen before.
EYEL1NER
Member
Ah, been waiting a couple days to see you in here. Any info you can possibly share with us about Escape from 100 Million BC? At the very least, maybe an estimate on when any info about the game will come out?
I imagine asking for any hints as to what kind of themes these games you are getting pitched have is out of the question, probably way too early for that. But Escape has me hyped. Dinosaurs are seriously under-represented in board gaming.
BomberMouse
Member
Please tell me you are bringing over "who soiled the toilet"
What would be some of the most creative enjoyable board game experiences you had that already released?
The Scythe rules were pretty good -- basically all questions have been answered from the rules thus far...UNTIL NOW. The first legit errata has been published.
Basically the rules didn't allow you to send workers home and then use the rest of your move to go THROUGH that territory. It's fixed now.
On another note, Imperial Settlers today! I didn't get any replies with expansion recommendations so I'll probably grab the 2 mini expansions if we like it.
Basically the rules didn't allow you to send workers home and then use the rest of your move to go THROUGH that territory. It's fixed now.
On another note, Imperial Settlers today! I didn't get any replies with expansion recommendations so I'll probably grab the 2 mini expansions if we like it.
Played Dead Last this weekend and wasn't blown away. Our games devolved into silence while everyone tried to clue their neighbors into who to kill. The target would almost always know it was coming too. I would love to see how other groups play this game.
Game of 49 theme is a hard sell but the gameplay continues to draw people in. Both gamers and newbies a like. One of those games people are begging to play again immediately.
Game of 49 theme is a hard sell but the gameplay continues to draw people in. Both gamers and newbies a like. One of those games people are begging to play again immediately.
I watched Dead Last get played for a bit this weekend. I honestly don't know the overall rules or win condition, but it seemed to generally be people near each other ganging up on people not near them.
Much like actual politics, it didn't seem fun at all.
I have no idea what Game of 49 is.
antiquegamer
Member
Aaaah, that helps a lot with my concerns. Thanks for taking your time to reply.
We have been playing this game a lot since we got back from PAX and aside from what the designer mentioned you also have to consider that unlike Bejewel, the board state is not static from turn to turn. You are playing with other people who might or might not take the marbles you are eyeing for and if they are really cruel like my daughter, they will even take the marbles that you have save up and wreck whatever plan you have.
My concern for this game at highest player counts is the opposite, the game can be very AP inducing. You can plan ahead on other people turn but thing might change by the time the dispenser get around back to you.
Rodney Smith of Watch it Played! did a really good play through for the game and also How to Play video on YouTube. So if you are still unsure, check those out and it should give you pretty good idea about the game.
And now Potion Explosion has been nominated for the "Game of the Year" award in Italy.
The winner will be revealed on september 23th.
Congratulation!
Hmm...so I have four of the five games above I think I might have a problem of acquisition disorder.
I'm not very involved in that project. I've playtested it, but we had a competing Dino game in development so we didn't feel we could develop both at the same time.
It's fun, people will like it.
Right now, I love potion explosion. It's like a better more tactile TTR.
I know the creator is a GAFer, but its really good. The rest are things that are in development that are really good ideas that are going to blow some minds.
Affeinvasion
Member
How do you feel about Mystic Vale? Is that a system that's going to produce more games or ripoffs/riffs on the card building idea?
I picked it up retail and I think it has the misprint tokens fixed. I don't do kickstarter stuff at all so it is just what I can get in my local store.
EYEL1NER
Member
Well, I'm excited about Escape. I look forward to hearing more about in the future (hopefully near future), as well as these other mind-blowing WiPs.
That's good then. I don't believe too many people had problems fixing the components myself but I wasn't interested in paying for the game and then having to take the time to fix components after that. I know that a digital version either recently released or is about to release, so I may get that in the meantime while waiting to buy Heroes down the line.
BattleMonkey
Member
Sucks, so many big games in collection not getting any play at all, lately it's been pretty much can only get together for simpler or quicker play games with my current crowd.
Games I want to buy I keep going .... "I'll never get to bring that out to the table no more"
Having to shop for quick and simple games.... meh
Games I want to buy I keep going .... "I'll never get to bring that out to the table no more"
Having to shop for quick and simple games.... meh
I'm not 100% sure. I don't like that each card has film on it.
I think Rattlebones was way cooler idea. This feels a bit like tableau building meets deck building, and while it's sort of neat I don't think the mechanic really added much gameplay newness. For instance, I think Dominion has more decisions to be made than MV.
My biggest thing when doing development on a game is complexity or whizbang either needs to be really cool, or it needs to add an interesting decision to the game.
I don't think either really applies to MV, but YMMV
I'm sure you'll see some people try and play with that concept, and I'm hopeful something really cool will come out of it, but I can't think of any decisions it adds to the formula of a deck builder other than sort of being neat.
We've got a game I just got a prototype for (and one in development right now) that I think don't add a ton to gameplay over what's been done in the past, but the cool factor is through the roof.
SapphiCine
Member
Forgot Fury of Dracula was GW too. Need to get that but SO probably won't play it given Dracula is a rapist.
They are going to get me Death Angel. :3
They are going to get me Death Angel. :3
That game sounds legit terrifying to me. To be fair I'm probably not the target audience as I hate most "social" games where you usually have to be on asshole on a personal level to win. This one seems to kick it up a notch because not only do you have to be an ass to one or two people, you have to actually gang up on someone. Seems like a great workplace game! But I get that there's a market for this stuff. I mean there's a multi-million dollar market for stuff like Cards Against Humanity after all.
That's too bad. Don't know what your situation is, but any way you can break it down to a smaller group on off-days. That's kind of what we do at work -- we have a larger group but then a smaller group of us plays stuff like Eldritch on non-game-days occasionally.
Imperial Settlers verdict: Good! We both like it after 2 plays. She even asked to play it again the same day which is always a good sign.
The first game I only won by 1-2 points, normal rules but we didn't bulldoze enemy properties. The second game, we played the "peaceful" variant even though we basically did it before. One big change is that with the actual peaceful variant rules, both players get a random common card each round. We were swimming in cards.
Race for the Galaxy with The Gathering Storm is still my favorite tableau builder (and one of my favorite games), so I thought I would make some comparisons.
Time to play
I think Imperial Settlers should be shorter. In practice, especially with the peaceful variant and more cards, we both had massive hands. Unlike Race for the Galaxy, there isn't a hand size limit so you can be digging through 12 cards trying to figure out the optimal thing to set up. Both games lend themselves to paralysis with all the interlocking choices and the desire to BUILD ALL THE THINGS.
Setup / Teardown / Fiddly Bits
Race is mostly cards besides a few goal tokens and a bunch of point chips you have to count up and hand out. Imperial Settlers has 7 types of little pieces you regularly throw around, but they're easy to tell apart. Other than that, setup and teardown are simple. The decks are even easier to maintain than Race since you don't have to pull out start worlds.
Single player mode
Both games (with The Gathering Storm) have singleplayer modes, which I appreciate. I haven't played either, but the Race for the Galaxy singleplayer looks way more complicated. I suspect Imperial Settlers does something simple to block/attack/challenge you.
Complexity
Imperial Settlers is simpler. All cards affect one of 3 categories, and all phases of each round always occur. In Race for the Galaxy, cards can affect multiple out of 6 possible phases, and not all phases always occur, and the details of the phase differ depending on whether you selected it.
Clarity
I'd say Imperial Settlers is clearer. A couple things aren't visually explicit (production/deals give you the bonus immediately, and deals require 1 food) but most things are simple. There are fewer and simpler symbols than Race's massive symbol overload. In addition, it can be time-consuming to scan your Race tableau to see if the current phase is affected. In Imperial Settlers, deal cards and production cards sit in their own row, so it's easy to see what to scan. General "feature" cards sit in another row so you can pick them out, and cards you can activate are in a third row. Faction and common cards are put in different sections and color-coded to pick out easily.
One negative, the faction decks tell you how many of each card there are (so you know if something is rare), but the common deck DOES NOT. I don't know why, since this can be pretty important (there is only 1 Monument card in the entire deck).
Interaction
Race for the Galaxy is basically multiplayer solitaire besides competing for goals and observing what cards the other player took from the deck. The phases you pick affect the other player too. Imperial Settlers has more interaction if you use the normal rules that let you bulldoze enemy common cards (or Japanese faction cards). There are also a few random cards that let you affect the enemy in some way. If you play with the peaceful variant, it's still possible to screw over the opponent with certain cards, but you can choose to ignore them. I suspect the balance is affected slightly.
Determinism
Both games depend on random card draws, but Imperial Settlers has a public draft phase each round. I'm not sure how useful the information is, but you can at least see what other players pick and potentially block other players from grabbing certain cards.
Symmetry
Players in Race for the Galaxy are identical besides a single random start world. Each player in Imperial Settlers has a unique deck, unique starting production values, and a unique resource / token type they can save between rounds.
Mechanics
You can use cards in Race for the Galaxy to build your tableau or to buy other cards. In Imperial Settlers, you can bulldoze cards for an instant bonus, make a deal to gain an instant bonus + production every round, or build them for their normal effect. There are also a ton of action cards that let you transform various goods into VPs / other goods. The draft mechanic plus the triple uses of most cards plus the variety of goods plus the assymetric empires is enough to make Imperial Settlers feel different from Race, in my opinion. You can use gold tokens as a wildcard for food/stone/wood resources, which is a neat idea. Another cool thing is that besides your one racial storage resource, you lose ALL YOUR RESOURCES between rounds, so it's spend it or lose it.
Balance
I suspect Race for the Galaxy + The Gathering Storm is more balanced. I haven't played as much Imperial Settlers, but it still feels fairly balanced. There are some potentially strong mechanics, like the card my opponent used to gain 1 extra VP every time they gain 2+ VPs, or Temple of Ra + Swimming Pool to take over enemy cards temporarily. As mentioned earlier, playing with the peaceful variant may also affect balance since some races are intended to be good at gaining/using bulldoze tokens or whatnot.
Presentation
Imperial Settlers has a nice cutesy fantasy atmosphere and cohesive visual design. Race for the Galaxy has nice art on the cards that is very scifi. Race's overall presentation is modern/minimal/technological.
The first game I only won by 1-2 points, normal rules but we didn't bulldoze enemy properties. The second game, we played the "peaceful" variant even though we basically did it before. One big change is that with the actual peaceful variant rules, both players get a random common card each round. We were swimming in cards.
Race for the Galaxy with The Gathering Storm is still my favorite tableau builder (and one of my favorite games), so I thought I would make some comparisons.
Time to play
I think Imperial Settlers should be shorter. In practice, especially with the peaceful variant and more cards, we both had massive hands. Unlike Race for the Galaxy, there isn't a hand size limit so you can be digging through 12 cards trying to figure out the optimal thing to set up. Both games lend themselves to paralysis with all the interlocking choices and the desire to BUILD ALL THE THINGS.
Setup / Teardown / Fiddly Bits
Race is mostly cards besides a few goal tokens and a bunch of point chips you have to count up and hand out. Imperial Settlers has 7 types of little pieces you regularly throw around, but they're easy to tell apart. Other than that, setup and teardown are simple. The decks are even easier to maintain than Race since you don't have to pull out start worlds.
Single player mode
Both games (with The Gathering Storm) have singleplayer modes, which I appreciate. I haven't played either, but the Race for the Galaxy singleplayer looks way more complicated. I suspect Imperial Settlers does something simple to block/attack/challenge you.
Complexity
Imperial Settlers is simpler. All cards affect one of 3 categories, and all phases of each round always occur. In Race for the Galaxy, cards can affect multiple out of 6 possible phases, and not all phases always occur, and the details of the phase differ depending on whether you selected it.
Clarity
I'd say Imperial Settlers is clearer. A couple things aren't visually explicit (production/deals give you the bonus immediately, and deals require 1 food) but most things are simple. There are fewer and simpler symbols than Race's massive symbol overload. In addition, it can be time-consuming to scan your Race tableau to see if the current phase is affected. In Imperial Settlers, deal cards and production cards sit in their own row, so it's easy to see what to scan. General "feature" cards sit in another row so you can pick them out, and cards you can activate are in a third row. Faction and common cards are put in different sections and color-coded to pick out easily.
One negative, the faction decks tell you how many of each card there are (so you know if something is rare), but the common deck DOES NOT. I don't know why, since this can be pretty important (there is only 1 Monument card in the entire deck).
Interaction
Race for the Galaxy is basically multiplayer solitaire besides competing for goals and observing what cards the other player took from the deck. The phases you pick affect the other player too. Imperial Settlers has more interaction if you use the normal rules that let you bulldoze enemy common cards (or Japanese faction cards). There are also a few random cards that let you affect the enemy in some way. If you play with the peaceful variant, it's still possible to screw over the opponent with certain cards, but you can choose to ignore them. I suspect the balance is affected slightly.
Determinism
Both games depend on random card draws, but Imperial Settlers has a public draft phase each round. I'm not sure how useful the information is, but you can at least see what other players pick and potentially block other players from grabbing certain cards.
Symmetry
Players in Race for the Galaxy are identical besides a single random start world. Each player in Imperial Settlers has a unique deck, unique starting production values, and a unique resource / token type they can save between rounds.
Mechanics
You can use cards in Race for the Galaxy to build your tableau or to buy other cards. In Imperial Settlers, you can bulldoze cards for an instant bonus, make a deal to gain an instant bonus + production every round, or build them for their normal effect. There are also a ton of action cards that let you transform various goods into VPs / other goods. The draft mechanic plus the triple uses of most cards plus the variety of goods plus the assymetric empires is enough to make Imperial Settlers feel different from Race, in my opinion. You can use gold tokens as a wildcard for food/stone/wood resources, which is a neat idea. Another cool thing is that besides your one racial storage resource, you lose ALL YOUR RESOURCES between rounds, so it's spend it or lose it.
Balance
I suspect Race for the Galaxy + The Gathering Storm is more balanced. I haven't played as much Imperial Settlers, but it still feels fairly balanced. There are some potentially strong mechanics, like the card my opponent used to gain 1 extra VP every time they gain 2+ VPs, or Temple of Ra + Swimming Pool to take over enemy cards temporarily. As mentioned earlier, playing with the peaceful variant may also affect balance since some races are intended to be good at gaining/using bulldoze tokens or whatnot.
Presentation
Imperial Settlers has a nice cutesy fantasy atmosphere and cohesive visual design. Race for the Galaxy has nice art on the cards that is very scifi. Race's overall presentation is modern/minimal/technological.
Shadow_FFVI
Member
The group I play with are all fascinate with board gaming now, so I now want to gradually up the complexity level of the games we play. Of course without scaring them away just yet.
We've played thus far Avalon, DC deck building, Codenames, Exploding Kittens, Dixit, Bang. Already bought Pandemic. Was thinking of Terrq Mistica but that looks a bit too complex too fast for my group. Any suggestions?
We've played thus far Avalon, DC deck building, Codenames, Exploding Kittens, Dixit, Bang. Already bought Pandemic. Was thinking of Terrq Mistica but that looks a bit too complex too fast for my group. Any suggestions?
With that group, it sounds more like Splendor or Ticket to Ride would fit. Terra Mystica is probably going to be a massive complexity and genre shock to them.
I'm a big Libertalia fan if they like pirates, and that works with up to 6. It's more complex than say, Bang, but still doable if the person running it knows the rules well.
If you're considering Pandemic for co-op, you could look into some other co-op-ish games (Burgle Bros, T.I.M.E. Stories, Elder Sign, etc.).