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[Toma]

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?

Isle of Skye is very fun, easy to grasp and introduces a mechanic that your group doesnt know yet (Bidding, Setting Prices). Up to 5 players.

Lords of Waterdeep is a good introduction to worker placement games. Up to 5 players.

Mundus Novus is a cheap and light weight Card/trading game, that is still fun to play after multiple years and facilitates up to 6 players.

Machi Koro is a great introduction (colorful, inviting) to engine building games. Up to 4 players.

Another huge recommendation is Paperback, as its blending a game people know (Scrabble) with more board game like elements, like abilities and coop play. Up to 5 players.

Port Royal is a fun and lightweight Push your luck game. Up to 5 players.

Ascension is a great little deckbuilding game that doesnt require as much preparation and card learning as games like Dominion, and (at least in DE) the base game can be gotten for dirt cheap atm. Might be worth a try, but it really starts shining once more expansions are added to it.

Mysterium and Marvel Legendary are great recommendations too (but a bit more involved and expensive).

 

[toddhunter]

Heads up, the Robinson Crusoe Portal edition is finally preorderable on CSI. It's significantly discounted too, especially if you live close enough to use pickup instead of shipping.

That price can't wait to see it for 4x more over here

 

[Protome]

I second all those games Toma mentioned, especially Paperback. Mmmmm I love me some Paperback.

I'll also throw in a really light one that seems to fly under a lot of radars, Guillotine.

Very light set collection game where you're rearranging a line of nobles who are queuing up to be beheaded in revolutionary France. It's really light, quick, easy to grasp and has been my group's go to warm up game for ages now.

Pretty sure the non-Hasbro versions came with a big fancy cardboard guillotine too.

 

[Toma]

And while we are still at the topic of recommendations, I really would love if someone could throw me a list of stuff that would fit.

Sorry for reposting it, I'll stop annoying you guys with it now ;p

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.

 

[Xater]

And while we are still at the topic of recommendations, I really would love if someone could throw me a list of stuff that would fit.

Sorry for reposting it, I'll stop annoying you guys with it now ;p

If you want to add another fun and fast 2 player game get Jaipur. It makes a trading game work with just two people.

 

[Toma]

If you want to add another fun and fast 2 player game get Jaipur. It makes a trading game work with just two people.

Interesting thanks, had it on my radar for a while, but will take a look at it again.

 

[mercviper]

And while we are still at the topic of recommendations, I really would love if someone could throw me a list of stuff that would fit.

Sorry for reposting it, I'll stop annoying you guys with it now ;p

Here's some games I think would be worth checking out for you.

Kemet - 2 hour 4X that's kinda neat because of the three different tech trees available which all have winnable paths.

Roll for the Galaxy - Die-rolling take on Race that's different enough I have both in my collection, and easier to teach

Ricochet Robots - Competitive game for who can find the shortest path from point A to point B first. Plays any number of people.

Colt Express - light competitive programming game that's dripping in theme when it comes to robbing a train

Argent: The Consortium - medium/heavy euro by level 99 where you play as professors in a University of Magic vying for the seat of Chancellor

Hanabi - Co-op card game where you complete 5 suits by playing cards from your hand, with the twist that you can't see your own hand.

 

[Toma]

Here's some games I think would be worth checking out for you.

Kemet - 2 hour 4X that's kinda neat because of the three different tech trees available which all have winnable paths.

Roll for the Galaxy - Die-rolling take on Race that's different enough I have both in my collection, and easier to teach

Ricochet Robots - Competitive game for who can find the shortest path from point A to point B first. Plays any number of people.

Colt Express - light competitive programming game that's dripping in theme when it comes to robbing a train

Argent: The Consortium - medium/heavy euro by level 99 where you play as professors in a University of Magic vying for the seat of Chancellor

Hanabi - Co-op card game where you complete 5 suits by playing cards from your hand, with the twist that you can't see your own hand.

Awesome, those recommendations are exactly what I was looking for. I heard of some of them, but didnt have any of them on my buy/wish list yet. Thanks!

 

[toddhunter]

And while we are still at the topic of recommendations, I really would love if someone could throw me a list of stuff that would fit.

Sorry for reposting it, I'll stop annoying you guys with it now ;p

Well here is a list. Most of this might be on your list in some different language

Zooloretto - Family themed pick up and put down type game
Tobago - Tile laying and exploration with a bit of movement strategy
Tikal - Like Tobago but a lot more complex if that is your thing
Time Stories - Story based choose your own adventure
Survive escape from atlantis - strategy escape game with lots of "take that"
super motherload - digging tile kind of game
Steam Park - Build a theme park
sheriff of nottingham - Party/bluffing game
Shakespeare - Worker placement build up your own play and cast
Onitama - Abstract chess alternative
Onirim - Single player indie theme card game
Manhatten - Area control game with a nice 3d board
Lost Cities - 2 player couples card game
Kingsburg - Worker placement with dice
Karuba - Chill tile laying game
Jamaica - Light Pirate racing game with some interesting mechanics and great production
Incan gold - Push your luck card flipping
Ghost stories - Hard as fuck complex coop
Fuse - Dice chucking coop game
Forbidden desert - Coop adventure game with a bit of meat to it. Island for a gateway game when new gamers come around
Five tribes - Puzzly game good for making you look like you are an elite gamer
Eruption - For playing carcassone when you don't want to play carcassone
Castles of Mad King Ludwig - Remembering what colours mean what simulator as you build your castle
Castellion - Charming single player tile game that also works great as a two player coop
And then we held hands - Indie as heck coop game

 

[Toma]

Well here is a list. Most of this might be on your list in some different language

Zooloretto - Family themed pick up and put down type game
Tobago - Tile laying and exploration with a bit of movement strategy
Tikal - Like Tobago but a lot more complex if that is your thing
Time Stories - Story based choose your own adventure
Survive escape from atlantis - strategy escape game with lots of "take that"
super motherload - digging tile kind of game
Steam Park - Build a theme park
sheriff of nottingham - Party/bluffing game
Shakespeare - Worker placement build up your own play and cast
Onitama - Abstract chess alternative
Onirim - Single player indie theme card game
Manhatten - Area control game with a nice 3d board
Lost Cities - 2 player couples card game
Kingsburg - Worker placement with dice
Karuba - Chill tile laying game
Jamaica - Light Pirate racing game with some interesting mechanics and great production
Incan gold - Push your luck card flipping
Ghost stories - Hard as fuck complex coop
Fuse - Dice chucking coop game
Forbidden desert - Coop adventure game with a bit of meat to it. Island for a gateway game when new gamers come around
Five tribes - Puzzly game good for making you look like you are an elite gamer
Eruption - For playing carcassone when you don't want to play carcassone
Castles of Mad King Ludwig - Remembering what colours mean what simulator as you build your castle
Castellion - Charming single player tile game that also works great as a two player coop
And then we held hands - Indie as heck coop game

Thank you, will check all of these later. Also funky to see you here again. You tend to pop up in communities I am interested in.

 

[toddhunter]

Thank you, will check all of these later. Also funky to see you here again. You tend to pop up in communities I am interested in.

I did try to pick the "indiest" games on my list

 

[Chorazin]

Played Imhotep last night, I can see why it got a Spiel nod, very fun little game. Easy and quick to play, with some strategy and hard choices. I don't think I'd add it to my collection, but I'd definitely play it again.

Also broke out my copy of Abyss w/ expansion, I know the heat died down on it pretty quickly after release, but I really do enjoy it a lot. Everyone seemed to get it quickly and had a good time as well!

 

[Zalasta]

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?

The key to not scaring people off to more complex games is that you have to know the rules well and be able to teach them in an easy-to-approach manner. The best thing is to have someone else teach it to you (attending a separate local group would be good if possible) or play some solo games (a lot of titles have mobile/online versions to try out, also plenty of walkthrough resources for more popular titles). Good luck!

 

[-tetsuo-]

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?

Bang to Terra Mystica is a pretty big jump, lol. How many players is your group?

 

[Vard]

Thank you, will check all of these later. Also funky to see you here again. You tend to pop up in communities I am interested in.

A few more recommendations for you as I see some overlap in our collections:

Istanbul - nice bit of strategy in this modular race game (first to get 6 rubies wins). Gets even better with the expansion. Same designer as Karuba. Almost all of the games end very close. Plays up to 5 and can be completed in less than an hour.

Karuba - good puzzle game with low/no interaction. Plays very quick, so makes for a good warm-up or in-betweener game and works well for all ages.

Orléans - great Euro that uses a tile-building mechanic (all players start with the same tiles and use them to buy more tiles - throw them in a bag to select your next "hand"). But there's a lot more to it than that. Check it out.

 

[Xater]

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?

If you want to get into Euros pick some that are light to medium weight. Stone Age is a great game and probably the best introduction you can get for worker placement.

 

[JSR_Cube]

Wow. Another kickstarter where the "value" is at $149 US plus shipping.
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...l-2nd-edition-techno-fantasy-bo/?ref=kicktraq

I mean, I don't have any interest in this. I am just astounded that kickstarters keep coming and keep getting supported where people can and want to drop approximately $200 on a kickstarter board game.

I just don't know where this ends.

 

[Toma]

A few more recommendations for you as I see some overlap in our collections:

Istanbul - nice bit of strategy in this modular race game (first to get 6 rubies wins). Gets even better with the expansion. Same designer as Karuba. Almost all of the games end very close. Plays up to 5 and can be completed in less than an hour.

Karuba - good puzzle game with low/no interaction. Plays very quick, so makes for a good warm-up or in-betweener game and works well for all ages.

Orléans - great Euro that uses a tile-building mechanic (all players start with the same tiles and use them to buy more tiles - throw them in a bag to select your next "hand"). But there's a lot more to it than that. Check it out.

Never heard of Karuba and Orleans is really high on my wish list, thanks If there is any game in my collection you want some impressions on, let me know.

 

[joelseph]

Nice pics everyone!

 

[Palmer_v1]

Wow. Another kickstarter where the "value" is at $149 US plus shipping.
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...l-2nd-edition-techno-fantasy-bo/?ref=kicktraq

I mean, I don't have any interest in this. I am just astounded that kickstarters keep coming and keep getting supported where people can and want to drop approximately $200 on a kickstarter board game.

I just don't know where this ends.

It's all the minature-heavy board games. I'm somewhat guilty of being drawn to these types of games myself, though I haven't backed any in the last year. I already have too many as it is.

 

[Toma]

So, Potion Explosion should arrive tomorrow and I am still waiting on a rather cheap used copy War of the Ring (2nd edition) to arrive.

Did anyone here play War of the Ring? How long will I need to figure out the rules approximately and how long will it take to explain the rules to someone?

 

[fenners]

Did anyone here play War of the Ring? How long will I need to figure out the rules approximately and how long will it take to explain the rules to someone?

It's easier to play than it looks. There's a bunch of really good tutorial videos online for it, I believe, and it's really more about the exception cases than the core mechanics being hard.

Mind there's a fair amount of asymmetry to the rules too. And the 'end game' hunt changes the rules again.

I'd give those videos a watch, read through the rules a couple of times, and print out the condensed cheat sheets for it

 

[Karkador]

Wow. Another kickstarter where the "value" is at $149 US plus shipping.
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...l-2nd-edition-techno-fantasy-bo/?ref=kicktraq

I mean, I don't have any interest in this. I am just astounded that kickstarters keep coming and keep getting supported where people can and want to drop approximately $200 on a kickstarter board game.

I just don't know where this ends.

Yep, looks like pretty generic Kickstarter dungeon crawling miniatures fare.

The situation on KS looks like a gold rush. I'm gonna guess a lot of boardgamers frequenting Kickstarter have a ton of expendable income, and it seems almost effortless to rake up their cash - especially when there's barely even a standard to vet these games. Playtesting? Game development? Reviews? Yeah, right.

A lot of these games on KS look like they're determined to be as expensive as possible. The design priority is on production value and sheer # of things in a box.

 

[Draxal]

Yep, looks like pretty generic Kickstarter dungeon crawling miniatures fare.

The situation on KS looks like a gold rush. I'm gonna guess a lot of boardgamers frequenting Kickstarter have a ton of expendable income, and it seems almost effortless to rake up their cash - especially when there's barely even a standard to vet these games. Playtesting? Game development? Reviews? Yeah, right.

A lot of these games on KS look like they're determined to be as expensive as possible. The design priority is on production value and sheer # of things in a box.

eh, this is hitting the nostalgia factor for fans of Mutant Chronicles/Doomtrooper/Warzone from Target games which was Game Workshops's main competitor in the 90s, before Warmachine came out and this folded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutant_Chronicles

I remember playing the Genesis game back in the day.

 

[Toma]

It's easier to play than it looks. There's a bunch of really good tutorial videos online for it, I believe, and it's really more about the exception cases than the core mechanics being hard.

Mind there's a fair amount of asymmetry to the rules too. And the 'end game' hunt changes the rules again.

I'd give those videos a watch, read through the rules a couple of times, and print out the condensed cheat sheets for it

Thats reassuring, thanks.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Wow. Another kickstarter where the "value" is at $149 US plus shipping.
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...l-2nd-edition-techno-fantasy-bo/?ref=kicktraq

I mean, I don't have any interest in this. I am just astounded that kickstarters keep coming and keep getting supported where people can and want to drop approximately $200 on a kickstarter board game.

I just don't know where this ends.

The base is only $69 which is quite good for what you get. They haven't posted anything suggesting 149 is somehow a better "value"

Yep, looks like pretty generic Kickstarter dungeon crawling miniatures fare.

The situation on KS looks like a gold rush. I'm gonna guess a lot of boardgamers frequenting Kickstarter have a ton of expendable income, and it seems almost effortless to rake up their cash - especially when there's barely even a standard to vet these games. Playtesting? Game development? Reviews? Yeah, right.

A lot of these games on KS look like they're determined to be as expensive as possible. The design priority is on production value and sheer # of things in a box.

Well it's a new version to a classic board game, it has a high nostalgia factor for alot of us. Richard Borg's original Mutant Chronicles board game which helped push the MC universe of other games too. This game has been played for years, it's a great simple game and one of the first coop crawler games, this is just an updated version of whats an already known property which sells on ebay now for quite a bit since it's long OOP

This is like rerelease of Heroquest for some of us.

Game is only $69 and comes with 40 minis, don't see that as being a bad value, don't see why we jumping on the $150 pledge level when we don't know whats involved even.

 

[Affeinvasion]

Here's some games I think would be worth checking out for you.

Kemet - 2 hour 4X that's kinda neat because of the three different tech trees available which all have winnable paths.

Roll for the Galaxy - Die-rolling take on Race that's different enough I have both in my collection, and easier to teach

Ricochet Robots - Competitive game for who can find the shortest path from point A to point B first. Plays any number of people.

Colt Express - light competitive programming game that's dripping in theme when it comes to robbing a train

Argent: The Consortium - medium/heavy euro by level 99 where you play as professors in a University of Magic vying for the seat of Chancellor

Hanabi - Co-op card game where you complete 5 suits by playing cards from your hand, with the twist that you can't see your own hand.

I think Argent is a great game. Possibly my favorite worker placement game. It didn't get enough love when it came out.

 

[Staccat0]

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.

It's a bummer. He showed me the game over a year ago and it was just a slog, but I had hopes it'd come together with play testing. I have less faith in Chronicle than I had in Sea Fall so... I dunno.

I think you're right about the design issues stemming from... the core design. It's honestly a shame, but this is probably a weird videogame-esque hype moment. Looking back, the guy hasn't actually designed any games I enjoy. He just made two games I think are FINE better.

I think Argent is a great game. Possibly my favorite worker placement game. It didn't get enough love when it came out.

Argent is guuuud. Annoying to teach, but a fun game. At Gen Con I was shown a game that TMG has in the pipe who might as well have this written on the box, "This a is a bad version of Argent that will sell more copies than Argent"
It made me want to go back and play that freaking game though. The hat mechanic is cool.

Level 99 is kinda sorta shouldn't have named that game a jumble of nonsense words. More people would have found it if they had called it, "Caster's Academy" or something.

 

[JSR_Cube]

The base is only $69 which is quite good for what you get. They haven't posted anything suggesting 149 is somehow a better "value"



Well it's a new version to a classic board game, it has a high nostalgia factor for alot of us. Richard Borg's original Mutant Chronicles board game which helped push the MC universe of other games too. This game has been played for years, it's a great simple game and one of the first coop crawler games, this is just an updated version of whats an already known property which sells on ebay now for quite a bit since it's long OOP

This is like rerelease of Heroquest for some of us.

Game is only $69 and comes with 40 minis, don't see that as being a bad value, don't see why we jumping on the $150 pledge level when we don't know whats involved even.

In the comments, the creators are suggesting that the value is in the higher pledge. Hey, I can't blame them for selling people on their game. I didn't mean to single out this game at all. It's just the most recent one. I just can't believe the money that is being dropped on kickstarters still. I know that the miniatures are a big part of it but it still just astounds me that the prices of pledges just keeps going up and up.

 

[Draxal]

In the comments, the creators are suggesting that the value is in the higher pledge. Hey, I can't blame them for selling people on their game. I didn't mean to single out this game at all. It's just the most recent one. I just can't believe the money that is being dropped on kickstarters still. I know that the miniatures are a big part of it but it still just astounds me that the prices of pledges just keeps going up and up.

Its all about the IP and historical board game for this one here.

Also, alot of people who are into this are historical miniature gamers (due to Warzone) and thus are used to expensive prices.

 

[BattleMonkey]

In the comments, the creators are suggesting that the value is in the higher pledge. Hey, I can't blame them for selling people on their game. I didn't mean to single out this game at all. It's just the most recent one. I just can't believe the money that is being dropped on kickstarters still. I know that the miniatures are a big part of it but it still just astounds me that the prices of pledges just keeps going up and up.

I would wait and see about this one, the base pledge like I mentioned is not bad at all for 69 and 40 minis. Similar games out there are going for 80+ at retail without kickstarter, and if the stretches add some goodies, thats a bonus.

This one I support, it has great developers behind it, it's a classic known game and property folks have wanted a reprint for a long time.

Now when I see CMON put out another kickstarter for a game that's obviously already funded and far into production, and is asking for $150+ in pledges without anyone knowing how the game plays, that bugs me. Yet people blindly toss money at their games so it just enforces them to keep doing this.

 

[antiquegamer]

Bang to Terra Mystica is a pretty big jump, lol. How many players is your group?

Yeah, I would go with something a little less complex before jumping into Terra Mysticca, I would say may be Lords of Waterdeep. If you are looking for something like deckbuilding there is a bag-building game with a bit of worker placement. It looks complicate but actually really easy to play and my new favorite game - Orlean.

You get a bag with starting chits and then draw them out of the bag and place them on your play mat to get more chit and you try to get the most points. It is a step up from your deckbuilder game that introduce you to engine building and optimization.

Also if you are looking at co-op and like deckbuilding instead of regular Legendary, get Legendary Encounter. The Aliens Encounter is really good (if the subject matter is not the issue).

 

[Palmer_v1]

Yeah, I would go with something a little less complex before jumping into Terra Mysticca, I would say may be Lords of Waterdeep. If you are looking for something like deckbuilding there is a bag-building game with a bit of worker placement. It looks complicate but actually really easy to play and my new favorite game - Orlean.

You get a bag with starting chits and then draw them out of the bag and place them on your play mat to get more chit and you try to get the most points. It is a step up from your deckbuilder game that introduce you to engine building and optimization.

Also if you are looking at co-op and like deckbuilding instead of regular Legendary, get Legendary Encounter. The Aliens Encounter is really good (if the subject matter is not the issue).

Terra Mystica is kind of a combo area control plus engine building. I'd consider a more entry level area control first, like Smallworld maybe.

Edit: I also agree that the Legendary Encounter games are far better than the normal Legendary ones. You can go with Alien, Predator, Firefly, or Big Trouble in Little China.

 

[Blizzard]

I forgot 7 Wonders. That's a nice simpler game that works with large player counts. Some people might like Smallworld, also.

 

[zulux21]

Mysterium and Marvel Legendary are great recommendations too (but a bit more involved and expensive).

marvel legendary is more expensive. really I should just recommend alien or something instead, it's just way to easy to say the marvel version when someone says DC

I know lords of water deep is around the same price as mysterium though and is way more involved than mysterium.

that being said it is a solid worker placement game, in fact, it's one of the few I would say I actively enjoy playing most of the time.

Terra Mystica is kind of a combo area control plus engine building. I'd consider a more entry level area control first, like Smallworld maybe.

Edit: I also agree that the Legendary Encounter games are far better than the normal Legendary ones. You can go with Alien, Predator, Firefly, or Big Trouble in Little China.

It really depends on what you want from the legendary games.
if you want a deeper theme, but with less replayability then the encounter games are better.
if you want more replayability than normal legendary is better.

the encounter games are great if you want to just get a single set and be done with it, play through the episodes a few times, and then really not play the game for a while again.

normal legendary can really just be pulled out whenever, and if you have everything (which is stupid expensive but I do anyways @_@ ) the game can easily be vastly different each time between changing heroes and villain and schemes.

that being said from my experience alien is better than base legendary, but I think base legendary is better than base firefly.

i've only played alien and firefly a few times, but alien seems well balanced and solid while firefly (at least the first episode) seems to have focused more on being true to the theme instead of balance, and due to that is really unbalanced in the first episode. well mostly just a single card, in the first deck that if it is in the top half of the deck you lose, just stop and reset the game it's pointless to continue, if it is in the bottom half of your deck you might win.

I will have to try episode 2 at some point, but even aside from that card, the balance of stuff is all over the place for firefly. It basically felt like it should have had a few more months of playtesting before release to me.

I haven't played the other two encounters games.

 

[EYEL1NER]

I feel a bit dumb for sleeping on Captain Sonar. People were talking about how good it was and I ignored it. Now that I take a look at it and see how cool it looks, it's too late to get in before it became the 'hotness' and is now OOS everywhere. Not like I have anyone to play it with anyway though, since the game group at the local store is falling apart. Maybe I will have moved by the time demand for the game cools down.

 

[antiquegamer]

I feel a bit dumb for sleeping on Captain Sonar. People were talking about how good it was and I ignored it. Now that I take a look at it and see how cool it looks, it's too late to get in before it became the 'hotness' and is now OOS everywhere. Not like I have anyone to play it with anyway though, since the game group at the local store is falling apart. Maybe I will have moved by the time demand for the game cools down.

I don't know where you live but when I was at PAX this past weekend, all the dealers (which are all local to Seattle and nearby) have stack of them available so I would imagine they all have them in the store. The price might be a bit higher than getting at CSI or Miniature Market.

You can play Captain Sonar 2 players using turn-base mode. Probably not the best way to play but I am really intrigue by the turn-base mode and will give it a go this week with my daughter. It's really is a difficult game to get to the table with 8 players and if you are having hard time getting a group together for just 2-3 players game then might as well just skip it. I am thinking about hosting my own game night at my house and do it on regular basis with some of the people in my gaming group and my family.

 

[Castef]

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.

Ehehe... yes, "playing" with components in the design is fun.

The prorotype I'm just completing has very, very peculiar... cards...

 

[EYEL1NER]

I don't know where you live but when I was at PAX this past weekend, all the dealers (which are all local to Seattle and nearby) have stack of them available so I would imagine they all have them in the store. The price might be a bit higher than getting at CSI or Miniature Market.

You can play Captain Sonar 2 players using turn-base mode. Probably not the best way to play but I am really intrigue by the turn-base mode and will give it a go this week with my daughter. It's really is a difficult game to get to the table with 8 players and if you are having hard time getting a group together for just 2-3 players game then might as well just skip it. I am thinking about hosting my own game night at my house and do it on regular basis with some of the people in my gaming group and my family.

Thanks for the advice. I did just got to CardHaus and saw that they had one copy available at $45, and I do have two orders with them at the moment (one stuck in processing-limbo and the other awaiting a Wave 9 X-Wing pre-order) but I managed to resist buying it. I have slowed down my game buying a lot from 2014 and from last year and probably shouldn't be jumping on whatever the new 'hotness' is at the first opportunity, especially without playing it first. I think I would like it, but I have bought so many games without first trying them and they are sitting here unplayed. A store near Charlotte will be demoing Captain Sonar twice this month, so I could always drive up there (2hrs drive, though) and try it out. And then they may have copies, provided I do in fact like the game (they also run some kind of promo on demo nights where if you buy a demoed game and another game, you get 30% off of the second game).


Hosting a game group would be great if I lived elsewhere. At the moment I have a tiny apartment with little room for a lot of people and a small dinner table that seats three and cannot hold that much "game." The game group at the local store was already small but since summer break ended, the teens are in school and the younger adults are at college. I haven't had a job since Feb of this year (completely by choice) but if I did, I imagine I would have coworkers that might want to hang out outside of work. As it is now, I have no friends in town and very few acquaintances. All of my former coworkers or friends got stationed all across the globe. I only occasionally play X-Wing with people (who don't seem to want to play regular board games). Through my wife, I know a lot of the Filipino community in the area and am regularly at people's houses for birthdays or holidays or other occasions, but none of them seem like the game-playing crowd and are not interested whenever I try to talk about the hobby (not being too pushy, but just describing the local store as a place they might want to check out for their kids, or talking about an X-Wing tournament I went to and what the game is).

I would love to be in a place where I knew a lot of people and had a set-up where a group would want to come over on a Saturday night to play games and have a drink or two. That's why I cannot wait to move to Colorado Springs. Job-wise I would be set, there are five military installations surrounding the city and a ton of contracting jobs. Meeting gamers at work wouldn't be too hard; there are tons of nerds in the Air Force and amongst the civilians who support them. There is a large number of gaming stores in the city and nearby in Denver (an hour away, but Columbia SC is an hour away from my current location and there is barely anything happening there) and also a lot of current gaming groups. I've looked at some houses that I could afford now, and what I could afford with an income again, and any of them would be an upgrade from my apartment, but a lot of the affordable ones I have looked at have wide-open living rooms or large dining rooms with an island or bar seperating them from the kitchen, rooms that look like they would be good for having a get-together in. So maybe it will all come together for me at some point and I'll be able to start a group.

If you are in a place where it would work for you, then go for it. I'd love to be able to entertain people. Or have any people in my life that I could wish would want to be entertained by me, at least. If you already play with some of these people in a group-setting and can tolerate them, things couldn't be worse if you were playing together at your house. A lot of descriptions of hosted game nights on BGG sound like fun to me, barring the few where someone is asking for advice on people who flake out or don't want to bring food on their turn or whatever.

 

[JetBlackPanda]

Played my firs game of Mansions 2e with my wife last night. uhhh game is great. The wife was totally and utterly enthralled. We lost bad.

 

[Experien]

I don't know where you live but when I was at PAX this past weekend, all the dealers (which are all local to Seattle and nearby) have stack of them available so I would imagine they all have them in the store. The price might be a bit higher than getting at CSI or Miniature Market.

You can play Captain Sonar 2 players using turn-base mode. Probably not the best way to play but I am really intrigue by the turn-base mode and will give it a go this week with my daughter. It's really is a difficult game to get to the table with 8 players and if you are having hard time getting a group together for just 2-3 players game then might as well just skip it. I am thinking about hosting my own game night at my house and do it on regular basis with some of the people in my gaming group and my family.

I thought I heard turn-based is the best way to do it.

 

[antiquegamer]

Thanks for the advice.
If you are in a place where it would work for you, then go for it. I'd love to be able to entertain people. Or have any people in my life that I could wish would want to be entertained by me, at least. If you already play with some of these people in a group-setting and can tolerate them, things couldn't be worse if you were playing together at your house. A lot of descriptions of hosted game nights on BGG sound like fun to me, barring the few where someone is asking for advice on people who flake out or don't want to bring food on their turn or whatever.

I assume you are ex-military. My son is in the army (he is stationed in Italy now). I was asking him about gaming in the army he said most people just play on PS4 or PC but it could be he is not really into board games and probably not really seek them out. His day is pretty busy so he said PC or PS4 is perfect as they can get quick game going or play in their rooms.

I wish you best of luck with your next move. One of the reason I stop playing games previously was because we moved to Washington from California and left behind all my gaming friends and family. It was really hard for me to make new friends and find new group not only because of being in the new area but when you are older it is just harder to find people that you can get along with, so I fully understand where you are coming from. Even now with my current play group, while the people are mostly pleasant, geeks and nerds are not exactly the most social of people (I am included). My problem with gaming at the store is the noise level and time, plus the table is usually too small for many of the board game.

I thought I heard turn-based is the best way to do it.

Hmm really? I read that the game is optimal for 8 players in real time or at least that is what they intended for and turn-base is for when you have less people or when you are leaning the game.

 

[antiquegamer]

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.

Oh no, (pun intended) you are not going to sucker me into picking this up also. I just got Runebound because of you and nicoga. So far I enjoy this as a light adventure game. Surprisingly I really like the dice movement system and the pog disc combat is really fun. I played this with my daughter and her friend and while her friend like it , she thought it was really boring and *gasp* said she rather plays Talisman. I am giving solo game a try today but so far like solo Descent, I find myself defeating my own hero so often by playing both side.

Anyway, back to your post, I have been looking at Shadows over Normandie also but well too many games to play. May be my next month purchase with my Amazon reward points (this month the points all went to Runebound).

 

[EYEL1NER]

I assume you are ex-military. My son is in the army (he is stationed in Italy now). I was asking him about gaming in the army he said most people just play on PS4 or PC but it could be he is not really into board games and probably not really seek them out. His day is pretty busy so he said PC or PS4 is perfect as they can get quick game going or play in their rooms.

I wish you best of luck with your next move. One of the reason I stop playing games previously was because we moved to Washington from California and left behind all my gaming friends and family. It was really hard for me to make new friends and find new group not only because of being in the new area but when you are older it is just harder to find people that you can get along with, so I fully understand where you are coming from. Even now with my current play group, while the people are mostly pleasant, geeks and nerds are not exactly the most social of people (I am included). My problem with gaming at the store is the noise level and time, plus the table is usually too small for many of the board game.

Yeah, ex-USAF. I've met plenty of people who play tabletop games that are currently in or used to be in. MtG is a big one, then D&D or other RPGs, and then less-common is regular board games. Video gaming is preferred but it isn't too tough to get a video game fan interested in certain tabletop games (my interest in fighting games is why I bought into Yomi or BattleCON, plus there seems to be more licensed games coming out now that people could be talked into playing). Hell, I got into the tabletop gaming after playing Carcassonne on 360 and Ticket to arise on my phone. I see more military-types who play tabletop games now than when I was still in, but I didn't play tabletop games back then and wasn't looking for people who did, so I wouldn't have seen it. Most of the X-Wing group I met here are all currently active duty or are retired/vets.

Making new friends can be toug, but the move should be easy on me because I currently don't have any friends. It's gotta be only uphill from here, I guess. It does seem a bit easier than it used to be though, what with Facebook community groups and events, or meetup.com groups, or just social media in general.

 

[Palmer_v1]

Yeah, ex-USAF. I've met plenty of people who play tabletop games that are currently in or used to be in. MtG is a big one, then D&D or other RPGs, and then less-common is regular board games. Video gaming is preferred but it isn't too tough to get a video game fan interested in certain tabletop games (my interest in fighting games is why I bought into Yomi or BattleCON, plus there seems to be more licensed games coming out now that people could be talked into playing). Hell, I got into the tabletop gaming after playing Carcassonne on 360 and Ticket to arise on my phone. I see more military-types who play tabletop games now than when I was still in, but I didn't play tabletop games back then and wasn't looking for people who did, so I wouldn't have seen it. Most of the X-Wing group I met here are all currently active duty or are retired/vets.

Making new friends can be toug, but the move should be easy on me because I currently don't have any friends. It's gotta be only uphill from here, I guess. It does seem a bit easier than it used to be though, what with Facebook community groups and events, or meetup.com groups, or just social media in general.

The shop I go to most often in Omaha is fairly close to Offutt AFB, and I'd say half the walk ins they get are military people. A lot of us are prior-duty as well. In our case, it's usually been pretty easy for a new person to walk in and just talk to the store owner and about what games are popular locally, when game nights are, etc. Everyone has always been friendly about picking up newbies. From what I gather, there's usually a gaming store near bases in larger cities that are similar.

Also in my experience, military folk trend towards the miniature games moreso than other groups. Most of our x-wing and warmachine players, for example.

 

[Shadow_FFVI]

Dc deck building -> marvel legendary
dixit -> Mysterium

Does owning Marvel Legendary make DC redundant or do they play fairly differently? I was thinking of buying Dominion Intrigue but the same question came to mind.

 

[fenners]

Does owning Marvel Legendary make DC redundant or do they play fairly differently?

Very different in actual play, but I'm not sure I'd want to own both, despite enjoying them. I ended up buying Marvel Legendary after a few unsatisfactory DC Deck Builder games at work.

 

[Karkador]

Dc deck building -> marvel legendary
dixit -> Mysterium

Agree on DC Deck Building, but I'd rather play Dixit over Mysterium

 

[zulux21]

Does owning Marvel Legendary make DC redundant or do they play fairly differently? I was thinking of buying Dominion Intrigue but the same question came to mind.

they play quite a bit differently.

the DC game is a very simple system that is just DC themed (you can in fact mix and match with a bunch of other games from the same system so if you wanted to play DC super villains against. There are expansions that make it co op, but it's not very good co op as it really just makes the game super long (we are talking like 3 hours)

The marvel game is more complex and flexible and has more of a super hero taking down a villain feel. due to it being more complex the DC game is a better introduction to the genre, but I rarely ever feel the urge to pull out the DC game over the Marvel game and I would consider myself both a marvel and DC fan.

Agree on DC Deck Building, but I'd rather play Dixit over Mysterium

I can easily get someone prefering to play dixit over mysterium.

that being said mysterium is a new unique way to play a dixit like game and is very comparable to dixit just with new rules and mechanics.

 

[Affeinvasion]

Played Mystic Vale tonight. My wife liked it a lot.

Some notes:

• The artwork is gorgeous. The theme is pasted on, but actually pretty neat.
• The cardbuilding thing is a gimmick but one that actually works well.
• There are a lot of choices to make and your deck is only 20 cards so you WILL get your cool stuff out fast (this can also be a problem).
• The upgrade cards are really static-y. Made shuffling the first time a pain. I would remove the film right away.
• There are some laughably OP combos that can be made very early in the game.
• The two player game kinda ended with a thud. The game is over when someone takes the last point chip, and there aren't very many of them in a 2p game. This means that Vale cards are almost worthless, because the obvious winning strategy is to get cards that will quickly get you point chips and end the game. It takes too long to build up spirit symbols to get a single vale card that gives you 3 points when you can get a snake that gives you 5 points every time you draw it...and the game ends when that happens between 4 and 5 times (with just that card alone).

Overall, I liked it. I think it will shine with more players, but it's still a winner given that my wife likes it, it's pretty quick and easy to understand, and random enough that there won't be broken combos every single time you play. I'm not sure that it unseated Marvel Legendary as my wife's favorite game, but it's probably up there. It was definitely worth the 40% off price I got it for.