New Board Gaming |OT2| On Tables, Off Topic

sassy robot said:
Oh god, we take like three hours to play it with 5-6 players. Maybe next time I'll suggest we get properly drunk while playing so everyone loosens up and doesn't over-analyze everything. :P
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Three hours ain't bad. We've had sessions that took 90 minutes because everything went perfectly. We've had sessions that took three & a half hours with some teachin'. Just depends on the rolls, the draws & the mission.
 
sassy robot said:
Oh god, we take like three hours to play it with 5-6 players. Maybe next time I'll suggest we get properly drunk while playing so everyone loosens up and doesn't over-analyze everything. :P
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Sand timer that what I will use next time we play zombicide. It whould give that sense of urgency fitting for zombie game and stop analysis paralysis. It works great with Space Hulk so I figure why not.
 
SillyEskimo said:
I admire how you're "all in" on everything Space Hulk.

The expansions to the card game are interesting but actually make the game even harder. It makes a win so satisfying though.
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Haha no not quite all in but i like the theme of Space Hulk and 40K universe in general and the card and board game let me dabble in it without getting into the money sink miniature game.

I actually didn't have the last two expansions (DeathWing and Tyranids) to Death Angel card game. I didn't realize FFG still put out POD for it. I am picking it up just now/so I guess I am all in now.

Speaking of 40K boardgame my FLGS guy just show me Execution Force, he said pretty much you just buy it for the minis and the rest of the stuffs are just bonus.
 
I've recently been working my wife up the board game weight list so here are the ones we've been playing.

(For background my wife isn't a hard core gamer by any stretch: the only video games she really plays are Animal Crossing, Fantasy Life, Saavy Style, Cooking Mama, etc)

TIcket to ride
Splendor
Morels
Jaipur
Agricola: ACBAS + expansion 1
Small World

I just bought Rivals for Catan so excited to try that one out.
 
yayaba said:
I've recently been working my wife up the board game weight list so here are the ones we've been playing.

(For background my wife isn't a hard core gamer by any stretch: the only video games she really plays are Animal Crossing, Fantasy Life, Saavy Style, Cooking Mama, etc)

TIcket to ride
Splendor
Morels
Jaipur
Agricola: ACBAS + expansion 1
Small World

I just bought Rivals for Catan so excited to try that one out.
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Nice, now try to go for full Agricola next. So good.
 
Picked up the new D&D Temple of Elemental Evil last week. Played a couple of rounds already with my friends. The only other game of the series I've played is Legend of Drizzt.

Good:

- I can't really put my finger on it, but the templating of the cards and rules seem much cleaner this time around. I like it.

- Because you're using more generic characters that fit traditional job classes, it feels like an actual RPG as opposed to playing with the Drizzt characters (if you don't know who they are, you lose that connection)

- Campaign mode, saving characters, buffing up after each quest - Something I've been really wanting for awhile now was somehow to "save characters" (without using customized stuff from BGG) It's nothing absolutely special, but I just really like this addition.


Bad?

- This game is REALLY tough. Drizzt is definitely known to be the easiest one but some of the encounter cards in this game are just flat out cruel (Rage of Imix anyone?) Playing as the "DM" who took care of the monsters and encounters, I found myself giving the players at least 4 Healing Surges to BARELY win the first quest. Either we're doing something wrong but I feel like because of the gold treasure cards - you barely get any items that heal you or help you on your way. Not to mention, there's a lot of encounter cards that steal gold from you while dealing damage in the process. Also, if you find yourself getting some bad rolls anytime in the game that prevent you from killing off monsters, then have fun suffering through nonstop encounters due to lack of experience points (to cancel them)

- Disabling traps - seems kind of unfair for some of the characters. The Wizard starts with 6 HP - and there are traps that flat out do 4 damage if you fail at disabling them.


Despite the difficulty - I am enjoying it more than Drizzt. Can't wait to finish all the quests and then eventually mix up the two for custom quests.
 
Xero said:
Isn't the 2 player game of dead of winter more of a variant? Thats what kept me from buying it. The 2 player version didn't seem like it would be very good. What experience do you have with it? Otherwise I would love to pick it up.
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the 2 player mode doesn't really play all that much different from having more players. you just start with an extra character and are supposed to play on hard instead of easy with secret goals.

I have only played a few times with my wife, but in general it played well with just 2 players. Though one of the scenarios was nearly impossible when we did the math since it was based off a set condition instead of the number of players so things basically had to go perfectly to complete it on hard, and go really really well to beat it on easy.

Other people might have different experiences though.
 
zulux21 said:
the 2 player mode doesn't really play all that much different from having more players. you just start with an extra character and are supposed to play on hard instead of easy with secret goals.

I have only played a few times with my wife, but in general it played well with just 2 players. Though one of the scenarios was nearly impossible when we did the math since it was based off a set condition instead of the number of players so things basically had to go perfectly to complete it on hard, and go really really well to beat it on easy.

Other people might have different experiences though.
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the traitor mechanic was the big thing that didnt feel like it would work well in 2. Or completely omitting it, since thats part of the draw for us.
 
ChazAshley said:
Picked up the new D&D Temple of Elemental Evil last week. Played a couple of rounds already with my friends. The only other game of the series I've played is Legend of Drizzt.

Good:

- I can't really put my finger on it, but the templating of the cards and rules seem much cleaner this time around. I like it.

- Because you're using more generic characters that fit traditional job classes, it feels like an actual RPG as opposed to playing with the Drizzt characters (if you don't know who they are, you lose that connection)

- Campaign mode, saving characters, buffing up after each quest - Something I've been really wanting for awhile now was somehow to "save characters" (without using customized stuff from BGG) It's nothing absolutely special, but I just really like this addition.


Bad?

- This game is REALLY tough. Drizzt is definitely known to be the easiest one but some of the encounter cards in this game are just flat out cruel (Rage of Imix anyone?) Playing as the "DM" who took care of the monsters and encounters, I found myself giving the players at least 4 Healing Surges to BARELY win the first quest. Either we're doing something wrong but I feel like because of the gold treasure cards - you barely get any items that heal you or help you on your way. Not to mention, there's a lot of encounter cards that steal gold from you while dealing damage in the process. Also, if you find yourself getting some bad rolls anytime in the game that prevent you from killing off monsters, then have fun suffering through nonstop encounters due to lack of experience points (to cancel them)

- Disabling traps - seems kind of unfair for some of the characters. The Wizard starts with 6 HP - and there are traps that flat out do 4 damage if you fail at disabling them.


Despite the difficulty - I am enjoying it more than Drizzt. Can't wait to finish all the quests and then eventually mix up the two for custom quests.
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Speaking from experiece with Ravenloft and Ashardalon, having a group with experience im the game definitely helps. We were getting stomped while we were still learning the game. Also saving xp from monsters is crucial to cancel those awful encounter cards late game. As if dealing with the finale isn't tough enough, you still have to deal with encounter cards, yeesh.
 
Xero said:
the traitor mechanic was the big thing that didnt feel like it would work well in 2. Or completely omitting it, since thats part of the draw for us.
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ah I have tried the traitor mechanic once with more players (it indeed likely wouldn't work with 2).... it did not go well lol.
 
Impulse was pretty good, though there was a lot of dull downtime between turns. It also would have helped to know that there werent enough Refine cards in the deck to make a resource-gathering strategy very viable.
 
Xero said:
Isn't the 2 player game of dead of winter more of a variant? Thats what kept me from buying it. The 2 player version didn't seem like it would be very good. What experience do you have with it? Otherwise I would love to pick it up.
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For me the main problem with 2 player DoW is the lack of challenge. Even hardcore is just too easy.
The traitor mechanics and crossroads cards are what make this game a good game.
It has some major flaws but Its a decent/good game.
 
electricshake said:
Thanks. Not looking for anything overly complicated as we don't really have time to play long complicated games. I might just stick with Catan. Any thoughts on the plastic game board would be appreciated!
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The plastic tray seem to be way overpriced. I think may be some if us are trying to hint to you that for the price you could get another board game or two.

My wife and I enjoy Splendor quite a bit and it is not complicate at all. You could also pick up Hanabi with it and still come in at the cost of that plastic tray.
 
antiquegamer said:
The plastic tray seem to be way overpriced. I think may be some if us are trying to hint to you that for the price you could get another board game or two.

My wife and I enjoy Splendor quite a bit and it is not complicate at all. You could also pick up Hanabi with it and still come in at the cost of that plastic tray.
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Thanks. I think I'm going to get him a custom made 3D catan set, it's his 30th so I want something special that he can keep. Even more expensive but it looks beautiful. Wish I had the skills to make it myself!

My flatmate owes me a birthday present too so I'll get a 2 player game from him. I'll check out all the recommendations before I decide and let you guys know what I go for. Thanks for all the help! And the themes aren't a problem, we're both pretty geeky!
 
BomberMouse said:
Nice, now try to go for full Agricola next. So good.
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Baby steps. I think full blown Agricola with the minor improvement / occupation cards would overwhelm her.

I'm trying to pick games that don't have drafts in the beginning because I can recognize it can get really daunting not having any contextual reference how to play a game and have to immediately pick a strategy from the draft.

Caverna looks really badass but the full game having 40 something buildings would even bend my brain a bit. The family mode though looks easier to digest.

Ultimately I'm going with games that are easy to learn but have decent strategic depth. Agricola: ACBAS so far my wife likes since the places to put your workers is pretty straightforward and we play with 8 building tiles drawn random from the base game + the expansion. 8 is easier than the ~45 buildings in Caverna or 14 from Agricola that you have to immediately understand. And you can choose to build them as the game proceeds and not have to immediately formulate a strategy on the spot.
 
Yeah, personally, I prefer ACBAS to regular Agricola. I would have liked Caverna to have been a meatier ACBAS than a meatier Agricola.
 
yayaba said:
Baby steps. I think full blown Agricola with the minor improvement / occupation cards would overwhelm her.

I'm trying to pick games that don't have drafts in the beginning because I can recognize it can get really daunting not having any contextual reference how to play a game and have to immediately pick a strategy from the draft.

Caverna looks really badass but the full game having 40 something buildings would even bend my brain a bit. The family mode though looks easier to digest.

Ultimately I'm going with games that are easy to learn but have decent strategic depth. Agricola: ACBAS so far my wife likes since the places to put your workers is pretty straightforward and we play with 8 building tiles drawn random from the base game + the expansion. 8 is easier than the ~45 buildings in Caverna or 14 from Agricola that you have to immediately understand. And you can choose to build them as the game proceeds and not have to immediately formulate a strategy on the spot.
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The family version of a Agricola is actually very close to ACBAS.
Its a great way to bridge the step to regular Agricola which is just such an amazing game.
My wife really loves it today and we even do drafting of the cards pre game (the drafting variant in the rules of the game) but I also began with the family version without cards and then with cards and so on. Now she wouldnt dream of playing anything less then fullblown Gric.
 
Xater said:
I am exactly the opposite. His intro to the review alone makes me even less interested in this.
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Just out of interest, what didn't you agree with him on, the descent comparison?
Rab Florence and his Chaos in the Old World review is what got me into boardgaming.
Him saying that Forbidden Stars is to wh40k what Chaos in the Old World is to warhammer fantasy pretty much sealed the deal for me.
There were instances where I didn't agree with his take on some games, especially his rose-tinted view of older games like Cosmic Encounter and Space Hulk, but I'll blame his nostalgia for that.
Now that I refuse to play any boardgame that was designed before the noughties, I'll indulge in anything else he will recommend.
 
Barmaley said:
Just out of interest, what didn't you agree with him on, the descent comparison?
Rab Florence and his Chaos in the Old World review is what got me into boardgaming.
Him saying that Forbidden Stars is to wh40k what Chaos in the Old World is to warhammer fantasy pretty much sealed the deal for me.
There were instances where I didn't agree with his take on some games, especially his rose-tinted view of older games like Cosmic Encounter and Space Hulk, but I'll blame that on his nostalgia.
Now that I refuse to play any boardgame that was designed before the noughties, I'll indulge in anything else he will recommend.
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I have no problem with his Descent comparison, but I am not fondly remembering behemoth of games that can take 3 or more hours to complete. Fuck that. I'll take streamlined games that still have tons of interesting decision making over that. When I have a boardgame meet up with friends I'd rather play through 3-4 different ones than one long slog. For him that is somehow good, I could not disagree more.
 
Karkador said:
Yeah, personally, I prefer ACBAS to regular Agricola. I would have liked Caverna to have been a meatier ACBAS than a meatier Agricola.
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Caverna almost is isn't it? No cards, building tiles right from the start, there's feeding but it's vastly easier to get food.
 
yayaba said:
Caverna almost is isn't it? No cards, building tiles right from the start, there's feeding but it's vastly easier to get food.
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Yeah, it's like they started with ACBAS as the prototype, and then kept adding, and adding, and adding...and adding........and adding. Caverna is just way too much stuff.

All they had to do was expand the puzzle of plotting out your land; maybe do tiles in different shapes (like that other game by the designer, Patchwork). Maybe add some new animals that do different things (like the dogs in Caverna). IMO, the spacial part of Agricola is a much better game (both to think about, and to actually play with and look at) than all the other nonsense.
 
Yeah, I hate Caverna and what Uwe has become lately. Too open ended, too much freedom, too much information on your face at once. Caverna is the worse.
 
Xater said:
I have no problem with his Descent comparison, but I am not fondly remembering behemoth of games that can take 3 or more hours to complete. Fuck that. I'll take streamlined games that still have tons of interesting decision making over that. When I have a boardgame meet up with friends I'd rather play through 3-4 different ones than one long slog. For him that is somehow good, I could not disagree more.
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Yeah, I know the feeling. Although I wouldn't mind a 4 hours game only because of the lenght, I'll avoid Eclipse or A Game of Thrones like plague for that reason.
 
Xater said:
I have no problem with his Descent comparison, but I am not fondly remembering behemoth of games that can take 3 or more hours to complete. Fuck that. I'll take streamlined games that still have tons of interesting decision making over that. When I have a boardgame meet up with friends I'd rather play through 3-4 different ones than one long slog. For him that is somehow good, I could not disagree more.
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Love those games too, they are for special game days with the right crowd. We have our quick game night with more casual folks, then we do usually a big game day on weekends where we will pull out the long involved games. Love em
 
Yeah the last time I hunkered down with 3 other players, and we played Eclipse, and took over an enormous kitchen dinner table with it, and took 4-5 hours, and I WON THE GAME, it probably still felt like some sort of defeat. =P

I far prefer 2 hour max games to allow a variety. Oh, the last game night I went to had a 3.5 hour, 5-player Munchkin game. A bit of me died inside.
 
While I understand it's a matter of personal preference, there's nothing wrong with 3 hour+ games. In fact everything everyone on this page is saying they don't like (open-ended, high complexity, long duration) are all the things I love about my favorite games, and why I have gradually found myself really not enjoying Euros as much anymore. I like games that have a strong narrative (and I don't mean the theme of the game, I mean how the game unfolds over the course of time between the players). When I can look back on a game with friends and talk about "that one time" something epic happened, or a critical moment that changed the fortunes of the players, I love that the most. And I love open-ended games, I like being able to decide how and when I approach certain aspects to a design. I like games that play differently (inside a basic framework) every time.

Last weekend I had a super epic game of Hannibal with a friend, and it unfolded completely different strategically than any other time I've played it. To me, that's the draw of board games (beyond the social experience). I like the jousting of mental acuity and the outmaneuvering of other people, both in game and within the game's meta. You learn a lot about people when you play games like that, and ultimately I think that's a good thing.
 
Blizzard said:
Yeah the last time I hunkered down with 3 other players, and we played Eclipse, and took over an enormous kitchen dinner table with it, and took 4-5 hours, and I WON THE GAME, it probably still felt like some sort of defeat. =P

I far prefer 2 hour max games to allow a variety. Oh, the last game night I went to had a 3.5 hour, 5-player Munchkin game. A bit of me died inside.
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That sounds like my personal hell.

Munchkin would probably be a fun little game if it never went on longer than for 30 minutes.
 
I enjoy long 2-4 hour games as mainly 2 player affairs. It's easier to break into multiple nights of play sessions instead.

We did that with games like Stronghold, Twilight Struggle, Mage Knight. Much easier to make a multi-night affair when you're working and don't have a lot of time.

Super long games with 3+ players are just a lot harder to set up. Makes me wish I had gotten into the hobby when I was younger and had the time (but probably wouldn't have had the money...)
 
This reminds me of my Impulse game I was playing last night (which is supposed to be a "quick" 4X, Twilight Imperium type of game).

The overall playtime itself did not feel egregiously long at around 2.5 - 3 hours, but the downtime between turns felt eternal because people were getting a minimum of 5 things to do in a turn, and it easily became even more as people built up their things.
 
Neverfade said:
2.5-3 hour Impulse? As in Chudyk's Impulse? What in the sweet fuck? How?
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It was 4 players. I wasn't keeping close track of the time, but I think we started sometime around 8 and wrapped up just before 11 (this is with a rules explanation). Is it supposed to be faster?

I felt like the game would be more enjoyable with 3, maybe even 2
 
30-60 minutes on the box, and that's been our experience since the first play.

With a 20 point goal, it definitely shouldn't be taking that long. I almost always pulls off at least one 10+ point turn. If I can get two off, that's game.
 
Neverfade said:
30-60 minutes on the box, and that's been our experience since the first play.

With a 20 point goal, it definitely shouldn't be taking that long. I almost always pulls off at least one 10+ point turn. If I can get two off, that's game.
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How much of that is scoring points off the center?
 
Blizzard said:
Yeah the last time I hunkered down with 3 other players, and we played Eclipse, and took over an enormous kitchen dinner table with it, and took 4-5 hours, and I WON THE GAME, it probably still felt like some sort of defeat. =P
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I've played Eclipse three times, and it's been 4.5 hours each time, though that includes setup. Most of my group has really bad AP, too, so I'm surprised to hear it took THAT long.

Mind you, we had 3 new players in each game and were playing with 6. I think it would go faster on repeat plays, and I tried to set things up to speed up setup...
 
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