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[AstroLad]

These guys speak the truth. I got a freebie of it & can't face teaching it to people.

It's no Race, that's for sure.

yeah it actually has real player interaction, and is not bogged down by deadweight expansions

innovation is definitely love it or hate it. i just feel bad for people in the latter group but hey you can't save everyone

 

[Neverfade]

These guys speak the truth. I got a freebie of it & can't face teaching it to people.

It's no Race, that's for sure.

I do not know of this Innovation, but I think I will just not like it on principle of name

 

[Affeinvasion]

I played my first game of Dominion yesterday. Before playing, it didn't sound too interesting to me and I was wondering why it was rated so high on BGG. After that first game, I've been itching to play it again already!

Wish I could play with you Shaggy!

Has anybody tried Thunderstone (not on yucata)? I hear its very very similar to dominion.

 

[Flynn]

It is time to plug my latest board gaming column. This one is about dice -- Troyes, Quarriors! and Dice Soccer inside.

If you want to feel like a huge hipster read it at Pitchfork.

 

[Fewr]

I am new to the party, but we have started playing board games almost every night at my house. The gaming group is my non-gamer wife, 10yr old son, 7 yr old daughter, 4yr old son (he watches), and me. We started with Catan a month ago, added Ticket to Ride two weeks ago, and last night played Super Munchkin and Blokus.

We are all addicted, my kids played Munchkin again this AM, and I purchased Forbidden Island last night. My next purchase will be Dominion I think...I might need help.

TLR I like board games and lurk here.

I play mostly with non-gamers. I recommend Dixit. It's only problem is that after a few games you'll want to get the expansion(s).

 

[BomberMouse]

I am new to the party, but we have started playing board games almost every night at my house. The gaming group is my non-gamer wife, 10yr old son, 7 yr old daughter, 4yr old son (he watches), and me. We started with Catan a month ago, added Ticket to Ride two weeks ago, and last night played Super Munchkin and Blokus.

We are all addicted, my kids played Munchkin again this AM, and I purchased Forbidden Island last night. My next purchase will be Dominion I think...I might need help.

TLR I like board games and lurk here.

I'm in a similar situation than you, except I play a lot with my little sisters when I visit my family. Soon you'll be buying games in bulk

I recommend The Magic Labyrinth, Hey that's my fish! and For Sale if you still want to keep it simple. Also, take a look at The Climbers and Fearsome Floors, they don't rank too high but I like them a lot too are are family friendly. For something a little (just a little if you are already playing catan) more complex try Stone Age, Thebes or Smallworld.

My wife was a nongamer too, but Agricola with some animepples changed that.

 

[Zalasta]

It's not clicking with me either. I think Innovation is a decent game but it's nowhere near as amazing as people are making it out to be.

I don't care for Innovation myself. Far too chaotic for my taste. I avoid playing it like I do with Dominion.

 

[Cathcart]

I recommend The Magic Labyrinth

The two gamers with kids that I work with swear by this game, their kids love it.

 

[TechSamurai]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have added them to my (ever growing) list of games I want to check out. I think the fact that I am spending time every day researching new games to buy indicates I have a problem..

 

[XShagrath]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have added them to my (ever growing) list of games I want to check out. I think the fact that I am spending time every day researching new games to buy indicates I have a problem..

I'm the same damned way. I've got a spreadsheet for games I'm interested in with pricing, and notes about each one. Gives me a quick way to flag different groups to see what I can/cannot afford at the moment.

 

[Zalasta]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have added them to my (ever growing) list of games I want to check out. I think the fact that I am spending time every day researching new games to buy indicates I have a problem..

One of the funnest and most innovative children's games I've played is Fluch der Mumie/Pyramid. It's a one vs. many mechanic (but the players don't work together), where the person controlling the Mummy sits on one side of the table and the rest on the other side. The board is placed vertical between them with magnetic pieces! I would highly recommend it.

 

[TechSamurai]

One of the funnest and most innovative children's games I've played is Fluch der Mumie/Pyramid. It's a one vs. many mechanic (but the players don't work together), where the person controlling the Mummy sits on one side of the table and the rest on the other side. The board is placed vertical between them with magnetic pieces! I would highly recommend it.

Well that is just not fair. You show me a game that sounds really interesting, but was never brought to the US. (Where I live) I know I can import it but still....

 

[platypotamus]

Wish I could play with you Shaggy!

Has anybody tried Thunderstone (not on yucata)? I hear its very very similar to dominion.

I hate Thunderstone in person, but love it on yucata. The sloppy game math and sloggy nature of some set ups make it kind of painful live.

 

[BigAT]

Wish I could play with you Shaggy!

Has anybody tried Thunderstone (not on yucata)? I hear its very very similar to dominion.

Thunderstone is probably my favorite game on Yucata right now, I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I have yet to play the physical version though.

Speaking of Thunderstone, is it just me or is this card almost comically overpowered:

Not only does it strip each opponent of a hero (perhaps the only one in their hand), it also gives you an additional hero to use in the dungeon. Even discounting that, the magic attack X 2 is pretty insane as it stacks with multiple heroes and applies to every source of magic damage. The level 2 version of that hero also has the stacking magic attack X 2 as well and is very powerful. It seems significantly more powerful than even the next best level 3 hero.

 

[antiquegamer]

^ yeah, that card is pretty brutal. Both my son and brother-in-law beat the crap out of me with that. There are some balancing issue with Thunderstone, may be they get fix with later expansion since I only have the core set.

 

[narcosis219]

In some kingdom sets, buying money with only a few actions can be the best thing to do. If there are no +action cards for example, it doesn't make sense to buy lots of kingdom cards, since they're just going to be dead in your hand. If you purchase more then 1-2 actions that are NOT also +actions, you're taking a real gamble with your deck and you have to hope you don't run into multiples. I sometimes wish the game wasn't like this, but that's how it goes.

That's not to say action centric strategies can't work either, it just really depends on the set of kingdom cards you get. I've done crazy stuff like mass alchemist + herbalist + a few villages to draw my whole deck and play double possession in a two player game. Other sets I look at it and go "huh, no +actions... silver it is!". Do you play with any other sets other than Base and Prosperity? I find that Base especially results in Big Money being very effective.

I play with everything but Cornucopia.

You pretty much hit the point with the kingdom cards.

 

[Zalasta]

Speaking of Thunderstone, is it just me or is this card almost comically overpowered:

It is also one of the worst cards to play with asynchronously (in fact, anything that require opponents to discard is annoying). A person's turn could literally take several days to complete if it causes a chain reaction...I've seen Selurin Theurge > Selurin Theurge > Assasin/Thief. No wonder I've seen more and more games that exclude this card.

 

[AstroLad]

I don't care for Innovation myself. Far too chaotic for my taste. I avoid playing it like I do with Dominion.

It's not really chaotic at all. It's just about coming up with creative tactical solutions, often many times per game (unlike Dominion where you do it once or twice at most).

 

[Neverfade]

Innovation Defense Force unite!


Question Astro: How do I add a game to an outstanding preorder on CSI?

 

[AstroLad]

Innovation Defense Force unite!


Question Astro: How do I add a game to an outstanding preorder on CSI?

I just reply to the confirmation email (Cory is their orders person) and add/remove whatever stuff I want. I'll often do this a bunch of times for orders depending on how far out I pre-order.

 

[Neverfade]

Do they just charge the card I have on file for that particular order or do I need to provide that info again?

 

[AstroLad]

Do they just charge the card I have on file for that particular order or do I need to provide that info again?

yep just charge your card the difference

 

[Neverfade]

Sweet. I guess I'll throw King of Tokyo onto my Elder Sign order. I thought it looked pretty blah when I first saw it, but recently read over the rules. Perhaps I was wrong.

 

[BomberMouse]

Thought some of you might be interested, the Kickstarter for Alien Frontier's expansion is live. It adds a fifth player, some new alien techs, secret goals, and factions. The expansion's a bit pricey at $35. but it includes shipping and they do have a backer level that includes the base game as well. Considering Clever Mojo will not discount the base game from MSRP this is one way to get the base game with free shipping.

I really like alien frontiers, but with this whole MSRP bullshit I'm not so sure I want to support them anymore. Also, at least my AF print feels very cheap, most other publishers use this "rugged" cardboard while Clever Mojo just uses normal paper.

EDIT: I know it's mayday, but this looks quite fun if you are into mindless dexterity

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maydaygames/tok-tok-woodman-dexterity-game-2-7-players?ref=live

 

[UpperCaseN]

Is Star Trek: Fleet Captains on anyone's radar? It got a very positive reaction from the Dice Tower crew and I'm interested now

 

[BattleMonkey]

Is Star Trek: Fleet Captains on anyone's radar? It got a very positive reaction from the Dice Tower crew and I'm interested now

Definitely, looks great. Was kinda dissapointed they backed off on doing prepainted ships when they are charging so much for it already.

 

[UpperCaseN]

Definitely, looks great. Was kinda dissapointed they backed off on doing prepainted ships when they are charging so much for it already.

I saw it at GenCon, well saw A LOT of things at GenCon, and it looked intimidating. It's pretty big, there were a lot of hexes and cards on the table, a bunch of ships... as we walked by it was like "ooh, look at that" as we continued walking, not even realizing it was Star Trek. Now that I'm getting a closer look at the components online, and later tonight the video review once I get out of work, it doesn't seem bad. Plus the listed playtime is 60 min which is a MEGA plus for me and my gaming group; on game night we typically lean towards playing many shorter games rather than like 1 long one

 

[BattleMonkey]

It looks like lot of components but I'm sure it's simple. I'm used to playing very large complex war games so this should be easy. Love Trek naval stuff but the games they have for that are overly complex and take forever to play, so hoping this provides a fun quick play naval battle game at least.

 

[Neverfade]

Bah. Was goin to add KoT to my order but its processed! Luckily, Amazon have me 10 bucks extra credit for the Deus Ex mix up, so I just nabbed it from Amazon for 21 shipped!

 

[XShagrath]

Bah. Was goin to add KoT to my order but its processed! Luckily, Amazon have me 10 bucks extra credit for the Deus Ex mix up, so I just nabbed it from Amazon for 21 shipped!

Yeah, looks like they got Elder Sign in. I'm contemplating driving the 20 minutes down there and 20 minutes back just to pick it up today, even though I'll be 2 minutes from there tomorrow for work. Sometimes I feel like there's something wrong with me.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Well we did Back the the Future and Bang! last night. Back to the Future is pretty neat game though it seems to kind of get on your nerves as the game really can just go on for a long time as you get tug of wars between players for control of the timelines, but it is still kind of fun... but by the end of our first game it had gone on a bit too long. The more players at the table the more the game is likely to last longer as everyone mucks up time.

Bang! was lots of fun and everyone seemed to love it, going to look into getting the expansions. Plays real fast and easy which makes for a god game to whip out at any time.

 

[UpperCaseN]

Yeah, looks like they got Elder Sign in. I'm contemplating driving the 20 minutes down there and 20 minutes back just to pick it up today, even though I'll be 2 minutes from there tomorrow for work. Sometimes I feel like there's something wrong with me.

Thread title change: The New Board Game Thread (aka Board Gamers Anonymous)

I'm right there with ya, man. I am buying games, components, organizers, sleeves, dice, etc waaay more often than I'm comfortable with. In my free time I just look up games, rules, etc and am interested in more new games right now, even though I just got an order in last week and some of them haven't even hit the table yet. It's borderline addiction and I need my fix!

 

[XShagrath]

I'm right there with ya, man. I am buying games, components, organizers, sleeves, dice, etc waaay more often than I'm comfortable with. In my free time I just look up games, rules, etc and am interested in more new games right now, even though I just got an order in last week and some of them haven't even hit the table yet. It's borderline addiction and I need my fix!

You're preaching to the choir, man! I've slowly been sleeving all my cards for games, and I spent about $40 last month on storage boxes for components in a bunch of games. Now I'm looking into making custom inserts out of foamcore to make everything fit nicely back into the boxes. I've even got my wife involved in painting the minis for a bunch of games too.

 

[Flynn]

You know what's the best? Being friends with somebody who spends all their money on board games.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

So, a friend of mine brought over Resident Evil, and I got a chance to play a game of it. Now, I vaguely understand that there are different modes, but the one we played was kind of your standard deck-building fare. So, I don't know if there are interesting twists that exist in other variants of the game. However, as it stood, I was kind of disappointed. Now, I haven't been following this thread religiously, as I haven't been playing and buying a lot of board games as of late -- the nerd group I have assembled kind of shifted more towards video games and Magic for some time there. But with that nonsense out of the way, when I saw the game I was intrigued mainly because I thought I had heard some positive feedback about it hear and elsewhere. I could be crazy though.

But as for my impression, it seemed a lot like Thunderstone... but even worse. Even when I was trashing the dead weight and acquiring better cycling cards, it always seemed difficult to get the right combination of plentiful ammo with powerful weaponry. That could just be inexperience, mind you, but the game just seemed to kind of drag on. Furthermore, barring expansions I'm not aware exist, it seemed to me that all cards were in play, so there's not even the possibility that it'll play radically different with a different random draw.

I don't know. I think I'd give it another chance. However, at first glance it seemed pretty disappointing.

 

[UpperCaseN]

So, a friend of mine brought over Resident Evil, and I got a chance to play a game of it. Now, I vaguely understand that there are different modes, but the one we played was kind of your standard deck-building fare. So, I don't know if there are interesting twists that exist in other variants of the game. However, as it stood, I was kind of disappointed. Now, I haven't been following this thread religiously, as I haven't been playing and buying a lot of board games as of late -- the nerd group I have assembled kind of shifted more towards video games and Magic for some time there. But with that nonsense out of the way, when I saw the game I was intrigued mainly because I thought I had heard some positive feedback about it hear and elsewhere. I could be crazy though.

But as for my impression, it seemed a lot like Thunderstone... but even worse. Even when I was trashing the dead weight and acquiring better cycling cards, it always seemed difficult to get the right combination of plentiful ammo with powerful weaponry. That could just be inexperience, mind you, but the game just seemed to kind of drag on. Furthermore, barring expansions I'm not aware exist, it seemed to me that all cards were in play, so there's not even the possibility that it'll play radically different with a different random draw.

I don't know. I think I'd give it another chance. However, at first glance it seemed pretty disappointing.

Ha, we had the same exact experience, only instead of Thunderstone which I've never played, I compared it to Dominion. We also played with 5 players (1 too many) and you could tell resources were low, but the host added cards from the expansion to try and balance it out. But yeah, it was pretty much cycle gold/ammo, buy cards, knock on the Mansion deck. I could not match up high powered guns with a large amount of ammo though; my hand typically consisted of 1 or the other. 1 guy was KO'ed (the permanent kind), 2 of us including me were just idling and treading water, and 2 guys actually appeared to be playing right/well. Either way, the game dragged on something fierce and by the time it was over, we were all relieved.

 

[Gaming Truth]

Is Star Trek: Fleet Captains on anyone's radar? It got a very positive reaction from the Dice Tower crew and I'm interested now

I think I posted a small first look from Gencon a few pages back. Seems like a cool idea, but wish it supported more than two players and races

 

[antiquegamer]

I think I posted a small first look from Gencon a few pages back. Seems like a cool idea, but wish it supported more than two players and races

They have this game at my local store open for "free play" but it looks so daunting. May be one of these days I will go there and try it out. $100.00 is a lot to spend if you end up hating it.

 

[UpperCaseN]

I think I posted a small first look from Gencon a few pages back. Seems like a cool idea, but wish it supported more than two players and races

nice, I'm searching for it now

They have this game at my local store open for "free play" but it looks so daunting. May be one of these days I will go there and try it out. $100.00 is a lot to spend if you end up hating it.

$70 at CSI and $65 at Miniature Market!

 

[BomberMouse]

Yeah, looks like they got Elder Sign in. I'm contemplating driving the 20 minutes down there and 20 minutes back just to pick it up today, even though I'll be 2 minutes from there tomorrow for work. Sometimes I feel like there's something wrong with me.

Soon, you'll catch up with the top 1000 games and you'll only have to worry about new releases

Spoiler

I'm adicted too

 

[Hero]

So, a friend of mine brought over Resident Evil, and I got a chance to play a game of it. Now, I vaguely understand that there are different modes, but the one we played was kind of your standard deck-building fare. So, I don't know if there are interesting twists that exist in other variants of the game. However, as it stood, I was kind of disappointed. Now, I haven't been following this thread religiously, as I haven't been playing and buying a lot of board games as of late -- the nerd group I have assembled kind of shifted more towards video games and Magic for some time there. But with that nonsense out of the way, when I saw the game I was intrigued mainly because I thought I had heard some positive feedback about it hear and elsewhere. I could be crazy though.

But as for my impression, it seemed a lot like Thunderstone... but even worse. Even when I was trashing the dead weight and acquiring better cycling cards, it always seemed difficult to get the right combination of plentiful ammo with powerful weaponry. That could just be inexperience, mind you, but the game just seemed to kind of drag on. Furthermore, barring expansions I'm not aware exist, it seemed to me that all cards were in play, so there's not even the possibility that it'll play radically different with a different random draw.

I don't know. I think I'd give it another chance. However, at first glance it seemed pretty disappointing.

After two playthroughs this past weekend I have some mixed feelings about it. It's straight up a rip-off of Dominion, it doesn't even pretend to try to hide it. The addition of the Mansion deck is the huge addition to the game but after thinking about it for a while it's really just a glorified "kick down the door" Munchkin deck, which I absolutely loathe.

I think the game is spread too far out because you have to balance your ammunition, which is essentially your money in this game, weapons so you can actually do things with them and then somehow try to fit action cards into the mix. All too many times I would have a hand of 70+ money and didn't really want to buy anything but because of not having a weapon I couldn't explore the mansion. Other times when I was able to get 50+ or more damage it'd be totally wasted on a generic zombie. It's just very inconsistent in how luck based it can be. The second game a friend got the mini-gun in the third round or so and pretty much dominated with that since there's no way to get it out of his deck other than if he somehow died to one specific monster and then he would have to randomly trash 2 cards from his discard pile.

It was only the intro scenario for us new players but the flaws are pretty glaring. Characters aren't balanced very well, zero ways to disrupt opponent's strategy/engine and lengthy play time all prevent me from really liking the game. As a Resident Evil fan, it's excellent as far as thematic games go and they could've done a lot worse. But at the same time I have a certain level of expectations that need to be met. Some rules are pretty clunky but apparently Bandai has even released a revised rulebook as a PDF available online since the one that comes with the base game is so awful so maybe some of that will be alleviated but I doubt it.

With an expansion already out and another one on its way I'll let my one friend get it and play it with him but it's not something I can see purchasing for myself or recommending to someone who isn't a die-hard Resident Evil fan.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I think I posted a small first look from Gencon a few pages back. Seems like a cool idea, but wish it supported more than two players and races

Its 2 player but what stops them from adding other races?

 

[Neverfade]

Another game that flew under my radar that I now have some interest in: Nightfall.
The chain mechanic looks really cool. Any of you folks play that one? Impressions?

 

[Gaming Truth]

Its 2 player but what stops them from adding other races?

Another $100 from your wallet to their open hands ...

 

[AstroLad]

i dislike re and posted about it a couple times. ascension does what re tries to do but better. re is just way too fiddly and the mansion deck while a decent idea is just not well implemented. whole thing is just kind of a mess (not terrible though)

 

[fenners]

Another game that flew under my radar that I now have some interest in: Nightfall.
The chain mechanic looks really cool. Any of you folks play that one? Impressions?

Haven't played it, but the buzz on Nightfall on the geek isn't great, a few negative reviews have popped up just this week.

Just too many deck builders to care about them all.

 

[XShagrath]

Got a chance to try out Elder Sign last night. Played about half a game with a friend at work (due to time constraints), and enjoyed it fairly well. It kinda feels like a really simplified Arkham, but keeping all of the wonderful theme in there. Gameplay-wise, it's pretty damned basic with only 3 phases per turn (two of them taking just a couple seconds each). The first few rounds went fairly smoothly and I mentioned that I thought the game seemed too easy. However, after the clock struck midnight the first time, shit started to get a little hairy.

We played for about 30-45 minutes and were nowhere near getting enough elder signs to win the game, and only had gotten one doom token to awaken the Old One. The box says 1-2 hour gameplay, but people on BGG have been citing 45-60 minutes. I guess it depends on how much people are digesting the theme, or if you're just trying to bang out the missions as quickly as possible. I personally want to absorb the theme and read the cards aloud the first time we encounter them, etc. Going over to my two person game night tonight, and we'll probably play a full game then.

 

[soldat7]

Haven't played it, but the buzz on Nightfall on the geek isn't great, a few negative reviews have popped up just this week.

Just too many deck builders to care about them all.

It's coming out on iOS soon, so maybe it will shine on that platform.

Can anyone comment on any of the following? Mainly looking for a game for 2-4 and ages 7+

- Pirates Cove
- Talisman
- Cave Troll
- Death Angel
- Bridge Troll
- Dragonheart

 

[XShagrath]

I'll only comment on the ones I've actually played. I'm also going to base my opinions off of the lower age bracket listed.

Can anyone comment on any of the following? Mainly looking for a game for 2-4 and ages 7+

- Talisman

Talisman is a pretty decent entry-level game that isn't too heavy on rules. I think a 7 year old could play this game just fine, although it does have some "Demon" and "Devil" cards. Don't know if you care about that or not. The older gamers in the group may not find it as interesting, as it's essentially a "roll & move" game with some dice-based combat thrown in. A lot of luck and very little strategy involved. I still enjoy playing it, but not that often.

- Death Angel

I've only played this one all the way through once, and it was extremely brutal. We played two players, and died a gruesome death near the end. From what I've read, this is pretty standard fare. If the people in your group don't like to lose 50-75% of the time, then Death Angel's not the right game.

 

[UpperCaseN]

Talisman is a pretty decent entry-level game that isn't too heavy on rules. I think a 7 year old could play this game just fine, although it does have some "Demon" and "Devil" cards. Don't know if you care about that or not. The older gamers in the group may not find it as interesting, as it's essentially a "roll & move" game with some dice-based combat thrown in. A lot of luck and very little strategy involved. I still enjoy playing it, but not that often.

It can run a little on the long side, too. I try not to play with more than 3 people, 4 at max. A 3 person game can take 90+ min, maybe even 2 hours.

I put an order in for Star Trek Fleet Captains and Gears of War last night. I watched the Star Trek video review with my fiance and we were both excited, her especially since she's watched more of the shows. Being only 2 player or 2 on 2 teams is a bummer, though. It'll be good for weekday play with the 2 of us, same reason I picked up Claustrophobia