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[BattleMonkey]

So playing bunch of DBG's lately, really seems like we find the sweet spot to stick with 3 players in most. Dominion plays smooth always, but any other DBG which tend to all be more rule complex just get bogged down with 4+ players.

Finally got more time in with several games of Star Trek DBG. Actually this has been well received by the people I have played it with. You got general DBG mechanics but then the whole having a ship with individual stat boosts on cards played, and the exploration mechanic makes things interesting. Unlike Resident Evil, "exploring" the deck usually doesn't result in as much randomness and players actually get options of what to do instead of being force into a dangerous conflict. Game also tend to have more player interaction than many DBG's. Game's only real issue besides it's poor image quality on some cards, is that the basic exploration game is often a race to get the best ship which quickly puts you in the lead that is hard to overcome.

The coop and team game decks are actually quite fun. Expansion is coming out for the game that is adding a new deck of each type that can also be used as expansion with the first set. 2nd set is also based on later season TNG and the TNG movies, so image quality will hopefully improve on these cards. This seems like a pretty solid game overall that has quality issues with the rulebook and card design.

 

[Neverfade]

If you don't buy innovation at 13 bucks, you're an ahole!

 

[XShagrath]

If you don't buy innovation at 13 bucks, you're an ahole!

Totally agreed!

I wish I could get this to the table more often. Every time I do, it's a blast!

 

[platypotamus]

Haven't played Innovation in awhile, damn it sounds fun right now.

 

[ZackieChan]

Totally agreed!

I wish I could get this to the table more often. Every time I do, it's a blast!

I would say about half of the people I introduced it to like it, the other half don't like the chaos. I think this might go over better with new game players.

 

[narcosis219]

I would say about half of the people I introduced it to like it, the other half don't like the chaos. I think this might go over better with new game players.

This game is so surprisingly polarizing.

Yes, it is kind of random and chaotic, but you can still strategize during all of it. No need to hate on it.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I would say about half of the people I introduced it to like it, the other half don't like the chaos. I think this might go over better with new game players.

Find it not easy to teach. It's visually ugly (the American release) with unique mechanics that seem like complete randomness to many people when they first attempt it. People find it simple once they get the hang of it... but they don't really "get it"

 

[Seth C]

If you don't buy innovation at 13 bucks, you're an ahole!

Appears to be sold out.

 

[ZackieChan]

Find it not easy to teach. It's visually ugly (the American release) with unique mechanics that seem like complete randomness to many people when they first attempt it. People find it simple once they get the hang of it... but they don't really "get it"

Agreed with the difficulty to teach. However, I think it looks really nice! I love the minimalist graphical style.

 

[AstroLad]

It's actually easy to teach, but it's harder to play the first time because it's so text-heavy. You really do have to give people the time to read the cards and even to know about others' cards. Way easier to teach as a 2P in this respect.

 

[Neverfade]

Holy shit, have you guys seen this? I'm particularly excited about 'moods'!

Innovation: Figures in the Sand, which is possibly not the final title, introduces a number of historical figures from the ten ages in the game – Huang Di, Aristotle, Chuck Norris, etc. – but unlike in Innovation: Echoes of the Past, the cards in Figures in the Sand are not added to the age decks but are instead shuffled and stacked in order (age 1 on top, 10 on the bottom). When a player acquires figure cards, he draws two and keeps one; as achievements are scored, figures from early ages are removed from the game, exposing those of later years.

Each figure grants a player a continuous ability, and in the spirit of Innovation, those abilities become outrageously broken and disgusting and wrong in the highest ages. Each player can have only one figure in play at a time; if you meld a second figure, then you score the first one, thereby removing it from play. In addition to having the expected icons, some figure cards have echoes and others have continuous "keystone" abilities in the icon locations, which allows a player to activate them through good splaying.

One other addition to the game are "moods", with one mood for each of the five colors. A mood is brought into play only when someone plays a figure that specifies something like, "When [this figure] comes into play, change the Mood to War." Currently the War mood allows a player to discard a card when activating a dogma to "practice" it, which prevents other players from sharing that dogma if they normally would, but Cieslik stressed that the game is in playtesting/development mode and nearly everything could be changed prior to the game going to print.

 

[Hydranockz]

Figured I should show my face around here. I simply love board games. I like games that aren't 'too' rule heavy and long games are fantastic as long as the fun is there.

My most recent purchases were Pirate's Cove and King of Tokyo. Both are incredibly fun to play with the max number of players. I was delighted to finally track down Pirate's Cove as I had been hunting that down for months.

I'll be eagerly watching this thread for new games to play and subsequently crying when I can't find them here in Ireland

 

[ZackieChan]

Holy shit, have you guys seen this? I'm particularly excited about 'moods'!

Sounds cool. Unfortunately, I haven't played more than a couple games with anyone, so adding these new mechanics probably isn't a good idea yet.

And Astrolad, maybe I should concentrate on letting the other person read and understand the card better. Might help.

 

[The Last Wizard]

Has anyone played werewolves of millers hollow?

 

[UpperCaseN]

Has anyone played werewolves of millers hollow?

That's 1 of the handful of games that is essentially "Werewolf," right? A bunch of us here have played it, I myself played it once but have probably 10 games of The Resistance in (similar game, different theme, mechanics are different but essentially the same idea).

 

[AstroLad]

Figured I should show my face around here. I simply love board games. I like games that aren't 'too' rule heavy and long games are fantastic as long as the fun is there.

My most recent purchases were Pirate's Cove and King of Tokyo. Both are incredibly fun to play with the max number of players. I was delighted to finally track down Pirate's Cove as I had been hunting that down for months.

I'll be eagerly watching this thread for new games to play and subsequently crying when I can't find them here in Ireland

Yeah King of Tokyo is one of my top games from last year. Light and silly but perfect for what it is.

 

[Karak]

Battleship Galaxies

I found this got it and fucking ADORE it. Man had such a blast. The advanced rules and some of the community ideas really made this enjoyable. Especially the concentration on raising and lowering shields on various ships.

Also played some Dragon Dice again, didn't know they were still made. Still tops in my book.
I purchased Colossal Arena
More info
Colossal Arena but haven't played it. Sigh. Just counted boardgames in my gameroom. 300+.
Thank god the wife is understanding.

 

[Slacker]

Battleship Galaxies

I found this got it and fucking ADORE it.

I've specifically avoided reading about that because it looks interesting and I have no more money or time for new games. Already decided on one more splurge while my FLGS is doing their buy-two-get-one-free sale: Pandemic, Dixit, and Ticket To Ride: Asia. Pretty decent haul for 70 bucks.

 

[Neverfade]

I've specifically avoided reading about that because it looks interesting and I have no more money or time for new games.

If it helps, I thought it was a borefest. Heroscape boiled down into near nothingness.

 

[Slacker]

If it helps, I thought it was a borefest. Heroscape boiled down into near nothingness.

Bless you. Now someone please convince me that A Few Acres of Snow sucks.

 

[platypotamus]

Has anyone played werewolves of millers hollow?

The one you want is probably Ultimate Werewolf. Has the base stuff, but also a bunch of extras you can use if it starts to get stale. Great party game though

 

[mrklaw]

christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, which one of these board games should santa bring in his sack?

Pictionary or Rapidough? I've been thinking pictionary, but rapidough looks like it might be more fun and enjoyable for kids, something physical to help get across the clues rather than relying on drawing.

thoughts?

 

[Neverfade]

Bless you. Now someone please convince me that A Few Acres of Snow sucks.

AFAOS is awesome. Can't help you there!

 

[Neverfade]

christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, which one of these board games should santa bring in his sack?

Pictionary or Rapidough? I've been thinking pictionary, but rapidough looks like it might be more fun and enjoyable for kids, something physical to help get across the clues rather than relying on drawing.

thoughts?

C) Time's Up Title Recall.

 

[mrklaw]

C) Time's Up Title Recall.

needs to be playable by a 7 & 10 year old. So I've tried to avoid things that require 'absorbed' knowledge like books/films etc. I figured objects/situations was neutral enough?

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

needs to be playable by a 7 & 10 year old. So I've tried to avoid things that require 'absorbed' knowledge like books/films etc. I figured objects/situations was neutral enough?

How about Telestrations? One person gets a clue which they will then draw what is described on the clue (like pictionary). That person then passes the pad to the next player who then creates a new clue based on the picture he sees (without knowing the original clue). He will pass it to the next player who has to draw that clue (without seeing the original picture). This repeats until the pad gets back to the first player then you see how the original clue changed.

It's basically a retail version of the online game Broken Picture Telephone or the public domain game Eat Poop You Cat. I haven't played Telestrations but I've played the other two games before and it's a riot. I think it will be good for 7 to 10 year olds and if the clues are too hard you can always have them make up their own.

 

[UpperCaseN]

^I was going to make this suggestion as well but hesitated since I haven't played it yet either; it's on my family Xmas wishlist.

 

[Zalasta]

How about Telestrations?

That's what I was going to recommend as well. The only problem with it is you really need 6 or 8 people (odd number doesn't work). I hate drawing and it is one of the best party game I will always play.

If you're looking for a kid friendly game not necessarily related to drawing, let me throw in a couple of ideas: Fits (a tetris-like board game), Tier Auf Tier (animal stacking game) and Fluch der Mumie (double-sided magnetic set collection game).

 

[Neverfade]

needs to be playable by a 7 & 10 year old. So I've tried to avoid things that require 'absorbed' knowledge like books/films etc. I figured objects/situations was neutral enough?

Ah, ok. Cluzzle is another clay-using game, then.

 

[mrklaw]

That's what I was going to recommend as well. The only problem with it is you really need 6 or 8 people (odd number doesn't work). I hate drawing and it is one of the best party game I will always play.

If you're looking for a kid friendly game not necessarily related to drawing, let me throw in a couple of ideas: Fits (a tetris-like board game), Tier Auf Tier (animal stacking game) and Fluch der Mumie (double-sided magnetic set collection game).

Ah, ok. Cluzzle is another clay-using game, then.

thanks. Tier Auf Tier and Fluch der Mumie look good (Fluch der Mumie looks like a twist on labyrinth a bit). Will check out cluzzle too.

 

[narcosis219]

Got to play with the Euro version of Innovation last night.

Obviously, it looks so much better than the original. It was really nice.

Unfortunately, I found it harder to identify cards as a result. Icons are hard to see (because they're mostly white space) and the age of your card is your "empty" icon so it's hard to see what age cards you have in your hand. After playing about 5 games with it, I'd still prefer the original version and the one of the biggest reasons why is that the icons in the original are colored in. If you have a big table, you can understand why this is a big plus.

 

[BattleMonkey]

They also changed some game terms which some people find confusing apparently as it was much clearer when using unique game terms

 

[narcosis219]

They also changed some game terms which some people find confusing apparently as it was much clearer when using unique game terms

I don't think it was too bad.

Meld = Play
Return = Recycle
Achieve = Dominate
Score = Influence
Tuck = Archive

It was done because the euro version is supposed to be more "themey" than the original, so it makes sense that the terms aren't as efficient. Minor nitpick, but I do prefer the original terms.

Also, they didn't put a line under 6 and 9. That is more annoying than it sounds.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I played The Road to Canterbury again last and it's pretty good. You play as a Chaucer era Pardoner who's only goal is to tempt the pilgrims to sin in order to pardon their sins and make fast cash. It's an interesting game that moves really quickly and, surprisingly enough, only plays up to three players. Each player has a hand of cards, sins, pardons, and relics. On your turn you have the choice to play a card from those three types on a pilgrim. Relic cards are your typical event cards, play them and perform whatever the text tells you to do. Sin cards are the most common card that will be played. They can always be played on a pilgrim and they are used to set up your pardons which get you the cash. Each pardon card has a specific type sin associated with it so, for example, if a pilgrim has committed the sin of wrath you can use the wrath pardon card to pardon that sin and collect the payment for doing so.

The game is pretty much a press your luck game. You try to play as many as the same sins as possible on a pilgrim in order to get more money for doing so. The danger is that your opponents can swoop in and pardon the sins before you have a chance to and they will make the profit off of your hard work. In addition to the press your luck mechanic there is some really light area control aspects that sometime make it more strategic to pardon a sin prematurely just to be able to try and wrestle control away from a pilgrim.

It's an interesting game that works well with both two or three players. The game is also really fast with a three player game taking around an hour to 90 minutes at most. As far as complexity, I say it is as easy to play as Ticket to Ride but it is a bit more complex in what you can choose to do from turn to turn.

 

[Karak]

I've specifically avoided reading about that because it looks interesting and I have no more money or time for new games. Already decided on one more splurge while my FLGS is doing their buy-two-get-one-free sale: Pandemic, Dixit, and Ticket To Ride: Asia. Pretty decent haul for 70 bucks.

Ya it turned out to be amazing. 3-4 players takes a bit, but the advanced rules for controlled shields, the attachment cards for the weapons and so forth were great. Any game my wife can handle right out of the box then slowly add to gets points for me. If you play the training mission or the first 2-3 mock missions it wasn't as fun. But the rules for making your own missions on fansites totally made this a top ten game. Loved everything about it.

Something else about it that I found fun. When you make your own games, the sky is sort of the limit and we had 1 person against 3, with the 1 person having a random reinforcement of ships. It was right out of like babylon 5 We were peppering this guy and had him down to maybe 3 hullpoints when his reinforcement ship came. Luck would have it that it spawned by a nearby gate and that thing RUINED us. The hurt ship hid in its shadow(a great rule for smaller ships) and the big ship tore us to hell. They performed a boarding maneuver on their own ship and then set it adrift IN FRONT of the larger ship and we had to either clear it or get closer to the bigger ship(which was akin to suicide. We died.

It is not as complex as many games, especially when you play the beginner rules. But once you start adding the advanced rules and such, it just knocked it out of the park!

 

[platypotamus]

I played The Road to Canterbury again last and it's pretty good. You play as a Chaucer era Pardoner who's only goal is to tempt the pilgrims to sin in order to pardon their sins and make fast cash.

What a fantastic theme for a game

 

[Neverfade]

Canterbury

Sounds cool, but 38.99 looks fairly expensive for what doesn't sound like not very many components. Yikes.

Same price is keeping me away from Kingdom Builder.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Sounds cool, but 38.99 looks fairly expensive for what doesn't sound like not very many components. Yikes.

Same price is keeping me away from Kingdom Builder.

Yeah, it's the Eagle Games tax. It's not as bad as Through the Ages, though so that's something. The component quality is really good so you feel like at least a part of your money goes towards something.

 

[platypotamus]

Yeah, it's the Eagle Games tax. It's not as bad as Through the Ages, though so that's something. The component quality is really good so you feel like at least a part of your money goes towards something.

So worth it

 

[BattleMonkey]

finally got Fortune and Glory out to the table, group really enjoyed. Flying frog is great with theme. Mechanics are quite quick despite the large size of the game. Only issue is some of the cards bring up odd situations. The cliffhanger thing is pretty cool. Did basic game, got to try the coop version now.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

finally got Fortune and Glory out to the table, group really enjoyed. Flying frog is great with theme. Mechanics are quite quick despite the large size of the game. Only issue is some of the cards bring up odd situations. The cliffhanger thing is pretty cool. Did basic game, got to try the coop version now.

I want to play this so bad, but the price is keeping me away.

 

[UpperCaseN]

I want to play this so bad, but the price is keeping me away.

somebody mentioned that it was $40 not too long ago

fake edit: it was Astrolad
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33013384&postcount=7767

but sold out and back to $100.

 

[joelseph]

Looking for suggestions for a coop game more involved than Forbidden Island but less involved than Arkham Horror. Huge range I know, will take any suggestions. How is Elder Signs?

 

[BattleMonkey]

Looking for suggestions for a coop game more involved than Forbidden Island but less involved than Arkham Horror. Huge range I know, will take any suggestions. How is Elder Signs?

Elder Sign is Arkham Horror simplified down to a dice game. Pretty good if you are cool wih dice games.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

somebody mentioned that it was $40 not too long ago

fake edit: it was Astrolad
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33013384&postcount=7767

but sold out and back to $100.

Oh man, I didn't even see that post.

Looking for suggestions for a coop game more involved than Forbidden Island but less involved than Arkham Horror. Huge range I know, will take any suggestions. How is Elder Signs?

Pandemic is really good. It shares the same mechanics as Forbidden Island (same designer) and it's a bit more involved. I also picked up Flash Point: Fire Rescue recently. I haven't gotten it to the table yet but it looks pretty good.

 

[UpperCaseN]

Besides Pandemic which is basically just Forbidden Island anyway, I really like the D&D co-op board games.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Not really sure if this is the thread for this, or if this is the same type of board game but thought I would try.

I am looking for a word style game sort of like Scrabble, but with more strategy and game elements to it. Me and some friends play Scrabble, but it can get not so fun when the same people win most of the time. So I was looking for a good game that includes both strategy and word type games. Sort of in a way to where a person really good with words and spelling would get some competition from someone who was simply better at the strategic aspect of the game. I have Word on the Street ordered, but was wondering if there was any that Gaf my suggest.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

I am looking for a word style game sort of like Scrabble, but with more strategy and game elements to it. Me and some friends play Scrabble, but it can get not so fun when the same people win most of the time. So I was looking for a good game that includes both strategy and word type games. Sort of in a way to where a person really good with words and spelling would get some competition from someone who was simply better at the strategic aspect of the game. I have Word on the Street ordered, but was wondering if there was any that Gaf my suggest.

I can't really help with similar suggestions, but something of note is that I think the skillset to be Scrabble is slightly different than you think. A good vocabulary and spelling skills will help, but I think you might not be giving anywhere near enough credit to pattern recognition and math as crucial aspects of the game. There's a lot more strategy to the game than being a good wordsmith.

 

[narcosis219]

Not really sure if this is the thread for this, or if this is the same type of board game but thought I would try.

I am looking for a word style game sort of like Scrabble, but with more strategy and game elements to it. Me and some friends play Scrabble, but it can get not so fun when the same people win most of the time. So I was looking for a good game that includes both strategy and word type games. Sort of in a way to where a person really good with words and spelling would get some competition from someone who was simply better at the strategic aspect of the game. I have Word on the Street ordered, but was wondering if there was any that Gaf my suggest.

If you're willing to give up the word part of it, Quirkle is more heavily dependent on strategy and patterns. Relatively cheap.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Oh man, I didn't even see that post.

Most of the black friday deals that good from their were sold out in minutes. They also had Star Trek Fleet Captains another $100 game for about 40 some