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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)

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besada

Banned
I'm getting the Asia set in this week. Really looking forward to it, especially the team play part since I think TtR traditionally drags a little with four. One thing I wonder from reading the rules though, is wouldn't you literally every time use your first turn to put your starting destination tickets in the shared rack?

I didn't but I had two short routes far away from the shared routes and figured I cold knock them out, so I didn't want to burn a turn. My partner shared his immediately. We got a lot of mileage out of me pulling cards of the face ups and then slotting them in the shared deck for his immediate use. That was a lot of fun. I think you'll like it.
 

LProtag

Member
Ok then! I'll post our game we published in Essen 2010!

i93F3lr046EH4.png


This is a pen-and-paper game about hidden movement with an "Alien" theme, think Scotland Yard but everyone is Mister X. Two teams: humans must escape before the aliens hunt them down.

Can't seem to find it for sale online anywhere yet (everywhere is out of stock), but I'm really interested!

Also I have to say, I think Eclipse is my new favorite game right now. Can't get enough of it.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
This is all the shit you get with Ora et Labora (and of course a la Le Havre both sides of each chit are different):
pic1189388_md.jpg


I remember trying to learn this game at 4 AM....
 

Flynn

Member
Also: I played a couple of Kickstarter games.

Carnival was super light -- the kind of thing you can get non-gamers into. There's dice and set collection, but it moves fast.

Fealty I am kind of lukewarm on. I think the first play you're kind of understanding how the different roles work. You are placing eight different workers on the board -- then at the end of the game they (in order of their speed) add influence tokens to the world. So really grokking what those guys do and having a grip on how the order is going to make things play out will make a big difference. Potential for brain fire.
 
Wow platy, that was probably the most exciting Few Acres of Snow game I've yet played.

Yeah, I thought it'd be neat to try and go with a pure military strategy, since our other game (where I started with no clue what I was doing) I went all peaceful settler. Now to figure out how to actually win a round...

This is all the shit you get with Ora et Labora (and of course a la Le Havre both sides of each chit are different):
pic1189388_md.jpg


I remember trying to learn this game at 4 AM....

This is coming in my CSI Order whenever they ship:

Ora Et Labora
Dungeon Petz
Vinhos
Oregon <-- I think that makes the 3rd game Yucata sold to me, with a Few Acres of Snow likely to be the 4th at some point...


Nefarious wasn't available for preorder, but will be picked up as soon as it's available too. That'll do me (minus maybe a math trade pick up) for a few months.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
The amount of data they give you on Yucata is really cool. For one, you can see a chart of your rating progression for each title, and also see total plays.

My top 3 games:
1. Campaign Manager 2008 (85!): Funny since I haven't played in months.
2. Roll through the Ages (33): Awesome game. I just love rolling dice, which is why I need to get more games of Can't Stop going.
3. Balloon Cup (24): Don't even like this game that much but it's a solid mindless 2P.
 

panda21

Member
are there any good websites that are actually readable? boardgamegeek is a horrific mess of a website design. i just want to see what the new hotness is and look at reviews.
 

XShagrath

Member
God help me, I'm about to order At the Gates of Loyang. What in the world is getting into me?
What other Uwe games have you played? I watched a video review of Loyang, and it kinda seemed like a combination of Agricola and Merkator. I've already got both of those, so if it's just those two pretty much rolled into one, then I don't think it's something I really need (yet), and I'll hold out for Ora & Labora or even a reprint of Le Havre.
 

Neverfade

Member
What other Uwe games have you played? I watched a video review of Loyang, and it kinda seemed like a combination of Agricola and Merkator. I've already got both of those, so if it's just those two pretty much rolled into one, then I don't think it's something I really need (yet), and I'll hold out for Ora & Labora or even a reprint of Le Havre.

Agricola, which I loath, and Le Havre, which I like so far. Ora is on the radar too.
 

Switters

Member
Hi BGGAF. I have a decision to make. Super Dungeon Explore or Mage Knight. I've read a bunch of reviews for both, I was wondering if anyone here had any play experience with either. Thanks.
 
Hi BGGAF. I have a decision to make. Super Dungeon Explore or Mage Knight. I've read a bunch of reviews for both, I was wondering if anyone here had any play experience with either. Thanks.

Hear nothing but lot of mixed or negatives about Super Dungeon Explore, though haven't experienced it yet. Was turned off by having to put together the figs, so it's on a wait list for me :p

Mage Knight have heard and see online that it's a good game, people really seem to like it, but the component quality is garbage. So far Wizkids has been putting out really good games like Fleet Captains, Expeditions, and now MK though they have all had horrible quality game components, and awful quality control. I haven't tried MK, I think the game looks ugly and the component thing bugs me as it was dissapointing with Fleet Captains.
 
Eclipse sounds great, the pictures of it all just keep deflating any hype for it I have though. I'm sure it will be good though.

If you are even remotely interested in Eclipse, you should just get it. I haven't seen a game so well received in a while. I actually think the components are quite nice, although the ships are pretty lame looking. I've only played it once so far (with Shagrath), and while it is incredibly easy to pick up, it seems very deep and offers lots of options. The rules are so well written and usually just make sense, nothing is ambiguous. Our first game, and I think I only had to glance at the rulebook a few times, and it was usually just to confirm something I already thought was the case.
 
This is coming in my CSI Order whenever they ship:

Ora Et Labora
Dungeon Petz
Vinhos
Oregon <-- I think that makes the 3rd game Yucata sold to me, with a Few Acres of Snow likely to be the 4th at some point...

I got Dungeon Petz from CSI (their storefront is local to me) a couple of days ago, haven't been able to play it yet though. I'm going to sit down today and run through a mock game and hopefully Shagrath and I will be able to play it later this week. It looks great though. Lots of humor, even in the rules, and everything is laid out very nicely. I don't like how for a 2 or 3 player game you need to move "dummy" imps around the board, but it doesn't seem complicated or anything, just need to move them over one spot clockwise to block something each round.
 

Chairhome

Member
My brother picked up Smallworld Underground and we like it so far (despite not having played regular Smallworld). My wife was hesitant to play because of the fantasy theme, but i think she dug it after destroying us in her first game :-(.
 
Got my little brother (and a few of my friends) hooked on Munchkin over the holiday. Such a fun game. As soon as we finished playing my brother was looking up game stores online, calling them to see if they had any expansions (I gave him the base game for Christmas).
 
I got Dungeon Petz from CSI (their storefront is local to me) a couple of days ago, haven't been able to play it yet though. I'm going to sit down today and run through a mock game and hopefully Shagrath and I will be able to play it later this week. It looks great though. Lots of humor, even in the rules, and everything is laid out very nicely. I don't like how for a 2 or 3 player game you need to move "dummy" imps around the board, but it doesn't seem complicated or anything, just need to move them over one spot clockwise to block something each round.

Yeah, that isn't ideal, but Dungeon Lords still works out ok with a similar mechanic. Much better than 7 Wonders' dummy city, anyway.
 
ncsuDuncan mentioning Munchkin reminded me:

I was at Target yesterday and I always browse the games, just to see. People are surprised to see Catan and Ticket to Ride at Target? How about Munchkin and Rune Age? Cuz I totally saw them there right next to them.
 
ncsuDuncan mentioning Munchkin reminded me:

I was at Target yesterday and I always browse the games, just to see. People are surprised to see Catan and Ticket to Ride at Target? How about Munchkin and Rune Age? Cuz I totally saw them there right next to them.
Neat. Mine still just has Ticket to Ride and Catan.
 
Yeah, that isn't ideal, but Dungeon Lords still works out ok with a similar mechanic. Much better than 7 Wonders' dummy city, anyway.

I went through a round so far by myself, and it isn't too bad. It mostly makes sense, except for part of it. I don't like how when you move the food dummy he takes one food block when he is in the little spaces in between the different types of food.

I do agree about the 7 Wonders dummy player city, but the thing I do like about the dummy city is that it adds an additional level of strategy. It's a little clumsy, but after familiarizing myself more with it, I think it works okay. Then again, they do list it as an "expert variant", so going into the game only playing with that variant, can make it a little rough.
 

RyanDG

Member
So, in honor of the upcoming apocalypse (Dec 21, 2012), my wife and I decided to augment our boardgame collection with a few 'end of the world' games that we can enjoy while we are counting down until the end of the world.

We went ahead and picked up Pandemic this past week and also already have Arkham Horror with its expansions (one of our favorites now that we broke her in on it relatively slowly), so what I'm looking for now are games that have a primary theme that ultimately ends with the destruction of the human race (upon failure) or is set during the apocalypse. We want to try to avoid zombies as much as possible (already have too many zombie themed games), but any other end of the world scenarios are great.

I would also rather avoid nuclear war disaster scenarios with 'grand strategy' war games UNLESS the primary theme of the game is either working to prevent nuclear war between the players (this may make an interesting game... a doomsday game card game where the two sides are working against each other to undermine the others moves and eventually 'win' while being mindful of an overall doomsday tract that will eventually spiral the two into nuclear war and end the game if they are overly aggressive or don't mind the build up of 'threat' that they are causing - anything like that?).

Also, with Pandemic - should we wait to break it out until we have more than 2 people or does it scale pretty well with two?
 
I would also rather avoid nuclear war disaster scenarios with 'grand strategy' war games UNLESS the primary theme of the game is either working to prevent nuclear war between the players (this may make an interesting game... a doomsday game card game where the two sides are working against each other to undermine the others moves and eventually 'win' while being mindful of an overall doomsday tract that will eventually spiral the two into nuclear war and end the game if they are overly aggressive or don't mind the build up of 'threat' that they are causing - anything like that?).

You pretty much just described Twilight Struggle. Fantastic Cold War board game, where the defcon level is a direct part of strategy (you ultimately win by spreading influence around the world though), it's often advantageous to keep defcon low, but accidentally hit defcon 1 and trigger nuclear holocaust and you lose.
 

LProtag

Member
Went to my LFGS which I don't frequent enough.

Was searching for Letters from Whitechapel (shot in the dark really) and Escape from The Aliens in Outer Space after seeing the designer post here. Couldn't find either. Picked up a copy of Mr. Jack Pocket as I heard it was fun and I wanted to support the store but couldn't make any sort of big purchases.

My friend found the limited edition of Escape from The Aliens on eBay though when we got back and snagged that. Letters from Whitechapel... have to wait on whatever kind of reprint is hopefully coming that I've been hearing about.
 
Went to my LFGS which I don't frequent enough.

Was searching for Letters from Whitechapel (shot in the dark really) and Escape from The Aliens in Outer Space after seeing the designer post here. Couldn't find either. Picked up a copy of Mr. Jack Pocket as I heard it was fun and I wanted to support the store but couldn't make any sort of big purchases.

My friend found the limited edition of Escape from The Aliens on eBay though when we got back and snagged that. Letters from Whitechapel... have to wait on whatever kind of reprint is hopefully coming that I've been hearing about.

Don't bother with Letters from Whitchappel and get Fury of Dracula instead. Granted Fury features a pretty weak combat system but Letters features a pretty weak everything.
 

LProtag

Member
Now I kinda just want both?

Thanks guys, haha.

Edit: Honestly I never realized that Fury of Dracula was a deduction game, seems weird that I've heard about it plenty but never actually looked into it.
 
Holy shit!

Played Arkham Horror for the first time with 2 friends today. What a fun game. It took us a while to set up and figure out the rules (we watched a youtube tutorial), but we got going pretty quick and had a blast.

The game really dicks you over, though. We got rammed so hard early with a rumor card. We had to work so hard to get it away. But things started to get a little better and we were starting to seal gates and work together pretty well. Things got pretty tense but we actually won and sealed 6 gates. Didn't take us nearly as long as I thought either (like 3 hours?). We played against the monster who damages your stamina by 1 whenever you end a turn in a street location. Idk if he was an easy boss or a tough one, but it was a pain whenever one of the encounter cards would force you into the street (along with the fucking flying creatures). But I definitely liked it alot.

Also played the Bloodbowl Team Manager game and really liked it too. Pretty easy to pick up and never bogs itself down.
 
I bought my wife ticket to ride for Xmas, good show gaf she loves it!

One of my earliest memories of my wife, before we were even dating, was when I collaborated with another player to block her trains that were coming together so she couldn't complete her route as easily.

She still won :(
 
I just got Fealty in today!

Too bad it arrived while I was at work and I went to the FLGS without knowing. I want to play so bad.

EDIT: Oh man, so many chits, no baggies. Gonna have to get baggies before I punch this guy
 
If you are even remotely interested in Eclipse, you should just get it. I haven't seen a game so well received in a while. I actually think the components are quite nice, although the ships are pretty lame looking. I've only played it once so far (with Shagrath), and while it is incredibly easy to pick up, it seems very deep and offers lots of options. The rules are so well written and usually just make sense, nothing is ambiguous. Our first game, and I think I only had to glance at the rulebook a few times, and it was usually just to confirm something I already thought was the case.

Me and my friends thought the spaceships looked pretty cool. Of course there are not painted, but the have lots of deatil to be simple plastic pieces. I dont know how they could have made them better as pieces of a boardgame.
 
Me and my friends thought the spaceships looked pretty cool. Of course there are not painted, but the have lots of deatil to be simple plastic pieces. I dont know how they could have made them better as pieces of a boardgame.

To each their own. I think they are okay, but nothing great. They are a bit busy for my tastes,, too much crap sticking out all over the place. Another problem is that they have already been used in at least two other games. FWIW there are enough other people that dislike them to the point where they have "redesigned" the ships by clipping off certain parts of them. I don't feel that strongly about them to bother doing that though.
 

Zalasta

Member
Also, with Pandemic - should we wait to break it out until we have more than 2 people or does it scale pretty well with two?

Pandemic plays fine with 2. Since the draw deck is finite (it's a game ending condition), the less people there are the more turns each person gets to take.
 

XShagrath

Member
To each their own. I think they are okay, but nothing great. They are a bit busy for my tastes,, too much crap sticking out all over the place.
Also, with their size, you can only reasonably fit so many on a tile.

At least in Eclipse, the different sized ships actually represent different ships, unlike the wackiness in Eminent Domain.
 
Also, with their size, you can only reasonably fit so many on a tile.

At least in Eclipse, the different sized ships actually represent different ships, unlike the wackiness in Eminent Domain.

Yeah, that's true. I also dislike how friggin flat they are. I know some people have put them on stands, but that's too much work for me.
 
The platic ships in eclipse is not what I don't like, its the rest of the components that look ugly to me in the pics. Almost feel like I would want to upgrade the game with my own components from other games or create my own from various things. But again, I'm sure I will love the game no matter what.

Anyone try Core Worlds?
 
The platic ships in eclipse is not what I don't like, its the rest of the components that look ugly to me in the pics. Almost feel like I would want to upgrade the game with my own components from other games or create my own from various things. But again, I'm sure I will love the game no matter what.

Anyone try Core Worlds?

What components would you upgrade? I don't think you could easily swap out any components without it being a major pain in the ass. You need the wooden blocks to be that size/shape/color, in order to match the spots they can be placed. I see nothing wrong with the hex tiles or the tech tiles. Honestly, you are the first person I've seen complain about the components, that isn't referring to the ships.

edit: The only real complaint I have is that the player boards aren't cardboard, but instead somewhat thick card stock.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
I always get pretty amazed at the prices I can get for games on ebay. God culling your board-game library beats culling your VG library, at least financially.
 
No gamestop like board game resale market to screw with resale prices.

What components would you upgrade? I don't think you could easily swap out any components without it being a major pain in the ass. You need the wooden blocks to be that size/shape/color, in order to match the spots they can be placed. I see nothing wrong with the hex tiles or the tech tiles. Honestly, you are the first person I've seen complain about the components, that isn't referring to the ships.

edit: The only real complaint I have is that the player boards aren't cardboard, but instead somewhat thick card stock.

Just lot of the pics and components look like the lazy chits and such used in wargames, some of it real plain looking like the square cubes too. I have yet to get my hand on finished product so I can't make proper judgement till them but I would imagine some world could make it look nicer. I'm sure its fine, just seemed overly plain and busy in some of the pics.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
No gamestop like board game resale market to screw with resale prices.

Also intrinsically board games just retain their value much better because almost no one wants to play a five-year-old video game (even the top-flight stuff), but with games age is almost irrelevant to demand because for the most part games aren't rendered largely obsolete by later iterations or even other titles.
 

Mashing

Member
Played Eclipse for the first time this past weekend. Fantastic game. I was playing the alien Moss like species. Our galaxy turned out to be rather oddly shaped. There was one two ways into my territory and the military species (I do not know their names) got trapped by sectors with two alien's each so he couldn't get going fast. I ended up creating a trade alliance with the 1st player player. He got the to center and took it over and at the point we all just decided to call the game at the point. Even though I had a pretty good score because each sector gave me an additional +1 vp. I love the mechanics in this game and the balancing act you have to do to manage your economy/research/production properly is well designed. I highly recommend this game if you like space themes and civ building.
 

XShagrath

Member
Just lot of the pics and components look like the lazy chits and such used in wargames, some of it real plain looking like the square cubes too. I have yet to get my hand on finished product so I can't make proper judgement till them but I would imagine some world could make it look nicer. I'm sure its fine, just seemed overly plain and busy in some of the pics.
Guess you don't like Euros, eh?
 
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