They had those last year. thats how I learned Dragons Dice! And why I had to find a 3rd closet for games
Grrrrrr.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
- Start date
- Status
They had those last year. thats how I learned Dragons Dice! And why I had to find a 3rd closet for games
Grrrrrr.3 players is a non-issue in my book. 4, and it seems like the whole negotiation/alliance thing has broken down for your group. Obviously you're entitled to an opinion but "just bad design" might be a touch hyperbole on a 33 year old design that's still held in high esteem. There's simply more to it than the number of players on a spot.
BomberMouse
Member
There are two decks: The kill a zillion dudes deck and the make with the funny quips deck.
Sold.
superrobot
Member
You have more scope for rushing expanding and trading but it results in a clogged deck unless you use the governor well (which I never seem to manage). You have the intendant card which can be handy for pulling the siege engine you just bought into your hand or getting home support again.
I vote the expansion is worth it for the petri dishes alone. Also adds more challenge if you start winning with just the base set
platypotamus
Member
You sure won't get any from me. My master strategy the one time I won was apparently "forget one of the rules"
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
The Manhattan Project is awesome guys. Guys, it's awesome. It's a worker placement with just the right amount of player interaction and aggravation. It's also a pretty confrontational game where you you can bomb the shit out of players buildings or use espionage to take over another player's building. The scoring is interest as the majority of points are scored toward the middle and the end of the game. I also played it last night with the Nations expansion, which adds variable player powers, and I'd recommend getting that as well.
I vote the expansion is worth it for the petri dishes alone. Also adds more challenge if you start winning with just the base set
Yeah like 1910, I think the On the Brink is a great buy if you know you love the base game -- even if you haven't come close to exhausting it. The new roles and event cards add variety that makes the base game last twice as long without any real new complexity or difficulty, and the petri dishes are great. Hell, I've only ever played with the Virulent Strain (which is a lot of fun) and I still feel like I got more than my money's worth with the expansion due to all the stuff it adds to base.
I don't use much defense either. I think the best long-term strategy is to try to connect as many long distance cities as you can until near the end of the game, where you whore up station tickets before anyone else does.
I think the purple cube stuff is all a bit fiddly. I don't really use either of those expansions.
But the role cards + petri dishes + new special cards + virulent strain is well worth the costs.
In fact, I think it like 1910 is one of those expansions that 'completes' the base game for me.
What I mean specifically is when you are all fighting over a spot. The first person in player order is at a massive disadvantage. There is effectively no way for him to last, but he moved his people their first. So he has no knowledge of what is coming, and then has to just take losses.
I dunno, the game seems about as random as Cosmic Encounter, but isn't as much goofy fun and it takes much longer to play.
I'd rather play Cosmic.
just saw this kickstarter advertised on bgg: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1417272643/poker-chips-designed-for-board-gamers
thoughts, poker chip experts?
thoughts, poker chip experts?
platypotamus
Member
I'm not sure I see a need really. The design is pretty nice, but not "spend a bunch of money on more poker chips" nice. I'm kind of interested, since I only have a crappy set of plastic chips, but I think I'd be fine with non-board-game-specific chips which I could get for a better price.
No, i understand what you're saying, and that'd be an issue if one person was first player the entire game, but such is not. It's just another element that needs consideration when planning.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I'm not an expert by any means but a decent set of clay poker chips aren't that expensive. Here is a set of 500 for ~$30.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HX1K36/?tag=neogaf0e-20
If you want the denomination printed on them here you go:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009XDB8G/?tag=neogaf0e-20
This kickstarter seems too expensive for what you get.
EDIT: I'll also add that I own a couple set similar to the first one I linked to and they work well and feel great.
Also not an expert, but from what I've researched, the kickstarter offers chips akin to the 'authentic' ceramic or clay chips you'd find at a casino at a reasonable price if that's what you want. I'm not an aficionado of any sort when it comes to poker chips and the clay composites linked by Joey, while not the 'real deal', are good enough for me and much more in my price range.
Hey guys,
I need thoughts on a game name.
I’ve recently signed a game to publish, it’s a real-time cooperative game about blowing up asteroids as they fall to Earth. Right now it’s just called “Meteor” and that isn’t going to last.
I want to give the game a little more flavor and heft than its current incarnation.
My current theme idea is to change the “setting” to a secret operation to defend earth against asteroids (perhaps throwing alien invasion overtones into it as well) in the early 1960s. Has nothing to do with the gameplay per se, but it would let me use really awesome cold war propaganda poster style artwork, and each player could play the part of a different world power.
Anyway, I’m open to any name ideas, but right now I’m inclined to go with “Operation Cerberus: Orbital Defense Initiative”
I think it gives off a general Cold War vibe (though it was a WW2 codename for a naval engagement). I do have some concerns with people thinking cerberus isn't an actual word and made up for Mass Effect : /
I need thoughts on a game name.
I’ve recently signed a game to publish, it’s a real-time cooperative game about blowing up asteroids as they fall to Earth. Right now it’s just called “Meteor” and that isn’t going to last.
I want to give the game a little more flavor and heft than its current incarnation.
My current theme idea is to change the “setting” to a secret operation to defend earth against asteroids (perhaps throwing alien invasion overtones into it as well) in the early 1960s. Has nothing to do with the gameplay per se, but it would let me use really awesome cold war propaganda poster style artwork, and each player could play the part of a different world power.
Anyway, I’m open to any name ideas, but right now I’m inclined to go with “Operation Cerberus: Orbital Defense Initiative”
I think it gives off a general Cold War vibe (though it was a WW2 codename for a naval engagement). I do have some concerns with people thinking cerberus isn't an actual word and made up for Mass Effect : /
We're gonna have to agree to disagree. I think it's pretty off.
If you could bid for turn order like Game of Thrones I'd be happier with it. Or just elect to retreat from battle (I know there is a card to let you do this).
platypotamus
Member
I'd go with a more Flash Gordan serial style cheesy sci-fi name myself.
Something like:
Monster Meteors from beyond the Moon
Attack of the Asteroids
The Space Storm: Rain of Rocks
I think you could still do some cool propaganda style art with it too...
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Like this idea. However instead of propoganda poster, which have been done, look at some of the old B-Movie sci-fi posters.
I also want to through out Meteor Menace and Attack from Beyond the Stars.
I like it.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Works for me too.
we played with 5 recently and it ended up being 2 allied against 3, with the 3 group winning.
We liked it an agreed it should really be played with 6 so there are no odd teams.
I also recently picked up Power Grid: First Sparks and played it for the first time last night. It went off better than expected, as some of the people in the group seemed burnt on Power Grid. The similarities make it easy to learn but it's different enough to add some zest to a classic.
The ones you've linked are not "real" clay poker chips, which is why they're so cheap. Obviously they work just fine as a substitute for currency, but they are clearly not casino quality chips.
Don't really know anything about the Kickstarter poker chip set, but since you've been after quality poker chips for a while, this site might help you out AstroLad: http://www.chiptalk.net/
The price of authentic clay poker chips is pretty steep if you're just planning to use them for board game currency, but you can get a custom set made with your own artwork and color scheme for just a little more than what that Kickstarter project is asking.
Now that I'd say would be more of an issue.
Unless the two side is Lazax and Letnev. Lawdy, thems tough.
superrobot
Member
With an eye on expansions you could then have Asteroid Assault, Comet Carnage, Satellite Slaughter.
I will spent today thinking of even stupider variants.
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
Thanks for the Input, 1960 is on it's way.
And the way the 3 on 2 came about was kind of cheesy. I was playing as the Sol, whose alliance power didn't seem as exciting as the other races playing (and I am admitting I have not yet gotten a feel for any nuance the bonus provides). I was the odd man out, with the other 4 races quickly agreeing to partner up. I basically said to one group, what's the harm of including me in your alliance (sure you need to grab all the strongholds but the Sol player does have advantage on one side of the board)? And they agreed. I'm pretty confident if the first group said no the other would say yes.
I plate as sol, and I think they are critical to a 3 team win. It's so hard to rest control of the one quadrant from sol since they can drop their entire team in
That said, before I teamed up with people who could hand me money I was in dire straights as its very hard for sol to collect influence unless it drops onto their side of the board.
Played my first game of Horus Heresy last night (acquired it through a BGG trade). It's got the FFG stamp all over it which is a plus for me. Basically it's a 2 player war/strategy/area control miniatures game. Given the size of the box it's actually pretty light and the only reason the box needs to be so big is the way the board was designed and implemented. If you look at games like A Game of Thrones (new edition) and REX, that 6-panel board design folds out to a pretty large play area. The HH board is a large tri-fold surface that folded is the size of the box bottom. The minis are small and in a very un-FFG way even though there are 8 decks of cards, the order decks are the only ones that have a significant number of cards to them. So opening that huge box presents you with a lot of dead space.
We took it easy going over the board, units, and rules and played a very lax intro scenario (the game comes with 6 of them). As the Imperium player I was getting beat down pretty handily but a rules check post-game had me realizing we missed some major rules.
It's definitely cool and I want to play again. I'm concerned about replayability with the 6 scenarios but really I wonder how often I'll get to play it considering how many games I already have (and keep adding to). I had been hesitant to get the game because there are no dice (and I love dice) and a miniature game without dice just seemed wrong. But FFG did some nice stuff with the card-driven combat and the way the bombardment deck resolves the random events like corruption, bombardments, and laser defense. It all just seemed to work.
We took it easy going over the board, units, and rules and played a very lax intro scenario (the game comes with 6 of them). As the Imperium player I was getting beat down pretty handily but a rules check post-game had me realizing we missed some major rules.
It's definitely cool and I want to play again. I'm concerned about replayability with the 6 scenarios but really I wonder how often I'll get to play it considering how many games I already have (and keep adding to). I had been hesitant to get the game because there are no dice (and I love dice) and a miniature game without dice just seemed wrong. But FFG did some nice stuff with the card-driven combat and the way the bombardment deck resolves the random events like corruption, bombardments, and laser defense. It all just seemed to work.
Absolutely. When we play Twilight Imperium there are ipads, android tablets, and smartphones all loaded up with pdfs of the game rules and faqs.
I posted at one point on the Geek that companies like FFG should make some type of "living rules" app for ios and android devices. A game like TI could have a simple interface with access to all the rules, errata, faq, unit, combat, etc. info that players (especially new) would have at the ready as they play.
They could even take it so far as to include living player aids where players input technologies they acquire so that when a battle takes place it will calculate what ships need to roll for hits, etc.
AND, if they really want to get crazy you could even maybe build in some type of chat functionality in games where alliances can be made. That way you could have secret conversations going on without having to leave the room.
Anyway, just pie in the sky thinking. It seems like sometimes game companies are rushing to get versions of their games onto the mobile platforms when maybe they should be thinking more of enhancing the cardboard stuff (though some companies already are).
BattleMonkey
Member
Finally got to do Dungeon Petz today. Pretty nice game, kind of agricola like though the whole taking care of pet thing is both fun and a bit odd. The oddness comes with how you determine scoring of your pets for sale/exhibition.... using the current turn's needs of a creature seems kinda counter productive as you are not really raising the pets in any form, you just got to try and plan ahead to draw cards of specific colors that might improve the chances for higher scoring. Kinda expected it to be more like actual pet raising and training so that aspect of it kind of dissapointed, but the group thought it had great fun theme. Will try some more.
FFG really didn't do a whole lot of design on the game, most of the game is exactly as it was back in the old days of GW's original release of the game. They simply updated the components and there was a few tweaks to certain old things. It's not a miniature game at all, it's a war game really and that in itself is unique for something published by FFG which mainly stays away from those outside of Tide of Iron.
FFG really didn't do a whole lot of design on the game, most of the game is exactly as it was back in the old days of GW's original release of the game. They simply updated the components and there was a few tweaks to certain old things. It's not a miniature game at all, it's a war game really and that in itself is unique for something published by FFG which mainly stays away from those outside of Tide of Iron.
Baby Yoshi
Banned
I dont think is the right place to ask but,anyway :
I looking for a old board game,from the 90s,the game came with a eletronic dice that looked like a ladybug,the players are two bees and the game had a stage like snakes ladders,another one set picnic,all have something related to insects.
I looking for a old board game,from the 90s,the game came with a eletronic dice that looked like a ladybug,the players are two bees and the game had a stage like snakes ladders,another one set picnic,all have something related to insects.
Finally got around to playing Ticket To Ride: Team Asia over the weekend. Player with six, so it was 2v2v2. I was worried that it would be a little too much to keep track of for a couple newer players at the table but it went really well. For those who haven't played it - you have your own destination tickets and train cards you keep to yourself, and you also share some cards with your partner. For example at the start of the game everyone gets 5 tickets and has to keep 3. You then have to share 1 with your partner. Worked out good for us to share the longest ticket so we'd both know a couple high point tickets to pursue.
Next time, back to Risk Legacy.
Next time, back to Risk Legacy.
superrobot
Member
If you haven't already it might be worth flinging the question in one of the boardgamegeek.com forums.
Rummaging around the database there might throw up something.
Got this last week and reading through the rules atm. Definitely going to be a game-night kind of game and less a casual affair.
UpperCaseN
Member
Betrayal at the House on the Hill and Alien Frontiers in the house. Read the rules to Betrayal, seems easy enough to teach.
These 2 are coming with me to PAX East; I decided to pick them up in advance and have the rules read in preparation for playing them there, rather than picking them up there and trying to learn them on the fly.
These 2 are coming with me to PAX East; I decided to pick them up in advance and have the rules read in preparation for playing them there, rather than picking them up there and trying to learn them on the fly.
I got a few games in over the weekend. We played some 7 Wonders, and I was able to get the Leaders expansion to the board finally. It's an expansion that adds just enough complexity to the game that I've never felt comfortable introducing it to newcomers right off the bat, especially when one of more of them aren't serious gamers.
We had 5 players Saturday. 3 of us have played a lot of 7 Wonders, and the other 2 had played once or twice. We started off with a couple games of vanilla, and added in the Leaders for round 3.
For those who haven't played, the Leaders expansion plays out like this: Before Age 1, each player is dealt 4 Leader cards. Some have abilities similar (or even identical) to cards already in the game, and some have new abilities. Each player picks one leader to add to their hand and passes the other 3 to the right. This continues until each player has a hand of 4 leaders. Then, at the beginning of each Act, each player plays one leader from his hand onto the board in front of him. All leaders have a cost listed in gold pieces, which is paid to the bank. (players start Leaders games with 6 gold instead of 3 to facilitate leader purchases before Act 1)
Right off the bat when I got my cards to pick a leader and pass, it became clear that it would be much more feasible to commit to a strategy before Act 1 in Leaders than it is in vanilla 7 Wonders - where you're often left in a position where you need to scramble when the cards you were hoping for just don't show up. It's still possible that said cards won't show up, in which case a pre-game strategy might really blow up in your face - but it adds a layer of premeditation that sometimes feels missing with certain groups in 7 Wonders.
The first leader I picked was Socrates. His special power is to add 3 VPs to the value of collecting a set of all 3 science symbols (so 10 points of the set instead of 7). This seemed to dovetail pretty well with my Wonder, Halikarnassos B, which gives the player the opportunity to dig through the discards and play one for free three times during the game. Kalikarnossos B also starts with Textiles as its free resource, so I figured I'd be in a good position to build sets of science.
My Second leader was Vitruvius. His power gives his player 2 gold each time he is able to build a card for free via a building chain. Since there are so many chains within the science cards, this one seemed like a natural choice. My third leader was Praxiteles, who gives his player 2 VPs for each Grey production card he plays. The 4th leader (which went unplayed) that came to me was Varro, who gives 1 VP per yellow card played.
When it came time to play a leader before Age 1, I chose Vitruvius. While his ability wasn't of any use to me this early (it's not possible to get any free cards from chains before Age 2), I chose him because he only cost 1 gold to put into play, while the others cost 3.
I got very lucky on my first few hands. My first hand was a bunch of junk other than one card - A science card which could be built with one Textile - exactly what I was producing. My second hand came with a bunch of yellow cards, and two grey production buildings - Glass and Paper. I chose the paper, and again got lucky on my next hand when another science card needing paper came to me. This left me 2/3 of the way to a set on the first 3 turns.
After that, the gravy train did slow down, but I did manage to get a glass building and the third science symbol before the end of Age 1. At the end of Age 1, I built the first stage of my wonder, hoping to pull another science card out of the discards. Alas, none were present. Apparently a couple of them had been buried under Wonders, because they certainly weren't all up on the board.
For my Age 2 leader, I chose Praxiteles. I knew Socrates was the key to my strategy, and I didn't want to put him on the board any earlier than I needed to. By the time he came out at the beginning of Age 3, it was pretty clear to everyone else that I was pursuing a science-heavy strategy, so showing him then didn't really reveal anything they didn't already know. As age 2 wore on, I was unable to complete a second set of science. I never got a chance to get a gear on the board, though I did manage to get a third tablet out on the final card of the round.
In the leader phase of Age 3, I finally played Socrates. I already had 6 green cards in front of me, so I don't think anyone really even noticed him. Through Age 3, I managed to get a second gear, along with another tablet and another compass, but never could find that third gear. I played another wonder stage on the last card of the game, hoping to pull one from the discards, but alas, no science cards had gone to the discard pile all game. Another player has played Plato (who gives 7 VPs for having a full set of cards of all 7 colors) and played a gear to complete that set, and a third player had put down a couple green cards to work with Justinian, who gives 3 VPs per set of Blue/Red/Green cards.
So I ended up with 4/3/2 science symbols - not exactly ideal, but with Socrates this came out to a total of 16 + 9 + 4 + 20 Points, for 49, which isn't bad. I had 20 points from other sources, and ended the game as a narrow winner with 69.
Overall, all the scores were between 52 and 69, which seems about 10 points higher than most games of Vanilla with this group. Everyone really seemed to like the addition, and I'm sure it will find its way to the table again. It adds a little variety and a little more premeditation to what often feels like a very reactionary game.
We had 5 players Saturday. 3 of us have played a lot of 7 Wonders, and the other 2 had played once or twice. We started off with a couple games of vanilla, and added in the Leaders for round 3.
For those who haven't played, the Leaders expansion plays out like this: Before Age 1, each player is dealt 4 Leader cards. Some have abilities similar (or even identical) to cards already in the game, and some have new abilities. Each player picks one leader to add to their hand and passes the other 3 to the right. This continues until each player has a hand of 4 leaders. Then, at the beginning of each Act, each player plays one leader from his hand onto the board in front of him. All leaders have a cost listed in gold pieces, which is paid to the bank. (players start Leaders games with 6 gold instead of 3 to facilitate leader purchases before Act 1)
Right off the bat when I got my cards to pick a leader and pass, it became clear that it would be much more feasible to commit to a strategy before Act 1 in Leaders than it is in vanilla 7 Wonders - where you're often left in a position where you need to scramble when the cards you were hoping for just don't show up. It's still possible that said cards won't show up, in which case a pre-game strategy might really blow up in your face - but it adds a layer of premeditation that sometimes feels missing with certain groups in 7 Wonders.
The first leader I picked was Socrates. His special power is to add 3 VPs to the value of collecting a set of all 3 science symbols (so 10 points of the set instead of 7). This seemed to dovetail pretty well with my Wonder, Halikarnassos B, which gives the player the opportunity to dig through the discards and play one for free three times during the game. Kalikarnossos B also starts with Textiles as its free resource, so I figured I'd be in a good position to build sets of science.
My Second leader was Vitruvius. His power gives his player 2 gold each time he is able to build a card for free via a building chain. Since there are so many chains within the science cards, this one seemed like a natural choice. My third leader was Praxiteles, who gives his player 2 VPs for each Grey production card he plays. The 4th leader (which went unplayed) that came to me was Varro, who gives 1 VP per yellow card played.
When it came time to play a leader before Age 1, I chose Vitruvius. While his ability wasn't of any use to me this early (it's not possible to get any free cards from chains before Age 2), I chose him because he only cost 1 gold to put into play, while the others cost 3.
I got very lucky on my first few hands. My first hand was a bunch of junk other than one card - A science card which could be built with one Textile - exactly what I was producing. My second hand came with a bunch of yellow cards, and two grey production buildings - Glass and Paper. I chose the paper, and again got lucky on my next hand when another science card needing paper came to me. This left me 2/3 of the way to a set on the first 3 turns.
After that, the gravy train did slow down, but I did manage to get a glass building and the third science symbol before the end of Age 1. At the end of Age 1, I built the first stage of my wonder, hoping to pull another science card out of the discards. Alas, none were present. Apparently a couple of them had been buried under Wonders, because they certainly weren't all up on the board.
For my Age 2 leader, I chose Praxiteles. I knew Socrates was the key to my strategy, and I didn't want to put him on the board any earlier than I needed to. By the time he came out at the beginning of Age 3, it was pretty clear to everyone else that I was pursuing a science-heavy strategy, so showing him then didn't really reveal anything they didn't already know. As age 2 wore on, I was unable to complete a second set of science. I never got a chance to get a gear on the board, though I did manage to get a third tablet out on the final card of the round.
In the leader phase of Age 3, I finally played Socrates. I already had 6 green cards in front of me, so I don't think anyone really even noticed him. Through Age 3, I managed to get a second gear, along with another tablet and another compass, but never could find that third gear. I played another wonder stage on the last card of the game, hoping to pull one from the discards, but alas, no science cards had gone to the discard pile all game. Another player has played Plato (who gives 7 VPs for having a full set of cards of all 7 colors) and played a gear to complete that set, and a third player had put down a couple green cards to work with Justinian, who gives 3 VPs per set of Blue/Red/Green cards.
So I ended up with 4/3/2 science symbols - not exactly ideal, but with Socrates this came out to a total of 16 + 9 + 4 + 20 Points, for 49, which isn't bad. I had 20 points from other sources, and ended the game as a narrow winner with 69.
Overall, all the scores were between 52 and 69, which seems about 10 points higher than most games of Vanilla with this group. Everyone really seemed to like the addition, and I'm sure it will find its way to the table again. It adds a little variety and a little more premeditation to what often feels like a very reactionary game.
Yeah, I really liked the Leaders expansion because it adds a very small but noticable amount of depth to the game. It allows you to have a game plan going into Age I because if anything I know sometimes people wouldn't know what direction to go with their Wonder and the cards in the first few packs of Age I. I absolutely love the fact that it only adds about 5 minutes or so to the game as well instead of a massive bloat that most games seem to get with an expansion.
- Status