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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)

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StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
I'm a big fan of little metal dog, so I'll be backing!

Artwork is really good to.

Free shipping anywhere. They may regret that, though card shipping isn't *that* bad.
 
You guys, Ora Et Labora might be my favorite Uwe game yet. Take the best things from Agricola, and the best things from Le Havre, and then make it about monks and add some other stuff about land expansion.
 
You guys, Ora Et Labora might be my favorite Uwe game yet. Take the best things from Agricola, and the best things from Le Havre, and then make it about monks and add some other stuff about land expansion.
It's a really neat game that I really suck at. Trying to build buildings in such a way to score the most points you can is tough. The resource wheel is genius design and fixes the "Did you refill wood?" problem of Agricola.
 
It's a really neat game that I really suck at. Trying to build buildings in such a way to score the most points you can is tough. The resource wheel is genius design and fixes the "Did you refill wood?" problem of Agricola.

It almost fixes it. For us a few times it turned into "Did you remember to turn the wheel?"
 

Neverfade

Member
Thanks.

I played BSG Express last night and color me impressed. It was a really good game that captures the BSG experience in about an hour. I had the print and play guy on BGG make me a copy and, while you can tell it's homemade, it looks a hell of a lot better than I would be able to pull off.

Wait, how do I get a copy of that? His list of games doesn't have it on there.

Hopefully I can incorporate the changes into the PNP as they're better. I was surprised Evan changed a fairly major mechanic based on my feedback regarding voting and retrieving dice.
 
Wait, how do I get a copy of that? His list of games doesn't have it on there.
I sent him a geekmail and he sent me a quote. He doesn't advertise it because the game users copy written art. It was close to $60 shipped. Like I said you can tell it's homemade but at it still looks better than what I can do. Plus I didn't have to sink any time in it.

I can post pictures of the components later if you want to see them.

Hopefully I can incorporate the changes into the PNP as they're better. I was surprised Evan changed a fairly major mechanic based on my feedback regarding voting and retrieving dice.
What changes did they make? I used the latest rules on BGG but I'm assuming this didn't make it on there.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Settlers of America is probably my favorite Catan game. There is a lot more going on in it than there is in base Catan, but the game is mechanically similar with some very rudimentary pick up and deliver going on.

That said, it's a close to 2-2.5 hour game of Catan.

Which is why I do not own it. If I have that much time to dedicate to a game I'd rather get in something with a little more heft.
 

Neverfade

Member
What changes did they make? I used the latest rules on BGG but I'm assuming this didn't make it on there.

There are quite a few changes that will be in the end product. I don't think the ones I refer to will make BSG Express Obsolete, they were just necessary for the other alterations that swayed the balance.

1) Votes are now submitted via which color die you put in, Blue for yes/positive and red for no/negative. (When I last played it, you "blind bid" a die to vote yes, and an empty fist was a no)

2) Dice are no longer just "your dice". Spent dice go in a communal pool and when you retrieve dice, you get to pick which ones. There's reasons both sides would want specific colored dice, so it really sows the suspicion around. I think it really helped the game.
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
Had a really good session last night with regular monthly group.

The Hit of the Night was 7 Wonders..hit that prefect blend of light strategy but fast moving game. We played about 4 games of it through out the night.

Everyone Enjoyed Dominion as well though not as much as 7 Wonders(think i need to get an addon that adds a bit of depth)

Everyone Enjoyed Cyclades ..the bidding for god and turn order is very fun,we'll definitely be playing it again.

The flop of the night was Pandemic.
Three of us thought it was ok and One hated it.

The biggest problem seemed that each guy always seemed to have no real options on their turn other then the obvious move..The games engine just pulls everyone along a path you can't deviate from or you'll fail and you'll only win if your lucky in how the epidemics come out.

Compared to something like Arkham Horror which has a real sense of urgency and threats as well. But Arkham lets you as a group devise different ways of reacting to the treats and has encounter events throughout the turn so it doesn't just seem like your moving remove a cube, moving remove a cube.

Anyone know of somewhere in Southern Ontario that has good buy/sell/trade games you don't want?
I'd love to sell/trade in this and Dungeon Run(which I liked but others in group have decided they don't' want to play again) towards buying some addons for Dominion and 7 Wonders ect.
Or should I just use the Geek?
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
Had a great gaming day a few days ago. Played Tide of Iron, Settlers and Elder Sign. This was my first time playing Elder Sign and I liked it a lot. Need to pick up a copy of my own. Pretty sure my wife would get into the game as well.
 

Cathcart

Member
The biggest (possibly only) change between first and second edition Ascension is that the card stock changed. The cards from second edition match the cards in all of the expansions so if you're buying it now you want 2nd.

I'd rather eat cards than sleeve them so I can't help you with that one.

Anyone here play Through the Ages on BGO? I just got into this and I'd like to play a four player game but I'm not great at it. Anyway, if someone puts a game together and invites me (Mike Cathcart) I'll play.
 

Cardigan

Member
Few questions regarding Ascension. What's has changed in the 2nd edition? Also, are the official sleeves decent?

I don't know anything about sleeves, but I played a game of Ascension with the official sleeves last week and I thought they were good. The only thing I noticed was that one of the corners was peeling somewhat.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Kickstarter video shot. T- minus 1 week till launch.

Getting nervous.

In any case, I think I'm playing Belfort tonight, but one of my gaming group wants to switch that to Tammany Hall to try and get some buzz going in my gaming group.

I'm kind of torn. I love Tammany Hall, and I'm launching it on kickstarter in a week.. but I kind of want to play Belfort.
 

Emerson

May contain jokes =>
Kickstarter video shot. T- minus 1 week till launch.

Getting nervous.

In any case, I think I'm playing Belfort tonight, but one of my gaming group wants to switch that to Tammany Hall to try and get some buzz going in my gaming group.

I'm kind of torn. I love Tammany Hall, and I'm launching it on kickstarter in a week.. but I kind of want to play Belfort.

Sorry if I missed this but what is your goal gonna be?

I don't know much about the game but I reckon you'll get my bucks.
 
The boys and I are playing our first game of Chaos In The Old World tomorrow. Any tips?

I've read the rules a few times now - doesn't seem too bad. We've played heavier.
 
The boys and I are playing our first game of Chaos In The Old World tomorrow. Any tips?

I've read the rules a few times now - doesn't seem too bad. We've played heavier.
If you are playing Khorne, you want as many double ticks on the dial as possible. It's harder for him to win with points so don't bother. If you are not playing as Khorne try to not spread out in too many areas. If Khorne has less areas to kill he will get less dial ticks.

Tzeentch is hard to play as but not impossible. Make sure you upgrade your cultists to have the ability to carry the warpstone around. The warpstones are good for two reasons, one, they had another magic symbol to an area and that's what you are looking in order to click your dial. Two, they add to corruption so being able to move a warpstone or two around the map makes it easier for you to corrupt an area.

Slaanesh is the most versitile. You can win on points but Slaanesh has the shortest dial. Focus on at least getting one tick of the dial a turn and try and prevent Khorne from double ticking. Other than that try to go after points. If you double tick at least once you are in a good position.

Nurgle is corruption, corruption, corruption. Make sure you get the upgrade that gives you three points for being a part of a ruined region and just dump as much corruption as possible.
 

Cathcart

Member
The boys and I are playing our first game of Chaos In The Old World tomorrow. Any tips?

I've read the rules a few times now - doesn't seem too bad. We've played heavier.
But you haven't played better ;)

Show everyone the tips at the end of the manual, they're very helpful for new players. Make sure you try to get at least one dial token every turn even if you're going for points, the dial rewards are really good. Also, try to be aware of everyone's dial advancement condition, not just your own. It doesn't hurt for the rules lawyer to remind people about what everyone else is trying to accomplish during the first few turns. Everyone needs to be trying to stop the others from advancing as much as they are trying to accomplish their own thing. The way you all counter each other is really cool in Chaos.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Sorry if I missed this but what is your goal gonna be?

I don't know much about the game but I reckon you'll get my bucks.

First, the game is amazingly good. I'm not the designer so I have no problem saying that, though I suppose I'm not exactly impartial at this point. It's been one of my top 5 games since I first played it, and I (along with Fenners) evangelized for the game years ago when it was still available to buy.

The goal 35K. It's a little over half of the funds needed to kickstart the game.

More or less these would leave me paying advertising, shipping to supporters, the UPC code (750 bucks!) and various business start-up expenses. I want most of the money to help me print the game, not to support the kickstarter itself.

Anything that goes over that amount is going to be used to print more copies. So my ultimate goal is to funnel any "profits" on kickstarter into Tammany Hall printing. I think that's in the spirit of kickstarter.
 
I've just ordered Cosmic Encounter and look forward to playing it this weekend. My group of board game playing friends does tend to more often be 6 players than 5 though, so I was considering buying the Cosmic Incursion expansion straight away. Firstly, is this wise? Will the game feel too slow and bogged down with that many brand new player (none of us have any experience with the game; I know how to play it and will be explaining from my own research).

Secondly, if we should be fine with a sixth player, how should I incorporate the expansion? Should we utilise it all from the get go or should I just bring in the new character colour stuff and ignore the new alien races and the new deck? I don't want to add extra complexity on game 1, but if it's just more of the same I guess that would be OK.
 
I've just ordered Cosmic Encounter and look forward to playing it this weekend. My group of board game playing friends does tend to more often be 6 players than 5 though, so I was considering buying the Cosmic Incursion expansion straight away. Firstly, is this wise? Will the game feel too slow and bogged down with that many brand new player (none of us have any experience with the game; I know how to play it and will be explaining from my own research).

Secondly, if we should be fine with a sixth player, how should I incorporate the expansion? Should we utilise it all from the get go or should I just bring in the new character colour stuff and ignore the new alien races and the new deck? I don't want to add extra complexity on game 1, but if it's just more of the same I guess that would be OK.
Six works just fine with Cosmic Encounter. The expansions generally just include a new player color, new aliens/flairs, and new techs. I usually play without the techs with new players so you can keep that out. However, I would add the new aliens and flair cards. The rules for those are pretty much the same as the base game so there is no problem integrating them.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
I've just ordered Cosmic Encounter and look forward to playing it this weekend. My group of board game playing friends does tend to more often be 6 players than 5 though, so I was considering buying the Cosmic Incursion expansion straight away. Firstly, is this wise? Will the game feel too slow and bogged down with that many brand new player (none of us have any experience with the game; I know how to play it and will be explaining from my own research).

Secondly, if we should be fine with a sixth player, how should I incorporate the expansion? Should we utilise it all from the get go or should I just bring in the new character colour stuff and ignore the new alien races and the new deck? I don't want to add extra complexity on game 1, but if it's just more of the same I guess that would be OK.

Each of the expansions ads an optional wrinkle to the game.

For the most part they are more variety and won't impact any given games. You only select two alien races per player (and then choose one) so more aliens is just a larger pool of aliens to pull from. It won't change the complexity at all.

Other than a larger alien variety and more players the various expansions add:

Cosmic Alliance: Team game rules
Cosmic Conflict: Hazard cards that add little random rule wrinkles
Cosmic Incursion: Reward deck - very good expansion that gives a nice bonus for helping defend planets.

These are mostly good additions, but are totally optional and can be left out. It's a game that scales pretty well to your experience level.

For your first games I would do a couple of important things:
1) Play with green aliens only. They have much simpler powers and less confusing interactions for the first few games.
2) Play with flare cards. The game can be a bit dull without them.
3) Don't use technology cards at first. They are really awesome and make the game much better, but I think limiting choices is good for the first few games.

have fun. The game is a blast.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. First impressions are everything, so I need to make sure it makes the best impact it can during the first couple of games although it seems like a game that'll be a lot of fun regardless.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Played a bunch of games at Gnomecon in Savannah. Finally got to play Mage Knight and it is everything I hoped for. Definitely going to have to get it this go round. May be a bit much for my regular game group but I think I have a few folks who will be into it.

Lords of Waterdeep. AWESOME! Not that it is a particularly great game, but that it will let me introduce noobs to a worker placement game and then get them to play Caylus. LoD is fun with some replay but the hour play time is the key.

Conquest of Planet Earth. The flying frog alien invasion game (the one not like the zombie game). Pretty fun, certainly way more thematic than Invasion from Outer Space. We had one mission to conquer a small town and drew a couple of scientists, a local sheriff, and a mob. We all looked at each other and exclaimed that we were attacking the town of Eureka :) Good stuff.

Finally played Munchkin. Maybe I need to be drunk...
 

Cathcart

Member
Yeah, Mage Knight is fantastic. Gotta watch out though because it's very easy for the game to last a billionty hours with more than one new player.
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
Finally decided to start to try my hand at painting Boardgame Minis
Figured I'd start with the Legend of Drizzt, type of game just looks so evocative with painted mini's.
ka1Os.jpg

It begins ..using ArmyPanter primer-grey color combo for base.
Bought 12 citadel base colors, 4 Secret Weapon Wash's and ArmyPainter Spray on Matt Varnish.

Any painters got any advice for a newbie :) Should be fun
 

fenners

Member
Lords of Waterdeep. AWESOME! Not that it is a particularly great game, but that it will let me introduce noobs to a worker placement game and then get them to play Caylus. LoD is fun with some replay but the hour play time is the key.

I like it for much the reasons you've listed... But I can't see myself buying it.

Finally played Munchkin. Maybe I need to be drunk...

Won't help...
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Yeah, Mage Knight is fantastic. Gotta watch out though because it's very easy for the game to last a billionty hours with more than one new player.

Yeah, we had 2 new players and 2 experienced players. So both of us newbies got continually corrected about fortified/siege/gold/black/resisted/brutal/token/crystal/skill violations. Made it faster to have him do the bookeeping and it was still a long game (and we played blitz).

Anyway, real impressed with MK and Eclipse, both seem to capture a lot of what used to be a 4+ hour slog and condense it down into 2 hours.

That said, I'm interested in epic versions of both :p
 

eastmen

Banned
Wanted to get GAFs thoughts on backing levels for Tammany Hall. If you thought they were fair, etc. Please don't share this on BGG or anywhere, just trying to get some thoughts.

I want to keep the stretch goaling simple and not bog it down with specific reward levels or whatnot.

The MSRP is 60 dollars, so you are getting early release + goals + free shipping + small discount for kickstarting. Shipping is killing me (wooden bits!) so it's hard to do much better, especially international. It's also cheaper than the original Stratamax US copies which were 60 + shipping.

1 - thanks (mostly so people involved in bulk ordering can post in the comments)
55 - copy of games + all stretch goals (10 dollars extra for Canadians, 30 Eurpe, 40 WW)
105 - 2 copies + all stretch goals (15 dollars Canadian, 40 Eurpe, 50 WW)
200 - 4 copies + all strech goals (US only + 30 Canadian, no WW)
650 - 10 copies to Europe, Latin America, South America
750 - 10 copies to Asia, Pacific, Africa, Middle East

I have no idea what your game is about , but one of the things that my gf and I look for with board game kickstarters is a video showing how the game is played. You should really have 1 or 2 videos explaining it and showing sample game play.

I will try and support you on the game depending on when you kickstart it. My gf and I are at $550 bucks for april on kickstarter lol
 
I have no idea what your game is about , but one of the things that my gf and I look for with board game kickstarters is a video showing how the game is played. You should really have 1 or 2 videos explaining it and showing sample game play.

I will try and support you on the game depending on when you kickstart it. My gf and I are at $550 bucks for april on kickstarter lol
Stooge is only publishing the reprint, it's not his game persay.
There are a couple videos already on boardgamegeek if you are interested. He also sent out his copy of the game to other video reviewers and they'll do videos as well.

You should check the game out. It's really well done and is underrated due to the tiny initial print run. This kickstarter looks to fix that and get into more people's hands. The nice thing about this kickstarter is the game isn't unkown. It already existed at one point and is well regarded by the people who own it and played it.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Played Belfort last night. Not sure what I think about it.

The worker placement and construction of cards is kind of neat. The little engine you can build is pretty rad.

The totally disjointed area control scoring mechanic I'm not sure about. I like it in theory that scoring points might force sub optimal moves.

I'm not sure that I like the fact that you can only build the cards in your hand. Which can severely limit where you can build.

I need to play it again. I like the idea of he game, just need to figure out I'd I actually like the game game.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
I have no idea what your game is about , but one of the things that my gf and I look for with board game kickstarters is a video showing how the game is played. You should really have 1 or 2 videos explaining it and showing sample game play.

I will try and support you on the game depending on when you kickstart it. My gf and I are at $550 bucks for april on kickstarter lol

Yeah, I may wind up making a "strategy" video that kind of shows some of the really interesting decisions you can make,

There are several reviews out already (Dice Tower, Board Game Blogger, Cartrunk, Giant Fire Breathing Robot) and a couple more coming (Undead Viking, Stormseeker, maybe another).

There is also a walk through video from Essen with the original designers and Derk from BGG

http://boardgamegeek.com/video/3977/tammany-hall/tammany-hall-demo-boardgamegeek-booth-essen-sp
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
Nice! I also just got started with my first project: War of the Ring. Uh, there's only like 200 minis to paint...

Ya I got that one as well as BattleCry..but figured the Drizzt one would be good place to start since its got less :)

Are you planning on trying a Dip process on those? Might be alot easier to manage then wash with that many units.
This video from Armypainter..shows how to do it, results looks pretty cool.
Might be worth it for the big 200 mini games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw1b56j_gSI
 

Cathcart

Member
Thought about a dip, then I thought, "what else do I have to do this summer?" Here's Gondor:

War_of_the_Ring_minis.jpg

The other Gondor minis are finished, they were just drying when I took the pic. I got the minis for Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Mt Doom and the two towers from this guy. Really looking forward to seeing the whole board of minis painted up. Should finish just in time for the expansion :D
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
Thought about a dip, then I thought, "what else do I have to do this summer?" Here's Gondor:


The other Gondor minis are finished, they were just drying when I took the pic. I got the minis for Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Mt Doom and the two towers from this guy. Really looking forward to seeing the whole board of minis painted up. Should finish just in time for the expansion :D

FANTASTIC!
 
Yeah, I may wind up making a "strategy" video that kind of shows some of the really interesting decisions you can make,

There are several reviews out already (Dice Tower, Board Game Blogger, Cartrunk, Giant Fire Breathing Robot) and a couple more coming (Undead Viking, Stormseeker, maybe another).

There is also a walk through video from Essen with the original designers and Derk from BGG

http://boardgamegeek.com/video/3977/tammany-hall/tammany-hall-demo-boardgamegeek-booth-essen-sp

BGG has Tammany Hall down as 60 minutes.
In your experience, once you've got over the learning stage is that what you'd expect.
Presumably 5 players is going to be longer.
I'm going to check the videos when I get home later.
 
BGG has Tammany Hall down as 60 minutes.
In your experience, once you've got over the learning stage is that what you'd expect.
Presumably 5 players is going to be longer.
I'm going to check the videos when I get home later.
60 Minutes is a fair assessment. With all new players a 5 player game with take maybe 90 minutes on the long end. There really isn't much to a turn (place two pieces and maybe perform your special action) and most of the time will be taken up by resolving the elections.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
BGG has Tammany Hall down as 60 minutes.
In your experience, once you've got over the learning stage is that what you'd expect.
Presumably 5 players is going to be longer.
I'm going to check the videos when I get home later.

It's about right at 60 to 90 minutes. Each turn is pretty straightforward. Even with new players they'll have it down halway through the first election cycle.

That said I played a 3 hour game before. That had more to do with 4 bottles of wine than Tammany hall though.
 
60 Minutes is a fair assessment. With all new players a 5 player game with take maybe 90 minutes on the long end. There really isn't much to a turn (place two pieces and maybe perform your special action) and most of the time will be taken up by resolving the elections.

It's about right at 60 to 90 minutes. Each turn is pretty straightforward. Even with new players they'll have it down halway through the first election cycle.

That said I played a 3 hour game before. That had more to do with 4 bottles of wine than Tammany hall though.

Good stuff. Thanks.
 

Cathcart

Member
So I signed up to play Through the Ages online at BGO with a couple of friends of mine. While I was there I noticed they have a league, so I thought yeah why not? I'll play some league games. Probably get crushed but it would be cool to see how better players play. Unfortunately there are 4 games you play in each season (I assume games will take a couple weeks to finish) but they create all four of your games at the same time. So now I'm in six games of Through the Ages going simultaneously. Brain: fried.
 
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