• 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)

Status
Not open for further replies.
I see it's been mentioned, but Descent 2nd is worth it? My friend is at Gen Con and was going to pick it up for me if I want. How pod does it play with just two of us? I don't have a big group to game with...If there are other good campaign-y style games (in the similar light of Runebound, WHQ, Decent 1st, etc), any idea what they are?

Dont pick it up at gencon, you get it cheaper at countless other online retailers. Even the discount sellers at Gencon mark up their prices like Coolstuff
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Dont pick it up at gencon, you get it cheaper at countless other online retailers. Even the discount sellers at Gencon mark up their prices like Coolstuff

Fun fact: vendors can pay to force everyone to sell their games at MSRP. Or to be exclusive.

When I was thinking about going to Origins it was possible to pay 1500 dollars and make sure no one could sell our games below MSRP but us. And for more money, it was possible to ban people from selling our games outright.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
haha wow.

stooge i think half of BG gaf was watching your KS yesterday. know you have two titles to push out now but really looking forward to that roller-coaster game. hope you are able to take your time with it and come up with some really cool mechanics
 

jstevenson

Sailor Stevenson
haha wow.

stooge i think half of BG gaf was watching your KS yesterday. know you have two titles to push out now but really looking forward to that roller-coaster game. hope you are able to take your time with it and come up with some really cool mechanics

me too, I'm super stoked for the roller coaster game!
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Roller Coast Rush is back in testing again, I want to change up a couple of things I didn't really care for too much with the game. Mostly some changes that were made due to cost consideration.

I still like the core game, but after meeting with a lot of designers and talking about theory, I think it needs to be stripped down a bit more and there is an end game problem that doesn't work that well for the 2 player version.

It is coming though, most likely in 2013.

When I sign a game with a designer, it's easiest to shuffle my own game back and put another designers product first.

Right now, I'm 3rd in line, with the possibility of becoming 4th or 5th in line.
 
Impressions from people who played the reworked Star Wars LCG don't sound all that hot, lot of meh reactions. Lot more positivity last year when it was a coop game, but now because of whiners it's been turned into a 2 player battle game.
 

Xater

Member
In the display cases outside the FFG booth they had spaces with cards saying new product coming soon. I think they are all filled now.

216136_10152053413495525_346340373_n.jpg


200676_10152053412280525_751240062_n.jpg


380449_10152053411290525_361737189_n.jpg


221894_10152053409295525_2047345377_n.jpg


I think that's all the new stuff. I'll double check tomorrow

What's this Borderlands game? Steam Punk has my interest but only it is a board games and not a LCG. I don't like CCGs and LCG have some of the same trappings so I don't care for those either.
 
Solo D-Day dice is HARD.

I've only played 2 games so far (lost both miserably =(), but it definitely feels like a great game.

More impressions once I get like 10+ games in it
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
What's this Borderlands game? Steam Punk has my interest but only it is a board games and not a LCG. I don't like CCGs and LCG have some of the same trappings so I don't care for those either.

It's an old eon game (cosmic encounter/dune/Rex).
 
Stooge, where is Meteor in the queue?

Roller Coast Rush is back in testing again, I want to change up a couple of things I didn't really care for too much with the game. Mostly some changes that were made due to cost consideration.

I still like the core game, but after meeting with a lot of designers and talking about theory, I think it needs to be stripped down a bit more and there is an end game problem that doesn't work that well for the 2 player version.

It is coming though, most likely in 2013.

When I sign a game with a designer, it's easiest to shuffle my own game back and put another designers product first.

Right now, I'm 3rd in line, with the possibility of becoming 4th or 5th in line.
 
I will say that Descent 2.0 isn't really a dungeon crawl. 1st ed. Is STRAIGHT crawling.

Decent 2.0 is basically combat encounters, you don't really have dungeons you crawl through. The game was streamlined in some aspects but made more complex at the same time in others. What they did to speed up the game so much in 2.0 has been to make the game be straight up encounters on small set ups. Decent 1st edition was basically creating huge dungeons, sometimes multi level that you had to travel around and fully fight through/explore with objectives before getting to a boss character. You create in 2.0 small encounter map and how you do in the scenario leads into another scenario of similar size.
 

Neverfade

Member
In case anyone didn't see it, Looping Louie is apparently back in print and available at Toys R Us (in store and online) for 20 bucks! Had to buy a copy to get drunk and mow down chickens with.
 

Neverfade

Member
Speaking of getting drunk, I need to champion a brew I recently got to try, Devil's Backbone Brewery's Vienna Lager. It's from my hometown of Lexington, VA and it's pretty goddamn tasty. They have an IPA which I hear is fantastic, but I am certainly not an IPA fan. If you can get your hands on one of these, drink one for me!

To keep this boardgame related, I think I'm going to go crack open Antiquity. So. Many. Chits.

Plus, an order arriving Tuesday. Trajan, Shadow Hunters (was 16 bucks at MM!), and....I broke down and bought Agricola. Trying to go into this with positive thoughts!

Edit: Did anyone at GenCon get to try Tzolkin? That gear system makes my fucking mind melt. Need.
 

octobot

Member
Impressions on Mage Wars asap GAF!

Demoed it today at Gencon. It's really good. A very strategic one on one (well you also summon a lot of minions) combat game. Each mage gets his/her own spell book which you customize by buying spells up to 120 points (you can add spells from other schools of magic but they cost more) each turn you get one main action and one quick action and get to draw two cards from your spell book (which is really cool since your spell book is basically your deck, but you select the spells you want each round instead of random draw). A main action lets you either cast a more significant spell or move and cast a quick spell. You can use a quick action after any friendly action. After you preform an action it is your opponents turn and it cycles back and forth till the turn ends. I am going to order it as soon as I get home as the hour long demo just wasn't enough.
 
Just got back from Gencon. Had to spend most of my day playing Heroclix in order to get a Con Exclusive LE and by the time we finished playing it was 6pm and the Exhibition hall was closed. I popped in for a few minutes after lunch to get new dice (because mine were sucking it up) and to pick up Evil Baby Orphanage w/ promo cards. I wanted to demo Mage Wars, Spartacus, Level 7, and DC deckbuilding but didn't get a chance with any of them. Did get a quick rules run through on Star Wars miniature game.

While I thought the game looked fun (we only got in two or three rounds before a ticketed event started) it looks like an absolute ripoff. The ships look like Micromachine quality (which isn't terrible) but are waaaaay overpriced at 15 bucks a pop and were constantly coming off of their pegs (more than they are designed to). Combined with the fact that the starter game comes with a piddly 1 X-Wing and 2 TIEs, it's pretty lame out of the box. If they doubled the ships to allow for four players out of the starter for the same price it might (might) be worth it. Leviathan looked much, much better and seemed to have a lot more bang for your buck.
 

Photon

Member
In case anyone didn't see it, Looping Louie is apparently back in print and available at Toys R Us (in store and online) for 20 bucks! Had to buy a copy to get drunk and mow down chickens with.

Thanks! I'm going to have to make a stop by TRU tomorrow now.
 
Just got back from Gencon. Had to spend most of my day playing Heroclix in order to get a Con Exclusive LE and by the time we finished playing it was 6pm and the Exhibition hall was closed. I popped in for a few minutes after lunch to get new dice (because mine were sucking it up) and to pick up Evil Baby Orphanage w/ promo cards. I wanted to demo Mage Wars, Spartacus, Level 7, and DC deckbuilding but didn't get a chance with any of them. Did get a quick rules run through on Star Wars miniature game.

While I thought the game looked fun (we only got in two or three rounds before a ticketed event started) it looks like an absolute ripoff. The ships look like Micromachine quality (which isn't terrible) but are waaaaay overpriced at 15 bucks a pop and were constantly coming off of their pegs (more than they are designed to). Combined with the fact that the starter game comes with a piddly 1 X-Wing and 2 TIEs, it's pretty lame out of the box. If they doubled the ships to allow for four players out of the starter for the same price it might (might) be worth it. Leviathan looked much, much better and seemed to have a lot more bang for your buck.

X-Wing figs are well priced, about in line with the Wings of War figs which are the same style of game, but you also get a bunch of tokens, dials, and cards with each x-wing kit. I have to greatly disagree on the quality of the figures as personally I found them to be fantastic looking with good detail. As a collector of Micro Machine Star Wars stuff too, yea that's pretty off base as they are much larger, and MUCH better detail and paint quality. Plus not rubbery like micro machines. They shouldn't come off their pegs that much, the demo ones likely have been man handled a bit too much. You are not supposed to grab the figs though, like with Wings of War you grab the base to avoid the minis from popping off.

Leviathans is not much cheaper at 50 bucks for four figs in the starter forces, with later releases going to be costing more as they will be stand alone resin figs instead of plastic. The paint jobs on the Leviathan stuff is pretty bad and sloppy, so not seeing the much much better aspect. Not sure how you can say you get more bang for your buck when the Leviathan starter is $100. Leviathans is going to be a tough sell going up against Dystopian Wars which has been on the market for some time. Seems like they are hoping to keep Leviathans more unique by trying to attract board gamers to it when it really is a miniature wargame, but they are holding themselves back since they plan on keeping the game purely about giant warships, no fighters or other unique unit types. They also seriously need more visual diversity and identity on those different faction ships, as they really do look overly similar to one another. Leviathans also is a Catalyst product and their releases have had very spotty quality control. Their box sets have been quite poor quality overall as well as their plastic casting abilities.
 
Star Wars felt like Wings of War in a new skin. Not a space combat game...I should point out I've never liked the flow of Wings of War either. It beats you over the head with its turn-based action.

Leviathan feels like what it is supposed to be mechanics wise and the ships looked amazing in person and are really meant to be "customized" later. I absolutely agree that the ships are very similar looking as a whole, but few things have the iconic recognizability of Star Wars fighters.

For me it just comes down to scale. I look at what I'm getting out of the box as a starter. Star Wars miniatures may be compelling as a collectible miniature game that is expandable, but it is woefully underwhelming to play with three ships.

Comparison (prices are from CSI):

Leviathan Starter (from their site):
This Box Includes:

2 rulebooks to transition players from the quick-start rules to the core rules
8 high-quality, 1200-scale plastic ship miniatures
12 Ship Cards
12 full-color Recognition Cards
1 Leviathans Gazetteer universe primer
2 fiction novellas
2 18” x 22” board-game quality maps
10 custom D12 dice and 2D6
2 reference cards
Leviathans recognition poster
Sheet of faction/ship crests
Template game aides (die cut cardboard counters)

$69.99

X-Wing:
Can't find what's specifically included (I know it includes cardboard tokens, ship cards, and damage cards--no maps (play area would be black felt I guess), doesn't say how many dice.

Starter: 25.99
Expansions required to get to 8 ships (comparable with Leviathan which has bigger ships to begin with): 5 x 9.99
Total: $75.94

I don't mean to rain on your parade, and I'm sure X-Wing will be a great game with great support, but I'm done giving money to George Lucas and would simply rather support something else.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Well I don't get to be at GenCon but I had a jawesome day of gaming. About six games of Summoner Wars Master Set (<3 Shadow Elves, Swamp Orcs are a pain to play against as well) and one nice meaty game of Agricola, which I haven't had the chance to play in months.
 

Xater

Member
I think X-Wing looks kind of cool. Like a simpler tabletop game without the glueing and painting. So far they got me, but the starter pack does seem kind of lackluster. To make it a meaningful game it looks like you want to play with the 100points limit, and looking at the squads that they made on the FFG website that means you have to at least buy 4 more figures. So it's more like a 100 bucks game. Bummer.
 

Barmaley

Neo Member
Depends on what they add. I'm not a fan of the rat expansion.
While I agree that the expansion is not properly balanced, I thought that the new god and his dial advancement condition was pretty great. Also it's thematic to hell and back. When I want a want a clean, balanced game I play vanilla citow; when I want chaotic fun I play the expansion. I any case, I play citow no matter what :D
Anways, my hopes for the new expansion are that it will add some new gameplay mechanics (not another god, the game can get pretty bloated with the horned rat as it is) and perhaps add some fixes for the first expansion.
 
I think X-Wing looks kind of cool. Like a simpler tabletop game without the glueing and painting. So far they got me, but the starter pack does seem kind of lackluster. To make it a meaningful game it looks like you want to play with the 100points limit, and looking at the squads that they made on the FFG website that means you have to at least buy 4 more figures. So it's more like a 100 bucks game. Bummer.

Game is meant for small scale fights so starter works good as a cheap intro, there is no real specific set point value so you play however big you want it, but as with Wings of War each ship added is going to increase the play time.

Star Wars felt like Wings of War in a new skin. Not a space combat game...I should point out I've never liked the flow of Wings of War either. It beats you over the head with its turn-based action.

Leviathan feels like what it is supposed to be mechanics wise and the ships looked amazing in person and are really meant to be "customized" later. I absolutely agree that the ships are very similar looking as a whole, but few things have the iconic recognizability of Star Wars fighters.

For me it just comes down to scale. I look at what I'm getting out of the box as a starter. Star Wars miniatures may be compelling as a collectible miniature game that is expandable, but it is woefully underwhelming to play with three ships.
I don't mean to rain on your parade, and I'm sure X-Wing will be a great game with great support, but I'm done giving money to George Lucas and would simply rather support something else.

Well X-Wing is not a collectible miniature game, there is no randomness involved. But I guess no matter what you wouldn't have liked the game with what you are saying, oh well. I plan on getting both either way, I just have lot of hesitation on Leviathans because of alot of factors with the company and it's production history. As for the bigger miniatures, there are some but the smaller frigates you get 4 of in the starter are about size of the X-Wing ships. Why there was lot of negative reaction to the fleet boxes and starter prices charging $50 for 4 semi painted ships when 2 of them are tiny. Prices were originally supposed to be lower but then they raised the prices on all the stuff by 10-20$ suddenly before release. But they are completely different games either way, what does get me to buy Leviathans is that it's more detailed combat ala Battletech with delicious ship control sheets
 

Xater

Member
RE: Dominion "App"; Fuck this thing wholly. Why they didn't do it proper and give it to a competent group is beyond me.

What is going on?

Game is meant for small scale fights so starter works good as a cheap intro, there is no real specific set point value so you play however big you want it, but as with Wings of War each ship added is going to increase the play time.

The rules certainly make it sound like 100 points squads are the sweet spot.
 
What is going on?.
Announcement after an embargo on the 16th that Dominion was ready (guess what, it wasn't). Also they had acquired 150 other licences (RGG, Mayfair, FFG) including Rftg and a Catan MM game coming soon. $8M venture funding.
Website only showed the old beta login for a few hours, then later on the proper site became available but couldn't cope under the strain. They announced later that they were going back to beta.
There seem to be issues with security among other vulnerabilities.
Other downsides include no offline (app) play.
Check out the forums here for a running commentary over the last few days.
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?board=28.0
 

Petrie

Banned
Before I throw it up on BBG Market wanted to put it out there that since the original buyer found it locally after I had to postpone, I have my 1st edition of the Descent base set for sale. Shoot me a PM if you're looking.
 
Announcement after an embargo on the 16th that Dominion was ready (guess what, it wasn't). Also they had acquired 150 other licences (RGG, Mayfair, FFG) including Rftg and a Catan MM game coming soon. $8M venture funding.
Website only showed the old beta login for a few hours, then later on the proper site became available but couldn't cope under the strain. They announced later that they were going back to beta.
There seem to be issues with security among other vulnerabilities.
Other downsides include no offline (app) play.
Check out the forums here for a running commentary over the last few days.
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?board=28.0

What a fucking cluster!! At least my real dominion cards will load.

Wow.

Edit: didn't want to kick this off the last page so here it is.

Before I throw it up on BBG Market wanted to put it out there that since the original buyer found it locally after I had to postpone, I have my 1st edition of the Descent base set for sale. Shoot me a PM if you're looking.
 
I hope this is ok in this thread.

What do you guys think of the Dungeons and Dragons Starter set? The new reprint 4e red box for a complete noob (Never played a single tabletop RPG) ??

Its like 13 dollars on Amazon right now.
 

jstevenson

Sailor Stevenson
Wife and I had our first go with the LOTR LCG.

The first scenario / example is way too easy... or maybe we messed up the rules. Gonna re-read to be sure we weren't cheating.

Wife's eyes glazed over, but she was a good sport and started to get the hang of it by the end.

Excited to tackle the harder scenarios and start nabbing expansions, though keeping the cards sorted seems like a disaster right now
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Wife and I had our first go with the LOTR LCG.

The first scenario / example is way too easy... or maybe we messed up the rules. Gonna re-read to be sure we weren't cheating.

Wife's eyes glazed over, but she was a good sport and started to get the hang of it by the end.

Excited to tackle the harder scenarios and start nabbing expansions, though keeping the cards sorted seems like a disaster right now
I am going to try this game once more but my first experience with it last year was very similar. A lot of work in terms of rules and reading FAQs and forums for not a ton of payoff. That and all the quality in the game seems to come from the metagame aspect (deckbuilding) -- as in scenarios are either way too easy or require pretty extensive deckbuilding to beat. Not that it's bad and the art and concept are awesome. Just that there are SO MANY other good games to play instead.
 

jstevenson

Sailor Stevenson
I am going to try this game once more but my first experience with it last year was very similar. A lot of work in terms of rules and reading FAQs and forums for not a ton of payoff. That and all the quality in the game seems to come from the metagame aspect (deckbuilding) -- as in scenarios are either way too easy or require pretty extensive deckbuilding to beat. Not that it's bad and the art and concept are awesome. Just that there are SO MANY other good games to play instead.

Yeah, but I could use one game scratching my CCG itch a bit... meta game could be awesome in that regard.... that said, there doesn't seem like much metagame in the core set (unless it's only possible to beat the scenarios by intermixing decks).

Also rad is that I could play it solitaire. Back when I was big into (and really good at) SWCCG, I played against myself for a couple hours a day... so this could be fun in that regard.
 
Wife and I had our first go with the LOTR LCG.

The first scenario / example is way too easy... or maybe we messed up the rules. Gonna re-read to be sure we weren't cheating.

Wife's eyes glazed over, but she was a good sport and started to get the hang of it by the end.

Excited to tackle the harder scenarios and start nabbing expansions, though keeping the cards sorted seems like a disaster right now
Got to be honest and was pretty disappointed in this game. I had an initial excitement, played a couple of games, bought a super cheap expansion and then had no desire to play it again. I ended up trading it away a few weeks ago.
 
Wife and I had our first go with the LOTR LCG.

The first scenario / example is way too easy... or maybe we messed up the rules. Gonna re-read to be sure we weren't cheating.

Wife's eyes glazed over, but she was a good sport and started to get the hang of it by the end.

Excited to tackle the harder scenarios and start nabbing expansions, though keeping the cards sorted seems like a disaster right now

Best thing to do is create a method to organize the scenario cards by symbol. Yea the intro scenario is very easy, but difficulty ramps up a lot. You will often come to a scenario, lose, and then try to tailor your decks to beat it. Its great if you play it with folks used to CCG like games.
 
I really wanted to try Spartacus, but the exhibit hall closed at 6...missed out on a bunch of stuff so I could play heroclix with my friends. Definitely going for two days next year.
 

Dreavus

Member
Having lots of fun with Yomi, despite the fact that many of the times I've played I seem to either get stomped or I'm the one doing the stomping. I'm not sure if this is from inexperience or just runs of rotten luck for me or my opponent... maybe a bit of both. There have been some really close games along the way too, though. Had an amazing comeback with a Checkmate buster from Rook (needs all 4 aces to play) while I was sitting at 4 HP... bringing my opponent down from 51 HP to 1 HP. Eked out a win in the following round with a slightly faster attack somehow (I lucked out, I was totally expecting a throw). I can't wait to try this game out with more people in the coming week.

For characters, I've played Setsuki 3 or 4 times now and I love the idea of her playstyle (lots of combos with lots of card drawing to keep them coming), but having only 70 life can be painful. I also find myself stuck at 3 cards sometimes, which REALLY sucks when trying to activate her innate ability. I think I need to suppress the Magic: the Gathering side of my brain and start chucking cards at every opportunity and dodging more, since losing cards isn't a big deal for her (provided you can get down to 1 card left).
 

Xater

Member
I hope this is ok in this thread.

What do you guys think of the Dungeons and Dragons Starter set? The new reprint 4e red box for a complete noob (Never played a single tabletop RPG) ??

Its like 13 dollars on Amazon right now.

I think it's pretty good. Great introduction but also nothing more. Also isn#t the 5th edition on it's way?
 
There's a separate PnP RPG thread with lot of hardcore rpg folks who can help ya.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=465327&highlight=pnp

thank you sir.


I think it's pretty good. Great introduction but also nothing more. Also isn#t the 5th edition on it's way?

thanks! 5th edition is like 2 years away according to the stuff I heard out of Gencon. I am just looking to dip my toe in the water with my friends and see if this is something we can enjoy as a group.
 

Xater

Member
Today I also just decided to just get the English release of Cosmic Encounter. It doesn't look like it will ever get a German one and I found a shop with a price that was not outrageous. my group is kind of competitive so I assume this game should go over well with attacking each other and stuff.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
After months without playing Agricola -- two games in two days! Including a base-game high-score of 59 points last night. Even though the game takes ~120m, it definitely gives you that "let's play again" feeling thanks to the cards. We played with the straight E then I decks, but will probably mix things up next game. The I deck gets pretty nuts in terms of interactions if it's not diluted at all.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom