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[BattleMonkey]

City of Thieves to be out next week or so. Anyone interested in it? I'm kind of leary on stuff by Dust Games so far, though I am looking forward to Dust Tactics

 

[AstroLad]

I own Catan for 360 and might be up for playing a round of it if we got it going.

Yeah I have Carc and Catan.

 

[fenners]

Big group at gaming last night - 9 people. One table played Kavai (I think) - a long out of print economic engine game that's getting reprinted for Essen. Total brain burner, which I wasn't in the mood for.

We played a relatively quick game of Fresco using just the basic rules. I really like this game, need to play with the more advanced building rules. I saw someone asking for impressions - it's a typical Euro "cube pusher" that's very well polished. You buy cubes of some colours, convert them to other colours & use the cubes to complete sections of the painting (each square requires different mixes). Nice & simple...

The gotcha is how turn order is done & action selection. There's a "clock" for the day, where the earlier you get up & make your workers do stuff (basically do actions first) causes actions to cost more coins & makes your workers unhappy. Action selection is simultaneous - each player has a little board to put his workers on (there's 5 actions with 3 possible attempts) - you normally just have 4 actions, so it's a typical Eurogame where there's always more to do than you can.

I like it. All that might sound dry, but it's not. The theme is integrated nicely, the actions are ordered very nicely - you earn coins after you can spend them this turn, you mix after you can build etc, so there's lots of planning for the /next/ turn. Both games I've played have been very close - last night's game scores were 63,62,61 & someone in the 40s. It's quick & easy to learn.



The other game of the night for us was Ascension.... Nice twist on Dominion, liked the theme & setup a little more than Dominion too, but that's just me. I'd definitely play this again as a nice filler.

 

[Petrie]

Got the base game of Descent, and wanted a bit of advice/input, hoped someone here could help.

Does the Overlord get the bonus threat tokens every turn for each of the players, or is it only on the first turn? Otherwise, what other ways besides discarding can they get more tokens?

Otherwise, are there any other particular rules we'd be likely to overlook or misinterpret? We played with 3 of us, so 2 players and an OL, but it seemed like the OL simply dominated very easily, so I feel like we may have done something incorrectly.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Got the base game of Descent, and wanted a bit of advice/input, hoped someone here could help.

Does the Overlord get the bonus threat tokens every turn for each of the players, or is it only on the first turn? Otherwise, what other ways besides discarding can they get more tokens?

Otherwise, are there any other particular rules we'd be likely to overlook or misinterpret? We played with 3 of us, so 2 players and an OL, but it seemed like the OL simply dominated very easily, so I feel like we may have done something incorrectly.

Never play Descent with just 2 heroes, the game doesn't make a difference really in difficulty of it's monsters. Best thing to do is have at least always 4 heroes in play, just let players play multiple characters if you don't have enough players. The game scales depending on number of players but if you look at the stat cards you will see that at lower numbers the game does not really scale so players are at a disadvantage if not enough heroes are on the board.

And yes from what I remember the Overlord generates the threat each turn.

With the base set, the players though will usually have the advantage. The Overlord starts strong but once players get ahold of some loot, the game usually goes into the heroes favor. The expansions actually made the game much harder for heroes after many complained how easy the heroes had it. Usually in the base game, if the heroes get ahold of a gold level treasure, it is game over for the overlord. Tombs of Ice added in new random cards for players to use that give them one time bonuses, these have helped out hero players greatly.

Some people don't like the difficulty aspect of the game on heroes, but its supposed to be a challenge.

The one tip I always give for heroes, is to keep your group spread out enough to cover as much line of sight as possible. The biggest danger to heroes is creatures spawning and if your group is not maximizing the area it can see, it leaves blind spots that monsters can spawn in and jump players. Placement of heroes is a major aspect of the game.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I played Marvel Heroes with a buddy of mine last night. I just received it in a trade after a long debate with myself as to whether or not I actually wanted it. In the end the theme is what pushed me over the edge and I'm actually glad I did get it because it's not a bad game. I can see why it is so divisive on The Geek. The rules are needlessly convoluted, there's more theme than game, and there is a bit too much bookkeeping for a Super Hero game.

The game started it out really slow with both of us trying to sludge through the rule book and Universal Head's player aid (Which did help simplify things a bit). I would say it took us about a turn and a half to really understand the rules and then we got our rhythm. The game comes with a number of different scenarios and we just ended up playing the basic VP race (first to 15 points wins). It took us about two hours which is a lot shorter than I thought it would especially since we were constantly checking the rule book in the beginning of the game.

All that being said I don't think I would recommend it to anybody who isn't really into the theme. It's a tough game to play and you have to have the patience to figure it out but once you do the theme really does stand out.

 

[BattleMonkey]

It's a decent game, there was alot of shitting on it because there is a combo with the fantastic four that pretty much breaks the game in their favor so home ruling is needed.

 

[Petrie]

Never play Descent with just 2 heroes, the game doesn't make a difference really in difficulty of it's monsters. Best thing to do is have at least always 4 heroes in play, just let players play multiple characters if you don't have enough players. The game scales depending on number of players but if you look at the stat cards you will see that at lower numbers the game does not really scale so players are at a disadvantage if not enough heroes are on the board.

And yes from what I remember the Overlord generates the threat each turn.

With the base set, the players though will usually have the advantage. The Overlord starts strong but once players get ahold of some loot, the game usually goes into the heroes favor. The expansions actually made the game much harder for heroes after many complained how easy the heroes had it. Usually in the base game, if the heroes get ahold of a gold level treasure, it is game over for the overlord. Tombs of Ice added in new random cards for players to use that give them one time bonuses, these have helped out hero players greatly.

Some people don't like the difficulty aspect of the game on heroes, but its supposed to be a challenge.

The one tip I always give for heroes, is to keep your group spread out enough to cover as much line of sight as possible. The biggest danger to heroes is creatures spawning and if your group is not maximizing the area it can see, it leaves blind spots that monsters can spawn in and jump players. Placement of heroes is a major aspect of the game.

Any insight into what order one should pick up expansions, or even if all of them are worthy of purchase?

 

[BattleMonkey]

Any insight into what order one should pick up expansions, or even if all of them are worthy of purchase?

Well order is not a major factor as they work as stand alone expansions but then add material that can be used when playing with other sets. For example a set will add cards that let you spawn the monsters that came out in that expansion. So without it you wouldn't have access to those monsters.

If you enjoy the game you will probably want to eventually get them all though. Road to Legend and Seas of Blood can be skipped as they are not expansions, but campaign systems. You will only want those sets if you plan on doing campaign play which makes the game into a very long series of games that you will play for weeks/months, players earn xp, loot, and keep their characters as they play.

 

[Petrie]

Well order is not a major factor as they work as stand alone expansions but then add material that can be used when playing with other sets. For example a set will add cards that let you spawn the monsters that came out in that expansion. So without it you wouldn't have access to those monsters.

If you enjoy the game you will probably want to eventually get them all though. Road to Legend and Seas of Blood can be skipped as they are not expansions, but campaign systems. You will only want those sets if you plan on doing campaign play which makes the game into a very long series of games that you will play for weeks/months, players earn xp, loot, and keep their characters as they play.

The campaign thing is actually what I was hoping for when I got the game, I'm actually a bit saddened the base game doesn't offer any sort of option for a longer campaign, beyond the very minimal *her up stats this much* offerings, and I assume it isn't balanced out otherwise.

Do those campaigns work with all the expansions, or does it work differently?

 

[BattleMonkey]

You can mix and match anything with the campaign set. I have all the expansions and use them with the campaign system. You can also just play the base game with the campaign set.

The campaign systems are nice, they come with fairly lengthy rulebooks as they introduce many new gameplay systems.

Adding in the expansions basically expands everyones options. More gear to buy/loot, more monsters, traps, and options galore.

 

[Petrie]

You can mix and match anything with the campaign set. I have all the expansions and use them with the campaign system. You can also just play the base game with the campaign set.

The campaign systems are nice, they come with fairly lengthy rulebooks as they introduce many new gameplay systems.

Adding in the expansions basically expands everyones options. More gear to buy/loot, more monsters, traps, and options galore.

So if I pick up one of the campaign sets, I can use it with the quests in the original as well to form a campaign of sorts? If this is the case I'll order one right now, as that's exactly what we're looking for.

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[BattleMonkey]

No the scenarios in the base game and expansions are meant for standard Descent play.

What the campaign does is have a catalog of new smaller scale scenarios with some randomness tossed in. The idea is to create smaller and faster encounters for campaign play. Standard Descent scenarios are large and meant for regular play that can take many hours.

For example in the campaign you have a board that is a map of Terrinoth that players travel around on. They go into a dungeon and you randomly pick a dungeon, players beat it, they choose another dungeon which makes level 2, then another for level 3 and a boss fight. You also have outdoor encounters in the campaign added which are kind of like random encounters in video game rpgs. You get outdoor tiles to create these outdoor battles with the campaign set. Through completion of the scenarios players earn XP and keep whatever they might earn, while they compete against the overlord who controls a bunch of "bad guy players" who are trying to screw up the heroes adventure as well as destroy the kingdom.

Sea of Blood is another campaign system, it is not compatible with Road to Legend. Sea of Blood is same system but its set in another part of the game world and involves high sea adventures with sea monsters, fighting on islands, and ship boarding actions.

 

[platypotamus]

Yeah I have Carc and Catan.

I as well. And TicketToRide. I think I have a free month of Gold lying in one of my games, so I could play with you guys on Live.

 

[StoOgE]

I've already spent 40 dollars in the flea market thread on BGG for the BGG-Con. :lol

Just bought Intrigue which seems to be some sort of negotiation/backstabbing game that should be good at parties.

I'm going to come back with more stuff than I can play :lol

 

[BattleMonkey]

Anyone know anything about "Letter of Marque"? Shop has a display full of the game for months that no one has bought a copy of so far. Never heard of it really, but it's cheap and comes with cute little boat minis

 

[Neverfade]

Anyone know anything about "Letter of Marque"? Shop has a display full of the game for months that no one has bought a copy of so far. Never heard of it really, but it's cheap and comes with cute little boat minis

Extremely basic bluffing game. Very little meat. Most people probably have this covered in their collections. Citadels is more interesting, No thanks! is simpler, and Incan Gold is easier. Can't think of a reason to own it.

 

[Neverfade]

I am really interested in some Frasko impressions.

Personally: Extremely dry. The theme didn't connect with me very much, and the game is way too straight forward. I guess that appeals to some people, but I personally don't see a lot of strategy in the game. Go buy paint (and get lucky that no one else snatches the paints you need), go to the studio to mix the paints, go paint. Repeat.

On top of that, the scores were all over the place. Compare this to Carson City, where in EVERY game I've ever played the final scores are all in like a 4 point spread. I like that tightness, and tension. Not present for me in Fresco.

That being said, there must be something going on there I'm missing. It's ranked decently and was contender for Spiel de Jahre, soooo... maybe you should pay me no mind, and just buy me copy from me!

 

[StoOgE]

Got my order in today

Brass, Carson City, Endeavor.

Hopefully they are all fun. I punched Brass already so I can try and get a game in tonight after the girlfriends birthday dinner. We are going to her brothers house to play board games. I think I have 90% of the rules down, so we'll see.

Most of my entry level games have been shuffled to the closet at this point. Carcassonne and Catan are the last holdouts. Everything else is pretty hardcore.

 

[Yeef]

Finally got to play Prosperity with my normal group tonight. Absolutely great set. We played some very close games and managed to add teach Dominion to a new guy. As soon as we were done he bought a copy of the base set. I wouldn't be surprised if, by this time next week, he had all of the expansions considering how much he enjoyed it.

 

[jepense]

Was it mentioned already that http://dominion.isotropic.org/ now has a version with images? Well, it does; it's not the official art but still pretty nice.

 

[Xater]

So Stone Age has a very high rating on BGG as a worker placement game. My question is if there is alot of interaction in this game. Doesn't look like it from what I can see. That makes Carson City seem more appealing.

 

[AstroLad]

Was it mentioned already that http://dominion.isotropic.org/ now has a version with images? Well, it does; it's not the official art but still pretty nice.

No, cool!

So Stone Age has a very high rating on BGG as a worker placement game. My question is if there is alot of interaction in this game. Doesn't look like it from what I can see. That makes Carson City seem more appealing.

No, very little interaction beyond just taking actions others may want. You can also use a blocking action where you use a worker on an action you don't get a benefit from to block another. So, negligible.

 

[Neverfade]

So Stone Age has a very high rating on BGG as a worker placement game. My question is if there is alot of interaction in this game. Doesn't look like it from what I can see. That makes Carson City seem more appealing.

By the end of Carson City, if you're playing a 4 or 5 player game, there's gonna be a TON of interaction in the form of duels! There literally isn't enough room in this town for the 4 or 5 of you. :lol

 

[fenners]

By the end of Carson City, if you're playing a 4 or 5 player game, there's gonna be a TON of interaction in the form of duels! There literally isn't enough room in this town for the 4 or 5 of you. :lol

Agreed. If you play Carson City & there's no gunfights or interaction, you're likely playing it wrong One of my favourite games of the past year.

 

[caromelo]

YAYYY! Finally got my order from CSI delivered to Australia. Probably saved about $30-40. Although if I waited a few weeks I could have taken advantage of the amazing conversion rate that the AUD has reached.

Felt like Christmas opening up the large box and having all that little shipping popcorn/marshmallows and digging out the treasures. I purchased games that would be enjoyable for my girlfriend and I and any other friends that we may convince to play with. Shouldn't be too hard I hope.

I got Carcassonne, which I was able to play a few times with my girlfriend at a Board Game Cafe. I also got the Inns and Cathedral Expansion, Munchkin, Last Night On Earth and Dixit. Just a bunch of gateway games that will hopefully evolve into a sort of regular event. Then we could be ready for more and possibly get into the 'Next Step' games and all of these other games that's discussed in this thread.

Also, thanks AstroLad and the rest of Boardgame-Age for an awesome thread. I read through it all despite not having much knowledge on anything. :lol

 

[Xater]

Also, thanks AstroLad and the rest of Boardgame-Age for an awesome thread. I read through it all despite not having much knowledge on anything. :lol

Oh same for me. Just by Neverfade commenting on Carson City I looke dit up and it seemed interesting. Then I learned about worker placement and that's how I found Stone Age. I am one of those guys who quickly goes down the spiral with their research. :lol

At least this way I find alot of interesting stuff that I can chec out at some point.

 

[Neverfade]

YAYYY! Finally got my order from CSI delivered to Australia. Probably saved about $30-40. Although if I waited a few weeks I could have taken advantage of the amazing conversion rate that the AUD has reached.

Felt like Christmas opening up the large box and having all that little shipping popcorn/marshmallows and digging out the treasures. I purchased games that would be enjoyable for my girlfriend and I and any other friends that we may convince to play with. Shouldn't be too hard I hope.

I got Carcassonne, which I was able to play a few times with my girlfriend at a Board Game Cafe. I also got the Inns and Cathedral Expansion, Munchkin, Last Night On Earth and Dixit. Just a bunch of gateway games that will hopefully evolve into a sort of regular event. Then we could be ready for more and possibly get into the 'Next Step' games and all of these other games that's discussed in this thread.

Also, thanks AstroLad and the rest of Boardgame-Age for an awesome thread. I read through it all despite not having much knowledge on anything. :lol

Welcome to the addiction--er, club.

 

[Petrie]

So we played Descent until 4 am last night, only our second game, and just some thoughts:

I feel like the heroes really have to rush, they can't simply move through methodically clear each room completely, it gives far too much time for me as the overlord to build up threat tokens and be able to play powerful game changing cards and have plenty of time to take advantage of them. I tried to help my group even by making suggestions such as ignoring the weak Beastman who can no longer touch you, but their mindset wouldn't let them. They had to kill everything. Not sure how I feel about that aspect, as I have always been a very methodical slow paced player in games.

Once the heroes get some treasures, most of my lower tier enemies become damn useless. I almost wanted to just tell them to assume they were all dead, as any time they entered a room they could kill everything with in 1 turn it seemed. Once they had Silver level treasure that is.

I feel like we definitely need something to keep track of movement, with everything it does, it seems even just pennies or something to keep track of that would make things far easier, anyone else have a take on this?

Overall everyone had a great time and were discussing playing again ASAP, so I'm quite happy with my purchase.

Last Night On Earth

I remember thinking this would be a great gateway game, but it's actually really complicated compared to the others. The theme makes it an easier sell, but I found when using it as a beginning game, most people I've tried it with are in no rush to do so again, because it has a lot of rules to wrap your head around. One you start adding expansions, it becomes difficult to even remember them all.

 

[StoOgE]

By the end of Carson City, if you're playing a 4 or 5 player game, there's gonna be a TON of interaction in the form of duels! There literally isn't enough room in this town for the 4 or 5 of you. :lol

That is why I purchased Carson City as well.

I didn't have a true "worker placement" game. Puerto Rico has some really light worker placement mechanics, but the workers in that game are more of a resource management action than actual worker placement mechanic.

I've not actually played Agricola but the theme has always turned me off of it. I've not played Caylus but the complexity turned me off of it.

The interaction in Carson City (duels, markets, etc) along with a role selection mechanic is what pushed me over the edge to get it. That and it has a really cool theme.

Hopefully my group likes it. Especially now that it is growing.

I didn't wind up getting to play Brass last night sadly. Sonic Youth sat down next to us at the bar we were at and actually started talking to us, so that was the end of any chance of us getting out of there last night

 

[UpperCaseN]

Anybody play the Ninja Burger card game? It sounds hilarious but I'm worried the joke gets old fast

 

[AstroLad]

I didn't wind up getting to play Brass last night sadly. Sonic Youth sat down next to us at the bar we were at and actually started talking to us, so that was the end of any chance of us getting out of there last night

aww you coulda played carc with sonic youth. or citadels . . . oooh

 

[BattleMonkey]

Anybody play the Ninja Burger card game? It sounds hilarious but I'm worried the joke gets old fast

Well there is a game involved, it's very simple though. Large part of the game is the humor aspect of course. It's not that bad though, but don't expect anything other than some quick fun.

 

[StoOgE]

aww you coulda played carc with sonic youth. or citadels . . . oooh

I can see it now.

"No Thurston, you can't put Indigo on that ship, it already has coffee on it"

 

[caromelo]

I remember thinking this would be a great gateway game, but it's actually really complicated compared to the others. The theme makes it an easier sell, but I found when using it as a beginning game, most people I've tried it with are in no rush to do so again, because it has a lot of rules to wrap your head around. One you start adding expansions, it becomes difficult to even remember them all.

Yeah, I'll probably show this game last. It just seems pretty fun and my friends would be excited about the theme.

 

[Flynn]

I didn't wind up getting to play Brass last night sadly. Sonic Youth sat down next to us at the bar we were at and actually started talking to us, so that was the end of any chance of us getting out of there last night

This is my favorite anecdote ever. I wanted to go home and play Brass, but I had to hang out with Sonic Youth.

 

[Petrie]

So long as I still have a few people here willing to answer my annoying questions about Descent:

I see a fan made-quest list on their site. Are there any particular ones people would recommend, or somewhere for a list of more "official" quests, as sifting through a list of everything available no matter how silly doesn't sound fun. Did the publisher ever release anymore official ones for download or is is all in expansions?

 

[StoOgE]

So long as I still have a few people here willing to answer my annoying questions about Descent:

I see a fan made-quest list on their site. Are there any particular ones people would recommend, or somewhere for a list of more "official" quests, as sifting through a list of everything available no matter how silly doesn't sound fun. Did the publisher ever release anymore official ones for download or is is all in expansions?

I have not played Descent at all, but assuming you are looking under the "files" section on BGG there is a link over on the right that has 3 options, "Tiltle, Hot, Recent". If you click on "Hot" it will get you the files that got the most thumbs up (i.e. the most popular). You'll have to sift through player aids as well, but that should be the way to get to the "best" fanmade quests according to BGG.

 

[AstroLad]

Just put in an order for some games to pick up at BGG.CON:

-51st State
-Agricola: The Legendary Forest Deck
-Vinhos
-7 Wonders

So you guys know where to come for the new hotness.

 

[Petrie]

I have not played Descent at all, but assuming you are looking under the "files" section on BGG there is a link over on the right that has 3 options, "Tiltle, Hot, Recent". If you click on "Hot" it will get you the files that got the most thumbs up (i.e. the most popular). You'll have to sift through player aids as well, but that should be the way to get to the "best" fanmade quests according to BGG.

I hadn't even thought about the fact that BGG might have something like that. Thank you!

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Put in a few pre-orders.

7 Wonders
Isla Dorada
Merchants & Marauders
The Resistance

 

[StoOgE]

Just put in an order for some games to pick up at BGG.CON:

-51st State
-Agricola: The Legendary Forest Deck
-Vinhos
-7 Wonders

So you guys know where to come for the new hotness.

7 wonders looks pretty good.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

7 wonders looks pretty good.

Yep.

 

[Fixed1979]

So I received my AH and Pandemic, tried a basic solo game in each one. Beat Pandemic easily and had to double check the rule book because I was obviously doing something wrong (which I was). Ready for a couple multiplayer games this weekend.

Played around a bit with AH, will hopefully play a complete solo game this weekend now that I've read over the rules a couple times and watched a few videos.

For my first boardgame purchases since Starwars Monopoly (or some crib boards) I'm pretty impressed with the entire package. I don't know shit but the quality of the components for both these games is outstanding.

In the meantime I've also ordered 1960, TtR:1910 exp and Dominion.

EDIT: I wanted to ask, it looks like the group I was trying to get together to play may occasional include up to 6. Is there an easy, board based game that people would recomend? I see Citadels listed on the main page, but without an actual board the occasional wife/gf that would bring the group to 6 will be put off.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Put in a few pre-orders.


Isla Dorada
Merchants & Marauders

I'm looking forward to these too. Isla Dorada has amazing art and the pawn are cool as hell.

 

[AstroLad]

EDIT: I wanted to ask, it looks like the group I was trying to get together to play may occasional include up to 6. Is there an easy, board based game that people would recomend? I see Citadels listed on the main page, but without an actual board the occasional wife/gf that would bring the group to 6 will be put off.

RoboRally is a good lightish board game that plays very well with 6.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

EDIT: I wanted to ask, it looks like the group I was trying to get together to play may occasional include up to 6. Is there an easy, board based game that people would recomend? I see Citadels listed on the main page, but without an actual board the occasional wife/gf that would bring the group to 6 will be put off.

Alhambra? No real board other than for tracking score though, it's a tile laying game.

Only other games I can think of are Ave Caesar and Winner's Circle. Everything else is at least a bit more complicated than easy.

 

[Fixed1979]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll do some reading over the weekend and choose one of them.

 

[AstroLad]

Fun fact: RoboRally was my gateway game.

 

[EviLore]

Ordered a few: dominion, pandemic, and castle ravenloft. Will see if I can get anything going with friends.