anonymous_abc
Member
Huh Pandasaurus Games is supposed to be in Essen. Stooge you gonna be there?
what day are you going to go Xater?
I will be there on the Sunday.
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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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what day are you going to go Xater?
I will be there on the Sunday.
Thursday, because I have pre-orders.
superrobot
Member
Nice!
BattleMonkey
Member
Ok so going to try Le Havre soon and watched various vids, it all seems to make sense except for the whole ship space thing.
Ok so the 7 ship space discs players move down along, once you get to the 7th and final one, all the ships go back to the start for a new turn? Do you randomize the tiles again for this new turn or you leave them face up in their original positions? Assume they stay the same every round after but wanted to make sure.
Ok so the 7 ship space discs players move down along, once you get to the 7th and final one, all the ships go back to the start for a new turn? Do you randomize the tiles again for this new turn or you leave them face up in their original positions? Assume they stay the same every round after but wanted to make sure.
Jables Swan
Member
This has now hit over $75k and they have now added a pledge for an Aluminum 3-4 player board. Just a lazy $400.00.
Doublethink
Banned
The tiles stay the same.
BattleMonkey
Member
So Elder Signs mobile app is getting another "expansion" while the original tabletop version hasn't gotten anything. Meh
Cool thx
Cool thx
Wake me when MEQ gets an xpack.
Also make sure that the next person to go on the last round is the first person to go on the next round.
platypotamus
Member
Are we talking Kingdom Builder, or are there two similarly named games?
Kingdom Builder is one of my favorite games at this point. I think there's a little bit of a hump to get over with the simplicity at first (seems TOO simple and like you have little actual choice much of the time), but in my group's case it was because the strategy to open the game up a bit took a few plays to click. Now we love it.
Oh, that's embarrassing. Yes, Builder. That's encouraging, because my worry was indeed that it would be too simplistic.
It is. Platy is certifiably insane. Did Quarriors come out the same yeaR? If so it's only the second worst big game that hit that year, haha.
platypotamus
Member
boothisman.gif
Seriously, the game is great, the randomization of the board and the choosing of the scoring cards makes it feel very different every time, and if you haven't botched your opening moves, you've got interesting choices to make all game long.
Edit: Booooooooooo.
I don't see it being simpler than Ticket to Ride, which is one of the bigger hit lightweight games. There's a lot more to think about when placing your settlements, as well as the order in which you play them. The only downside I find is how abstract the game is compared to the theme, but that isn't a big sticking point for me.
BattleMonkey
Member
Boooooooooooo
Captain_Spanky
Member
And Quarriors is awesome! boooooooooooooo etc
timetokill
Banned
So I ended up getting LNoE and we played it last night. Lot of fun and easy to learn.
We did the "Burn 'em out" scenario, and it ran pretty long... we lost (knew it was over with about 6 turns left) but it was still a good time. The zombie player loved it especially, I'm surprised at how much shit he's able to do each turn. I was coming from thinking it'd be more like Mansions of Madness, where the "evil" player has a pretty limited set of interactions. The zombie player in LNoE is just constantly dropping shit on you, so it gets pretty intense.
Nearly all of our hero characters died, too Lots of zombie heroes.
OH, and the soundtrack is totally awful :lol We played it to try and annoy the zombie player as he was taking long turns.
We did the "Burn 'em out" scenario, and it ran pretty long... we lost (knew it was over with about 6 turns left) but it was still a good time. The zombie player loved it especially, I'm surprised at how much shit he's able to do each turn. I was coming from thinking it'd be more like Mansions of Madness, where the "evil" player has a pretty limited set of interactions. The zombie player in LNoE is just constantly dropping shit on you, so it gets pretty intense.
Nearly all of our hero characters died, too
Lots of zombie heroes.OH, and the soundtrack is totally awful :lol We played it to try and annoy the zombie player as he was taking long turns.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
My soundtrack is still in shrink. I should give it a listen sometime but I heard nothing but bad things about it. Same thing with the soundtrack to Fortune and Glory.So I ended up getting LNoE and we played it last night. Lot of fun and easy to learn.
We did the "Burn 'em out" scenario, and it ran pretty long... we lost (knew it was over with about 6 turns left) but it was still a good time. The zombie player loved it especially, I'm surprised at how much shit he's able to do each turn. I was coming from thinking it'd be more like Mansions of Madness, where the "evil" player has a pretty limited set of interactions. The zombie player in LNoE is just constantly dropping shit on you, so it gets pretty intense.
Nearly all of our hero characters died, too
OH, and the soundtrack is totally awful :lol We played it to try and annoy the zombie player as he was taking long turns.
Captain_Spanky
Member
So I ended up getting LNoE and we played it last night. Lot of fun and easy to learn.
We did the "Burn 'em out" scenario, and it ran pretty long... we lost (knew it was over with about 6 turns left) but it was still a good time. The zombie player loved it especially, I'm surprised at how much shit he's able to do each turn. I was coming from thinking it'd be more like Mansions of Madness, where the "evil" player has a pretty limited set of interactions. The zombie player in LNoE is just constantly dropping shit on you, so it gets pretty intense.
Nearly all of our hero characters died, too
OH, and the soundtrack is totally awful :lol We played it to try and annoy the zombie player as he was taking long turns.
I *love* LNoE. Such a fun game, with a theme most people can get in to. It's simple enough you can easily pull it out with non-gamers too, I've found. Never had someone dislike it. The music is corny as hell but if you use it as background for the game it's a laugh. I also have the Survival Of The Fittest expansion which adds some great modular rules and new scenarios. No new heroes or figures mind, but it's a great wee toolbox.
In other news I just beat the first scenario of "The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill" saga expansion for the Lord Of The Rings LCG solo. So chuffed, my deck worked wonderfully. Only base cards and this expansion too! Didn't get the treasure so that's something to aim for next time.
Sorry my posts aren't very deep or insightful or descriptive, I'm a bit lazy I guess.
Last week we tried Mansions of Madness for the first time. It took forever to set up, and forever to play (we didn't finish).
This week we tried Dungeon Explorer (I forget the exact name) for the first time. It was quicker to set up, but took forever to play, especially since the DM would have to take a turn in between each player turn. We didn't finish, and left one guy with the three remaining characters after a couple of hours to end the game solo against the DM.
Both games might have been a little better if we had everything pre-setup, and didn't have TV in background, and knew the rules perfectly, but still...I think I prefer non-DM games, even stuff like Catan and Puerto Rico which normally I tend to avoid. Hopefully next time around we get back to a non-DM game.
I did think Kill Doctor Lucky from a few weeks back was decent. I also kind of liked Seven Wonders from quite a while back. One nice thing about the latter game is that everyone takes their turn at the same time, so you don't have 7 people sitting around a table bored to death.
This week we tried Dungeon Explorer (I forget the exact name) for the first time. It was quicker to set up, but took forever to play, especially since the DM would have to take a turn in between each player turn. We didn't finish, and left one guy with the three remaining characters after a couple of hours to end the game solo against the DM.
Both games might have been a little better if we had everything pre-setup, and didn't have TV in background, and knew the rules perfectly, but still...I think I prefer non-DM games, even stuff like Catan and Puerto Rico which normally I tend to avoid. Hopefully next time around we get back to a non-DM game.
I did think Kill Doctor Lucky from a few weeks back was decent. I also kind of liked Seven Wonders from quite a while back. One nice thing about the latter game is that everyone takes their turn at the same time, so you don't have 7 people sitting around a table bored to death.
BattleMonkey
Member
It shouldn't take that long to play, it's actually incredibly simple and quick game that just seems complex due the components. The biggest issue with the game is set up. You really need to have the host set up the scenario before the players arrive or they will get bored out of their mind. It's probably the worst games when it comes to set up. Game itself is fun, but the set up will kill many people's interest even before you start. I usually set it all up on a game night before folks come so we can go over the basics and jump right in.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Spartacus finally shipped this morning. Too bad I'll be out of town this weekend to enjoy it.
BattleMonkey
Member
Tried out Invasion from Outerspace. It's basically LNOE (compatible components), with some little tweaks mainly involving the Martians replacing the the Zombies. Kinda neat and easy to transition into the game or combine with LNOE components, the Martians though are really bad ass and seem to be alot tougher for the heroes to go up against. Always found the zombie side in LNOE to have the advantage and win most of the games, but the Martians seem even tougher since they all have ranged weapons along with being able to summon tougher enemies boss like characters as well as being able to move their spawn points and if a player wants, have new martians appear every turn instead of randomness determining if you get more reinforcements.
I believe it's only encountered if the corp decides to rez it. You will still 'approach' the ICE though. So basically the corp can rez it and then you will bypass it with inside job if it is the first ICE encountered. e.g. There is 2 unrezzed ICE in front of a server, you make a run with inside job. Approach the first one and the corp does not rez. Then you approach the second and the corp decides to rez that. Inside Job's ability now activates as it is the first one you encounter, and you bypass it for a successful run.
Yep!
AlphaTwo00
Member
Hey guys, really random question: I'm knee deep in "making" a board game, I've speced out a bunch of stuff, started making some test cards, and will probably be testing it with a bunch of different groups I play with, and I'm wondering what kind of advice/hints you have (throw me anything).
BattleMonkey
Member
Get a good artist to work on it and not just some random friend. Lot of decent games will never go anywhere just off initial visual impressions and too many game companies have just not tried to reach out to find good artists. There are tons of amazing artists on the net who can barely make a living yet are talented, seek them out and you should be able to produce something visually appealing. Many will say that art is meaningless, but it is a big hurdle in success of games. Kickstarter has shown how important it is just to be visually eye catching.
While I agree, I'm constantly blown away at the love some art gets at BGG. We've had this discussion a while back in this thread (personally laughing at people who were harking Labyrinth: TWoT's box art as the next coming of crispy jesus), but another good example is that City of Iron bullshit. The landscapes are fine but whoever drew the characters is an art criminal.
BomberMouse
Member
Yep, the lack of proper "art" in most games/publishers just show how amateur this hobby still is. Only DoW, FFG and HiG do this right. I mean the #1 and #2 games on BGG look awful.
I love agricola but it looks like something my little sister could have drawn. Even beyond the illustrations, the design of the cards themselves are a mess.
I love agricola but it looks like something my little sister could have drawn. Even beyond the illustrations, the design of the cards themselves are a mess.
Okay, cool. So a good way to force the corp to rez a piece of ice unless he wants me to bypass them all easily.
....That sounds way too good for a 2 Credit card.
AlphaTwo00
Member
Point taken on the art. My current plan actually involves asking a bunch of friends (we've worked together in video games before, and they're all in various disciplines of animation and concept art), but I'll check with them and possibly other sources...
platypotamus
Member
If you aren't a rules lawyer yourself, get the rules lawyer among your group and/or 10,000 other rules lawyers to make sure your rulebook doesn't suck (as well as any text/rules on cards). Nothing ruins a game for me faster than ambiguous shit.
Also, a competent graphic/UI designer to make sure your visual language doesn't suck.
Also, a competent graphic/UI designer to make sure your visual language doesn't suck.
Once you have a rulebook: Give it to a couple of friends who have never played the game. Watch them play the entire game without ever saying anything. This will give you a better sense of what is clear and unclear. I realize this is secondary to the actual design of the game, but if people aren't playing according to your design it's not really the same game.
Edit: Ugh, Ultron87 beat me to this yesterday. Just consider this post as seconding ultron87's suggestion.
Got a night of gaming & beer drinking in last night with a couple of friends I haven't gotten to hang out with in ages. He's got a kegerator + homebrew + a great collection of games; a nice combination
We played Steam Over Holland - an "intro" to 18xx without some of the complications/length of that genre. Was fun! A step up from Age of Steam etc, but not as difficult as 18xx generally is, and I even won against two experienced players.
We played Steam Over Holland - an "intro" to 18xx without some of the complications/length of that genre. Was fun! A step up from Age of Steam etc, but not as difficult as 18xx generally is, and I even won against two experienced players.
AlphaTwo00
Member
Definitely noted with the rules issues, it's something I'm well aware of (just because how similar it is to video game testing). Once I do get it rolling, I'm guessing I'm going to have to knock on doors of local boardgame retail places and such to look for times where I can demo and test it too.
The main "things" I'm running into for now: number balancing (which I'm sort of winging it in my head in the first pass, yet somehow I feel like there should be a better way of doing it), trying to scale the game right at the start for multiple players (ranging from 2-5/6 for setup), and thinking about what I need to do to cover myself as far as protecting what I've got on paper, as far as "copyright?" goes.
Aside from that, got a question: Tried out Pandemic last night, and all 3 rounds ended in spatular failure (just running out of draw cards = end of game?). I'm not sure if I'm missing something.
BattleMonkey
Member
Would be hard to say what your doing wrong in pandemic outside of just not being quick enough. It's a tough game in general so you got to be on the ball
Jables Swan
Member
Pandemic is awesome. Love it. Playing on hard you should at least be winning 50% off your games. It'll take some time to learn the tricks but it's always fun regardless of the result.
timetokill
Banned
F that. I play hardcore mode only. Always have, always will. Best way to get better.
(My group has won 2 of our first 7 games
)anonymous_abc
Member
I find pandemic is very dependent on the characters you get at the start, if your get the doctor you're golden, but some of them no one really needs ;p
Jables Swan
Member
F that. I play hardcore mode only. Always have, always will. Best way to get better.
(My group has won 2 of our first 7 games
Yeah agreed that hardcore is the way to go. I haven't played the expansion yet so not sure about legendary mode.
AlphaTwo00
Member
The one friend was hesitant to pull the trigger on the game until we saw a good video explaining it, and by the time that episode showed up, the few stores in Toronto had stock issues with the game.
Well then. Then we did win one without knowing it. I was having a hard time believing that the win condition was all of a)eradicate all disease, b)without hitting the outbreak limit and c)running out of cards.
congrats
Jables Swan
Member
Not a bad episode either. Perfect of example of how fun Pandemic is without having to win.
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