platypotamus
Member
Just my wife and I. All told, we played over 3 sessions for about 5 hours. We're convinced we can get it to be a 3-4 hour game, but probably not much lower than that any time soon.
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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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Just my wife and I. All told, we played over 3 sessions for about 5 hours. We're convinced we can get it to be a 3-4 hour game, but probably not much lower than that any time soon.
See this on the 'Geek, BattleMonkey? Interesting info about why the rules in the box are so poor.
http://boardgamegeek.com/article/10730586#10730586
I played it with 6 people and it wasn't an issue. It's not like the rules are really complicated. The thing is we were very well organized. we basically split up into two groups and tried get through our part of the temple.
BattleMonkey
Member
Yea I know, it's pretty pathetic. The cost of a rulebook should have been factored into their price, serious amateur hour stuff. I can't believe some folks are defending such horrible approach to the game. And if the cost of the rulebook changed from what was expected, they should have simply changed their plans on wasting money on other aspects of the game, like creating playmats and other extras to sell instead.
Jables Swan
Member
Turns out I won a comp on Geek and Sundry to win a signed copy of Gloom. Anyone have anything nice to say about this game?
The clear cards are cool?
I dunno, it's ok. It's one of those fun every blue moon type games.
Jables Swan
Member
Yeah I didn't think it looked that good. I was trying to win Dixit or Ticket to Ride. But I can't be ungrateful for winning something for free.
InaudibleWhispa
Member
It isn't so much the complication that worries me, more the constant clattering of 30 dice, communicating orders and sharing dice/helping each other out. It's such a fast paced game that I could see it being a jumbled mess of shouting. But I guess that isn't a game problem but a lack of tactic. Your more organised group splitting sounds like a good idea.
I haven't played with the included expansions yet. The curses look like they could be fun. It seems like a game that could have a lot of variety added with just a few new expansion tiles and a new soundtrack.
Mr. Lemming
Member
Because you can download the MP3s here. I believe soundtrack 3 is the one with only the sounds of the gong and related countdown music. It's the best way to play.
Anyone try Escape with just two players yet? Looking for a game for Christmas and it looks really fun and different. My girlfriend and I really enjoy playing board games together, but even though we have a vast collection, when it's just the two of us, we always fall back on Agricola, Pandemic and Lost Cities. Which is why I'm looking for something really different. It can't be work emplacement (because Agricola has them all beat) or deck building (because I just don't like those). Any advice?
Zombicide $50 at CSI -- worth it?
Is your GF OK with nerdy themes and direct conflict? Because if so, Summoner Wars Master Set is pretty great, and so is Claustrophobia actually. Race for the Galaxy is fantastic with two but maybe a tad daunting for non-serious gamers.
If not, I would also consider Innovation, and for lighter more abstract fare Jaipur and Battle Line.
Is your GF OK with nerdy themes and direct conflict? Because if so, Summoner Wars Master Set is pretty great, and so is Claustrophobia actually. Race for the Galaxy is fantastic with two but maybe a tad daunting for non-serious gamers.
If not, I would also consider Innovation, and for lighter more abstract fare Jaipur and Battle Line.
Empty Space
Member
I wanted to pop in to let the people who helped me out earlier know that I settled on 7 Wonders, the Asia Ticket to Ride expansion, King of Tokyo, Dixit, and borrowed The Resistance from somebody I know.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I think so. It's a fun game that is getting a lot of support from the publishers and the community. There are more challenging scenarios and even a campaign with branching paths for download on Guillotine Games' web page. The price is also well below MSRP.
Question about 7 Wonders:
The "Get 1 coin for every brown card your neighbours have" (e.g.), do you get the coins as soon as you play it (giving you a great coin/trade advantage) or at the end of the game (so essentially 1/3 victory point per brown card)? We weren't sure about this when we played it and the rules don't mention it.
The "Get 1 coin for every brown card your neighbours have" (e.g.), do you get the coins as soon as you play it (giving you a great coin/trade advantage) or at the end of the game (so essentially 1/3 victory point per brown card)? We weren't sure about this when we played it and the rules don't mention it.
Immediately. Otherwise getting coins would be rather tough.
BattleMonkey
Member
when you play it.
And note, if they build a brown card this turn, it doesn't count towards the benefit. Just the ones that existed when you decided to use it
And note, if they build a brown card this turn, it doesn't count towards the benefit. Just the ones that existed when you decided to use it
So what now? Thanks for all the feedback, we weren't too sure about it.
Pretty sure AstroLad is correct. But both that and the original question at least in the German manual is answered rather clearly... at least compared to other things.
The manual says you get 1 coin, but not when... I'll recheck though.
Played the Carcassonne Mini expansions against myself last night (I won!). Overall probably worth the purchase, but I'm not a fan of all of them initially. Definitely not a fan of all at once.
There are six minis, and each one contains a tile for a seventh mini-mini expansion called Crop Circles. I'll just give opinions, descriptions can be found here.
The Flier - I like the idea of this one, but in practice it didn't have any impact. Of the eight tiles in the expansion, I was only able to place maybe half of them in a way that could have landed a follower on an unfinished feature. And of those that could have worked, the die roll betrayed me every time, so I didn't get to place one follower using this mechanic the whole game. I can see this causing long analysis paralysis with some players too.
The Messages - I don't like this one. There is a tiny amount of very obvious strategy deciding which scoring meeple to move, but other than that it's just random.
The Ferries - I think this one may be the best in the bunch for me. It adds a little more decision making to road building, as well as adding more ways to end roads in order to score them and reclaim meeples. Adds stealing opportunities as well.
The Robbers - Ok, but pretty much just random luck. The only strategy involved is for the player being robbed, who may want to try and complete a low-scoring feature to keep his opponent from getting too many extra points. Other than that it's just free points for whoever turns over those tiles.
The Goldmines - I like this one. It basically just makes features on a couple of tiles a little more valuable, and a little more worth fighting over. Reminds me ever so slightly of Traders & Builders, adding extra incentive to complete features (though the reward here always goes to the player who scores the feature, not whoever completes it like in T&B).
The Mage & Witch - I'm torn on this one. If you get lucky enough to draw one of the eight M&W tiles when your opponent is about to complete a big city, I can see this coming in handy (assuming the witch isn't placed already). For my game, the way things shook out neither character really made much of an impact, getting stuck on low scoring features most of the time.
Crop Circles II - Random but strategic. The six tiles have two tiles each of three symbols: cities, roads, and farms. When you draw one, you're forced to either add a meeple to one of the features marked on the tile, or remove one. If fortune smiles upon you, you can end up adding a meeple to a contested feature. Or even better, remove one trapped on a feature that can't be completed. Overall I think I like this one.
A good purchase overall, but about the same good/bad ratio (50/50ish) of Carcassonne expansions in general. Worth the ~25 I paid for 'em.
There are six minis, and each one contains a tile for a seventh mini-mini expansion called Crop Circles. I'll just give opinions, descriptions can be found here.
The Flier - I like the idea of this one, but in practice it didn't have any impact. Of the eight tiles in the expansion, I was only able to place maybe half of them in a way that could have landed a follower on an unfinished feature. And of those that could have worked, the die roll betrayed me every time, so I didn't get to place one follower using this mechanic the whole game. I can see this causing long analysis paralysis with some players too.
The Messages - I don't like this one. There is a tiny amount of very obvious strategy deciding which scoring meeple to move, but other than that it's just random.
The Ferries - I think this one may be the best in the bunch for me. It adds a little more decision making to road building, as well as adding more ways to end roads in order to score them and reclaim meeples. Adds stealing opportunities as well.
The Robbers - Ok, but pretty much just random luck. The only strategy involved is for the player being robbed, who may want to try and complete a low-scoring feature to keep his opponent from getting too many extra points. Other than that it's just free points for whoever turns over those tiles.
The Goldmines - I like this one. It basically just makes features on a couple of tiles a little more valuable, and a little more worth fighting over. Reminds me ever so slightly of Traders & Builders, adding extra incentive to complete features (though the reward here always goes to the player who scores the feature, not whoever completes it like in T&B).
The Mage & Witch - I'm torn on this one. If you get lucky enough to draw one of the eight M&W tiles when your opponent is about to complete a big city, I can see this coming in handy (assuming the witch isn't placed already). For my game, the way things shook out neither character really made much of an impact, getting stuck on low scoring features most of the time.
Crop Circles II - Random but strategic. The six tiles have two tiles each of three symbols: cities, roads, and farms. When you draw one, you're forced to either add a meeple to one of the features marked on the tile, or remove one. If fortune smiles upon you, you can end up adding a meeple to a contested feature. Or even better, remove one trapped on a feature that can't be completed. Overall I think I like this one.
A good purchase overall, but about the same good/bad ratio (50/50ish) of Carcassonne expansions in general. Worth the ~25 I paid for 'em.
Got to play this a couple of times last night.
Yep, definitely very Ascension feel to it. I don't think the suggested "Intro" set of villains/heroes does a good job of selling the game. We found it dull & repetitive & very straightforward. So second game, we picked a more random set & it was a lot more interesting.
I enjoyed it for what it is - Ascension with superheroes with a co-op feel (though we still counted scores for a winner). I don't know if I'd personally buy it, but I'm glad a friend did. If it comes out for the iPad, I'd be all over it though.
I will say, the initial sorting of the decks was ridiculous. I'm sure it saved on manufacturing costs to pack/distribute the cards like that, but it makes no sense to a player.
I like it!
BattleMonkey
Member
The balance is all kind of wonky. We play it as purely coop so that has become something we like about it, but the game still has identity issue because it doesn't always feel coop even when you play it as such. Lot of variables to play with but if your a marvel fan I think it has some unique ideas and I far prefer it to the DC comics DBG that came out, which is pretty much a pure copy of Ascension with no real theme to it.
Yea the sorting of the cards was awful and they also don't include randomizers, or labeled dividers. For such an expensive DBG, they really cut corners.
And the two completely separate decks (Villians vs Heroes) have the same backs, which is all sorts of confusing...
Christmas games I picked up:
Pandemic: As far as I know this is supposed to be semi-classic. I suspect people already have this at the game night I sometimes go to, and getting a small enough group to play a 4-player game can be tough, but I figure I'll start bringing it in case we ever get a chance to try it. I haven't played it as far as I know.
Bang!: I was looking through games at Barnes & Nobles, and this looked like a decent quality, decently rated game. Amazon has good ratings on it. I don't think I really like Munchkin, and it didn't go over very well with my family (we also played the western version actually), but I'm hoping this works better. I probably got ripped off since I didn't order from Amazon and get the bullet version with all the decks...instead I just got the box that is presumably the basic version.
7 Wonders: I've played this once, and the rules will probably confuse my family at first since they're somewhat complicated. The main thing I remember liking about this is that every player takes their turn/phase at the same time, passing cards along, so hopefully it won't have QUITE as much of the "waiting 30 minutes for Bob to make his move while there's nothing for me to do" problem some games have.
Pandemic: As far as I know this is supposed to be semi-classic. I suspect people already have this at the game night I sometimes go to, and getting a small enough group to play a 4-player game can be tough, but I figure I'll start bringing it in case we ever get a chance to try it. I haven't played it as far as I know.
Bang!: I was looking through games at Barnes & Nobles, and this looked like a decent quality, decently rated game. Amazon has good ratings on it. I don't think I really like Munchkin, and it didn't go over very well with my family (we also played the western version actually), but I'm hoping this works better. I probably got ripped off since I didn't order from Amazon and get the bullet version with all the decks...instead I just got the box that is presumably the basic version.
7 Wonders: I've played this once, and the rules will probably confuse my family at first since they're somewhat complicated. The main thing I remember liking about this is that every player takes their turn/phase at the same time, passing cards along, so hopefully it won't have QUITE as much of the "waiting 30 minutes for Bob to make his move while there's nothing for me to do" problem some games have.
7 Wonders looks pretty daunting at first, but it's pretty straightforward once everyone plays a few rounds. Just be sure you know the rules really well so you can quickly explain it and answer questions. And If you have an iOS device snag the Companion App to significantly speed up the scoring at the end of the game. I honestly have no idea how to score it without the app.
(main problem being the science stuff)Yeah, when I played it before I was completely confused during the explanation before we started playing, but once we STARTED it made sense and I ended up winning (some people had tons of science points, but I had a variety of points through all the categories). My plan is to try to get my family to just dive into it as a practice round without trying to exhaustively explain everything ahead of time.7 Wonders looks pretty daunting at first, but it's pretty straightforward once everyone plays a few rounds. Just be sure you know the rules really well so you can quickly explain it and answer questions. And If you have an iOS device snag the Companion App to significantly speed up the scoring at the end of the game. I honestly have no idea how to score it without the app.
I thought that was kind of a dumb move at first, until we played with the "Skrull Invasion" scheme that mixes cards from the Hero deck into the Villain deck.
BattleMonkey
Member
Yea can see that, but it is annoying for sorting and have had several games where players would take cards meant for the victory pile into their deck.
In the tradition of spending way too much money for Christmas I picked up three more games today:
Bang! Wild west card game (for the local group in addition to the one I got as a gift...still didn't get any expansion sets, and they didn't have the collection).
Take Stock Stock market card game.
Panic Station Seems like a semi-dungeon rawling card game where people try to find an alien, but some of the players can turn into the alien.
It seems tough to find decent-looking games for 6 players. A LOT of them are for 2-4.
Bang! Wild west card game (for the local group in addition to the one I got as a gift...still didn't get any expansion sets, and they didn't have the collection).
Take Stock Stock market card game.
Panic Station Seems like a semi-dungeon rawling card game where people try to find an alien, but some of the players can turn into the alien.
It seems tough to find decent-looking games for 6 players. A LOT of them are for 2-4.
AlphaTwo00
Member
I like that approach for new players, UNLESS you have someone in the group who micromanages and likes to know all the possible decisions before hand. That person, if you don't explain stuff before hand, could turn in on the entire process because they may feel like you're withholding rules to them.
Also, leave the expansions out of the way for a few rounds before introducing them.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I played Virgin Queen today. It's the sequel to Here I Stand. It's a long ass game but it was fun. It took us five hours to play two turns and we even started on turn three.
Panic Station's fatal problem is one of the victory conditions. As originally written, the infected win of every player is infected. So my thinking is why fight it? They sort of "fixed" this by saying the last player to be infected loses. I also have thematic problems with the way guns and flane throwers are handled. Humans can't use guns only androids and vice versa with flame throwers. It's just dumb. Needless the say Panic Station was a huge disappointment.
blindrocket
Member
I need help, please.
I have not played the X-Wing Miniatures game yet, but want to pick up some expansions. I do not quite know what I really need, and some of that may require me playing the game to get a feel of how I want to play. HOWEVER, I trust GAF enough to steer me in a good, general direction.
I think I want to just pick up one of each of the expansions at this point, to acquire the ships and pilots and other cards they come with. Or should I opt to not purchase a certain ship, instead purchase two of another, etc.?
My initial thought was to purchase one of every ship, plus the core set, and if I need additional X-Wing/Tie Fighters, to purchase another core set (that was some advice I read online).
Any help so I can pull the trigger on my shopping cart tonight?
Thanks
I have not played the X-Wing Miniatures game yet, but want to pick up some expansions. I do not quite know what I really need, and some of that may require me playing the game to get a feel of how I want to play. HOWEVER, I trust GAF enough to steer me in a good, general direction.
I think I want to just pick up one of each of the expansions at this point, to acquire the ships and pilots and other cards they come with. Or should I opt to not purchase a certain ship, instead purchase two of another, etc.?
My initial thought was to purchase one of every ship, plus the core set, and if I need additional X-Wing/Tie Fighters, to purchase another core set (that was some advice I read online).
Any help so I can pull the trigger on my shopping cart tonight?
Thanks
I figured the gun and flamethrower thing is an arbitrary balance issue, but I'm sorry to hear it's disappointing. It was a spur of the moment terrible purchase no doubt.
The wooden pieces are nice but having to put stickers on them all is a little annoying.I imagine the victory condition may depend on the players. Some people might figure winning as uninfected is tougher and fun to try for? I dunno, I may end up hating it too if I actually get around to playing it. Or for another way of thinking about it, I guess I was thinking you might consider becoming infected to be "semi-losing", but I haven't read much of the rules. I suppose there may not be a way to avoid it?
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Its actually pretty easy to be infected. The way it works is that you are forced to trade cards whenever you enter a room with them. The infected can trade their infected card to a non infected person. The non infected person can prevent this by trading a gas can to the infected person. All a person needs to do to get infected is never trade the gas cans. Even if they don't know who the infected are, it'll just mean it's a matter of time before they become infected too. Its definitely a game that can be played "correctly" but in order to do that you need to have players actively ignore its faults.I figured the gun and flamethrower thing is an arbitrary balance issue, but I'm sorry to hear it's disappointing. It was a spur of the moment terrible purchase no doubt.
I imagine the victory condition may depend on the players. Some people might figure winning as uninfected is tougher and fun to try for? I dunno, I may end up hating it too if I actually get around to playing it. Or for another way of thinking about it, I guess I was thinking you might consider becoming infected to be "semi-losing", but I haven't read much of the rules. I suppose there may not be a way to avoid it?
If you are going to play it, I would suggest you also download the latest rulebook. The designer made has been changing and updating rules since it was released. Basically they released a broken game, had customers play test the damn thing, and then he tried to fix it.
BattleMonkey
Member
If your the only person with the game, your going to end up wanting to buy every miniature probably and most will want multiples of each ship. Being a miniature game it's easier when you have other players to play with so everyone buys their own forces and saves money. The starter set alone is very limited and nothing more than just a starter pack to get some basic game materials, but not enough to have a fully playable force.
Done review and lot of discussion on it in the miniature gaming thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=389064
Yea Panic Station was a huge disappointment with everyone I've played it with. Some of the concepts behind it are neat, but the implementation falls flat and the theme makes little sense in so many ways. Oh you can't infect me because I'm holding a can of gas? What? Even with updated rules, everyone was constantly put off the games logic.
I just traded for a core set and haven't gotten it yet but I've been doing some reading on the topic. The core set makes more financial sense if you just want more figures, but apparently the x-wing and tie individual packs do come with new cards/pilots/attachments/whatever.
Above all, I'd say play the core game yet before you spend more money. It's an awfully expensive game to invest in without really enjoying it first IMO.
BattleMonkey
Member
You need the core set also for the dice and templates that are required to play the game. Also the core set comes with unique cards that the individual fighter pack versions don't come with.
blindrocket
Member
The first wave expansion ships are almost half price at Amazon right now...
Yup, just dropped in price today.
Thanks for the advice guys. The core pack went up in price on Amazon, above retail too, I think.
I'll grab the core set for full retail of $40 from my Indy game shop, but the expansions at eight bucks each is too good not to buy on Amazon.
And yeah, I'll basically be the only one with the game and will let my family and friends play. So it seems I'll just grab one of each expansion at this point, and maybe a second core set in the future.
I know. I'm pretty sure he has a core set.
Edit: maybe I read that wrong. Yeah, core set. What BM said.
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