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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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Goddammit, I'm probably in the absolute last batch of shipments for Tammany HallDamn you, StoOgE
Seems like early orders are shipping last. All the guys I got to support it already have theirs.
platypotamus
Member
You both have an open invitation to play with my copy whenever you're in Seattle (but only if I get to play too)
Emerson
May contain jokes =>
I was literally the first person to back it and I was one of the first to receive it.
Did someone say GAF Eclipse game during GDC? waaat? (I forget if you are going platy, and also I'm on the peninsula, but still
.)You might be right about that actually. Might be dismissing them because the notifications don't seem to work great in their games, but they are quite polished. Definitely better than Codito. Would put them right behind Playdek and Coding Monkeys at this point. The real question is whether we can get enough gaffers consistently interested and taking turns to make the async worthwhile. NH is an awesome game on iOS but sees very little GAF action and Eclipse is like 500x more complex.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I absolutely love Eclipse, so I would for sure play Eclipse async.
platypotamus
Member
Did someone say GAF Eclipse game during GDC? waaat? (I forget if you are going platy, and also I'm on the peninsula, but still
Not this year (again)
Icefire1424
Member
Eventually broke down and picked up Star Wars LCG. I think I'm officially spending more on Board / Card games than on videogames...
*casually glances in the direction of Zombicide and/or Last Night on Earth...
*casually glances in the direction of Zombicide and/or Last Night on Earth...
timetokill
Banned
JetBlackPanda
Member
This has been me over the last year and its been super refreshing. I still love video games but board games allows me to be more social with family and friends when they come over.
I love it.
Happens to me too and I really enjoy it. We meet every (two) week at our local boardgame shop and play and on weekends at my place or other places.
I just ordered Sentinels of the Multiverse yesterday since we enjoy cooperative games a lot and one guy in my gaming group really enjoys superhero games. Also ordered Tokaido from Sunforge France, loved the feature on WatchItPlayed, really digging the art!
This weekend we want to start a Descent 2nd Edition campaign (with the expansion) and check out how it stands up against Mice and Mystics (with which we had a real blast over the holidays)
Also bought Zombie Dice and Spartacus and put together my Super Dungeon Explore miniatures and tested the game.
The rulebook is kinda bad and we had a lot of open questions after reading it. Thank god BGG exists and we solved a lot of the problems we had by looking at the threads on BGG.
The game itself is really cool, though. Tomorrow I will play my first consul game against 5 heroes! Can't wait to stomp them.
Also I have a question regarding Android: Netrunner. Is it right that you can only use one program's strength to take an Ice down, but can reinforce it (Femme Fatale) with for example Crypsis' +strength ability? Also could I use the Femme Fatale again in the same run for another piece of Ice?
RaySpencer
Member
Yeah, I don't need 15 games of Eclipse going on all the time though, if I can have 3 going that will probably be my sweet spot. I think there is enough of us that would play it really consistently too. Also, it's actually a really awesome 2 player game, so not all the matches need to be 6 player.
Games will definitely take a while though. And it being iPad only will also keep some people away from it. But if there is 6 of us that play it consistently I will be happy, that makes enough for 1 super long huge game, and enough for 2 or 3 other smaller games on the side.
The good news for me, is that 4 of the 5 people that I regularly play Eclipse with also have iPads.
Icefire1424
Member
Completely agree. Had one incident with my cousin and his wife playing a game of Stratego, where the wife apparently thought the bombs were mobile. Made for a rather interesting game dynamic, actually.
timetokill
Banned
Just going back to this real quick: I've started playing Battles of Westeros recently, and if you play with the optional rules released in the errata, it has a big wargame feel. Plus the Game of Thrones license is solid.
A guy even made some custom campaign rules for merging Game of Thrones the board game with Battles of Westeros, which sounds AMAZEBALLS. One day I will get two friends together and we will play an epic campaign of this.
http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/81853/a-game-of-thrones-battles-of-westeros-campaign-gam
Dust is also good, but it's pricey if you want any sort of unit variety.
Cross-post from AusGAF....
I finally managed to get Ghost Stories to the table last night and we both really enjoyed it. It took a lot longer than expected (~2 hours), but it was a learning game with plenty of referencing to the rulebook / reference sheets for what the iconography on the cards meant. I think we made a few mistakes with the rules early on (mostly around what to do when your board was full of ghosts etc as I didn't actually read a line of text in the book, oops).
The game played a bit like a complex puzzle, much more than say Pandemic, you also feel far less 'in control', I think this is because its just so unrelenting and the lack of purely positive actions. Everything you do is such a trade off... do an action? Oh it comes with a negative side effect and you don't get to get rid of a ghost. Exorcise a ghost? Sure, you can try, but fail and your turn is gone and you didn't get to take a town action.
We did get to see the 'final boss' though, but almost immediately died as the board was just so full. Haha.
I finally managed to get Ghost Stories to the table last night and we both really enjoyed it. It took a lot longer than expected (~2 hours), but it was a learning game with plenty of referencing to the rulebook / reference sheets for what the iconography on the cards meant. I think we made a few mistakes with the rules early on (mostly around what to do when your board was full of ghosts etc as I didn't actually read a line of text in the book, oops).
The game played a bit like a complex puzzle, much more than say Pandemic, you also feel far less 'in control', I think this is because its just so unrelenting and the lack of purely positive actions. Everything you do is such a trade off... do an action? Oh it comes with a negative side effect and you don't get to get rid of a ghost. Exorcise a ghost? Sure, you can try, but fail and your turn is gone and you didn't get to take a town action.
We did get to see the 'final boss' though, but almost immediately died as the board was just so full. Haha.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
So I'm likely going to make a large order with a bit of tax refund money we're getting. Going by what's in stock at CSI, I'm looking so far at:
Eclipse: Rise of the Ancients Expansion
Flash Point: Fire Rescue 2nd Edition
Race for the Galaxy
Suburbia
Sentinels of the Multiverse: Enhanced Edition
Considering Manhattan Project, but with a 3rd Edition due out soon I figure I should wait, and Tzolk'in is out of stock so I may end up going Amazon on that one.
Also interested in Tammany Hall and Ground Floor, but they're both marked as pre-orders.
Eclipse: Rise of the Ancients Expansion
Flash Point: Fire Rescue 2nd Edition
Race for the Galaxy
Suburbia
Sentinels of the Multiverse: Enhanced Edition
Considering Manhattan Project, but with a 3rd Edition due out soon I figure I should wait, and Tzolk'in is out of stock so I may end up going Amazon on that one.
Also interested in Tammany Hall and Ground Floor, but they're both marked as pre-orders.
Whaaaat? How many angry calls did that net you?
The absurdity of that is pretty astounding.
RaySpencer
Member
Anyone here have good storage tips for Twilight Imperium? I just opened up all 3 of the boxes and separated everything, but having it all in 20+ sandwich sized ziplock bags just isnt going to work for me, haha.
Im currently digging through BGG to find some good ideas too.
Im currently digging through BGG to find some good ideas too.
timetokill
Banned
I fit everything in the original box, complete with that white insert. You could optionally use a plastic tackle case (like this: http://www.planomolding.com/subCategory.php?CID=138)
RaySpencer
Member
Yeah, Ive got everything in the box right now. I need to get some plastic cases like that for some of the bits, and probably some smaller bags or something for other bits. I guess Im looking for really specific stuff.
I think I will just head to a few stores tomorrow and pick up some cases for most of this stuff.
I need a case to sort all my ship parts in Eclipse anyway.
CoconutTank
Member
Fire ze meesailz! Eclipse was great, and I can't wait to play more of it In the game I participated in, I was the Orion Hegemony, but I didn't do much attacking at all, which I guess is kind of weird since I was the military focused faction. I didn't really want to mess with anyone since that would give me the Traitor card (pretty much a swing of -3 VP), and nobody wanted to mess with me since my Cruisers and Dreadnoughts would wreck face.
I want to try the Rho Indi Syndicate next time though. Not only do they get to move 4 ships with their 1 move action, they don't get -2 VP from the Traitor card and they seem to have a pretty good focus on mobility (and aggression!).
Any other war games or 4x games that are similar that you guys would recommend?
In the game I participated in, I was the Orion Hegemony, but I didn't do much attacking at all, which I guess is kind of weird since I was the military focused faction. I didn't really want to mess with anyone since that would give me the Traitor card (pretty much a swing of -3 VP), and nobody wanted to mess with me since my Cruisers and Dreadnoughts would wreck face.I want to try the Rho Indi Syndicate next time though. Not only do they get to move 4 ships with their 1 move action, they don't get -2 VP from the Traitor card and they seem to have a pretty good focus on mobility (and aggression!).
Any other war games or 4x games that are similar that you guys would recommend?
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
There are some entitled fucking assholes on BGG. They are inpatient, whiney, mouthbreathers who cry the moment they don't get their way. The way they tell it Stooge took their money and ran. Posting his number is just stepping over the line.
yeah that's pretty fucking low... I got my copy of Tammany Hall last Thursday I believe. Plus there were regular updates from the progress so I am not sure what the big deal is
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Ended up just going with Amazon since they had everything in stock. Ordered Eclipse: Rise of the Ancients Expansion, Flash Point: Fire Rescue 2nd Edition, Race for the Galaxy, Suburbia, Sentinels of the Multiverse: Enhanced Edition, Tzolk'in, and Tammany Hall.
RaySpencer
Member
Good choice with RFTG and Eclipse RotA.
I got to play rise of the ancients on the weekend and hot damn is it awesome, we didn't use all of the new stuff, but we did use most of it.
Alliances were awesome, and they really made the old ambassador tokens make more sense and work even better. It was great having an alliance with one guy and then trading ambassador tokens with a nearby friend who would later become an enemy. It was awesome.
The developments and rare tech were a great new addition as well, lots of fun new things to choose from. It was really nice to be able to trade a little bit of science and money to get an assload of materials to build up an army when shit hit the fan.
The new races were pretty cool too, no one got to play Megallan this time, but the exiles and the syndicate were big hits, Lyra seem a little less saught after for our next game, but they seem like they could be fun. We also slotted in the Eldars of the Solstice (Santa clause!) and they seem crazy fun too, they are so weird.
Amazing expansion though, just an absolutely outstanding game I couldn't be happier with what it adds to the experience.
The best news out of all my friends is they are all saying that we should add a few more rounds onto the game to make it longer. Haha. Which sounds good to me, and also bodes well for when we finally get to play Twilight Imperium. Heh.
I got to play rise of the ancients on the weekend and hot damn is it awesome, we didn't use all of the new stuff, but we did use most of it.
Alliances were awesome, and they really made the old ambassador tokens make more sense and work even better. It was great having an alliance with one guy and then trading ambassador tokens with a nearby friend who would later become an enemy. It was awesome.
The developments and rare tech were a great new addition as well, lots of fun new things to choose from. It was really nice to be able to trade a little bit of science and money to get an assload of materials to build up an army when shit hit the fan.
The new races were pretty cool too, no one got to play Megallan this time, but the exiles and the syndicate were big hits, Lyra seem a little less saught after for our next game, but they seem like they could be fun. We also slotted in the Eldars of the Solstice (Santa clause!) and they seem crazy fun too, they are so weird.
Amazing expansion though, just an absolutely outstanding game I couldn't be happier with what it adds to the experience.
The best news out of all my friends is they are all saying that we should add a few more rounds onto the game to make it longer. Haha. Which sounds good to me, and also bodes well for when we finally get to play Twilight Imperium. Heh.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Oh shizz, FFG posted the rules for the Blood Bowl:TM expansion.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3955
Getting so close.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3955
Getting so close.
Great choices. Those games will keep you busy for awhile.
Not this year (again)
I am out for GDC this year too. Road trip to Seattle it is.
MisterNugNug
Member
There's also a bit of creativity to all of it. The board games that I've encountered are so different from one another; the setting, the theme, the game philosophy, structure, etc.
Videogames have gotten a little stale for me, the industry needs an influx of creativity and imagination.
Played our first game of Battlestar Galactica tonight. Pretty fun over all! I ended up being on the human side of a 2 - 3 Cylon split, which felt impossible to win, but I still had a good time. The other human player and I just conceded once all the pieces fell into place, which was kind of a crappy way to end it, but there was nothing we could do.
Basically what happened was everyone was playing pretty conservatively at the beginning, with our president making some misplays (playing repair vipers to fix only 1, taking the "lose food stock" option twice in a row claiming his cards were more important to keep, etc.) but it WAS our first time playing and he wasn't screwing us over that badly. Up until then, we were getting tons of cylon deployments and things were looking pretty bad for a while, but we managed to pull through. By the time the sleeper agents were handed out though we deeply suspected him of being a cylon. However, when we finally moved to throw him in the brig (a move that is a huge waste of cards if you are wrong), he was able to defend himself pretty easily with his hand of cards, as well as the other player with any significant tactics and leadership cards decided not to contribute (he also ended up being a cylon). When the turns went around again, and we tried to throw him in a second time (the other suspected cylon was also low on cards), the third player revealed herself to be a cylon as well by being the only one to contribute cards against our brig challenge that were a colour only she could have (engineering in this case). Next thing we knew my ally was in the brig thanks to a cylon reveal, another cylon declared martial law to obtain the presidency (he also became admiral thanks to the human's trip to the brig), and that's when we were pretty much screwed. I, for one, decided to welcome our new cylon overlords.
The game had some fun moments trying to decide who was who, and the "neutral" deck that contributes cards automatically helps keep you on your toes. However, it really felt like the game was decided from the start, which even though it was unlikely there would be three cylons off the mark, it kind of feels shitty to me that that is even a possibility. All the cylons said they had a cylon card from the beginning (2 initial + 1 because someone chose the character that adds an extra card). I understand that the game needs variable amounts of "traitors" otherwise it becomes too easy once they're found out (like if one and only one cylon was guaranteed to be in the mix) but having between 1 and 3 is a little too swingy, especially if it can happen from the beginning.
I wouldn't mind playing again but it might be a good idea to add some cards and make the game "easier" for the humans, as the rulebook suggests. I feel as though it was difficult enough for us even if there were only those two initial cylons. When the third revealed herself through her actions we just gave up on the spot because it was too much for us. However, I can ALSO see how it would be quite difficult for a solo cylon to do significant damage unless he was very lucky with circumstance, so I'm not quite sure what the solution should be.
Has anyone else played this game? I'm curious how some other experiences went.
Basically what happened was everyone was playing pretty conservatively at the beginning, with our president making some misplays (playing repair vipers to fix only 1, taking the "lose food stock" option twice in a row claiming his cards were more important to keep, etc.) but it WAS our first time playing and he wasn't screwing us over that badly. Up until then, we were getting tons of cylon deployments and things were looking pretty bad for a while, but we managed to pull through. By the time the sleeper agents were handed out though we deeply suspected him of being a cylon. However, when we finally moved to throw him in the brig (a move that is a huge waste of cards if you are wrong), he was able to defend himself pretty easily with his hand of cards, as well as the other player with any significant tactics and leadership cards decided not to contribute (he also ended up being a cylon). When the turns went around again, and we tried to throw him in a second time (the other suspected cylon was also low on cards), the third player revealed herself to be a cylon as well by being the only one to contribute cards against our brig challenge that were a colour only she could have (engineering in this case). Next thing we knew my ally was in the brig thanks to a cylon reveal, another cylon declared martial law to obtain the presidency (he also became admiral thanks to the human's trip to the brig), and that's when we were pretty much screwed. I, for one, decided to welcome our new cylon overlords.
The game had some fun moments trying to decide who was who, and the "neutral" deck that contributes cards automatically helps keep you on your toes. However, it really felt like the game was decided from the start, which even though it was unlikely there would be three cylons off the mark, it kind of feels shitty to me that that is even a possibility. All the cylons said they had a cylon card from the beginning (2 initial + 1 because someone chose the character that adds an extra card). I understand that the game needs variable amounts of "traitors" otherwise it becomes too easy once they're found out (like if one and only one cylon was guaranteed to be in the mix) but having between 1 and 3 is a little too swingy, especially if it can happen from the beginning.
I wouldn't mind playing again but it might be a good idea to add some cards and make the game "easier" for the humans, as the rulebook suggests. I feel as though it was difficult enough for us even if there were only those two initial cylons. When the third revealed herself through her actions we just gave up on the spot because it was too much for us. However, I can ALSO see how it would be quite difficult for a solo cylon to do significant damage unless he was very lucky with circumstance, so I'm not quite sure what the solution should be.
Has anyone else played this game? I'm curious how some other experiences went.
The difficulty is merely unfamiliarity with the game. Just about everyone's first game is a Cylon win. Things will naturally become more balanced as you play more and understand the intricacies of action efficiency and bluff calling. Considering ALL 5 player games have two Cylons, it's definitely not impossible to win, or its broken design wouldn't have garnered it a large fan base.
Edit: Woah. I reread your post carefully. There are never three cyclons in a 5 player game. No fucking wonder you got your shit pushed in. You played that wrong.
The loyalty deck in a 5 player game is ALWAYS 2 'You are a cylon' cards. No More, no less. The additional card you mentioned is an additional 'You are NOT a cylon' card that gets added to the loyalty deck's normal numbers.
So in a base game with 5, your loyalty deck will ALWAYS be 2 'You are a Cylon' cards, 8 'You are not a Cylon' cards, and then if someone picks Gaius, you shuffle one more YANAC into the deck before the FIRST loyalty deal. If someone is Boomer, you shuffle one YANAC into the deck before the second/sleeper loyalty deal.
Edit 2: And before you ever play a 6 player game, rip that fucking Sympathizer card in half and use FFG's official No Sympathizer variant. Before you play a 4 player game, considering playing something else instead.
Edit: Woah. I reread your post carefully. There are never three cyclons in a 5 player game. No fucking wonder you got your shit pushed in. You played that wrong.
The loyalty deck in a 5 player game is ALWAYS 2 'You are a cylon' cards. No More, no less. The additional card you mentioned is an additional 'You are NOT a cylon' card that gets added to the loyalty deck's normal numbers.
So in a base game with 5, your loyalty deck will ALWAYS be 2 'You are a Cylon' cards, 8 'You are not a Cylon' cards, and then if someone picks Gaius, you shuffle one more YANAC into the deck before the FIRST loyalty deal. If someone is Boomer, you shuffle one YANAC into the deck before the second/sleeper loyalty deal.
Edit 2: And before you ever play a 6 player game, rip that fucking Sympathizer card in half and use FFG's official No Sympathizer variant. Before you play a 4 player game, considering playing something else instead.
Jables Swan
Member
Battlestar Galactica is probably my gaming group's favourite game. Once you've played it a few times and understand it better it'll be more enjoyable too.
The difficulty is merely unfamiliarity with the game. Just about everyone's first game is a Cylon win. Things will naturally become more balanced as you play more and understand the intricacies of action efficiency and bluff calling. Considering ALL 5 player games have two Cylons, it's definitely not impossible to win, or its broken design wouldn't have garnered it a large fan base.
Edit: Woah. I reread your post carefully. There are never three cyclons in a 5 player game. No fucking wonder you got your shit pushed in. You played that wrong.
The loyalty deck in a 5 player game is ALWAYS 2 'You are a cylon' cards. No More, no less. The additional card you mentioned is an additional 'You are NOT a cylon' card that gets added to the loyalty deck's normal numbers.
So in a base game with 5, your loyalty deck will ALWAYS be 2 'You are a Cylon' cards, 8 'You are not a Cylon' cards, and then if someone picks Gaius, you shuffle one more YANAC into the deck before the FIRST loyalty deal. If someone is Boomer, you shuffle one YANAC into the deck before the second/sleeper loyalty deal.
Edit 2: And before you ever play a 6 player game, rip that fucking Sympathizer card in half and use FFG's official No Sympathizer variant. Before you play a 4 player game, considering playing something else instead.
Ahhhhhhhhh okay, something did feel off about how we did it. Being straight up out numbered was pretty ridiculous. Thank you for the clarification.
That's super douchey of someone to do to you. I got mine, by the way. Great job!
timetokill
Banned
Just got my copy of Tammany Hall today! Thanks StoOgE!
Good thing too, if it took much longer I was gonna have to post your cell
Good thing too, if it took much longer I was gonna have to post your cell
i would never do that
RaySpencer
Member
Wait...what does Stooge do? you make Tammany Hall or something? And why are a bunch of you guys going to GDC? EXPLAIN THINGS!!
BattleMonkey
Member
He's starting a publishing company for games.
Stooge put together a Kickstarter to publish a small reprint of Tammany Hall. Did a great job, from what I hear.
RaySpencer
Member
Oh, thats cool as hell. Good job Stooge!
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
I haven't gone for several years, and it sounds like a bunch of others aren't going this year either.
I just played my newly-acquired Tammany Hall last night. I enjoyed it, though I realized now that I played several rules wrong. Apparently your actions (office benefit, placing guys, slander) can be done in ANY order, and not just the order they're listed in the instructions. Also, we thought the rule for voting was that you could only play one favor chip per immigrant, but upon re-reading the rules it seems that you can actually play as many chips as you want as long as they match the color(s) of the immigrant cubes in the ward. I'm trying to wrap my head around it thematically, as I figured each "person" represents one vote, whether they be boss or immigrant.
I fell behind early on, but if I knew I could do my office benefit AFTER slandering or placing bosses/immigrants, I could have potentially turned my luck around. One friend ended up accumulating tons of favor chips after he was Deputy Mayor for two terms, and he was going to run away with the game until everyone started ganging up on him. He still ended up winning, but we had to use the tiebreaker rules.
I look forward to playing it with the correct rules, as I did feel a little helpless in this play. This effect would likely have been minimized with the rules as they are written.
I fell behind early on, but if I knew I could do my office benefit AFTER slandering or placing bosses/immigrants, I could have potentially turned my luck around. One friend ended up accumulating tons of favor chips after he was Deputy Mayor for two terms, and he was going to run away with the game until everyone started ganging up on him. He still ended up winning, but we had to use the tiebreaker rules.
I look forward to playing it with the correct rules, as I did feel a little helpless in this play. This effect would likely have been minimized with the rules as they are written.
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