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[AstroLad]

For the Netrunner fans in here

Played in the Netrunner regionals today. 34 people turned out. Just an amazing environment given how almost every match comes down to the wire. Finished second, was the only person to win every match, and the only person to beat the guy who finished first. Also got a nice prizes: playmat, some click trackers, and a plastic HB card that I chose (my favorite faction, runner or corp).

Last match was amazing. Lost the first game as Gabe vs. Weyland -- just bad timing on everything but did manage to pluck a 3-cost agenda to give myself an outside chance for the match. Second game is my HB vs. Chaos Theory (3rd of the day!) which I hate playing because it's so nasty if you haven't won before it's set up. And of course guy just sets up a KILLER rig (he mentioned it was literally the best starting hand he'd ever hand). All Icebreakers out, 3 Underworld Contacts that were getting him 3 credits per turn, and an Aesop's about five turns in. I have literally never been at such an economic disadvantage in Netrunner ever. He scores a pretty quick 2-cost agenda and is just one more away from taking the match. The whole time I'm trying to build up my usual megaserver trying to get him to run on assets and upgrades, but he's not really buying it. Finally it gets to 7 in size but is still nothing against the rig that's generating up to 14 credits per turn consistently. I drop Edge of World in there and basically just pray -- dumping a 2-cost agenda unprotected into Archives (bluffing as trashing trap for agenda, when it was really the opposite). We go back and forth a few turns and I get another upgrade (2nd Akitaro actually) to drop in there and bluff as an agenda. Finally, he runs on it, probably just desperate to get that last agenda he needs for the match and figuring he can very easily recover from an expensive run (true). I just think to myself "oh my God this is really happening." He gets through the server, and bam 7 brain damage, and pull out the match.

One of the most exciting board-game moments I've ever had, and the (very long 7+ hours) day was full of them. My last 3 matches I lost the first game and stole the match with the second game.

Glad tournaments are only once a month. They're quite fun but incredibly stressful too.

 

[Flynn]

For the Netrunner fans in here

Played in the Netrunner regionals today. 34 people turned out. Just an amazing environment given how almost every match comes down to the wire. Finished second, was the only person to win every match, and the only person to beat the guy who finished first. Also got a nice prizes: playmat, some click trackers, and a plastic HB card that I chose (my favorite faction, runner or corp).

Last match was amazing. Lost the first game as Gabe vs. Weyland -- just bad timing on everything but did manage to pluck a 3-cost agenda to give myself an outside chance for the match. Second game is my HB vs. Chaos Theory (3rd of the day!) which I hate playing because it's so nasty if you haven't won before it's set up. And of course guy just sets up a KILLER rig (he mentioned it was literally the best starting hand he'd ever hand). All Icebreakers out, 3 Underworld Contacts that were getting him 3 credits per turn, and an Aesop's about five turns in. I have literally never been at such an economic disadvantage in Netrunner ever. He scores a pretty quick 2-cost agenda and is just one more away from taking the match. The whole time I'm trying to build up my usual megaserver trying to get him to run on assets and upgrades, but he's not really buying it. Finally it gets to 7 in size but is still nothing against the rig that's generating up to 14 credits per turn consistently. I drop Edge of World in there and basically just pray -- dumping a 2-cost agenda unprotected into Archives (bluffing as trashing trap for agenda, when it was really the opposite). We go back and forth a few turns and I get another upgrade (2nd Akitaro actually) to drop in there and bluff as an agenda. Finally, he runs on it, probably just desperate to get that last agenda he needs for the match and figuring he can very easily recover from an expensive run (true). I just think to myself "oh my God this is really happening." He gets through the server, and bam 7 brain damage, and pull out the match.

One of the most exciting board-game moments I've ever had, and the (very long 7+ hours) day was full of them. My last 3 matches I lost the first game and stole the match with the second game.

Glad tournaments are only once a month. They're quite fun but incredibly stressful too.

That sounds awesome, dude. Nice work.

Traps really are the best.

 

[AstroLad]

That sounds awesome, dude. Nice work.

Traps really are the best.

I wish Jinteki was better and less obvious because they really are great. Funny thing was very early in the game he called out "wow it would be nice to have Edge of World back there hahah" when I had it in hand (I had it very early though none of his HQ runs hit it). Thankfully I've been playing more Avalon recently so my bluffing skills are on point.

 

[Blizzard]

I played four games yesterday. I actually got lucky since I think I won or was on the winning team for 3 of them, yay.

King of Tokyo:
I don't think I had played this before. We used the panda power expansion, but we just shuffled all the powers up so everyone could pick them and hand them around the table, 7-wonders style, before shuffling them into a deck in front of you. This was reasonable except that it took me like 5 turns to get 3 hearts, so everyone else was getting powers instead. But, I got the crosshairs power and killed like two other monsters to win the game. Someone else killed the third. I was panda. Panda victory!

Take Stock:
I had played this over Christmas with my family. We only played 2 rounds instead of 4 since it takes a while. Relatively "normal" card game, has a bit of a learning curve with new people to figure out the market event cards. Seems to have a few situations that aren't explicitly covered by the rules so you just have to decide something or try to find confirmation on the internet.

Uggtech:
I had played this before. We only played three rounds this time, and it was frustrating since not only was one teammate barely paying attention and laughing too much to do much, but we also got a card that had a slanted base plate in such a way that it was nearly impossible to place it without it just sliding off. Then later teammate placed the baseplate upside down and there's no vocabulary word for turning something upside down.

Witch's Brew:
Took forever due to people taking a long time to pick cards or whatnot. Seemed sort of interesting. Apparently some people can do well or win by just randomly picking 5 cards every round instead of using strategy. It almost seemed like it would be faster and/or more fun that way.

 

[sneaky77]

For the Netrunner fans in here

Played in the Netrunner regionals today. 34 people turned out. Just an amazing environment given how almost every match comes down to the wire. Finished second, was the only person to win every match, and the only person to beat the guy who finished first. Also got a nice prizes: playmat, some click trackers, and a plastic HB card that I chose (my favorite faction, runner or corp).

Last match was amazing. Lost the first game as Gabe vs. Weyland -- just bad timing on everything but did manage to pluck a 3-cost agenda to give myself an outside chance for the match. Second game is my HB vs. Chaos Theory (3rd of the day!) which I hate playing because it's so nasty if you haven't won before it's set up. And of course guy just sets up a KILLER rig (he mentioned it was literally the best starting hand he'd ever hand). All Icebreakers out, 3 Underworld Contacts that were getting him 3 credits per turn, and an Aesop's about five turns in. I have literally never been at such an economic disadvantage in Netrunner ever. He scores a pretty quick 2-cost agenda and is just one more away from taking the match. The whole time I'm trying to build up my usual megaserver trying to get him to run on assets and upgrades, but he's not really buying it. Finally it gets to 7 in size but is still nothing against the rig that's generating up to 14 credits per turn consistently. I drop Edge of World in there and basically just pray -- dumping a 2-cost agenda unprotected into Archives (bluffing as trashing trap for agenda, when it was really the opposite). We go back and forth a few turns and I get another upgrade (2nd Akitaro actually) to drop in there and bluff as an agenda. Finally, he runs on it, probably just desperate to get that last agenda he needs for the match and figuring he can very easily recover from an expensive run (true). I just think to myself "oh my God this is really happening." He gets through the server, and bam 7 brain damage, and pull out the match.

One of the most exciting board-game moments I've ever had, and the (very long 7+ hours) day was full of them. My last 3 matches I lost the first game and stole the match with the second game.

Glad tournaments are only once a month. They're quite fun but incredibly stressful too.

if you win every match and beat the winner how did you finish second?

 

[Neverfade]

if you win every match and beat the winner how did you finish second?

I assume he meant he won all the way to the finals and was the only person to win a "round" of Netrunner against that particular guy. Netrunner matches consist of at least 2 games, one as each side -- corp/runner. So I guess it went to 3 games.

 

[sneaky77]

I assume he meant he won all the way to the finals and was the only person to win a "round" of Netrunner against that particular guy. Netrunner matches consist of at least 2 games, one as each side -- corp/runner. So I guess it went to 3 games.

oh ok, that makes more sense I guess lol

 

[AstroLad]

I assume he meant he won all the way to the finals and was the only person to win a "round" of Netrunner against that particular guy. Netrunner matches consist of at least 2 games, one as each side -- corp/runner. So I guess it went to 3 games.

Yeah exactly. Last three "matches" I had I lost the first game, but won the second by enough to take the match. 2 points for each game, and 2 points for the match, so I got 4 from those instead of the full 6. Guy who won went like 6-5-6-2-6-6 or something. Round robin is really tough. Basically just hope you get an easy person first because just the way things are set up after that it's all uphill and it's really difficult to take 6 points consistently from good players.

 

[Woody Invincible]

Link? Imagine they don't ship os.

LINK

Sorry I replied so late, just checked the thread again.

 

[blurrygil]

I just picked up Mage Knight, which is awesome and has the bonus of a single player mode, and Android : Netrunner, which I have only played once so far.

I have heard there is an expansion for Mage Knight, does anyone have it?

Mage Knight: The Lost Legion Expansion on BGG

Good gawd. Wow, and I thought I was diving in head first with Descent. But the game looks diverse and fantastic. There's a copy sitting at my local shop that I'm sure I can haggle down for a good price (or have them match v. Amazon), so I could bite.

Eminent Domain and TI3 have a couple similarities, but they are completely different games. I highly recommend Eminent Domain, its a great little card game thats very easy to learn and play.

$50 for the base game and the new expansion is an awesome deal, I would highly recommend jumping in at that price.

Nice sell, man. 61 hrs left on the KS and I just might bite. Cash is a bit tight, right now. But I don't really wanna miss out.

are there any other game similar to risk?

I used to love playing risk as a kid.

For me, I got out of the "world domination" theme and transitioned over to more scenario-based stuff. Tried Axis & Allies, but found it too rule-heavy and cumbersome. Have a peek at Memoir 44. It's insanely expansive and I love the card system that is integrated when it comes to issuing orders, etc. It does add a bit more of the luck factor, which I personally do not mind, to the game. That may turn some players off. But proper tactics will win out EVERY time. The bonus for me was that I didn't find the game to be too meaty or overwhelming in terms of micro-management. The big plus is that you can find nearly all of the expansions/add-ons on Amazon at the most competitive prices.

Absolutely loving Zombicide, still. Fast, frantic, BIG board (in general), lots of minis, great rules (with house tweaks, of course)...simply fantastic for me and my group.

Well full-monty learning Star Wars X-Wing for the first time last night. A little slower due to the starting learning curve (for met, at least), but really enjoyed it. I realized I'm going to need a 2nd folding 6x2 table just for this game, as I have 2 base sets and 4 expansions (each "expansion" is a single fighter). But we had a blast learning it and playing out a Senator Shuttle escort mission. To allow everyone to play, my mates wanted to be Rebel forces and I took the Imperial fighters. However, we added one more X-Wing on their side for the prior reasons. That threw the balance of the game off as the X-Wings (especially with a Luke/Biggs/non-rookie pilot) are much more powerful. The only thing that kept me in the scenario were having unlimited reinforcements (all Academy Cadets, however) to harass their Shuttle. In the end, the Shuttle escaped...but I DID manage to get half it's hull damage down. Which, all in all, we looked back upon that as being quite impressive. Looking forward to including my expansion fighters (already have got the TIE Interceptor, TIE Advanced & Y-Wing!) to mix things up. Might cave and pick up one of the BIG expansions:

I'm glad I stumbled upon it at PAX Prime last year. Likely the only real miniatures game I'm willing to dive into (I can't/won't paint).

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

What's everyone's favorite game for drunken friends who don't want to learn a lot of rules?

We have been doing Cards Against Humanity and Telestrations when things get really rowdy, and starting with Dominion when people are still relatively sober.

I'm looking for more games to put in the mix that sit on or between those ends of the spectrum.

For example: This group isn't going to play Arkham Horror. Probably not Dominant Species either.

The group is between five and six people.

 

[Neverfade]

What's everyone's favorite game for drunken friends who don't want to learn a lot of rules?

We have been doing Cards Against Humanity and Telestrations when things get really rowdy, and starting with Dominion when people are still relatively sober.

I'm looking for more games to put in the mix that sit on or between those ends of the spectrum.

For example: This group isn't going to play Arkham Horror. Probably not Dominant Species either.

The group is between five and six people.

Time's Up Total Recall has been our favorite party game for years. Hilarious each and every time.

 

[blurrygil]

Time's Up Title Recall has been our favorite party game for years. Hilarious each and every time.

FYP

Yeah, CAH is pretty much the staple "get-everyone-sloshed" end-of-session game for people to dive into. We generally can get away with Munchkin this way, as well.

This is why I'm excited for SuperFight! and Machine of Death on KS. Both fit that bill and CAH has gotten quite old for me, already. :-/

 

[Shiny Llama]

I noticed it wasn't in the OP, so I thought I'd recommend Shut Up and Sit Down, which can be found here with the show archives and old blog posts here.

Two British men play board games with an injection of weird humour and a healthy dose of reference pear. Highly recommended.

 

[Schmattakopf]

What's everyone's favorite game for drunken friends who don't want to learn a lot of rules?

We have been doing Cards Against Humanity and Telestrations when things get really rowdy, and starting with Dominion when people are still relatively sober.

I'm looking for more games to put in the mix that sit on or between those ends of the spectrum.

For example: This group isn't going to play Arkham Horror. Probably not Dominant Species either.

The group is between five and six people.

I would go with Bohnanza. I mean, sober or not, but I can just imagine playing it drunk. It's so simple and social, and yet there's several layers of strategy.

 

[SillyEskimo]

What's everyone's favorite game for drunken friends who don't want to learn a lot of rules?

We have been doing Cards Against Humanity and Telestrations when things get really rowdy, and starting with Dominion when people are still relatively sober.

I'm looking for more games to put in the mix that sit on or between those ends of the spectrum.

For example: This group isn't going to play Arkham Horror. Probably not Dominant Species either.

The group is between five and six people.

Zombies!!! is my go to game for groups like this. It's easy and can go pretty fast with 4-5 people once you get a practice game under your belts.

 

[platypotamus]

What's everyone's favorite game for drunken friends who don't want to learn a lot of rules?

Dixit if we're only drinking moderately
Werewolf or Resistance if drinking is a bit heavier, as people's attempts to divert attention from themselves get even more funny as they get more drunk

 

[ultron87]

Time's Up Total Recall has been our favorite party game for years. Hilarious each and every time.

The manual version of this game where everyone just writes stuff down on pieces of paper and tosses them in a bowl is also amazing. And significantly less family friendly, depending on your group of friends.

 

[Omikron]

I played Samurai a couple times last night, here are some pictorial images of the board game in action.

Really do like the pieces in this, feel really nice in the hand.

 

[Hydranockz]

What's everyone's favorite game for drunken friends who don't want to learn a lot of rules?

We have been doing Cards Against Humanity and Telestrations when things get really rowdy, and starting with Dominion when people are still relatively sober.

I'm looking for more games to put in the mix that sit on or between those ends of the spectrum.

For example: This group isn't going to play Arkham Horror. Probably not Dominant Species either.

The group is between five and six people.

Jungle Speed gets pretty crazy even when sober

 

[MisterNugNug]

Could not help myself and got Snowdonia, Battlestar Galactica and In The Year of the Dragon. Thinking about getting Hanabi, Urbion, Rialto, the latest Netrunner expansion as well as Urban Sprawl and Twilight Struggle.

 

[AstroLad]

Thanks to neverfade for touting Lords of Vegas for so long. Finally had the chance to get it to the table after owning it for a year+ and it was a ton of fun. I'm not even a huge Acquire fan, but to me this basically fixes everything I don't like about Acquire, and the roll-offs for control of casinos are incredibly epic (as is the random gambling).

 

[Neverfade]

Don't forget JoeyJJS. I see him doing his part too!

But yeah, super fun stuff. 4 player casinos that get rerolled are always nail biters. Love that!

Nothing better than super tense tie-roll offs that sometimes keep going! And having a single die in a casino and it popping up 6: Priceless!

 

[sneaky77]

any thoughts on Kemet and Relic? I saw the Relic video from fantasy flight and makes it look cool, but their videos are always really well done.
I watched Kemet review a while back I think from Undead Viking and made it look fairly interesting so I was considering it, anyone here play either? I have not played Talisman which I understand is similar to the way Relic operates.

 

[BattleMonkey]

any thoughts on Kemet and Relic? I saw the Relic video from fantasy flight and makes it look cool, but their videos are always really well done.
I watched Kemet review a while back I think from Undead Viking and made it look fairly interesting so I was considering it, anyone here play either? I have not played Talisman which I understand is similar to the way Relic operates.

Relic is basically Talisman, with Relic having a few rule changes that kinda reduce the randomness of the game a little bit. In Relic you have cards that you can use and powers that give you a slight bit more control of where you go unlike how completely random talisman can feel. The random factor of Talisman turns off many but it's also very popular because of how tight the game can get with competing against everyone to win, as well as just being very simple game system. And if you're a 40k fan, it's worth a look.

 

[outunderthestars]

Random question: I remember a deck building game being announced that was supposed to be the follow up to Dominion, but not in the same theme. I thought it was designed by the same guy maybe, but had a more sci-fi feel?

any ideas?

 

[fenners]

Random question: I remember a deck building game being announced that was supposed to be the follow up to Dominion, but not in the same theme. I thought it was designed by the same guy maybe, but had a more sci-fi feel?

any ideas?

Inflitration. Came out & people largely didnt' think much of it from what i remember. Not so much a sequel as a new game by the same designer.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=192&enmi=Infiltration

 

[outunderthestars]

Inflitration. Came out & people largely didnt' think much of it from what i remember. Not so much a sequel as a new game by the same designer.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=192&enmi=Infiltration

That is it! Off to go look at it.

 

[AstroLad]

DXV is pretty much nothing but fail since Dominion, depending on how you feel about Kingdom Builder (and I personally don't like it very much). Even Dominion feels pretty antiquated by now, borderline unplayable for me after all these years even though it used to be king of the mountain.

 

[Neverfade]

Random question: I remember a deck building game being announced that was supposed to be the follow up to Dominion, but not in the same theme. I thought it was designed by the same guy maybe, but had a more sci-fi feel?

any ideas?

Inflitration. Came out & people largely didnt' think much of it from what i remember. Not so much a sequel as a new game by the same designer.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=192&enmi=Infiltration

Wha? Definitely not a deck building game.

I think it's a pretty fun push your luck style game. I'll take it anyday over something like Incan Gold or Can't Stop.

 

[Phthisis]

Infiltration is really fun; all my friends ask to play it. Quick set up, quick gameplay, simple rules, but a great sense of urgency and tension for the whole game.

 

[platypotamus]

DXV is pretty much nothing but fail since Dominion, depending on how you feel about Kingdom Builder (and I personally don't like it very much).

Et Tu AstroLad?

 

[AstroLad]

Et Tu AstroLad?

Not a big fan! I do own it though, and haven't sold it. Infiltration sounds interesting. I'm a big fan of that universe now from Netrunner, though obviously Infiltration's not really a thematic game (afaict). Might even try out Android some time even though it seems very love/hate.

 

[tm24]

City of Remnants is in my cart at CSI. Plaid Hat hasnt dissappointed me yet. Now to fill my cart with more shit!

 

[BattleMonkey]

City of Remnants is in my cart at CSI. Plaid Hat hasnt dissappointed me yet. Now to fill my cart with more shit!

Play Dungeon Run, you'll be quickly disappointed.

 

[XShagrath]

Play Dungeon Run, you'll be quickly disappointed.

I really wanted to like that game too. I thought the combat was a really nifty system, but the game itself just didn't do it for me. Hated that the co-op aspect of the game went out the window halfway through.

 

[CoconutTank]

DXV is pretty much nothing but fail since Dominion, depending on how you feel about Kingdom Builder (and I personally don't like it very much). Even Dominion feels pretty antiquated by now, borderline unplayable for me after all these years even though it used to be king of the mountain.

Et Tu AstroLad?

If you don't mind me butting in, my main issue with Kingdom Builder is that randomness is a big deal in it, much moreso than with Dominion. I really tried to like it but the few times I played it I don't think I could formulate any decent strategies.

In Dominion, with the exception of attack cards and some other specific cards, I have control over what goes into my deck and there are plenty of copies of Kingdom cards. Generally I can get a good feel for what I can do with my deck and I'll rarely get screwed out of a copy of an important card (unless it's a 4p game, but I don't like 4p Dominion that much). This is even considering a kingdom that doesn't have any trashing.

In Kingdom Builder, house placement is determined by the terrain you flip up next in the deck, and must be adjacent to any existing houses you've already placed. This is very restricting, but it can be cheated by using an ability token to move existing houses around (if the adjacency rule cannot be fulfilled then the player puts the house on any open hex with matching terrain).

The ability tokens are problematic themselves though. There are very few ability tokens (2 per location I believe?), and due to terrain placement being randomly determined some of the players could be screwed out of the ability tokens easily. With little to no ability tokens, it becomes rather hard for a player to maneuver. Additional bonus points from the kingdom builder cards is completely random too, but at least they come face up at the start of the game to let players know what they should try to aim for.

I guess there's potentially something more interesting going on, and I won't say that strategic choices are not possible in Kingdom Builder. But building up to that point relies on quite a bit of randomness.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Not a big fan! I do own it though, and haven't sold it. Infiltration sounds interesting. I'm a big fan of that universe now from Netrunner, though obviously Infiltration's not really a thematic game (afaict). Might even try out Android some time even though it seems very love/hate.

Android is an interesting game not good or bad just interesting. There is a lot of ideas in the game that make it compelling but it has too many rules and clashing mechanics to be great. If you decide to play it, play it for it's theme, try not to get bogged down in the details, and try to make your personal story interesting. Also dont play with the full amount of players. The down time is too severe and there will be times where your turn is skipped causing you to sit there for 20 minutes with literally nothing to do. I would definitely play it again but it's not a game I'm dying to play again.

 

[BattleMonkey]

We just played Rise of the Zombies, what a fucking awful game. It's like a zombie version of the space hulk game, but the games difficulty is total bullshit. Game is no fun when it can kill several players within the first 2 minutes while dragging out for almost an hour. One of the most ridiculous coop games I've ever played.

 

[ultron87]

Jungle Speed gets pretty crazy even when sober

Thank you for suggesting this! Played this with my Pathfinder group as folks were arriving. Twas a great time.

 

[radjago]

I noticed it wasn't in the OP, so I thought I'd recommend Shut Up and Sit Down, which can be found here with the show archives and old blog posts here.

Two British men play board games with an injection of weird humour and a healthy dose of reference pear. Highly recommended.

Yes!

Quinn's Golden Age of Board Games talk should be required viewing for anyone interested in board games.

http://vimeo.com/m/52293009

 

[MisterNugNug]

Yes!

Quinn's Golden Age of Board Games talk should be required viewing for anyone interested in board games.

http://vimeo.com/m/52293009

I love it when they do videos about Twilight Imperium.

 

[Keasar]

I love it when they do videos about Twilight Imperium.

It does deserve the praise. People still ask me when we are gonna play Twilight Imperium again (despite them almost being psychologically obliterated last time when we played it for 10 hours straight), just hard to find space and time for it.

Anyone with experience of BattleCON: War of Indines? I saw their Devastation Kickstarter and thought it all sounded really neat, pledged for it and so forth, thinking about ordering the first one to play while waiting for the sequel to arrive.

Also, Mage Wars, yay or nay? Just read Shut Up And Sit Down's preview of it and I am getting really itchy for it.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Interesting idea for a new card game up on kickstarter by some folks I know: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/24348879/heroes-tale-tcg

Blending TCG's with RPG like game elements.

 

[joelseph]

Infiltration is really fun; all my friends ask to play it. Quick set up, quick gameplay, simple rules, but a great sense of urgency and tension for the whole game.

We play this with 3 at lunch. Really fun 30 minute game.

 

[platypotamus]

If you don't mind me butting in, my main issue with Kingdom Builder is that randomness is a big deal in it, much moreso than with Dominion. I really tried to like it but the few times I played it I don't think I could formulate any decent strategies.

In Dominion, with the exception of attack cards and some other specific cards, I have control over what goes into my deck and there are plenty of copies of Kingdom cards. Generally I can get a good feel for what I can do with my deck and I'll rarely get screwed out of a copy of an important card (unless it's a 4p game, but I don't like 4p Dominion that much). This is even considering a kingdom that doesn't have any trashing.

In Kingdom Builder, house placement is determined by the terrain you flip up next in the deck, and must be adjacent to any existing houses you've already placed. This is very restricting, but it can be cheated by using an ability token to move existing houses around (if the adjacency rule cannot be fulfilled then the player puts the house on any open hex with matching terrain).

The ability tokens are problematic themselves though. There are very few ability tokens (2 per location I believe?), and due to terrain placement being randomly determined some of the players could be screwed out of the ability tokens easily. With little to no ability tokens, it becomes rather hard for a player to maneuver. Additional bonus points from the kingdom builder cards is completely random too, but at least they come face up at the start of the game to let players know what they should try to aim for.

I guess there's potentially something more interesting going on, and I won't say that strategic choices are not possible in Kingdom Builder. But building up to that point relies on quite a bit of randomness.

I actually think you've got it exactly backwards. The most important strategic choice in the game is your very first turn. The second most important choice is your second turn. If you make the right choices on those two turns, it is practically impossible to make it past turn 3 without at least 2 of the special ability tokens, and quite probably more than that. If you have less than 2, it was not bad luck, it was bad house placement (or perhaps, outside chance, aggressive blocking by your opponents, which is probably poor house placement on their parts).

Turn 1, you draw a... let's say forest. You have two primary objectives for your 3 houses. 1: Place one touching a special ability tile. 2: Place the 3 houses such the minimum number of terrains touch those three houses. Ideally, this means they only touch forests, so you have an 80% chance on your next turn of being able to place wherever you like. Sometimes you can't do better than a 60% chance.

When you are choosing between a few special ability tiles, I tend to choose entirely based on rule number 2 + prioritizing a special ability that makes it so it doesn't matter. I.e. In this case, the place-on-grassland special ability card. If I get my 3 forests down, with one touching flowers, I'm not even too mad if I draw forest or flowers, because I'll just put my free grassland house down somewhere else. Possibly next to a special tile directly, or possible next to a forest/flower that I can reach a tile there with my 3 normal houses. Better luck if I draw a canyon/desert, because now I might have 3 special move tiles at the end of my second turn. Depending on how many players I'm playing with, I may not get a crack at a fourth special ability, but I very often can grab one more in turn 3. At that point, I have plenty of options to get my houses where I need to to maximize my points.

 

[tm24]

Also, Mage Wars, yay or nay? Just read Shut Up And Sit Down's preview of it and I am getting really itchy for it.

I liked it. One of the things is that you need to play it a few times since there's so many options at first before you really have any idea of how you want to establish your strategy. After maybe 4-5 playthroughs, shit gets crazy fast

 

[BattleMonkey]

Is there any official rule variants for mage wars that allow for more than 2 players?

 

[CoconutTank]

I actually think you've got it exactly backwards. The most important strategic choice in the game is your very first turn. The second most important choice is your second turn. If you make the right choices on those two turns, it is practically impossible to make it past turn 3 without at least 2 of the special ability tokens, and quite probably more than that. If you have less than 2, it was not bad luck, it was bad house placement (or perhaps, outside chance, aggressive blocking by your opponents, which is probably poor house placement on their parts).

Turn 1, you draw a... let's say forest. You have two primary objectives for your 3 houses. 1: Place one touching a special ability tile. 2: Place the 3 houses such the minimum number of terrains touch those three houses. Ideally, this means they only touch forests, so you have an 80% chance on your next turn of being able to place wherever you like. Sometimes you can't do better than a 60% chance.

When you are choosing between a few special ability tiles, I tend to choose entirely based on rule number 2 + prioritizing a special ability that makes it so it doesn't matter. I.e. In this case, the place-on-grassland special ability card. If I get my 3 forests down, with one touching flowers, I'm not even too mad if I draw forest or flowers, because I'll just put my free grassland house down somewhere else. Possibly next to a special tile directly, or possible next to a forest/flower that I can reach a tile there with my 3 normal houses. Better luck if I draw a canyon/desert, because now I might have 3 special move tiles at the end of my second turn. Depending on how many players I'm playing with, I may not get a crack at a fourth special ability, but I very often can grab one more in turn 3. At that point, I have plenty of options to get my houses where I need to to maximize my points.

Well I guess I'll have to play again sometime, but from what I remember I get screwed out of abilities by being behind other players. This can either be by drawing terrain for locations that are already exhausted or blocked (why is blocking a bad strat?), or by drawing the same terrain again for locations I've already claimed such that I can't place houses anywhere else. I guess bad decision making has also played a part, when considering your logic and looking at how the locations are set up on the maps (but then again, some locations are bordered by only 1 terrain type).

 

[Staccat0]

Finally got to play Tammany Hall. So many of my friends bought a copy from the kickstarter that I thought I could survive without a copy. I was wrong. I really liked it a lot.