Support NeoGAF

[platypotamus]

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).

Blocking isn't inherently bad, but most of the special locations border 2+ terrain types, so if you block off your entire portion of the terrain, you are very likely increasing the number of terrain types you border (I know one of the harbors is an exception to this, off the top of my head, very blockable with Desert I believe). So blocking a hypothetical player (you don't know what card they have, and probability wise, it's actually less likely to be the same as yours, since once of those is missing) isn't generally worth potentially adding another card that screws you to your next draw.

There IS a bit of an exception if the special ability in question is a "mover" rather than a "placer", since you can move away the connecting house before placement, breaking the connection.

 

[Keasar]

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

I found in the rulebook there are rules for adding more players.

Edit: Here is the link for their download page with the latest iteration of the rulebook. The multiplayer rules is on chapter 9.

 

[Blizzard]

Resistance Avalon verdict: I was on the winning team as a minion. It was probably luck. Seemed reasonable with the basic set of cards. I could see it being very easy or very difficult for teams depending on how it started, but with 10 players the team size was large enough that it might make up for bad luck with seating arrangements. There were apparently additional powers and stuff you could use. Merlin never seemed to come into play, and considering the evil team outright wins if they determine who Merlin is, it seems like it would be tough to be Merline.

Game of Thrones board game verdict: Perhaps too time-consuming and detail-oriented for the payoff to be worth it. I ended up winning not really fairly in 5 turns as House Tyrell since I got 5 castles very quickly, and the only person who was really near me early was the squidlords, and the person playing the squidlords decided to leave the game to play something else. I never engaged in a single battle. =D Plus there were only four players once that person left, and I don't think Martell is supposed to be used with only four players. It was weird that only the south end of the map got the defensive neutral rectangles to capture and nowhere else realy did.

 

[Neverfade]

If you guys were playing with martell and you won as tyrell in 5 rounds without a fight then everyone you were playing against was fucking asleep at the wheel.

 

[ultron87]

Resistance Avalon verdict: I was on the winning team as a minion. It was probably luck. Seemed reasonable with the basic set of cards. I could see it being very easy or very difficult for teams depending on how it started, but with 10 players the team size was large enough that it might make up for bad luck with seating arrangements. There were apparently additional powers and stuff you could use. Merlin never seemed to come into play, and considering the evil team outright wins if they determine who Merlin is, it seems like it would be tough to be Merline.

Does it seem different enough from original Resistance to make it worth it? The original is a big hit with my friends so a variant would be cool.

Edit: Oh, it is less than 20 dollars. Might as well give it a shot.

 

[Blizzard]

Does it seem different enough from original Resistance to make it worth it? The original is a big hit with my friends so a variant would be cool.

Edit: Oh, it is less than 20 dollars. Might as well give it a shot.

It's differently themed, and I suppose the idea of Merlin is cool. From a evil team perspective, having a 1/6 or so chance of winning no matter what is also appealing. I didn't look at the expansion cards though. The actual gameplay is almost identical as far as I'm aware.

If you guys were playing with martell and you won as tyrell in 5 rounds without a fight then everyone you were playing against was fucking asleep at the wheel.

That's probably another reason it wasn't fair. Martell was the only house not in the game at all. It was going to be 6, then only started with 5 (we adjusted the bottom right tokens appropriately, and actually I don't think we ever had any cards that made us vote on the iron throne/sword/raven), and then Greyjoy quit maybe 3 rounds in. Plus only one person had played the game before, and people up north were pretty much only battling with each other instead of even bordering the south.

 

[AstroLad]

Fun games, Astro! Better lucky than good.

Yeah man -- great game day! Pretty much love every game I played today:
King of Tokyo (2x)
7 Wonders all expansions (2x)
Tumbling Dice
Lords of Vegas

Game days are a good opportunity for meaty games but man do I love the chance to play lots of shorter quality games.

 

[Blizzard]

King of Tokyo is decent. I think the 7 Wonders expansion with leaders is better than the one with spy abilities and people having gold shutdown though. (possibly counterable by making sure you have lots of extra gold, but I'm not a fan)

 

[AstroLad]

King of Tokyo is decent. I think the 7 Wonders expansion with leaders is better than the one with spy abilities and people having gold shutdown though. (possibly counterable by making sure you have lots of extra gold, but I'm not a fan)

Once you learn both there's not much reason not to play with both IMO. More strategic variety. Debt is cute but rarely hits unless you just happen to get a ton of debt cards out.

 

[Flynn]

Finally got that 2-player Agricola to the table. It was pretty good. I can see the lack of variety being an issue, especially if you play against a predictable opponent. But getting in and out of a worker placement game in under and hour was sweet.

 

[Omikron]

Finally got that 2-player Agricola to the table. It was pretty good. I can see the lack of variety being an issue, especially if you play against a predictable opponent. But getting in and out of a worker placement game in under and hour was sweet.

The expansion definitely changes that dynamic

 

[Keasar]

Put down an order for Mage Wars and BattleCON: War of the Indines. Hopefully will get them both this week. Really excited about Mage Wars but also to play BattleCON as I havent heard much about it here but it seems to be getting a lot of praises over on BBG.

 

[Omikron]

Anyone with thoughts on Castles of Burgundy?

Art and design looks incredibly dry, but game looks interesting, although I already have Kingsburg, which seems slightly similar in using dice rolling to determine actions for the turn.

 

[Flynn]

The expansion definitely changes that dynamic

I figured. Will buy as soon as it restocks.

 

[Rayven]

Anyone with thoughts on Castles of Burgundy?

Art and design looks incredibly dry, but game looks interesting, although I already have Kingsburg, which seems slightly similar in using dice rolling to determine actions for the turn.

Highly recommended despite the horrible art and graphic design.

Even though it's also a dice placement game, it scratches a different itch than Kingsburg and overall, I think it's the better game by a long shot. The major reason for me is that individual games of CoB are MUCH more varied as most of the pieces come out at different times - some games not at all.

At its core, CoB is simple: roll (influence if you can), shop, build, but the decisions around what opportunities to take are fun and frequent. Combos based on placing special buildings can make for some big turns if you can plan a little, expanding those 2 actions into multi-step building grabs or placements.

There are VPs to grab everywhere (signature of the designer) in the form of short, mid, and long term city building races. Some scoring will happen at the end, but no info is hidden - it's all out there on player's boards and the main scoring track.

Interaction is fairly low and the game is pretty calm other than the tug of war over turn sequence and:"Damn, you took the piece I wanted!" Downtime is not that bad depending on the group, but I prefer the pace of 2-3P to the 4P.

One more plus: it's cheap! Just buy it

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

Hey, hope you don't mind me wandering in here to ask for advice.

I'm looking for something that is newcomer friendly, does not require language skills and can be played with 6 people. Just want something fun and not too complicated. Seeing as I live in Tokyo, King of Tokyo actually sounds like it fits the bill quite nicely, but I would really appreciate any other suggestions!

 

[Smiley90]

Hey, hope you don't mind me wandering in here to ask for advice.

I'm looking for something that is newcomer friendly, does not require language skills and can be played with 6 people. Just want something fun and not too complicated. Seeing as I live in Tokyo, King of Tokyo actually sounds like it fits the bill quite nicely, but I would really appreciate any other suggestions!

As long as at least somebody can read the manual and explain the symbols: 7 Wonders. It's perfect. Up to 7, simple, fast and fun.

 

[Hauk]

Time to join this thread too. I recently bought Small World (vanilla, not even Underground) and me and my friends fell in love with that game, even though there were some complaints about not being able to wipe out the entire opposition (as you can go in Decline and start a fresh conquest attempt) but I don't mind about that, I mean the point kinda is to farm as much gold as possible within the turns, with as many races as you can to maximize income. Well now today I'm also picking up Cursed! and that event-card based expansions. Going to try them out today also. Really excited! I'm also thinking about getting Dungeon Fighter at some point, anyone got impressions on that game? Seems really fun dexterity and goofiness based game.

Slowly starting to sink into the swamp of tabletop gaming

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

As long as at least somebody can read the manual and explain the symbols: 7 Wonders. It's perfect. Up to 7, simple, fast and fun.

Thank you, I will check it out. Actually any game is fine if it is in English, and just a bit more effort if in Japanese - we just can't be having any games where being fluent in the language gives you an advantage (which I guess would only mean 'party' games)

 

[Fallen_Hero]

Time to join this thread too. I recently bought Small World (vanilla, not even Underground) and me and my friends fell in love with that game, even though there were some complaints about not being able to wipe out the entire opposition (as you can go in Decline and start a fresh conquest attempt) but I don't mind about that, I mean the point kinda is to farm as much gold as possible within the turns, with as many races as you can to maximize income. Well now today I'm also picking up Cursed! and that event-card based expansions. Going to try them out today also. Really excited! I'm also thinking about getting Dungeon Fighter at some point, anyone got impressions on that game? Seems really fun dexterity and goofiness based game.

Slowly starting to sink into the swamp of tabletop gaming

I loved Small World. If you have similar taste as me, you might also check out Seasons.

 

[Omikron]

Highly recommended despite the horrible art and graphic design.

Even though it's also a dice placement game, it scratches a different itch than Kingsburg and overall, I think it's the better game by a long shot. The major reason for me is that individual games of CoB are MUCH more varied as most of the pieces come out at different times - some games not at all.

At its core, CoB is simple: roll (influence if you can), shop, build, but the decisions around what opportunities to take are fun and frequent. Combos based on placing special buildings can make for some big turns if you can plan a little, expanding those 2 actions into multi-step building grabs or placements.

There are VPs to grab everywhere (signature of the designer) in the form of short, mid, and long term city building races. Some scoring will happen at the end, but no info is hidden - it's all out there on player's boards and the main scoring track.

Interaction is fairly low and the game is pretty calm other than the tug of war over turn sequence and:"Damn, you took the piece I wanted!" Downtime is not that bad depending on the group, but I prefer the pace of 2-3P to the 4P.

One more plus: it's cheap! Just buy it

Cheers for the write up, certainly swaying me into buy territory, 2 points though....

1) that art.
2) Australia != cheap.

Hah!

 

[joelseph]

Pickups this weekend:

Unexploded Cow
Citadels
Avalon
Zombicide

Unexploded Cow is a gift for a noobie couple that will be attending our game party this weekend. Really excited. They enjoy playing Dominion and Ticket to Ride with us but Cosmic Encounter put them off. Hoping Citadels ropes them back in.

Painted my first miniatures this weekend. 3 Reaper Bones. Turned out ok. Working up the courage to prime Zombicide.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Finally got that 2-player Agricola to the table. It was pretty good. I can see the lack of variety being an issue, especially if you play against a predictable opponent. But getting in and out of a worker placement game in under and hour was sweet.

My wife and I like this too. We can usually knock out three games in about 90 minutes so it's perfect for quick back and forth. Like regular Agricola my wife has a knack for this game and usually will crush me two out of the three games we play.

Time to join this thread too. I recently bought Small World (vanilla, not even Underground) and me and my friends fell in love with that game, even though there were some complaints about not being able to wipe out the entire opposition (as you can go in Decline and start a fresh conquest attempt) but I don't mind about that, I mean the point kinda is to farm as much gold as possible within the turns, with as many races as you can to maximize income. Well now today I'm also picking up Cursed! and that event-card based expansions. Going to try them out today also. Really excited! I'm also thinking about getting Dungeon Fighter at some point, anyone got impressions on that game? Seems really fun dexterity and goofiness based game.

Slowly starting to sink into the swamp of tabletop gaming

I haven't played with this expansion because I never really got the appeal. What makes Small World good is how simple the mechanics are, the game doesn't need random events.

 

[platypotamus]

Played a game of Oregon last night. Grew to like it quite a bit on yucata, and enjoy it just as much in person. Fairly light, nice and quick, still with some interesting decisions. Recommend.

 

[RaySpencer]

I got to play through a 5 player game of Ground Floor over the weekend, its a pretty great game, we really enjoyed it. It definitely took longer than its 90-120 minutes though, haha. twice that long im sure, if not more. haha.

Lots of fun though, and im not just saying that because I won

 

[platypotamus]

This (40 minute) video about board games is a pretty awesome love letter to the hobby:

http://geekdad.com/2013/04/why-were-in-a-golden-age-of-board-games-video/

 

[sca2511]

Got to play Munchkin on Saturday, finally. Pretty fun, can't wait to try again. We didn't know how to play it well, had to be coached by Tabletop's Munchkin video, haha.

 

[Phthisis]

Thank you, I will check it out. Actually any game is fine if it is in English, and just a bit more effort if in Japanese - we just can't be having any games where being fluent in the language gives you an advantage (which I guess would only mean 'party' games)

You should check out Tokaido. Great theme, simple rules, no words you have to read (all symbols). Plays quick, sets up quick, extremely beautiful art, and is great fun.

 

[AstroLad]

This (40 minute) video about board games is a pretty awesome love letter to the hobby:

http://geekdad.com/2013/04/why-were-in-a-golden-age-of-board-games-video/

Only judging by the title -- I totally agree.

Absolutely thrilling hobby to be a part of right now.

 

[platypotamus]

Only judging by the title -- I totally agree.

Absolutely thrilling hobby to be a part of right now.

His enthusiasm is pretty infectious

 

[Keasar]

His enthusiasm is pretty infectious

Shut Up and Sit Down is the reason why a box of Mage Wars is currently sitting in my room. They really bleed of love for board gaming and its hard not to be swept away with them. Also why I am looking at A Few Acres of Snow and Memoir' 44.

 

[Artadius]

New Battlestar Galactica Expansion announced

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4076

 

[Neverfade]

HNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

dem centurion figures

The mutineer role to replace the sympathizer sounds pretty good too.

 

[Affeinvasion]

Has anybody picked up the four pack of wonders for seven wonders?

 

[Neverfade]

Read up on it, and looks great with the exception that 4 characters got updates and Saul fucking Tigh was not one of them.

 

[Gaming Truth]

Has anybody picked up the four pack of wonders for seven wonders?

I have, but haven't been able to play it yet. It's technically only three wonders to those who collect everything (Mannekin Pis reprint with fix).

On a related note, if you're interested in how to fit everything into the original box, I'll type it up:

(Wonders, Age I, Age II, Age III, Leaders, Cities, Misc)

 

[AstroLad]

Does that insert come with the game or did you make it?

 

[Omikron]

I have all the expansions bar the new wonders and it just fits in the old insert, just raising the box lid maybe a centimetre. New wonders will put an end to that!

As an aside, going to try and teach some more work colleagues Race for the Galaxy today... just spent 10 mins sorting all the damn expansion cards out of the deck. May as well start 'simple'.

 

[AstroLad]

Played T'zolkin last night for the first time and really enjoyed it. Like a lot of crunchy worker-placement games it's super-intimidating at first (so many options available to you), but once you play a couple rounds it's really just a fun twist (gear mechanic) on regular worker placement. This might sound weird but it's almost like a much crunchier version of Stone Age to me. Only real downside is that the game relies a lot on timing things that will happen many turns in the future, so can lead to some real analysis paralysis if you're playing with that kind of group. Thankfully we were all new to it and not super AP types.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

If I remember I'll post pictures of my storage solution for 7 Wonders. Basically, I put everything (both expansions, expansion rules and quick play guide from the base set, Manekin Pis and Catan boards) in a pencil box. Everything fits and it's perfect for portability.

Played T'zolkin last night for the first time and really enjoyed it. Like a lot of crunchy worker-placement games it's super-intimidating at first (so many options available to you), but once you play a couple rounds it's really just a fun twist (gear mechanic) on regular worker placement. This might sound weird but it's almost like a much crunchier version of Stone Age to me. Only real downside is that the game relies a lot on timing things that will happen many turns in the future, so can lead to some real analysis paralysis if you're playing with that kind of group. Thankfully we were all new to it and not super AP types.

Easily my favorite game from last year. The game takes a couple plays to make you really feel like you are in control and not just letting the game play you.

 

[joelseph]

Anyone have BSG Redux PnP? What version do you recommend?

 

[Blizzard]

Hey, hope you don't mind me wandering in here to ask for advice.

I'm looking for something that is newcomer friendly, does not require language skills and can be played with 6 people. Just want something fun and not too complicated. Seeing as I live in Tokyo, King of Tokyo actually sounds like it fits the bill quite nicely, but I would really appreciate any other suggestions!

King of Tokyo is all symbols for the base game I think, so it might be perfect. The expansion powers have cards with power descriptions on them though.

 

[Neverfade]

Anyone have BSG Redux PnP? What version do you recommend?

BSG express? Andrew from Print and Play games makes a nice version. I believe you have to geek mail him personally for a copy, he doesn't publicly list it for copyright or trademark reasons.

 

[joelseph]

BSG express? Andrew from Print and Play games makes a nice version. I believe you have to geek mail him personally for a copy, he doesn't publicly list it for copyright or trademark reasons.

Thanks I will look into it.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Anyone have BSG Redux PnP? What version do you recommend?

BSG express? Andrew from Print and Play games makes a nice version. I believe you have to geek mail him personally for a copy, he doesn't publicly list it for copyright or trademark reasons.

I own the one that Andrew makes and it's nicely put together. He uses wooden pieces for the tokens and the dice are the indented plastic dice that used to come with some Milton Bradly games. The board is a thin cardboard that folds and isn't too thin that you feel like you are going to damage it. The only thing I wish it came with are player shields. If I remember correctly, he charged me like $50 shipped so not too bad.

Joel's video review of the game is made by the same guy. You can get an idea of the quality from that video.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/video/15783/bsg-express/drivethrureview-91-bsg-killer

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Here are the pics of my 7 Wonders storage solution.

It's pretty full so I don't think it will fit another expansion, but it fits everything that's available now. I got the pencil box from Staples and it cost me, like $3 or so.

 

[blurrygil]

Time to join this thread too. I recently bought Small World (vanilla, not even Underground) and me and my friends fell in love with that game, even though there were some complaints about not being able to wipe out the entire opposition (as you can go in Decline and start a fresh conquest attempt) but I don't mind about that, I mean the point kinda is to farm as much gold as possible within the turns, with as many races as you can to maximize income. Well now today I'm also picking up Cursed! and that event-card based expansions. Going to try them out today also. Really excited! I'm also thinking about getting Dungeon Fighter at some point, anyone got impressions on that game? Seems really fun dexterity and goofiness based game.

Slowly starting to sink into the swamp of tabletop gaming

Welcome and say goodbye to your "real" friends and welcome us into your life, instead... >

Pickups this weekend:

Unexploded Cow
Citadels
Avalon
Zombicide

Loving Zombicide right now. WAY too excited for my expansions in the winter. I need to buy a 2nd table just to contain all the shit I'm gonna have for it!! Wish I had the time and patience to paint my minis for it. But still, I'd rather spend time playing! /excite

Citadels is fantastic, too.

Got to play Munchkin on Saturday, finally. Pretty fun, can't wait to try again. We didn't know how to play it well, had to be coached by Tabletop's Munchkin video, haha.

Get someone who's experienced at it to host. You'll have SO many "Ohhhhhh" and "Ahhhhhhh" moments...lol

 

[fenners]

Loving Zombicide right now. WAY too excited for my expansions in the winter. I need to buy a 2nd table just to contain all the shit I'm gonna have for it!! Wish I had the time and patience to paint my minis for it. But still, I'd rather spend time playing! /excite

I'm in for the Prison Outbreak Kickstarter etc as my jumping in point but I'm damned tempted to order Season 1 for now. A buddy's having his usual game weekend by the lake in July & it'd suit his buddies perfectly... Gah.

 

[Hydranockz]

That video was all kinds of amazing. It's gotten me so hyped to just play board games again. Thank you so much for sharing it. I'm hoping to convince a few people that I know about how great the medium can be.