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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)

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parasight

Member
Anyone have some good experience with Game of Thrones? Watching this season makes me want to play and the last thing I picked up was The Lost Legion for Mage Knight. Me and my group love the long, complex games.

Me and my friends play it every week before the new episode. So much fun every time. Make sure to randomize the Houses so the experience is always fresh.
 

Keasar

Member
Wait....wat?! Please enlighten us. 0_o;

Wish I could! That was one of the stories I heard from one of the people who had played UFS. Not sure if it is true but apparently people would make entire giant boxes, sorted with cards and use that as their "decks" and therefore as their hand. Then it would be a tourney rule that the deck must be possible to shuffle with their hands and I believe the solution was somewhere along the lines of "a giant pile of cards you just dug through and shuffled around when needed". Next time I meet him I am gonna ask if he can try to remember the card.
 
Vinhos is great. Confusingly simple is a great way to describe it. No action in that game is really that hard. It's just that each action is a tiny piece in a larger engine and if you aren't straight on how you want your engine to produce then you'll have a hard time doing anything. I also like how you only get 12 actions total in a game. It makes you plan every action and not waste a single one.

Yeah, I just had much different expectations before I played it, so I dont think I was in the right frame of mind.


Its really quite crazy how you have so few choices, and nearly all of them are VERY simple, but every choice leads you down completely different paths. I guess my biggest complaint, is that I dont feel like like long enough, it feels stupid to say I wish there was more too it, since well...look at that fucking board, its insane how much shit is all over it, haha.

We will play it again probably on the weekend, and I will give it much more of a chance now that I understand it.
 

EdgeTurn

Member
The art director of Harmonix and the creator of this image:

CSHuE9x.jpg


has been doing a Kickstarter for a mythological combat boardgame called High Heavens.

WFZfQTu.jpg



http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlesser/high-heavens-the-board-game-where-gods-battle-in-t

I know the guy personally and he's really passionate about this project. He designed the ruleset and did nearly all the art himself. I think the game's been somewhat overlooked on kickstarter and I think it deserves a lot more attention.
 
So Cards Against Humanity just put this up: http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/deathmatch/
Here’s how this will go down.

1. You’ll submit your game using the form above.

2. We’ll review all of the games and select 16 finalists.

3. Each of the finalists will demo their game for 15 minutes to a panel of experts at Gen Con 2013.

4. The panel will select a winning game.

5. Cards Against Humanity, Ad Magic, and Maxistentialism Inc. will provide $7,500 towards the first printing of the winning game with Ad Magic. Cards Against Humanity will provide a table on the show floor for the winning game at Gen Con 2014.

Don't know how many people here have been working on something like this, but it looks damn cool.
 

blurrygil

Member
The art director of Harmonix and the creator of this image:

CSHuE9x.jpg


has been doing a Kickstarter for a mythological combat boardgame called High Heavens.

WFZfQTu.jpg



http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlesser/high-heavens-the-board-game-where-gods-battle-in-t

I know the guy personally and he's really passionate about this project. He designed the ruleset and did nearly all the art himself. I think the game's been somewhat overlooked on kickstarter and I think it deserves a lot more attention.

I saw this. Wasn't really into the components, myself. Looked overly simple. I like the theme, however.
 

Keasar

Member
Wait....wat?! Please enlighten us. 0_o;

Got a little more info now, it was apparently the first release of the Street Fighter character Hugo to the game who's ability was he had a smaller hand then everyone else with a 3 card maximum but who was through some knocks and turns able to just each turn pick the cards the wanted from his deck. Can't confirm this as its somehow hard to find a picture of the cards but it is what I heard now.
 

blurrygil

Member
Got a little more info now, it was apparently the first release of the Street Fighter character Hugo to the game who's ability was he had a smaller hand then everyone else with a 3 card maximum but who was through some knocks and turns able to just each turn pick the cards the wanted from his deck. Can't confirm this as its somehow hard to find a picture of the cards but it is what I heard now.

Huh. I wonder if I can dig that card up. Was he a promo?

I still have sealed decks and boosters of this in my SF collection storage. Still love the Udon-contributed artwork!
 

-tetsuo-

Unlimited Capacity
If you have 6 people, Game of Thrones (board game) is awesome, and really shines once everyone understands the game and can do some serious planning. In my experience the first playthroughs are kind of a mess because people don't realize they should be trying to get support vocally, so it ends up criminally underused.

We might be able to step in pretty well since we are Twilight Imperium vets. Going to go ahead and get it.
 

Staccat0

Fail out bailed
So I THINK Madness games in Plano is doing a "buy 2 games get 1 free" sale tomorrow for free comic book day.

My current game plan is buying Panic on Wall Street, Fearsome Floors and Gentleman Thieves maybe? Anyone ever played it?
 

Geido

Member
Yeah the Game of Thrones boardgame is really great. We've played 3-4 games now and most people are starting to get the hang of it. Last time was the first time I started making allegiances and that really paid off. Won as Lannister.

That being said, I'm the one who owns the boardgame and therefore I am responsible for knowing the rules and teaching the rest in our group. So I have a bit of a headstart.

I can't wait for the rest to really catch on and have really intensive games with alliances being broken and stuff. Will be epic.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
I *love* the GOT board game. I think it's absolutely the best light-ish war game out there. It's absolutely brilliant. I'm also a massive fan of table talk and negotiation, and this game has one of the best back-stabbing mechanics out there.

It's one downside is the license I think will catch up to it a bit. It is a pretty dense game strategically that can lead to a ton of downtime and/or AP..

I think when it first came out the theme was an amazing fit because if you knew what GOT was you were super nerd and were likely ok with a 4-6 hour game. I've had some of my non-gamer friends come over and see the box and really want to play it since the HBO show came out. That is not the game for them....

Not to plug our own game, but to me it scratches that Diplomacy in less than 18 hours itch that Tammany Hall does too, but with a little more structure to the mechanics and a bit more 'game' depth... where Tammany gets most of it's strategy directly from player interaction I think GoT also allows for a lot of clever chain-strategies that lets you scratch the screwage itch as well as the 'look how clever this combo is' itch.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
DIE COMIC SANS, DIE!

Glad you enjoyed that, it was substantially harder to do than it should have been.

the photoshop layers for the print files are meticulously named... auf deutsch. Which I haven't tried to speak in like 10 years and not well then.
 

Flynn

Member
Glad you enjoyed that, it was substantially harder to do than it should have been.

the photoshop layers for the print files are meticulously named... auf deutsch. Which I haven't tried to speak in like 10 years and not well then.

hehe

That is interesting -- I always wondered what kind of assets you'd have asset to. Part of me just assumed you might get original scans and have to do the design work over.
 

Gala

Member
Came back from my local boardgame shop which had a sale today and got myself Among the Stars, Mansions of Madness and REX for 60 euro together. Can't wait to play them, especially REX.

Also looking forward to complete get my last Mirkwood booster next week for the Lord of the Rings LCG. Time to get into deckbuilding for my solo playthrough of all Mirkwood adventures.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
hehe

That is interesting -- I always wondered what kind of assets you'd have asset to. Part of me just assumed you might get original scans and have to do the design work over.

5gb+ psd files.... had to buy a new pc with massive amounts of ram...
 

woodchuck

Member
I'm pretty new to designer games. I really enjoyed all the gateway games, partly because I can complete a game in less than an hour. Does anyone have a recommendation for a moderately hard-hard game that is less than an hour? Most of the games in the OP seem to take about 2 hours. Also, after playing a few games, I realized I hate deck building games like Dominion.
 
I'm pretty new to designer games. I really enjoyed all the gateway games, partly because I can complete a game in less than an hour. Does anyone have a recommendation for a moderately hard-hard game that is less than an hour? Most of the games in the OP seem to take about 2 hours. Also, after playing a few games, I realized I hate deck building games like Dominion.

Pandemic?

Duration: Short to medium
Difficulty: Okay to impossible (configurable)
Cooperative
 
I'm pretty new to designer games. I really enjoyed all the gateway games, partly because I can complete a game in less than an hour. Does anyone have a recommendation for a moderately hard-hard game that is less than an hour? Most of the games in the OP seem to take about 2 hours. Also, after playing a few games, I realized I hate deck building games like Dominion.
Less than an hour, 7 Wonders. It takes about 30 minutes to play, a hair more with new players. It's a card game where people are draft cards to play in their "civilization". Downside is, it doesn't play we'll with two. You need at least three but 4+ is the sweet spot.

If you can push a 90 minute game, I absolutely adore Lords of Vegas. The game has you building casinos on the Vegas strip. The game has really a clever use of dice and excellent player interaction. It's a good next step game and doesn't take much longer than a gateway would take.
 
I'm pretty new to designer games. I really enjoyed all the gateway games, partly because I can complete a game in less than an hour. Does anyone have a recommendation for a moderately hard-hard game that is less than an hour? Most of the games in the OP seem to take about 2 hours. Also, after playing a few games, I realized I hate deck building games like Dominion.

I would suggest Betrayal at house on the hill. Game length and difficulty can vary, but it's usually been around 40 minutes for me. Most importantly though, it's a shit ton of fun.

The main premise of the game is everyone is exploring an old mansion for a reason unknown. As you play the game, you will explore the mansion by flipping over room tiles and getting items, encountering events, or revealing Omen cards. Eventually, depending on the omen card you reveal in a certain room, "The Haunting" occurs, which reveals the real reason why you're there and who the traitor is. One player will then be pitted against everyone else with 50 different scenarios that can happen involving such things as: Ghost brides, Cannibals, Porcelain Dolls, Giant Bugs, The House sinking into hell, etc.
 

woodchuck

Member
awesome! Thanks guys for the recommendations. There's a game store around here with a ton of games where you can rent a game for a week. I'll check them out.
 

Neverfade

Member
Anyone played ECLIPSE? and if so can you recommend it. I looked at a few reviews but havent made up my mind yet.

Eclipse reviews are largely glowing. It's in the top 10 at BGG. Yes, those thing are pretty subjective but it's one of the safest buys out there. The game is great. You'll have no problem selling it off if you're a mutant who hates good games. Do it.
 
Eclipse reviews are largely glowing. It's in the top 10 at BGG. Yes, those thing are pretty subjective but it's one of the safest buys out there. The game is great. You'll have no problem selling it off if you're a mutant who hates good games. Do it.

I've never been able to understand the disdain that Dice Tower has for Eclipse. They love Exodus like it's the second coming though...anyone played Exodus and can compare the two? I love Eclipse, and I've only played as humans.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
I've never been able to understand the disdain that Dice Tower has for Eclipse. They love Exodus like it's the second coming though...anyone played Exodus and can compare the two? I love Eclipse, and I've only played as humans.

Dice Tower leans heavily to the thematic side of gaming... they like a lot of Euros, but I think Tom has a hard time swallowing a game that looks like TI3 being a worker placement game.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Dice Tower is pretty great once you just accept that Tom has his biases (which he totally admits to) and leave it at that. imo he does overall have quite good taste in games despite the occasional idiosyncrasies. I actually agree with him a lot more than I do Eric, who leans toward way too dry games imo. (Though I appreciate the Odd-Couple approach for the show.)
 
Is there a better site than Amazon for board games in the UK?
You can pick up the occasional bargain from amazon but the range is more limited than from the specialist retailers.
Try boardgameguru (when his holiday is over), shire games, iguk, gameslore for starters.
If you look for recommendations on BoardGameGeek you might see some others.
 

Neverfade

Member
I've never been able to understand the disdain that Dice Tower has for Eclipse. They love Exodus like it's the second coming though...anyone played Exodus and can compare the two? I love Eclipse, and I've only played as humans.

Ive never seen anyone at the dice tower but Sam Healy (sp?) have negative things to say about Eclipse. I think Tom's expectations were a bit off, but that's easy to understand given the look, feel and presentation of the game. He gave it two thumbs up.
 
Anyone played ECLIPSE? and if so can you recommend it. I looked at a few reviews but havent made up my mind yet.

It's fantastic, and takes something that looks very complicated and does it in an extremely elegant, simple way. When you first lay out the pieces it will overwhelm you, but when you start playing you see how amazingly it comes together.

You can't go wrong with Eclipse unless your group hates games that take longer than 2 hours.
 

tm24

Member
Anyone played ECLIPSE? and if so can you recommend it. I looked at a few reviews but havent made up my mind yet.

The worse part about Eclipse is handling the population cubes. Seriously. If you're super neat about having your pieces all organized, those cubes will drive you crazy
 

Geido

Member
Yeah Eclipse was pretty overwhelming the first time we played it, the second time was a lot easier.

But it's heaps of fun, lots of different strategies and a cool setting.
 

parasight

Member
The worse part about Eclipse is handling the population cubes. Seriously. If you're super neat about having your pieces all organized, those cubes will drive you crazy

The cubes are probably what puts me off the most. I'll probably pick it up when they do a reprint with new pieces (hopefully fixing the cube thing).
 

parasight

Member
That seems like a pretty solid makeshift solution.

Anyone have any experience playing City of Horror? Considering picking that up. The great thing about it is it sounds like it takes the fun stuff about politics and backstabbing from GoT and puts it into a simpler, quicker game.

I still want to get Formula D once the reprint ships and I think I may get Smash Up for smaller gaming groups.
 

Neverfade

Member
That seems like a pretty solid makeshift solution.

Anyone have any experience playing City of Horror? Considering picking that up. The great thing about it is it sounds like it takes the fun stuff about politics and backstabbing from GoT and puts it into a simpler, quicker game.

I personally thought it was inferior to Mall of Horror, the game its derived from. The whole thing is supposed to be pretty meta, but CoH tries to cram too much "game" into the box.
 

DagsJT

Member
You can pick up the occasional bargain from amazon but the range is more limited than from the specialist retailers.
Try boardgameguru (when his holiday is over), shire games, iguk, gameslore for starters.
If you look for recommendations on BoardGameGeek you might see some others.

Cheers for the advice.
 

XShagrath

Member
Dice Tower is pretty great once you just accept that Tom has his biases (which he totally admits to) and leave it at that. imo he does overall have quite good taste in games despite the occasional idiosyncrasies. I actually agree with him a lot more than I do Eric, who leans toward way too dry games imo. (Though I appreciate the Odd-Couple approach for the show.)

The best part about Dice Tower is Ryan Metzler. The types of games he enjoys meshes with mine the most. This is talking about the video reviews. I've never listened to any of their podcasts.

Also, he doesn't throw all the components on the table all the time. That irks me so much for some reason!
 
Damnit, I know some people of GAF don't recommend Memoir '44 but the guys at Shut Up & Sit Down are making it so hard to ignore with their latest video of them playing the Overlord expansion.

Game is great! Always recommend it. Slick package and quick to play.

Overlord is fun but it's not something I would play often since it requires large teams. It's good for con like events though. The overlord expansion is kinda lame since it has a paper game mat, best way to play overlord is to have two full boxed games so it gets pricey.

While it's not as nicely made, I often will recommend people get Battlecry over Memoir 44. Same game essentially but it was the original version of the system and the little difference in the game to me make it better and slightly less random than Memoir. Battlecry lets you move around generals that give you more control of troops and prevent retreats, as well as the cards having less random effect type cards, or better ways to cycle to get what you need.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
I don't know about Overlord, and I own way too many M44 expansions as is, but to me it's a super-fun game if you just think of it as a battle-themed gateway and not a wargame per se. Also I would strongly recommend playing with the rule where you switch sides (so you get a change to play both sides) and the winner is whoever scored the most points in the whole match. The scenarios are purposely unbalanced for the most part.
 

blurrygil

Member
Damnit, I know some people of GAF don't recommend Memoir '44 but the guys at Shut Up & Sit Down are making it so hard to ignore with their latest video of them playing the Overlord expansion.

>>I<< recommend M44, dammit!! :)

I've been fiddling around with creating my own "balanced" maps, scenarios and rulesets. No more Victory Points now. I came up with an objective-based ruleset where capturing them contributes to a reinforcement system we use. This allows for less "more killing of units = winning" and more importance to strategic taking of chokepoints and the objectives. Still ironing out some kinks and balancing some bits here and there, but things are coming out well. :)

I don't have enough for Overlord, just yet. Need to save some $$ for more expansions and ultimately the Equipment and Terrain packs (and likely another core set).
 
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