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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)

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Any tips for good 2p games for me and the gf? Nothing too nerdy (ie serious fantasy/sci-fi). Preferably not super confrontational since she gets angry with me for being "mean" and I can't stop myself from playing to win and... well, being mean when given the opportunity.

Pandemic - Great co-op game. You and your girlfriend combine efforts to stop and erradicate diseases. Not hard to get into at all.

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective - I broke this down last page, but basically you and your girlfriend can play together to solve some tough cases. No traditional game rules, particularly if you're playing together...you just have to write down how many leads you used (and their names), then tally up your points against Sherlock in the end. This is the best game my GF and I have played together.
 

Icefire1424

Member
Anyone try Lewis & Clark? Pretty interested in it, but surprisingly difficult to find (hasn't been on Amazon that I've seen yet), was hoping to snag a copy at my local game store, but no dice there either. Curious if anyone has given it a shot.
 

joelseph

Member
Anyone try Lewis & Clark? Pretty interested in it, but surprisingly difficult to find (hasn't been on Amazon that I've seen yet), was hoping to snag a copy at my local game store, but no dice there either. Curious if anyone has given it a shot.

I really want to. The board is gorgeous.
 

Icefire1424

Member
Aha, apparently there is an availability issue, especially in the States. Should be around late March after perusing the forums on BGG.

Will wait patiently. Like that there is an option for solo play.
 

ultron87

Member
Ooh, it looks like Suburbia is getting in stock at places again. I've been wanting to get that for awhile and haven't been able to find it.
 

Xater

Member
Aaaand I made another order, this time for 1775. As much as I like Kemet I just can#t get it to the table often enough. It's actually not even the complexity but more the amount of table space it needs. That might actually also be why I can#t get Diskwars after all. me an no one I know has square table that make it possible to play it.
 

joelseph

Member
Aaaand I made another order, this time for 1775. As much as I like Kemet I just can#t get it to the table often enough. It's actually not even the complexity but more the amount of table space it needs. That might actually also be why I can#t get Diskwars after all. me an no one I know has square table that make it possible to play it.

Welcome to the club! The Birth of America series is amazing. Was my series of 2012. Plus they sell cute rubber duckies at their booths. Academy games rocks!
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
What board-game podcasts do people recommend? I listen to Dice Tower. Heard good things about Shut Up & Sit Down but it must be their video series since their podcast seems to come out infrequently.
 

Xater

Member
What board-game podcasts do people recommend? I listen to Dice Tower. Heard good things about Shut Up & Sit Down but it must be their video series since their podcast seems to come out infrequently.

SU&SD podcast is good but infrequent like you said. They do want to improve on that this year though. If it doesn't have to be about new/current/good boardgames I can only recommend Flip the Table. Fun podcast where they play often terrible, old license games and then analyze them.
 
Might not be exactly what you are looking for, but I love, love, love Flip the Table. The show mostly pokes fun at (in their words) cheesy, weird, and obscure board games. Basically they play old licensed games from the 80's and 90's and riff on the them. Really funny show and they are consistent on their releases.

Shut Up and Sit Down's video reviews are better than the podcast because they are more focused. They seem to just sort of ramble on the podcast. It's still funny though and worth a listen to, but their schedule is really erratic.

Secret Cabal is also pretty good. They have a longer podcast but usually the last thirty to sixty minutes is RPG talk so I tend to skip that.

Besides those and the Dicetower, I listen to Breaking News and now Terminal7 which are both Netrunner podcasts. Breaking News can get pretty intense, they go more into depth with card spoilers. Terminal7 is new but they are really good and are more easy going than Breaking News. They tend to go into what they like about Netrunner as opposed to just going over each card in depth.
 

ultron87

Member
I recently started burning through all the SUSD podcasts after watching all their videos over the holiday. Pretty entertaining overall, but I'm going to quickly run out of them.

I've caught myself saying something is "really good" in the same tone of voice Quinns uses. I'm not sure how I feel about picking up a mannerism from an Internet person.
 
I can't listen to any of the podcasts, too much nonsense I don't care about in them. usually the video stuff is more focused on actual game.

This is how I feel. I listened to a couple of Dice Tower podcasts and while they were fine, there is still a lot of inane banter. I also like to see the game. Verbal descriptions aren't as useful to me. I did enjoy the Dice Tower Showdown series though.
 

Karkador

Banned
I recently started burning through all the SUSD podcasts after watching all their videos over the holiday. Pretty entertaining overall, but I'm going to quickly run out of them.

I've caught myself saying something is "really good" in the same tone of voice Quinns uses. I'm not sure how I feel about picking up a mannerism from an Internet person.

Just wait 'til you start using the phrase "drinking each other's milkshakes"
 

Neverfade

Member
SU&SD are great. Hilarious stuff through and through.

My only problem is they can make some games I absolutely hate seem attractive. You can imagine how wary I have to be of their opinions on some others because of this.
 
SU&SD are great. Hilarious stuff through and through.

My only problem is they can make some games I absolutely hate seem attractive. You can imagine how wary I have to be of their opinions on some others because of this.

I think they are great for getting non-gamers or video gamers excited about board gaming, but they very rarely emphasize the things about games that I look for in reviews. I appreciate their passion for games but sometimes their final verdict on a game seems completely at odds with the buildup they present throughout the review. My biggest problem with them as reviewers is that they seem to add in their own imagination, hype to games that are very light on thematic material. It's great if you can do that on your own, but I think a lot of gamers, especially new gamers, are reticent to put themselves into a game at that level.
 
I think they are great for getting non-gamers or video gamers excited about board gaming, but they very rarely emphasize the things about games that I look for in reviews. I appreciate their passion for games but sometimes their final verdict on a game seems completely at odds with the buildup they present throughout the review. My biggest problem with them as reviewers is that they seem to add in their own imagination, hype to games that are very light on thematic material. It's great if you can do that on your own, but I think a lot of gamers, especially new gamers, are reticent to put themselves into a game at that level.
Yes! Watch their review of Quarantine (a game I actually think is pretty good for a light filler). Quinns goes on and on about how amazingly awesome everything is, then drops the bomb and says he doesn't like it.

I appreciate SU&SD for doing game reviews differently than other reviewers.They try to convey the feeling of playing a game as opposed to other reviewers who just go through rules explanation, then briefly give their thoughts on the game in front of their game shelves.
 
Ludology is my favorite boardgaming podcast. The show usually focuses on why something works(or not) in a game. Recent episodes I've enjoyed have been about set collection/area control. and an interesting episode where they interviewed Rob Daviau about Risk Legacy and developing his new Legacy game SeaFall. They come out pretty regularly, about every two weeks I think, really no fluff, they stop talking pretty much when they run out of interesting things to say.
 

soldat7

Member
Used to play the Middle-earth Collectible Card game back in the day, but have long since lost my collection...I just bought all the Challenge Decks...WHAT HAVE I STARTED?
And where can I score some good deals on cards???
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
Ludology is my favorite boardgaming podcast. The show usually focuses on why something works(or not) in a game. Recent episodes I've enjoyed have been about set collection/area control. and an interesting episode where they interviewed Rob Daviau about Risk Legacy and developing his new Legacy game SeaFall. They come out pretty regularly, about every two weeks I think, really no fluff, they stop talking pretty much when they run out of interesting things to say.


Thanks, good podcast. SeaFall sounds really ambitious. Hope he makes his end of the year target.
 

joelseph

Member
Yeah, saw that earlier and got a good feeling about the game. Very close to pledging for a copy.

Fief is not part of the Birth of America series so it will play different but you can't go wrong with Academy Games. Good people, great games. And rubber duckies.
 

Keasar

Member
Fief is not part of the Birth of America series so it will play different but you can't go wrong with Academy Games. Good people, great games. And rubber duckies.

Oh yeah of course, I meant judging by their design of the Birth of America series I would think that Fief would be in good hands. Not that they would be similar games. :p
 

Xater

Member
So I already played a game of Eight Minute Empire and really enjoyed it. At first I thought maybe I should wait for Legends because it looks a bit meatier but I like how quick this one plays and that I can play it with 5. Our group often has 5 people and that would mean that Legends could not be played. So thumbs up for this one.

Also received my copy of 1775 today and might give it a spin later, definitely this week though.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
So I already played a game of Eight Minute Empire and really enjoyed it. At first I thought maybe I should wait for Legends because it looks a bit meatier but I like how quick this one plays and that I can play it with 5. Our group often has 5 people and that would mean that Legends could not be played. So thumbs up for this one.

Does it have much randomness? I took a quick scan and it kinda looks like a cross between Rattus and Small World or something. Heard a lot of good things about it though so interested, but if there's little randomness will probably pass.
 

Xater

Member
Does it have much randomness? I took a quick scan and it kinda looks like a cross between Rattus and Small World or something. Heard a lot of good things about it though so interested, but if there's little randomness will probably pass.

The only random part is that there are always 6 action cards available to chose from. The first one costs nothing, 2 and 3 cost 1 coin, 4 and 5 cost 2 coins and the last one 3 coins. Once one is chosen the other ones move up and a new one is drawn for the next player.

The whole game feels like a simpler and quicker El Grande.
 

blurrygil

Member
What board-game podcasts do people recommend? I listen to Dice Tower. Heard good things about Shut Up & Sit Down but it must be their video series since their podcast seems to come out infrequently.

I mostly dig YouTube Channels over podcasts, myself. So I may be a bit off topic with this:

Love Dice Tower. Vasel is such a fun guy to listen to. He's not as critical as I'd like him to be, but he truly looks for and finds the fun elements in nearly all the games he reviews. Reiner is pretty boring, all in all. But has some solid knowledge about war-themed games, so that helps.

SU&SD is good too. Quite entertaining, but not as informative as DT. That might just be me.

I also dig Watch It Played and Crits Happen. Both are again, informative; albeit a little slow, shows.

And of course, you've got Tabletop on Geek & Sundry. It's a very entertaining show, yes. But it seems some of the actual game knowledge is limited. However, if you're looking for a good casual impression for the games you may have interest in, this isn't a bad outlet to check out.
 

blurrygil

Member
Someone stole it from me during a White Elephant grab bag. Still hurts.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!!!!

Still $90 shipped on Amazon. Only one left! Might need to snag it... The Bezier Games site shows that they aren't "out of stock" for $60. This does not confirm that it IS in stock, however.

In other news:

Any other Zombicide players out there enjoying Season 2 as much as I am?! After many plays and learning the rulesets, new equipment, scenarios, house ruling, etc...man, this game has gone from good to #%*^%$ FANTASTIC in a month or so for me! And I still have another dozen Survivors/Zombivors being shipped to me next month.

Happy blurrygil, I am.
 

Xater

Member
Played the introduction scenario of 1775 and this game seems really good. Pretty much the perfect light war game. The rules are very simple, you have still lots of interesting decisions to make and some luck involved with the dice based battle system. I might get rid of Kemet. While it might be the better game I will get this on the table way more often.
 
Season 2 is so so, Toxic City Mall was annoying. Frankly Zombicide is a better game with just it's base set. All the extras in the several games we tries with Toxic city and season 2 have not been met with any enthusiasm. Any new zombie type creates a spike in difficulty for any scenario, and their design essentially punishes certain hero characters. Zombie dogs are just stupid not fun in the giant difficulty spike they create. Zombivor is a lame in concept rule, and also lengthens the game creating silly situations where players kill themselves on purpose to take advantage of their zombie version abilities. Ultrared mode also promotes playing longer as well.

We found it all to just be messy, the game was designed around its base design and the added stuff ruined the flow. It essentially requires a lot of house ruling to make this stuff work.
 

Xater

Member
Season 2 is so so, Toxic City Mall was annoying. Frankly Zombicide is a better game with just it's base set. All the extras in the several games we tries with Toxic city and season 2 have not been met with any enthusiasm. Any new zombie type creates a spike in difficulty for any scenario, and their design essentially punishes certain hero characters. Zombie dogs are just stupid not fun in the giant difficulty spike they create. Zombivor is a lame in concept rule, and also lengthens the game creating silly situations where players kill themselves on purpose to take advantage of their zombie version abilities. Ultrared mode also promotes playing longer as well.

We found it all to just be messy, the game was designed around its base design and the added stuff ruined the flow. It essentially requires a lot of house ruling to make this stuff work.

Good to know. I was thinking about maybe getting Zombicide because they finally released it over here. Knowing that I would not have to worry about expansions would be good. The base game is pricey enough.
 
Good to know. I was thinking about maybe getting Zombicide because they finally released it over here. Knowing that I would not have to worry about expansions would be good. The base game is pricey enough.

The base game is fantastic, so far we have found the expansion stuff to be neat in concept, but none of it adds fun. Only nice thing about the expansions was more new heroes and abilities they contain.

You can customize a lot of aspects of the game, I mean if you want more tools to play, its not bad but I would do lot of house ruling and customization on decks, don't just slap stuff together.
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
I just keep tinkering with the balance until I get it to where I want it. I keep reducing the number of Toxic, Bezerker and Abomination spawn cards and made lots of changes to the item deck.
 

Karkador

Banned
Does it have much randomness? I took a quick scan and it kinda looks like a cross between Rattus and Small World or something. Heard a lot of good things about it though so interested, but if there's little randomness will probably pass.

I looked at a review of Rattus as a result of you comparing it to Eight Minute Empires, and I'd say that the games are indeed very similar, though Rattus seems slightly heavier. EME is more about the set collection element and very standard/quick territory control, plus it has the sliding market thing, as another poster mentioned. It also has a nice complication where you get a set allowance of money at the beginning, and almost no chance of making more during the game, so you really have to budget your money (which includes a one-time auction for First Player).

I haven't played the original Eight Minute Empire, though- I've played Eight Minute Empire: Legends, but it's probably an improvement over the original in many ways (there's more theme, better production, the rules seem a little better, and the set collection is improved). I had a lot of fun with it and would love to play it again. I'd also like to try Rattus now.
 
I just keep tinkering with the balance until I get it to where I want it. I keep reducing the number of Toxic, Bezerker and Abomination spawn cards and made lots of changes to the item deck.

Much of it really feels like tools for you to create your own stuff, I would immediately tell anyone to not for example do as the rules say with Toxic city and mix it all together. That huge new item pile create a huge mess in scenarios that you have to find specific things.

Season 2 by itself, is decent since it feels more like the contents were designed as a stand alone with the prison tile designs fitting it better. But mixing stuff and it starts getting wonky. I kinda wish their scenario designs focused more on what a player should be using and for what group size it's focused on, they leave alot vague so its very trial and error. They have said before it's about tuning the game to how you like, but that requires lot of commitment to single game.
 

Neverfade

Member
RE: Suburbia.

I'm pretty sure I saw someone from Bezier games say that the game would be restocked this month, so I wouldn't go spending double MSRP on it or anything.
 

blurrygil

Member
Season 2 is so so, Toxic City Mall was annoying. Frankly Zombicide is a better game with just it's base set. All the extras in the several games we tries with Toxic city and season 2 have not been met with any enthusiasm. Any new zombie type creates a spike in difficulty for any scenario, and their design essentially punishes certain hero characters. Zombie dogs are just stupid not fun in the giant difficulty spike they create. Zombivor is a lame in concept rule, and also lengthens the game creating silly situations where players kill themselves on purpose to take advantage of their zombie version abilities. Ultrared mode also promotes playing longer as well.

We found it all to just be messy, the game was designed around its base design and the added stuff ruined the flow. It essentially requires a lot of house ruling to make this stuff work.

;_;

I just keep tinkering with the balance until I get it to where I want it. I keep reducing the number of Toxic, Bezerker and Abomination spawn cards and made lots of changes to the item deck.

This. Had to tinker quite a bit to get the game (and scenarios) to where I we like them. It didn't take much, oddly. Plus, as host, I tend to be verbose with what happens during the game. Gives it theme and stupid laughter.

RE: Suburbia.

I'm pretty sure I saw someone from Bezier games say that the game would be restocked this month, so I wouldn't go spending double MSRP on it or anything.

Yeah I shot an email to Bezier to confirm the in-stock status. If they do, I'm in like swimwear! Oh, and the expansion, Suburbia Inc., is on a good sale on Amazon too.
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
When making the item deck i tried to make sure that the player has the same odds of getting a supply item or gasoline as the item deck in the base game. I removed a lot duplicate weapons.
 

blurrygil

Member
When making the item deck i tried to make sure that the player has the same odds of getting a supply item or gasoline as the item deck in the base game. I removed a lot duplicate weapons.

Agreed. I remove a lot of Laser Pointers from mine. The deck doesn't need 4 of them.

I also throw in the UltraRed weapons into the Pimpmobile selection. Someone almost always gets overconfident with the weapon and thus getting trapped or in real trouble at some point.

I've also relegated Assault Rifles to being found in Police Cars only (where applicable). Our group will house-rule and take some of the most powerful weapons and create a Police Car-only item deck. Get to the car and get the good stuff! If the card deck goes empty (which only has about 8-10 cards in it), then you can pull from the regular deck. But from the start, it's always an option. Makes it really fun when someone goes into the car to find an Assault Rifle and go on an awesome rampage with it.

I wish there were a couple/few more bottle/gasoline cards for scenarios and such. I know they can be printed from their website. But I don't know how I could go about that. That and I'd prefer equal quality stuff for consistency, personally.
 

ultron87

Member
Played my first two rounds ever of Betrayal At House on the Hill tonight. It isn't a particularly skillful game, since like Arkham Horror, it often boils down to drawing from decks and hoping good shit happens instead of bad shit, which might be decided by rolls you might have made better but have no way to anticipate. That is almost okay though, thanks to the crazy variety and creativity on show from the 50 different haunt scenarios. In two games tonight we got to play a hidden traitor The Thing-like scenario and a hidden item + clues game. I'd definitely play it more, but I imagine the first time you repeat a scenario will be the worst thing ever.

And I still love Escape The Temple Curse. Really fantastic game to play as people are slowly showing up.
 
Played my first two rounds ever of Betrayal At House on the Hill tonight. It isn't a particularly skillful game, since like Arkham Horror, it often boils down to drawing from decks and hoping good shit happens instead of bad shit, which might be decided by rolls you might have made better but have no way to anticipate. That is almost okay though, thanks to the crazy variety and creativity on show from the 50 different haunt scenarios. In two games tonight we got to play a hidden traitor The Thing-like scenario and a hidden item + clues game. I'd definitely play it more, but I imagine the first time you repeat a scenario will be the worst thing ever.

And I still love Escape The Temple Curse. Really fantastic game to play as people are slowly showing up.

The rules even tell you to pick a new one if you've played it recently.
 
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