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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)

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X

Xater

Member
Huh? In the German rules of Pandemic it says it is totally fine to play with open cards. You can decide which way you want to play.
 
K

Keasar

Member
Dreavus said:
Finally got my copy of Devastation of Indines sleeved and got a few games in with a friend. The game plays very well as just a basic 2 player duel, and I am now wondering when the hell I will get the chance to play all the other modes that come with the game.

The characters we've tried so far have all felt very different, even though everyone shares 6 "base" cards as part of the mechanics. The system of pairing two parts of an attack together (character-unique styles + "generic" base) seems to work quite well, although we have only scratched the surface of the game so far.

I can't wait to try some 2v2!
Click to expand...

I want my box as well. :(
We in Europe will get our games very soon I hope, have my copy of War of Indines here at the office, and I want more characters to fill out the rosters (and those bosses, and the dungeons, and the strikers, and all those modes, and yeah you get the idea).
 
EYEL1NER

EYEL1NER

Member
Got a bunch of games in last week. My Ticket to Ride, Smash Up, Small World, and Pandemic: OTB arrived. Still waiting on Forbidden Island, Arkham Horror, and the copy of Last Night on Earth I bought two or so days ago to get here.
My buddy at work and I haven't touched On the Brink yet but we dove into the other three.

Ticket to Ride was missing 15(!) pink/red trains and I am waiting to hear back from Days of Wonder about them, but since there are only two of us it was pretty easy to just not select that color. I had as much fun as I expected to with the game, after playing hundreds of games of TtR and Europe on my phone. My coworker took a little bit to get the rules, which surprised me since the game is super-simple, but got the hang of it eventually. I don't really know how he felt about it, but I loved it and am looking to pick up Europe now. And the 1910 expansion...after finally getting my copy, I understand now the complaints over the small cards: the are absolutely terrible.

I need to play some more games of Small World because I am not sure if I really had understood the game by the time we got done playing. My coworker read through the rules one night and we played the next. As soon as we got the board set up and determined that I was first to take my turn, I realized that I should have probably read the rules as well. He kept telling me "Oh, it's not complicated, it's like Risk." Having never played Risk, that did not give me any idea what to expect. If I was playing correctly then I guess I had fun with it. I ended up winning, so that is always good.

Smash Up took me by surprise. I only really ordered it to get free shipping and didn't know how much I would like it. I didn't think I wanted to deal with any deck-based card games. I had a blast with it though, so it was a good purchase I guess. The only thing that wasn't fun was when my I caused the first base to break. I had a ton of War Raptors on it and my coworker had one guy. The base broke and I took a quick look at the rules and announced that if he had any cards to be used before a base scores, now was the time. He used a card to move his guy off that base and on to another one. I then started scoring and he was like "What the hell?" I said "The rules say that once it breaks, scoring happens. You moved your guy away, lowering the total power level, but it still broke." He didn't think it should work like that and then decided that he would accept the rule. He started adding up the levels of my Raptors and his guy and I said "Whoa, slow your roll. You moved your guy off the base. The only guys left are my raptors. I get points and since you have no presence on it anymore, you get none." He then said that was bullshit and that the rules were dumb. I don't know... After that game finished we played half of another one before I had supports to run and had to get back to work. If he didn't like it, I think he probably would not have agreed to another game. And his Ninja Robots in that second game were kicking the shit out of my Zombie Gnomes/Tricksters.

All three were pretty good and I am glad I bought them. After I buy TtR: Europe, get the rest of the games I bought already in, and get some expansions for Carcassonne and the other games I own, I think I am done buying new stuff for a while. I still have a ton on my wish list and seem to add more every time I go to BGG. But I just accumulated quite a bit of games in what, a month and a half at the most? For being brand new to the hobby, I have a pretty decent library of 10 games built up already.
 
J

joelseph

Member
AstroLad said:
I think I've said it before but SW:LCG is really cool. Too bad I only have room for one LCG in my life because that one is a ton of fun. And different enough from Netrunner that if I had time I would be happy to play both.
Click to expand...

As an avid Mtg and ANR player, it was against my better judgement to buy SWLCG but I did and it's sleeved. Ready to play my first game, it looks much easier to learn and grasp and ANR . Here is to hoping!
 
A

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
BattleMonkey said:
I like the no showing cards rule, I don't find it lazy at all, the whole point of such rule is to prevent players from being lazy. In any game where players don't have to hide any info and it's coop, often you have players who just do not actually play the game, they sit there and the groups big talker ends up playing the game for them instead. The whole point is to simply promote actual participation from all players, it's not about creating some kind of secret table fighting or to make the game harder at all. I've seen it many times where players in coop games just let others play the game for them, so I see no problem with rules that promote communication and participation.

If you don't like it, then just play the game with all info public, the rule police are not going to knock down your door.
Click to expand...
haha yeah, i feel the same way about pandemic. if you play with experienced players and open info there is a very good chance they will just see it as them solving a puzzle, alone. plus at this point it's like trolling; i genuinely enjoy seeing people squirm and whine about having to play without open cards ruining their plans for a single-player game with three spectators. :p
 
D

Dreavus

Member
BattleMonkey said:
I like the no showing cards rule, I don't find it lazy at all, the whole point of such rule is to prevent players from being lazy. In any game where players don't have to hide any info and it's coop, often you have players who just do not actually play the game, they sit there and the groups big talker ends up playing the game for them instead. The whole point is to simply promote actual participation from all players, it's not about creating some kind of secret table fighting or to make the game harder at all. I've seen it many times where players in coop games just let others play the game for them, so I see no problem with rules that promote communication and participation.

If you don't like it, then just play the game with all info public, the rule police are not going to knock down your door.
Click to expand...

I am of the opinion that we shouldn't really need a rule specifically to get people to participate in a game they chose to sit down to play. Reining in an "alpha player" is a little more reasonable in my eyes, but still not entirely necessary. I guess it boils down to the people in one's gaming group and how you want to play it (One of the beauties of board gaming!)
 
Icefire1424

Icefire1424

Member
Wish me luck - with the goal of getting the wife further interested in gaming, I picked up Dominion this weekend, also having never played it myself. We'll have to see how this goes, but seemed like a pretty straightforward, not overly complicated game for her to try out.

...anything other than Clue or Uno, anyways...
 
K

Karkador

Banned
Dreavus said:
This is especially ridiculous in another co-op game I've tried called "Space Hulk: Death Angel", where you "can't be specific" or show the card you're playing for the turn, but everyone only has 3 card types to choose from - Attack, Support, and Move. If you say "I'm going to attack" there's really not anything else you can add if you wanted to!
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the other game I was thinking of, but at least everyone there has the same 3 cards, just with different special abilities (and you know they can't play the same card twice, so you know what their action might be next turn). That game also really doesn't change in difficulty (Hard As Balls) with the open information, so the game is fine.

I think one of the reasons they may have the rule is to maintain a quota of individual player agency, so that one person doesn't take over and tell everyone what to do. My response would be that it depends on the personality of those who are playing the game. It doesn't seem like something that needs to be "written in" for the sake of giving everyone a piece of the "action".
Click to expand...

A game that does this well is Space Alert. You have to coordinate your cards face-down with other players in real-time, and you have to communicate A LOT, even though there are moments where the game makes you unable to communicate with other players- but it's all very fast and hectic, and there's also a very small pool of possible cards/actions, and a huge emphasis on players being responsible for their own roles in the game (including Captain, who tells other players what to do). The actual challenge of the game makes the teamwork happen, as it's easier to do it all with multiple people.

Also props to Hanabi for flipping the concept on its head and making everybody else's cards open except your own. That game is indeed fun, though I feel like people always need to make an additional rule or agreement among players to help with how you interpret the clues given to you.

AstroLad said:
I'm in the vast minority but I actually don't mind that rule in Pandemic at all (not being able to just have your cards in the open). Bonus points because it seems that most times where I am playing with people whining about the rule they wind up misplaying at some point because of poor communication. Thematically delicious ironing.
Click to expand...

I find Pandemic to be like a multiplayer puzzle, much like Forbidden Desert. I don't think open hands really damage the game, but having them closed doesn't make me go "why are we keeping this info from each other again?", as the challenge of the game is on the board itself, not really the cards in your hand. I also think quarterbacks gonna quarterback regardless of whether your hand is open or not.

BattleMonkey said:
I like the no showing cards rule, I don't find it lazy at all, the whole point of such rule is to prevent players from being lazy. In any game where players don't have to hide any info and it's coop, often you have players who just do not actually play the game, they sit there and the groups big talker ends up playing the game for them instead. The whole point is to simply promote actual participation from all players, it's not about creating some kind of secret table fighting or to make the game harder at all. I've seen it many times where players in coop games just let others play the game for them, so I see no problem with rules that promote communication and participation.
Click to expand...

The problem with the Firefly: Out to the Black game is that it's a mind-numbingly easy in design - flip a card with a target check, use the character's base stat + cards you drew at random into your hand to meet the check...but you can't tell people what you're going to play ,because.....well, that would just make it an easy game of chance. Except it still is, because that's still exactly what you're doing, but our own teammates have to also make blind guesses of what you're playing, which makes no thematic or logical sense. Also, the game is rather punishing when you screw up. The secret cards business is just adding a layer of complication to mask a very dull and random game underneath it.

If the co-op game still works well with or without the hidden info, then it's probably a good game regardless and I only feel the hidden info rule is a bit silly, but not annoying.
 
T

TumblingHippo

Member
Re: Hidden hands in co-op games.

I find this to be more successful when each player either has their own unique character or hand, to where the info in their hand can be made the most sense by them. You can discuss what you need to do on your turn, but only you can puzzle out how to accomplish it.

Mage Knight, Sentinels of the Multiverse, and (supposedly) Myth do this very well. Honorable mention to Defenders of the Realm for each hero having their own abilities and quests to go on.
 
B

BattleMonkey

Member
It's also important to promote people to think for themselves instead of simply a group hivemind. Some folks don't like coop games because of the whole part of it being a team thing and they will often feel the group going against their ideas, or that they are not contributing. Instead of being a game of decisions, it's a democracy of people following a pattern of procedures that develops after several plays. It's no longer a coop game as much as everyone knowing the games steps as they have solved it. Some games handle the secret aspect better and promotes actual individual strategy instead of the table telling you what you should do or have done.
 
T

TumblingHippo

Member
Important decision in regards to Battlecon: Devastation...

To sleeve it, or not to?

There's quite a few bits of cards, but if I sleeve them they won't fit as well, right? I also guess that because there's no real shuffling in the game, maybe this is one of those times that sleeving isn't necessary.
 
D

Dreavus

Member
TumblingHippo said:
Important decision in regards to Battlecon: Devastation...

To sleeve it, or not to?

There's quite a few bits of cards, but if I sleeve them they won't fit as well, right? I also guess that because there's no real shuffling in the game, maybe this is one of those times that sleeving isn't necessary.
Click to expand...

I sleeved my copy. Yes, it was a shit load of cards.

I ditched the insert, and all 30 characters run down the long side of the box in flight order, with the cardboard character covers in front of each one to keep their place. Other cards go down the other side of the box. All my tokens and stand-ups are somewhere in the middle in plastic bags, and also serve to keep things sort of in place even if the box moves around. I have the tokens and stuff separated by flight right now, but I'm sure there's a better solution.

You are right that there really is no shuffling that happens in the game. I was more worried about the black borders on everything which have a penchant for getting nicks on them over time/repeated play.

If you do decide to sleeve, there is a thread on BGG where someone detailed the sleeve count you'll need. Its just under 600 if you're getting all clear ones, but if you want to match blue/red/clear for bases/styles/other things the numbers are a bit different because most sleeves come in packs of 50 - 100.
 
K

Keasar

Member
What size in mm does the Battlecon cards use? Gonna have to put an order down for my sleeves as well before the package arrives.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
The only time the "no sharing" rule has ever been a big issue for my group was in BSG when we'd have discussions that were basically:

"How much can you contribute?"
"Well on a scale from a tiny amount to a lot, I can contribute a fair amount. Decent. Not a lot, but not little. A middlish amount."

At this point everyone knows it's a 3 by the intonation and words so it's kind of... well, whatever. But everyone just laughs it off anyway.
 
H

hat_hair

Member
Finally, I've managed to get a copy of Hanabi.

This is surprisingly relevant to the conversation, as Hanabi is a co-operative game about hidden information. Your hand is held in reverse, so everyone but you can see it. Each turn you can either play a card, or give another player restricted information about cards in their hand.
You still have to try and play in such a way that it's not obvious what you're doing, though, as it's very easy to emphasise which cards you're pointing at to encourage people to play them.
However, the restriction on table talk at least means that no one player can take over the game.
 
A

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
hat_hair said:
Finally, I've managed to get a copy of Hanabi.

This is surprisingly relevant to the conversation, as Hanabi is a co-operative game about hidden information. Your hand is held in reverse, so everyone but you can see it. Each turn you can either play a card, or give another player restricted information about cards in their hand.
You still have to try and play in such a way that it's not obvious what you're doing, though, as it's very easy to emphasise which cards you're pointing at to encourage people to play them.
However, the restriction on table talk at least means that no one player can take over the game.
Click to expand...

Yeah Hanabi handles the issue in a fun way. I'd kind of like to see a deeper game do something similar.
 
K

Karkador

Banned
I played Eminent Domain today for the first time. As a Race for the Galaxy fan, I couldn't help but feel like they were very similar. But thinking about them more, they are actually quite different games. ED was a pretty cool experience. It felt like a new deck building game, not just another fork of Dominion.
 
J

joeyjoejoeshabadoo

Member
Karkador said:
I played Eminent Domain today for the first time. As a Race for the Galaxy fan, I couldn't help but feel like they were very similar. But thinking about them more, they are actually quite different games. ED was a pretty cool experience. It felt like a new deck building game, not just another fork of Dominion.
Click to expand...
To me ED feels more like Glory to Rome than Race. I can see the Race comparison but the whole follow/dissent is lifted directly from GtR's follow/think.
 
J

joelseph

Member
Placed an order for a bunch of organizers from TheBrokenToken. Greg is super nice. Will report back with photos once I receive them and get them in place. I got King of Tokyo v2, Smash Up, and 4 FFG Sleeved organizers with 18 extra dividers.
 
S

sneaky77

Member
I am looking forward to trying out K2, Steam Park and Libertalia which I just got from CSI

Also, how do you guys get rid of some unplayed or unwanted games that just didn't click with the group?
 
N

Neverfade

Member
sneaky77 said:
I am looking forward to trying out K2, Steam Park and Libertalia which I just got from CSI

Also, how do you guys get rid of some unplayed or unwanted games that just didn't click with the group?
Click to expand...

BGG trades.

What do you have on the cutting block? I'm always on the lookout for trades.
 
S

sneaky77

Member
I looked at the trades but got lost on how it works, probably nothing that would interest people here,

I have Thunderstone Dragonspire, Tammany Hall, Flashpoint, Darkest Knight and Quarriors
 
K

Karkador

Banned
sneaky77 said:
I looked at the trades but got lost on how it works, probably nothing that would interest people here,

I have Thunderstone Dragonspire, Tammany Hall, Flashpoint, Darkest Knight and Quarriors
Click to expand...

(assuming you have an account there, and are logged in)
Go to a game's page on BGG, scroll down to the very bottom of the page and
click "Add a copy to your collection". If you already did this, you should see the checkbox list like this:

Status : Own
Previously Owned
* For Trade
Want in Trade

You'll want to have "For Trade" marked, as this is a game you're willing to offer for trade.

You then go to the game pages of games you want and do the same, but click "Want in Trade" instead (meaning you want it in exchange for whatever you're offering).

LAST STEP:

Go up to the top menu of the site, "My Geek", and there you'll find "Trades". Click that, and it will take you to a rather empty page that will give you two options:

Search: Direct Matches | Custom Search

Click "Direct Matches" if you want to see a complete list of users who match what you're offering with what they're offering. Click "Custom Search" if you want to narrow the filters down to specific games and from specific countries.


Note: The trade system only does a simple matching of offerings. It doesn't actually weigh the value of the games, so just because the match-up says a user is offering some amazing $100 game and it says they want a $10 game in trade, it doesn't mean they want to accept that offer (nor are they likely to).
 
N

Neverfade

Member
I threw Antiquity up on the chopping block. After rules reading and then acquiring Roads & Boats, I don't see myself talking anyone in to such a brutal game. Even I don't think it looks very fun.

I don't think every game should necessarily keep everyone in the running for winner, but holy shit, at least keep them in the fucking game. (Running out of wood = sitting on your ass unless someone takes mercy on you and happens to have built a market so they can trade it to you.)
 
D

daevv

Member
After watching about 2 hours of gameplay vids I broke down and bought Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island during thecultofthenew sale ($49.99+shipping) yesterday. Looking forward to trying it out solo and with the group. I also bought the 2 sets of promo on the BBG store too.

We should all add each other on BBG. My profile: http://boardgamegeek.com/user/daevv
 
J

joeyjoejoeshabadoo

Member
Neverfade said:
I threw Antiquity up on the chopping block. After rules reading and then acquiring Roads & Boats, I don't see myself talking anyone in to such a brutal game. Even I don't think it looks very fun.

I don't think every game should necessarily keep everyone in the running for winner, but holy shit, at least keep them in the fucking game. (Running out of wood = sitting on your ass unless someone takes mercy on you and happens to have built a market so they can trade it to you.)
Click to expand...
What do you want for it? I've been looking to trade for Antiquity for awhile.

Angst said:
BGG math trades has a much better chance of success than straight trades in my experience.
Click to expand...
This is true. I've been successful trading 1 to 1 but I've been able to trade lots of games at a time with Math Trades.
 
J

joeyjoejoeshabadoo

Member
Karkador said:
I'm too scared of getting some random thing I don't want in a math trade.
Click to expand...
The beauty of the math trade is that almost never happens. All you are worried about is what you are willing to trade for X game. The computer makes the the loop and will try to get you what you want for your game. If it cannot complete the loop ie, you won't get y game for x game, it won't make the trade. The only time people get what they don't want is when they screw up their wants, but that's not the math trade's fault.
 
F

fenners

Member
Karkador said:
How does it handle different values of games?
Click to expand...

Generally, it doesn't. The normal math trades favour "number of items traded" vs "trade value". It's up to you to value the games you'd be willing to trade for vs the games you're putting up.

You'll *never* get something you don't want in a math trade, unless you screw up & select the bad item in the trade software.

Math trades /rock/.
 
K

Karkador

Banned
fenners said:
Generally, it doesn't. The normal math trades favour "number of items traded" vs "trade value". It's up to you to value the games you'd be willing to trade for vs the games you're putting up.

You'll *never* get something you don't want in a math trade, unless you screw up & select the bad item in the trade software.

Math trades /rock/.
Click to expand...

Hey, I know you! I sent you a BGG trade offer the other day, lol
 
A

Affeinvasion

Member
Karkador said:
I'm too scared of getting some random thing I don't want in a math trade.
Click to expand...

My first math trade I screwed up and wanted just about anything for what I was trading, so I got something that was OK, but not really what I wanted.

My second math trade I got a brand new sealed game that I really wanted for a game I didn't ever play.
 
D

disillusion386

Member
Just got my copy of Pandemic On the Brink. Can't wait to play with the new game modes tonight!

Anyway, the box insert is cool and all, but I have my cards sleeved. It's a tight fit right now, but there's no more room if end up getting In the Lab too. Have any of you guys figured out the best way to store the sleeved cards in this insert?
 
B

BattleMonkey

Member
O

Ohnonono

Member
daevv said:
After watching about 2 hours of gameplay vids I broke down and bought Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island during thecultofthenew sale ($49.99+shipping) yesterday. Looking forward to trying it out solo and with the group. I also bought the 2 sets of promo on the BBG store too.

We should all add each other on BBG. My profile: http://boardgamegeek.com/user/daevv
Click to expand...

I have played one 4 player and 5 solo games of this. It is absolutely amazing IMO. I dropped retail price on it from my FLGS and don't regret it at all.
 
EYEL1NER

EYEL1NER

Member
disillusion386 said:
Just got my copy of Pandemic On the Brink. Can't wait to play with the new game modes tonight!

Anyway, the box insert is cool and all, but I have my cards sleeved. It's a tight fit right now, but there's no more room if end up getting In the Lab too. Have any of you guys figured out the best way to store the sleeved cards in this insert?
Click to expand...
I don't sleeve my cards, so I can't really help you out. It is a nice insert though. I transferred all of my Pandemic stuff over to the OTB box a couple days ago and played a game yesterday, my sixth game of Pandemic I guess. I haven't played with anything new from OTB yet though, because I haven't gotten around to reading the rules yet.


Got my copy of Arkham Horror in. I bought it off a guy on eBay who had only played it a couple times. The box and every component look immaculate. It was nice not having anything to punch out too, since that was all done. I don't know if I will be buying too many more used games though.
One: He didn't really sort anything. Luckily the bulk of the cards were kinda sorted, but there were a ton of cards and all the pieces just thrown into the large part of the insert. Some things were in plastic baggiess but the plastic baggies hadn't been closed, so everything fell out of them. I expected it to take a while to inventory the components but that added to the time it took considerably. Luckily I found a box of small ziplock sandwich bags in the dorm and used all of those to separate different parts.
Two: The big thing that irritated me though was this dude must own a cat, because something had shed all over the contents of the box. It was fucking terrible. It being so dry up here meant I could wash off the insert and it would fully dry pretty quickly before it got put back in the box. But now I have cat hair all over everything in my room in the spot where I opened it.

I don't know when my coworker and I will sit down and learn this one. I've got 12 straight hours at work tonight where I am pretty much not doing anything. And he has the last six hours of the shift free. So we might be able to figure it out and play a game in that amount of time. Forbidden Island came in too though, and I want to get a game of that in. Depending on if I find it as fun as Pandemic, it might be a good game to introduce my wife to in a couple months. It being Pandemic-Lite means my coworker and I should be able to pick up the gameplay fairly quick too.
 
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