joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Positive feedback for echoshifting. War of the Ring showed up today as expected. Thanks again.
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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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So, 3 hour session of Power Grid. 2 people who had played it, 4 new players.
I'm starting to turn on this game a bit which is sad since it has long been one of my "perfect" games. I still enjoy it.. but if everyone plays pretty equally you hit this 3-4 turn period where no one is buying plants because they suck and no one is able to buy into a city because they are full.. you are just churning waiting for the turn 3 card to come out.
The bank seems to run out (or low) on money, and whoever the poor sap is who is stuck in the lead winds up running out of resources to fire his plants.
It's almost as though the game needs a straggler or run-away leader to prevent this from happening.
With a smaller game some of the "junk" gets removed because the power plants with lower numbers get removed.. but in a 6 player game where you only build to 14 cities very few cards get burned from the deck.
I don't know.. everyone was having a good time and then we just hit a wall for 30 minutes.
Awesome sign of the night that I need to get serious with the girlfriend: halfway through Power Grid she remarked that she was getting bored. I was worried it was because the game was going over her head.. when it was over she said the game was too easy and she would rather play Agricola.
Also looks like Carson City is coming out again in two weeks for some more action. They are having a Carson City night at the board game beer thing and I'm one of two people who own it.
I think some of the guys from this are going to BGG-Con as well. I don't really know any of them super well, but I guess more people I can weasel into games with is nice since I'm going alone.
I'm starting to turn on this game a bit which is sad since it has long been one of my "perfect" games. I still enjoy it.. but if everyone plays pretty equally you hit this 3-4 turn period where no one is buying plants because they suck and no one is able to buy into a city because they are full.. you are just churning waiting for the turn 3 card to come out.
The bank seems to run out (or low) on money, and whoever the poor sap is who is stuck in the lead winds up running out of resources to fire his plants.
It's almost as though the game needs a straggler or run-away leader to prevent this from happening.
With a smaller game some of the "junk" gets removed because the power plants with lower numbers get removed.. but in a 6 player game where you only build to 14 cities very few cards get burned from the deck.
I don't know.. everyone was having a good time and then we just hit a wall for 30 minutes.
Awesome sign of the night that I need to get serious with the girlfriend: halfway through Power Grid she remarked that she was getting bored. I was worried it was because the game was going over her head.. when it was over she said the game was too easy and she would rather play Agricola.
Also looks like Carson City is coming out again in two weeks for some more action. They are having a Carson City night at the board game beer thing and I'm one of two people who own it.
I think some of the guys from this are going to BGG-Con as well. I don't really know any of them super well, but I guess more people I can weasel into games with is nice since I'm going alone.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Chicks who dig Agricola are keepers in my book. Hell I just had to tell my girlfriend the theme of Agricola and she was all over it. She totally loves the game.StoOgE said:
I poked around in the War of the Ring box tonight, holy shit is it impressive. I knew the board was big but seeing it in person just wow'd me. It's huge!
Besides the board the thing that impressed me most were the minis. I was expecting the typical spongy plastic that FF used in Chaos in the Old World but these feel really solid. I think I'm going to paint the bases to make it easier to distinguish nations. I'm kind of dreading having to teach this game but I can't wait to play it.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
War of the Ring is absolutely fantastic, likely my favourite boardgame. It's not as hard to play as it looks, but there are a number of different things going on in it that make it hard to teach to some people as there's a fair number of situational rules that are easy to forget. The asymmetry of the two sides is well thought out - when you're learning/teaching it, make sure the noob plays the Shadow side as it's far easier to play (I've pitched the Shadow side as a fancy game of Risk).
A buddy here in Austin ran a "War of the Ring" day a couple of months back - six people, three gameboards (inc one of the limited editions). Total of six games played, and all six finished completely differently. Love how the game tells stories like that.
BattleMonkey
Member
I just got a new copy cheap of War of the Ring, so does anyone play it with the expansion? It seems to add another board which is kind of crazy with how big the base game's board already is.
I played the starter box of A Game of Thrones last night in a three player setting. Wow, that was a fun game! I played the Dragon house guys and won decisively, no one stood a chance. I like that it's close enough to Magic to make it familiar, but has plenty of excellent changes and additions to the formular to make it very fresh. The board with the different titles on it was very nifty!
I doubt I'll buy any cards on my own, but I'd definitely play it again given the chance.
I doubt I'll buy any cards on my own, but I'd definitely play it again given the chance.
BattleMonkey said:
No, the other board is for a separate "tactical" game - you don't use it with the base game. The expansion adds new figures, rules, cards etc to the base game. It balances the game more evenly (really, it makes it easier for the Free People).
Frankly, I prefer the base game.
Yeah, it is coming to me as well. I just dumped a megaton on gmt this month. Flying colors, maneuver, and labyrinth on p500, dominant species, twilight struggle, and the salamis war galley expansion from their sale. C&c:napoleon can't get here fast enough!
Also picked up some victory point solo games, the nemo war and Zulu ones. Figure I can play them while helping my wife with her homework.
Btw, dominant species looks AWESOME. Anyone played it yet? Probably bust it out with my bil over thanksgiving.
Also picked up some victory point solo games, the nemo war and Zulu ones. Figure I can play them while helping my wife with her homework.
Btw, dominant species looks AWESOME. Anyone played it yet? Probably bust it out with my bil over thanksgiving.
So.. I have a question about the P500 thing.
It looks like a preorder system and once enough people pre-order they print the game and charge you. Can you back out of a P500 order or is it a hard commitment?
Its a really fascinating (read: great) idea for smaller companies.. especially when deciding if a reprint is a good idea or not. I own 2 GMT games, but most of their stuff seems to be light wargamer or wargamer stuff which I've not really gotten into much of.
It looks like a preorder system and once enough people pre-order they print the game and charge you. Can you back out of a P500 order or is it a hard commitment?
Its a really fascinating (read: great) idea for smaller companies.. especially when deciding if a reprint is a good idea or not. I own 2 GMT games, but most of their stuff seems to be light wargamer or wargamer stuff which I've not really gotten into much of.
I hate when I combo threads like this.
My mom decided to look through my old board games to see if there were any that I wanted from their house (they have started coming over for board games twice a month and have taken a real liking to Power Grid and Catan).
Anyway, I was assuming it would be Clue, Monopoly, etc. The stuff I knew was in my closet.
Seems mom has been stockpiling games from my childhood in her closet. Loopin Louie, Stretch out Sam, Fireball Island and Crossfire amongst others (mostly bad ninja turtle and GI Joe games). All in mint condition because I was OCD even as a child.
I of course got excited because they are worth money. She won't give them to me though because she is holding out hope that I'm going to have a kid someday who will want them.
Plus, I wouldn't sell Loopin' Louie. That game is awesome.
My mom decided to look through my old board games to see if there were any that I wanted from their house (they have started coming over for board games twice a month and have taken a real liking to Power Grid and Catan).
Anyway, I was assuming it would be Clue, Monopoly, etc. The stuff I knew was in my closet.
Seems mom has been stockpiling games from my childhood in her closet. Loopin Louie, Stretch out Sam, Fireball Island and Crossfire amongst others (mostly bad ninja turtle and GI Joe games). All in mint condition because I was OCD even as a child.
I of course got excited because they are worth money. She won't give them to me though because she is holding out hope that I'm going to have a kid someday who will want them.
Plus, I wouldn't sell Loopin' Louie. That game is awesome.
StoOgE said:
You can back out, I believe.
They're definitely a wargame company & it shows in their production quality at times. I love a lot of their games but they can definitely be a hard sell to hardcore eurogamers - look at the outcry on BGG over Dominant Species' production.
But they published Twilight Struggle, so they'll always have a place in my heart
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I wonder what happened to my Crossfire? That game was so dope, even though the rate of fire was a lot less than you actually wanted it to be.Neverfade said:You need to Ethan Hunt that Crossfire out of her home so I can buy it from you.
Fragamemnon
Member
As someone who regularly goes between 3-5 GMT preorders, 1-3 MMP preorders, all points in between with other wargame publishers, I'll chip in here.
You're not charged on your card until the game is almost ready to ship. You can back out any time either via web form or a simple phone call or email to the office folk.
P500 systems exist to reduce the risk for a small company with a limited audience from having to put too much risk into one individual product. It's a necessary sustainability feature of the wargame industry to keep from having another Avalon Hill style collapse due to lack of demand.
It's proven and it works. The companies are still in business, new titles see the light of day, and the overall net quality of the average wargame release has never been higher.
GMT is awesome because they manage such a wide scope of games and their service is superb. I've been a very happy customer for years with them, and they are the company that every other consim publisher strives to be like.
StoOgE said:
You're not charged on your card until the game is almost ready to ship. You can back out any time either via web form or a simple phone call or email to the office folk.
P500 systems exist to reduce the risk for a small company with a limited audience from having to put too much risk into one individual product. It's a necessary sustainability feature of the wargame industry to keep from having another Avalon Hill style collapse due to lack of demand.
It's proven and it works. The companies are still in business, new titles see the light of day, and the overall net quality of the average wargame release has never been higher.
GMT is awesome because they manage such a wide scope of games and their service is superb. I've been a very happy customer for years with them, and they are the company that every other consim publisher strives to be like.
AstroLad said:
No, I was stricly a kids game purchaser at that point in my life. I played Monopoly as well, but until about the age of 10 or 111 I mostly enjoyed games that were geared strictly at kids. My parents bought a ton of board games for me because I could play those with them vs. playing my NES or SNES and ignoring the fuck out of the rest of the world for 12 hours a day during the summer.
I do have TMNT: Tower of Doom which for some reason is highly rated on BGG. I remember I bought that instead of some legos I was supposed to buy and regretted it immediately. It was basically Kerplunk. But with cheap cardboard bits and ninja turtles instead of marbles.
I have Shark Attack, Grape Escape and Splat in the closet as well. Most of the games in there are going to be candy land, chutes and ladders, etc. But I was a sucker as a child for giant molded plastic. Especially if it had things that moved.
Finally played the Resident Evil Deck Building Game tonight. With the standard ruleset it wasn't very good, but once we made the house rule about trashed basic resources going back to the supply instead of out of the game it sped up the game a lot and made it much more enjoyable. We were pretty bummed though, because we wanted to play a 5 player game (even though it's only meant for 4) and found that there's only enough coppers ammo x10s for 4 starting decks.
We played Mercenary mode and the scores were pretty uneven at the end, but the one guy who did really badly had only played Dominion three or four times, so I guess it's to be expected.
We played Mercenary mode and the scores were pretty uneven at the end, but the one guy who did really badly had only played Dominion three or four times, so I guess it's to be expected.
My FLGS had booster packs of Arcane Legions for $7.50, snapped up an Egyptian Infantry and Cavalry pack, along with my cheap starter means I got a competative, complete army for $35. :lol My friend has enough to play a Han army similar size, so we should get a few hours of fun out of it.
A friend and I had been talking about Guardians of Graxia on PC, but saw it currently had no multiplayer and were instatntly turned off. Then we saw there was a board game version we were completely unaware of. I'm going to BGG and whatnot to read some reviews of it, but as an aside, has anyone here played it yet or do you know someone who has? What do you/they think?
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Wooo! Got my copy of 51st. State in today. I may give it a go tonight. The artwork looks really nice on these cards and my girlfriend is going to love the theme. She is a sucker for anything post-apocalyptic.
StoOgE said:
What gi Joe game? I have this faint recollection of a grid based gi Joe war-game with little cardboard joes on stands. Am I having a senior moment?
So far about te only games from my childhood I really miss are the red storm rising/red October ones. Gotta get them someday, though I suspect, like every nostalgia fueled retro purchase I have made lately, I will be disappoint.
BattleMonkey
Member
There was an old board game that came out even before the TV show, no fancy pieces. Another one that came out in the early 2000's had card board stand ups that you could shoot at with little disc launcher things. Cobra Attack which I know nothing about, and one old one based on the pre 80's Joes
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
We got through two games tonight and I liked it. It didn't blow me away but I found it to be a very interesting game. The learning curve is steeper than I thought it would be. The mechanics are easy but those damn icons are tough to keep straight. The 'timing' of the cards also took me a little bit to figure out. The second game went a little smoother but I think it'll take me a couple games to really get comfortable with it.Neverfade said:
One complaint is the theme kind of takes a back seat. Im not seeing the cards as a location but as a resource. I was really looking forward to this game because the post-apocalyptic theme appeals to me and my GF and it kind of fell flat in that regard.
Overall I think it's not the greatest game ever but its a good one. Keep in mind I haven't played Race for the Galaxy so this is the first time I've played a card game like this.
Edit: Do you know what the faction tokens are for? I thought you used them for the conquest cards to mark what you've used but we just put the matching resources on them.
choodi
Banned
What is everyone's thoughts on Alhambra?
I have owned the base version for about 12 months and our group has never got around to playing it.
We are planning on playing it tonight, but as no one has played it before, how long should it take before we all get the hang of it. (My group is a mixture of experienced and inexperienced boardgamers)
I have owned the base version for about 12 months and our group has never got around to playing it.
We are planning on playing it tonight, but as no one has played it before, how long should it take before we all get the hang of it. (My group is a mixture of experienced and inexperienced boardgamers)
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Ah, that makes sense. We really didn't take advantage of the open factories. I think I may have used it once in our two games.Neverfade said:
Wait have you played Neuroshima Hex b/c that seems like it should be right up your alley even though it's largely abstract.joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
Hahah I went through the same experience. Owned it for over a year actually before playing it. But it's an excellent medium gateway. Pretty quick to learn although some of the concepts are fairly novel and it's one of my group's more-requested games since we started playing it (although they like it a little more than I do).
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I don't own a physical copy but I own and play the iPhone version pretty regularly and I dig it. That's one reason why I was so excited for 51st State. I guess I was expecting the implementation of the theme to be greater than Hex. I don't know, it's possible I put more emphasis on the iconography than what the cards said and that's the reason why I didn't feel the theme. I think I need to play it more to get comfortable with the icons so they become second nature.AstroLad said:
I also have only played the iPhone version of Neuroshima and the theme fell flat on its face for me. Not once did I imagine guys shooting and battling it out. Way too abstract.
I like the game well enough for 3 bucks, but there's no way in hell I'd ever buy the boardgame now.
I like the game well enough for 3 bucks, but there's no way in hell I'd ever buy the boardgame now.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Hmmm, I have it preordered with Amazon. Do I wait to see if they get it or order it somewhere else. Supposedly Amazon is scketchy when it comes to boardgame preorders but it is cheaper and I have free two day shipping with them.Neverfade said:
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I've got it preordered on Amazon for $37 with free two day shipping.Neverfade said:
Edit: Yeah it looks like the price went up. My delivery estimate says Dec 16th so I think I'll just keep my preorder and wait it out.
So inspired by astrolad's organization skills, I present my closet pron. (sorry if the pic is big I'm posting from my iPhone. )
had an awesome game of Carson City today.
I think the sherriff at the end is overrated somewhat actually. Since you get to sell at $6 per VP without using the 5 for 1 space you could easily make up with a good selection. I mopped up with the bank + hotel + mine combination.
Duels were less important in this 3p game than the 5p game I had previously played in. But it looks like the two "best" strategies are bank + mine or ranch + general store.
Such an amazingly slick little game.
I think the sherriff at the end is overrated somewhat actually. Since you get to sell at $6 per VP without using the 5 for 1 space you could easily make up with a good selection. I mopped up with the bank + hotel + mine combination.
Duels were less important in this 3p game than the 5p game I had previously played in. But it looks like the two "best" strategies are bank + mine or ranch + general store.
Such an amazingly slick little game.
Ok so my friends gifted me Stone Age for my birthday. We played a game but encountered one thing that stumped us and there did not seem to be anything in the rules against this playstyle. So I basically started getting for points right away, while my two friends just gathered resources without getting any points. In the rules there was nothing about negative points so they did not bother to get any food in the beginning. Did I miss something?
How do you like Mystery Express?
I've been looking for a good Clue replacement game. I've had my eye on either that or Mr. Jack as a nice deduction game for a while. I've played Scotland Yard and wasn't totally crazy about that as a deduction game, and Mr. Jack being a 2 player game isn't really ideal.
I've been looking for a good Clue replacement game. I've had my eye on either that or Mr. Jack as a nice deduction game for a while. I've played Scotland Yard and wasn't totally crazy about that as a deduction game, and Mr. Jack being a 2 player game isn't really ideal.
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