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[StoOgE]

Indeed... I'm hopelessly addicted now... I will be broke by the end the month if I don't stop (seriously, there's still so many games I want). Amazon and those Tangaa deals on BGG are the devil!

You sound like me about 8 months ago :lol

It's all downhill from here buddy. All kidding aside, I've found board games to be a great investment. An evening with a quality game and my friends (with a few beers) is a much more rewarding experience to me than an evening of Rockband or some other "party" game.

Really glad to here about Settlers of America. It looks like really solid game. And I love the Catan mechanics, so it seems to be taking vanilla Catan and applying an actual goal to it other than an abstract "best civilization" and removes the boxing in problem.

The only real complaint I've heard is that it lasts about 30 minutes too long. Did you find this to be the case?

I'm interested in it because I love Catan but many of my friends feel burned out on it at this point.. and I'm hesitant to get the expansions because making Catan more complicated to me sounds counter-intuitive since the whole point of Catan is it's ease of play.

 

[StoOgE]

Had an evening of light board gaming tonight.

Played a game of Smart Ass which is a party trivia game. Normally an automatic non-starter for me, but this one is fun. It's more in line with the trivia you get on NPR (I'm the 13th American President, I'm from the state of x, etc) and anyone can shout out an answer (one guess only) and the first person to get it right wins.

The game sadly comes with a completely unnecessary board and die mechanics that wound up costing the best player the game because of bad die rolls. I think if the game had a set number of rounds and omitted the board it could be a really top notch party game.

Played a couple rounds of Bang! as well. The game has some real flaws, but I still find it to be an excellent beer and pretzels type of game. Some strategy to it, but obviously a ton of luck.

Started a game of Le Havre I knew I wouldn't finish mostly to teach the mechanics to some new players for next week. I'm going to the girlfriends for New Years weekend and there will be board gaming a-plenty it seems.

 

[Mashing]

You sound like me about 8 months ago :lol

It's all downhill from here buddy. All kidding aside, I've found board games to be a great investment. An evening with a quality game and my friends (with a few beers) is a much more rewarding experience to me than an evening of Rockband or some other "party" game.

Really glad to here about Settlers of America. It looks like really solid game. And I love the Catan mechanics, so it seems to be taking vanilla Catan and applying an actual goal to it other than an abstract "best civilization" and removes the boxing in problem.

The only real complaint I've heard is that it lasts about 30 minutes too long. Did you find this to be the case?

I'm interested in it because I love Catan but many of my friends feel burned out on it at this point.. and I'm hesitant to get the expansions because making Catan more complicated to me sounds counter-intuitive since the whole point of Catan is it's ease of play.

It took us about 2 and a half hours to 3 hours to finish a game. Two of us were new to the game. The box says it takes 2+ so this is not unexpected, but yes, I feel that it is indeed about 30 minutes too long. Be sure you look at the rules closely as they are different between 3-4 player games.

Edit: I also played Havana (interesting mechanics in this one), For Sale (probably my favorite filler game so far) and Dungeon Lords. I had the most fun with Dungeon Lords as it appears to the RPG fan in myself (I also won by a pretty good margin and that was true even with a -6). It's mostly strategy, but there is some luck involved in the worker placement phase, but you have complete control over how you build your dungeon and how to combat the adventurers.

 

[StoOgE]

For Sale is an extremely fun filler game. It's on my stocking stuffer list to Santa.

I can live with 30 minutes too long. There are a lot of games that run about 30 minutes too long.

 

[Mashing]

Someone in here picked up 51st State right? Who was it, I was wondering what they thought of it. I saw a of it review on BGG and it looked very intriguing.

 

[Chorazin]

Someone in here picked up 51st State right? Who was it, I was wondering what they thought of it. I saw a of it review on BGG and it looked very intriguing.

The US version was announced for next year, and claims to fix most of the issues of the first pressing. I recommend waiting, even though I hear it's pretty rad.

 

[AstroLad]

Someone in here picked up 51st State right? Who was it, I was wondering what they thought of it. I saw a of it review on BGG and it looked very intriguing.

neverfade has it. seems like most people are pretty down on it so far though.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

For the interested, the Manneken Pis promo card for 7 Wonders is now for sale on BGG. It's their typical, pay a penny for the item but $5 to ship it to you, type of deal.

http://store.boardgamegeek.com/comp...page=flypage.tpl&product_id=254&category_id=3

Speaking of 7 Wonders, I just read through the rules and now I'm super excited to get this to the table. The only thing that stuck out as strange was the scoring for the science cards. It seems like it's needlessly complicated in a Kinizia sort of way.

Someone in here picked up 51st State right? Who was it, I was wondering what they thought of it. I saw a of it review on BGG and it looked very intriguing.

It's ok, not great but not bad either. The theme feels pasted on which is a bummer because I love the idea of rebuilding your post-apocalyptic state. I'm not sure how my GF feels about it but I think we are going to give the game one or two more tries before it goes on the trading block.

As for the misprints the tokens are the big one. Basically with more than two players there aren't enough tokens to go around. The publisher did put out a PDF of the missing tokens and they also said they would send out the tokens to people but those haven't been seen at all yet.

 

[Mashing]

It's ok, not great but not bad either. The theme feels pasted on which is a bummer because I love the idea of rebuilding your post-apocalyptic state. I'm not sure how my GF feels about it but I think we are going to give the game one or two more tries before it goes on the trading block.

As for the misprints the tokens are the big one. Basically with more than two players there aren't enough tokens to go around. The publisher did put out a PDF of the missing tokens and they also said they would send out the tokens to people but those haven't been seen at all yet.

That's a shame. I'll pass on it for now then.

 

[StoOgE]

Speaking of 7 Wonders, I just read through the rules and now I'm super excited to get this to the table. The only thing that stuck out as strange was the scoring for the science cards. It seems like it's needlessly complicated in a Kinizia sort of way.

It makes sense from a math standpoint. It is very hard to get more than 3 of a given science type, but it makes the punishment for allowing your opponent to do so pretty brutal. It's a nice mechanic because it forces you to try and play cards you don't want to keep your opponents from pulling it off.

 

[StoOgE]

It's ok, not great but not bad either. The theme feels pasted on which is a bummer because I love the idea of rebuilding your post-apocalyptic state. I'm not sure how my GF feels about it but I think we are going to give the game one or two more tries before it goes on the trading block.

As for the misprints the tokens are the big one. Basically with more than two players there aren't enough tokens to go around. The publisher did put out a PDF of the missing tokens and they also said they would send out the tokens to people but those haven't been seen at all yet.

I found the game to be needlessly complicated. It uses a lot of symbolism, the cards all have about 4 uses and there is too much to keep up with. I would much rather play RFTG.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

It makes sense from a math standpoint. It is very hard to get more than 3 of a given science type, but it makes the punishment for allowing your opponent to do so pretty brutal. It's a nice mechanic because it forces you to try and play cards you don't want to keep your opponents from pulling it off.

My eyes just crossed as I was reading the scoring for those cards but since you put it this way it makes perfect sense as to why it was done that way.

I found the game to be needlessly complicated. It uses a lot of symbolism, the cards all have about 4 uses and there is too much to keep up with. I would much rather play RFTG.

I actually didn't find the game to be that complicated. It's definitely more intricate than what the designer seemed to suggest but it took us a game to get a hang of things. Like I said my problem lies with the lack of theme. I'm sorry but two opposing factions in a post-apocalyptic world would have a little bit more interaction with each other. It doesn't need to be a screw your neighbor type of game but it would have been nice to try and stop your opponent from completing a building.

That's a shame. I'll pass on it for now then.

Yeah, that's probably for the best. The price is a little inflated since you can't get it in the US yet and the game just isn't worth the inflated price.

 

[Flynn]

I found the game to be needlessly complicated. It uses a lot of symbolism, the cards all have about 4 uses and there is too much to keep up with. I would much rather play RFTG.

I feel the same way. There's a lot of accounting to be done. We really slogged through our first learning game.

 

[Recon]

What would be the next logical game after just recently getting into catan? I bought vanilla catan and all my friends loved it, anything kinda similiar?

 

[StoOgE]

What would be the next logical game after just recently getting into catan? I bought vanilla catan and all my friends loved it, anything kinda similiar?

what was it about Catan that you liked?

Building an empire? Trading/wheeling and dealing?

There are a lot of good directions you can go, just trying to pin down what you liked about it. There are a lot of great economic games you can go with if you liked the building an empire part, but they can be lighter on interaction. Then there are heavy interaction games..

Catan kind of sits in the middle of a few genres.

 

[platypotamus]

Guys, guys, guys!

I went into a local game store yesterday to grab a christmas present, and I didn't buy anything for myself. Am... am I dying?

 

[Flynn]

What would be the next logical game after just recently getting into catan? I bought vanilla catan and all my friends loved it, anything kinda similiar?

Ticket To Ride scratches a bunch of the same itches.

 

[AstroLad]

What would be the next logical game after just recently getting into catan? I bought vanilla catan and all my friends loved it, anything kinda similiar?

Yeah I guess to follow up on stooge's point, it would help to know what you are looking for a little. More or less complexity? The Cities & Knights expansion is certainly worth a good look if you're just dying for more Catan very specifically. If now, I'd suggest branching out a bit and checking out the OP to see if any of the gateway games seem appealing, or the next-level games if you're looking for more complexity and depth.

----

Anyone play the new Twilight Struggle regularly? Played twice this weekend and really enjoying it but wondering what we should do about Chinese Civil War. Optional cards help U.S. and someone on BGG said they make Civil War unnecessary and even unfair to the Russian player, but in both our games Russia still won so I'm curious if anyone plays with the whole kit & kaboodle.

 

[MichaelBD]

Yeah I guess to follow up on stooge's point, it would help to know what you are looking for a little. More or less complexity? The Cities & Knights expansion is certainly worth a good look if you're just dying for more Catan very specifically. If now, I'd suggest branching out a bit and checking out the OP to see if any of the gateway games seem appealing, or the next-level games if you're looking for more complexity and depth.

----

Anyone play the new Twilight Struggle regularly? Played twice this weekend and really enjoying it but wondering what we should do about Chinese Civil War. Optional cards help U.S. and someone on BGG said they make Civil War unnecessary and even unfair to the Russian player, but in both our games Russia still won so I'm curious if anyone plays with the whole kit & kaboodle.

I've only played the Deluxe version with the optional cards, and never with the Chinese Civil War Variant. My understanding is you played with either one or the other and not both.

Do you have the newer errata'd cards? NORAD is a big change that helps the US out in the early game if it is played. The original wording was wrong and the newer wording makes it more of a desirable event for the USA.

I've played 99% of my games with the same guy and only yesterday finally had the chance to teach/play with someone else, so my plays are biased towards our play style (I've also read that playing against a diverse base of opponents really strengthens your TS skills). We still feel the USSR is overpowered in the beginning, but the US has had a decent amount of wins (regardless of who plays that side).

The Americans need to play to survive to the mid war, then things will start going their way.

 

[Neverfade]

For the record, I sold off 51st State already. I didn't hate it, but more plays just made me realize that RFTG is the superior game.

Also -- Battlestar Galactica: Exodus is now shipping to retailers. SO EXCITED!

 

[StoOgE]

So, I traded endeavor on the 9th.. the guy who is sending me seaside isn't shipping it until Wed.

RAGE.

He told me it would be "next week" before he could ship it. This will be 2 full weeks later.

 

[Chorazin]

The D&D Heroscape set is only $15 on Amazon now, if anyone was curious about it, or if you need a last minute game gift, that's a great price. I only bought one because I just got one from a friend for Xmas and I'm pretty sure my GF got me another.

Also, contributed to the BGG fund drive. Feels good, man.

 

[AstroLad]

We played Forbidden Island last night. My dad loved Pandemic but my mom wasn't into the theme. So FI was the perfect compromise. Cranked up the difficulty to Elite and we lost by a turn when we get screwed on Waters Rise cards and our helipad sunk. Really the perfect superlight co-op.

 

[StoOgE]

We played Forbidden Island last night. My dad loved Pandemic but my mom wasn't into the theme. So FI was the perfect compromise. Cranked up the difficulty to Elite and we lost by a turn when we get screwed on Waters Rise cards and our helipad sunk. Really the perfect superlight co-op.

The end game of FI is so intense too.

I've played it a few times and have re-decided that Pandemic is a better game. FI is great fun, but there are less decisions to make. It's usually pretty obvious what the best move is where Pandemic leaves you with some tough choices.

 

[AstroLad]

Yes it's basically Pandemic Lite.

 

[BattleMonkey]

:lol
People complain about complicated rules, and I'm looking at buying the new master copy of Star Fleet Battles, only 464 pages !

 

[AstroLad]

I'm sorry.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Not as sorry as my printer will be

 

[AstroLad]

Hope it's double-sided.

 

[Artadius]

Anyone looking to pick up the World of Warcraft Boardgame?

I have a copy just collecting dust in my closet (perfect condition, only been played a couple of times) that I'm looking to trade for something my wife might enjoy more. I'm especially interested in such things as Catan + Expansions, Ticket to Ride + Expansions, Agricola, Dominion + Expansion ... etc.. those sort of games.

Just PM me and we can work something out.

 

[AstroLad]

Anyone up for some Stone Age at yucata.de? http://www.yucata.de/

Just registered there and it basically seems like an actually usable version of BSW. Even has English! You can play async too with optional email notifications which is absolutely mandatory for me.

I can start a 3-4p game if you guys post your usernames.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

:lol
People complain about complicated rules, and I'm looking at buying the new master copy of Star Fleet Battles, only 464 pages !

I'm looking at Hornet Leader: Carrier Air Operations myself.

 

[StoOgE]

Anyone up for some Stone Age at yucata.de? http://www.yucata.de/

Just registered there and it basically seems like an actually usable version of BSW. Even has English! You can play async too with optional email notifications which is absolutely mandatory for me.

I can start a 3-4p game if you guys post your usernames.

I'm StoOgE on it. I'm down for an asynchronus game.

I'm down for Masons, St Pete, Thurn and Taxis or Egizia as well.. though I would have to learn the last two.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I'm looking at Hornet Leader: Carrier Air Operations myself.

I saw that, looks interesting

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I saw that, looks interesting

Not too many solo wargamer types around here it seems.

 

[AstroLad]

I'm StoOgE on it. I'm down for an asynchronus game.

I'm down for Masons, St Pete, Thurn and Taxis or Egizia as well.. though I would have to learn the last two.

I was bummed I don't know many of the games on there though I know of almost all of them. I've heard pretty good thigns about Fearsome Floors too.

Not too many solo wargamer types around here it seems.

yes wouldn't want to scare off the newcomers

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Transitioning someone from boardgamer to newbie wargamer is a different challenge after all.

 

[AstroLad]

why would a boardgamer want to play wargames though?

 

[BattleMonkey]

Not too many solo wargamer types around here it seems.

I usually don't care for the idea of solo wargaming but Carrier Ops looks like an interesting system that I was thinking of giving it a try. I generally prefer two player wargames, usually of the miniature wargaming variety. Flames of War, Warhammer, Babylon 5 Wars, etc, etc.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

why would a boardgamer want to play wargames though?

Why would a Monopoly player want to play real boardgames? ;P

 

[AstroLad]

because monopoly sucks!

 

[BattleMonkey]

because monopoly sucks!

Nuh huh, I got GI Joe Monopoly. That shit is boss.

 

[AstroLad]

well yeah obviously i'm excluding any themed monopolies from that statement. also the debit-card monopoly

 

[platypotamus]

I made an account over there.

platypotamus

 

[AstroLad]

cool i sent you guys invites. anyone else plays or wants to play on yucata.de just post your username

 

[BomberMouse]

I'm in for some stone age, my username is "carno" on yucata

 

[fenners]

So my BGG Secret Santa package arrived the other day. One wrapped game & a bunch of Christmas trinkets, which was cool. Kids loved the reindeer antlers etc.

Now my 2 year old son decided to get in at yesterday & tore off a small corner, so my wife put it up out of his way. This morning we were going back & forth on opening it, with me guessing it might be Ticket To Ride Nordic... We opened it, and she was all annoyed that it wasn't TtR Nordic but Dungeon Lords instead...

So, that's Nordic ordered for a surprise Christmas present, can't let that pass

 

[Rei_Toei]

GAF, I'm gonna introduce my parents to Citadels/Machiavelli this weekend. Haven't played boardgames with them since my early youth. Back then we played Risk, Monopoly, Stratego, stuff like that. We'll see if I can get them into a boardgame again

 

[AstroLad]

GAF, I'm gonna introduce my parents to Citadels/Machiavelli this weekend. Haven't played boardgames with them since my early youth. Back then we played Risk, Monopoly, Stratego, stuff like that. We'll see if I can get them into a boardgame again

Citadels is a pretty good one. The only problems I see with it as a gateway is that it has a fantasy/vaguely "MTG-y" feel (because of the violet cards) and the screwage (which is a plus in some groups).

 

[platypotamus]

So, that's Nordic ordered for a surprise Christmas present, can't let that pass

Well done