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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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Ticket to Ride and Forbidden Island came last week! Haven't had a chance to play them but my wife is pretty stoked for TtR. We kind of fell off the Dominion wagon once football/holiday season rolled around but I'm hoping some new games will rekindle it. Since we're pretty much home-bound with a new born we'll probably have more time to play.
Yeah Dominion is an awesome game but it can be easy to get burned out on it. Then again that's why I get like four new games a month so I don't get burned out on anything :lol. FI is very simple, but should be fun for some lighthearted, very quick gaming. My only suggestion would be to start on Normal or even Elite. Elite is really like the "Normal" difficulty setting of most co-ops. So maybe do your learning game on Normal then bump up to Elite for the next play. On TtR, that is a tough one with two because there can be very little conflict. Then again if one of you isn't into conflict then it's pretty ideal.eznark said:
And congrats on the newborn!
If you weren't such a fair weather Cardinals fan you would have seen a cute picture!
I grabbed FI solely because it was $10 and I thought the tin looked nice. Hope it's a cool game! TtR I got because I like it on xbox, my wife thought it looked interesting and it is a theme that my family/friends won't be turned off by. Plus, seems like a must-have.
I grabbed FI solely because it was $10 and I thought the tin looked nice. Hope it's a cool game! TtR I got because I like it on xbox, my wife thought it looked interesting and it is a theme that my family/friends won't be turned off by. Plus, seems like a must-have.
Ugg. My math trade negative experience rides again.
I got a German copy of "Through the Desert" with "light shelf wear". I was fine with German language since the game is language independent and it looks kind of cool to have German boxes :lol
The "light shelf wear" was total BS. The bottom of the box has water damage, there is tape removal damage all over it, tape still stuck to the box that can't be removed without further damaging the game.
This thing was a thrift store find being passed off as "lightly worn".
I might be done with these things to be honest. I've had people lie about the edition of the game that they were trading and then refuse to make good (Wits and Wagers), I've been burned by people not shipping, and by people sending me games in far worse condition than advertised. meanwhile I go out of my way to buy new copies of games for people if there is even the slightest problem.
I got a German copy of "Through the Desert" with "light shelf wear". I was fine with German language since the game is language independent and it looks kind of cool to have German boxes :lol
The "light shelf wear" was total BS. The bottom of the box has water damage, there is tape removal damage all over it, tape still stuck to the box that can't be removed without further damaging the game.
This thing was a thrift store find being passed off as "lightly worn".
I might be done with these things to be honest. I've had people lie about the edition of the game that they were trading and then refuse to make good (Wits and Wagers), I've been burned by people not shipping, and by people sending me games in far worse condition than advertised. meanwhile I go out of my way to buy new copies of games for people if there is even the slightest problem.
I'm really thinking that if I trade Power Grid in, I'd like to get Ticket to Ride or Dominion. Ticket to Ride appears to be the most Carcassonne-like, while Dominion offers something completely different.
Hell, I'm considering getting TtR simply so I can eventually own that awesome looking Alvin & Dexter expansion.
Hell, I'm considering getting TtR simply so I can eventually own that awesome looking Alvin & Dexter expansion.
Artadius said:
I got a copy of BSG yesterday. I'm going to try to play a 4 player game tonight with my girlfriend and two friends. I'm a little scared at how the friends are going to react, since they've both never seen the show. I also hope it's not too complicated. Any tips for teaching/ first time BSG?
eznark said:
Everyone I've introduced Ticket to Ride to has really liked it. For a fairly non-competitive game with the wife, two player is still quite fun I think. I've played many two player games and had lots of fun with it. By the time it is 5 players it gets maddening at times.
Played my first couple of games of pandemic and I'm a little dissappointed. It wasn't a bad game, but for how much good I've read about this game it just seemed so... simplistic?
We won both times playing on normal difficulty. And while it wasn't "easy" in that both games were close, it felt easy because it felt like on everyone's turn there was a generally obvious move to make. Neither is it intense because while there are 3 ways to lose, they didn't really come up until the last few turns and so wasn't obvious that it was going to be close until after our victory was virtually guaranteed.
It seems like the thing that really determines if you do well or not is if you happen to draw the right cards or are in a good position to trade someone the card they need.
But I feel like if I add the 5th epidemic card, the game won't be more fun we'll just lose more often based on how we happen to draw.
our strategy was pretty simple. Our priorities were:
1 cities with 3 cubes that have at least 3 connections and their card is not currently discarded
2 trading to get someone the cards they need to find a cure
3 setting up research stations in key locations
4 nearby cities with 2+ cubes if you have nothing better to do
any remote cities or ones with only 1 cube were blatantly ignored. I think its... Santiago? that had only 1 connection city. We just let it outbreak like 3 times. We spent the whole game laughing at South America's destruction :lol
We won both times playing on normal difficulty. And while it wasn't "easy" in that both games were close, it felt easy because it felt like on everyone's turn there was a generally obvious move to make. Neither is it intense because while there are 3 ways to lose, they didn't really come up until the last few turns and so wasn't obvious that it was going to be close until after our victory was virtually guaranteed.
It seems like the thing that really determines if you do well or not is if you happen to draw the right cards or are in a good position to trade someone the card they need.
But I feel like if I add the 5th epidemic card, the game won't be more fun we'll just lose more often based on how we happen to draw.
our strategy was pretty simple. Our priorities were:
1 cities with 3 cubes that have at least 3 connections and their card is not currently discarded
2 trading to get someone the cards they need to find a cure
3 setting up research stations in key locations
4 nearby cities with 2+ cubes if you have nothing better to do
any remote cities or ones with only 1 cube were blatantly ignored. I think its... Santiago? that had only 1 connection city. We just let it outbreak like 3 times. We spent the whole game laughing at South America's destruction :lol
Screaming_Gremlin
My QB is a Dick and my coach is a Nutt
Drey1082 said:
It has been a long time since I have had to teach BSG, so I don't have a lot of advice on teaching it. But I have played the game with about 8 different people in various groups and none of them had prior knowledge of the show besides myself and it has never been an issue. In fact a few people actually started watching the show because they enjoyed the game so much.
Yeah the sense of simplicity and almost plainness was one of the big reasons I strongly disliked the game for about a year, in fact only just recently over the holidays did I finally really begin to truly appreciate it. What makes it a good game is that it has the difficulty and strategic complexity for core gamers, but is so basic that almost any casual can learn it. One big thing I would recommend is to make sure you read this thread: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/300287/common-mistakes. The game is simple, and yet there are some small almost fiddly rules that if you play wrong you will basically break the game (and almost always in favor of the players -- opposite of Arkham, another game prone to tons of misplays). One really important one:slayn said:
- You may only pass a card or receive a card from a player on the same location as you and the card has to match your location. Further the researcher only has the ability to give any card to a player on the same location. When receiving cards, it must still be from a player on the same location giving the card of that location.
I play with the expansion roles and events now and I find the game really fun, even with my regular gaming group. It is a very good sort of appetizer game because it plays so quickly and gets everyone talking.
I have seen a few comments recently about the difficulty being too low and people just figuring out the game and pwning it. Not really sure precisely what to say to that because I feel that anecdotal and statistical evidence show that it is just not a game that you "solve" and win regularly. Even when you play "perfectly" (given your lack of knowledge of upcoming cards), you will still lose even on normal. People who just have that sense that they can never lose Pandemic are guaranteed playing it wrong.
Drey1082 said:
The first thing I would do is explain the premise of the show.
Humans created Cylons, had a big war, Cylons ran off and came back stronger than ever, wiping out most of the human race and now can look like humans and no one knows who they Cylons are. BSG is the last hope of mankind and they are trying to escape to Kobol. You don't have to go nuts and try and explain the human/cylon alliance or all of the wacky charachters since that is largely irrelevant to the game.
They don't have to watch the show to get the basic premise. Obviously knowing the characters will give them a better appreciation, but I think the basic premise is one anyone can get behind.
The other thing I would say is to sit it out and do a dry run. You should be in charge of moving the Cylon fleet, the jump track, spinny wheels and the Cylon boarding party. Explain to other players what you are doing and how it works, but you should handle the mechanics of the movement yourself. It will greatly simplify the game and allow them to focus on the strategy.
The easiest thing to do is when a vote or action comes up explain to people "These 3 colors are what you play to do x, the rest of the color cards you play to do y". Spell it out to people.
I think I've only got Sunday afternoon for gaming so hmmmmmm. Probably will be just three of us. Thinking about maybe Pandemic + Gric. Or maybe maybe maybe Merchants & Marauders. Maybe.StoOgE said:
RoboRally is the biggest hit-or-miss game for me with casuals. Either they love it or hate it. tbh I think it comes down to picking the absolute simplest map possible. I've had a lot of success when doing that. Playing with the timer is fun too although I didn't do that for the longest time but it does give them game a nice hectic feel.
echoshifting
Banned
AstroLad said:
Bingo. 2 boards, 3 checkpoints for newbies, this is the rule in my house. Third checkpoint on the first board.
I skimmed the topic and I think we got everything right. Trading cards was definitely the most complex part of the game in trying to figure out the optimal way to get two people to the right city. But it still wasn't that hard. We were playing with 3 players so I don't know if maybe its better with 4.AstroLad said:
edit:
We only had 1 move we were unsure of. We revealed an epidemic that was going to cause an outbreak on a disease that had been cured. I, as the medic, played the special card (that can be played at any time) that let me fly to that city. Since I was the medic, and that disease was cured, we removed the cubes before the epidemic could cause an outbreak there.
I'm still not entirely sure if that was a 'legal' move.
Re: Pandemic.
Yeah, make absolutely sure you're playing correctly as its easy to make it trivial if you're not. I can also say that I had read lots of sessions and reviews about the game and was hyping it up to my group saying stuff like this game is gonna kick our asses and we'll be lucky if we win any of our first few wins.
We then proceeded to win our first three games.
I think I kinda felt the same thing you did.
We played some more though and quickly found out it must have been beginners luck because since then, the game regularly kicks our asses... especially in dramatic out of nowhere ways where we think we have things under control and within two player turns we're fucked lol.
Yeah, make absolutely sure you're playing correctly as its easy to make it trivial if you're not. I can also say that I had read lots of sessions and reviews about the game and was hyping it up to my group saying stuff like this game is gonna kick our asses and we'll be lucky if we win any of our first few wins.
We then proceeded to win our first three games.
I think I kinda felt the same thing you did.
We played some more though and quickly found out it must have been beginners luck because since then, the game regularly kicks our asses... especially in dramatic out of nowhere ways where we think we have things under control and within two player turns we're fucked lol.
yeah it definitely shouldn't have the reputation as a brutal game when played normally, especially with 3. more like a game that will beat you enough that you feel it's a good challenge. and if you don't enjoy winning >50% of the time, that's why the expansion adds in a ton of new elements that make the game harder (disregarding the increased difficulty from the base game and the second extra epidemic card in the expansion).
ghost stories is a co-op game that has a reputation of being brutal even in base form if that's something you're keen on
ghost stories is a co-op game that has a reputation of being brutal even in base form if that's something you're keen on
slayn said:
yeah, I think the outbreak should have happened and then cured. Once you reveal a card you need to resolve it before anything else can happen including a "play anytime" card. So once the epedimic card was turned over, you need to resolve the city cards that get turned over as a result.
The game has a lot of little fiddly rules like that, that if not followed make the game a bit too easy.
Also, try playing without the medic or the scientist. It decreases the number of "obvious" moves and makes the game a bit more hectic. Those two characters sort of become the defacto healer and curer.
So.. I have an offer on craigslist..
Thurn and Taxis + both expansions
LNOE: Growing Hunger
Jambo
Colorretto
all new in shrink for 75 bucks.
Trying to talk the guy down to just Thurn and Taxis + LNOE for 50. We'll see if that happens.
I haven't actually played Thurn and Taxis.. from what I can gather it is pretty similar to Ticket to Ride.
I may do the whole thing for 75 anyway as I've heard good things about Jambo and Colorretto as well, but not sure I want them.
Thurn and Taxis + both expansions
LNOE: Growing Hunger
Jambo
Colorretto
all new in shrink for 75 bucks.
Trying to talk the guy down to just Thurn and Taxis + LNOE for 50. We'll see if that happens.
I haven't actually played Thurn and Taxis.. from what I can gather it is pretty similar to Ticket to Ride.
I may do the whole thing for 75 anyway as I've heard good things about Jambo and Colorretto as well, but not sure I want them.
And now for the triple combo.
I need to get my girlfriend into boardgames. Right now, she plays boardgames with me and her brother but seems to not really have a ton of fun with them.
She likes Bang!.. she likes Bang! a lot actually. She didn't like Power Grid, Puerto Rico or Agricola much. She will play them because she likes seeing her brother and I have fun and knows we really enjoy them. I thought she liked them until she started trying to get out of a game of Farmers of the Moor her brother wants to play (his Xmas gift).
I think the mistake was her brother owns 2 games Bang! and Agricola. So Agricola was the 2nd game she ever played. I took that to mean she would be good to jump right into Power Grid and Puerto Rico with little problem at all. The problem is she seems to be struggling with the mechanics of the games and not really getting deep enough to get into the strategy behind them to try and win. She is more of a creative person where her brother and I are hard math guys (I work in Finance, he is a proffessor of Finance) so we like the brain burner economic games.
I'm thinking I need to go back to basics: TTR, Dominion, Small World. Stuff where the mechanics are simple and get out of the way so you can focus on the strategy.
But I think since she likes Bang! that maybe Shadows over Camelot and BSG could be hits as well. She likes the co-op nature of Bang! and likes the hidden role mechanic as well. The traitor role is a bit different than that, but not alltogether different.
I might also go buy the Resistance and Sabateur since they are cheap games, lighter and have similar mechanics. Can anyone think of any other traitor/hidden role games that are on the lighter side? Something comparable to Bang! where the strategy decisions are more simplified?
I might also get some more Beer and Pretzel type games (High Society, For Sale) as those are light enough that you can have them with beers and not pay a ton of attention.
I need to get my girlfriend into boardgames. Right now, she plays boardgames with me and her brother but seems to not really have a ton of fun with them.
She likes Bang!.. she likes Bang! a lot actually. She didn't like Power Grid, Puerto Rico or Agricola much. She will play them because she likes seeing her brother and I have fun and knows we really enjoy them. I thought she liked them until she started trying to get out of a game of Farmers of the Moor her brother wants to play (his Xmas gift).
I think the mistake was her brother owns 2 games Bang! and Agricola. So Agricola was the 2nd game she ever played. I took that to mean she would be good to jump right into Power Grid and Puerto Rico with little problem at all. The problem is she seems to be struggling with the mechanics of the games and not really getting deep enough to get into the strategy behind them to try and win. She is more of a creative person where her brother and I are hard math guys (I work in Finance, he is a proffessor of Finance) so we like the brain burner economic games.
I'm thinking I need to go back to basics: TTR, Dominion, Small World. Stuff where the mechanics are simple and get out of the way so you can focus on the strategy.
But I think since she likes Bang! that maybe Shadows over Camelot and BSG could be hits as well. She likes the co-op nature of Bang! and likes the hidden role mechanic as well. The traitor role is a bit different than that, but not alltogether different.
I might also go buy the Resistance and Sabateur since they are cheap games, lighter and have similar mechanics. Can anyone think of any other traitor/hidden role games that are on the lighter side? Something comparable to Bang! where the strategy decisions are more simplified?
I might also get some more Beer and Pretzel type games (High Society, For Sale) as those are light enough that you can have them with beers and not pay a ton of attention.
Fury of Dracula and Betrayal at House on the Hill have been my biggest successes with that kind of crowd. I think this is largely because in both games the mechanics are a secondary thing that you just need one person to really understand and the actual fun comes out in the group discussion.StoOgE said:
Fury of Dracula, for example, is great because I (the mechanics guru) can play dracula and everyone else playing is talking and scheming and discussing ideas. And the mechanics are really just "move a plastic figurine around a map." But yet Fury of Dracula still has enough going on to keep the more hardcore gamers interested in the details of whats going on.
If you are looking for people to game with, the BGG forums are a pretty solid place to go. They have things organized by region and it seems that many people find and even create gaming groups on there: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/82/boardgamegeek/game-groupsStaccat0 said:WooWoo!
I just randomly got Settlers of America in the mail from a friend as a sort of late Birthday present!
Pretty excited to try this out.
EDIT: Too bad most of my BG friends live an hour+ away
I've actually thought about Pandemic with the On the Brink expansion actually.
It's sort of Fury of Dracula with Pandemics setting which is going to me much more palpable to her than the horror theme. She doesn't like scary movies at all.
So, I think a combination of TTR, Pandemic and Dominion could be a winner.
Citadels is also a good idea since it is fairly decision light with lots of interaction, and I could easily break that out at the party tonight after the party games since it isn't much more than Bang! in complexity.
I also have all of my Kosmos 2p games that I haven't tried on her. Everyone loves lost Cities.
I'll grab the Resistance and Sabateur to see if I can ease her into BSG and Shadows over Camelot.
It's sort of Fury of Dracula with Pandemics setting which is going to me much more palpable to her than the horror theme. She doesn't like scary movies at all.
So, I think a combination of TTR, Pandemic and Dominion could be a winner.
Citadels is also a good idea since it is fairly decision light with lots of interaction, and I could easily break that out at the party tonight after the party games since it isn't much more than Bang! in complexity.
I also have all of my Kosmos 2p games that I haven't tried on her. Everyone loves lost Cities.
I'll grab the Resistance and Sabateur to see if I can ease her into BSG and Shadows over Camelot.
AstroLad said:
double recommended. I found 3 gaming groups on there in my area and managed to find a great one that hangs out at an awesome bar once a week. I'm now getting invited over for game nights at their houses and it's been a real boon to getting stuff on the table and getting to play a ton of super rare games (Goa next week!)
It also gives me an outlet for playing some of my Martin Wallace games that would never get to the table otherwise.
Steve Youngblood
Member
I was perusing a local chain called Slackers -- which has a small selection of board games while primarily being a used video games/dvds/cds/comic books store -- and saw Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board game for $45. Being $15 cheaper than the real board game shop, I impulsively decided to purchase it. Probably not the best decision I ever made, as longer games aren't overly popular with my group, and I rarely have only four people for a gaming night, but it's Civilization and I've wanted it since it was announced. Now, it's just time to find an opportunity to get it to the table.
Steve Youngblood
Member
Well, that's certainly never going to fly. I'm probably going to have to make sure I have those rules down pat before I even fathom busting that one out.StoOgE said:
Steve Youngblood
Member
Impressions seem to be all over the place. I kind of figure that it might not go over well save for a couple of other people, but I really want to like this game since it's Civ. Maybe I should think a little longer on it before opening it up.AstroLad said:It's pretty rough. I'm actually thinking of selling it since I'd rather play something like AH or Merchants & Marauders in that time anyway
Steve Youngblood said:
45 is a good price for the game at a B&M.. and the game is an amazingly good recreation of the Civ experience in a board game.
If you have friends that play/played Civ I think the feel will get them into it.
If not, the game is pretty long and hard for people to grasp who haven't played Civ. When I played it I picked it up quickly because the game is so much like Civ.
Alright, I'm grabbing For Sale and Pandemic: on the brink to try out with the girlfriend on the way home.. We'll play vanilla Pandemic the first few times, but I think she likes the idea of the traitor/villian dynamic.
My guess is she feels less pressure in "team" games where it isn't all on her to do well.
My guess is she feels less pressure in "team" games where it isn't all on her to do well.
AstroLad said:
That's on my wish list. I also have Dungeon Quest is which can be brutal (you can die on the first turn if you're unlucky). I've heard that the successrate is less than <20% (if you play it right and not just try to be the only one still alive--i.e. you go to the treasure chamber or search for loot). I love games that kick my ass.
AstroLad said:It's pretty rough. I'm actually thinking of selling it since I'd rather play something like AH or Merchants & Marauders in that time anyway
CSI got a restock of M&M last night and I bought it. You never did give me your impressions of that game. It looks like a complete blast to play (although I worry about downtime). How easy is it to teach?
Oh I just learned it a couple days ago. Hoping to break it out this weekend but we'll see. I have to go through the rules again and a few sample turns first. I didn't think the rules were that hard to digest at first though. It's basically a heavy mediumweight.
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