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[Mashing]

Looking for an elegant/cool solution to the 'Monster Cup' for Arkham Horror. One that can handle any expansions if I so choose to get them (not sure if any add any new monsters or not).

Big bowl o' monsters just doesn't do it for me.

Liking the game though. About halfway through my solo playthrough.

Group meets tomorrow night. Battlestar Galactica will be featured. Can't wait!

I just use a Crown Royal bag. It works perfectly.

In other news, I got my M&M order in, but it's missing 1 blue sloop, 1 green cube and 2 yellow and 2 green cubes are stuck together (and I do mean stuck). I e-mailed Z-Man, but he's out of town until the 23rd

I'm going to use cubes from Pandemic and one blue token from DotR to compensate. I really want to break this game out tomorrow.

 

[Yaweee]

Looks like the first real info for Dominion: Cornucopia has been released:

http://www.riograndegames.com/games.html?id=383

Release Date: Spring
Price: $30
13 stacks of Kingdom cards
5 Unique cards
Mechanical Theme: Card Variety
Flavor Theme: Autumn

This is the 5th addition to the game of Dominion. It adds 13 new Kingdom cards to Dominion, plus 5 unique cards. The central theme is variety; there are cards that reward you for having a variety of cards in your deck, in your hand, and in play, as well cards that help you get that variety.

No idea what the "unique" cards are, but that is likely the new mechanic. Maybe really expensive kingdom cards that are stacks of just 1? Or MTG: Vanguard-style cards that let you randomize game-wide effects from the beginning? Or a stack of Kingdom cards that is 5 distinct cards, rather than 10 identical?

I'm assuming there will be a new Victory card that is "Worth 1 VP for each uniquely named card in your deck", or maybe divided by 2 or 3 depending on its cost.

Interesting.

Also strange is that RGG changed the "playtime" and "age" info compared to previous sets. Likely meaningless, but Cornucopia shows 13+ and 20minutes, compared to 10+ and 30 minutes for the other sets.

 

[StoOgE]

Sounds like it could be an Alchemy sized mini expansion?

 

[AstroLad]

yep alchemy 2.0

*runs away*

 

[Yaweee]

Sounds like it could be an Alchemy sized mini expansion?

It is. They announced quite a while back (Donald X. posts on BGG) that he spent years making a shitload of cards for his friends before pitching the game to RGG, and when it came to production they broke it down in to expansions, then in to a Big-Small-Big-Small-Big expansion pattern (after the two standalone releases, that is). It is just a little over half as many Kingdom cards as Prosperity.

Total contents of the box:
Alchemy - 150 Cards
Prosperity - 300 Cards
Main and Intrigue - 500 Cards


And I don't see why people are using its Alchemy size as something to hate it. I thought the reason people disliked that set was because potions didn't play well if there was only one Alchemy card in play, and that the Alchemy cards tended to make the game too long?

 

[StoOgE]

yep alchemy 2.0

*runs away*

Hopefully the game will intigrate better with the others. Alchemy's problem isn't that it is small, it's that you have to make sure 1/3rd (or more) of your deck comes from Alchemy to play it.

If they intigrate well it won't matter, but if it's a gimmicky deck again I won't be interested.

 

[Yaweee]

Hopefully the game will intigrate better with the others. Alchemy's problem isn't that it is small, it's that you have to make sure 1/3rd (or more) of your deck comes from Alchemy to play it.

If they intigrate well it won't matter, but if it's a gimmicky deck again I won't be interested.

There isn't a new resource, so it should play well with others.

And the Alchemy cards are generally powerful enough or worth playing multiples of that only having 1 or 2 in a random set is okay.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Looking for an elegant/cool solution to the 'Monster Cup' for Arkham Horror. One that can handle any expansions if I so choose to get them (not sure if any add any new monsters or not).

Big bowl o' monsters just doesn't do it for me.

Liking the game though. About halfway through my solo playthrough.

Group meets tomorrow night. Battlestar Galactica will be featured. Can't wait!

Yeah cloth bag is the way to go. However there can be a certain charm do pulling out monsters from a #1 Dad mug.

 

[Volodja]

Email Rio Grande.

I had an issue with both Power Grid and Puerto Rico being short bits and I had replacements within a week in both cases.

The workers are critical in a 5p game as a game ending condition is to run out of them (and tends to be the most frequent game ending condition in my group).

I slightly prefer Puerto Rico to Race for the Galaxy, but you are right.. when you throw in the time and set up differences it's just much easier to go with RFTG.

That said, Puerto Rico is much higher on interaction and is much easier to teach to new players since the variable role selection is limited and you can explain to them what their options are when it's there turn to select.

Yeah, I'll contact the publisher for the italian version of the game and see what they tell me.


Other than that PR is ineed more interactive. The variable phase order and limited numbers of buildings of a certain type or trading and shipping slots, coupled with the very little hidden informations and randomness seem to make predicting what the other players are gonna do absolutely vital while in RftG managing what you have in your hand is the pivotal point from my experience, even if you can "ride" the other players' phase choices to your advantage.
It makes the games feel absolutely different and they are both so good that it's hard to say what I prefer, even if pratically because of experience with the cards that my friends and I have the games of RftG end up being more enjoyable, but that's just for now.

Furthermore I love wooden pieces, and Puerto Rico has them (even if not all of the in the right number), even if it's not anywhere near Agricola in that field.

Speaking of Agricola I'm indecisive about the Farmers of the Moor expansion. I like Agricola a lot but I fear that adding another need to satisfy could make the turns become more guided than what they are now. Does it happen or do the actions cards in the expansion manage to make it more varied without overwhelming the players (especially the less exprienced ones)?

 

[AstroLad]

RFTG is a great let's-play-one-more game, especially with only the first expansion.

Speaking of Agricola I'm indecisive about the Farmers of the Moor expansion. I like Agricola a lot but I fear that adding another need to satisfy could make the turns become more guided than what they are now. Does it happen or do the actions cards in the expansion manage to make it more varied without overwhelming the players (especially the less exprienced ones)?

I think FotM would destroy less-experienced players. It adds a good amount of complexity and also just more decisions to make with the new need to heat your hut and the horses. I like it, but in many ways it makes Gric a different game. I'd play many games of base before introducing FotM to a group.

 

[Volodja]

RFTG is a great let's-play-one-more game, especially with only the first expansion.

That game must have some kind of drug smeared on the cards, I swear.

I think FotM would destroy less-experienced players. It adds a good amount of complexity and also just more decisions to make with the new need to heat your hut and the horses. I like it, but in many ways it makes Gric a different game. I'd play many games of base before introducing FotM to a group.

Mmh, that's what I thought, I'll probably wait for a bit.

 

[fenners]

RFTG is a great let's-play-one-more game, especially with only the first expansion.

You've got that right. That's the sweet-spot for Race - first expansion, 3 or 4 players.

 

[MichaelBD]

Today a buddy and I went searching for a copy of 7 Wonders. Hit a few game stores and a comic book shop that sells some games and didn't find it. I did, however, come away with a copy of Mr. Jack Pocket and the Resident Evil Deck Building game. I know RE has been mentioned here before but I'm not sure if anyone has played it. I tried going quickly over the rules with my friend but we ran out of time. I'll be checking it out later.

And as for Mr. Jack, that took all of 6 minutes to learn and almost the same time to play. I had thought it was a card game and picked it up on a whim because it was only $15. Turns out there are no cards but a bunch of tiles and chits.

It's basically a puzzle game where you flip and manipulate street tiles to open up lines of sight for Holmes, Watson, and some dog named Toby. You eliminate characters by establishing line of sight as Holmes and as Jack you are trying to stop him.

Real simple, real quick, and pretty fun.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

We should have about 6 people total for a game night on Saturday. I personally am going to be pushing for Betrayal and 7 Wonders but we'll see.

 

[AstroLad]

ooh yeah i definitely wanna play 7 wonders finally tomorrow since it's the new hotness

my sirlin-heavy order shipped from csi. interested to try out yomi and puzzle strike since both have a lot of pretty good hype (though it's hard to tell for certain how much is legit). also finally got bsg; really wanna play that with the big game group but probably next week

 

[Metal B]

I already printed out the whole Yomi Card-Set (shipping and all is just too expensive) and it looks really interesting, but i missed the chance to play it today. I love how the game is pretty much build around rock-paper-scissor, basic card-game rules and compare cards games. It makes the whole game really easy to understand and uses a simple but deep system.

Played Battlestar Galactica the first time yesterday with a random group on an little board game event. The start was a little boring, because we had too much luck with no enemy encounters and no zyclone-players. But later it was really great and i won some new friends =)

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

DoW 2011 big box game was announced earlier this week.

Cargo Noir:

Little Hong Kong: Hour of the Tiger - Loaded with clandestine goods, a sampan glides through the dark waters of Aberdeen Harbour. It slips unnoticed under the bow of a British patrol boat whose crew seems more interested in sleep than watchfulness.

Cargo Noir is a game of illicit trading in which players run "families" who traffic in smuggled goods. Designed by Serge Laget, the game takes place in the thrilling and evocative setting of 1950's film noir.

Game play revolves around a changing set of notorious smuggling ports around the world, each filled with contraband. Players dispatch cargo ships loaded with gold to these ports - hoping to acquire goods that will later be traded for Victory Spoils.

Cargo Noir is quickly learned, but offers many routes to victory; and is the rare trading game that works equally well with 2 players as well as more.

Contents:

* Game boards of Macao and 8 different ports
* 131 Cargo tokens
* 54 Victory cards
* 5 "Family" game sheets
* 25 Sculpted Cargo ships
* 60 Gold coins
* Cargo Noir token bag
* First Turn and Player markers
* Rules booklet

Looking forward to see what more about it.

ooh yeah i definitely wanna play 7 wonders finally tomorrow since it's the new hotness

My fiance and I played a two player test game the other day. I really want to try it with more people. The two player variant is a little lacking and kind of lame.

 

[echoshifting]

Just finished the best game of Dominion we've ever played. Pace of the game just kept getting faster and faster and culminated in a 1-point victory by yours truly.

Spread was:
Embargo*
Treasure Map*
Talisman*
Militia
Explorer
Treasury
Council Room
Hoard
Bank
King's Court

*The cards I used to win

Loving Prosperity. Great set.

 

[Neverfade]

Who was it around here that was obsessed with Glory to Rome for awhile? Neverfade? Still liking it? Is Innovation good?

Both are contending to be in my next order, which may not be that far off at this point.

Glory to Rome is still amazing. Go into it with the knowledge that it leans more tactical than strategic an you'll be ok. I still like Innovation, but not as much as GtR. Still, it's somewhat similar and plays quicker. GTR all the way if you pick only 1. It's only ...17 bucks or so? You can't go wrong.

 

[Yaweee]

Just finished the best game of Dominion we've ever played. Pace of the game just kept getting faster and faster and culminated in a 1-point victory by yours truly.

Spread was:
Embargo*
Treasure Map*
Talisman*
Militia
Explorer
Treasury
Council Room
Hoard
Bank
King's Court

*The cards I used to win

Loving Prosperity. Great set.

Did you play with Colony and Platinum as well?

The more I play with Prosperity, the more I'm of the opinion that Colony should always be played with, even if you aren't using Prosperity kingdom cards or Platinums. The more complicated VP math opens up so many more possibilities for winning that every turn is that much more interesting.

 

[YagizY]

I bought Carcassonne from Borders back when they had a 50% coupon. Played it for the first time about a week ago. IT WAS AMAZING. I officially love this stuff. I'm going to play more of it and eventually get Catan as well.

 

[BomberMouse]

DoW 2011 big box game was announced earlier this week.

Saw that the other day, the theme seems nice but the overall game looks underwhelming. Production wise it looks top notch though, just like every other DoW game. It's designed by the same dude who did Shadow over Camelot, Mystery of the Abbey and Mystery Express. Take that as you will.

 

[Unison]

I bought Carcassonne from Borders back when they had a 50% coupon. Played it for the first time about a week ago. IT WAS AMAZING. I officially love this stuff. I'm going to play more of it and eventually get Catan as well.

Welcome to the fold!

I'd recommend something like Dominion or Ticket to Ride before Catan as a next step, though! Catan is good enough, and has a fair share of player interaction, but I'm not nearly as smitten with it as about a dozen other gateway games...

 

[Schmattakopf]

Any opinions on the Pandemic expansion?

 

[Unison]

Any opinions on the Pandemic expansion?

If you already like Pandemic, it's awesome.

There are a few components, which you can swap in/out at will.

1.) New player cards... with some very cool roles. Nice to add variety.
2.) Smaller player pawns.
3.) Petri dishes for the cubes (these don't really fit in the original game's box, which is lousy, but oh well...
4.) New purple mutation virus strains... these are awesome... They have fewer cubes than the other colors, so they are a priority. There are also "special" virulent diseases with unique properties. My favorite part of the expansion... I basically never play without this now.
5.) Bioterrorist role - allows one player to play against the rest of the team, recording his/her moves on a paper, and secretly causing outbreaks. The popularity of this will depend on your group, but for people who know the game well and want more challenge, it definitely adds a new spin.
6.) A harder difficulty (Legendary) ... as if the game needed to be harder!

I hear that a second expansion is in the works, but On the Brink is a must-purchase if you really enjoy the base game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vaJhiht8NA&feature=player_embedded

 

[Artadius]

Days of Wonder and Fantasy Flight both have some amazing production quality.

 

[Schmattakopf]

If you already like Pandemic, it's awesome.

There are a few components, which you can swap in/out at will.

1.) New player cards... with some very cool roles. Nice to add variety.
2.) Smaller player pawns.
3.) Petri dishes for the cubes (these don't really fit in the original game's box, which is lousy, but oh well...
4.) New purple mutation virus strains... these are awesome... They have fewer cubes than the other colors, so they are a priority. There are also "special" virulent diseases with unique properties. My favorite part of the expansion... I basically never play without this now.
5.) Bioterrorist role - allows one player to play against the rest of the team, recording his/her moves on a paper, and secretly causing outbreaks. The popularity of this will depend on your group, but for people who know the game well and want more challenge, it definitely adds a new spin.
6.) A harder difficulty (Legendary) ... as if the game needed to be harder!

I hear that a second expansion is in the works, but On the Brink is a must-purchase if you really enjoy the base game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vaJhiht8NA&feature=player_embedded

Thanks for the input. We will definitely get it, then. We do really like Pandemic so far, although we've really only played about ten games of it. Someone just brought up the expansion and I guess it sounded a little strange.

:lol @ the the Untergang video. It's so much better because of the map.

 

[Mashing]

Downfall parodies never get old.

 

[AstroLad]

I bought Carcassonne from Borders back when they had a 50% coupon. Played it for the first time about a week ago. IT WAS AMAZING. I officially love this stuff. I'm going to play more of it and eventually get Catan as well.

And check out Carc on iOS if you have a device -- I've played like 300 GAF games on it.

 

[echoshifting]

Did you play with Colony and Platinum as well?

The more I play with Prosperity, the more I'm of the opinion that Colony should always be played with, even if you aren't using Prosperity kingdom cards or Platinums. The more complicated VP math opens up so many more possibilities for winning that every turn is that much more interesting.

Yes we did and yes I completely agree. I believe the official advice is to only use them if a Prosperity card comes up within the first two kingdom cards drawn/chosen. I respectfully disagree; they bring fantastic changes to the game no matter what. We use them every play.

With just the 6-pt victory card in play there always seems to be a point in the game where somebody blinks and suddenly everyone is trying to snatch them up, and if you can't your chance of winning plummets. With the 10-pt card, if you can draw a killer hand the next turn you are right back in it. And if you get two of those in a row, well, suddenly the three-turns-in-a-row Province pickups your opponent pulled off doesn't look so good anymore.

Yeah, we love 'em. Really smart addition to the game.

 

[AstroLad]

So went to a game group today with my friend and it was pretty meh. The organizers sat at their own little table pretty much all day playing 7 Wonders and we played Dominion and Pandemic with one of the new people (nice) and some random weirdo. *shrug* back to the drawing board

 

[BronzeWolf]

chess is fun when you get to know the opening moves and the strategy behind it. It's a very battle-of-the-wits game

 

[AstroLad]

I hate chess but that's because I love chance and hidden information in my games. Knizia had a great discussion about how chance really makes everyone enjoy games so much more because it dulls the effect of losing, reduces AP, etc.

 

[MichaelBD]

Today I introduced Dust to some Risk-playing friends. I was nervous it wouldn't go over well but it was a much bigger hit than I had hoped/imagined. We ended up playing 3 games over the course of the day.

It's not anything I'd want to play too often (there are a lot of games I'd much rather play) but considering this group gets together only a few times a year, I think it was a wise choice on my part.

 

[Neverfade]

I also bit on Tammany Hall. Hard to say if this will be a miserable failure on my part, but looks Joey also snagged it and at least we see eye to eye on a couple of new classics (Cyclades, LOV), so maybe my Euro-dar isn't too far off on this, haha.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I also bit on Tammany Hall. Hard to say if this will be a miserable failure on my part, but looks Joey also snagged it and at least we see eye to eye on a couple of new classics (Cyclades, LOV), so maybe my Euro-dar isn't too far off on this, haha.

There seems to be more direct confrontation in Tammany Hall than most Euros so I'm hoping it falls in that nice Euro/AT niche that Cyclades and Lords of Vegas falls into.

Finally got to bring Betryal to the table and I think it was a hit. You definitely have to be in the right mood and willing to go with the batshit insane cards and haunts. I don't want to give too much away but the haunt we played basically had me play as the reincarnated Julius Cesar and I was trying to get revenge on the people who murdered me. The main complaint I've read is that the game really doesn't get good until the haunt starts and I agree with that to an extent. You really are just wandering aimlessly in the house buying time until the haunt happens. However, there were a couple even cards that we had which made us laugh and kept us engaged.

 

[Artadius]

Good Grief.

Game night was great. We had two new folks show up one of which was a local I just happened to find and message via looking for local players on BGG. Turned out he's a super cool dude and was very much into the games. Second new player was my Niece's husband who's never played games like these. He said he had a great time and he really picked up things well and participated in discussion quite a bit. I know for sure we have one new regular, maybe two bringing us up to five regulars every meeting which I think is our sweet spot.

We started off light with Forbidden Island to introduce a light game to the new boardgamer. Then went into Battlestar Galactica for our main event. Man what a great game. I was human all the way and really blew it for the humans when I used my OPG to look at both of Starbuck's loyalty cards. I must have had a brain fart or been smoking something off because I SWEAR I saw two 'You are not a cylon' cards. Turns out he actually was. I don't know how I missed it and it completely cost us the game because we started infighting with each other because I swore up and down he wasn't cylon.

Damn what a GREAT social game, but I am going to be kicking myself until the next rematch for that monumental blunder.

 

[platypotamus]

I hate chess but that's because I love chance and hidden information in my games. Knizia had a great discussion about how chance really makes everyone enjoy games so much more because it dulls the effect of losing, reduces AP, etc.

Richard Garfield had a really good article in Game Developer back in the day on the virtues of chance elements in games, the independence of chance/skill as a necessity to winning, and so forth.

 

[AstroLad]

Good Grief.

Game night was great. We had two new folks show up one of which was a local I just happened to find and message via looking for local players on BGG. Turned out he's a super cool dude and was very much into the games. Second new player was my Niece's husband who's never played games like these. He said he had a great time and he really picked up things well and participated in discussion quite a bit. I know for sure we have one new regular, maybe two bringing us up to five regulars every meeting which I think is our sweet spot.

Hmmm jelly here. The most we can get for our group on a regular basis is 4. Not counting parties but those are a whole different experience and set of games anyway. Just for pure gaming nights. And even though BGG seems to work great for nearly every other group recommendation, I can't find a decent public gaming group in NYC/Northern NJ to save my life. I've made two threads and this one we went to today in Northern NJ was recommended in each so we went and frankly it blew and was only saved by the fact there was one other non-weirdo newcomer there who we hung out with for a few hours -- guarantee neither he nor we will be back. Then somebody else will post like well we play wargames but we'll play something else. Yes that sounds like fantastic fun that is a guaranteed success. Let's put away World in Flames and make room for Carcassonne. smh

 

[platypotamus]

Oh, also, in the past 2 days I've played 3 new games:

Rattus - 2P is definitely not where this shines, but I think with 3 or 4 it'll be a lighter quicker El Grande, which I'm all about.

Leonardo Da Vinci - Pretty good little worker placement game. Kind of an odd early game and end game, but the creamy middle is solid.

Steam - Pretty much loved everything about this aside from my wife's 1 point victory over me

 

[choodi]

A mate and I just registered for the Australian Settlers of Catan tournament at the Australian Games Expo in Canberra on 22 Jan!

Never played a tournament or even against anyone outside of our regular group of players...anyone got any advice?

Any AusGAFers going to the expo?

 

[StoOgE]

There seems to be more direct confrontation in Tammany Hall than most Euros so I'm hoping it falls in that nice Euro/AT niche that Cyclades and Lords of Vegas falls into.

Tammany Hall is a conflict heavy Euro. There is very little luck, but the entire game is spent screwing over other players and making short term alliances that quickly dissolve.

It certainly isn't multiplayer solitaire and the win conditions fit well into the theme. It is a VP engine, but the VP make sense thematically and aren't very abstract.

Win an election in a ward? get a VP point.
Win an election in the ward containing Tammany Hall? get 2 VP points
Become Mayor? 3 VP points.
Have the most political favors from a given ethnic group at game end? Get VP points.

So while it is a VP point based game the VP points aren't super abstracted like a lot of Euros are.

I would say the game is similar to Lords of Vegas in that it is an area control game where the entire game is spent in direct conflict with your opponents. Just take out all of the die rolls and replace it with a blind bidding system to win elections.

 

[StoOgE]

So.. I had a crazy long day of board gaming.

Went to my parents with the girlfriend and played Ticket to Ride 4 times :lol. I intended to use that one as a light filler and then move on to Power Grid (which all of them have played) but it was their first time at TTR each and they fell in love with that game hard... the girlfriend and I stayed later than we intended just to keep playing it and my parents asked to borrow the game.

My girlfriend then went to her family reunion and I headed to the board game party. Most of the people there were nice and there was a really good mix of new and experienced gamers.

The first game we played was Shadow Hunters. It was decent. It felt like Bang! meets werewolf. It's a fun party game, but the whole time I was just thinking I would rather be playing Bang! or the Resistance which seem like similar but better games.

Then we broke off and the core gamers played Agricola. I wanted to play Fire and Axe but the hosts had picked Agricola as the game they wanted to play and they needed someone to teach them so it seemed the "right" choice.

I really didn't enjoy myself. There was another player who kept telling us there were "obvious" moves and making me second guess my strategy to the point that I just fucked up completely because I felt someone was judging every move I made. The two other players were first timers and he was doing the same shit to him. Questioning every move you make and saying "You really don't want to do that, you are wasting an action" The guy pulling this is normally really cool at game night, so I don't know what his deal was. He said Agricola is his "best" game, which I take to mean he turns into a giant ass hat while playing it.

I was looking over longingly at the casual table playing Small World and Diamant and wanted badly to be over there playing light games with them instead of the worst game of Agricola ever.

The groups then recombined and played 2 games of Liar's Dice which is always a ton of fun, especially when everyone decided to talk like a pirate while we played.

Last game of the night was Bang!.. but Bang! with 5 new players, 8 player game using one of the decks of event cards. FUCKING HELL I never wanted a game of Bang! to end so badly. The event cards just suck the fun out of this game and confused the hell out of the new players who didn't know the base rules let alone the wacky shit going on. No one attacked the sheriff until 4 other players were dead so no one had any idea who they were shooting at. It was extremely frustrating and took almost 2 hours.

They were about to bust out BSG, but it was 2 AM and I had to drive about 45 minutes home so I took off.

 

[Yaweee]

Played a bunch of Dominion and Settlers yesterday.

My friend picked up the 5~6 Player Extension for Settlers of Catan, and we really liked it. It comes with so many extra terrain tiles, chits, frame pieces, and cards, that it is literally over half the original game for less than half the cost. Even if you aren't playing with so many extra players, you'll still have a lot more freedom in how big you make the map, and possible configurations of resources and #chits.

Also, the Special Build Phase for everybody at the end of each person's turn is a great rule change. I think it should even be used in 4p games.

The pricing for the full expansions, and that they don't include the 5-6 player pieces with them, makes the entire thing kind of disappointing. I don't think he'll end up getting any of them, and probably for good reason.

 

[echoshifting]

More Dominion love from echooooo. I just can't stop myself, I'm so in love with this game.

Finally figured out how to win with Islands last night. Picked up a couple workshops, a few smugglers and a throne room and blitzed like mad. Fastest finish ever...I think, draft excluded, start to finish the game was 20-30 minutes...won by one point AGAIN (16-15). Ohhhhh the marvelous satisfaction of beating my worthy opponent by a single point. Twice.

Good thing my wife doesn't read gaf.

Anyway, might have to put RftG back in the rotation for a bit, we are both getting a bit burnt out on the big D. Though we might go old school at first and just play without the expansions for awhile; by the time the third expansion came out my wife was really unhappy with the game's complexity...meanwhile, I thought the game got better with each expansion, so it ended up shelved a month or two after expansion 3 came out. I'm going to have to try to find some happy medium.

 

[AstroLad]

RFTG + Gathering Storm baby. Not that I mind Rebel vs. Imperium on keldon, but it's just too fiddly for me with the takeovers IRL

I really didn't enjoy myself. There was another player who kept telling us there were "obvious" moves and making me second guess my strategy to the point that I just fucked up completely because I felt someone was judging every move I made. The two other players were first timers and he was doing the same shit to him. Questioning every move you make and saying "You really don't want to do that, you are wasting an action" The guy pulling this is normally really cool at game night, so I don't know what his deal was. He said Agricola is his "best" game, which I take to mean he turns into a giant ass hat while playing it.

hahah that sucks. this is why i almost never give tactical advice. during rules explanation i'll try to give a strategic overview so people aren't totally lost (especially re end-game goals) but i almost never giveadvice on a specific move b/c:
-it's fun to actually learn things for yourself and have aha moments rather than feel like someone else is playing the game for you (same reason i don't read bgg strategy forums)
-sometimes new players will accidentally or not come up with really novel ideas that might actually work or have value in other contexts that you never realized before
-it's patronizing

 

[echoshifting]

Unless! It's a co-op game and you are the only one in the group who has ever played the game before. Then it's sort of inevitable.

In competitive games yeah I don't put up with that shit at my table. There's one guy I game with sometimes who forgets himself (though it's always well-intentioned), but we've known each other long enough that I have no problem telling him he's being a douche and he needs to zip it.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Tammany Hall is a conflict heavy Euro. There is very little luck, but the entire game is spent screwing over other players and making short term alliances that quickly dissolve.

It certainly isn't multiplayer solitaire and the win conditions fit well into the theme. It is a VP engine, but the VP make sense thematically and aren't very abstract.

Win an election in a ward? get a VP point.
Win an election in the ward containing Tammany Hall? get 2 VP points
Become Mayor? 3 VP points.
Have the most political favors from a given ethnic group at game end? Get VP points.

So while it is a VP point based game the VP points aren't super abstracted like a lot of Euros are.

I would say the game is similar to Lords of Vegas in that it is an area control game where the entire game is spent in direct conflict with your opponents. Just take out all of the die rolls and replace it with a blind bidding system to win elections.

Excellent. This is exactly what I was looking to get out of the game. I got my shipping notice a couple of days ago and I can't wait until I get it.

 

[platypotamus]

RFTG + Gathering Storm baby. Not that I mind Rebel vs. Imperium on keldon, but it's just too fiddly for me with the takeovers IRL


hahah that sucks. this is why i almost never give tactical advice. during rules explanation i'll try to give a strategic overview so people aren't totally lost (especially re end-game goals) but i almost never giveadvice on a specific move b/c:
-it's fun to actually learn things for yourself and have aha moments rather than feel like someone else is playing the game for you (same reason i don't read bgg strategy forums)
-sometimes new players will accidentally or not come up with really novel ideas that might actually work or have value in other contexts that you never realized before
-it's patronizing

Yeah it's tough, because I'm the designated rules-reader-teacher for my group. So I'll explain a phase of a game, what you can do with an action or whatever, and someone will ask "why would I ever want to do that?" Or some other leading question about the actual decision making part of the game. Most of the time I HAVE an answer, and on the one hand, I want to give it to make sure they understand the game, and on the other, I don't want to give it for fear of playing for them. Of course, holding back looks like I'm deliberately withholding information so I destroy them (though it becomes obvious that I'm not once we start playing, haha)

 

[AstroLad]

yeah when someone expressly asks for advice that definitely changes the calculus. at that point i just tell them what i would do and why, what else they can do, all with the disclaimer that my play may not be the optimal one