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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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Had a board game night this weekend. We ended up with 7 people which is more than we were expecting, which significantly limited our choices (splitting into two groups was not an option).
We ended up going with Bohnanza. It went over pretty well, I think. The game is very simple once you get it, but it's actually a pretty hard one to initially TEACH. Even hardcore boardgamers has issues with not being able to rearrange their hand. But eventually everyone grasped the game and we had a few good rounds.
This was my 2nd time playing Bohnanza with a group and I've decided that I just don't think the game is that good, though. It's fun in the sense that the trading keeps everyone involved every round. There is no sitting out for a long length of time, and it's fun shouting over other players to make trades.
But the game itself is kinda meh, I've decided. There isn't really any higher-level strategy and there just isn't enough decision-making taking place, for my taste. It's just a bunch of random stuff. Plus EVERY game of Bohnanza I've ever played has ended in at least a three-way tie, so the winner is whoever had the most cards in their hand, which never feels satisfying.
I have limited space and limited $$ so my collection is VERY light... only 6 eurogames, I think. Bohnanza might be the first I trade/sell. Probably replace it with Wits & Wagers for larger parties.
After Bohnanza a dude that brought Killer Bunnies tried to teach it to us (I know, I know but remember... 7 people) but we were all too drunk to understand it by that point. I'm noticing this is a trend in my posts in this topic, ha. We might need to cut back on the booze a little if we ever wanna bring new games to the table.
We ended up going with Bohnanza. It went over pretty well, I think. The game is very simple once you get it, but it's actually a pretty hard one to initially TEACH. Even hardcore boardgamers has issues with not being able to rearrange their hand. But eventually everyone grasped the game and we had a few good rounds.
This was my 2nd time playing Bohnanza with a group and I've decided that I just don't think the game is that good, though. It's fun in the sense that the trading keeps everyone involved every round. There is no sitting out for a long length of time, and it's fun shouting over other players to make trades.
But the game itself is kinda meh, I've decided. There isn't really any higher-level strategy and there just isn't enough decision-making taking place, for my taste. It's just a bunch of random stuff. Plus EVERY game of Bohnanza I've ever played has ended in at least a three-way tie, so the winner is whoever had the most cards in their hand, which never feels satisfying.
I have limited space and limited $$ so my collection is VERY light... only 6 eurogames, I think. Bohnanza might be the first I trade/sell. Probably replace it with Wits & Wagers for larger parties.
After Bohnanza a dude that brought Killer Bunnies tried to teach it to us (I know, I know but remember... 7 people) but we were all too drunk to understand it by that point. I'm noticing this is a trend in my posts in this topic, ha. We might need to cut back on the booze a little if we ever wanna bring new games to the table.
platypotamus
Member
AstroLad said:
I actually thought about it and then looked up the dates before just laughing it off and dismissing it (which is what my own wife would do if I mentioned I was interested in going), but I've got company in town that weekend, plus the Dismemberment Plan reunion show in Seattle, so yeah, doesn't work out.
GDJustin said:
I'm not a huge fan either, though I'll play it if someone else wants to. It does often times feel you're at the mercy of the card draws, which is a bummer. Don't let it ruin your opening of Uwe though, his Harvest trilogy is pretty excellent (Agricola, Le Havre, and Loyang).
I support Wits and Wagers, but some other large group options are Citadels (up to 7), Bang (7, maybe more with expansions), and Werewolf (but you really need 9+).
This is why I didn't get to try any of my new games Saturday, we played a silly party game (Quelf, not really recommended), and ended up too drunk to learn anything after. I was going to suggest starting with one of my new ones, and using Quelf as the break, and probably should have, in retrospect.
Went to Owl Con this weekend. Played Diplomacy as I previously mentioned, Cosmic Encounter (twice), AH with all expansions (holy moly is that game involved with all three expansions) and Puerto Rico (twice).
Cosmic Encounter (other than AH becuase it's my favorite game) was awesome. It was a 6 player game and I had The Oracle alien the first game (which was a win), then we played with the expansion (minus technology cards) and I had Levianthan (power of worldships). A highly luck based game, but one with incredible player interaction. The sheer variety and crazy powers of the aliens is what shot this game into my top 5 games I've played so far.
Puerto Rico. Played this twice. Not sure how I feel about this one, but leaning toward not liking it for the moment. I don't think there's anything mechanically wrong with it, but it's just too tactical for me. Picking the right roles at the right time is incredibly difficult most times. And this doesn't mentioned the tough choices you have regarding plantations and which buildings to build (to a much lesser extent than role selection though). As a newbie to the game I had no chance to beat a more experienced player (again, not a flaw of the game but I do like so luck so I at least have a punchers chance). This game will probably appeal to me more as I get more plays of it.
Cosmic Encounter (other than AH becuase it's my favorite game) was awesome. It was a 6 player game and I had The Oracle alien the first game (which was a win), then we played with the expansion (minus technology cards) and I had Levianthan (power of worldships). A highly luck based game, but one with incredible player interaction. The sheer variety and crazy powers of the aliens is what shot this game into my top 5 games I've played so far.
Puerto Rico. Played this twice. Not sure how I feel about this one, but leaning toward not liking it for the moment. I don't think there's anything mechanically wrong with it, but it's just too tactical for me. Picking the right roles at the right time is incredibly difficult most times. And this doesn't mentioned the tough choices you have regarding plantations and which buildings to build (to a much lesser extent than role selection though). As a newbie to the game I had no chance to beat a more experienced player (again, not a flaw of the game but I do like so luck so I at least have a punchers chance). This game will probably appeal to me more as I get more plays of it.
yep luck rules that's why i sold off my puerto rico and don't own a chess set 
and i say this as the person who usually benefits the least from luck since i'm usually the most experienced with a given game, and half the time teaching it. but i like the idea of other people having fun too
also, we finally finished a game of Stone Age on Yucata! whoo whoo. that game is lots of fun. was actually thinking about using it as a gateway for my friends this weekend but it's just a touch complex and long.
and i say this as the person who usually benefits the least from luck since i'm usually the most experienced with a given game, and half the time teaching it. but i like the idea of other people having fun too
also, we finally finished a game of Stone Age on Yucata! whoo whoo. that game is lots of fun. was actually thinking about using it as a gateway for my friends this weekend but it's just a touch complex and long.
Steve Youngblood
Member
Had a chance to try out Castle Ravenloft this weekend. I'm somewhat split on what I think of it overall. On the one hand, I really like that they've streamlined a dungeon crawl down to an experience that can be completed within an hour. We got two scenarios in, and I enjoyed them both. I think the fact that it DMs itself is a key component of making it playable for me.
However, two games in and I could already see some of the problems in it. Obviously, in order to make this game appeal to the kind of person who would never play the pen and paper variant, they had to strip out a lot of the complexity. Probably too much. Even though it makes the game accessible, it's probably too casual to be enjoyable for more than a few sessions.
But I go back and forth because I really don't know where to go from here if I decide that we need more dungeon crawls. Maybe Arkham? I'm certainly not going anywhere near Descent, or delving into the pen and paper genre proper. I think to consider another game, I'd really want something that's around 2 hours or less and doesn't require a DM.
However, two games in and I could already see some of the problems in it. Obviously, in order to make this game appeal to the kind of person who would never play the pen and paper variant, they had to strip out a lot of the complexity. Probably too much. Even though it makes the game accessible, it's probably too casual to be enjoyable for more than a few sessions.
But I go back and forth because I really don't know where to go from here if I decide that we need more dungeon crawls. Maybe Arkham? I'm certainly not going anywhere near Descent, or delving into the pen and paper genre proper. I think to consider another game, I'd really want something that's around 2 hours or less and doesn't require a DM.
DieNgamers
Member
I'm so blind sometimes! In AH there are enemy cards with just a plus or minus sign instead of the usual "+1" or "-3", or example. Does this mean I don't have to do a check?
We also won the last round...It was an epic 10 hour game, haha. We didn't rush things, though and took our time to talk about stuff, rules etc. We (almost *cough*) immediately bought the Dunwich Horror expansion afterwards.
We also won the last round...It was an epic 10 hour game, haha. We didn't rush things, though and took our time to talk about stuff, rules etc. We (almost *cough*) immediately bought the Dunwich Horror expansion afterwards.
So my weekend gaming consisted of Pandemic as I said earlier, which was a huge hit as it has reliably been recently. Won with four which I find to be more of a challenge than three. Still 0-2 against the Virulent Strain though so that's the next one to take down.
Also played a couple games of Puzzle Strike. Game is really fun. Basically a great 2P Dominion variant.
Also played a couple games of Puzzle Strike. Game is really fun. Basically a great 2P Dominion variant.
If there is just a dash, usually on horror checks, it means there is no horror check or to read the text on the back to see what you do for the corresponding horror/fight check.DieNgamers said:
Very rare for a game of AH to finish in under two hours. I'm sure on of our resident Ameritrashers has some good suggestions for quick dungeon crawls though.
BomberMouse
Member
AstroLad said:
Yep, that took a lot but was lot's of fun, congrats platy, you beat me by only 1 point!
platypotamus
Member
Saw at the top of BGG's hotnes list: Ankh-Morpork. A discworld eurogame by Martin Wallace.
Not due for a bit, but I already want it without knowing anything else about it.
Thanks! We should try a game of Arkadia next. Am I the only one that's played it before?
Not due for a bit, but I already want it without knowing anything else about it.
BomberMouse said:
Thanks! We should try a game of Arkadia next. Am I the only one that's played it before?
I forgot to mention - I ordered a copy of indie game Cards Against Humanity, and I'm super pumped for it to arrive:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1200751084/cards-against-humanity
http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/
The game is basically like Apples to Apples. Players hold a card of hands, and match it in the funniest way they can against a single card that is flipped face-up . One player then judges the best submissions.
The twist is that Cards Against Humanity is very... adult. Noun cards (the ones players draw into their hands) include the following gems:
Balls.
Skeletor.
Bees?
Half-assed Foreplay.
Waking up half-naked in a Denny's parking lot.
Four Loko.
Hunting Accidents.
YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS.
The Force.
Elderly Japanese Men.
Cards that players have to match something to include:
What will I bring back in time to prove to people I'm a powerful wizard?
Why am I sticky?
During Sex, I like to think about _______?
The class field trip was completely ruined by _______.
In 1000 years, when paper is but a distant memory, ______ will be our currency.
Best of all, the game is FREE. I paid to have a professionally-printed and boxed copy sent to me, but a PDF of all the game cards is available for download at http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/. You could print them on normal paper, but the site has instructions for how to get game-quality copies made up at Kinkos or another print shop.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1200751084/cards-against-humanity
http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/
The game is basically like Apples to Apples. Players hold a card of hands, and match it in the funniest way they can against a single card that is flipped face-up . One player then judges the best submissions.
The twist is that Cards Against Humanity is very... adult. Noun cards (the ones players draw into their hands) include the following gems:
Balls.
Skeletor.
Bees?
Half-assed Foreplay.
Waking up half-naked in a Denny's parking lot.
Four Loko.
Hunting Accidents.
YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS.
The Force.
Elderly Japanese Men.
Cards that players have to match something to include:
What will I bring back in time to prove to people I'm a powerful wizard?
Why am I sticky?
During Sex, I like to think about _______?
The class field trip was completely ruined by _______.
In 1000 years, when paper is but a distant memory, ______ will be our currency.
Best of all, the game is FREE. I paid to have a professionally-printed and boxed copy sent to me, but a PDF of all the game cards is available for download at http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/. You could print them on normal paper, but the site has instructions for how to get game-quality copies made up at Kinkos or another print shop.
BomberMouse
Member
platypotamus said:
I haven't, but I'll read the rules on yucata so we can play some other day.
Anyone want to try and game of St. Petersburg on Yucata?
It's a super simple card game and it's a top 100 game on BGG.
Buy any card during any phase. Earn income from that card during that cards phase only.
If the card doesn't sell during a round it drops down and become cheaper in the next round. If it doesn't sell for 2 rounds, it is off the market.
Get a discount of 1 rupel if you already own a worker of that type.
Bonus points for having a large diversity of artisans at game end.
It's a super simple card game and it's a top 100 game on BGG.
Buy any card during any phase. Earn income from that card during that cards phase only.
If the card doesn't sell during a round it drops down and become cheaper in the next round. If it doesn't sell for 2 rounds, it is off the market.
Get a discount of 1 rupel if you already own a worker of that type.
Bonus points for having a large diversity of artisans at game end.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I have no idea how to play but, sure why not. I signed up as joeyjoeshabadoo.StoOgE said:
joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
It is really simple.
There are 4 phases in the game: worker, building, aristocrat and upgrade.
There will always be 8 cards in the market. So the game will start with 8 workers. At the end of the worker phase comes the building phase. So, if 3 workers are puchased, 3 buildings come out. If 4 cards are bought in the building phase than 4 aristocrats will come out. 6 cards bought there than 6 upgrade cards come out.
At the end of a round (end of the upgrade phase) all the cards left over are slid down to the bottom row and have a discount of one money. So, if 3 cards are left over at the end of a round, 5 workers come out at the start of the worker phase. These 5 cards will come into the top row (full price) and the 3 remaining cards will move to the bottom row (1 discount) The cards in the bottom row are removed from the game if no one buys them at the end of the round.
The first 3 phases start the game and everyone goes around either
1) Buying a card for it's cost and putting it in your tableu
2) Taking a card in hand (3 cards max)
3) Buying a card from your hand
4) Passing
You can buy any card type (worker, building, aristocrat) at any point in the game, but you only get the cards "payout" at the end of that phase. (i.e. workers pay at the end of the worker phase).
Once everyone passes in a row, you move to the scoring of that phase.
Generally speaking:
Workers = money
Buildings = money and VP
Aristocrats = VP
The 4th "phase" is the upgrade phase. These are cards that fall into one of the 3 main categories but require an upgrade of an existing card of that type. So it might be a better worker that pays more money. To "buy" it you have to replace an existing worker and pay the difference in cost between them.
There is no scoring during this upgrade phase. The upgraded cards pay out during the normal phase for that card type.
Odd rules:
There are a few building cards that give you special abilities.
If a card doesn't sell at the end of the 4th phase it moves to the bottom and costs 1 less
You get a discount of 1 rupel for each card of a type you own (minimum price 1 rupel)
Each turn a player will be the first to act in a given phase, this will change every hand so I am always first in one of the phases, 2nd in another, 3rd in one and last to act in a phase.
Scoring:
You earn VP during a buildings phase that gives you VP
You earn some small VP for cash held at game end
You earn VP for the number of unique aristocrats at game end
You lose 5VP for each card in hand at game end (so if you take a card in hand, you better buy it later).
I'll sign platy and astro up as well just because.
platypotamus
Member
StoOgE said:
Fine, then I'm signing you and astro up for the arkadia game I'm about to invite Bombermouse to.
Just read the rules for Arkadia.
It seems like a pretty nifty little game actually. Has a very Martin Wallace vibe where you are collecting interest in a given family and then trying to increase that families influence.
Princes of the Renaissance, Steele Driver, Perikles ring a bell for sure.
It seems like a pretty nifty little game actually. Has a very Martin Wallace vibe where you are collecting interest in a given family and then trying to increase that families influence.
Princes of the Renaissance, Steele Driver, Perikles ring a bell for sure.
AstroLad said:
You wont be alone, I'll be there!
You got my hopes up for a game of BSG!
P.S. What the fuck is up with Stronghold? It's like Valley Games is allergic to news. Some guy posted on BGG earlier this month that he got an email saying it'd be ready late this month to early Feb. Well, we're pretty much here, and no news. It's like they don't WANT to make money.
Hey all. I've got an open day at work, so if anyone wants to play some Dominion between now and 4pm (eastern time) just post here and I'll sign in.
Also, free Thunderstone promo pack:
http://www.alderac.com/thunderstone/free-thunderstone-promo-pack/
Also, free Thunderstone promo pack:
http://www.alderac.com/thunderstone/free-thunderstone-promo-pack/
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I've never heard it mentioned over here, but I played a game of Carolvs Magnvs--rendered Carolus Magnus on BGG--this weekend. Very interesting game.
You have 15 or so chunks of land which are arranged in a circular order and separated from one another. On top of one chunk of land is a token representing Charlemagne (I thought the theme sucked so I won't mention it again).
Each player has 5 "bidding" chips numbered from 1-5 and at the beginning of the round, players big in order. Players cannot bid a chip that has already been bid by another player in the current round, and once bid, the chip is exhausted from a player's repository until after every chip has been exhausted and thus are replenished. Play order proceeds from lowest bid to highest bid, but the bid number also determines movement for the Charlemagne piece, so there can be incentive to bid high or bid for a specific number.
Players have a reservoir of 7 cubes, each of which is one of five colours. They also have a "control board". I have no idea if this is the actual name. On the control board are each of the five colours. Players can play their cubes to the control board. The player with the most cubes of a given colour is in control of that colour. Tying a player is not enough to take control back, so there's incentive to control colours early because it'll be harder to take them back. Players can control multiple colours at once. Players can also play cubes to any of the land masses. A given land mass can have any number of cubes of any number of colours. These cubes represent control over the land mass, and their value is given to the player who has control over the given colour. For example, if there are three green cubes and two yellow cubes and I have control over green and you have control over yellow, I have three points and you have two, so I have control. There is a risk/reward dynamic here because I might play several green cubes to bolster my hold on a given piece of land, but then if you take over green on the control board, I've just done you a solid. So you need to simultaneously dominate the control board and the land masses.
After having played 3 cubes, players more Charlemagne at least one space but up to the number of spaces on their bidding chip. Once Charlemagne arrives at his destination land mass, if the player who moved him has the controlling interest in the land, he or she may place a castle on the land mass. The objective is to place all your castles. Castles also count as one extra control point, and so if I have 3 control points and you have 2, and I place a castle, I'm now at 4 to your 2. Since tying doesn't flip control, only beating does, you now need three more control points to take the land mass.
What makes things really interesting is that if a player controls two contiguous regions, he or she may merge them together. Merging them together 1) makes the board smaller and thus movement faster, 2) gives you extra control points in the sense that you now have all of your control points from each of your territories lumped into one. Also, you have two castles on the combined territory (giving you more of an edge in the event of a cube-tie). On the other hand, if I flip your 2-castle territory, I get to put down 2 of mine and you've got 2 more of yours to put down. This continues, by the end of the game the board has been merged into 4-5 mega-territories and flipping one inevitably ends the game.
Players restock their three cubes by rolling three d6. The D6 have 5 faces with colours on them and one crown, the crown allows the player to choose their colour. This is an element of the game I didn't like; it'd be very possible to roll three totally useless dice. If your opponent has a 10-1 cube lead on blue, rolling three blue will not help you in the slightest, since you'll never take back control over blue. I felt like I won largely due to lucky dice rolls.
One other note; the game can be played with two players, with three players (in which case you do not need a majority, but rather a plurality, to take the territory) or with four players (in two teams of two that share common castle stocks but otherwise count separately and so do not pool control points)
The flow of the game was good. I felt like for the first 2/3rds of the game or so the objective was definitely to achieve solid indisputable control over 1-2 colours and then make those colours as prominent on the board as possible. Taking control of territory early is always better than taking control of it late because castles give you excellent defence. I spent most of the game controlling green and yellow and warding off attempts from opponents to put their colours out on the board. When the game reduced to fewer than 5 or 6 territories, movement was so brisk and the territories were so fortified that generally I was looking at 10+ cubes to flip a territory by adding my colours, or 3-4 cubes to flip a territory by stealing control of enemy colours. So for the last third of the game almost nothing got put on the land board, almost all the control board. The game was reasonably short and required basically no learning curve besides remembering that ties don't flip control of a controlled space. Construction was nice, although Charlemagne just being a sort of monolith was stupid. I'd pay an extra $4-5 in most games to get carved or moulded figures rather than blocks. The land construction was very nice and I thought the board's pangaea-ish appearance when I merged together many territories was pretty novel.
You have 15 or so chunks of land which are arranged in a circular order and separated from one another. On top of one chunk of land is a token representing Charlemagne (I thought the theme sucked so I won't mention it again).
Each player has 5 "bidding" chips numbered from 1-5 and at the beginning of the round, players big in order. Players cannot bid a chip that has already been bid by another player in the current round, and once bid, the chip is exhausted from a player's repository until after every chip has been exhausted and thus are replenished. Play order proceeds from lowest bid to highest bid, but the bid number also determines movement for the Charlemagne piece, so there can be incentive to bid high or bid for a specific number.
Players have a reservoir of 7 cubes, each of which is one of five colours. They also have a "control board". I have no idea if this is the actual name. On the control board are each of the five colours. Players can play their cubes to the control board. The player with the most cubes of a given colour is in control of that colour. Tying a player is not enough to take control back, so there's incentive to control colours early because it'll be harder to take them back. Players can control multiple colours at once. Players can also play cubes to any of the land masses. A given land mass can have any number of cubes of any number of colours. These cubes represent control over the land mass, and their value is given to the player who has control over the given colour. For example, if there are three green cubes and two yellow cubes and I have control over green and you have control over yellow, I have three points and you have two, so I have control. There is a risk/reward dynamic here because I might play several green cubes to bolster my hold on a given piece of land, but then if you take over green on the control board, I've just done you a solid. So you need to simultaneously dominate the control board and the land masses.
After having played 3 cubes, players more Charlemagne at least one space but up to the number of spaces on their bidding chip. Once Charlemagne arrives at his destination land mass, if the player who moved him has the controlling interest in the land, he or she may place a castle on the land mass. The objective is to place all your castles. Castles also count as one extra control point, and so if I have 3 control points and you have 2, and I place a castle, I'm now at 4 to your 2. Since tying doesn't flip control, only beating does, you now need three more control points to take the land mass.
What makes things really interesting is that if a player controls two contiguous regions, he or she may merge them together. Merging them together 1) makes the board smaller and thus movement faster, 2) gives you extra control points in the sense that you now have all of your control points from each of your territories lumped into one. Also, you have two castles on the combined territory (giving you more of an edge in the event of a cube-tie). On the other hand, if I flip your 2-castle territory, I get to put down 2 of mine and you've got 2 more of yours to put down. This continues, by the end of the game the board has been merged into 4-5 mega-territories and flipping one inevitably ends the game.
Players restock their three cubes by rolling three d6. The D6 have 5 faces with colours on them and one crown, the crown allows the player to choose their colour. This is an element of the game I didn't like; it'd be very possible to roll three totally useless dice. If your opponent has a 10-1 cube lead on blue, rolling three blue will not help you in the slightest, since you'll never take back control over blue. I felt like I won largely due to lucky dice rolls.
One other note; the game can be played with two players, with three players (in which case you do not need a majority, but rather a plurality, to take the territory) or with four players (in two teams of two that share common castle stocks but otherwise count separately and so do not pool control points)
The flow of the game was good. I felt like for the first 2/3rds of the game or so the objective was definitely to achieve solid indisputable control over 1-2 colours and then make those colours as prominent on the board as possible. Taking control of territory early is always better than taking control of it late because castles give you excellent defence. I spent most of the game controlling green and yellow and warding off attempts from opponents to put their colours out on the board. When the game reduced to fewer than 5 or 6 territories, movement was so brisk and the territories were so fortified that generally I was looking at 10+ cubes to flip a territory by adding my colours, or 3-4 cubes to flip a territory by stealing control of enemy colours. So for the last third of the game almost nothing got put on the land board, almost all the control board. The game was reasonably short and required basically no learning curve besides remembering that ties don't flip control of a controlled space. Construction was nice, although Charlemagne just being a sort of monolith was stupid. I'd pay an extra $4-5 in most games to get carved or moulded figures rather than blocks. The land construction was very nice and I thought the board's pangaea-ish appearance when I merged together many territories was pretty novel.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Also this weekend:
- Money! (Knizia) - simple and quick bidding / press your luck game. Currency in your hand, bid your currency against other players for an offering on the board, hopefully end up with a more valuable hand. Good physical feel, the parodies of real-world currencies are funny. The knock-off Canadian bills feature kids playing hockey just like the real ones.
The press your luck elements reminded me a lot of Lost Cities in that the game features <x> sets, you get bonuses for completing a substantial amount of a set, there is a minimum ownership threshold to get any score at all (cards below that threshhold are useless in Money, you pay a penalty in Lost Cities), cards that players give up (bid in Money, discard in Lost Cities) are ripe for the plucking by others, and the primary score determiner is your balance between doing several sets to partial completion and doing one set to full completion.
Light and breezy, like Lost Cities I think it'd be more of a side game than a main game, unlikely Lost Cities it's 3-5 players so the two complement each other.
- Forbidden Island - it's like pandemic only you're fighting a drowning island instead of diseases. We only played two games but they're damn-near mechanically identical. I'll give it five or six more games to try to figure out if there's some nuance I'm missing, but otherwise the games are pretty much exact substitutes for each other and I guess I'd decide which to play based on theme.
- Money! (Knizia) - simple and quick bidding / press your luck game. Currency in your hand, bid your currency against other players for an offering on the board, hopefully end up with a more valuable hand. Good physical feel, the parodies of real-world currencies are funny. The knock-off Canadian bills feature kids playing hockey just like the real ones.
The press your luck elements reminded me a lot of Lost Cities in that the game features <x> sets, you get bonuses for completing a substantial amount of a set, there is a minimum ownership threshold to get any score at all (cards below that threshhold are useless in Money, you pay a penalty in Lost Cities), cards that players give up (bid in Money, discard in Lost Cities) are ripe for the plucking by others, and the primary score determiner is your balance between doing several sets to partial completion and doing one set to full completion.
Light and breezy, like Lost Cities I think it'd be more of a side game than a main game, unlikely Lost Cities it's 3-5 players so the two complement each other.
- Forbidden Island - it's like pandemic only you're fighting a drowning island instead of diseases. We only played two games but they're damn-near mechanically identical. I'll give it five or six more games to try to figure out if there's some nuance I'm missing, but otherwise the games are pretty much exact substitutes for each other and I guess I'd decide which to play based on theme.
I think Forbidden Island is a significantly easier game since traveling to a tile to flip it can almost always be accomplished in one move, and exchanging cards is much easier.
That said, I think FI has a much better end game. Where Pandemic you typically have things under control when the game ends, FI is usually an island that is 80% missing and you are hoping you've left everyone a path back to the helo to get the fuck out.
I enjoy both games, but given the playtime of FI, I have a hard time not just playing that. 30 minutes for a good co-cop usually trumps 60 minutes for a slightly better but similar co-op.
That said, I think FI has a much better end game. Where Pandemic you typically have things under control when the game ends, FI is usually an island that is 80% missing and you are hoping you've left everyone a path back to the helo to get the fuck out.
I enjoy both games, but given the playtime of FI, I have a hard time not just playing that. 30 minutes for a good co-cop usually trumps 60 minutes for a slightly better but similar co-op.
chixdiggit
Member
Great thread. My personal favorites are Small World and Dominion.
Agreed. Forbidden Island just seems like the right amount of play time.
StoOgE said:
Agreed. Forbidden Island just seems like the right amount of play time.
biggyfries
Member
Agreed, too. Our 8-yr-old can play FI.chixdiggit said:
I love Pandemic's theme and mechanics, but FI is more inclusive.
Just read on Rock, Paper, Shotgun that Tom Vasel (of the Dice Tower) lost his newborn son . He was born prematurely. I'm sure many on here have been to his website and watched his reviews - I know I've enjoyed a lot of them and they've been very helpful in getting me into boardgames.
quoting from RPS:
I don't think I can afford some of those auctions, but I'll donate some money
quoting from RPS:
I don't think I can afford some of those auctions, but I'll donate some money
mrklaw said:
yeah, I saw that... I'd read some updates about how he was doing well and was pretty sad to see the news. And yes, the auctions are crazy. It's amazing how people are donating games and then paying 3-4x the 'value' in the auction. I can't afford any of them either, but good on BGG for stepping up.
Man... every time I find an auction I'm interested in, if it is a single game it is going for $75+. If it is a lot of games it is over $250. I just can't swing that!
The only exception I might make is for Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective (I'm still browsing through the listings). It has been out of print for a decade and is next to impossible to find. I desperately want a copy
Is there any easier way to browse the listings? Right now the only thing I can see to do is slowly scroll through 18+ pages.
The only exception I might make is for Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective (I'm still browsing through the listings). It has been out of print for a decade and is next to impossible to find. I desperately want a copy
Is there any easier way to browse the listings? Right now the only thing I can see to do is slowly scroll through 18+ pages.
Yah I bid on the minis painting and these little nicely printed AH players aids. The games are cool but I like the unique stuff the best.
5/2 split all the way to victory baby!Seth C said:I would just like to say that if you play Dominion with AstroLad do not let Torturer be in play. He will hit on $5 to spend in the first round and then the game is over.
platypotamus
Member
AstroLad said:
Last time I played Dominion, I got the 5/2 split. There were no 5 cost cards out (aside from Duchies).
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
Did I really win two separate Stone Age games on yucata by one point?
platypotamus said:
speaking of, who is the hold up on Arkadia and St Pete?
And, I finally read the rules for Stone Age the other day so about halfway through those first games I figured out what I was supposed to be doing and saw that the slider on the left was not the score and was pretty upset :jakncoke
GDJustin said:The only exception I might make is for Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective (I'm still browsing through the listings). It has been out of print for a decade and is next to impossible to find. I desperately want a copy
I have this. It is awesome. It's basically an over-elaborate Choose Your Own Adventure book, but it's amazing all the same. I have the Mansion Murders expansion as well, though I haven't run out of main game mysteries yet. The other expansions (The Queen's Park Affair / West End Adventures) are TRULY hard to find for a reasonable price.
I no longer fear Lords of Vegas. I just played a game with a friend and my daughter (she rarely plays games with me these days, I had to pretty much muscle her into playing). It went well. Real simple game once you get some of the subtle stuff under your belt.
Wife came home as I was going over the rules. Asked if she wanted to play and she said "no" (no surprise there) and because of all the noise we were making she ended up sitting down and watching, regretting that she didn't say yes.
Can't wait to try it again. I like that it's a quick play too. Starts off slow but once those casinos start paying off the money adds up quick.
Question, when reorganizing, do you have each player involved in the reorg roll his or her own dice? Or does the person paying for the reorginazation roll them all?
And when my friend built a casino that merged with mine we had a tie for casino boss. Since we had to reroll, it came up again, should I have rolled for my own or should he roll both?
The way we played it is the reorging player rolled all dice and when a tie came up after an action each player rolled his or her own.
Wife came home as I was going over the rules. Asked if she wanted to play and she said "no" (no surprise there) and because of all the noise we were making she ended up sitting down and watching, regretting that she didn't say yes.
Can't wait to try it again. I like that it's a quick play too. Starts off slow but once those casinos start paying off the money adds up quick.
Question, when reorganizing, do you have each player involved in the reorg roll his or her own dice? Or does the person paying for the reorginazation roll them all?
And when my friend built a casino that merged with mine we had a tie for casino boss. Since we had to reroll, it came up again, should I have rolled for my own or should he roll both?
The way we played it is the reorging player rolled all dice and when a tie came up after an action each player rolled his or her own.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Glad you liked it.MichaelBD said:
The way we play it is, the person doing the reorganization is the one who gets to roll all the dice, including any re-roll for tied dice.
As far as other ties we let the person who initiated the action roll all the tied dice. So in your example, your friend built his casino which absorbed yours and there is a tie for casino boss, he would get to roll all tied dice.
Also note, you only re-roll tied dice if they belong to different people. If two of your dice are the same (and it would make you casino boss) you do not need to re-roll them. It's really nice when you roll three sixes making reorg rolls super pricey as well as making you a ton of money if your casino comes up.
For anyone that has Forbidden Island, a question -
How exactly does capturing/securing a treasure work? The game came today and I flipped through the rules, and this is the only thing that jumped out at me as being a little confusing (might have more Qs after running through the game).
The rules state that if you're on either of a treasure's two corresponding island tiles, you can discard four of that treasure's cards in order to gain the treasure. My question is... doesn't that mean you don't need to be in the same physical spot as a treasure to get it? If that's the case, why are the treasure on the board in the first place?
How exactly does capturing/securing a treasure work? The game came today and I flipped through the rules, and this is the only thing that jumped out at me as being a little confusing (might have more Qs after running through the game).
The rules state that if you're on either of a treasure's two corresponding island tiles, you can discard four of that treasure's cards in order to gain the treasure. My question is... doesn't that mean you don't need to be in the same physical spot as a treasure to get it? If that's the case, why are the treasure on the board in the first place?
StoOgE said:
I noticed the Dominion app I use on my iPhone for randomising kingdom cards has a spliter randomiser function, which appears to be used to randomise the split between the first two hands. Does anybody use this and are you intended to use it so all players start with the same split?
Yeah as we got about halfway through a whole bunch of strategy started opening up to us. Even just taking a blind shot at a reorg with your one dice against an opponent's two can mean you up your casino take even if you fail (and maybe lower your opponent's in the meantime).joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
Seth C said:
Thanks. Also thanks AL. The rulebook uses the same wording "placed around the board" - which is where I got tripped up. I read that as they were placed, at random, around the board and was like "wtf that is a little weird."
Writing technical manuals and instruction booklets has got to be the WORST. Something that is so clear to you could make no sense to someone else.
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