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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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Oooh, I'm excited. Going to be playing Caylus for the first time on Sunday. Are there any things to worry about or is it smooth sailing for me and my 4+ guests?
Also as you may have gathered by me writing "4+ guests", I expect more guests than players supported by Caylus.
Any idead what to do with those unlucky souls that won't be able to participate fully?
Should I just send them off to a second table with Brass and have them play it? I also could send them off with a different game, but having them play Brass would be kind of beneficial for my planned BGG-top 10 list playthrough attempt.
Also as you may have gathered by me writing "4+ guests", I expect more guests than players supported by Caylus.
Any idead what to do with those unlucky souls that won't be able to participate fully?
Should I just send them off to a second table with Brass and have them play it? I also could send them off with a different game, but having them play Brass would be kind of beneficial for my planned BGG-top 10 list playthrough attempt.
Flynn said:
Was my first time painting a Blood Angel so I wasn't sure how to do the red. Turned out a little darker than I wanted so I think I may go back and highlight a little more. Still trying out how to do the jewels on his wrist/hand so I haven't touched em yet. Happy with how it turned out but I ran out of the tile plasticard and need blue paint for the Librarian so I'll start back up this weekend. Plan on playing the game tomorrow though.
BattleMonkey
Member
Whats the best first expansion to get for Dominion? I rather not add much complexity to the game and not sure if adding all the expansions interests me, so rather do one at a time.
platypotamus
Member
RayStorm said:
Make sure the folks on the Caylus game are hardcore. Out of my whole collection, Caylus, Agricola, and Through the Ages are the three I'd be most afraid to teach.
BattleMonkey said:
I think most here like Seaside the best, but it adds a bit more complexity to the mix than Intrigue does. Not much, but some fiddly bits and a new type of card. Alchemy is by far the most complex (and generally least favorite). Prosperity is newest, and pretty awesome. Personally, I'd go Intrigue first, particularly if you are one of the folks that looks at Dominion as having not enough interaction.
BattleMonkey said:
I only own the base set and Intrigue, but I found Intrigue really fleshed out the base set with a lot of complentary cards and the interesting Action-Victory/Treasure-Victory cards. I've got Alchemy on the way, but at least in my experience Intrigue was a solid purchase and definitely felt like the second half the base set.
Dmorr07 said:
Was my first time painting a Blood Angel so I wasn't sure how to do the red. Turned out a little darker than I wanted so I think I may go back and highlight a little more. Still trying out how to do the jewels on his wrist/hand so I haven't touched em yet. Happy with how it turned out but I ran out of the tile plasticard and need blue paint for the Librarian so I'll start back up this weekend. Plan on playing the game tomorrow though.
Nice job. That looks great! I've always wanted to paint my set, but I know I'll suck at it.
Tonight is boardgame night and I really have no idea what we'll be playing as there's no telling how many will show up.
We've got four confirmed (including me) + one late arrival + two possibles. A range of 4 to 7 is hard to plan for when it comes to deciding games.
We haven't brought Dominion to the table yet so I'm confident that one will get a few filler plays if we have 6 or less (I know the game is 2-4 but from what I've read playing up to six works pretty good if you add some more kingdom choices + bump up exhaustion to end game from 3 to 4 or 5 stacks).
BSG has been a HUGE hit for the past two weeks but that only handles up to 6 and I would prefer to bring something else 'big' this week.
Arkham Horror hasn't been brought forward yet...and if we end up only with 5, maybe we'll do that... but anymore and it sounds like it could take too long.... especially for a first play.
I've also got Betrayal at House on the Hill for 6.
Really my only issue is with 7. I don't think I have a single game which accommodates that many and I HATE splitting a group (again besides AH and I don't think we have the time for that).
If one of the possibles shows up, he's got Citadels which can take 7 at least...
I really think 5 regulars is the sweet spot for a regular boardgame group (a case could be made for four I guess though). But I need to add a game or two to my library to accommodate more players for these eventualities. Citadels and The Resistance come to mind. Any other suggestions here from experience for a group of 7 to 8?
Oh, and I should specify I'm really not a fan of party games if it can be helped... trying to stick to boardgames/card games here.
We've got four confirmed (including me) + one late arrival + two possibles. A range of 4 to 7 is hard to plan for when it comes to deciding games.
We haven't brought Dominion to the table yet so I'm confident that one will get a few filler plays if we have 6 or less (I know the game is 2-4 but from what I've read playing up to six works pretty good if you add some more kingdom choices + bump up exhaustion to end game from 3 to 4 or 5 stacks).
BSG has been a HUGE hit for the past two weeks but that only handles up to 6 and I would prefer to bring something else 'big' this week.
Arkham Horror hasn't been brought forward yet...and if we end up only with 5, maybe we'll do that... but anymore and it sounds like it could take too long.... especially for a first play.
I've also got Betrayal at House on the Hill for 6.
Really my only issue is with 7. I don't think I have a single game which accommodates that many and I HATE splitting a group (again besides AH and I don't think we have the time for that).
If one of the possibles shows up, he's got Citadels which can take 7 at least...
I really think 5 regulars is the sweet spot for a regular boardgame group (a case could be made for four I guess though). But I need to add a game or two to my library to accommodate more players for these eventualities. Citadels and The Resistance come to mind. Any other suggestions here from experience for a group of 7 to 8?
Oh, and I should specify I'm really not a fan of party games if it can be helped... trying to stick to boardgames/card games here.
Artadius said:
7 Wonders does play 7 people I believe & is worth a look. Scales well as, really, you're playing with the people directly sitting to your left & right, not the whole table.
The easy answer, and I suspect you might not like it, is to play two 3or 4 player games instead of one big group game. It's the best longterm solution for game playing fun as there's just not that many interesting game for that many players that aren't "party" or light.
7 wonders
Roborally
Citadels
Shadows over Camelot
Bohanza
Formula D/Formula De
Bang!
Incan Gold/Diamant!
Saboteur
Those are pretty much the "best" games that play with 7.
Roborally and Formula D are light racing games. I don't care for Formula D myself, but Roborally is a good deal of fun. Super light racing game that is fun in a less serious setting.
Shadows is a nice co-op game that plays like a slightly worse version of BSG. It's still fun, just know that it isn't as fun as BSG.
7 Wonders, Citadels and Bohanza are fun card games that play well, but again not all that heavy.
Bang!, Incan Gold and Saboteur are fun but are super super light games best for beer and pretzel situations.
Fenners hit it on the head. If you want to play a deep engrossing heavy board game you are going to need to split the group up. With 8 players you are going to be playing boarderline party games and not anything of great strategic depth (exception is probably Shadows).
Splitting up isn't the worst thing ever (if you have room for it). It gives you and everyone else more options. If a few people are dead set on game A they don't have to drag the others kicking in screaming into it.. everyone else can go play some other game that is more to their liking.
Also.. grab Power Grid. It supports 6 very very well and is a top 10 game. It won't get you to 7, but it will get you to 6 well
Roborally
Citadels
Shadows over Camelot
Bohanza
Formula D/Formula De
Bang!
Incan Gold/Diamant!
Saboteur
Those are pretty much the "best" games that play with 7.
Roborally and Formula D are light racing games. I don't care for Formula D myself, but Roborally is a good deal of fun. Super light racing game that is fun in a less serious setting.
Shadows is a nice co-op game that plays like a slightly worse version of BSG. It's still fun, just know that it isn't as fun as BSG.
7 Wonders, Citadels and Bohanza are fun card games that play well, but again not all that heavy.
Bang!, Incan Gold and Saboteur are fun but are super super light games best for beer and pretzel situations.
Fenners hit it on the head. If you want to play a deep engrossing heavy board game you are going to need to split the group up. With 8 players you are going to be playing boarderline party games and not anything of great strategic depth (exception is probably Shadows).
Splitting up isn't the worst thing ever (if you have room for it). It gives you and everyone else more options. If a few people are dead set on game A they don't have to drag the others kicking in screaming into it.. everyone else can go play some other game that is more to their liking.
Also.. grab Power Grid. It supports 6 very very well and is a top 10 game. It won't get you to 7, but it will get you to 6 well
Amibguous Cad
Member
Just got my shipment of Yomi and Puzzle Strike yesterday. I was planning on trying both, yesterday, but we just couldn't stop playing Yomi!
It's a 2-player game that's based off of old arcade fighting games (in fact, it had the Street Fighter license at one point). You draw 7 cards at the start of the game, and each card is an attack, block, dodge, or throw. Each player places a card face down for a turn, and then simultaneously reveals. Attacks beat throws, throws beat blocks and dodges, blocks and dodges beat attacks. If the attack wins, damage is done and usually the player has a chance to combo into more attack cards. Same with throws. If a block successfully deflects an attack, you get to keep the block card and draw an extra card, and if you successfully dodge an attack you can immediately play an attack card that will always hit.
It's pretty simple, but all the different characters have a lot of strategy to them. You've got your characters that rely on combos, the big heavy guy that's slow and can't combo but has great defenses and throws, and on down the fighting game gamut. It's a fixed deck card game; each deck represents a character, and it's not customizable; no booster packs or anything, once you've got all the character's decks, you're good to go. You can get all 10 decks in the complete edition, which includes some nice play mats and life counters, for 100 bucks at MSRP (boardgamehaus.com has it for 70). If that's too much of an investment, they sell 2 character deck packs for 25 MSRP (around 17 to 20 on discounted online retailers).
It's been gaining a lot of steam lately. It was Tom Vasel's number one game of 2010, and the initial printing run that the developer expected to last him a year sold out in a month. It's still available at retailers that aren't the developer's website, but I've noticed two separate discount retailers upping the price due to high demand (I got it for 65 off cardhaus a week ago, while now it's at 70).
If you want to check out the game before committing to buying it, you can check out an online version that they used for testing the game at fantasystrike.com/dev/
It's a 2-player game that's based off of old arcade fighting games (in fact, it had the Street Fighter license at one point). You draw 7 cards at the start of the game, and each card is an attack, block, dodge, or throw. Each player places a card face down for a turn, and then simultaneously reveals. Attacks beat throws, throws beat blocks and dodges, blocks and dodges beat attacks. If the attack wins, damage is done and usually the player has a chance to combo into more attack cards. Same with throws. If a block successfully deflects an attack, you get to keep the block card and draw an extra card, and if you successfully dodge an attack you can immediately play an attack card that will always hit.
It's pretty simple, but all the different characters have a lot of strategy to them. You've got your characters that rely on combos, the big heavy guy that's slow and can't combo but has great defenses and throws, and on down the fighting game gamut. It's a fixed deck card game; each deck represents a character, and it's not customizable; no booster packs or anything, once you've got all the character's decks, you're good to go. You can get all 10 decks in the complete edition, which includes some nice play mats and life counters, for 100 bucks at MSRP (boardgamehaus.com has it for 70). If that's too much of an investment, they sell 2 character deck packs for 25 MSRP (around 17 to 20 on discounted online retailers).
It's been gaining a lot of steam lately. It was Tom Vasel's number one game of 2010, and the initial printing run that the developer expected to last him a year sold out in a month. It's still available at retailers that aren't the developer's website, but I've noticed two separate discount retailers upping the price due to high demand (I got it for 65 off cardhaus a week ago, while now it's at 70).
If you want to check out the game before committing to buying it, you can check out an online version that they used for testing the game at fantasystrike.com/dev/
Big game night tonight.. 6-8 hours of it to be exact at a game party.
Merchants and Marauders and Dominant Species seem to be on the docket.
It's actually a 6 person group so I'm bringing Resistance, Perudo, Roborally and Citadels just in case. I'll sneak in Tammany Hall since 2 of the people aren't coming right away.
Merchants and Marauders and Dominant Species seem to be on the docket.
It's actually a 6 person group so I'm bringing Resistance, Perudo, Roborally and Citadels just in case. I'll sneak in Tammany Hall since 2 of the people aren't coming right away.
BattleMonkey
Member
Played some War of the Ring yesterday, ouch. The Free Peoples have a tough time in that game, though I did have a miracle Gondor army basically beast through 3 larger Shadow armies.
I really need to get the expansion as the game just feels so lop sided towards Shadow.
I really need to get the expansion as the game just feels so lop sided towards Shadow.
Amibguous Cad
Member
Giard said:
Interesting. I found that I liked RFTG better once one got used to it, though its greater complexity means that it's much more difficult to teach to a new play group than Dominion.
I think what I liked most was the fact that it was partially luck-based. I'm not a fan of the way the luck can swing matches, but I really like that I have to cobble together a winning strategy based on disparate hands and drawing of cards. You've got to read what the directions the cards you've drawn are telling you in order to succeed. It kinda reminds me of a drafting game in that regard (I still really need to pick up 7 Wonders). Dominion's differing starting kingdom cards don't offer a tenth of the variety that random draws do in RFTG, and I like having the primary skill of the game being able to think on your feet and cobble together a strategy based on unique situations. But it does have the downside that some of those unique situations will be more favorable than others.
You're right that RFTG could use a whole lot more player interaction, though I think the same criticism is true of Dominion if to a lesser extent.
I would add Struggle of Empires to that list if you are able to locate a copy anywhere for a reasonable price. I was lucky to just recently and though I haven't gotten it to the table yet it's one of the few deep strategic games that not only support up to 7 players but even plays best with 6/7 players.
As for easy available games I would highly recommend 7 Wonders. It scales fantastically well from 3-7 players and even though it's not terribly deep it's tremendously enjoyable.
In any case look through some of the bgg tags covering 7 players;
http://boardgamegeek.com/tag/pl_bestwith_7
http://boardgamegeek.com/tag/7-player
As for easy available games I would highly recommend 7 Wonders. It scales fantastically well from 3-7 players and even though it's not terribly deep it's tremendously enjoyable.
In any case look through some of the bgg tags covering 7 players;
http://boardgamegeek.com/tag/pl_bestwith_7
http://boardgamegeek.com/tag/7-player
they are reallllly different games. maybe if you were comparing rftg to san juan or glory to rome. dominion really doesn't have that much interaction either though it gives the feel of interaction (which i guess is just as good for some purposes). even the attack cards are not direct interaction (i.e. they hypothetically affect everyone else equally) which was a conscious decision of the designer. puzzle strike is a good dominionlike that has more interaction. really the main "interaction" of the game is keeping an eye on the pace of others and who is racing for a finish, which is actually the exact same as rftgGiard said:
Another long gaming session for me on Friday.
Played Betrayal (heroes lost to a pretty damn hard haunt)
Middle Earth Quest (everything I expected, great game)
Cosmic Encounter (I absolutely love playing this game)
Diplomacy (shortened game--I was doing quite well with 7 supply centers)
Played Betrayal (heroes lost to a pretty damn hard haunt)
Middle Earth Quest (everything I expected, great game)
Cosmic Encounter (I absolutely love playing this game)
Diplomacy (shortened game--I was doing quite well with 7 supply centers)
BattleMonkey
Member
Just dumped the WoW board game and expansions at Goodwill lol. Fuck that game, was impossible to get rid of too.
Of my collection, Cosmic Encounter is the game I wish I could play more the most. I'm going to do my best to push it more in 2011.Mashing said:
I've never played it with less than 5. I have the Cosmic Incursion expansion and plan to get the new one that is coming out soon (if it hasn't already).
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I really need to get this game to the table.BattleMonkey said:
outunderthestars
Banned
total newbie with a question:
I am going to buy a good two player card game to give my girlfriend and I something to do while drinking at the pub. I am trying to decide between Battle Line and Lost Cities. Any suggestions or advice?
Also, how difficult is Magic: TG to get into? I noticed that there are weekly tournaments/games in town and thought it might help to meet new people, as I really only know two or three people here.
I am going to buy a good two player card game to give my girlfriend and I something to do while drinking at the pub. I am trying to decide between Battle Line and Lost Cities. Any suggestions or advice?
Also, how difficult is Magic: TG to get into? I noticed that there are weekly tournaments/games in town and thought it might help to meet new people, as I really only know two or three people here.
platypotamus
Member
outunderthestars said:total newbie with a question:
I am going to buy a good two player card game to give my girlfriend and I something to do while drinking at the pub. I am trying to decide between Battle Line and Lost Cities. Any suggestions or advice?
Also, how difficult is Magic: TG to get into? I noticed that there are weekly tournaments/games in town and thought it might help to meet new people, as I really only know two or three people here.
I hate to be the guy to throw a new suggestion out there when you've got it down to two, but you may also want to consider Jaipur. Quick and easy 2 player card game, and I like it much better than Lost Cities. I am not familiar with Battle Line.
I'm about 5 years out of the Magic loop, but I never considered it particularly newb friendly
outunderthestars
Banned
platypotamus said:
No, please throw out suggestions!
Why do you like it better? Is it something you can describe or do you just find yourself having more fun?(check the OP in case you haven't too for gf games)outunderthestars said:total newbie with a question:
I am going to buy a good two player card game to give my girlfriend and I something to do while drinking at the pub. I am trying to decide between Battle Line and Lost Cities. Any suggestions or advice?
Also, how difficult is Magic: TG to get into? I noticed that there are weekly tournaments/games in town and thought it might help to meet new people, as I really only know two or three people here.
I like Battle Line better but Lost Cities is also fun. Battle Line has a bit more depth but is slightly more dry while Lost Cities is tactically simpler and has a somewhat more interesting theme. Jaipur has an amazing theme and quality for a cheap card game and is quite fun, very luck-based but not entirely.
There is an M:TG thread in OT too. Honestly a big part of it is what kind of Magic you want to play. I think it's a pretty simple and mechanically decent though not fantastic game but the meta and CCG stuff can make it really complex and expensive if you want to go that route. What is tough about Magic vs. board games imo is that it's not something you can just bust out with non-gamers or even non-Magic people (you could water it down a lot or buy one of the premade sets but honestly you'd be better off just getting a better board/card game at that point). That ability is really important to me. Of course all the CCG stuff is what a lot of people are really into. I also like a lot of the art in Magic too.
outunderthestars
Banned
I'm going to go and order Lost Cities and Jaipur from my local game shop tomorrow.
I am really happy that this thread exists BTW. Thank you!
Has anyone played any good solo/solitaire card games?
Zombie in my pocket looks interesting
I am really happy that this thread exists BTW. Thank you!
Has anyone played any good solo/solitaire card games?
Zombie in my pocket looks interesting
outunderthestars said:I'm going to go and order Lost Cities and Jaipur from my local game shop tomorrow.
I am really happy that this thread exists BTW. Thank you!
Has anyone played any good solo/solitaire card games?
Zombie in my pocket looks interesting
I've played Dominion solo and I can tell you, that one isn't. Haha.
outunderthestars said:I'm going to go and order Lost Cities and Jaipur from my local game shop tomorrow.
I am really happy that this thread exists BTW. Thank you!
Has anyone played any good solo/solitaire card games?
Zombie in my pocket looks interesting
Battle Line, Lost Cities and Jaipur are all excellent (I find Jaipur to be the most colorful and fun, but probably think Battle Line is the best game of the three, with the most agonizing decisions). Some other good card game suggestions off the top of my head that would work for you would be Haggis, Slide 5, and Coloretto.
You might want to look into a simple dice game such as Pickomino, Zombie Dice or Roll Through the Ages for these purposes too. Maybe a travel abstract game would be nice too, such as the travel version of Ingenious or Blokus?
ZIMP is definitely fun, and there's a free print and play version. A nice, new solitaire card game that also doubles as a co-op 2 player game would be Onirim.
Had a nice game day. Started off with factory manager which is a nice way to warm up the brain.
Moved on to a go-like tower stacking game I forget the name of.
Then started up the heavy weights with endeavor. Nice worker placement euro with decent theme. Only lasts 7 rounds though, which feels too short, though with 5 players we had almost covered the board, so I guess the rounds were about right.
Moved to defenders of the realm. Much more thematic than pandemic, though there were little changes that seemed like they were done more to differentiate the game from pandemic than to improve gameplay. Looked at the expansion, almost a total revamping of the game.
Then palate cleansed with betrayal at the haunted house on the hill, or whatever it was. Didn't care for it much, though I did get to be the traitor and smash the house up. If mansions of madness plays like this I may rethink getting it.
Refreshed, I moved on to the old avalon hill Dune game. wOO, I can see why it is remade with such effort. Very cool, though our game ended way too early as the harkonen player got lucky with traitor leaders againt atraites and rushed two bases, winning in round 3. May have to make my own copy....
Finished th night with dice town. Pretty fun!
Moved on to a go-like tower stacking game I forget the name of.
Then started up the heavy weights with endeavor. Nice worker placement euro with decent theme. Only lasts 7 rounds though, which feels too short, though with 5 players we had almost covered the board, so I guess the rounds were about right.
Moved to defenders of the realm. Much more thematic than pandemic, though there were little changes that seemed like they were done more to differentiate the game from pandemic than to improve gameplay. Looked at the expansion, almost a total revamping of the game.
Then palate cleansed with betrayal at the haunted house on the hill, or whatever it was. Didn't care for it much, though I did get to be the traitor and smash the house up. If mansions of madness plays like this I may rethink getting it.
Refreshed, I moved on to the old avalon hill Dune game. wOO, I can see why it is remade with such effort. Very cool, though our game ended way too early as the harkonen player got lucky with traitor leaders againt atraites and rushed two bases, winning in round 3. May have to make my own copy....
Finished th night with dice town. Pretty fun!
outunderthestars
Banned
Unison said:
Thanks for the suggestions! I bought Onirim on Ebay just now. I will post a review/impressions on here when I have had a few days with the game.
platypotamus
Member
outunderthestars said:No, please throw out suggestions!
Honesrtly, it's been awhile since I played Lost Cities, and my memory of why I didn't get into it isn't super strong, so I don't think I can, really.
I will second Unison's suggestions for Ingenious or Blokus too though. Very easy to play at a pub, especially the travel versions.
Good game night tonight.
1 game of Perudo while we waited for everyone to make it.
Then we played Steel Driver (a Wallace train game) that I very much like. Came in a close 2nd.
Followed that with a game of bootleggers which is a fun little dice based prohibition game.
Then played a game of Carson City. I tried to run a no income all mountain/house strategy and came in last. Had I taken the colonel a few times and purchased guns I would have been in a very strong position at game end. I lost two duels that would have won me the game on the last turn.
Overall a very enjoyable game night, though several games I wanted to play didn't make it to the table.
1 game of Perudo while we waited for everyone to make it.
Then we played Steel Driver (a Wallace train game) that I very much like. Came in a close 2nd.
Followed that with a game of bootleggers which is a fun little dice based prohibition game.
Then played a game of Carson City. I tried to run a no income all mountain/house strategy and came in last. Had I taken the colonel a few times and purchased guns I would have been in a very strong position at game end. I lost two duels that would have won me the game on the last turn.
Overall a very enjoyable game night, though several games I wanted to play didn't make it to the table.
platypotamus
Member
Nice, Math trade netted me Red November and Game of Thrones. Not super excited about either, honestly, but cautiously optimistic about both, and each will get at least one more play than the games I traded away!
BattleMonkey
Member
Score, local shop had a copy of the War of the Ring expansion still, everywhere else is sold out and finding copies online is pretty tough with them going for $100+
Yea I couldn't get much for it as it's not really in demand and shipping it would be a pain as well as deterrent to most people buying it unless I would take a loss on the shipping. Got it back when I thought WoW was the greatest thing but thankfully I got over it big time, and the game just is pretty shitty. Gave it away, make room for a bunch of other nice board games instead.
StoOgE said:
Yea I couldn't get much for it as it's not really in demand and shipping it would be a pain as well as deterrent to most people buying it unless I would take a loss on the shipping. Got it back when I thought WoW was the greatest thing but thankfully I got over it big time, and the game just is pretty shitty. Gave it away, make room for a bunch of other nice board games instead.
Amibguous Cad
Member
So... much... Yomi...
I started playing with a friend last night at around 9:00, and every time I told myself I was going to stop, I had the urge to shuffle up for one more game. By the time my friend decided to call it quits, it was 1:30.
I'd love to have more players, but seeing the strategic matchup against one player over time was really cool. You've got the whole Princess Bride whose-got-the-poison in the cup thing going on, but multiplied by getting a read on the personality of the player. A typical internal monologue from the game, "he likes blocking in the first turn; he plays conservatively and wants to build up his hand for his super attacks. But he also hates losing a similar exchange several times in a row, and the last few games started with my throwing his block. Now's around the time when he usually changes his strategy. Then again, he's swapped to a character that really wants to block on the first turn, but on the other hand, he almost never plays the obvious move."
I know all that seems entirely too recursive and random, but there really is skill in it. At least, if there weren't, my friend couldn't beat me in 9 out of 10 games
I started playing with a friend last night at around 9:00, and every time I told myself I was going to stop, I had the urge to shuffle up for one more game. By the time my friend decided to call it quits, it was 1:30.
I'd love to have more players, but seeing the strategic matchup against one player over time was really cool. You've got the whole Princess Bride whose-got-the-poison in the cup thing going on, but multiplied by getting a read on the personality of the player. A typical internal monologue from the game, "he likes blocking in the first turn; he plays conservatively and wants to build up his hand for his super attacks. But he also hates losing a similar exchange several times in a row, and the last few games started with my throwing his block. Now's around the time when he usually changes his strategy. Then again, he's swapped to a character that really wants to block on the first turn, but on the other hand, he almost never plays the obvious move."
I know all that seems entirely too recursive and random, but there really is skill in it. At least, if there weren't, my friend couldn't beat me in 9 out of 10 games
Boardgame night last night.
Couple of the regulars showed up early to learn Dominion... got in two two-player games before the big crowd arrived. When the crowd arrived it did turn out I had seven players and they all wanted to play Dominion. So what did I do? Improvise!
So here's my spur of the moment, improvised seven player Dominion variant:
Ended up working just fine and everyone really liked it. Once folks were comfortable with the mechanics, the game still played quick and we finished in about 45 minutes. Bureaucrats and Mines were early strong cards that became just about useless later on as the Silver pile was the first to run out. Militias caused lots of groans and evil eyes... especially from my wife.
In the end, the Gardens ended up being the key to the winners strategy as he racked up six! of them with a deck of 30 cards (for 18 points in addition to the rest of his VPs). I didn't pick up on the fact that a Garden is a better buy than a Duchy if you have 30 cards in your hand until it was too late.
After that we went to Battlestar Galactica with six players. No humans in first phase, Sympathizer went Cylon at halfway point and then me (Helo) and Admiral Adama ended up being the hidden Cylons. Humans had a HUGE padded lead at the halfway point and I didn't think we could do much to stop them from winning... but thanks to Boomer being human and staying in the Brig the entire second half of the game and us getting lucky with back to back to back Cylon fleet attack crisis cards, we actually got the game to within 1 Morale loss for a win before the humans made their final jump to victory. Almost the greatest comeback of all time!
BSG and Dominion are huge hits with my group. I'll be expanding both of them in my next large CoolStuffInc purchase in early April (Pegasus and probably Intrigue or Prosperity).
Couple of the regulars showed up early to learn Dominion... got in two two-player games before the big crowd arrived. When the crowd arrived it did turn out I had seven players and they all wanted to play Dominion. So what did I do? Improvise!
So here's my spur of the moment, improvised seven player Dominion variant:
- Trade one of each players starting coppers with a silver
- Add five more stacks of Kingdom cards
- End Condition 1: Province AND Duchy stacks are exhausted
- End Condition 2: Any five stacks are exhausted
Ended up working just fine and everyone really liked it. Once folks were comfortable with the mechanics, the game still played quick and we finished in about 45 minutes. Bureaucrats and Mines were early strong cards that became just about useless later on as the Silver pile was the first to run out. Militias caused lots of groans and evil eyes... especially from my wife.
In the end, the Gardens ended up being the key to the winners strategy as he racked up six! of them with a deck of 30 cards (for 18 points in addition to the rest of his VPs). I didn't pick up on the fact that a Garden is a better buy than a Duchy if you have 30 cards in your hand until it was too late.
After that we went to Battlestar Galactica with six players. No humans in first phase, Sympathizer went Cylon at halfway point and then me (Helo) and Admiral Adama ended up being the hidden Cylons. Humans had a HUGE padded lead at the halfway point and I didn't think we could do much to stop them from winning... but thanks to Boomer being human and staying in the Brig the entire second half of the game and us getting lucky with back to back to back Cylon fleet attack crisis cards, we actually got the game to within 1 Morale loss for a win before the humans made their final jump to victory. Almost the greatest comeback of all time!
BSG and Dominion are huge hits with my group. I'll be expanding both of them in my next large CoolStuffInc purchase in early April (Pegasus and probably Intrigue or Prosperity).
When Exodus came out I finally dusted off the Pegasus expansion I had but never used (except for the plastic basestars) and integrated both sets into the base. I just really like having all those options to play with so you can mix and match and cater the experience. And I find I like the Pegasus board. We still haven't tried New Caprica, but we will one of these days, mostly out of curiosity.Neverfade said:As the resident BSG freak, just go to Exodus. Not to say you should NEVER get Pegasus, but its vastly inferior and the only components we even use these days are the characters, treachery cards, and plastic basestars.
Also, Seaside.
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