Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I'm up for Campaign Manager 2008. Never played before but I just quickly read the rules. Username stump on Yucata.
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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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cool sent you an invite stump
for people who are looking for gaffers to play on yucata, here is my complete list as of now. i'll add to the OP:
Artadius
carno
Choodi
JeremyH
joeyjoeshabadoo
Mashing
platypotamus
Seth
StoOgE
stump
Triphibian
one thing i ran into this weekend is that spamming these online games can really give you an unfair edge. i consider myself a decent if whimsical dominion player who pretty much splits wins with others in my group (which is nice b/c usually i'm the teacher so i have an edge at most games) but after playing a ton on isotropic i was just wrecking people this weekend. totally unfair
for people who are looking for gaffers to play on yucata, here is my complete list as of now. i'll add to the OP:
Artadius
carno
Choodi
JeremyH
joeyjoeshabadoo
Mashing
platypotamus
Seth
StoOgE
stump
Triphibian
yeah you definitely won't have trouble with this then. the deck-building mechanic is neat though. like in one game yesterday i went for a super-negative campaign with mccain and then a super-positive campaign with obama. it's all very abstract but i like it a lot more on yucata than i did on tabletop where i thought it was too simplisticStoOgE said:
one thing i ran into this weekend is that spamming these online games can really give you an unfair edge. i consider myself a decent if whimsical dominion player who pretty much splits wins with others in my group (which is nice b/c usually i'm the teacher so i have an edge at most games) but after playing a ton on isotropic i was just wrecking people this weekend. totally unfair
So this was my 'off' week for boardgame night since we meet every other week. BUT I did get together with some friends online Saturday night and we played Battlestar Galactica on VASSAL.
I have to say, I know VASSAL gets some heat because its interface is very user unfriendly and the quality of the mod itself helps determine how good the experience is. We did a five player game of BSG and also all connected to our Vent server for voice during the game.
It went flawlessly. I had been using it for my PbP games so I was already familiar with the interface so teaching folks how to use the module was pretty easy. Once everyone was comfortable with it, we proceeded to play a great game of BSG over the web with a virtual board
I've downloaded some of the other modules and will be trying them out as well. Its a great program for live over the web gaming.
I have to say, I know VASSAL gets some heat because its interface is very user unfriendly and the quality of the mod itself helps determine how good the experience is. We did a five player game of BSG and also all connected to our Vent server for voice during the game.
It went flawlessly. I had been using it for my PbP games so I was already familiar with the interface so teaching folks how to use the module was pretty easy. Once everyone was comfortable with it, we proceeded to play a great game of BSG over the web with a virtual board
I've downloaded some of the other modules and will be trying them out as well. Its a great program for live over the web gaming.
StoOgE said:
Thanks for the advice Stooge (and everyone else). I have a bunch of Amazon credit and Stone Age is $33 there, so I'll probably be nabbing it soon.
I don't need anything to be *especially* light, at this point. I wouldn't consider Alhambra light, and we're both 100% comfortable with it. In fact, I bought Forbidden Island a couple weeks ago to have something co-op, and it might be a little *too* simple. Pandemic might have been a better choice.
You're right about area control, though. Maybe Small World next, since that's one I a familiar with.
AstroLad said:
agreed. You are solidly in the "medium" weight category right now. I tend to call medium games light games and light games filler. So my rankings go Filler -> Light -> Heavy -> -> Martin Wallace migrane games (I've gotten a headache about 4 times from Wallace games).
One of the things you can do on BGG is to do an advanced search and one of the categories you can search under is "game weight". 1-2 is typically a "light" game. 2-3.5 is a medium weight game, and above 3.5 is going to be getting into the heavier stuff. That could be a good way of determining where to go from here. You can see what the weight ranking is of your harder games and see where new games compare on the difficulty scale to what you have.
These games are all on the same weight as say Allhambra.
I don't think you can go wrong with Stone Age based on what I've seen of it.
One thing I would also say is that the "medium" games aren't necessarly "easier" than the "heavy" games. A lot of times the medium games are just much more elegant. Tikal is an amazingly deep game of area influence, but the rules are just elegant and very easy to explain. I would say the same is true of Carcassonne. It's an amazingly deep game with very simple rules.
Played Tammany Hall and Indonesia this weekend.
1st things first. Tammany Hall is a fucking brutal game. It's a good game though. The mechanics are incredibly light, but the strategy behind the mechanics are very deep. I love how no one wants to be the mayor (even though you get VPs for it) because you get fucked in the ass by the other offices that the MAYOR has to pick to give to the other players. All of the offices seem to be incredibly useful, which is good to see. usually there there roles that are better than others, but in this game they all seem well balanced. I came 3rd.
Indonesia on the other hand is even MORE brutal. I came in dead last. It was three novices against one other who had played before (and was one of his favorite games). He ended up owning all of the boating companies and pretty much crushed us (he was $1000 up on the next closet player). I can't go into depth what makes this game so brutal, but anyone who has played it would definitely agree.
1st things first. Tammany Hall is a fucking brutal game. It's a good game though. The mechanics are incredibly light, but the strategy behind the mechanics are very deep. I love how no one wants to be the mayor (even though you get VPs for it) because you get fucked in the ass by the other offices that the MAYOR has to pick to give to the other players. All of the offices seem to be incredibly useful, which is good to see. usually there there roles that are better than others, but in this game they all seem well balanced. I came 3rd.
Indonesia on the other hand is even MORE brutal. I came in dead last. It was three novices against one other who had played before (and was one of his favorite games). He ended up owning all of the boating companies and pretty much crushed us (he was $1000 up on the next closet player). I can't go into depth what makes this game so brutal, but anyone who has played it would definitely agree.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I can't shake the feeling I'm getting worked in my Campaign Manager game with astrolad but the game is really good. 160 lite is pretty much what this is. I do miss some of the more in depth aspects of 1960 but this is just as fun.
it is soooo fun on yucata. in the tabletop game you have to fiddle around with the states a bunch (they are individual large cardboard cards) and the scoring track is fussy but the game was just made for yucata. really awesome implementation. so glad to see that someone has taken the lead in terms of providing free pbem-style board games to an english-speaking audiencejoeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
And it actually works unlike BSW.AstroLad said:
Mashing said:
The game is extremely brutal. It is definitely a game you don't want to play with people who get their feelings hurt easily, and yes it is extremely deep. You need to think 3-4 moves ahead to make sure that you aren't fighting over a district that you are going to wind up losing no matter what. Then it has all of the deal making and backstabbing that a game of Diplomacy has. It really is just a culmination of the most brutal game play mechanics into a 60 minute package.
You can win with mayor. It's hard, but can be done. You want to win the mayor early and obviously at the end of the game. The 2nd and 3rd elections are where the race to the bottom really happens. I've had success winning the first election and jumping out to a big lead. Then I saved my favor chips up and let the other players catch me.. and in the last round I had mountains of favor chips and nothing anyone could do to stop me from taking a landslide.
The real key to the game is to win as many bonus favor chips at the end of each election.
You also need to make sure you are diversified in your favor chips, otherwise some of the offices will move that immigrant group out of an area on you.
favor chips are king. Bosses are important, but make sure you own the favor chips, especially in the last round.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
AL whooped me in Campaign Manager; one thing I've noticed about the game so far is that the cards you choose in the drafting phase are absolutely everything. After briefly skimming the rules, I figured the demographic cards would be seriously powerful and the draw cards pretty useless, but in fact it's the opposite. I faced a lot of turns where I had several demographic cards, but no tabled states had that demographic, and lacking draw cards I was forced to tediously draw one by one.
I think I got punked, because looking at the state cards I was thinking "woah, this undecided card can flip four or five support dots in a single state, awesome" but there are enough demographics listed that there's rarely going to be the demographic playing when you want it.
BGG seems to suggest card-draw heavy decks are the way to go as well.
I think I got punked, because looking at the state cards I was thinking "woah, this undecided card can flip four or five support dots in a single state, awesome" but there are enough demographics listed that there's rarely going to be the demographic playing when you want it.
BGG seems to suggest card-draw heavy decks are the way to go as well.
CHEATER!Stumpokapow said:
Yeah when I am Obama I like to focus on economy and McCain I like to go negative and have a mix. You can catch Obama off-guard because it seems like McCain has a solid amount of economy cards vs. Obama's few military cards. Targetting demos can be hugely successful, especially if you win a couple of early states, but it's very risky. Even hitting on one demo card and flipping two undecideds in the majority issues to your side is an awesome play when you consider that usually this costs a card + two discards + going negative roll. This can also work I think against a card-draw heavy player who is just letting undecideds sit while he piles up cards. The big question is how often you will get this hit in a game.
I say this like I'm an expert even though I only played the game twice before yucata so take it fwiw hahah.
AstroLad said:
StoOgE said:
You should check out the Twilight Struggle module for VASSAL then. A friend of mine taught me the game via it over the weekend and it is extremely well done in that almost everything is automated (scoring, flipping control, coup rolls, etc..)
I would only know how to do it live though. VASSAL supports PBEM...but I haven't tested it myself yet and I know it doesn't work correctly for some modules (not sure about TS).
Playing live TS on there is flawless though.
platypotamus
Member
So last night I played Founding Fathers, a game that I'd been sort of wanting to play ever since Flynn posted about it ages ago. I read the rules twice before trying to teach everyone, and as I told them when I started, "I have a great understanding of the actual mechanics of this game, but absolutely no idea what the strategy is. No clue how this is going to actually play, or how to win it."
About halfway through, I still had no clue. After it was over, I had a little clue, but still not much. Three main ways to score: 1. Be on the winning side of the vote for a particular article of the constitution. 2. Have the most "losers" (from voting) in the committee room to determine which version of the other article passes. 3. End of game bonus for having debated the most for a given faction, with the bonus being relative to how well they did in getting a constitution biased towards their ideology.
I kind of tried to be an anti-federalist small state guy, just because that was how my first couple hands of delegates seemed to lead. I am not sure how beneficial it is to actually favor any particular factions in the end though, I think I needed to diversify and get points from everyone? I don't know, I really don't. Want to play again though.
You have chosen well again. Do it.
I think I had a poor grasp of the game when I set up my deck for our first one, and did an absolutely awful job of guessing the value of cards. Hopefully this next one goes better.
I see stump had the same experience.
About halfway through, I still had no clue. After it was over, I had a little clue, but still not much. Three main ways to score: 1. Be on the winning side of the vote for a particular article of the constitution. 2. Have the most "losers" (from voting) in the committee room to determine which version of the other article passes. 3. End of game bonus for having debated the most for a given faction, with the bonus being relative to how well they did in getting a constitution biased towards their ideology.
I kind of tried to be an anti-federalist small state guy, just because that was how my first couple hands of delegates seemed to lead. I am not sure how beneficial it is to actually favor any particular factions in the end though, I think I needed to diversify and get points from everyone? I don't know, I really don't. Want to play again though.
GDJustin said:
You have chosen well again. Do it.
AstroLad said:
I think I had a poor grasp of the game when I set up my deck for our first one, and did an absolutely awful job of guessing the value of cards. Hopefully this next one goes better.
I see stump had the same experience.
UpperCaseN
Member
YakiSOBA said:
omg yeah. I haven't tried any of the expansions though. I think part of the beauty of the game is how incredibly easy it is to learn, I'm worried the expansions will make it too advanced or cluttered but I wouldn't know
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Anybody up for a game of Campaign Manager?
platypotamus
Member
Mashing said:
Yeah, the trick with the game (and not something I get right all the time by any means) is figuring out when you'll get the best deal on a given type of chip. I was pretty sure AstroLad was working to collect reds, and I was pretty sure I could end up with more reds than him, so I went after them too and held onto them until the end.
I actually almost completed the green(? colorblind, look green to me) building instead on the last turn, but didn't think it'd work out as well.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
Sending invite now
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Accepted.platypotamus said:
I am greatly enjoying campaign manager. I could see the real game being a bit fidly in set up.. but it doesn't seem all that much lighter than 1960 to me.
If anything it keeps the game from devolving into a back and forth over 2-3 states that the game can sometimes devolve into.
The smaller "deck building" hand also means that you will know what cards are coming up and be able to build a cohesive strategy instead of figuring out your best move on the fly.
Not to say this is better than 1960, but it has certain strengths in it's elegance.
The theme is obviously much weaker without the giant map to bounce around and more historical info on the cards. It seems to really lean on the "Hey this just happened, I don't need to explain what event I'm talking about". It means the game will be much less accessible to new audiences in 20 years than 1960 is now.
That said, I could see them easily cranking a new version of this out every 4 years.
It's going to be hard for this game not to find it's way in my collection soon. The combination of good mechanics and me being a political junkie make it a no brainer.
If anything it keeps the game from devolving into a back and forth over 2-3 states that the game can sometimes devolve into.
The smaller "deck building" hand also means that you will know what cards are coming up and be able to build a cohesive strategy instead of figuring out your best move on the fly.
Not to say this is better than 1960, but it has certain strengths in it's elegance.
The theme is obviously much weaker without the giant map to bounce around and more historical info on the cards. It seems to really lean on the "Hey this just happened, I don't need to explain what event I'm talking about". It means the game will be much less accessible to new audiences in 20 years than 1960 is now.
That said, I could see them easily cranking a new version of this out every 4 years.
It's going to be hard for this game not to find it's way in my collection soon. The combination of good mechanics and me being a political junkie make it a no brainer.
StoOgE said:
It thoroughly replaced 1960 for me. It's more elegant & more condensed. I don't think the board game is as fiddly as Astrolad makes out, but each to their own
It's quick & easy to bang out a game in 30-40 minutes once you know the cards. I've played it a bunch with a buddy & have yet to find "one true deck" though getting card draw is definitely an advantage, you still need to have cards in your deck to allow you to do stuff at the key moments & sometimes the draft draw just doesn't let you do that.So, I have a question about Finca.
I thought you got a number of a certain fruit based on the number of spaces you moved on the windmill. I moves 7 spaces and landed on whatever the brown one is and only got 1 item. I got two donkey carts for my trouble, but only 1 fruit for the big move.
I thought you got a number of a certain fruit based on the number of spaces you moved on the windmill. I moves 7 spaces and landed on whatever the brown one is and only got 1 item. I got two donkey carts for my trouble, but only 1 fruit for the big move.
AstroLad said:
That I knew. For some reason I thought you got a number of fruit based on the number of spaces you moved. Now I see it's based on the number of farmers on the blade that you land on.
So 3 farmers + your guy getting there = 4 of whatever fruit.
biggyfries
Member
FYI, selling my Ideology and Campaign Manger 2008 games. check out the Buy/Sell/Trade thread if you're interested.
AstroLad said:
I was around. Must have just been in a game at the time or something. Still around now as well.
So are all the event cards in Campaign manager harmful to McCain or just 80% of them? Seriously, every time I won a state I had to shift something toward Economy or discard cards.
Tourney Schedule for PAX East got posted. These tourneys were lots of fun last year.
Board Games:
Dominion
Munchkin
Small World
Puerto Rico
Race For The Galaxy
Robo Rally
Carcassonne
Ticket to Ride
http://east.paxsite.com/Tourney_Schedule.pdf
Definitely going to try to play in the RftG, RoboRally, and Carc tourneys.
Board Games:
Dominion
Munchkin
Small World
Puerto Rico
Race For The Galaxy
Robo Rally
Carcassonne
Ticket to Ride
http://east.paxsite.com/Tourney_Schedule.pdf
Definitely going to try to play in the RftG, RoboRally, and Carc tourneys.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
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