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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
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I don't want to be that guy that is "OMG best game ever" after a single play..
But Master of Economy.. OMG BEST GAME EVER.
It is the most accurate representation of the economy and stock market I've ever seen in a game. It is more limiting in a number of ways (timing of buys and sells of stock, how much stock you can buy at any point in time).
I almost won, but my problem was I was flipping shares of stock quickly without realizing that by being limited to a single sell and buy per turn I was leaving a lot of my money out of the market where the smarter play was to leave it invested and wait for it to appreciate more. Almost a forced buy and hold strategy.. which may have been intentional to keep people from day trading the game :jnk
But Master of Economy.. OMG BEST GAME EVER.
It is the most accurate representation of the economy and stock market I've ever seen in a game. It is more limiting in a number of ways (timing of buys and sells of stock, how much stock you can buy at any point in time).
I almost won, but my problem was I was flipping shares of stock quickly without realizing that by being limited to a single sell and buy per turn I was leaving a lot of my money out of the market where the smarter play was to leave it invested and wait for it to appreciate more. Almost a forced buy and hold strategy.. which may have been intentional to keep people from day trading the game :jnk
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Played Power Grid tonight with my weekly boardgame group. I ended up in dead last but its been awhile since I've played. The beginning of the game is enjoyable but by the end it devolves into "Math the Boardgame". At the end of the game, turns were taking forever as people were trying to calculate the best routes. Close to three hours later we finished up.
hey you flaked last year -- payback!Neverfade said:Soooooo... How about we get a list of who all is going to PAX, and what they may be bringing!
I'm definitely bringing BSG. C'moooon Astro, don't flake! I must destroy you!
but yeah it'll really suck if i can't make it. had a lot of fun last year. fingers crossed although it's looking dcey
I played Steve Jackson's "Revolution!" for the first time on Thursday. I wasn't expecting much considering the other Steve Jackson games I've already played, but it was actually really good. It's a blind bidding game with three types of currency: Gold, Blackmail and Force. Force always beats everything, Blackmail always beats gold. Each player starts out with 3 Gold, 1 Blackmail and 1 Force.
Each turn you're bidding on getting one of twelve different people to help you. There are some people that can't be blackmailed some that can't be forced and some that can only be bought with gold. Once everyone's finished bidding everyone reveals their bids simultaneously and the characters are resolved from left to right. Anyone who wins a bid on a character takes those actions. Most characters will give support (victory points) and allow you to place a cube on the board in a specific area of the kingdom. Some will also get you more of the higher currency for the next round. Any tie high bids yield nothing for anyone and Whether or not you win a bid whatever you bid goes back to the supply. Anyone with less than 5 total currency at the beginning of the round gets enough gold to give them 5.
Each building on the board has a number of spaces where each player can place their cubes. Whoever has the plurality or cubes in a building at the end of the game will receive points for it. Just like with bidding, if there is a tie no one gets anything. The game ends when all of the spaces on the board are filled with cubes.
In our game there was a pretty wild swing in points at the end. Guy A would have beaten Guy B if he'd ended the game on one turn, but he didn't. Then on the next turn Guy B ended the game and won by more than 100 points. I doubt that sort of thing is normal though. The game belonged to Guy B and the rest of us were playing for the first time.
Each turn you're bidding on getting one of twelve different people to help you. There are some people that can't be blackmailed some that can't be forced and some that can only be bought with gold. Once everyone's finished bidding everyone reveals their bids simultaneously and the characters are resolved from left to right. Anyone who wins a bid on a character takes those actions. Most characters will give support (victory points) and allow you to place a cube on the board in a specific area of the kingdom. Some will also get you more of the higher currency for the next round. Any tie high bids yield nothing for anyone and Whether or not you win a bid whatever you bid goes back to the supply. Anyone with less than 5 total currency at the beginning of the round gets enough gold to give them 5.
Each building on the board has a number of spaces where each player can place their cubes. Whoever has the plurality or cubes in a building at the end of the game will receive points for it. Just like with bidding, if there is a tie no one gets anything. The game ends when all of the spaces on the board are filled with cubes.
In our game there was a pretty wild swing in points at the end. Guy A would have beaten Guy B if he'd ended the game on one turn, but he didn't. Then on the next turn Guy B ended the game and won by more than 100 points. I doubt that sort of thing is normal though. The game belonged to Guy B and the rest of us were playing for the first time.
Mr. Lemming
Member
Neverfade said:Soooooo... How about we get a list of who all is going to PAX, and what they may be bringing!
I'm definitely bringing BSG. C'moooon Astro, don't flake! I must destroy you!
I'll be going to PAX. Arriving Thursday. Would love to play BSG... I've owned it for a considerable length of time and other than one aborted attempt I have not gotten to play it.
Considering bringing the Fantasy Flight version of Cosmic Encounter. I have both expansions so it supports up to 7 players. The weight is making me apprehensive about bringing it though. Also almost definitely bringing Saboteur, its a card game for up to 10 players and I'm crossing my fingers Z-Man will have the expansion for it for sale since it is coming out soon.
Neverfade said:Soooooo... How about we get a list of who all is going to PAX, and what they may be bringing!
I'm definitely bringing BSG. C'moooon Astro, don't flake! I must destroy you!
I'm going as well, as I've already posted. Not quite sure exactly what I'll bring, but I'll bring several games. Mansions of Madness seems like a no-brainer.
I'd certainly be up for playing BSG. I haven't had the chance to play yet, even though I own it (got it during a Borders sale months ago).
I'm arriving on Thurs. night and leaving Sunday night. I don't have much planned thus far, so I should probably be available for gaming throughout the weekend.
Another good bidding game I'd recommend is Modern Art.schnell said:
So, on the advice of one of my gaming group I bought Alea Iacta Est (The die is cast) which is a lighter version of Kingsburg that playes in 30-60 minutes.
I was at the nerd imporium looking at Kingsburg when he walked in and asked what I was looking for and I explained a medium-light game with quick play time and simple rules. He walked over to the discount aisle, grabbed this one and told me not to even think twice.
Bought it, got home unboxed it.. watched a couple videos and it really seems like a blast of a game. From what I've seen of Kingsburg it does seem like Kingsburg with a simpler building tree.
I was at the nerd imporium looking at Kingsburg when he walked in and asked what I was looking for and I explained a medium-light game with quick play time and simple rules. He walked over to the discount aisle, grabbed this one and told me not to even think twice.
Bought it, got home unboxed it.. watched a couple videos and it really seems like a blast of a game. From what I've seen of Kingsburg it does seem like Kingsburg with a simpler building tree.
Got Mansions of Madness to the table for the first time today... Because I knew the rules best, I played the Keeper, which is really not the role that I want to be playing in a game like this. I would rather see players succeed and uncover the story than actively antagonize them. I still had a reasonably good time.
I really think the design is pretty clever. There's far more story in the game than in, say, Arkham, which is cool (though maybe this inhibits replayability). The investigators ended up losing in the first scenario because they ran out of time, basically, even though I wasn't being as mean as possible (using moves that moved players against their will, etc). Due to combat / the time limit, it feels like the game might be tough for the investigators to win every time, even if you're familiar with the scenario, but maybe that's not the case.
The overall game seems very streamlined. The puzzles are neat (got to see all three types). The combat doesn't over power the exploration. It seems like solid stuff, which will only be improved w/ more expansions.
The game, which was a learning game for all involved, took about 2 1/2 hours. The worst part of this was the set-up which was cumbersome for the first play... Future plays will help, I'm sure, but it's going to still take a good 10-20 minutes every play.
I really think the design is pretty clever. There's far more story in the game than in, say, Arkham, which is cool (though maybe this inhibits replayability). The investigators ended up losing in the first scenario because they ran out of time, basically, even though I wasn't being as mean as possible (using moves that moved players against their will, etc). Due to combat / the time limit, it feels like the game might be tough for the investigators to win every time, even if you're familiar with the scenario, but maybe that's not the case.
The overall game seems very streamlined. The puzzles are neat (got to see all three types). The combat doesn't over power the exploration. It seems like solid stuff, which will only be improved w/ more expansions.
The game, which was a learning game for all involved, took about 2 1/2 hours. The worst part of this was the set-up which was cumbersome for the first play... Future plays will help, I'm sure, but it's going to still take a good 10-20 minutes every play.
Screaming_Gremlin
My QB is a Dick and my coach is a Nutt
Unison said:
Yup, I should be getting mine on Monday or Tuesday. Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to play it until I get back from PAX. This week my group is just going to mess around with Ticket to Ride with the new Alvin and Dexter expansion.
I few weeks ago I played Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead for the first time. I enjoyed it a lot. The game is chaotic as hell. I realized pretty quickly that my initial idea of trying to control the starting zombies with military units was a bad one. You get a good sinking feeling as you see your population plummeting and the zombie horde starts to get out of control. Thankfully, everyone else I played it with was just as new as I was so they faced the same issues. I switched courses to start pushing the different population control techs. It wasn't pretty, but I did pull off a victory based on having the highest population when another faction was killed. It made me more happy knowing that he died partially due to me funneling a ton of zombies into the area of his nation that he was trying to protect for resources.
I also played Fury of Dracula for the first time on Wednesday. Another game I really enjoyed. Since I am stuck reading the rules for our group, I played as Dracula. I got a really good early start when I was able to mature a vampire early and when due to some lucky rolling killed one of the hunters with one Dracula's agents. Unfortunately I fucked up when they cornered me in Spain and I made an illegal move when I assumed there was a road between two cities that didn't actually exist. I took the health hit, but what really hurt was having to give up my exact location. Luckily I got an event card which let me move to a location of my choosing. I then got the final vampires I needed by ambushing one of the hunters in Eastern Europe at night. Really fun game and I like how easy it is to customize the difficulty based on how good your Dracula player is.
Edit - Whoops, hit enter too early.
Beyond that I played a few games of Arkham Horror today. We had a ridiculously long game using both the Dunwich Horror expansion combined with Lurker at the Threshold expansion. We were making awesome progress, just to lose control midway through the game. Somehow we managed to regain some momentum and pulled out a crazy victory (based on some very lucky portal locations) that set a new point record for us. We started a second game using only the King in Yellow expansion, but ran out of time. probably wouldn't have mattered since we were well on our way to losing.
I bought a copy of Tammany Hall and hope to play it in a few weeks as well. I'll probably also try a new game out at PAX as well. I would love to meet up with some of the GAF people there, but I am going with three of my friends and probably won't ever have time.
platypotamus
Member
Played a game of Innovation four player today, finally. Very different, a little bit slower than I thought (maybe because it was a learning game), but still very awesome.
UpperCaseN
Member
Had an impromptu gaming session on Sat, this was the first time in a while we only had 4 players. Introduced Forbidden Island to this group; we beat it way too easily, the waters rise meter was only in the 3 area when we won. I was worried they'd think it was too easy, but I let them know we played at the Novice level and that there's extra board setups. They were really into it and for such a bite size game, it was perfect for warm-up.
We then went into Catan, all of us having played it before except for 1. Was an odd game where materials produced were all over the place, quite possibly the longest game I've ever played including 6 player games. There were only 3 cards left in the Development card deck at the end.
Lastly we went onto some party game I've never heard of, called "The Game of Things." It's like the definition part of Balderdash, where someone reads off a card, then everybody writes down a response for it. After that, the reader reads everyone's responses and you have to guess who said what. The trick is to write something that someone else playing would be likely to say, to throw other guessers off. With only 4 players, it was way too easy to use process of elimination after a guess or two. I think the game is meant for much larger groups, but it was fun seeing the ridiculous responses people came up with. I wouldn't recommend this one, though.
We then went into Catan, all of us having played it before except for 1. Was an odd game where materials produced were all over the place, quite possibly the longest game I've ever played including 6 player games. There were only 3 cards left in the Development card deck at the end.
Lastly we went onto some party game I've never heard of, called "The Game of Things." It's like the definition part of Balderdash, where someone reads off a card, then everybody writes down a response for it. After that, the reader reads everyone's responses and you have to guess who said what. The trick is to write something that someone else playing would be likely to say, to throw other guessers off. With only 4 players, it was way too easy to use process of elimination after a guess or two. I think the game is meant for much larger groups, but it was fun seeing the ridiculous responses people came up with. I wouldn't recommend this one, though.
BomberMouse
Member
Went to a local meeting on a bar on saturday, got to play Tikal and half a game of St Petersburg, I hate to be that guy but I had to leave midgame, went with my wife and she suffers from renal calculus disease and wasn't feeling well.
Anyway, really liked Tikal while theme is crearly pasted on, it still works quite well. Same with Ste Petersburg i always though it was ugly as hell while looking at pictures but the real pieces are not half bad. Now I have tikal (or maybe tikal II) on my wishlist
Anyway, really liked Tikal while theme is crearly pasted on, it still works quite well. Same with Ste Petersburg i always though it was ugly as hell while looking at pictures but the real pieces are not half bad. Now I have tikal (or maybe tikal II) on my wishlist
UpperCaseN
Member
Chairhome said:
same here for me
I picked up Survive:Escape from Atlantis. Pretty cool game, nice bits! Pretty simple to play, so it is more of a beer and pretzels game. Lots of backstabbing going on.
Got a game called Glen More. Basically building up a scottish farm. Haven't played it yet but it seems like it might scratch that 60 minute itch. Has aspects of tile laying and worker placement (pretty original mechanic for this). Hope to get it to the table this weekend.
Along with Merchants and Marauders. Played Pirates Cove a few weeks back and it definitely stoked my pirate game desire. M&M looks to be a more complex version of that game.
Heard about a game called Zombie Survival from Twilight Creations. You basically stock up for the zombie apocalypse then try to survive as long as you can, screwing over your neighbors in the process. Anyone tried it?
Got a game called Glen More. Basically building up a scottish farm. Haven't played it yet but it seems like it might scratch that 60 minute itch. Has aspects of tile laying and worker placement (pretty original mechanic for this). Hope to get it to the table this weekend.
Along with Merchants and Marauders. Played Pirates Cove a few weeks back and it definitely stoked my pirate game desire. M&M looks to be a more complex version of that game.
Heard about a game called Zombie Survival from Twilight Creations. You basically stock up for the zombie apocalypse then try to survive as long as you can, screwing over your neighbors in the process. Anyone tried it?
I decided that I would bring the games that I could fit into this wheeled plastic crate to PAX. Turns out that you can fit a lot of games into a little crate, especially if you put games inside the empty space of other game boxes...
Into this storage crate, I've fit the following:
7 Wonders
Castle of the Devil
Citadels
Coloretto
Dixit
For Sale
Founding Fathers
Glen More
Gloom
Halli Galli
Hansa
High Society
Incan Gold
Jungle Speed
Mansions of Madness
Money
Mr Jack Pocket
No Thanks!
Pickomino
Pit
Rattus
Revolution
Saboteur
Slide 5
Stone Age
Summoner Wars
The Resistance
Ultimate Werewolf
Zombie Dice
I might swap a few of these out, especially if the order that I'm expecting this week shows up, but that looks roughly like what I'll bring along.
Into this storage crate, I've fit the following:
7 Wonders
Castle of the Devil
Citadels
Coloretto
Dixit
For Sale
Founding Fathers
Glen More
Gloom
Halli Galli
Hansa
High Society
Incan Gold
Jungle Speed
Mansions of Madness
Money
Mr Jack Pocket
No Thanks!
Pickomino
Pit
Rattus
Revolution
Saboteur
Slide 5
Stone Age
Summoner Wars
The Resistance
Ultimate Werewolf
Zombie Dice
I might swap a few of these out, especially if the order that I'm expecting this week shows up, but that looks roughly like what I'll bring along.
Doublethink
Banned
I managed to trade Castle Ravenloft for Agricola over at BGG. I just finished playing two single player, family games and wow. This game is a lot of fun and I can't wait to try out the full game and with more people. Both games I ended up scoring in the negative 90s so here's hoping the occupation and minor improvements help me out. How is the Farmers of the Moor expansion and which of the expansion decks should I get?
I also went ahead an ordered a set of animeeples. They're just so much better than the cubes.
I also went ahead an ordered a set of animeeples. They're just so much better than the cubes.
BomberMouse
Member
Doublethink said:
Was something particulary wrong with castle ravenloft?
BattleMonkey
Member
BomberMouse said:
I thought the enemy spawn system was complete crap and really hurt the overall game. Basically any time you spawn a monster, they immediatly also get to hit a hero character and their stats are so bloated that they can hit pretty much any PC easily. Basically the game punishes you for exploring which is the point of the game. You are pretty much always going to take damage as you move forward and the game becomes all about managing your parties life bars as you try to stay alive long enough to reach end of the scenario.
BomberMouse
Member
Just a heads up, Wabash Cannonball (Chicago Express) for the iOS is on sale at $1.99. I hope it's good.
Hmmmm that doesn't sound even possible scoring-wise. Are you sure you played the rules right? I would check out the Board Games with Scott video and then re-read the rules if you haven't.Doublethink said:
For FotM, a lot of people accurately describe it as an addition that really turns Agricola into a new game rather than just adding more into the mix like most expansions (that's what the card decks do). I like it but some people have a tough time with the increased complexity (now you have to heat and feed, you have forests and peat to deal with, etc.). Card decks, frankly I stick with one of the base 3 usually, though I will occasionally shuffle in something wacky like Z. I've heard good things about Gamers' -- and I own it but haven't played it yet. CZ and O are also supposed to be pretty good and they come with The Goodies expansion.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
It's $.99 now.BomberMouse said:
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Stooge, Astro, and Platy I sent invites for Roll Through the Ages on Yucata.
Doublethink
Banned
Yeah I wasn't playing it right. I was harvesting at the end of each round instead of harvesting at the appropriate rounds. Doing that caused me to get around 30 begging cards.AstroLad said:
There was nothing really wrong with it, other than there wasn't much variety. I really wish there were more powers for the charcters, as well as more classes. Also, I used to play D&D and all Ravenloft did was make me want to play the real game again.BomberMouse said:
ncsuDuncan
Member
Are the board game prices at PAX cheap like Amazon or are they closer to a game store?
My friend wants to get the Knights expansion for Catan and I heard Mayfair had a booth...
My friend wants to get the Knights expansion for Catan and I heard Mayfair had a booth...
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
That'll do it. I can't imagine how you had any fun with harvesting every round.Doublethink said:
Gaming Truth
Member
ncsuDuncan said:
Usually, MSRP, and if you're unlucky, more than that. The more expensive prices are mainly from indy vendors who have rarer product.
However! At GenCon last year, Mayfair had this really cool gig where if you demoed each of their type of games (collecting wool, sheep, etc. along the way), they sold things at 50% off MSRP. Probably not happening at PAX (it's more video-game oriented), but still a glimmer of hope!
ncsuDuncan
Member
Gaming Truth said:
Cool. I might finally buy my own copy of Catan if the price is right.
That "Revolution!" game looks fun. I'd definitely like to demo stuff like that at PAX, maybe find some pickup games.
Doublethink
Banned
The struggle is part of the fun!joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
ncsuDuncan
Member
Awesome! I'll keep an eye open for it. (And an eye on this GAF thread as well.)Unison said:
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