The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
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joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
How does it work? Is it PBE (play by email) or is it live online?XiaNaphryz said:
Speaking of PBE I've always wanted to play Diplomacy but I'm not sure I could get the numbers needed for a live game. Would anybody be interested in playing Diplomacy over email or PM?
plaidtopia
Member
Just wanna thank you guys for putting this thread together. I've always liked board games, and have been playing Carcassonne and Catan for the past couple of years from time to time with certain groups of friends, but it wasn't until I rediscovered Axis and Allies a couple months back that I realized how much I actually loved the tabletop world.
I live in Seattle and hit up PAX a few weeks back, doing (what was previously) the unthinkable: I spent most of my time playing board games with randoms. I lost my virginity for Betrayal at House on the Hill (absolutely loved it and have pre-ordered the reprint), Pirate's Cove (pretty fun, but we got screwed at the end, so I'd want to play again to cement my thoughts), and Munchkin (this was everywhere at PAX, but great people made it a blast).
My own group of friends are mostly a bunch of sporadic to ex-videogamers that now typically prefer to just hang out and shoot the breeze. As such, I thought introducing board games would go over well by as they'd allow us to catch up and chat, as well as scratch our geek itch. I stumbled upon BGG and cobbled together a quick, dirty collection of gateway games, personal interests and some BGG-approved recommendations (Carc, Catan, Axis & Allies, Last Night on Earth, Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, Dominion, Munchkin, LOTR: Confrontation and Puerto Rico). Without announcing it, I brought a selection over for our next get-together and, much to my delight, they immediately demanded we play LNoE. We played for hours (I played as the zombies and we drew the series) and now they're demanding I bring a selection along regularly -- I'm planning on trying Pandemic or Dominion next time, both of which I've yet to play.
Anyway, to the point: It's been great the past couple of weeks to use your discussion and the amazing OP as a way to quickly orient myself in a new field. I don't know how deep my love for the medium goes (I listened to a couple episodes of Dice Tower and came away a little less than enthused :lol), but I'm glad to have such a resource on GAF.
I live in Seattle and hit up PAX a few weeks back, doing (what was previously) the unthinkable: I spent most of my time playing board games with randoms. I lost my virginity for Betrayal at House on the Hill (absolutely loved it and have pre-ordered the reprint), Pirate's Cove (pretty fun, but we got screwed at the end, so I'd want to play again to cement my thoughts), and Munchkin (this was everywhere at PAX, but great people made it a blast).
My own group of friends are mostly a bunch of sporadic to ex-videogamers that now typically prefer to just hang out and shoot the breeze. As such, I thought introducing board games would go over well by as they'd allow us to catch up and chat, as well as scratch our geek itch. I stumbled upon BGG and cobbled together a quick, dirty collection of gateway games, personal interests and some BGG-approved recommendations (Carc, Catan, Axis & Allies, Last Night on Earth, Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, Dominion, Munchkin, LOTR: Confrontation and Puerto Rico). Without announcing it, I brought a selection over for our next get-together and, much to my delight, they immediately demanded we play LNoE. We played for hours (I played as the zombies and we drew the series) and now they're demanding I bring a selection along regularly -- I'm planning on trying Pandemic or Dominion next time, both of which I've yet to play.
Anyway, to the point: It's been great the past couple of weeks to use your discussion and the amazing OP as a way to quickly orient myself in a new field. I don't know how deep my love for the medium goes (I listened to a couple episodes of Dice Tower and came away a little less than enthused :lol), but I'm glad to have such a resource on GAF.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Pretty sure it supports both live play and PBEM. You download the Vassal app, then whatever boardgame modules you want to use with it.joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
Awesome! And don't worry about your feelings on The Dice Tower. It's mostly just a good resource for news and oftentimes I'll just skip to the Top 10 to get some more ideas for games to explore but it can be ubergeeky at times too. The nice thing about the modern hobby is that it requires no such ubergeekiness.plaidtopia said:
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
After further reading, it sounds like Vassal's fine if you have a specific group of people to play with or are learning the game (or need to PBEM), and that Wargameroom is where to go once you're familiar with the game and are just looking for a quick match (and don't mind having to be online to play).
Good God.
I went to one of my local board game stores looking for something to pick up. I had heard good things from some of the guys at the game night about it.. though about picking up something a bit heavier that I can take to these board game nights and play. The store was pretty nice, lots of gaming room in the back, huge minitures collections. and *tons* of demo board games. Looked pretty damn awesome.
but FFS, buying these things at a B&M is impossible. Most of the games were 50 or 60 dollars, plus tax brings them up about another 5 or so. I can buy all of these same games for 20-30 dollars online. I wanted to buy a lighter game, maybe a card game for 20 dollars but they don't even stock that shit.
and the FFG wargames? 70-100 dollars depending on the game. Fuck that noise.
Online purchases it is for me. I'm really liking BGG's used market. It's pretty awesome, other than some people hosing you on shipping (much like ebay sellers.. on, 15 dollar purchase, that will be another 15 S&H)
I went to one of my local board game stores looking for something to pick up. I had heard good things from some of the guys at the game night about it.. though about picking up something a bit heavier that I can take to these board game nights and play. The store was pretty nice, lots of gaming room in the back, huge minitures collections. and *tons* of demo board games. Looked pretty damn awesome.
but FFS, buying these things at a B&M is impossible. Most of the games were 50 or 60 dollars, plus tax brings them up about another 5 or so. I can buy all of these same games for 20-30 dollars online. I wanted to buy a lighter game, maybe a card game for 20 dollars but they don't even stock that shit.
and the FFG wargames? 70-100 dollars depending on the game. Fuck that noise.
Online purchases it is for me. I'm really liking BGG's used market. It's pretty awesome, other than some people hosing you on shipping (much like ebay sellers.. on, 15 dollar purchase, that will be another 15 S&H)
I am still fuming at that last game.
First, I screwed up bad. I could have settled a non-military world because I had Colony Ship sitting in my hand and never used it.
But 9 card draw and not a single military world
This is what I get for going with a military strategy. I'm terrible at it
GG guys, it was fun.
First, I screwed up bad. I could have settled a non-military world because I had Colony Ship sitting in my hand and never used it.
But 9 card draw and not a single military world
This is what I get for going with a military strategy. I'm terrible at it
GG guys, it was fun.
It's so nice to play Race for the Galaxy + expansions without having to shuffle. :lol
Edit: I forgot how rewarding beating the Keldon AI can be. Is it just me or does it seem that when you need them to do a phase (even a simple dev or settle) they never do it? Psychic. Anyway, beat it thanks to Hidden Fortress + New Galactic Order. I love Hidden Fortress.
Edit: I forgot how rewarding beating the Keldon AI can be. Is it just me or does it seem that when you need them to do a phase (even a simple dev or settle) they never do it? Psychic. Anyway, beat it thanks to Hidden Fortress + New Galactic Order. I love Hidden Fortress.
That's pretty solid! Seems that a nice production strategy can work well. Too bad I favor military and quick-build. :lol
GAMES I AM PLAYING THIS WEEKEND
Neuroshima Hex: Nothing like 2-player tile-placement post-apocalyptic wargaming (lowercase 'w')! One of the most commonly recommended mediumweight 2P games on BGG, so I'm excited to finally try it out.
Snow Tails: Simple racing game. Suck it haters! I think I might like the mechanics of this one more than Formula D though, which is a baseline requirement.
Tales of the Arabian Nights: Probably our "long" game for Saturday night. Played this for the first time a couple of weeks ago and recounted our exploits on the old thread, but for some reason this storytelling game, which is basically a glorified Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book really grabbed me.
Honorable Mentions: Agricola always threatens to make an appearance and suck up all of our time, and Dominion and Carcassonne are always contenders. My flame for Race for the Galaxy has also been rekindled. And there's also a decent chance I'll get some more 2-player gaming in with Battle Line or Jaipur.
IN OTHER NEWS
Looks like the date for Prosperity is now September 29th. Damn it, I have so many games being held up by this game and its ever-changing release date.
GAMES I AM PLAYING THIS WEEKEND
Neuroshima Hex: Nothing like 2-player tile-placement post-apocalyptic wargaming (lowercase 'w')! One of the most commonly recommended mediumweight 2P games on BGG, so I'm excited to finally try it out.
Snow Tails: Simple racing game. Suck it haters! I think I might like the mechanics of this one more than Formula D though, which is a baseline requirement.
Tales of the Arabian Nights: Probably our "long" game for Saturday night. Played this for the first time a couple of weeks ago and recounted our exploits on the old thread, but for some reason this storytelling game, which is basically a glorified Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book really grabbed me.
Honorable Mentions: Agricola always threatens to make an appearance and suck up all of our time, and Dominion and Carcassonne are always contenders. My flame for Race for the Galaxy has also been rekindled. And there's also a decent chance I'll get some more 2-player gaming in with Battle Line or Jaipur.
IN OTHER NEWS
Looks like the date for Prosperity is now September 29th. Damn it, I have so many games being held up by this game and its ever-changing release date.
BattleMonkey
Member
Like to hear how Neroshima Hex plays out, the art intrigued me but the game itself didn't look as visually impressive.
Two months until BGG.Con! I canceled my room at the Westin because my wife can't come, switched to the Ramada next door for a third of the price. Driving up Wednesday morning, driving back home on Sunday morning.
Got my yearly game of Twilight Imperium 3 booked for Friday!
It's also devastating if you've got some regular settle discounts, like -1 for brown or -2 for all planets...
Got my yearly game of Twilight Imperium 3 booked for Friday!
It's also devastating if you've got some regular settle discounts, like -1 for brown or -2 for all planets...
Yeah, I know what you're saying. It's pretty basic tile-laying-game aesthetics and definitely not the more FFG-style aesthetics you might expect because of the theme. Same goes for the gameplay really. I'll take a pic of the endgame though.BattleMonkey said:
Yeah really looking forward to it. Do you happen to have an extra tick as a result? My brother-in-law really wants to go but sort of squashed the plan when he found out that tix have been sold out since forever.
AstroLad said:
Yeah, I'm starting to sour on produce - consume. It's been really hurting me in our games because I'm the only one really going that direction so I have to do all the lifting. i.e. the producing. If you have a few players going produce - consume you can get help.. i.e. when I pick consume x2 there is a fair chance that someone will pick up produce behind me.
In our games, I use consume and then have to produce the next turn and consume again on the one after that. It really takes the advantages of a produce-consume engine and kills them.
Weekend plans are up in the air.
Sunday I'll play Battle Line and Lost Cities for sure.
Saturday night is a football game. I plan on getting some Power Grid in after the game, but if a ton of people come over it may turn into Roborally which I have not played in months so I'll need to brush up on the rules.
Kind of which I had Mall of Horror actually because I think it is a killer light/party game. I've found some used copies on BGG for 50 bucks so I may go that route.
Sunday I'll play Battle Line and Lost Cities for sure.
Saturday night is a football game. I plan on getting some Power Grid in after the game, but if a ton of people come over it may turn into Roborally which I have not played in months so I'll need to brush up on the rules.
Kind of which I had Mall of Horror actually because I think it is a killer light/party game. I've found some used copies on BGG for 50 bucks so I may go that route.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Fantasy Flight announced Mansions of Madness, which takes place in the Lovecraft universe.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1621
It sounds pretty neat.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1621
It sounds pretty neat.
BattleMonkey
Member
Sounds kind of like Betrayal at House on the Hill meets Descent.
aphoushole
Neo Member
AstroLad said:
What expansion is this from?
Speaking of which, I hope to play some RftG this weekend.
I can't wait until Space Hulk: Death Angel comes out.
Two HUNDRED tokens and markers for this MoM game? FFG just HAS to start streamlining their games, or at least pack in a good storage solution! And it sounds way more like Descent than I'm cool with, something like this needs to be fast and simple, letting the story carry the game. Instead I think this is gonna be combat heavy with lots of counters to keep track of.
Minis might be cool though, wonder if they could carry over to AH? Hmmm, maybe they repurposed those investigator minis already
Minis might be cool though, wonder if they could carry over to AH? Hmmm, maybe they repurposed those investigator minis already
Here's hoping MOM is more my style than AH.
Curious how inspired by Betrayal this will be. There was rumors before the reprint that FF might pick up the license. Wonder if it was false, fell through, or FF just said 'screw it, we can use an existing license to make a game that will sell more'.
In other news, Innovation is in stock at CSI.
From the maker of Glory to Rome. HLKJHLSHkljLWHeeeeee
Curious how inspired by Betrayal this will be. There was rumors before the reprint that FF might pick up the license. Wonder if it was false, fell through, or FF just said 'screw it, we can use an existing license to make a game that will sell more'.
In other news, Innovation is in stock at CSI.
From the maker of Glory to Rome. HLKJHLSHkljLWHeeeeee
jason10mm said:Two HUNDRED tokens and markers for this MoM game? FFG just HAS to start streamlining their games, or at least pack in a good storage solution! And it sounds way more like Descent than I'm cool with, something like this needs to be fast and simple, letting the story carry the game. Instead I think this is gonna be combat heavy with lots of counters to keep track of.
Minis might be cool though, wonder if they could carry over to AH? Hmmm, maybe they repurposed those investigator minis already
It's FFG, of course there will be minis. Hell, AH isn't even their design and they tried to force minis into it.
BattleMonkey
Member
The new warhammer fantasy rpg they put out is a good example of them using way too much love for counters. Take something as simple as a pen and paper rpg and drown it in counters and tokens.
So, the math trade is finished an I'm waiting on results. It seems unlikely that I'm going to dump Clue, Monopoly or Risk :lol
One guy wanted all 3 of them, but only 2 people wanted what he was offering for them. So I guess it could happen, but seems unlikely they will wind up part of the deal.
It's amazing the amount of shit that winds up in these things. Maybe half of the trades were for games.. 10% were for gift cards at online game stores and the rest was just random shit. PS1 games people didn't want. Some guy was offering to make you dog tags, another was trying to dump bad scifi pulp novels from the 60s. We'll see what happens, but the people running these things really need to tell people to knock that crap off. It's a board game math trade.. not a board game and random shit around your house trade.
One guy wanted all 3 of them, but only 2 people wanted what he was offering for them. So I guess it could happen, but seems unlikely they will wind up part of the deal.
It's amazing the amount of shit that winds up in these things. Maybe half of the trades were for games.. 10% were for gift cards at online game stores and the rest was just random shit. PS1 games people didn't want. Some guy was offering to make you dog tags, another was trying to dump bad scifi pulp novels from the 60s. We'll see what happens, but the people running these things really need to tell people to knock that crap off. It's a board game math trade.. not a board game and random shit around your house trade.
Looks like I'm getting 1960: Making of a President for Memoir 44.
It was pretty low on my want list (in fact, it might have been the bottom of the games I was willing to trade it for. In fact, I almost pulled it off of my want list last night when I got home. So I'm not really thrilled with the exchange. Hopefully the game is more to my friends liking.
It was pretty low on my want list (in fact, it might have been the bottom of the games I was willing to trade it for. In fact, I almost pulled it off of my want list last night when I got home. So I'm not really thrilled with the exchange. Hopefully the game is more to my friends liking.
Have you played 1960? That's a pretty solid trade imo if you hate Memoir.
Neuroshima Hex for iPhone came out yesterday -- amazing implementation. Basically just quickly local or vs. computer but it's quite pretty. Hopefully they'll add online at some point as thye seem to be intimating.
Neuroshima Hex for iPhone came out yesterday -- amazing implementation. Basically just quickly local or vs. computer but it's quite pretty. Hopefully they'll add online at some point as thye seem to be intimating.
AstroLad said:
I haven't played it yet and am looking forward to taking it for a spin. It's just kind of a downer when you go "shopping" for 15 or so games that you really wanted and come back with one you just sort of wanted.
I figure worst case scenario is I hate it and put it up in another trade later.
And yes, Memoir 44 and I weren't great friends so this will almost surely be an improvement. I don't even know the last time I *tried* to get someone to play that with me.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Great game but it helps if you are a history buff. It's more complicated than Memoir too so I they are up for it. I personally love the game.StoOgE said:
joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
I'm a history nut and my girlfriend is as well, so she will likely try it at least once.
The problem with Memoir 44 is I didn't want to play it anymore either, so it's good that I'll get something that might get more play.. and if it isn't my cup of tea, I'll just trade it too.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Then I think you guys will get a kick out of it.StoOgE said:
I'm actually surprised you weren't able to do a straight up trade for Memoir. That game seems to be really popular on that site. Some people even get two copies to run the overlord campaign.
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