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[platypotamus]

Stooge, Astro, and Platy I sent invites for Roll Through the Ages on Yucata.

W00t! Accepted!

Sorry, Yucata people. I was a little distracted by GDC. Will be around more to take moves and play new games.

Figured that's where you were. Jealous. Did E3 7 times, but have never made it to GDC. I kinda hated E3 though (at least the years I had to work), so maybe I'm not really jealous at all.

Spoiler

yes I am

Without ever having been, I'd wager they're MSRP. They are direct from publisher afterall.

At PAX Prime, they tend to drop over the course of the show, and they tend to vary... you'll have the publishers there, but also some of the retailers. I remember Castle Ravenloft was the big one at PAX Prime last year, and it seemed to be anywhere from 35-50 at various times/places.

*********

Anyway, had board game party today. The advantage of being a poor-economy-part time worker married to a nurse with a random schedule is that I can do that in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon.

Started with Blokus. Not a go to game for me, but I enjoy it every time I play, and it's a pretty quick one, so I'm always ok with playing. It'd be great on yucata now that I think about it, I wonder if any of the games on there that I don't know are pure spatial games?

Then, due largely to us playing it on yucata so much, I suggested Arkadia, which was new to two of the players, but they picked it up pretty quickly. One of them actually won, due in part to a huge 50 point turn. Wife realized she really liked the game and wondered why we hadn't played it in so long. I tried to sell the ladies on joining yucata, but I don't think any of them will.

Finally, we made another attempt at Pandemic. This was our third attempt with this same group. We had no researcher, and got absolutely screwed by the card order (third card was the epidemic card! The two infection cards drawn right after resolving it caused a total of 4 outbreaks!). Lost after only curing the yellow disease (blue was to be cured on my next turn), due to hitting the outbreak limit.

 

[jason10mm]

Played a few games of the new deck building game Ascension:Something something of the Godkiller, last night. Pretty fun, feels like a very stripped down Dominion mated with Thunderstone. Has two "currencies" in the game, Runes, which you use to buy stuff, and a combat value, which you can use to kill other stuff. So you typically try to specialize in either one to get high enough numbers to take the more powerful cards.

Buying things gives you persistent effects (cards called constructs that can remain in play round after round), heroes that you can use when drafted (typically to draw more cards, banish cards from your deck, or auto-kill a low value monster or item), and are worth honor points at the end of the game.

Monsters are defeated and give you immediate honor (basically Victory Points, there is a pool to collect from and once it is depleted, the game ends that turn) as well as an immediate effect of some sort. They then go away, not into your hand. There is a center area of 6 cards for you to buy or do battle with, and they immediately replenish as they are taken. You also have some cheap "always available" cards to give you a slight boost in buying power, combat power, or nab an honor point.

You can do as much on your turn as you have various currency, so you could buy several cards and kill several others. This means the center area can change drastically after just one persons round so it is very difficult to have a discrete long term strategy other than runes or combat. Cards are filed from a common pile, so after just a few games pretty much every card has been seen.

I liked the game. The theme is slightly deeper than Dominion and it has nice artwork, so I may have better luck getting the wife to play. Having only 6 cards (plus three always available actions) to choose from reduces first timer AP and adds a LOT of randomness. The two different currencies is a hint of Thunderstone, but combat is much simpler. The constructs, which stay out round after round to help you, is an innovation for me, unless they have appeared in later expansions of D or TS. They are easily sent into your discard pile, but can help for a few rounds at least.

There are some more subtle strategies beyond focusing on fighting or buying, but due to the random card draw, they are almost impossible to pull off and easy to prevent if another player sees what you are trying to do (assembling mechanica constructs is the obvious one).

The games simplicity is enticing to get first time players interested. The theme is just as tacked on as Dominion, but clearly more exciting. Combat is easy, not convoluted and involved like TS. The cards are simple to understand, often with only 1 number on them, plus some effect text. The crystal "honor points" are fun to collect and appealing to the chicks for whatever reason. But I think the base game would get stale quickly. You can see every card in just a few plays. While the rapid turn over means you can't get them most games, it still limits the surprise factor, and it means every game feels similar, you can't tailor it like D or TS. Granted, they can just flood it with expansion cards, but that just prolongs the inevitable. I suspect they will add additional currencies like a magic value to broaden the strategies, as well as crank up the player interaction, which borders on non-existent right now.

So I tentatively like Ascension, and will probably pick it up at some point for the wife. Hopefully it will act as a gateway drug for D or TS, both of which think offer a more cerebral or thematic experience respectively, at the expense of ease of play, set up time, and instruction time.

 

[StoOgE]

Got my order in from CSI.... right after taking the shrink off of Stone Age I noticed a giant gash in the top box

Hopefully they make right on it since it seems to have been caused by their packing job (lines Dominion up right next to it)

 

[BomberMouse]

Got my order in from CSI.... right after taking the shrink off of Stone Age I noticed a giant gash in the top box

Hopefully they make right on it since it seems to have been caused by their packing job (lines Dominion up right next to it)

Ouch, I actually don't mind damage on the boxes, since either the long trip to my country or my cat usually ends damaging the box. Still, it's a shame when this happens.

Here is a picture from my worst shipment ever, the package was missent and went to three other countries before arriving, worst thing is that in one of the customs some games were ripped open and were scattered all over the box. Needless to say, USPS didn't acknowledge the issue.

 

[BattleMonkey]

USPS does not ever give a damn. If your shipment was sent by UPS it is automatically insured and you usually can just call UPS with tracking number and put in a claim pretty easily.

I usually could care less about damage to packaging as long as the game is fine.

 

[AstroLad]

Got my order in from CSI.... right after taking the shrink off of Stone Age I noticed a giant gash in the top box

Hopefully they make right on it since it seems to have been caused by their packing job (lines Dominion up right next to it)

I don't really mind light damage either but imo CSI has been doing a really shit job on packaging the past year or so. Wonder if anyone on BGG has called them out on it.

 

[StoOgE]

I don't really mind light damage either but imo CSI has been doing a really shit job on packaging the past year or so. Wonder if anyone on BGG has called them out on it.

yeah, this is a full on hole in the front of the box.

 

[AstroLad]

yeah, this is a full on hole in the front of the box.

Yes I've had several packages recently where I was shocked the whole thing didn't come open in transit. Basically a thin film of weak tape holding it together, packing peanuts falling out, etc.

Oh, anyone going to PAX PM me your cell # so that we can coordinate meetups (or email if you want if you have a SMARTphone like me). If I can make it I'll be soloing most of the day on Saturday since my wife is going to a baby shower so I'll need people to game with.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I don't really mind light damage either but imo CSI has been doing a really shit job on packaging the past year or so. Wonder if anyone on BGG has called them out on it.

Most of the cheap online game stores do a shitty job packaging imho, miniaturemarket is pretty awful at it too. I can see them being cheap on it since they are taking such a hit on profits and all these free shipping offers. These large board game shipments cost alot, and packaging materials is not cheap. We run a wholesale company that deals in lots of large bulk shipments and we buy massive amounts of packaging supplies and it's amazing how even with our crazy discounts, to package a box safely can take 3-8$ extra ontop of the shipping costs. Board games should be much easier to package and ship though, in most cases I get them in boxes with no protection at all.

These online retailers all trying to sell at these incredible prices seem to try and cheap out on the packaging since they are making very little on these games. They make as little as 5 bucks on some games and then they are giving away free shipping?

 

[StoOgE]

These online retailers all trying to sell at these incredible prices seem to try and cheap out on the packaging since they are making very little on these games. They make as little as 5 bucks on some games and then they are giving away free shipping?

yeah, I think the economics of it are pretty bad for them. They might be makes 10 dollars a game tops that I bought.. and pennies on For Sale.

So, call it 35 dollars profit.

That package was probably a 20-30 dollar cost.

So at best they are making 15% margin on the sale which is shit.

At the end of the day, spending an extra 5 bucks would be to their benefit because if they don't resolve it I can call my card company and nuke the entire transaction from orbit.

I probably won't do it, but the risk/reward for a shoddy packing job just isn't there.

 

[BattleMonkey]

yeah, I think the economics of it are pretty bad for them. They might be makes 10 dollars a game tops that I bought.. and pennies on For Sale.

So, call it 35 dollars profit.

That package was probably a 20-30 dollar cost.

So at best they are making 15% margin on the sale which is shit.

At the end of the day, spending an extra 5 bucks would be to their benefit because if they don't resolve it I can call my card company and nuke the entire transaction from orbit.

I probably won't do it, but the risk/reward for a shoddy packing job just isn't there.

They are likely going to take the risk over having to add an extra 3-5 bucks per shipment that goes out which will add up real fast.

 

[StoOgE]

They are likely going to take the risk over having to add an extra 3-5 bucks per shipment that goes out which will add up real fast.

Fair enough point. Losing 80 bucks 1% of the time is better than losing 5 bucks 100% of the time.

 

[StoOgE]

CSI is making good.

Sending me a replacement and paying for me to return Stone Age to them.

Also, my girlfriend is scared of my Dominion collection now :jnk

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Never ordered from CSI, but TH has always been pretty good for me in terms of shipping/packing.

Also, our group can't stop playing 7 Wonders ever since it came out. SO GOOD.

 

[Seth C]

Dominion, anyone? I can't play with randoms on there anymore. They are driving me crazy.

 

[Neverfade]

CSI will always make good on shipping damage.

UPS did, and now FedEx does, provide them with insurance. It's not gonna cost CSI a thing to replace that damaged copy of Stone Age.

I've actively tried talking them out of replacing something of mine and the dude emailed me pretty much saying "Don't worry, its not on us".

 

[BattleMonkey]

All UPS ground shipments are insured up to $100 per box, so usually most business can get credit.

Also many shipping companies like UPS and FedEx give companies credits for big accounts that cover damages. We get almost $8k a year from UPS in incentives to cover breakage and other benefits for having such large shipping volume.

 

[Flynn]

Figured that's where you were. Jealous. Did E3 7 times, but have never made it to GDC. I kinda hated E3 though (at least the years I had to work), so maybe I'm not really jealous at all.

Spoiler

yes I am

GDC is worthy of jealousy. I've been going for four or five years now (went to one in San Jose a zillion years ago) and I wouldn't miss it for the world. The thing I love about GDC is that you can spend a whole week learning about how games are made straight from the people who make them. And the press goes for free!

E3 (as you already know) is one huge come-on. Been going almost ten years now. Sigh. /jaded

 

[XiaNaphryz]

GDC is worthy of jealousy. I've been going for four or five years now (went to one in San Jose a zillion years ago) and I wouldn't miss it for the world. The thing I love about GDC is that you can spend a whole week learning about how games are made straight from the people who make them. And the press goes for free!

E3 (as you already know) is one huge come-on. Been going almost ten years now. Sigh. /jaded

How much access do you get with a press pass though? Is it the same as the all-show giga passes?

Those are really pricey, but you can essentially get them for free if you volunteer at the show. You have to work a set amount of hours during the week, but it's completely worth it for the pass if you can't get it expensed/sponsored.

 

[Flynn]

How much access do you get with a press pass though? Is it the same as the all-show giga passes?

Those are really pricey, but you can essentially get them for free if you volunteer at the show. You have to work a set amount of hours during the week, but it's completely worth it for the pass if you can't get it expensed/sponsored.

The pass is all access. Any panel. It is a great opportunity for us and a sign of real thoughtfulness on the part of GDC (Simon, Megan, etc) -- Sure, there's news we're covering and we're helping them promote their show. But they're giving us a free ride for the less newsy stuff. The end result is journalists who appreciate game makers, have a better understanding of design, etc. I'm super-grateful that they think about it that way.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Do you go the Will Wright talk every year he does one at least?

 

[Flynn]

Do you go the Will Wright talk every year he does one at least?

For sure. I've seen Will Wright talk at least five times at this point. Always great. Some of my other favorites: The Portal Post Mortem, Experimental Gameplay Sessions, Game Design Challenge, Mini-rants.

Really enjoyed the Maniac Mansion and Pitfall post-mortems this year. And caught a couple of really good Serious Games Summit panels about the Hakkar Blood Plague and Games as Nightmare Prevention For Deployed Soldiers.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

Cosmic Encounter won't fit in my luggage, but I am bringing Citadels and Death Angel. Anyone want to get together for board gaming on Thursday night? I'm debating between gaming or going to the Rock Band party.

 

[Screaming_Gremlin]

CSI is making good.

Sending me a replacement and paying for me to return Stone Age to them.

I am glad to hear to that. I just received a package today and my copy of Mansions of Madness looks terrible. One corner is bent in, the other side looks like it caved in on itself with an actual hole through its side. Inside, the cardboard structure has collapsed and several of the bags of miniatures are ripped open. As Astrolad said, I am fine with some slight cosmetic damage (my copy of Civilization had a slightly bent corner) but this is just ridiculous, especially for such an expensive game. I'm going to email CSI and get them to exchange it. The extra time won't be that big of a deal since it will be a few weeks before I have a chance to play it anyway.

I might stick to Amazon for a while. The prices are more expensive, but I never have issues with damaged product with them. That and I will probably save money since I won't always be trying to hit $100 dollars since I already have Prime.

 

[Unison]

Cosmic Encounter won't fit in my luggage, but I am bringing Citadels and Death Angel. Anyone want to get together for board gaming on Thursday night? I'm debating between gaming or going to the Rock Band party.

There's a group assembling on the PA forums in the Westin lobby on Thursday night... I'm heading there... should be there around 9 pm tomorrow.

 

[fenners]

Made it to boardgame night for the first time in a few weeks. One table played Agricola, we played Chicago Express. A train game with a nice mix of track building, auctions & stock manipulation, I ended up dead last despite having played the iPhone version a bunch. The two experienced players (inc me) totally underestimated one of the other players & gave him far too many easy shares in one company.

After that, everyone played Resistance for the first time... A werewolf-like game, without player elimination, I expected this to flop with our group, but it was a surprise hit. 4 games, lots of backstabbing, wild accusations & fun. Won't come out often, but worked as a last game of the night with the whole group (6 players last night).

 

[iapetus]

Cosmic Encounter won't fit in my luggage

I've been meaning to ask this for ages. Can someone help me understand why Cosmic Encounter should fit in anything other than a fireplace or paper shredder? Played Simply Cosmic a couple of times, and it seemed tedious, woefully imbalanced, and virtually unplayable. A lot of people seem to really like it, so maybe I'm missing something, but I couldn't find a good thing to say about it. One of the people I played it with has since played a game of Cosmic Encounter with enthusiasts of the game, and says it was just as painful an experience...

 

[Flynn]

I've been meaning to ask this for ages. Can someone help me understand why Cosmic Encounter should fit in anything other than a fireplace or paper shredder? Played Simply Cosmic a couple of times, and it seemed tedious, woefully imbalanced, and virtually unplayable. A lot of people seem to really like it, so maybe I'm missing something, but I couldn't find a good thing to say about it. One of the people I played it with has since played a game of Cosmic Encounter with enthusiasts of the game, and says it was just as painful an experience...

I'm pretty sure the imbalance is purposeful. Some roles are uber -- then its the job of the other players to gang up and see who can wring a win out of that chaos. It is certainly made for people who like direct conflict in their board games. And it is pretty simple. I think those are the major reasons it has stuck around as long as it has.

 

[slayn]

Played mansions of madness for the first time and I'm feeling very mixed on it.

I liked the theme, the art, the mansion, the idea. I like how the investigators explore the mansion and uncover the mystery.

But I had a lot of problems with it too. For one, we ran into at least 7 or 8 ambiguous rules some of which were critical in determing who won. So that was pretty annoying. I posted some questions on board game geek and got mixed responses on some critical ones as well so it wasn't just rules that I missed or misunderstood.

Even that wasn't the worst problem though. The worst problem was that was a pretty large disconnect between the actual objective/end game and everything leading up to it.

Thinking back on it, for the scenario we played, the "optimal" moves for the investigators to have made probably would have been to do nothing for the entire game. That would have allowed them to win much more easily. That is bad!

 

[platypotamus]

Nuts to all of you guys going to PAX East. I'm having my own PAX, with hookers, and blackjack! In fact, forget to the PAX and blackjack!

 

[AstroLad]

PAX DUDES
Let me know any of:
-How the table situation is looking.
-How the library is.
-Whether you want to meet tomorrow mornin for some gaming (when do the doors open anyway?).
-If there's anything you'd like me to bring to play or learn (http://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/AstroLad). I'll definitely bring Campaign Manager since it's simple, small, and fun, but I'm gonna try to bring a duffel even though it's about a 20m walk from the Interncontinental where we're staying (exercise!).

Bout 70% that I'll be there for tomorrow and Sunday.

 

[Artadius]

Played mansions of madness for the first time and I'm feeling very mixed on it.

I liked the theme, the art, the mansion, the idea. I like how the investigators explore the mansion and uncover the mystery.

But I had a lot of problems with it too. For one, we ran into at least 7 or 8 ambiguous rules some of which were critical in determing who won. So that was pretty annoying. I posted some questions on board game geek and got mixed responses on some critical ones as well so it wasn't just rules that I missed or misunderstood.

Even that wasn't the worst problem though. The worst problem was that was a pretty large disconnect between the actual objective/end game and everything leading up to it.

Thinking back on it, for the scenario we played, the "optimal" moves for the investigators to have made probably would have been to do nothing for the entire game. That would have allowed them to win much more easily. That is bad!

Love their games, hate their rules.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Played mansions of madness for the first time and I'm feeling very mixed on it.

I liked the theme, the art, the mansion, the idea. I like how the investigators explore the mansion and uncover the mystery.

But I had a lot of problems with it too. For one, we ran into at least 7 or 8 ambiguous rules some of which were critical in determing who won. So that was pretty annoying. I posted some questions on board game geek and got mixed responses on some critical ones as well so it wasn't just rules that I missed or misunderstood.

Even that wasn't the worst problem though. The worst problem was that was a pretty large disconnect between the actual objective/end game and everything leading up to it.

Thinking back on it, for the scenario we played, the "optimal" moves for the investigators to have made probably would have been to do nothing for the entire game. That would have allowed them to win much more easily. That is bad!

I'm sure after the inevitable rules errata it will get a lot smoother.

That said, I preordered MoM 2 days ago and TH is shipping out today.

 

[Neverfade]

PAX DUDES
Let me know any of:
-How the table situation is looking.
-How the library is.
-Whether you want to meet tomorrow mornin for some gaming (when do the doors open anyway?).
-If there's anything you'd like me to bring to play or learn (http://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/AstroLad). I'll definitely bring Campaign Manager since it's simple, small, and fun, but I'm gonna try to bring a duffel even though it's about a 20m walk from the Interncontinental where we're staying (exercise!).

Bout 70% that I'll be there for tomorrow and Sunday.

Tons of empty tables, haven't checked out the library, but it's a decent sized booth down there. Did you bring twilight struggle? You can teach me that!

 

[AstroLad]

Tons of empty tables, haven't checked out the library, but it's a decent sized booth down there. Did you bring twilight struggle? You can teach me that!

ah cool thanks for the info! i am pretty much 95% set to go unless something crazy comes up on my call this afternoon. probably heading out of nyc at 5 tonight and be there at 10 or something, maybe a little later owing to traffic.

i'll definitely throw TS into the bag. oh i also have a pimped out arkham set that i'm bringing in case we're able to get together an AH crew. (would be even more pimped out if the guy who was selling "premium" flowcharts for the vasel auction ever got his ass in gear and actually printed and sent them but i digress)

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I broke out Lords of Vegas on my weekly game group last night. It went over really well. I came in third and had a couple really shitty re-org rolls that would have put me over the top by game end but that's just the way it goes. After that we played a game of Vegas Showdown (kept with our impromptu Vegas theme night) which I haven't played in forever. Even after completing both sides of my casino I still came in third. Oh well, I still had a good night.

While we were hooting and hollering shooting dice, there were two other tables deep in serious with Brass. Holy hell that game looks intense. I'll have to give it a shot one of these days but I just wasn't feeling something so heavy after our marathon session of Power Grid last week.

 

[MrMan2k3]

I haven't been to my local boardgame group's meetups for about a month, but I was able to go last night. I got to try out two games that were new to me: Betrayal at House on the Hill and Dungeon Lords.

We played a three player game of Betrayal. I had picked it up around Black Friday when Amazon had it cheap, but my room tiles all warped. I just received my replacement tiles so I figured I'd bring it along to try out. I was expecting it to be like Castle Ravenloft, and I suppose it was a bit similar, but not as much as I expected. There was minimal combat, though that could have just been the haunt we ended up with (#35). The scenario was quite funny, with the traitor

Spoiler

using a potion to shrink all the players (including the traitor) down to the size of mice, then sending a cat out to eat all the heroes

. I ended up being the traitor and ALMOST won (

Spoiler

My cat ate one hero, but the other managed to escape my cat's claws and flew out the window in a toy airplane.

) After the haunt was revealed, I found my traitor to be fairly useless in accomplishing my goal, but after rereading the tome I see that there were a few things I could have done to deter the heroes. Overall, it was a fun (if not a bit mindless) experience and I'd like to play it again soon.

Next we played a four player game of Dungeon Lords (first time for two of us). It took about a half hour to explain, then we started. I kind of stumbled through it, not knowing exactly what I should be doing. I was doing fairly well in the first year, with less conquered areas than any of the other players, but it all went to hell in the second year. I had a turn where I was only able to do one of my actions which really set me back. From then on, I struggled to get enough resources to pay my monsters, let alone actually hire more monsters. I instead opted for traps, but forgot I needed to use gold to bait the trap when placing them in rooms so most of them went unused. I ended the game with -2 points, but I noticed some key mistakes I could have prevented. This was mainly because I didn't really pay attention to how things are scored until the end game scoring began. When the game was finished, about two hours had passed. I enjoyed it and it wasn't really as complicated as it seemed at first. I think my next play will go over much better now that I have some idea of what's going on.

 

[Flynn]

Half the fun of Dungeon Lords (and Galaxy Trucker) is struggling to build something while the game conspires to tear it down. You seem to have enjoyed the harsh lesson.

 

[Neverfade]

ah cool thanks for the info! i am pretty much 95% set to go unless something crazy comes up on my call this afternoon. probably heading out of nyc at 5 tonight and be there at 10 or something, maybe a little later owing to traffic.

i'll definitely throw TS into the bag. oh i also have a pimped out arkham set that i'm bringing in case we're able to get together an AH crew. (would be even more pimped out if the guy who was selling "premium" flowcharts for the vasel auction ever got his ass in gear and actually printed and sent them but i digress)

I brought BSG and Mansions of Madness, let me know if/whenever you wanna play. I'm down for whatever!

 

[Unison]

PAX DUDES
Let me know any of:
-How the table situation is looking.
-How the library is.
-Whether you want to meet tomorrow mornin for some gaming (when do the doors open anyway?).
-If there's anything you'd like me to bring to play or learn (http://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/AstroLad). I'll definitely bring Campaign Manager since it's simple, small, and fun, but I'm gonna try to bring a duffel even though it's about a 20m walk from the Interncontinental where we're staying (exercise!).

Bout 70% that I'll be there for tomorrow and Sunday.

Sorry... On iPad...

Tons of tables here...
Doors open at 10 tomorrow I think... Would be up for gaming..... Pm me?
The library is better than I expected.... Not just obvious titles, but nothing crazy obscure either. Mostly new titles and standbys....
I am bringing my game crate tomorrow... Planning on mostly Tabletop sessions... Have an arkham game group scheduled at night, and more are free to join us.

 

[FnordChan]

I've been meaning to ask this for ages. Can someone help me understand why Cosmic Encounter should fit in anything other than a fireplace or paper shredder?

A lot of the fun in Cosmic Encounter comes from seeing the ways the alien powers can bounce off each other in unexpected ways. Yes, some of the cards are broken, but when multiple broken cards are being thrown around simultaneously, things can get pretty hysterical. I also enjoy the moment in confrontations when the two players are about to flip over their numbers and neither one is doing a particularly good job about keeping a poker face regarding the god-awful cheese they've got sitting in their hand. A lot of the time the reveal isn't nearly as exciting as it could be, with one player steamrolling the other or the rest of the players teaming up to prevent you from pulling out a victory, but when the unexpected happens, it's a hoot. Fortunately, the game is generally fast paced enough that, even if you're getting shafted and it's not even close, it'll be over soon and then you can angle for another game and try out a different power.

Have you ever played I'm The Boss? It's a great Sid Sackson deal-making game with a simple bidding system and a modest selection of cards that allow you to jump in mid-deal and start sending other players away on vacation, bringing in their identical cousins to make deals, stealing other players characters entirely, stopping other players attempts to shaft you, and, best of all, declaring yourself to be the Boss. The gameplay is very basic, but once the cards start flying it's an absolute riot to play, so the important thing is not to try to make straightforward deals but to load up on cards and then wait for all hell to break loose. Cosmic doesn't always have that sort of insanity break loose, but it often does occur, and that's when the game really shines.

FnordChan

 

[MichaelBD]

Last night we played the 7 player variant of BSG (merged Pegasus and Exodus). We used all the characters, the Pegasus and Cylon Fleet Boards, and Conflicted Loyalties/Final Five.

Turns out we had our 2 unrevealed Cylons dealt their loyalty cards on the first deal. I was worried the game would drag on forever with 7 people, but we actually finished in 2 hours, with the humans pulling off a stunning and nail biting win. One of the best games of BSG ever.

There has been talk on BGG about how the CFB is too powerful for the Cylons, but by the end of the game we had 3 Cylons parked on the CFB spamming the location that lets them roll a die and push back the Galactica's FTL prep or push forward the CFB's pursuit track. We (the humans) replied by spamming the Engine Room on the Pegasus. We won with every dial in the red. Awesome game.

I'm looking forward to heading into PAX tomorrow. You guys should have a sign or something you put up on your table to indicate the group.

 

[AstroLad]

So you guys wanna meet at 11 tom? Play it by ear in terms of games.

 

[Neverfade]

So you guys wanna meet at 11 tom? Play it by ear in terms of games.

AM? I'll be in the penny Arcade make a strip. In fact I have a fair amount of events I wanna hit up until the evening. If you PM your number I can text you should I get free though.

Edit: you should come play some games tonight!

 

[AstroLad]

Haha I would but we're still three hours out.

 

[StoOgE]

I wanna go to PAX

 

[AstroLad]

Gonna try to meet up with unison around 1115 if anyone else wants to game

 

[AstroLad]

Last night we played the 7 player variant of BSG (merged Pegasus and Exodus). We used all the characters, the Pegasus and Cylon Fleet Boards, and Conflicted Loyalties/Final Five.

Turns out we had our 2 unrevealed Cylons dealt their loyalty cards on the first deal. I was worried the game would drag on forever with 7 people, but we actually finished in 2 hours, with the humans pulling off a stunning and nail biting win. One of the best games of BSG ever.

There has been talk on BGG about how the CFB is too powerful for the Cylons, but by the end of the game we had 3 Cylons parked on the CFB spamming the location that lets them roll a die and push back the Galactica's FTL prep or push forward the CFB's pursuit track. We (the humans) replied by spamming the Engine Room on the Pegasus. We won with every dial in the red. Awesome game.

I'm looking forward to heading into PAX tomorrow. You guys should have a sign or something you put up on your table to indicate the group.

Where you at dog?

 

[StoOgE]

Played Stone Age.

Pretty fun. I killed it. Nearly 300 points.

The other players let me get all of the x meeples cards, most of the x food production cards and 1 complete set of green civ cards :lol

 

[totowhoa]

Hey guys... I've been looking into some two player games for my fiance and myself to play together. Twilight Struggle looks like it could be pretty fun. Pandemic also sounded interesting (and it would be nice to have something to play when another friend or two are over). Does that game work well with two players? Additionally, are there any 2 - 4 player games that are just as fun with two as they are in a group? In my experience that hasn't usually been the case, but I'm just starting to gain a broader interest in board gaming.