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Bottom Liner posted:I was just looking at the Kickstarter for Flight/2nd Edition but $75 seems pretty expensive for what you get. What did you think about the balance? I've heard the hunter side is underpowered and kinda throws off the balance (maybe 2nd edition addresses that). Ack, I was just about to buy Evolution, now I have to figure out if I want to wait for the second edition.
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May 13, 2015 15:14
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PerniciousKnid posted:Ack, I was just about to buy Evolution, now I have to figure out if I want to wait for the second edition. The kickstarted Flight expansion comes with a 2nd edition deck for the base game, plus I'm pretty sure the 2nd Edition is already out in the wild - I've seen it at the local game cafe. There's no reason you can't buy Evolution even if it's 1st edition, kickstart the Flight expansion, and get the best of both worlds. Evolution is basically my go-to gateway/meetup game now. It plays up to 6, it's easy to teach, and there's a good chunk of variety to it so it's not dull as paint the 10th time you play.
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May 13, 2015 15:39
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Is there any indication whether the Flight expansion would include 2nd edition cards in the retail version? I'm not keen to start kickstarting things.
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May 13, 2015 16:27
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PerniciousKnid posted:Is there any indication whether the Flight expansion would include 2nd edition cards in the retail version? I'm not keen to start kickstarting things. No, doesn't seem that way. There's a post by the designer here. Basically - you need to buy Flight only in the kickstarter to get a new 2nd edition deck. I can understand Kickstarter aversion (I've been burned a few times) but North Star seems pretty good. If you really don't want to kickstart something that's only $25 then your best bet is to either wait it out or try to make sure that you're getting the 2nd edition when you buy; I'm not sure what outward indication there is though.
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May 13, 2015 16:39
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It doesn't seem that second edition is on Amazon, which was a critical part of my scheme to get this purchase past my wife.
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May 13, 2015 17:09
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Bottom Liner posted:I was just looking at the Kickstarter for Flight/2nd Edition but $75 seems pretty expensive for what you get. What did you think about the balance? I've heard the hunter side is underpowered and kinda throws off the balance (maybe 2nd edition addresses that). PerniciousKnid posted:It doesn't seem that second edition is on Amazon, which was a critical part of my scheme to get this purchase past my wife. This is addressed in the second edition. The only difference between 2e and 1e is the cover of the box, some text clarifications, and the food values on cards. They found that people played far less aggressively than their playtesters so a lot of people were playing only herbivores and succeeding and that sort of spoils the point of the game. So the 2e cards have lower value on them for food. As far as balance, it seems really solid and that there are lots of viable strategies that work. Further, the artwork and components are great, so it's a nice game to have just to look at even. Some people who have PnP'd the Flight expac say it's pretty good but I don't know about that, I just played the 2e base box that my friend got because he reviews games and gets companies to send him stuff and he's a lucky bastard. So 2e boxes exist, but they won't be commercially available until ~Oct. Dirk the Average posted:How is Eminent Domain? I remember hearing some chatter about it earlier, specifically about how the expansion(s?) are more or less required. Buy it and buy the expansion. The expansion doesn't add anything that is difficult to teach but it makes the game so much better. It is the only deckbuilder besides Dominion (depending on your definition, etc) that is really worth your time, according to most people. I'd put Eminent Domain in my top 5 games. Strictly speaking, you can play without the expansion and it might be fine for you but it's not that expensive and the way it changes play is significant enough to make it just that much more fun to play. Also there's another expac coming out sometime this year. I don't know if any details have been released about it yet.
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May 13, 2015 17:28
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EvilChameleon posted:Strictly speaking, you can play without the expansion and it might be fine for you but it's not that expensive and the way it changes play is significant enough to make it just that much more fun to play. Also there's another expac coming out sometime this year. I don't know if any details have been released about it yet. Tell me where I can buy it without scalped prices then! I ordered the base set from the Amazon deal and it looks pretty solid as is, but I've heard nothing but glowing reviews for the expansion so I might as well snag it too. Am I correct in assuming it's like a mix of Dominion and Race for the Galaxy? Watching videos, that's the vibe I get from it (which I love).
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May 13, 2015 17:55
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Bottom Liner posted:Tell me where I can buy it without scalped prices then! I ordered the base set from the Amazon deal and it looks pretty solid as is, but I've heard nothing but glowing reviews for the expansion so I might as well snag it too. Am I correct in assuming it's like a mix of Dominion and Race for the Galaxy? Watching videos, that's the vibe I get from it (which I love). Dominion plus Race plus Glory to Rome.
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May 13, 2015 18:02
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Bottom Liner posted:Tell me where I can buy it without scalped prices then! I ordered the base set from the Amazon deal and it looks pretty solid as is, but I've heard nothing but glowing reviews for the expansion so I might as well snag it too. Am I correct in assuming it's like a mix of Dominion and Race for the Galaxy? Watching videos, that's the vibe I get from it (which I love). That is a pretty good way to describe it. It doesn't feel quite as mechanical and optimizing as Dominion can get, and it doesn't feel quite as luck-based as Race, but I think it adequately conveys a 4x type of game through deckbuilding. I don't know what to tell you re: ordering, since I'm in Canada and you are in God's Land. I also just got my shipment from Amazon.de. Thanks to whoever suggested it, I did the research, got some pals to go in on it, and ended up saving a lot of bux. It even came a week earlier than expected! The corner of Keyflower is a bit scrunched but the others are in perfect condition. 
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May 13, 2015 18:03
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That's good to hear that the games still came through in good shape. How was the shipping? From what I understand as long as you buy in bulk you can still end up getting a really good deal? Was it easy to see from the games' pages if they included English rules or had language dependent boards? let us know how Marco Polo is too, yo -- that's from the Tzolkin dudes isn't it?
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May 13, 2015 18:34
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Would love to hear a Marco Polo trip report, It's one I've got my eye.
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May 13, 2015 18:38
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T-Bone posted:That's good to hear that the games still came through in good shape. How was the shipping? From what I understand as long as you buy in bulk you can still end up getting a really good deal? Shipping came to 30 Euros total, so 7.5/game. The games are cheap enough that even paying that much extra shipping / game ended up with a net cheaper cost than buying here, even at the discounted prices from online stores. As for actually shopping on the site, I don't know any German but it was easy enough to find out if the games had English to them or were language independent, and even if you couldn't find out there, you can look up on BGG to see. Marco Polo is indeed from Mr. Tzolkin and it's for a different friend -- I don't know anything about it but I hope to play it. My understanding is that it'll have a proper English release after Essen I guess? Currently they don't even have English rules released, but someone on BGG has made a fan translation of the rules that seems alright. Hopefully I'll play it soon.
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May 13, 2015 19:18
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:So my wife and I finally opened up our Star Trek Catan box after this past weekend's Catan-strophe. I can see how the role cards help, although it looks like starting position is still king. I decided to see what would happen with us playing two players if I did not necessarily have access to one of the common resources for building ships (roads) and outposts (settlements). We were just testing it out; we know playing normal rules with two players isn't really valid. I think it sufficiently crimped my style; I had quite a few more turns where I could not really do anything, and I did not have anything of interest to trade. I guess if I was in a position where all those starting resources were claimed when doing initial layout, I'd have to latch on to development card generation hard and pick my starting positions to secure them. It still feels very arbitrary. A lot of it depends on how many players there are. If you're playing with 4 players, cities are generally strong compared to expansion simply because there is less room to expand. In three-player, the two are more balanced. Either way, having no brick is totally fine assuming you have ore and grain. Once you get cities you'll be picking up more of those resources than anyone else and even the expansionists who were hogging all the brick will need to start going vertical. Assuming you didn't pick trash starting spots, you'll be outproducing them. Others will want your grain and ore to build cities of their own and you can make favourable trades for brick then unless it is very scarce. If brick is very scarce, you can buy dev cards and wait until you know people just picked up a couple of bricks and use monopoly to call it in, or use soldiers to try to steal one from them. With cities, you'll also start regularly getting 4-of-a-kind to trade with the bank when, say, your city's 8 rolls twice in between your turns. One thing you might not have considered is when you have, say, 3 sheep and nobody wants your stupid sheep because everybody has tons of friggin sheep, then you can often trade something like one wheat for two sheep, or a sheep plus something else. Then you can convert 4 sheep into a brick. And voila, your 1 wheat and 3 sheep just turned into a road and a resource. If you start no-brick and no-ore, however... then yeah, you're hosed. Starting position is a big deal, but being without brick is absolutely a non-issue so long as you have good access to grain and ore. Back when I played often, I would win more than my share of games, and many of those came without a good source of brick. Going for maximum total productivity while having strong access to at least brick/wood or grain/ore is the main idea of starting placement. Don't start on a port unless it's got two strong tiles adjacent and you will get a lot of its resource. And after all that, yeah, it's got a lot of arbitrary luck. The better player won't always win, but there are plenty of ways to manage your risk. And yes, the main catch-up mechanic is simple co-operation and ganging up on the leader. It's a game that is about risk management and manipulating your friends into ganging up on anybody other than you. If you don't like those things, then you won't like it. I know I'm not winning any awards by writing a treatise on Catan strategy in this thread. Oh well!
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May 13, 2015 19:33
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Is Smash Up pretty solid with the base set, or should I throw in an expansion or two for a group that will enjoy the theme and lightness of the game? I know it's not amazing, but it'll be a hit with my group.
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May 13, 2015 19:39
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Bottom Liner posted:Is Smash Up pretty solid with the base set, or should I throw in an expansion or two for a group that will enjoy the theme and lightness of the game? I know it's not amazing, but it'll be a hit with my group. Nothing about the expansions will make the game any better. Grab them if you like the theme, or in the case of the Giant Ants, Queen songs.
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May 13, 2015 19:45
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EvilChameleon posted:Shipping came to 30 Euros total, so 7.5/game. The games are cheap enough that even paying that much extra shipping / game ended up with a net cheaper cost than buying here, even at the discounted prices from online stores. As for actually shopping on the site, I don't know any German but it was easy enough to find out if the games had English to them or were language independent, and even if you couldn't find out there, you can look up on BGG to see. There's a good playthrough video of Marco Polo here if anyone is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKe_hJLnf5k
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May 13, 2015 20:03
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Bottom Liner posted:Is Smash Up pretty solid with the base set, or should I throw in an expansion or two for a group that will enjoy the theme and lightness of the game? I know it's not amazing, but it'll be a hit with my group. Smash Up has degenerate deck combination in the initial box, so no worries about expansions ruining the balance. Get them if you like the themes, there are some interesting ones. I particularly like the madness mechanic in the Cthulhu set.
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May 13, 2015 21:15
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Jimbozig posted:And after all that, yeah, it's got a lot of arbitrary luck. The better player won't always win, but there are plenty of ways to manage your risk. And yes, the main catch-up mechanic is simple co-operation and ganging up on the leader. It's a game that is about risk management and manipulating your friends into ganging up on anybody other than you. If you don't like those things, then you won't like it. The problem with Catan is the catch up mechanic is very weak. If you're behind, people might not be afraid to trade with you, but they also have no reason to trade when you have nothing to offer. Contrast with Bohnanza, where players are frequently forced to trade or donate, presumably to the weaker players. Combine that with all your actions costing resources and, well,  Edit: the best part of Catan is spending three minutes negotiating a trade of sheep for ore, and then both players handing each other a sheep. PerniciousKnid fucked around with this message at 21:18 on May 13, 2015 |
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May 13, 2015 21:16
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PerniciousKnid posted:The problem with Catan is the catch up mechanic is very weak. If you're behind, people might not be afraid to trade with you, but they also have no reason to trade when you have nothing to offer. Contrast with Bohnanza, where players are frequently forced to trade or donate, presumably to the weaker players. At least play Star Trek catan. the leader cards go a long way to making sure there's not as much reason to catch up since you stay much closer to the same level. Bottom Liner posted:Is Smash Up pretty solid with the base set, or should I throw in an expansion or two for a group that will enjoy the theme and lightness of the game? I know it's not amazing, but it'll be a hit with my group. It only adds deck variety, so don't bother unless you play enough that variety is something you want out of it. Every deck is basically a gimmick so the entire game comes down to how well you can exploit that gimmick.
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May 13, 2015 21:18
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Sloober posted:At least play Star Trek catan. the leader cards go a long way to making sure there's not as much reason to catch up since you stay much closer to the same level. Making players of your casual family game negotiate trades of titanium for dithering crystals seems like a step-forward, step-back kind of situation.
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May 13, 2015 21:25
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A lot of talk about evolution kickstarted. I've never heard about the game before today. Since a lot of people are taking about buying it I'm guessing it's good. Anyone want to give me a run down of it?
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May 13, 2015 21:36
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Megasabin posted:A lot of talk about evolution kickstarted. I've never heard about the game before today. Since a lot of people are taking about buying it I'm guessing it's good. Anyone want to give me a run down of it? It's a giant game of rock-paper-scissors where each player grows a species or multiple species of animal by increasing their population, the animal's size, and then various other traits to help them collect food, defend themselves, or be carnivorous and attack other player's species. Intelligent Species > Defensive Species > Carnivorous Species, to over-simplify it basically. Players are able to continually evolve their species selected traits to best fit the ecosystem (the state of all the species on the table), but each round it's done with simmultaneous action so you may turn your defensive species into a carnivorous one because you want to go kill off your neighbor, but they might anticipate it and evolve with a new defensive trait that your species can't overcome and thus you can't attack them. It's pretty enjoyable, and apparently the 2nd edition improves some of the card text and rules slightly, and the Flight expansion looks like it adds some fun new stuff as well. It usually is pretty well recommended in this thread from what I've seen.
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May 13, 2015 21:42
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Megasabin posted:A lot of talk about evolution kickstarted. I've never heard about the game before today. Since a lot of people are taking about buying it I'm guessing it's good. Anyone want to give me a run down of it? Merauder covered the basics. Good game. Wait for it to restock in stores and buy it for 30%+ off msrp, gently caress Kickstarters.
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May 13, 2015 21:48
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I am interested in Elysium, which may or may not even be out yet in NA. Does anyone have any words one way or another? I confuse it pretty easily with Deus as far as conversation in thread is concerned, but I recall hearing that there was a generally positive response to it.
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May 13, 2015 21:48
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Mage Knight PBP no. 3 is up.
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May 14, 2015 01:59
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Anyone have opinions in Tournay? With two players? I'm looking for a easy setup game with some depth that plays under an hour.
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May 14, 2015 03:09
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Speaking of Mage Knight, I bought it last Friday and brought it with me for something to do while taking care of a sick family member. First thought: holy poo poo that's a lot of cards! Second thought: holy poo poo this is going to need a ton of space!! Third thought: holy poo poo there are two rulebooks!!! So it's kind of overwhelming, at first. This is easily the most complex game I own. But, once you start playing, it all comes together. The introductory adventure is pretty good at teaching you how to play! It covers all the basics and really eases you into things. Believe it or not, I managed to complete the first adventure without taking any wounds! I always had enough cards to kill during the ranged phase or enough to block. Or enough units to sacrifice. I didn't bother attacking places with hidden tokens or super tough monsters. I found the city on the last turn, and that was that. Feeling cocky, I then set up a solo adventure. I followed the same philosophy...and then I got demolished by the first city assault. Absolutely destroyed. So many wound cards! I don't think I gathered enough powerful stuff to do it effectively. I had only a couple of spells, a couple of units, and a small group of advanced actions. No artifacts. Not much mana in my inventory. Couple of questions: 1) To assault a city, do you have to move into its space? Physically you cannot put your mini there, since there are minis for both the city and the player. Still, it seems like you should have to do it. I went ahead and paid cards to enter each city to start a fight, similar to a fortress. I couldn't find a definite rule in the book, but there are a lot of words there! 2) What happens if you can kill some of the enemies in the city but not all? Do you get to try again on your next turn? Do enemies respawn in any way? Or is the city just permanently without whichever tokens you killed? 3) Does mana in your inventory stick around between Rounds?
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May 14, 2015 03:13
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FingersMaloy posted:Anyone have opinions in Tournay? With two players? It will meet those requirements. I like it. There are probably other games that would better fit this request, though. The problem with Tournay, based on my limited experience, is that it seems to rely at least partly on you knowing what the potential cards are, especially if you're going to get good at it. I imagine it would also be a bit annoying to teach, but I haven't tried that. If none of those things bother you, I'd say go for it. The art is great and I feel like it is a relatively solid game.
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May 14, 2015 03:28
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ConfusedUs posted:1) To assault a city, do you have to move into its space? Physically you cannot put your mini there, since there are minis for both the city and the player. Still, it seems like you should have to do it. I went ahead and paid cards to enter each city to start a fight, similar to a fortress. I couldn't find a definite rule in the book, but there are a lot of words there! 1) Yes. It takes 2 move to move into the city and start the assault. If you win, you stay there. If you lose, you drop back one space in the direction you came from. 2) See above. They don't respawn. Whenever you kill an enemy in a city you add one shield to the city card - whoever has the most shields when the city is destroyed is the leader of that city and gets some extra bonuses (+2 hand size rather than +1). The number of shields you have is also how much bonus influence you get when interacting in that city. 3) Mana tokens do not survive past your turn, let alone a round. Mana crystals do, but you can never have more than 3 of a color and never black or gold crystals. Remember that taking a couple of wounds is not always a bad thing, especially if it lets you take a location over that much more quickly or efficiently, or if you have a valid way to cycle them out of your deck. The first time you city assault it will seem daunting because it's so different to anything else in the game, but you'll soon learn to spot what cards and units will be most helpful during an assault. Cards that turn off fortifications, or cards that prevent creatures attacking, etc. Stelas fucked around with this message at 03:36 on May 14, 2015 |
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May 14, 2015 03:33
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To add to the above: When you enter a city, you put your figure on the city's location card. Cities are the only spaces (beside the portal) that can hold multiple Mage Knights without initiating PVP. Hence the off-board placement.
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May 14, 2015 03:38
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Think of it this way as well, the only time you DON"T move into the space to attack is when attacking orcs or dragons.Gutter Owl posted:To add to the above: When you enter a city, you put your figure on the city's location card. Cities are the only spaces (beside the portal) that can hold multiple Mage Knights without initiating PVP. Hence the off-board placement. You're also allowed to travel through a space with another Mage Knight if you're just trying to pass on through for example, it doesn't necessarily mean you're chummy to each other as you pass, but you're totally allowed to do this 
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May 14, 2015 03:50
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We like both Marco Polo and Elysium very much. I'll have more tomorrow.
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May 14, 2015 05:31
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What's the availability of Tuscany Prima? It sounds like it was originally a Kickstarter exclusive, but CSI and MM had limited stocks that appear to be all gone now. Does anyone know if that's something they'd be able to restock at CSI/MM at a discount, or am I stuck buying it at $70 on Amazon if I want it because Stonemaier only produced a set number of them?
Millions fucked around with this message at 06:03 on May 14, 2015 |
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May 14, 2015 06:00
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Stelas posted:1) Yes. It takes 2 move to move into the city and start the assault. If you win, you stay there. If you lose, you drop back one space in the direction you came from. Okay, glad to know that conquering a the city is expected to take a couple of turns. I was despairing at the thought of trying to get that much attack and/or block at once. And whoa, it only costs 2 to get into the city? I was totally paying whatever the city sat on. So the green city, which is on a swamp, I was paying 5 to get in. I did mean mana crystals, in the inventory.
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May 14, 2015 06:11
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ConfusedUs posted:Okay, glad to know that conquering a the city is expected to take a couple of turns.
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May 14, 2015 06:30
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Lorini posted:We like both Marco Polo and Elysium very much. I'll have more tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to reading more. Reviews have been so mixed on Elysium and I'm stumped as to how I'd feel playing it even after watching a few sample playthroughs on Youtube. I think the Greek gods theme has been oversaturated, so I'm already wary on buying it and I'm just not sure if the gameplay is engaging enough once you get a deeper taste of it. Marco Polo, though, is pretty much an auto-buy.
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May 14, 2015 06:47
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Millions posted:What's the availability of Tuscany Prima? It sounds like it was originally a Kickstarter exclusive, but CSI and MM had limited stocks that appear to be all gone now. Does anyone know if that's something they'd be able to restock at CSI/MM at a discount, or am I stuck buying it at $70 on Amazon if I want it because Stonemaier only produced a set number of them? There's still a few up at BGG, going for only ~5 buck more than CSI after shipping.
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May 14, 2015 07:20
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http://www.miniaturemarket.com/stm301.html Here too
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May 14, 2015 07:23
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Millions posted:What's the availability of Tuscany Prima? It sounds like it was originally a Kickstarter exclusive, but CSI and MM had limited stocks that appear to be all gone now. Does anyone know if that's something they'd be able to restock at CSI/MM at a discount, or am I stuck buying it at $70 on Amazon if I want it because Stonemaier only produced a set number of them? Tuscany Prima is just Tuscany with the metal coins added. Stonemeier sell the coins separately through their website if you really want them (you do), if you don't then just find a copy of Tuscany.
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May 14, 2015 08:42
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Looks like they are doing another artscow bag sale if you want to bling out some games: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1352124/artscow-custom-drawstring-bags-and-other-stuff-10
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May 14, 2015 16:59
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