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al-azad posted:I'm pretty sure they realized that because Japan has buildings that score a truckload of points at the end. I'm sure some designer somewhere was like "Japan should play like a ninja, sneak a victory in the shadows." Yeah, the game has high variance but that's Egypt's weakness as well, they have 1 oasis in a deck of 30. I played a game as Egypt and my first faction building was Oasis. I won that game with almost 100 points and played nearly every faction card in my deck. There was absolutely nothing anyone could do to touch me the whole game. The next highest score was 52.
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May 18, 2015 15:28
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Months after all the hype here, I finally got to play Castles of Mad King Ludwig! The Master Builder mechanism mitigates the shared market row in an interesting way. I don't think you ever have that much control over your destiny, but there's definitely room to build skill and get better at it, in particular as you learn how to weigh cost per point and the value of potentially blocking what you think the hidden agenda cards are that others have. The variation in individual victory conditions would give it a lot of longevity, and the difference that "most completed rooms" vs "most external entrances" would do to people's layouts is interesting on its own. It is definitely the ugliest "I can make it on my own!" design I've played in this Golden Age of board games, though. It looks like it was done in a CAD program like Campaign Cartographer by somebody with my minimal level of skill with such things. I do not see how a single person could nominate that for a Golden Geek for Best Boardgame Artwork & Presentation, unless that person really, really, really likes grey.
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May 18, 2015 16:09
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Dirk the Average posted:I played a game as Egypt and my first faction building was Oasis. I won that game with almost 100 points and played nearly every faction card in my deck. There was absolutely nothing anyone could do to touch me the whole game. The next highest score was 52. I mean, congratulations on your 5% chance opening turn. I can't speak for your group but 52 points is pretty low when I know the other factions have ways to outclass Egypt in everything except resources. Instead of feeding you they could have been razing their cards from hand for resources and making deals with their faction cards. I agree with the earlier sentiment that Egypt's is the easiest to start with, not the be all end all. You'd think the company would offer some kind of errata like only being able to benefit once or twice but then it would conflict with their game-wording as the location is an active ability. Imperial Settlers won't be hitting my table again, 7 Wonders is everything I could want out of a Civ card game in a fraction of the time and without all the extraneous cards.
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May 18, 2015 16:17
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homullus posted:It is definitely the ugliest "I can make it on my own!" design I've played in this Golden Age of board games, though. It looks like it was done in a CAD program like Campaign Cartographer by somebody with my minimal level of skill with such things. I do not see how a single person could nominate that for a Golden Geek for Best Boardgame Artwork & Presentation, unless that person really, really, really likes grey. Yeah Castles of Mad King Ludwig is super ugly. That's why I want the Polish version
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May 18, 2015 16:29
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al-azad posted:
Not defending Imperial Settlers as I haven't played it yet, but aren't they completely different games mechanically? Sure the theme is similar, but 7 Wonders is drafting game and IS is worker placement and resource management? I don't mind games that overlap thematically as long as the mechanics and gameplay vary.
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May 18, 2015 16:36
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Does anyone have any experience with the Dungeon Petz expansion? We love the base game but the extra pets and stuff in expansion would be nice, though some reviewers like Rahdo say it complicates the base game too much. Does anyone else feel this way? It does seem like there aren't a ton of different action spots available in the base game so some more options might be nice, but not if it just adds complexity for complexities sake.
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May 18, 2015 16:49
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Elysium is the only game in the SDJ list that made any sense to me. I've not played Colt Express however.
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May 18, 2015 16:52
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I really love it, to be honest. It does make the game slightly more difficult (I think the industry plots are the hardest thing to understand) but all the other slots are really easy to get the hang of. The expansion game also lasts one round more. If you have played the base game to death and love it and want to spice it up a little bit, I would recommend it. The thing I love most about it is that it has 'opt-in difficulty': you can make things more risky for yourself for a higher pay-out but you aren't forced into the extra difficulty like the Dungeon Lords expansion does. I managed to teach Dark Alleys to some newbies that hadn't even played the base game before and it wasn't that much more difficult and was enjoyed by all as well.
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May 18, 2015 16:53
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I hope I win.
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May 18, 2015 16:55
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Elysium posted:I hope I win. 
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May 18, 2015 17:04
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al-azad posted:I mean, congratulations on your 5% chance opening turn. I can't speak for your group but 52 points is pretty low when I know the other factions have ways to outclass Egypt in everything except resources. Instead of feeding you they could have been razing their cards from hand for resources and making deals with their faction cards. I agree with the earlier sentiment that Egypt's is the easiest to start with, not the be all end all. You'd think the company would offer some kind of errata like only being able to benefit once or twice but then it would conflict with their game-wording as the location is an active ability. Imagine if that was your first game of Imperial Settlers, where you get trounced like this, even if it was only a small percentage chance of the time. Would you give it a second chance or write it off as random bullshit, which it completely is in this case? While I hear the same thing in Chaos in the Old World with respect to Khorne dominating newbie games, most people can at least realize that you can play around Khorne and otherwise learn to not engage him like he were some mouthbreather wearing cat ear headphones. What are you not supposed to do in Imperial Settlers? Not use one of your resources? Pray that the Egypt player doesn't realize how broken Oasis is? Realize that there are better balanced games that aren't as frustrating to play? And this is just the not-Egypt players, versus the very specific bullshit the Japanese player has to contend with. Maybe IS is a decent game if it were just Rome vs. Barbarians, as some sort of weird representation of the Gallic Wars, I dunno. Also, one of the stated design goals of IS was to get away from 51st State's arbitrary limit rules. Of course, they mostly did a soft limit by just having the game be a set 5 round game, instead of a race to X points, but that's also why you probably won't see any errata limiting Oasis's use. Edit: In case anyone asks, Machi Koro is also a piece of poo poo game published by a kinda piece of poo poo company that, like Indie Board and Games, find it very difficult to match their cards from previous versions of said game.* *The cards from the Harbor expansion don't match in size to the cards in the 1st edition of the base game. They're also planning on printing some "deluxe" version of the game before the second expansion, because gently caress you early adopters, that's why.
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May 18, 2015 17:10
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Bottom Liner posted:Not defending Imperial Settlers as I haven't played it yet, but aren't they completely different games mechanically? Sure the theme is similar, but 7 Wonders is drafting game and IS is worker placement and resource management? I don't mind games that overlap thematically as long as the mechanics and gameplay vary. They play different but in my mind they're not dissimilar. In 7 Wonders I have the variable powers, player interaction, resource management, and creating powerful card combinations but without the high variability of Imperial Settlers. I realize it's not fair to compare them on a play level but they both occupy the same space in my head for some reason. GrandpaPants posted:Imagine if that was your first game of Imperial Settlers, where you get trounced like this, even if it was only a small percentage chance of the time. Would you give it a second chance or write it off as random bullshit, which it completely is in this case? While I hear the same thing in Chaos in the Old World with respect to Khorne dominating newbie games, most people can at least realize that you can play around Khorne and otherwise learn to not engage him like he were some mouthbreather wearing cat ear headphones. What are you not supposed to do in Imperial Settlers? Not use one of your resources? Pray that the Egypt player doesn't realize how broken Oasis is? Realize that there are better balanced games that aren't as frustrating to play? And this is just the not-Egypt players, versus the very specific bullshit the Japanese player has to contend with. Maybe IS is a decent game if it were just Rome vs. Barbarians, as some sort of weird representation of the Gallic Wars, I dunno. I can name far better board games I get unfairly trounced in the first play because I didn't know how to play the game. I'm not going to pass judgment on a game after one play unless it's very obviously trash. There are easier and better ways to get resources beyond spending 2 workers for 1. FWIW my first game was 4-player and Rome won with something like 120 points because they chained up some ridiculous vp machine every time they built a building. Egypt had both the sphinx and oasis out and couldn't do poo poo about it. al-azad fucked around with this message at 17:26 on May 18, 2015 |
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May 18, 2015 17:18
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GrandpaPants posted:Imagine if that was your first game of Imperial Settlers, where you get trounced like this, even if it was only a small percentage chance of the time. Would you give it a second chance or write it off as random bullshit, which it completely is in this case? While I hear the same thing in Chaos in the Old World with respect to Khorne dominating newbie games, most people can at least realize that you can play around Khorne and otherwise learn to not engage him like he were some mouthbreather wearing cat ear headphones. What are you not supposed to do in Imperial Settlers? Not use one of your resources? Pray that the Egypt player doesn't realize how broken Oasis is? Realize that there are better balanced games that aren't as frustrating to play? And this is just the not-Egypt players, versus the very specific bullshit the Japanese player has to contend with. Maybe IS is a decent game if it were just Rome vs. Barbarians, as some sort of weird representation of the Gallic Wars, I dunno. Every time I've seen the Oasis played, I've been able to minimize its impact by waiting as long as possible to throw my workers for cards/resources. As soon as the Egyptian player passes, Oasis becomes a non-factor since he can't store workers from turn to turn. I know it's not possible do that some of the time and you just have to eat sending the Egyptian player some workers. But in my experience, Oasis hasn't been game-breaking, just strong enough that it forces people to play around it.
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May 18, 2015 17:26
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fozzy fosbourne posted:I guess Broom Service is a remake of Witch's Brew which seemed ok but not great according to reviews from my geekbuddies I'm a huge fan of WB, and and after reading the Broom Service rulebook it's definitely it's own game. The only thing in common is the role selection mechanic, and even that's been altered to be less punishing. I'm still interested in trying it but it seems like it's missing most of what I liked in WB.
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May 18, 2015 17:50
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My old play group really likes Imperial Settlers, and FWIW, they have all flipped and say Japan is the strongest civ now. 
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May 18, 2015 18:03
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CSI daily sale is the cardboard box Happy Anniversary, go buy it immediately
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May 18, 2015 18:07
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After quite a while of solely being the Mastermind, I finally got to play a Protagonist again in Tragedy Looper. That game is SO. GOOD. Also, I now have two more scripts under my belt, which gives me two more I can play as Mastermind.
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May 18, 2015 18:17
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EBag posted:Does anyone have any experience with the Dungeon Petz expansion? We love the base game but the extra pets and stuff in expansion would be nice, though some reviewers like Rahdo say it complicates the base game too much. Does anyone else feel this way? It does seem like there aren't a ton of different action spots available in the base game so some more options might be nice, but not if it just adds complexity for complexities sake. If you plan to play 4P I think you definitely want the expansion. The fact that one player is guaranteed not to get a pet in round 1 is not necessarily a balance problem, but it's definitely a fun problem. I don't find Dungeon Petz to be a very complex game once you get past the initial hump, so I can't see it being a problem unless your group is very complexity-averse.
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May 18, 2015 18:58
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Fungah! posted:CSI daily sale is the cardboard box Happy Anniversary, go buy it immediately Planning on picking it up in a bit. Just trying to decide on something to get me to $100. Looking at Argent: The Consortium, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and Pictomania. All of those have gotten alot of praise in this thread, just can't decide.
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May 18, 2015 19:05
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QnoisX posted:Planning on picking it up in a bit. Just trying to decide on something to get me to $100. Looking at Argent: The Consortium, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and Pictomania. All of those have gotten alot of praise in this thread, just can't decide. Given the choice between love and Pictomania, I grabbed the three star tile and never looked back.
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May 18, 2015 19:13
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QnoisX posted:Planning on picking it up in a bit. Just trying to decide on something to get me to $100. Looking at Argent: The Consortium, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and Pictomania. All of those have gotten alot of praise in this thread, just can't decide. done.
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May 18, 2015 19:15
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homullus posted:Months after all the hype here, I finally got to play Castles of Mad King Ludwig! The Master Builder mechanism mitigates the shared market row in an interesting way. I don't think you ever have that much control over your destiny, but there's definitely room to build skill and get better at it, in particular as you learn how to weigh cost per point and the value of potentially blocking what you think the hidden agenda cards are that others have. The variation in individual victory conditions would give it a lot of longevity, and the difference that "most completed rooms" vs "most external entrances" would do to people's layouts is interesting on its own. I played ludwig myself the first time on saturday, i actually enjoyed it more than i thought i would, despite not having any particular plan going into it beyond those utility cards i started with. Master builder role was interesting and i used it to either set a room someone else wanted for 15k or one that I did in order to not give money to someone; if they bought it well 15k richer w/e. Pretty fun though.
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May 18, 2015 21:06
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My wife has many fond memories of Rummy 500 with her grandmother. I think Jaipur is one of the closest to the sort of card hording / loving over other people who are hording cards once you figure it out as Rummy 500. I think I'm going to try it with her. Anyone know of any other ideas along those lines?
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May 18, 2015 21:37
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QnoisX posted:Planning on picking it up in a bit. Just trying to decide on something to get me to $100. Looking at Argent: The Consortium, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and Pictomania. All of those have gotten alot of praise in this thread, just can't decide. Argent is a heavier Euro, Castles is a pretty solid light-middle weight game, and Pictomania is super light. Dungeon Lords is probably closer to Argent than Castles in weight category, and they're also sorta kinda worker placement games too with non-VP race scoring mechanics, but aren't actually that similar in the way they play. All are fun in their own way. I'd prioritize Picto > Argent > Castles.
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May 18, 2015 21:39
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I'm late to the game, but Colt Express is a pretty good choice. I played it once in a board game café, and I wasn't impressed, but I got it as a gift later and decided to try it out again. With the right group, it just clicked, and we went all out on scheming and backstabbing and stuff. The heart of it is that it's just the right amount of unpredictable, so you can plan without being certain it'll work, and you get to shoot your friends. It's definitely light, but there are meaningful tactical choices to be made, and a lot of banter around the table to go with it. Also, the train is cute as gently caress. Edit: The rulebook is spectacularly bad, and I did not even understand the non-advanced rules that did not use a discard pile. Discard piles are pretty basic, so just play with them. BonHair fucked around with this message at 22:03 on May 18, 2015 |
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May 18, 2015 22:00
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jeeves posted:My wife has many fond memories of Rummy 500 with her grandmother. I think Jaipur is one of the closest to the sort of card hording / loving over other people who are hording cards once you figure it out as Rummy 500. I think I'm going to try it with her. Check out Linko
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May 18, 2015 22:31
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So far the favorite here seems to be Pictomania. It would be a no brainer, but one of the guys in my group is saying he doesn't like the look of it. There are only 4 people in the regular group, so if he won't play it, it probably won't make it to the table. Too bad there are no game stores around here to try stuff at. We're actually going to get to try Castles this Saturday. One guy's brother is bringing it for his visit. But it won't be a regular thing, he lives in New York.
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May 18, 2015 22:36
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I think Argent and the expansion are p sweet if that's what it takes to put you over the top 
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May 18, 2015 22:40
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fozzy fosbourne posted:I think Argent and the expansion are p sweet if that's what it takes to put you over the top I hear it takes up a ton of room. Would a 6'x3' table be big enough? I'm planning to build a new table for gaming, but it might be a while.
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May 18, 2015 22:42
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QnoisX posted:It would be a no brainer, but one of the guys in my group is saying he doesn't like the look of it. Buy it anyway and make him try it. Pictomania is like Galaxy Trucker in how quickly it wins people over. vvv Yeah, that's what we did on a more cramped table. Just put the tableus into piles and let people rifle through them as they please instead of spreading them out. It helps! AMooseDoesStuff fucked around with this message at 23:11 on May 18, 2015 |
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May 18, 2015 22:55
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we managed to make it fit on a 6x3 but we have some tv tray things and business card holders for the markets. You could probably just get away with putting the market rows in piles and save some space. Probably something more space efficient that could be done with the voters, too
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May 18, 2015 22:57
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AMooseDoesStuff posted:Buy it anyway and make him try it. Pictomania is like Galaxy Trucker in how quickly it wins people over. I did that with Space Alert and it didn't work out that well. He would fill up his action bar before we even heard all of the threats. Then just shrug when I'd ask him to handle something...very annoying! Wonder why we lost so badly? Maybe it was the guy running around randomly pushing buttons? Nah, that can't be it. Galaxy Trucker went over better, even though one player is like Rain Man for that game and always finishes first.
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May 18, 2015 23:12
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QnoisX posted:I did that with Space Alert and it didn't work out that well. He would fill up his action bar before we even heard all of the threats. Then just shrug when I'd ask him to handle something...very annoying! That guy sounds like an rear end in a top hat. Space Alert can't cure assholism.
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May 18, 2015 23:18
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I'm an rear end in a top hat. There's a difference between being an rear end in a top hat and purposely disrupting and ruining a game for the other players.
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May 18, 2015 23:37
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Are Suburbia and Castles of Mad King Ludwig too similar to own both? I already own Suburbia and we at it a lot, but Castles seems a little more whimsical and I appreciate that.
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May 18, 2015 23:50
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Broken Loose posted:I'm an rear end in a top hat. There's a difference between being an rear end in a top hat and purposely disrupting and ruining a game for the other players. Space Alert didn't cure your assholism either  FingersMaloy posted:Are Suburbia and Castles of Mad King Ludwig too similar to own both? I think that Castles improves on the Suburbia formula enough that it effectively obsoletes it for me. I don't own either, but if someone suggests playing Suburbia, I'd suggest Castles instead. Also, making a wacky dong shaped castle is much better and easier than trying to make Dongsville. You'll probably do better, too!
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May 18, 2015 23:53
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Agreed, Castles wins in both mechanics and theme over Suburbia. They also teased that it's coming to iOS this summer for anyone that wants to try it before buying.
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May 18, 2015 23:59
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fozzy fosbourne posted:I think Argent and the expansion are p sweet if that's what it takes to put you over the top I echo this statement. Argent is fantastic, and with so many ways to vary the game, it doesn't really get stale.
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May 19, 2015 00:05
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Teaching Argent seems like the most miserable experience, and I say this as my scene's designated medium-weight game teacher.
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May 19, 2015 00:12
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GrandpaPants posted:That guy sounds like an rear end in a top hat. Space Alert can't cure assholism. Can't argue with that. Think I might have convinced someone else in the group to buy Pictomania. She has two kids that would really like it. So I think I'll pick between Argent and Castles.
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May 19, 2015 00:27
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