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I've been playing the single-player variant of Viticulture every day since I got it last week and can attest to its quality. The components are all beautiful (and even smell like a wine cellar, not sure how they pulled that one off), and it seems like there's a ton of variety even without cracking into the Tuscany content. The metal coins from Tuscany Prima are awesome, definitely splurge for that one. I'm still getting the hang of the flow of the game and have only come within 2 points of victory, but I was missing the rule that your grande worker can be placed on the same space as another of your workers to double up on an action. Next time you're toast, Automa 
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May 23, 2015 17:53
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Mojo Jojo posted:Anybody have any 2-player recommendations? Beyond Twilight Struggle, which is out of print and sadly not lying around somewhere in the poorly laid out boardgame stacks of my unfriendly local game store. Twilight Struggle is on sale this weekend at Cardhaus if it not out stock already.
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May 23, 2015 18:04
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I recently did a cryptic crossword with the clue: "Viticulturist’s set of characteristics without one monster", six letters, and thought of this thread.  spoiler for answer: terror, terroir without the roman numeral i for one, meaning monster
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May 23, 2015 18:40
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Is a cryptic crossword one where the clues are really shittily written?
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May 23, 2015 18:57
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Gimnbo posted:Is a cryptic crossword one where the clues are really shittily written? Yup! Alright, so a cryptic crossword for those who aren't british or do complex puzzle sets, the clues are written with a definition and a cryptic clue, which usually tells you how to form the word (either by sound, half of the word plus the other half, anagram another set of words, etc) and it's deliberately unclear which part of the clue is the definition and which part is the cryptic.
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May 23, 2015 19:00
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I've just played a game of Save Doctor Lucky with my parents, they brought it as a souvenir from a trip to Ireland (plus assorted Guiness stuff) for me . In a more cynical note, I need to make a boardgame wishlist or something.
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May 23, 2015 20:25
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silvergoose posted:Yup! The best cryptic crossword clue I've heard of was "gseg (9, 4)" scrambled eggs
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May 23, 2015 23:51
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Those sound amazing and I want to try one. Say, so I'm out of town for the holiday weekend and don't have access to my collection, but I actually have folks to play with for once. There's a solid FLGS nearby, so what are some of the best games from the last couple years? There are Massdrop deals on Camelot, Dixit, and Firefly with expansions so I'd like to avoid those. (on a side note, are those drops worth it?)
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May 24, 2015 01:20
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Aston posted:The best cryptic crossword clue I've heard of was "gseg (9, 4)" holy poo poo I love it. Yeah look up cryptic crosswords, there's a bunch of words that kind of clue things, like destroyed means anagrammed, hears means sounds like, etc. I'm sure there's some free ones online, or you could find a british newspaper.
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May 24, 2015 01:52
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The first year or so of the Bugle features an Audio Cryptic Crossword. It wasn't a popular feature.
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May 24, 2015 02:06
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Meldonox posted:Those sound amazing and I want to try one. Do you own Agricola? Because you should own Agricola. Real answer: Terra Mystica+Castles of Mad King Ludwig+Pictomania
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May 24, 2015 02:06
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Aston posted:The best cryptic crossword clue I've heard of was "gseg (9, 4)" That's brilliant. My favourite is "A stiff examination (4, 6)." Post mortem
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May 24, 2015 02:36
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House Louse posted:That's brilliant. My favourite is "A stiff examination (4, 6)." Post mortem peep boners
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May 24, 2015 02:43
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This thread of all places should know about GAMES magazine. It is full of crosswords, cryptic crosswords, cryptograms, and assorted other puzzles. It also has articles about tabletop games and reviews of both tabletop games and video games. Many bookstores carry it, hidden among the crappy FIND UR WORDZ and BEAUCOUP SUDOKU magazines.
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May 24, 2015 03:43
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Cryptic Crosswords are infuriating and I wish I was any good at them.
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May 24, 2015 04:21
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I bought Concordia on a whim at the game store -- kind of a "hey, I like Mac Gerdts games" thing with a quick check of BGG -- and man, that was fun. We played on the Roman Empire board with 3, and it began to get really crowded really quick -- can't wait to see what it's like with 5. That one's going to the next game night I actually make it to. Kinda made me want to break out Navegador and Princes of Machu Picchu sometime soon, too. PoMP especially, since J-- now correctly groks the "multiply the score by the number of cards" thing that always leaves him far, far behind in that game.
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May 24, 2015 04:28
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Concordia is a hidden gem even in this thread. It doesn't have the same flurry of discussion surrounding it like Mage Knight, Eclipse or any of our favorite discussion topics but is probably one of the most elegant mediumweight non-WP euros out there. If you find that you really love Concordia, check out the expansion board. One side is perfect for 2p and the other gives you a very differently flavored 5 person game. Hell, we even talk about Vlaada's best game, Tash Kalar, less than his others that depend more on gimmicks like Space Alert. Impermanent fucked around with this message at 04:39 on May 24, 2015 |
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May 24, 2015 04:34
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Speaking of which, Concordia is ~$45 on Amazon, meaning you can get it with free shipping. I don't think it's a real hot deal but poo poo it was enough to get me to buy it, especially after seeing it for $65 at my local store.
Gimnbo fucked around with this message at 04:39 on May 24, 2015 |
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May 24, 2015 04:36
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Meldonox posted:peep boners That's plural 
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May 24, 2015 06:41
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I actually got Concordia too to pad out a shipment recently and I'm pretty excited about it. Also got to play Terra Mystica a couple times today, owned
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May 24, 2015 06:46
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Just got back from the Goonies themed game day. Think I'll wait till I get some sleep to write about the games we played. Just thought I'd pop in and ask if anyone has heard of Spartacus? The guy visiting from New York raved about it quite a bit. He said he was planning to bring it, but his group wanted to keep it so they could play while he was out of town. I looked on BGG and from the sound of it he was talking about Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery from 2012, not the one from 2009. Anyway, haven't seen anything about it in this thread so was wondering if it's actually good or what?
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May 24, 2015 09:27
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QnoisX posted:Just got back from the Goonies themed game day. Think I'll wait till I get some sleep to write about the games we played. Just thought I'd pop in and ask if anyone has heard of Spartacus? The guy visiting from New York raved about it quite a bit. He said he was planning to bring it, but his group wanted to keep it so they could play while he was out of town. I looked on BGG and from the sound of it he was talking about Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery from 2012, not the one from 2009. Anyway, haven't seen anything about it in this thread so was wondering if it's actually good or what? I've played it. It goes on way too long for what it is, and there's only so many times you can read "Can only be foiled by Jupiter's Cock" before it stops being funny. Basically it feels like Munchkin with swearwords.
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May 24, 2015 10:17
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Portions of my group love Spartacus, it's a really cutthroat, fairly Ameritrash game. It's one of my favorites in my collection, but while it's entertaining to play, it does have some issues if your group isn't super into brutalizing each other. Major criticisms are how game defining the Intrigue cards are (a hand of cards usable during specific points in the game, mainly during the phase in which they are acquired), and the fact that arena combat can feel a little clumsy as it's akin to 40k dice pool slap fights.
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May 24, 2015 10:18
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It's a profoundly silly game that I also happen to find very entertaining. Basically, if you're looking for the Ameritrashiest game ever made, Spartacus is it. You'll get hosed by random dice rolls and random action cards fairly consistently, but the arena battles are a great spectacle and it really evokes theme up the wazoo. It can be very long and very random, but if you're after a game that hits you in the lizard brain and doesn't require deep concentration, it's a lot of fun in a cheap package.
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May 24, 2015 10:24
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I really enjoyed Spartacus. Except for the combat, which is just non-functional and needs an entirely new ruleset.
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May 24, 2015 10:26
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Nah, just houserule the initiative check into a normal combat check with the speed dice and it's fine.
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May 24, 2015 10:31
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Spartacus is great! Stupid, but great. Its a frankenstein game - 4 different things stitched together (a card game, a bidding game, a betting game and a tactical combat game). None of them on their own would be enough, but as long as you get into the spirit of it even a little bit you will have fun with the combination. Its true that the card section can feel a bit too Munchkin/kill the leader, and that the arena is a bit too dice heavy, and that the whole thing is too random, but for me at least (someone who generally loves playing heavy euros and war-games) Spartacus scratches an itch nothing else does - particularly in regard to storytelling. An example: A player had acquired Spartacus from the market in the previous round. She decided she wanted to make him a champion - she had two cards in her hand that gave him "favour" if he won a match, you gain one favour from winning anyway, and 3 favour made you a champion (and therefore immortal other than being decapitated in the arena). So, she focused all her cash that round on buying the hosting of the games, rather than items/slaves in the markets. Once she had it, she pitched around the table for bribes, looking for an easy match. Eventually she chose a player who had had his main gladiator poisoned during the intrigue phase, and only had a 2nd rate one ready to fight. Usually you can't bet against yourself, but the player with the poisoned gladiator had a card that, for one round, allowed you to. He therefore played a slavegirl into the arena instead, and bet heavily against himself. Spartacus walked up to the slavegirl, and in one hit decapitated her. And instantly became Champion of Capua. Spartacus was then in turn decapitated in the next round by the other gladiator who had recovered from the poison, and the player that played the slavegirl ended up winning mainly from the pots of money he made sending her to be brutally slaughtered. So, yeah. I know I shouldn't like it, but I do. More than the sum of its parts.
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May 24, 2015 10:51
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How is Warhammer Disk Wars? I feel like Tash Kalar holds the crown for my 1v1 gaming needs, but I just love the Warhammer lore so much, and I have no desire to actually ever get involved with miniatures. This seems like a nice way to enjoy the world without really getting involved with the miniature game itself.
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May 24, 2015 11:46
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It is awesome, go buy it. Just make sure you've got some sort of cloth to cover the playing surface.
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May 24, 2015 11:58
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Warhammer Diskwars is awesome, as said you must play it on a cloth/felt surface. Buy everything so FFG will release a full skaven expansion.
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May 24, 2015 12:32
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Spartacus is great, really lives up to it's theme. If your friends get whiny about how brutal it is you should probably get better friends.
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May 24, 2015 12:36
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Spartacus really fell flat for me (partially due to the atrocious end game, which is just a munchkin-like whack-a-mole) and the only remotely interesting thing for me was the betting. The influence system is also incredibly badly implemented and it is nearly impossible to actually play a full game in a reasonable time frame.
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May 24, 2015 12:45
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I've played 4 games and they ran from and hour and a half to 3 hours
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May 24, 2015 12:47
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bowmore posted:I've played 4 games and they ran from and hour and a half to 3 hours
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May 24, 2015 12:51
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Started at 4 each time like the rulebook recommends.
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May 24, 2015 13:10
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Yeah, they're not kidding when they say starting from 1 is an epic game. That stretches the game to a length it just doesn't belong at.
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May 24, 2015 13:11
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I think all the times we played we started at the higher end and it still took such a long time to play that I couldn't imagine starting any lower.
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May 24, 2015 13:11
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Would you folks say that Viticulture would be a decent game as a gateway game? I haven't played it, but it seems like it could be babby's first Euro and/or babby's first 'real game,' also. Anyone have experience introducing it to non- or casual gamers?Megasabin posted:How is Warhammer Disk Wars? I feel like Tash Kalar holds the crown for my 1v1 gaming needs, but I just love the Warhammer lore so much, and I have no desire to actually ever get involved with miniatures. This seems like a nice way to enjoy the world without really getting involved with the miniature game itself. Diskwars is great. It feeds that itch you might have to buy a miniatures game but with actual solid gameplay and doesn't break your bank. Highly recommended.
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May 24, 2015 15:50
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Played a few games of Eminent Domain yesterday, and had a lot of fun, but the game feels too short at higher player counts. Any suggestions for extending the gameplay? Would it be a bad idea to set a fixed # of turns per player and go from there?
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May 24, 2015 16:14
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Megasabin posted:How is Warhammer Disk Wars? I feel like Tash Kalar holds the crown for my 1v1 gaming needs, but I just love the Warhammer lore so much, and I have no desire to actually ever get involved with miniatures. This seems like a nice way to enjoy the world without really getting involved with the miniature game itself. It's a great game. How much of it will allow you to experience the world of WFRP is probably another matter, but it's okay, just fill in the gaps with your own devices.
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