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QnoisX posted:Just got Mansions of Madness at a Christmas party. Haven't heard of it. Any good? Honestly thought it was an Arkham Horror expansion at first, but it has miniatures. I don't have Arkham Horror anyway. Treat it like a very heavy $50 gift certificate for a different board game.
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Dec 20, 2015 02:17
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Gimnbo posted:
This is really odd, as there are inherent conflicts of interest in critics acting as advocates for the medium instead of just critiquing things. I wish there was someone doing actual criticism of board games, but aside from SU&SD most popular board game coverage is just dorks fumbling through rules on video. The End posted:Good on them. That was what put them on the map in the first place. They're at their best prosletysing what they love, and kinda uneven when it comes to actual critique (except for Paul, he's not bad at all) But this is entirely correct. I know a goon writes Meepletown and it's generally quite good - is there anything else like it?
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Dec 20, 2015 03:46
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How is there a conflict of interest? Whether I agree with them or not I can't see them recommending a game they think is a bad game. I took it to meant they would just review games they had a positive reaction to only. All critics have some criteria by which they select games to review, unless they try to review everything. At least this way their bias is relatively up front and open.
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Dec 20, 2015 04:10
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Just a scattering of goonblogs like Tekopo's No Fun Allowed blog. Honestly, the best coverage I've ever found has been this thread.
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Dec 20, 2015 04:11
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The only problem I really have with SUSD's statement is the idea that the "old guard" or whatever is actually doing quality reviews. Like who do they think is putting out good content? Did they name anyone?
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Dec 20, 2015 04:12
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I'm pretty sure they're referring to Tom Vasel. My main problem with their statement is that pandering to newbie nongamers who might want a ultralight and "sexy" game to play with their normie friends at the pub is pretty much what it feels they've been doing for at least a year now, so I'm not so sure what's supposed to change.
Scyther fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Dec 20, 2015 |
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Dec 20, 2015 04:14
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SkeletonHero posted:Treat it like a very heavy $50 gift certificate for a different board game. Hmm, well he didn't give me a receipt.
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Dec 20, 2015 04:15
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Scyther posted:I'm pretty sure they're referring to Tom Vasel. He's a loving plague on the entire hobby. I can't believe people can't stomach The Dice Tower crew. I get irrationally angry about these fucks' 1993 production values and prepubescent social skills.
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Dec 20, 2015 04:19
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I think it's a nice practice to have a "Minority Report" in your coverage (when applicable and sensical of course) if you have more than one commentator. It's also good business because no matter your viewership's feelings, everyone has someone to nod to & agree with 
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Dec 20, 2015 04:21
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QnoisX posted:Hmm, well he didn't give me a receipt. After Christmas you can pretty much return anything unopened to a big box store sans receipt. I bet Barnes and Noble or Books a Million sell Mansions. Blamestorm posted:How is there a conflict of interest? Whether I agree with them or not I can't see them recommending a game they think is a bad game. I took it to meant they would just review games they had a positive reaction to only. All critics have some criteria by which they select games to review, unless they try to review everything. At least this way their bias is relatively up front and open. If you are setting out as an advocate you are going to be softer on the things you do discuss and just avoid mentioning the things you don't discuss. Stuff like TIME Stories, which they ultimately don't recommend, gets snippets in the review about "oh, this part is so grand" that could be mistaken for a recommendation, and stuff like Exploding Kittens never gets thoughtfully torn apart. As mentioned above, their Cards Against Humanity review is an extremely useful piece of criticism, and if they're just cheerleaders who quietly dismiss things they don't like, that stuff will continue to exist unchallenged. TL,DR: Critics shape discourse and ultimately the medium itself, and that requires negativity. Cheerleaders are just free PR for the games they like.
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Dec 20, 2015 04:24
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Scyther posted:I'm pretty sure they're referring to Tom Vasel. My main problem with their statement is that pandering to newbie nongamers who might want a ultralight and "sexy" game to play with their normie friends at the pub is pretty much what it feels they've been doing for at least a year now, so I'm not so sure what's supposed to change. I don't think anything is supposed to change, just that this thread has had a perception that they've been trying to straddle the line between "serious" board game coverage and funmongers. Now they're up-front with the kind of coverage they plan to do and we can set our expectations accordingly.
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Dec 20, 2015 04:34
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We should all start game review YouTube groups
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Dec 20, 2015 04:37
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Scyther posted:I'm pretty sure they're referring to Tom Vasel. Well then they're wrong I guess.
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Dec 20, 2015 04:37
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Banana Man posted:We should all start game review YouTube groups Let's Play: Trad Games Edition Anyone have comments on Kingsport Festival? We play a good amount of Arkham and some Eldritch Horror, and if it's any good then a game where you play as investigator-wrecking cultists sounds like a good bomb to drop on our New Year's gig.
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Dec 20, 2015 04:48
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I don't get to play games often enough to review them anymore, especially if I wanted to hold myself to any sort of standard per review which would require 6-10 plays to give a comfortable analysis. RIP.
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Dec 20, 2015 04:51
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Countblanc posted:I don't get to play games often enough to review them anymore, especially if I wanted to hold myself to any sort of standard per review which would require 6-10 plays to give a comfortable analysis. RIP. You could do calendale style solo reviews 
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Dec 20, 2015 05:21
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Splizwarf posted:Let's Play: Trad Games Edition If I remember correctly, it's Lovecraft-themed Kingsburg, so 
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Dec 20, 2015 06:31
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I played many new board games yesterday and some of them were good. First game we played was One Night Ultimate Resistance where we played three games of it, all of which ended well before the time limit where none of the informants really had much ability to play the game at any point, we voted it off the table after those three games and haven't played it since. Maybe we're all bad at it and it's secretly brilliant but at any rate I had no fun with that game and I don't recommend it, play regular Resistance, the original is still the finest. Then we played Jungle Speed (i know this game is nothing approaching new but still I'd never heard of it before) and for as simple and basic at it is it was probably the most fun game I played that night. It's basically just a decently more advanced version of Snap but it's quick, light fun. It's most remarkable trait to me now is that it is the only time I have ever received a physical injury playing a board game because me and someone with really long nails went for the totem at the same time and they managed to slice the webbing of my fingers in the process. Would play again. Codenames hit the table and sure enough thread consensus wins again and it was a smash hit at the table and everyone had a great time with it even though I find being the Spymaster to be stressful at all hell, it's pretty drat satisfying to give a slightly risky clue only for your team to make the right read and get it all right. I think the best play of the night was when the clue was "Newspaper:3" and they managed to successfully link "Shop", "Washington" and "Post". Real good word game, would recommend to anyone really. we played Cash n Guns (2nd Edition) again and it was a real wet fart of a game because there was one round where everyone but one person got shot or ducked and this one player hoovered up about $150,000 worth of points and basically won the game in the middle because they ducked out of every subsequent round and still won by an excessive margin. I'm getting less fond of that game the more I play it, I like pointing foam guns at people but the actual game kinda sucks. Steampunk Rally is a game we played that I'm hard-pressed to evaluate because I was kinda half-asleep while I played it but I didn't hate it, at any rate. It's a card-drafting game where you build a ridiculous steampunk vehicle and then race against the other players through a course by rolling dice and assigning these dice to various functions on the horrible contraption you've made out of the cards you drafted. We only played one game of it but there seems to be a number of valid approaches to try, I tried a small vehicle under "slow and steady" logic and didn't perform half-badly, while others made giant behemoths that took up half the tablespace and took ages to get anywhere but stormed ahead in the final hour and more still who put parts on to deliberately damage themselves to remove parts to put new parts on again in a perpetual cycle of fast but dangerous movement, I like the variety of playstyles it enables if nothing else. Needs more time at the table though to see how I really feel about it as a game. I also got gifted a copy of Agricola that I have yet to actually play but I'm excited to give it a try at some point.
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Dec 20, 2015 10:11
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I've had the 18XX itch bad since I played 18OE a month ago. All I've been playing since there are games like Small City, Brass, and Kohle & Kolonie just to scratch that itch, but to no avail. This must be what the poor saps in the wargame thread feel, but you know, without the playing games part. Hopefully I can get a game of Food Chain Magnate in tonight, and maybe convince my friends to play 1830 before the new year. If not that, I did order the expansion for Steam which adds a stock market.
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Dec 20, 2015 13:09
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I hate every loving worthless piece of poo poo game reviewer who is not both autistic enough to make every review into a full play through of The Campaign for North Africa and socially adept enough to do so while hosting a silver setting 18th Century English afternoon tea, and I hope all of their loving families and pets die of ebola.
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Dec 20, 2015 15:58
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SlyFrog posted:I hate every loving worthless piece of poo poo game reviewer who is not both autistic enough to make every review into a full play through of The Campaign for North Africa and socially adept enough to do so while hosting a silver setting 18th Century English afternoon tea, and I hope all of their loving families and pets die of ebola.  , but I'm more of an an anthrax guy.
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Dec 20, 2015 16:22
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Archenteron posted:If I remember correctly, it's Lovecraft-themed Kingsburg, so So... Kingsburg is good? Bad? Never played it, or seen it I guess.
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Dec 20, 2015 16:30
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Pandemic Legacy has been a blast, and it has me wondering what other games would be a good fit for the Legacy treatment. Our group quickly came up with Space Alert Legacy, with a modular upgradeable/destructible ship, and Agricola Legacy, where you play subsequent generations of farmer making improvements on your property while the technology available slowly improves around you.
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Dec 20, 2015 17:27
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Banana Man posted:We should all start game review YouTube groups I have always thought about doing a boardgame art Youtube review channel, but it would probably be too niche for anyone to care.
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Dec 20, 2015 17:30
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cbirdsong posted:Pandemic Legacy has been a blast, and it has me wondering what other games would be a good fit for the Legacy treatment. Our group quickly came up with Space Alert Legacy, with a modular upgradeable/destructible ship, and Agricola Legacy, where you play subsequent generations of farmer making improvements on your property while the technology available slowly improves around you. Legacy: Legacy
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Dec 20, 2015 17:31
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Talisman: Legacy (Just like regular Talisman but you rip up the cards after you use them)
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Dec 20, 2015 17:33
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Foehammer posted:Talisman: Legacy Wait, ripping up the cards is not part of Talisman? It's just like the Free Parking lottery?
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Dec 20, 2015 17:53
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Splizwarf posted:So... Kingsburg is good? Bad? Never played it, or seen it I guess. I played it once, I thought it was okay. I can see it being a game for light gamers. It's extremely dice-dependent. It's the kind of game that I'd play again, but wouldn't buy.
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Dec 20, 2015 18:07
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djfooboo posted:I have always thought about doing a boardgame art Youtube review channel, but it would probably be too niche for anyone to care. I think you should do this, as long as you also blog about it, because I don't like watching videos for things I could read in half the time. I can see why you'd want the YouTube channel though, since some people are HATE READING, and the money automagically comes in if it ends up being popular.
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Dec 20, 2015 18:23
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Heavy euro talk, Food Chain Magnate vs. Gallerist? I'm itching for a meaty game and these both look solid (assuming I can find copies of either).
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Dec 20, 2015 18:34
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cbirdsong posted:Pandemic Legacy has been a blast, and it has me wondering what other games would be a good fit for the Legacy treatment. Our group quickly came up with Space Alert Legacy, with a modular upgradeable/destructible ship, and Agricola Legacy, where you play subsequent generations of farmer making improvements on your property while the technology available slowly improves around you. Space Alert: The New Frontier technically started the Legacy trend before Risk: Legacy even came out, since you have to tear up character sheets for dead crewmen who don't consent to being cloned. Also, the Achievements system is very similar to how unlocks work in Legacy games.
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Dec 20, 2015 19:07
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SuccinctAndPunchy posted:we played Cash n Guns (2nd Edition) again and it was a real wet fart of a game I'd recommend Tontine as a substitution. Clockwork Gadget and I reviewed it recently on our podcast recently and we were both impressed. Best of all, it's free!
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Dec 20, 2015 19:10
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I have 30 odd people coming to a holiday party, and I'd like to set some games out around the place for people to goof off with. I've got Monikers, Skulls, Codenames and Ca$h & Gun$ (1st edition, with the old all-black foam guns) and I might pick up Two Rooms And A Boom and see if I can get half the guests running around like maniacs confusing the other half. I'm actually not much of a party game person myself, so please let me know if there are any extremely simple, very short games I should consider. Don't worry, guests have been informed that anyone who tries to bring Cards Against Humanities or Exploding Kittens will be thrown into the pool along with their garbage game.
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Dec 20, 2015 19:55
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Bottom Liner posted:Heavy euro talk, Food Chain Magnate vs. Gallerist? I'm itching for a meaty game and these both look solid (assuming I can find copies of either). Well, my first game of The Gallerist was underwhelming, but it was 2p only with a guy I really don't like playing games with. The main issue I had with it was that it had an overlong, very telegraphed ending. I knew 30 minutes before it was over that I was going to lose, but we just couldn't trigger the end-game condition. Beyond that, the game really only comes down to taking one of eight possible main actions with two additional actions possible depending on how many assistant workers you have. The "kicked out" mechanism is certainly interesting. Essentially, you can take another out-of-turn action from the space your worker or assistant is in if someone else moves there and kicks it out. With two, it just wasn't that big of a deal for it to be really exciting. With 4 I can see it making a huge difference as each turn at least one person is guaranteed to get a second action. Therefore, placement, timing, and monitoring your resources so that you're able to utilize that advantage whenever you get the chance will be a large part of your strategy. Reading the rules for FCM makes it seem like a much more interesting game overall with a stupidly bushy decision-space. I just got notification that my 3rd ed. preorder is processed, so I should be getting it within a month. Once I get it and have a chance to play it, I might think about setting up a PBF of it.
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Dec 20, 2015 20:15
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Trip report: Pandemic vanilla Great game. Strikes the perfect balance between nerd board game and lovely family board game, and I can play it with anyone. Now I'm torn between buying the three expansions or diving straight into Legacy. Keeping spoilers to a minimum, is the content from the expansions also incorporated into legacy? Or does it go off in a different direction from the vanilla state?
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Dec 20, 2015 21:45
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Completely, wildly different direction.
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Dec 20, 2015 21:52
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Vanilla + On the Brink + In the Lab is the best version of Pandemic mechanically. The lab module and purple virus are better than anything introduced in Legacy IMO.
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Dec 20, 2015 21:57
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Speaking of, they seem to have been largely overshadowed by the release of Legacy, but how are all the other expansions and off-shoots from (regular) Pandemic that have been released lately?
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Dec 20, 2015 22:07
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There's a  Pandemic rip-off where instead of being doctors, you're dudes organizing papal visit and instead of diseases there are secret police agents and provocateurs.I'm not even making this up.
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Dec 20, 2015 22:25
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Bottom Liner posted:Vanilla + On the Brink + In the Lab is the best version of Pandemic mechanically. The lab module and purple virus are better than anything introduced in Legacy IMO. Have to disagree. I own all three and it never got much play time at our tables because even though it was mechanically good it just felt like we could be playing something else. By contrast the same group of players has gone through the entirety of legacy in three weeks because the mystery and advancement aspects keep us coming back. Once you've played both I'd probably agree with you, but legacy is designed as a once off anyways.
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Dec 20, 2015 22:36
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