|
I got to play Archipelago today for the first time. We played the 'short' version, and well, it felt that way. The game ended abruptly and I came in last! Does the medium and long game feel more complete? I know when I initially played Le Havre I only played the shortened version and it felt meh but then I played the proper game and I love it. I assume this is the same sort of thing here? What do you add if you play the longer versions? Does it take 4 hours like the box says? I also played San Juan and having played Puerto Rico and Race for the Galaxy already this seemed... not very good? I just kept calling it a shittier Race the whole way through. Am I missing anything here? Isle of Skye is still a good, light game if people are looking for that. Under an hour with 5 people.
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2016 23:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 14:59 |
|
|
Lichtenstein posted:Or this little flavor of the week called Chaos in the Old World. I didn't mention Chaos because Blood Rage reimplements so much of the design. Even counting it separately, his hit:miss ratio still isn't that exciting. When he's good he's good, but lets keep some perspective.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 00:15
|
|
|
EvilChameleon posted:I got to play Archipelago today for the first time. We played the 'short' version, and well, it felt that way. The game ended abruptly and I came in last! Does the medium and long game feel more complete? I know when I initially played Le Havre I only played the shortened version and it felt meh but then I played the proper game and I love it. I assume this is the same sort of thing here? What do you add if you play the longer versions? Does it take 4 hours like the box says? Our first time out we played on 3p Medium and the game lasted two hours, but I was surprised when it ended. To be fair, my partner was intentionally barreling to the end to secure the win.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 00:35
|
|
|
EvilChameleon posted:I also played San Juan and having played Puerto Rico and Race for the Galaxy already this seemed... not very good? I just kept calling it a shittier Race the whole way through. Am I missing anything here? You aren't. Its only virtue is that it's very easy to explain and get people playing. After that, you can teach them Race.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 00:51
|
|
|
EvilChameleon posted:I got to play Archipelago today for the first time. We played the 'short' version, and well, it felt that way. The game ended abruptly and I came in last! Does the medium and long game feel more complete? I know when I initially played Le Havre I only played the shortened version and it felt meh but then I played the proper game and I love it. I assume this is the same sort of thing here? What do you add if you play the longer versions? Does it take 4 hours like the box says? If you play 5-player long game, then probably. The short game is perfectly complete, you just get less chance to use what you're given and this increases the luck of the draw factor in both exploration and evolution. I like it as a medium length.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 02:02
|
|
|
I do not want to smell the person that owns this collection.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 04:17
|
|
|
The End posted:I didn't mention Chaos because Blood Rage reimplements so much of the design. Even counting it separately, his hit:miss ratio still isn't that exciting. When he's good he's good, but lets keep some perspective. Counterpoint: Chaos is a better design, and while it has a longer playtime than Blood Rage, it makes up for that by not being a medicore crapshoot with an entire faction of titty miniatures.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 04:44
|
|
|
Played Marrying Mr Darcy as Lizzie. Nearly got stuck with Mr Wickam. Got last choice of suitors, yet still got Mr Darcy. We got married but didn't have enough points. Good game, gonna get it for myself.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 05:14
|
|
|
Big McHuge posted:Counterpoint: Chaos is a better design, and while it has a longer playtime than Blood Rage, it makes up for that by not being a medicore crapshoot with an entire faction of titty miniatures. I agree. 'Reimplements' doesn't imply improve. Blood Rage feels entirely more random than Chaos does.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 05:15
|
|
|
Dr Tran posted:Played Marrying Mr Darcy as Lizzie. Details please, this theme is relevant to my interests.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 05:29
|
|
|
House Louse posted:Details please, this theme is relevant to my interests. You pick from the girls from the novel. Our game, by random, had all the Bennett sisters. There's a courtship phase where you draw from the events pile. Events can draw cards from the character pile or get the other players involved. Sometimes you roll the die. Character cards build up attributes like wit, friendliness or cunning. Lydia is a jerk when event parties happen. After the events pile is exhausted, the character with the highest cunning picks her suitor. The final score is a combination of who you marry and your character's attributes. Plays in ~45 minutes.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 06:55
|
|
|
Just opened up FCM, and played two game and I'm addicted, and so is my group. One person who only likes light games was really scarily into it and cut everyone's throat at end as he hoovered up all the banks money and won.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 13:29
|
|
|
Dr Tran posted:Played Marrying Mr Darcy as Lizzie. I loving hated this. It takes longer than half an hour, it's 100% arbitrary, some characters are just straight out better than others and you get to make all of 0 choices throughout the game. The gist is you draw from an event deck, which is the same deck everytime you play, so if you did play multiple times, you'd juts see all the same cards but in a different order. Some of these say 'Draw one, play one! [Draw two play two if you are CHARACTER]' and others are 'Roll a dice, on a one, discard a card, on a two, nothing happens, on a three' etc. It's a d6 by the way. One d6. I wouldn't want to play it as a light filler game because it takes almost an hour to Coup's 5 minutes. If you like candyland boy will you love this. And it feels kinda harsh to grog about what's definitely not a gamers game, but I got roped into playing this and it was a real waste of my time. Oh and if you do get enough points to have a suitor approach you. You roll the d6. 1-3 they don't propose. 4-6 they do. Love it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 14:18
|
|
|
AMooseDoesStuff posted:The gist is you draw from an event deck, which is the same deck everytime you play, so if you did play multiple times, you'd juts see all the same cards but in a different order. I think that is typically the point of event decks.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 14:24
|
|
|
AMooseDoesStuff posted:The gist is you draw from an event deck, which is the same deck everytime you play, so if you did play multiple times, you'd juts see all the same cards but in a different order. I really want to play it again.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 15:10
|
|
|
Ayt least it has multiple event choices. Poker deck on the other hand 
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 15:18
|
|
|
Bottom Liner posted:Some loving dick just outbid me on a copy of Glory to Rome with 2 seconds left. Are there any print and play options since this game is in limbo? I have a copy sitting around that we never play. It's from the old edition with the really goofy artwork. You can email me at my user name at yahoo if you're interested. I'm not looking to sell at Ebay scalper prices because I picked it up years ago for basically nothing. Maybe $20 + shipping? Buyer beware though. I know it's got a really dedicated following but it's just not that great of a game. We played it a handful of times and then went back to Race for the Galaxy.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 15:57
|
|
|
Sweet, emailed you. I love Mottanai and have really wanted GtR for a while.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 16:05
|
|
|
Khorne is the most broken faction in CitOW at base with 4 players from my experience. They seem neutered in the expansion set while everyone else got buffed
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 16:15
|
|
|
Ohthehugemanatee posted:Buyer beware though. I know it's got a really dedicated following but it's just not that great of a game. We played it a handful of times and then went back to Race for the Galaxy. It's a very different game. Race has a nice escalation of power where you start out weak and then focus your engine into something stronger by chopping phases you don't need. GtR is much more opportunistic since individual cards are way strong, which makes it a really touch-and-go, explosive game where you're trying to sneak in the exact cards for 2 or 3 power plays and end the game before someone else gets their power plays in.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 16:16
|
|
|
There are a couple of really nice print and play GtR sets out there, one of which was adapted from the euro version art which is better than black box and the goofy old one IMO. The people who have them are really cagey about where the image sets come from though, which is too bad because the cambridge games guy is such a total incompetent that there will probably never be another English language edition of the game.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 16:27
|
|
|
The european white box edition is just as good as the black box, with a nod as to whether you prefer good, clean minimalism or solid art + easier cross-table recognition. The goofy one's got awful art but it's really easy to read across the table which is nice.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 16:29
|
|
|
Dirk the Average posted:Wait, what? The four powers explicitly wheel, deal, bargain, backstab, cheat, and compete with each other on a regular basis. The whole idea is that while they would rule the world in an instant if they ever cooperated outright for a length of time longer than it takes for one warlord to die, they bicker and quickly fall to infighting. The board game does a really good job portraying that. Thematically that's fine, but mechanically the game has some pretty delicate balancing that in my experience gets thrown off badly by politics. The big thing is that even though there are only two ways to win, everyone is effectively pursuing their own victory conditions and there's little actual room for the kind of ambiguous quid pro quo deals that political games rely on. 1) No one can really work with Khorne, because Khorne is the only person who wants to outright kill anyone and letting him kill units is bad, even if those units aren't yours. Basically everyone should be running from or trying to control Khorne as just a routine part of play, because otherwise you're letting him win. 2) No one can really work with Nurgle, because Nurgle is basically built to steadily build on the victory point track and suddenly pop as he starts ruining regions. Nurgle doesn't require the same kind of active control as Khorne, but you'll still hand him the game by just letting him dominate and slowly corrupt regions until he explodes VPs. 3) Slaanesh and Tzeentch don't need to be actively opposed as much, but their decks are all about avoidance and holding other players back. They never benefit from working with the leader, and there's no reason for them to try to screw someone who's behind. Anyway, I wasn't trying to say you shouldn't make the game political if that's how you want to play, just that my experience is that politics in CitOW works about as well as politics in Agricola. It feels like a lot like Eclipse to me, where the game looks like a political wargame, but in reality it's almost impossible to make deals that both sides actually have a reason to agree to.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 16:54
|
|
|
Xelkelvos posted:Khorne is the most broken faction in CitOW at base with 4 players from my experience. They seem neutered in the expansion set while everyone else got buffed Only if you're new to the game. Experienced players know how to stick him in the corner and not let him get too kill happy.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 16:57
|
|
|
Paradoxish posted:Thematically that's fine, but mechanically the game has some pretty delicate balancing that in my experience gets thrown off badly by politics. The big thing is that even though there are only two ways to win, everyone is effectively pursuing their own victory conditions and there's little actual room for the kind of ambiguous quid pro quo deals that political games rely on. It reminds me a lot of Virgin Queen and the COIN games because of these things. VQ has a lot of things where if you haven't played before you won't understand things. Like, the HRE player will pretty much always win if left unmolested, unless France is left unmolested, which almost never happens because the game pushes the action there. The politics tend toward more obvious, game-state kind of stuff rather than wheeling and dealing. The reason Diplomacy was well known for its politics is because the game state was less tactical and nuanced. The tactically best option in DIplomacy is so obvious that it almost becomes meaningless.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 17:00
|
|
|
Dr Tran posted:You pick from the girls from the novel. Our game, by random, had all the Bennett sisters. There's a courtship phase where you draw from the events pile. Events can draw cards from the character pile or get the other players involved. Sometimes you roll the die. Character cards build up attributes like wit, friendliness or cunning. Lydia is a jerk when event parties happen. After the events pile is exhausted, the character with the highest cunning picks her suitor. The final score is a combination of who you marry and your character's attributes. Plays in ~45 minutes. AMooseDoesStuff posted:I loving hated this. I'll pick it up if I find it cheap, then. At least I'll be fairly sure my family will play it...
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 17:06
|
|
|
Panzeh posted:It reminds me a lot of Virgin Queen and the COIN games because of these things. VQ has a lot of things where if you haven't played before you won't understand things. Like, the HRE player will pretty much always win if left unmolested, unless France is left unmolested, which almost never happens because the game pushes the action there. The politics tend toward more obvious, game-state kind of stuff rather than wheeling and dealing. The reason Diplomacy was well known for its politics is because the game state was less tactical and nuanced. The tactically best option in DIplomacy is so obvious that it almost becomes meaningless. Yep. I actually played my first COIN a couple of weeks ago (Liberty or Death) and definitely saw the similarities to Chaos, although it felt like there was a bit more room to work together with your "ally" in the early game at least. And you're definitely dead on about Diplomacy (and variants like Game of Thrones, or online Diplomacy-alikes like Neptune's Pride). The default state for any 1v1 conflict in that game is basically a pure stalemate, so you actually need allies. If you can win without politics in Diplomacy then not only have you already won, you've won harder than it should ever be possible to win. I think the one exception with Chaos is that it makes sense for anyone who falls too far behind to win to work together to just run out the time so everyone loses, but I can't actually think of any CitOW games I've played with my group where more than one person fell out of contention before the last turn.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 17:42
|
|
|
Andarel posted:The european white box edition is just as good as the black box, with a nod as to whether you prefer good, clean minimalism or solid art + easier cross-table recognition. The goofy one's got awful art but it's really easy to read across the table which is nice. I'm pretty sure the black box has a ton more cards that the original didn't have.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 17:51
|
|
|
GMT released the rules for Falling Sky (the new COIN game) and it looks like there might be more diplomacy options within it. The Aedui Trade action creates more cash if the Roman player consents to accepting it with the added option of bribing the Roman player if he or she is reluctant, but more importantly the way retreat and supply lines work appears to create a need for some of the players to interact outside of stabbing. Although most of the interaction will be between Rome and Aedui from what I can tell at first glance without having a chance to play.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 18:21
|
|
|
Panzeh posted:It reminds me a lot of Virgin Queen and the COIN games because of these things. VQ has a lot of things where if you haven't played before you won't understand things. Like, the HRE player will pretty much always win if left unmolested, unless France is left unmolested, which almost never happens because the game pushes the action there. The politics tend toward more obvious, game-state kind of stuff rather than wheeling and dealing. The reason Diplomacy was well known for its politics is because the game state was less tactical and nuanced. The tactically best option in DIplomacy is so obvious that it almost becomes meaningless. A game of Virgin Queen with an inexperienced/uninformed player controlling Spain will make for a very different and more awkard game than the one the game makes worth playing. I think there are few people in this thread who suffered me being that guy.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 20:29
|
|
|
EvilChameleon posted:I got to play Archipelago today for the first time. We played the 'short' version, and well, it felt that way. The game ended abruptly and I came in last! Does the medium and long game feel more complete? I know when I initially played Le Havre I only played the shortened version and it felt meh but then I played the proper game and I love it. I assume this is the same sort of thing here? What do you add if you play the longer versions? Does it take 4 hours like the box says? The long game will take four hours with five players, yes. Player count affects the game length in that case: two-players will go through the long game in less time. I like Archipelago's medium game a lot more than the short one, but even so I would recommend groups play the short game first. Then I recommend them do something out of the ordinary: not make a final judgement on the game based on the first play and try it again. This is one of the more rewarding games for repeated plays both in rewarding skillful play and experience and also challenging players as the game is better known among the same group. There are very deliberately a fixed amount of objectives you can be assigned; the game grows from players becoming more familiar with what can lead to victory points and how the table handles each other when crises emerge. I really think Archipelago challenges the concept of "group think" and does an incredible job of evolving as a game with the people playing it. Let alone what happens when you try the game with a different group.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 20:35
|
|
|
Xelkelvos posted:Khorne is the most broken faction in CitOW at base with 4 players from my experience. They seem neutered in the expansion set while everyone else got buffed Khorne is by far the most powerful faction if and only if the other players decide to fight him instead of running away. And no, they did not neuter him. They gave him the Bloodletter upgrade, which is the single most overpowered upgrade in the game.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 20:43
|
|
|
Does anyone have a good (purchasable) solution for minimizing the footprint of Food Chain Magnate? I think my gaming group is wanting to play it more often but the setup size can be constraining.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 21:01
|
|
|
ETB posted:Does anyone have a good (purchasable) solution for minimizing the footprint of Food Chain Magnate? I think my gaming group is wanting to play it more often but the setup size can be constraining. I was eyeing this insert on etsy for awhile but haven't committed yet: https://www.etsy.com/listing/285485...ef=sr_gallery_1 also apparent this will be available in the next comming months on boardgamegeek: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1523770/official-card-accordion-and-dry-erase-milestone-se I made my own accordion stand just now too.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 21:10
|
|
|
Business card holders work really well for FCM or Dominion. They're cheap too.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 21:14
|
|
|
ETB posted:Does anyone have a good (purchasable) solution for minimizing the footprint of Food Chain Magnate? I think my gaming group is wanting to play it more often but the setup size can be constraining. I used a few packages of uberstax (they are a mix-and-match gaming accessory to hold pieces and cards). I got in on the kickstarter but they're sold by a fair number of places now including Amazon I'm pretty sure) They are nice because they are only one universal piece and I don't care about color    I like them primarily for saving table space for cards, especially common/community card offers. Looking forward to seeing if I can save table space with Mage Knight with 'em too. Making my own organizer for FCM is on my to-do list. Speaking of DIY I made these for Viticulture because the big field cards are useless in my opinion and just take up space. Sell a field? Put this token on it. Buy it back? Remove token. Done.  
The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Mar 20, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 21:17
|
|
|
Trynant posted:A game of Virgin Queen with an inexperienced/uninformed player controlling Spain will make for a very different and more awkard game than the one the game makes worth playing. I think there are few people in this thread who suffered me being that guy. And me  Ithle01 posted:GMT released the rules for Falling Sky (the new COIN game) and it looks like there might be more diplomacy options within it. The Aedui Trade action creates more cash if the Roman player consents to accepting it with the added option of bribing the Roman player if he or she is reluctant, but more importantly the way retreat and supply lines work appears to create a need for some of the players to interact outside of stabbing. Although most of the interaction will be between Rome and Aedui from what I can tell at first glance without having a chance to play. Cool, what's the expected release date again?
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 21:25
|
|
|
Mister Sinewave posted:I used a few packages of uberstax (they are a mix-and-match gaming accessory to hold pieces and cards). I got in on the kickstarter but they're sold by a fair number of places now including Amazon I'm pretty sure) By my reckoning, the Uberstax you have to hold the cards there cost $45 to make a card holder you can get for $15.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 21:43
|
|
|
Trynant posted:A game of Virgin Queen with an inexperienced/uninformed player controlling Spain will make for a very different and more awkard game than the one the game makes worth playing. I think there are few people in this thread who suffered me being that guy. Honestly the way newbies tend to look at the board and pile on spain makes it far more awkward than spain not being that good itself. If I had to identify a big flaw with the game, it is in fact that Spain hasn't enough reward for loving with England. You only really gain from it when you've already succeeded, there's nothing half-way about it, so the Armada never happens, for example. Paradoxish posted:Yep. I actually played my first COIN a couple of weeks ago (Liberty or Death) and definitely saw the similarities to Chaos, although it felt like there was a bit more room to work together with your "ally" in the early game at least. And you're definitely dead on about Diplomacy (and variants like Game of Thrones, or online Diplomacy-alikes like Neptune's Pride). The default state for any 1v1 conflict in that game is basically a pure stalemate, so you actually need allies. If you can win without politics in Diplomacy then not only have you already won, you've won harder than it should ever be possible to win. Liberty or Death is definitely one of the more 2-team COIN games and you definitely saw that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 21:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 14:59 |
|
|
My personal bugbear with VQ was that since the deck isn't properly cycled there's little consistency to when cards come out, which is just worse when the cards get split up between six players.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 22:12
|
|