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homullus posted:Online retailers forcing brick and mortar stores to give up some of their leverage and competitive advantage with local hobbyists: cool and good (because games cost Bottom Liner less). Welcome to capitalism? Oh no, a consumer mad that his cost of goods went up, what a MONSTER 
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May 1, 2016 06:31
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Gutter Owl posted:Only ended up playing the one game. Which makes me feel silly for loading ten of my physically-heaviest games into the trunk of my car. This is all too common. Often it's not even your game you end up playing!
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May 1, 2016 09:24
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The Silver Snail posted:I had a fun time playing Incan Gold recently and it made me realize I don't have many lighter/small box games in my collection. What are some good small cheap filler games? Seconding Red7. Also adding Kobayakawa, Fram R'lyeh and Entropy. If you want something small in size but a bit longer, Celestia and Internal Affairs see a lot of play in my group. WongaMania has also become surprisingly popular of late.
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May 1, 2016 09:26
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Went to the closest thing to a LOS my city has for Tabletop day. There was a Star Realms tournament, and a group playing a game I didn't recognize, and a group unboxing Millennium Blades. I don't care for/couldn't stay for the tournament so I roamed around and watched Magic before leaving. I did get to convince some out of town friends to play my new copy of Splendor, so all is not lost.
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May 1, 2016 10:00
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The Silver Snail posted:I had a fun time playing Incan Gold recently and it made me realize I don't have many lighter/small box games in my collection. What are some good small cheap filler games? In addition to what other people suggested, I'm a big fan of Bohnanza. Sushi Go , Welcome to the Dungeon, Coloretto, and the various Lost Legacy games are also good. One Night Ultimate Werewolf isn't bad either, though it's one my group's finally grown tired of after a row of terrible anticlimatic games (adding Daybreak likely didn't help). As for my Tabletop Day playlist, I got in Monarch, which is a light game where you use food and gold to buy cards for the center board (a 3x3 board with farms and villagers) and for your own tableau in order to get the most points. It's pretty light, accessible, and has some good decisions, but I'm not a fan of "Take That" cards in a game like the Unwanted Guests (though there's only five of them), the events are kinda lame (mostly "everyone pools X food to each get Y gold" or "everyone loses/gains X resource"), and it seems like the game can get old after two or three playthroughs since there's not much variety in the deck. Fun game to try and break out for beginners, but nothing I'd recommend buying. Then I played a couple light games, first Too Many Cinderellas where you get four cards of eighteen, play two for actions (mostly "Cinderella doesn't like cake" or similar things) and hope one or both of your other two Cinderellas have the right qualities to match all the card qualifiers (each card has stuff like "has brown hair", "young", "likes cake", etc.). You also get one veto to nullify a card. In case multiple Cinderellas qualify, lowest number wins. It's vaguely similar to Love Letter but is twice as long and even more vulnerable to luck. Not bad, but again, wouldn't go out of my way to buy or play it. The other game was Circus Flohcati, where you have ten colors of cards numbered 0-7. Each round you can flip cards over until you either bust (flip an identical color already on the tableau), take a card, or draw an action card which basically let you take other player's cards or give flexibility in drawing a tableau card. You get points based on the value of the max numbered card of each color in your hand, but you can also play sets of three identical numbers of different colors for ten points. It's a simple push-your-luck game that I enjoyed well enough. Last game was Loop, Inc. which is pretty much an optimization puzzle game where you run a time-travel business. It's all about making the most of your actions, especially since any actions you choose in the first round must be repeated in that order in the second round (though interspersed with three more actions), and the third round requiring all six cards from the second round being played in order (though again with three new cards anywhere in between). You keep any components you collect in earlier rounds, but resource management becomes critical since you have a finite number of resources to collect. There's locations to go to that give points, and you want to have the exact components required when going there since extra components give penalty points. You also want to maximize actions since you take space tears or whatever they're called if you don't use all your actions before launching, or if you're unable to do an action, or if you land somewhere someone else has already went (max of two people per space). You get one ship for day one, two for day two, three for day three. The actions give you components, put out ads that give you a bonus point if you're the first to go to that location (and lose points if you aren't), let you move some to other ships, exchange components (assuming any are left, they run out quickly in Rounds 2 and 3 since they always start one per player), remove components, and in the later rounds you can draft a specialty action that does things. The first round is frankly boring since you either get three components or two components and an ad, but the game really opens up in the later two rounds. It's definitely not for everyone since it's almost purely an optimization puzzle where other players' actions can affect you, but everyone on the table enjoyed it and I thought it did a good job at what it did. Apparently there's also a lot of variety and expansion stuff we didn't play with, which I imagine the game would need to stay fresh for multiple playthroughs. I see this game working for specific groups, but I think it's a solid game for its niche and would give it another shot. In other news, any thoughts on Charterstone, the new legacy game from Stonemaier? I've enjoyed all of Stonemaier's games I've played, and having future games build up more and more instead of the "take some, lose some" approach of Risk and Pandemic seems promising, though it also sounds like they haven't actually gotten the rules down quite yet, which is a bit worrisome. I'm cautiously optimistic about it, but not optimistic enough to back it once it hits Kickstarter (though maybe my friend that backed Scythe and is a big Viticulture fan will back it instead).
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May 1, 2016 13:49
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al-azad posted:I picked up Here I Stand at a shop, having never really played any game that's longer or more involved than 2 or so hours. If you haven't ripped the shrink off of it and you payed MSRP or less: sell it to some nerd it goes for 120 to 150 online right now and virgin queen is going for 50 to 60. Either way it's a 6 player game that will take you a hour or more to explain to people and many many hours to play and your first game is going to be a cluster gently caress because it's a CDG and part of that game play is knowing the deck and the dice can mega gently caress you sometimes so you might poison the well the first time you pull it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ4U_wMe7Dg
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May 1, 2016 15:06
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New in shrink 2nd edition, paid MSRP. No way I can get 6 players at a table, I think I'll sell it and pick up one of the COIN games instead. Funny how Virgin Queen is advertised as being streamlined but takes an additional 3 hours on average to play.
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May 1, 2016 16:46
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For Tabletop Day I went to London to play games. I went to Draughts, wbk decided their way of celebrating the Day was to dedicate 3 tables to allowing people to challenge staff to 10 minute 1v1 games for unspecified rewards. Those games were - Carcassonne (OK...) - Tsuro (what) - Jenga (really?) and that was it. Except when it fills up, the staff don't have time to play so it just sits there. Oh, and it starts to fill up from around 2pm onwards. I'm not sure if it's for the benefit of the people waiting, or more likely the staff, but they started playing RnB music at much louder than shouting levels. I only mention the type of music because stuff with bass like that makes it worse in such an echoy place, and I could maybe understand some light instrumental or jazz stuff. I really do wonder if that place is run by people who actually play board games. Fat Turkey fucked around with this message at 19:33 on May 1, 2016 |
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May 1, 2016 19:21
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Asmodee's play to protect FLGS's is as much about trying to prevent a race-to-the-bottom in game prices in general. Margins are already pretty thin, and most people who design games have to have non-game day jobs to actually live. As prices continue to drop, it could lead to a crash in the market that's bad for everyone. An extended period where few games are being published because everyone is broke isn't good for the hobby. Is that going to happen? Hard to say, but Asmodee is clearly concerned that it could. But speaking of deep discounts online, Massdrop currently has "The Great Fire of London 1666", "New Amsterdam", and "Lost Valley" for $64 shipped (to the US at least). Does anyone have any opinions on any of these, they look interesting, but I'm still on the fence. http://dro.ps/b/LiF1Nsg
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May 1, 2016 20:47
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foxxtrot posted:Asmodee's play to protect FLGS's is as much about trying to prevent a race-to-the-bottom in game prices in general. Margins are already pretty thin, and most people who design games have to have non-game day jobs to actually live. As prices continue to drop, it could lead to a crash in the market that's bad for everyone. An extended period where few games are being published because everyone is broke isn't good for the hobby. Is that going to happen? Hard to say, but Asmodee is clearly concerned that it could. That shouldn't matter to Asmodee, they sell to retailers at a set price. It's the retailers that are profiting/losing here. Asmodee gets paid the same whether the retailer sells at 100% or 50%. I guess there's the argument that it devalues the games. That was a concern with Steam and its ridiculous sales at one point but board games are physical objects in limited quantities, adding an inherent value to them. They're the least disposable compared to books, movies, and video games.
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May 1, 2016 21:31
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Got Patchwork on sale lately and I'm looking forward to play it with my wife. Anything I need to be aware of before our first playthrough? Any rules that are easy to miss?
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May 1, 2016 21:43
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Selecta84 posted:Got Patchwork on sale lately and I'm looking forward to play it with my wife. It's not a rule, but you just need to be diligent about remembering to move the pawn when you choose a piece. It's easy to get so absorbed into figuring out where to tetris in a piece that you forget where it came from. The best thing to do is for both players to pay attention on their opponent's turn.
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May 1, 2016 21:48
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A pretty massive maths trade here in NZ just finished which is going to leave me reading rulebooks for some years to come. All in all pretty happy with the outcome (except for Starcraft, and only because I discovered afterwards how much it sells for on ebay - not cos we actually play it much. Lost: Dead of Winter Lagoon Tash Kalar (abstracts are just not my thing apparently even though I love everything else Vlaada) Elder Sign Amyitis The Scepter of Zavandor Thunderstone Starcraft Star Wars Imperial Assault King of Tokyo Shadows of Brimstone Mission Red Planet Blood Bowl Gained: Triassic Terror Dixit Odyssey The Walled City Myrmes Ginkgopolis La Citta Mysterium Lord of the Ice Garden Ora et Labora King of New York Neuroshima Hex March of the Ants Stronghold Also spent a lot of the weekend gaming for tabletop day. Played more Viticulture which I continue to enjoy, despite the slight swinginess of the visitor cards. We have Tuscany now and will be adding that gradually. Played a couple of games of Steampunk Rally (the first time for me) which was highly enjoyable. Definitely likely to be a success with our group, and there's not much that you can play with 8 that isn't some form of party/hidden traitor game so glad to have it in the collection. Also tried Posthuman for the first time which was more enjoyable than I expected given the mish-mash of mechanics and dice rolling. I think the setting helps, though it fits firmly in the 'experience-generator' camp for me along with games like Eldritch Horror and Merchants and Marauders. I'd happily play it again though, it was kinda satisfying hacking up raiders with my Butcher, even if we did all end up turning into mutants in the end. First time playing The Voyages of Marco Polo as well. I can see why people like it - lots of neat interrelating mechanics and decision making. For a 'light' euro game though I can really see it slowing down if people are playing to win - there's a lot of both micro and macro decisions to be making with each round, and since both timing of your action selection as well as which dice you assign can make such a big difference this seems like a bit of a nightmare if you're playing with people who are AP prone. Even for me I found myself really deliberating over my turns, and of course you can't plan too far ahead due to the effects of other people's action usage. Still, the unique powers are awesome and the mechanics enjoyable so I can see myself trying to get a copy at some point.
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May 1, 2016 22:49
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al-azad posted:That shouldn't matter to Asmodee, they sell to retailers at a set price. It's the retailers that are profiting/losing here. Asmodee gets paid the same whether the retailer sells at 100% or 50%. It matters because they sell to retailers. If the majority of retailers end up having to close because they can't afford to subsidize the kind of local gaming culture that they want/rely on with their volume of sales, it's going to be bad news for the game publishers. There are a lot of non-OLGS stores out there buying product, even if they don't individually sell a lot. These stores are also where a lot of products gains visibility, so you're talking about effectively turning off their marketing.
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May 1, 2016 22:58
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S.J. posted:It matters because they sell to retailers. If the majority of retailers end up having to close because they can't afford to subsidize the kind of local gaming culture that they want/rely on with their volume of sales, it's going to be bad news for the game publishers. There are a lot of non-OLGS stores out there buying product, even if they don't individually sell a lot. These stores are also where a lot of products gains visibility, so you're talking about effectively turning off their marketing. And now they're pissing off retailers to the point where some just refuse to deal with them and brick shops have 20 copies of unsold inventory collecting dust. So good job alienating your audience and sellers. All of this poo poo happened with Games Workshop and even Wizards when they bought up TSR and it made way for major competitors to break into the market. Does nobody in the business world learn from history? Kerro posted:First time playing The Voyages of Marco Polo as well. I can see why people like it - lots of neat interrelating mechanics and decision making. For a 'light' euro game though I can really see it slowing down if people are playing to win - there's a lot of both micro and macro decisions to be making with each round, and since both timing of your action selection as well as which dice you assign can make such a big difference this seems like a bit of a nightmare if you're playing with people who are AP prone. Even for me I found myself really deliberating over my turns, and of course you can't plan too far ahead due to the effects of other people's action usage. Still, the unique powers are awesome and the mechanics enjoyable so I can see myself trying to get a copy at some point. I make it a point to toss Raschid when new people are playing. I don't know why they suggest him for the basic game, this character that effectively turns off the game's core mechanic. al-azad fucked around with this message at 23:35 on May 1, 2016 |
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May 1, 2016 23:29
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al-azad posted:And now they're pissing off retailers to the point where some just refuse to deal with them and brick shops have 20 copies of unsold inventory collecting dust. So good job alienating your audience and sellers. Which local retailers exactly? Which was what I was talking about, not online ones. Who is refusing to deal with Asmodee?  And as much as those kinds of backstock issues exist, so many of these stores operate so differently that those kinds of issues could be from a wide variety of reasons.
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May 1, 2016 23:44
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quote:All of this poo poo happened with Games Workshop and even Wizards when they bought up TSR and it made way for major competitors to break into the market. Does nobody in the business world learn from history? Well, I mean Wizards gives us another example here too. Wizards has been quite careful about how M:tG is sold, and at what price. Their control here has gone a long way towards propping up local stores and, in turn, propping up an ecosystem where MtG has been a long-term huge success. I don't know if Asmodee is making the right move here, but it's not super crazy or something.
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May 1, 2016 23:54
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Kerro posted:Also tried Posthuman for the first time which was more enjoyable than I expected given the mish-mash of mechanics and dice rolling. I think the setting helps, though it fits firmly in the 'experience-generator' camp for me along with games like Eldritch Horror and Merchants and Marauders. I'd happily play it again though, it was kinda satisfying hacking up raiders with my Butcher, even if we did all end up turning into mutants in the end. Which is the problem with Posthuman: either one person wins as a human or everyone wins as a mutant. As such there is absolutely no reason to try and win the game once someone has become a mutant, especially as it gets harder to win the more mutants there are. It's easier and better to become a mutant as fast as possible yourself and nobble the leader. I found it deeply unsatisfying and sold it on after a single play, which is basically unprecedented for me.
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May 1, 2016 23:54
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Yeah, it's a pretty major failing for the game as a whole. I think it will work for our particular group who are more likely to approach it from the perspective of 'everybody loses' if you become mutants and so people will aim to survive as long as possible, but with the game rules as written there would be no reason to do that (unless you're the sort of person who is really fixated on a solo rather than group victory).
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May 2, 2016 00:08
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Played the Lord of the Rings card game for the first time last night at the local boardgame cafe. The owner didn't so much teach it as run it, and then got killed, but it was intriguing and pretty difficult, even if I didn't really understand it. We played the scenario where you scout around Moria and then have to get through the door, three-handed. We managed to complete the first scenario and open the door, but then we'd lost so many characters we couldn't beat the doom totals on the cards to place journey tokens and became monster food. To add insult to injury, I forgot to say mellon when we opened the door. Next time... Then we played a couple of games of Netrunner. I'm not super into it beause it feels really random and arbitrary; unfortunately these two games proved the point. In the first, I drew a ton of ice and he didn't have much money, so I advanced agendas basically at my leisure. The second time round I only drew two ice so he could run against my deck as much as he liked, which won him the game in short order. On the plus side, my friend's decks and boxes are colour-coordinated. Finally I got Dominion out and we played some base set/Intrigue games. It was fun to win with an all-Minion deck. Then the shop owner came back and schooled me with a Lab-heavy deck. For the last game he whipped out Adventures and we had a great time hiding Coppers under our beds, whacking each other with Giants, and pretending we were Johnny Five Aces when we revealed our Moats. I managed to lose this one because I thought I had more points than I did, bought the last Province, and then lost by 3. D'oh. When I learn to count I'll have another go. The cycling/reshuffling inherent in Dominion mitigates the randomness in a way I think is a strict improvement over shuffle-once games like Netrunner. We also played a game about stealing bones from a bulldog with some girls who were really enjoying their games of Jenga and got embarrassed whenever the tower fell and they all screamed 
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May 2, 2016 01:01
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S.J. posted:Which local retailers exactly? Which was what I was talking about, not online ones. Who is refusing to deal with Asmodee? This is from Noble Knight games: quote:In not so good news, Asmodee (owner of Fantasy Flight, Days of Wonder and others) has recently announced that they are only allowing a few online outlets to continue selling their products. Despite feeling we were a "shoe in" to be selected due to our long standing relationship with them, general easiness to work with, the fact that we have a brick and mortar store, as well as a large loyal customer base, we have not been chosen. No reason was given to us on how we may be approved in the future, despite my polite attempts at communication. So at least for the time being, we are unable to stock their new releases, although we continue to offer the majority of the backlog and will be offering used and trade items we get in as always. If we do manage to get them in, they will likely be listed at full retail just for those of you who wish to trade for them, if we can get them. I'm sorry to report that, I wish there was something else I could do. Certainly a bummer as we pride ourselves on stocking literally everything. We will work to get them back in the future if anything can be found out to be done. Asmodee is refusing to deal with certain stores, not the other way around. Plenty of local stores have an online presence, which, if they want to keep it, stops them from dealing with Asmodee. Noble Knight wants to carry their stuff.
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May 2, 2016 01:38
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Wait is Triassic Terror good? I read a bit of the rulebook and it seemed like a meh mid weight euro and then everything was color-based (I'm colorblind) and it seemed not worth it so I never thought of it again. Did I miss some awesome? Cause it's just gathering dust.
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May 2, 2016 01:44
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My local gaming store stopped buying Asmodee board games. They're in a unique position where board games are a small income, they already offer a deep discount of 20% on all board games, and for the most part they only stock what people specifically order. GMT games and Kickstarter retail deals end up selling better there so the owner made the decision to just stop ordering Asmodee titles.
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May 2, 2016 01:47
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That definitely sucks, but it also sounds like they're talking about getting product straight from Asmodee? This decision was definitely going to effect some online retailers, everyone knew that from the get-go. I know there are stores that are just selling Asmodee product normally at the register alongside other products that they're allowed to sell online, but the purchases have to be done in-store to meet with ANA's requirements. Perhaps they'll just have to start dealing with ANA products via normal distribution channels (assuming they're getting it from ANA/FFG/etc as is).al-azad posted:My local gaming store stopped buying Asmodee board games. They're in a unique position where board games are a small income, they already offer a deep discount of 20% on all board games, and for the most part they only stock what people specifically order. GMT games and Kickstarter retail deals end up selling better there so the owner made the decision to just stop ordering Asmodee titles. Sounds like he's decided to stop ordering way more than just Asmodee titles. S.J. fucked around with this message at 01:52 on May 2, 2016 |
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May 2, 2016 01:47
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al-azad posted:New in shrink 2nd edition, paid MSRP. No way I can get 6 players at a table, I think I'll sell it and pick up one of the COIN games instead. Good idea. Your timing is good, too! For the sell price of Here I Stand, you could probably pick up two of Cuba Libre, Falling Sky, and A Distant Plain, which will only be in print and available for the next month or two.
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May 2, 2016 01:48
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Which of the COIN games is most suitable for 2 players? Best with 2, not necessarily supporting two.S.J. posted:Sounds like he's decided to stop ordering way more than just Asmodee titles. I know ANA also covers FFG and Days of Wonder but even those move a handful of units, it's just not what their crowd buys. The only FFG thing regularly sold is X-Wing. A unique situation I admit but the owner and her husband have basically cultivated an audience where Flames of War and Dominant Species were the #1 selling games for months. al-azad fucked around with this message at 02:09 on May 2, 2016 |
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May 2, 2016 02:01
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al-azad posted:Which of the COIN games is most suitable for 2 players? Best with 2, not necessarily supporting two. No, that's completely understandable! If she knows her buyers and is changing her habits around that, good on her.
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May 2, 2016 02:16
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They're working on a 2-player COIN based on the French expulsion from Algeria right now, if you're willing to wait.
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May 2, 2016 02:21
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Liberty or Death should work great two player
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May 2, 2016 02:29
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I'd be kind of wary pulling a stunt like Asmodee considering the board game industry is weird in how much choice and variety there are in products and companies to choose from. There's all the other companies discounting games on CSI and MM and the others as normal, and then there's your indie games and Kickstarter tit monster mini games. In most industries I could see Asmodee's tactics working, but it could easily bite them in the rear end here. But then I have a very basic understanding of business so I could easily be wrong here.
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May 2, 2016 02:35
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al-azad posted:Which of the COIN games is most suitable for 2 players? Best with 2, not necessarily supporting two. Liberty or Death. Maybe Falling Sky, but nobody knows yet. quote:They're working on a 2-player COIN based on the French expulsion from Algeria right now, if you're willing to wait. Also this.
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May 2, 2016 03:46
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Xiahou Dun posted:Wait is Triassic Terror good? I have no idea, I traded Dead of Winter for it so I feel like I can't really lose. The reviews I've seen made it sound like a fairly streamlined and aggressive area control game that plays up to 6 players in a short time span which appeals to me as there seems to be very few games that a) support a higher player count, b) play fairly quickly and c) still have a modicum of depth/strategy. I'm not expecting Dominant Species, but then I also don't expect to be able to play Dominant Species with 6 players very often 
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May 2, 2016 05:25
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Caverna questions: Sheep and dogs! Can you just make two stacks, one of N-1 dogs the other of N sheep on one meadow space? Rules arent clear on any space limits other than for what you might be able to fit.
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May 2, 2016 06:09
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Got any good android apps for scorekeeping? I use Scorer but it's a bit janky.
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May 2, 2016 07:10
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SynthOrange posted:Caverna questions: Sheep and dogs! Can you just make two stacks, one of N-1 dogs the other of N sheep on one meadow space? Rules arent clear on any space limits other than for what you might be able to fit. Yes, that is exactly the upside of sheepherding with dogs instead of using fenced and stabled pastures.
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May 2, 2016 07:32
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Tonfa posted:Got any good android apps for scorekeeping? I use Scorer but it's a bit janky. Usually I use either a scorer focused on the game I'm playing (like 7 Wonders or Agricola having their own scoring apps) if it's a bit complicated or a calculator app so I don't forget what I've added so far.
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May 2, 2016 10:07
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Use a scoring pad and a two inch pencil like the game intended. After I've moved house I need to get back into running games something fierce. Wanna do 6-player Keyflower.
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May 2, 2016 10:21
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Fat Turkey posted:For Tabletop Day I went to London to play games. I went to Draughts, wbk decided their way of celebrating the Day was to dedicate 3 tables to allowing people to challenge staff to 10 minute 1v1 games for unspecified rewards. Those games were Haha, my new local board game cafe puts episodes of Tabletop on for every hour that they're open. They certainly do know their audience.
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May 2, 2016 10:29
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Tabletop is cool and good.
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May 2, 2016 11:27
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Shadow225 posted:Tabletop is cool and good. I am not a huge Will Wheaton fan but I can appreciate that Tabletop has very high production values and brings on a lot of folks involved in geek culture.
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May 2, 2016 12:01
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