Board Game Thread 4e: The Call of Catan

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Board Game Thread 4e: The Call of Catan

Selecta84: Jan 29, 2015

Has anybody here played Hengist, the 2 player viking themed game by Uwe Rosenberg?

I liked his 2 player games so far but man most of the reviews about that game make it sound really bad.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 12:51

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# ? May 14, 2024 18:43

UrbanLabyrinth: Jan 28, 2009; When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence; College Slice

jivjov posted:

You can only use one weapon for a bonus to combat; that's one our group missed for ages

That's not quite accurate, if I remember correctly. I thought you could only apply one direct bonus to a stat, but you can add any non bonus stat effects (e.g. rerolls, upgrade a die by 1, bonus successes on a 6) from other gear.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 13:12

SirFelixCat: Apr 8, 2016; They say an elephant never forgets the first time they got company dumped.

Selecta84 posted:

Has anybody here played Hengist, the 2 player viking themed game by Uwe Rosenberg?

I liked his 2 player games so far but man most of the reviews about that game make it sound really bad.

Everything I've heard is that it's the game everyone, including Uwe, wants to pretend doesn't exist.

Really.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 13:13

Selecta84: Jan 29, 2015

SirFelixCat posted:

Everything I've heard is that it's the game everyone, including Uwe, wants to pretend doesn't exist.

Really.

So another reason to not get it.

I read in an Interview that the supposed audience for the game would be "Supermarket shoppers"...

On another note, how is Le Havre: the Inland Port?

# ? Jun 3, 2016 13:21

Beffer: Sep 25, 2007

Zurui posted:

I regret not backing Gloomhaven. Is it going to see a retail release?

You can pre-order on the designer, Isaac's, website http://www.cephalofair.com

Although I backed the Kickstarter at this stage I would wait. The game is incredibly ambitious and it's unclear if he'll be able to pull it off. (If he does the game will be amazing.)

And the production quality is uncertain. I recently got Forge War, his first game, and while it is interesting and a good puzzle in parts, the quality of the components is terrible. It is more like a high quality prototype than a published game.

I don't want to be too down on the guy. I think it is a case of first time lessons being learnt. The art and design are massively improved in Gloomhaven and I suspect that the components will be much better.

But I would wait for reviews. The game is only a couple of months away.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 13:34

Zanzibar Ham: Mar 17, 2009; You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.; Grimey Drawer

Hey folks, looks like I'm in need of your expertise yet again!

Are there good games where you're the captain of a single ship in space and do space things? Like Freelancer/X3/Escape Velocity, but a board/card game? I saw Xia on KS and really want a game like this suddenly, but the only ones I know of are the aforementioned and Firefly, which as I understand suck real bad.

The problem is that I'm really blanking on how to search for it without coming up with space skirmish/galactic conquest games, which is mostly what I've been finding.

The only one that I know of that might be good is that Mage Knight-rethemed-to-Star Trek one, but I don't like the card art (just images from the show(s?) it looks like), and also the only time I played Mage Knight I had a really bad time for hours and hours. I would be willing to give this retheme a go if it had original art on the cards, but as is...

# ? Jun 3, 2016 13:35

Esposito: Apr 5, 2003; Sic transit gloria. Maybe we'll meet again someday, when the fighting stops.

It sounds like you're after a more serious game, but Galaxy Trucker puts you in charge of a single ship which is doing space things.

Space Alert puts a team of people in charge of a single ship which is doing space things.

[edit] And I don't know for sure, but Star Trek: Frontiers is supposed to represent a slightly simplified version of Mage Knight's rule set, so it may play faster.

Esposito fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Jun 3, 2016

# ? Jun 3, 2016 13:40

Zanzibar Ham: Mar 17, 2009; You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.; Grimey Drawer

Esposito posted:

It sounds like you're after a more serious game, but Galaxy Trucker puts you in charge of a single ship which is doing space things.

Space Alert puts a team of people in charge of a single ship which is doing space things.

Oh, yeah, to be more specific each player should be captaining their own ship and more serious than GT.

e: though thanks! If I can't find a less 'you're expected to explode 9/10' game I might go for GT actually

# ? Jun 3, 2016 13:45

Shemp the Stooge: Feb 23, 2001

SynthOrange posted:

Also the game night was at a japanese restaurant and the player next to me ordered... two bowls of plain white rice.

Who doesn't get fried rice at an American Japanese restaurant?

# ? Jun 3, 2016 14:18

theroachman: Sep 1, 2006; You're never fully dressed without a smile...

You should. It's a great game and it works well at all supported player counts. You can make it as serious as you like, it sounds like it's building a whacky ship and then watch it fall apart, but there are meaningful decisions to be made after the building phase.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 14:19

Zanzibar Ham: Mar 17, 2009; You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.; Grimey Drawer

theroachman posted:

You should. It's a great game and it works well at all supported player counts. You can make it as serious as you like, it sounds like it's building a whacky ship and then watch it fall apart, but there are meaningful decisions to be made after the building phase.

Yeah, I actually have the digital version, I just stopped playing on my mobile for whatever reason soon after getting it. I should give it a try and see how much I like it. But right now I'm hoping to find something that maybe looks Xia-ish without playing like Xia (ie roll dice for everything).

# ? Jun 3, 2016 14:25

al-azad: May 28, 2009

Zanzibar Ham posted:

Hey folks, looks like I'm in need of your expertise yet again!

Are there good games where you're the captain of a single ship in space and do space things? Like Freelancer/X3/Escape Velocity, but a board/card game? I saw Xia on KS and really want a game like this suddenly, but the only ones I know of are the aforementioned and Firefly, which as I understand suck real bad.

The problem is that I'm really blanking on how to search for it without coming up with space skirmish/galactic conquest games, which is mostly what I've been finding.

The only one that I know of that might be good is that Mage Knight-rethemed-to-Star Trek one, but I don't like the card art (just images from the show(s?) it looks like), and also the only time I played Mage Knight I had a really bad time for hours and hours. I would be willing to give this retheme a go if it had original art on the cards, but as is...

You should look into Battlestations (a 2nd edition was recently Kickstarted and comes out this year I believe). It's a scenario based co-op board game that can be adapted to a progressive campaign setting (sort of a hybrid board game, tabletop RPG). Everyone is a crew member onboard a ship fighting against The Enemy player who is basically the dungeon master. If you played FTL then you'll see a lot of similarities in its design. I wouldn't be surprised if FTL was largely inspired by Battlestations.

But if what you want is individual players as captains of their own ship doing space mercenary stuff then Xia, Firefly, and Merchant of Venus are your main options.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 14:31

Zanzibar Ham: Mar 17, 2009; You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.; Grimey Drawer

al-azad posted:

You should look into Battlestations (a 2nd edition was recently Kickstarted and comes out this year I believe). It's a scenario based co-op board game that can be adapted to a progressive campaign setting (sort of a hybrid board game, tabletop RPG). Everyone is a crew member onboard a ship fighting against The Enemy player who is basically the dungeon master. If you played FTL then you'll see a lot of similarities in its design. I wouldn't be surprised if FTL was largely inspired by Battlestations.

But if what you want is individual players as captains of their own ship doing space mercenary stuff then Xia, Firefly, and Merchant of Venus are your main options.

Thanks guys. Looks like I'll want to actually finally try some Galaxy Truckin'.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 14:47

djfooboo: Oct 16, 2004

"Half naked girls fighting each other with an unique goal: to strip their opponents. Is it a dream? No, this is Oppai Go!"

Finally! A game that makes Tanto Coure look reserved. A Dilder token!

edit: lol at the typo

djfooboo fucked around with this message at 14:55 on Jun 3, 2016

# ? Jun 3, 2016 14:51

Morpheus: Apr 18, 2008; My favourite little monsters

djfooboo posted:

Half naked girls fighting each other with an unique goal: to strip their opponents. Is it a dream? No, this is Oppai Go!

Well, if you buy a game called "Breasts" I mean I'm pretty sure you know what you're getting.

Seriously though, the art isn't even good. If these people want me jerking off onto my board games, they at least need some better production values.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 14:53

Lump Shaker: Nov 20, 2001

dropkickpikachu posted:

I played Descent 2e w/ the Road to Legend app with my buddy last night and surprisingly it was a blast. I kind of actively hated Descent 2e when I played it a few months back with my girlfriend and another friend. I hated being the Overlord and actively trying to ruin their plans, and I hated the snowball effect that would happen if the Overlord won, and the tablet app solves all of that and makes it a fully co-op game.

It's cool starting out with just one tile and then having the game slowly reveal itself to you as you explore and open doors. Plus there's an invisible timer ticking down and between rounds worse and worse random events start occurring which will eventually wipe the party if you don't complete the objectives in time (it kind of felt like when your deck runs out of cards in Hearthstone and you keep taking more and more damage every turn). The monster groups have simplistic "AI" routines that the tablet has you run through, and it was less boring and frustrating than "the Overlord just keeps spawning more enemies over and over." Enemies would spawn in at specific ambush points and pick on specific characters in the party. Plus, the app pulls random monster types based on which expansions you own, so if you have a bunch of expansion content it makes the early-game campaign stuff more unpredictable and varied. From my understanding, the game will dynamically throw harder encounters at you if you are moving quickly and haven't had any KOed heroes yet (it also introduces a fail state where if your heroes are KOed too many times, you lose the quest, so there's no more of the infinite reviving that was present in Descent 2e).

Then, after finishing a quest, the game shows you a world map and you can head into town and buy and sell items, as well as allocating Exp skills to your heroes. Each in-game week, the shop has new items to buy for you. It was fun handing my buddy the tablet and saying "alright buy yourself something nice but leave some gold for me" and then he picked out a cool rune for his necromancer while I got to grab a nice new axe for my drunk dwarf boy. We decided to save 75 gold or so for next time. Then, in between main story quests, the game tosses side quests at you which you can do for extra gold and fame points. The game also generates random travel events for you between quests (we were approached by a bard and gave him 10 of our gold, and he sang a good good song about us).

It was a lot of fun, and I would earnestly recommend it if you have a copy of Descent 2e gathering dust. The whole affair is just a lot more fun when you're cooperating against a non-human Overlord.

fake edit: oh, and the app basically allows you to save your game mid-quest, so if someone has to leave, you can pack it up and the app will remind you pretty closely what the situation was when you left off (you might have to jot down some HP/fatigue/conditions stats on your own, but otherwise the app has a full log of what's happened up to then, minus exact enemy group placement, but you could always fudge that when you pick the game up again). And it's got music and ambient sound effects! Neat!

FYI, for anyone else that bought Descent 2E based off of this post, the Road to Legend app is on steam now.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 15:01

Bottom Liner: Feb 15, 2006; a specific vein of lasagna

Sailor Viy posted:

Yeah, both of those games sound good, but what I was really looking for was something that gives you the Basic D&D/OSR experience. Scrabbling for loot in a filthy dungeon, running away from goblins and throwing treasure on the ground to distract them, that sort of thing. Mage Knight is definitely on my list though.

Descent 2.0 with the Road to Legend app. So good.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 15:02

Rutibex: Sep 9, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Zanzibar Ham posted:

Hey folks, looks like I'm in need of your expertise yet again!

Are there good games where you're the captain of a single ship in space and do space things? Like Freelancer/X3/Escape Velocity, but a board/card game? I saw Xia on KS and really want a game like this suddenly, but the only ones I know of are the aforementioned and Firefly, which as I understand suck real bad.

Battlestar Galactica?

# ? Jun 3, 2016 15:06

al-azad: May 28, 2009

It's okay, I'm balancing out the market with my soon-to-be Kickstarted game Kintama no Tetsu. Stretch goals include a wrinkly peach.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 15:11

Harvey Mantaco: Mar 6, 2007; Someone please help me find my keys =(

Bottom Liner posted:

Descent 2.0 with the Road to Legend app. So good.

Did anyone beat the first sidequest to the North on this thing? So goddamn hard.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 15:56

PerniciousKnid: Sep 13, 2006

Rutibex posted:

I'm sorry but climbing into a VR suit to play a tabletop boardgame is just going too far. I don't want to live in that world.

No no, you climb into a VR suit because you don't want to live in this world.

al-azad posted:

You should look into Battlestations (a 2nd edition was recently Kickstarted and comes out this year I believe). It's a scenario based co-op board game that can be adapted to a progressive campaign setting (sort of a hybrid board game, tabletop RPG). Everyone is a crew member onboard a ship fighting against The Enemy player who is basically the dungeon master. If you played FTL then you'll see a lot of similarities in its design. I wouldn't be surprised if FTL was largely inspired by Battlestations.

I read a FTL designer quote somewhere that he had never heard of Battlestations, which seems incredible because the aesthetic looks so similar as to almost be a rip-off. I wonder if BS2E is hoping to ride FTL's coattails a little.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 16:52

Chill la Chill: Jul 2, 2007; Don't lose your gay

PerniciousKnid posted:

No no, you climb into a VR suit because you don't want to live in this world.

Then again, if you really like logistics to the point of playing it as your sole hobby for half a decade or more, there's entire careers for it. Hmm

# ? Jun 3, 2016 17:18

SirFelixCat: Apr 8, 2016; They say an elephant never forgets the first time they got company dumped.

Zanzibar Ham posted:

Hey folks, looks like I'm in need of your expertise yet again!

Are there good games where you're the captain of a single ship in space and do space things? Like Freelancer/X3/Escape Velocity, but a board/card game? I saw Xia on KS and really want a game like this suddenly, but the only ones I know of are the aforementioned and Firefly, which as I understand suck real bad.

The problem is that I'm really blanking on how to search for it without coming up with space skirmish/galactic conquest games, which is mostly what I've been finding.

The only one that I know of that might be good is that Mage Knight-rethemed-to-Star Trek one, but I don't like the card art (just images from the show(s?) it looks like), and also the only time I played Mage Knight I had a really bad time for hours and hours. I would be willing to give this retheme a go if it had original art on the cards, but as is...

High Frontier?

# ? Jun 3, 2016 17:48

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
...snookums

Zurui posted:

I regret not backing Gloomhaven. Is it going to see a retail release?

They already did Forge War so they are at least been there done that when it comes to getting a game On A Shelf.

E: FWIW I own and like Forge War and I would not describe the components as poor but :shrug:

The rulebook on the other hand could use a serious edit.

The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Jun 3, 2016

# ? Jun 3, 2016 17:49

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
...snookums

Zanzibar Ham posted:

Hey folks, looks like I'm in need of your expertise yet again!

Are there good games where you're the captain of a single ship in space and do space things? Like Freelancer/X3/Escape Velocity, but a board/card game? I saw Xia on KS and really want a game like this suddenly, but the only ones I know of are the aforementioned and Firefly, which as I understand suck real bad.

I recently received a copy of Shadowstar Corsairs which I have no idea if is any good, but if it is good or at least isn't terrible it might scratch that itch.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 17:56

Some Numbers: Sep 28, 2006; "LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Zanzibar Ham posted:

Hey folks, looks like I'm in need of your expertise yet again!

Are there good games where you're the captain of a single ship in space and do space things? Like Freelancer/X3/Escape Velocity, but a board/card game? I saw Xia on KS and really want a game like this suddenly, but the only ones I know of are the aforementioned and Firefly, which as I understand suck real bad.

The problem is that I'm really blanking on how to search for it without coming up with space skirmish/galactic conquest games, which is mostly what I've been finding.

The only one that I know of that might be good is that Mage Knight-rethemed-to-Star Trek one, but I don't like the card art (just images from the show(s?) it looks like), and also the only time I played Mage Knight I had a really bad time for hours and hours. I would be willing to give this retheme a go if it had original art on the cards, but as is...

I think you want Terra Prime. Each player is the captain of their own ship exploring a new frontier. You get to colonize planets, fight aliens and haul cargo.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 18:01

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
...snookums

You could track down an old timey game called The Voyage of the BSM Pandora if you likes your chits and counters and solo play. I have a copy and it's pretty great, I think it would make a really sweet tablet version if updated.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 18:17

Vlaada Chvatil: Sep 23, 2014; Bunny bunny moose moose; College Slice

No one was able to answer my 7 Wonders query yesterday, so I had to figure it out myself.

For anyone teaching 7 Wonders in the future, the best BGG player reference I found was the one by Universal Head. I'm printing out 7 copies of the reference page (the final one, page 4 I believe) so everyone can look up what the symbols are without passing the rule book around.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 19:34

Radioactive Toy: Sep 14, 2005; Nothing has ever happened here, nothing.

Viticulture has been on my far radar for a while. I stopped by the FLGS today and almost picked up Viticulture Essential Edition when I saw it there solely because the box was a reasonable size. Pretty sure I'm crazy (but seriously stop making gigantic boxes for games that don't need them).

# ? Jun 3, 2016 21:43

CaptainRightful: Jan 11, 2005

Radioactive Toy posted:

Viticulture has been on my far radar for a while. I stopped by the FLGS today and almost picked up Viticulture Essential Edition when I saw it there solely because the box was a reasonable size. Pretty sure I'm crazy (but seriously stop making gigantic boxes for games that don't need them).

It's really good and the Essential Edition is the only version being produced right now. I'm not a big fan of the box insert, though, so it may not be the game for you.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 22:25

Kruller: Feb 20, 2004; It's time to restore dignity to the Farnsworth name!

Radioactive Toy posted:

Viticulture has been on my far radar for a while. I stopped by the FLGS today and almost picked up Viticulture Essential Edition when I saw it there solely because the box was a reasonable size. Pretty sure I'm crazy (but seriously stop making gigantic boxes for games that don't need them).

Viticulture is a fantastic game. I prefer it with the full options the Tuscany expansion adds, but any Viticulture is better than no Viticulture.

# ? Jun 3, 2016 23:39

berenzen: Jan 23, 2012

I'm headed to get together with some friends tomorrow to play eclipse, and having never played it before I would still like to be competitive. Any tips on what early-game strategies I should employ? I can typically make my way around a game by the time mid-game hits.

# ? Jun 4, 2016 00:07

Dr. Lunchables: Dec 27, 2012; IRL DEBUFFED KOBOLD

berenzen posted:

I'm headed to get together with some friends tomorrow to play eclipse, and having never played it before I would still like to be competitive. Any tips on what early-game strategies I should employ? I can typically make my way around a game by the time mid-game hits.

Explore explore explore. Put back tiles that don't have anything useful. Be sure you don't get closed out from the galactic center. Build a nice corner of the galaxy for yourself with limited access for others.

# ? Jun 4, 2016 00:25

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

Rutibex posted:

Ah! To replicate the experience of playing an original D&D game run by Gary Gygax himself you should check out Talisman: The Magical Quest Game

Seconding this unironically

# ? Jun 4, 2016 00:26

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

Lump Shaker posted:

FYI, for anyone else that bought Descent 2E based off of this post, the Road to Legend app is on steam now.

I am the only person on earth who really digs on being Overlord, apparently.

# ? Jun 4, 2016 00:29

Fate Accomplice: Nov 30, 2006

Winson_Paine posted:

I am the only person on earth who really digs on being Overlord, apparently.

I can't think of a single 1 vs Many game where I enjoy being the 1.

# ? Jun 4, 2016 00:33

Big McHuge: Feb 5, 2014; You wait for the war to happen like vultures.
If you want to help, prevent the war.
Don't save the remnants.
Save them all.

Malloreon posted:

I can't think of a single 1 vs Many game where I enjoy being the 1.

Whitechapel can be pretty entertaining as the 1.

# ? Jun 4, 2016 00:51

Machai: Feb 21, 2013

I enjoy being the one. I mostly plan on using the Descent app to play by myself when my friends are not available.

# ? Jun 4, 2016 00:51

Some Numbers: Sep 28, 2006; "LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Malloreon posted:

I can't think of a single 1 vs Many game where I enjoy being the 1.

Being the Mastermind in Tragedy Looper is amazing.

# ? Jun 4, 2016 00:55

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# ? May 14, 2024 18:43

Aerox: Jan 8, 2012

Malloreon posted:

I can't think of a single 1 vs Many game where I enjoy being the 1.

I was Dracula in Fury of Dracula a few weeks ago and had a great time, but part of that was because I pulled off some really sneaky poo poo and infuriated everyone.

The other part was because I was wearing a repurposed Superman cape and pretending it was a Dracula cape.

# ? Jun 4, 2016 00:57

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Board Game Thread 4e: The Call of Catan

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