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I think an interesting occupation card variant is this, I'm going to draw up a new challenge for it soon. When drawing an occupation card, either pick one from the regular(A/B/C) decks of your choosing, or randomly pick one from the starting occupation deck. Let's you try to go along a specific strategy, or gamble and get a better card randomly! I do like the play it face doesn't for 3 VPs though..
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Apr 24, 2017 12:25
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I've been playing an enormous amount of Tak lately. I got myself one of the cloth boards and have been carrying the whole game around with me in a dice bag so that I can be ready to play whenever. It's such a great game to play at a pub or cafe, and I've introduced ~8 of my friends to the game in the past few weeks, every one of whom has asked where they can get a copy. I'm really excited to build a player base for this game in my social circles.
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Apr 24, 2017 13:48
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Kruller posted:The way we've played Geis is you use it when the card is played, maybe after the target is chosen, but definitely before any hard decisions are made. So before the tile is drawn for Exploration, and absolutely before a clash is begun. There's some fudge room with waiting until a clash is decided if it's going to happen or not, but once it has started we typically call that way too late. EDIT: I looked it up. Inis rules, pg. 7 posted:The “Geis” Triskel card, which ignores an Action card effect, can be played only after the current player has fully declared his action (which clan he is targeting, which territory he is moving from, etc.). CaptainRightful fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Apr 24, 2017 |
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Apr 24, 2017 15:05
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Strange Cares posted:I've been playing an enormous amount of Tak lately. I got myself one of the cloth boards and have been carrying the whole game around with me in a dice bag so that I can be ready to play whenever. It's such a great game to play at a pub or cafe, and I've introduced ~8 of my friends to the game in the past few weeks, every one of whom has asked where they can get a copy. Same here. I have made 5 sets for friends and family now. Where did you get your cloth board btw? We've been playing on the Onitama play mat which is a nice neoprene, but I like your idea of always having a travel set in an even smaller package. What are you using for pieces as well? My glass stones are a bit heavy for a dice bag.
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Apr 24, 2017 16:08
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Johnny Truant posted:I think an interesting occupation card variant is this, I'm going to draw up a new challenge for it soon. Whoof. 100 choices? Seems a little overkill. I'd like to see what kind of drafting variant Uwe comes up with; I think you could get a decent one going. The only reason I want to knock things down a point (effectively) when you get to choose whether or not to play a card for effect is that 3 points is an effective average, a good card can be worth more, and 3 and 4 column action spaces are already generally more efficient than the 1s and 2s.
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Apr 24, 2017 16:15
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I'm just getting tired of cards that randomly impact a player's ability to win the game, and I think the AFFO occupation cards are an example of this. So I was looking for alternatives and I discussed the occupation cards are worth 3vp period as a house rule and he's fine with that. So that's how we'll playing going forward.
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Apr 24, 2017 16:34
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Bottom Liner posted:Same here. I have made 5 sets for friends and family now. Where did you get your cloth board btw? We've been playing on the Onitama play mat which is a nice neoprene, but I like your idea of always having a travel set in an even smaller package. What are you using for pieces as well? My glass stones are a bit heavy for a dice bag. Tak pals!  You can order a cloth board here: https://thetinkerspacks.com/collections/tak-a-beautiful-game/products/tak-cloth-board?variant=20639176006 It takes about a week to ship, depending on where you're located, but it's well worth it. It folds up into a tiny square that takes up almost no space and is the same size as the base board when unfolded. I also use a larger than normal dice bag. I call it my Tak Sak. I'm using the pieces that came with the licensed set; varnished wood is pretty light. It was a bit of an investment but I'm cool with it since the profits go to charity. If you have a woodworking set or live near a lumbermill (they always have tiny offcuts they need to get rid of) you can probably make a nice light wood set pretty cheap. A friend of mine made their set that way and just stole some pawns from their chess set for the capstones.
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Apr 24, 2017 18:01
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Johnny Truant posted:
Getting cards and playing them face down for 3vp each seems like a candidate Big Money baseline strategy 
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Apr 24, 2017 18:47
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Mister Sinewave posted:Getting cards and playing them face down for 3vp each seems like a candidate Big Money baseline strategy To determine if any of the occupations are categorically worth less than that and so should be removed, yes. 
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Apr 24, 2017 19:04
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PMush Perfect posted:I've watched a couple online reviews, and it seems okay, but I'd like to ask the goonmind. Has anyone played the Dark Souls board game yet? Is it any good? It's the Dark Souls of boardgames.
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Apr 24, 2017 19:11
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One-day Amazon board game sale going on; nothing mindblowing though, and a lot of their stock is already sold-out. Arcadia Quest: $52.71 Blood Rage: $48.99 Bloodborne: $19.99 Forbidden Island: $8.39 King of Tokyo: $20.59 Kingdom Builder: $18.29 Kingdomino: $16.00 New York 1901: $19.87 The Others Seven Sins: $50.49 Zombicide Black Plague: $55.00
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Apr 24, 2017 19:17
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Glazius posted:Went to board game day, had some filler going but mostly played two big games. I got Vast: The Crystal Caverns recently too! In both our games so far, the Cave has won. We haven't played with the Thief yet though, and in one game played with only three. It seems like its really geared towards having four (or five) players, the variant for if there is no goblin player is basically just that the Knight has to have 2 strength whenever he gets ambushed. And thats it. So, there's no way for the Dragon to interact with Goblins, all those rules are just moot, which seemed really unfair. I think its GREAT in that each player is playing a different game, but each game cares about what the other players are doing. I think it's really clever how they've done that, but it has one of the most infuriating rulebooks ever. Each player has their own rulebook, and frequently stuff isn't explained in your rulebook, but in someone else's. It often tells you to take objects (tokens / tiles etc) but doesn't explain what for, or how you use them, and then because you know some things appear in other people's rulebooks, you have no idea if its an oversight, if its something you've missed, or its just in a different book? For example, in the no Goblins variant, it says "take the two monster tokens" for the knight. Then they are never mentioned again anywhere else in any rule I've read. Also, there are three monster tokens ..etc etc.
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Apr 24, 2017 19:18
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Is Blood Rage good?
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Apr 24, 2017 20:46
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It's fine, I'll usually play it if someone gets it out but I definitely think it gets a lot more love than its gameplay deserves because of the minis. I'd rather play Kemet.
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Apr 24, 2017 20:54
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Countblanc posted:It's fine, I'll usually play it if someone gets it out but I definitely think it gets a lot more love than its gameplay deserves because of the minis. I'd rather play Kemet. Nailed it. It's Somewhere between Risk and Kemet. Great entry point for newcomers but Kemet is better in every way. I'm ok with owning both. The expansions for Blood Rage are garbage (except the 5th player one).
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Apr 24, 2017 21:09
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Bottom Liner posted:Great entry point for newcomers but Kemet is better in every way. I've introduced 7 people who were completely new to modern boardgames to Kemet and they've all loved it. It became a weekly thing until everyone's schedules got too hectic due to acting gigs. Not sure why you'd need a slightly worse version for newcomers.
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Apr 24, 2017 21:15
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Anyone played Sagrada yet? It looks so goddamn pretty. Dice drafting game with translucent dice you make stained glass windows out of, or something. I have no idea how it plays, it just...so purty.
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Apr 24, 2017 21:16
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silvergoose posted:Anyone played Sagrada yet? It looks so goddamn pretty. Dice drafting game with translucent dice you make stained glass windows out of, or something. I have no idea how it plays, it just...so purty. Man, you got me all excited. The Google Image Search falls so incredibly far short of the mental image I got from your description. I imagined a game with many tiny custom translucent dice on a board that's lit from beneath.
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Apr 24, 2017 21:25
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KPC_Mammon posted:I've introduced 7 people who were completely new to modern boardgames to Kemet and they've all loved it. It became a weekly thing until everyone's schedules got too hectic due to acting gigs. Yeah I agree. Kemet is just as easy to teach. Some people don't dig the theme or are really into Vikings so Blood Rage is sometimes a nice change of pace. A lot of my gamer friends come from MtG too so the drafting sells them on the game really well.
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Apr 24, 2017 21:32
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homullus posted:Man, you got me all excited. The Google Image Search falls so incredibly far short of the mental image I got from your description. I imagined a game with many tiny custom translucent dice on a board that's lit from beneath. Heh, well, it looks purty to me even without what I apparently mental imaged.
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Apr 24, 2017 21:37
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Inis is also really good if you want a drafting dudes on a map game
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Apr 24, 2017 21:40
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Played a game of Codex with a newbie and it went pretty well. I went with a blood red rush comp and he went with a growth panda/wisp combo. Middle of the game I was rushing real hard and he seemed to be stumped in terms of how to beat me. I told him that he just needed to build his board and survive the rush. He didn't seem convinced. A few turns later I had basically destroyed my economy with land octupus and he had loads of high health unit that I couldn't kill in time and he basically two turned me with a boosted rhino. Really fun, good showcase of the two archetypes and how they interact as well.
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Apr 24, 2017 21:49
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!Klams posted:I think its GREAT in that each player is playing a different game, but each game cares about what the other players are doing. I think it's really clever how they've done that, but it has one of the most infuriating rulebooks ever. Each player has their own rulebook, and frequently stuff isn't explained in your rulebook, but in someone else's. It often tells you to take objects (tokens / tiles etc) but doesn't explain what for, or how you use them, and then because you know some things appear in other people's rulebooks, you have no idea if its an oversight, if its something you've missed, or its just in a different book? I'm glad you're enjoying Vast! I'm the editor of its rulebook, and I feel your pain. It was one of the most intricate and multifaceted projects I've worked on, and I've worked quite a few, so I learned quite a few things during my time with that rulebook. As you alluded to, Vast is basically five games in one, setting aside the ambitious number of variants and play modes. Because the roles' actions affect each other role in a unique way, and because many of the components flow between the roles but are mainly owned and used by one roles, striking the balance between under- and overexplaining was challenging, especially within the constraints of a double-page spread. For Deep: Enemy Frontier, our next (and similarly ultra-asymmetric) game, I'm going to push for a dedicated Learn to Play book, possibly with a teaching/demoing script. No guarantees, but that's my hope! Speaking to the Monster tokens: the Ogre and Troll cards in the Goblins' Monster deck prompt you to place those tokens on the map. Did you get three Monster tokens? The Ogre and Troll should be the only monsters with associated tokens, as shown on the components page.
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Apr 24, 2017 22:33
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silvergoose posted:Anyone played Sagrada yet? It looks so goddamn pretty. Dice drafting game with translucent dice you make stained glass windows out of, or something. I have no idea how it plays, it just...so purty. I got mine from KS recently and am happy with it. I also recently picked up Roll Player since it restocked everywhere, and both are dice drafting/allocation systems, so I've been prone to immediately compare the two. Sagrada is a LOT lighter (ha, puns) than Roll Player, and plays in half the time (or less). The rules are really simple: First, your first drafted die has to be placed alone one of the edges of your window card, and all subsequent dice must be placed touching at least one other die in any direction (including diagonals). Second, you can never place a die of the same value or color orthogonally next to one that matches it (IE no 2 can be placed orthogonally next to another 2, no blues can be next to each other, etc). Lastly, each window card which you're placing your dice on have some restrictive space that require specific colors or values. And that is basically all you need to know to get started. It's like a light Sudoku puzzle. There's a small deck of Tool cards, of which each game uses 3, which are special actions players can take to manipulate their dice, but how often they can take the actions is limited by the difficulty rating of their chosen window card. There's a deck of public/shared objective cards (also use 3 in a game) which reward points for specific patterns being followed in rows or columns, or for specific sets of dice on your window. Lastly everyone gets a secret scoring bonus card for a specific color of dice, which is in my experience where the biggest scoring variance comes in; you get points equal to the sum of the pips on the dice of your color. So you're incentivized to draft that big green 6 that came up, even if it might cost you a couple points in completing a public objective. A full 4 player game is probably a 30 minute affair if everyone knows what they're doing. There's not quite enough to worry about people getting too AP over it, but still makes you think about where you're placing your dice and consider future implications. Even with the option of using tools, turns are fast. Coupled with how pretty it looks (though the above mention of backlighting the dice sure would be sweet; could be a fun project) and how accessible it is, it's one I'm happy to add to my library.
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Apr 24, 2017 22:37
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Hey thread, I can give you some further details regarding the next Tash Kalar expansion. As you might know, the theme of the deck is going to be time travelling, and the main mechanism of the deck itself is basically a reverse thaw/everfrost. Cards for the new deck have a Warp effect that can be played at anytime by playing the card in front of you. You can only have one card in front of you at any time and the card counts against your hand limit. The only way to get rid of the card is to actually summon the pattern on the card. Can't give many more details but that's the base gimmick of the deck.
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Apr 24, 2017 23:00
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Strange Cares posted:You can order a cloth board here: https://thetinkerspacks.com/collections/tak-a-beautiful-game/products/tak-cloth-board?variant=20639176006 That cloth board kinda makes me want to suggest that my girlfriend make a tiny quilt to play it on. Note: We still haven't played Tak, but we were both interested as we are big fans of James Ernest. We should rectify that. Man, I have never been more lame. Excited about a tiny quilt.
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Apr 24, 2017 23:00
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I made my first game purchase since last october, Mafia de Cuba. There's an "intro to board games" thing in my town this saturday for International Tabletop Day and it looked like it'd be fun to teach newbies.
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Apr 24, 2017 23:03
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Countblanc posted:I made my first game purchase since last october, Mafia de Cuba. There's an "intro to board games" thing in my town this saturday for International Tabletop Day and it looked like it'd be fun to teach newbies. It's an okay take on the social deduction genre, with a cute gimmick of passing the cigar box around and taking stuff out of it, but unfortunately it's a little broken with certain roles. It's been a long while since I played it, but after just a couple plays with a group well versed in playing Avalon/Werewolf, issues became really clear to everyone and we spent almost as much time brainstorming how to fix the game as we did actually playing a round of it. I'm sure someone could clarify what the issue was since I'm having a hard time remembering the details.
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Apr 24, 2017 23:09
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Also don 't play it with large groups, cause setting up the actual gameplay bit can be long and boring and the final few players in the chain might have 0 decisions/0 input in the game (and at certain numbers the game has a nash equilibrium where winning is certain for the first few players that get the box). The broken game is this: With certain number of players where there is only one FBI/CIA Agent, the breaking strategy is for the first player to remove the FBI/CIA Agent from the game and pick a loyal henchman/driver, and then everyone else picks loyal henchmen. The henchmen and boss then pretty much instantly win. So yeah, not a lot of thought went into designing the game with different number of players. I played the game once and got rid of it as quickly as possible. The deduction aspect is also missing because it's ends up being just random 'do I believe him or her' decisions by the boss. The game as a whole isn't great.
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Apr 24, 2017 23:19
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Merauder posted:Coupled with how pretty it looks (though the above mention of backlighting the dice sure would be sweet; could be a fun project) Depending on how opaque the window cards are you could just set up on something like this. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VW9WGJS
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Apr 24, 2017 23:20
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Caedar posted:I'm glad you're enjoying Vast! I'm the editor of its rulebook, and I feel your pain. It was one of the most intricate and multifaceted projects I've worked on, and I've worked quite a few, so I learned quite a few things during my time with that rulebook. As you alluded to, Vast is basically five games in one, setting aside the ambitious number of variants and play modes. Because the roles' actions affect each other role in a unique way, and because many of the components flow between the roles but are mainly owned and used by one roles, striking the balance between under- and overexplaining was challenging, especially within the constraints of a double-page spread. For Deep: Enemy Frontier, our next (and similarly ultra-asymmetric) game, I'm going to push for a dedicated Learn to Play book, possibly with a teaching/demoing script. No guarantees, but that's my hope! Oh wow amaazing! Yeah, I REALLY like the game, it's been great and I can't wait to get a five player game in! (I wanna be the sneaky thief!) I think the main issue with the rules is solely the fact that it will mention a token / concept that isn't then explained (because it's explained elsewhere) and there isn't a central "This token = this effect (see pg. x)" type glossary of images paired to descriptions. Like we kept having to go back to the 'how to set up' page and squint at the small pictures there. I can totally see where you were coming from though, where you say, 'skim these rules and then come back to them', once we actually got playing, it felt like it all made sense and was super easy to follow, but it was just whenever we hit a snag, it was hard to then work out where to look. Have to say though, I still don't understand what the monster tokens are for? We weren't playing with a Goblin player, so, didn't read the Goblin rules at all? The variant instructions were just to take the monster tokens, and treat any ambush as strength 2 each time, and that was it?
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Apr 24, 2017 23:23
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Merauder posted:I got mine from KS recently and am happy with it. I also recently picked up Roll Player since it restocked everywhere, and both are dice drafting/allocation systems, so I've been prone to immediately compare the two. That's super helpful, thanks!!
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Apr 24, 2017 23:28
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Having not played Kemet, I may be wrong, but it seems Kemet is a more aggressive game than Blood Rage. One reason I like Blood Rage is that the attacking is more passive. You're less attacking the player and more attacking the area, at which point you effectively bid for it. You also get all of your units back at the end of each round, which further cements it as "bidding" as far as I'm concerned. That's not to say you never attack players directly (particularly to thin out an opponents numbers). Still, I can actually get my wife to play Blood Rage, where I'm quite certain she would never play Kemet simply because it's too adversarial. Since I've been gaming, I've known 3 people vital to our groups (my wife included) that dislike games where the overall strategy is around directly attacking other players. With these people, Blood Rage is a decent compromise. Of course, if I'm wrong about Kemet, then I suppose I should pick it up! I've wanted it for a while but figure I'd never actually get to play. Gzuz-Kriced fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Apr 24, 2017 |
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Apr 24, 2017 23:29
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Sorry, Kemet is very much about attacking other players, both mechanically and thematically.
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Apr 24, 2017 23:42
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CaptainRightful posted:Sorry, Kemet is very much about attacking other players, both mechanically and thematically. The fact that you can spend an action get your casualties back again in Kemet might make it a little more palatable, but yeah, you are still saying "Pikachu, I Choose You (To Be Attacked By My Divine Armies)"
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Apr 24, 2017 23:45
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How's Arcadia Quest if I like Imperial Assault and Descent 2e (the only dungeon type crawlers I've played)?
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Apr 24, 2017 23:46
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It's much more of a pvp brawler with some pve elements controlled by a simple AI system. It feels kind of like a moba mixed with D&D combat in a good way. Tons of Kickstarter exclusives but even the base box comes with a lot of characters for a full experience. It's much faster and simpler than IA or Descent, and the campaign elements are pretty minor, with only your equipment cards changing from scenario to scenario. We love it.
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Apr 25, 2017 00:13
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!Klams posted:Oh wow amaazing! Yeah, I REALLY like the game, it's been great and I can't wait to get a five player game in! (I wanna be the sneaky thief!) I think the main issue with the rules is solely the fact that it will mention a token / concept that isn't then explained (because it's explained elsewhere) and there isn't a central "This token = this effect (see pg. x)" type glossary of images paired to descriptions. Like we kept having to go back to the 'how to set up' page and squint at the small pictures there. Yup, I agree. When structuring a rulebook, I often shy away from detailed component glossaries (ones that try to explain what a component is for, rather than just showing pictures), because it's really easy to say something important in the glossary and then say it ever so slightly differently in the body text, confusing the heck out of readers, but I think in an ultra-asymmetric game that intermingles components among its roles, it's totally justified. I'll keep that in the front of my mind when roughing out Deep's rulebook. re: Monster tokens. If you're playing the variant at the Normal or Tough Goblins difficulty level, Ambushes are indeed just a fixed STR, so the Monster tokens aren't used. If you're playing at the Monster difficulty level (the hardest mode), you draw Monsters, and some of them (the Ogre and Troll) will prompt you to place their matching Monster token. It'd probably be clearer if the rulebook only prompted you to take the Monster tokens if you're playing the hardest difficulty. The third printing is already in production, but I'll submit that tweak for the fourth printing, assuming there is one.
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Apr 25, 2017 00:39
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Vlaada Chvatil posted:Five pages late, but let me go on record to state that I do not like Agricola, and terebikun will certainly not trick me into playing Brew Crafters if it is anything like the Gric. Terebikun, you are not so sly if you think I do not catch up on this thread now and again! You are just scared of the gluten. It is only cardboard tokens you are brewing, not real beer you dummy!
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Apr 25, 2017 00:50
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Caedar posted:Yup, I agree. When structuring a rulebook, I often shy away from detailed component glossaries (ones that try to explain what a component is for, rather than just showing pictures), because it's really easy to say something important in the glossary and then say it ever so slightly differently in the body text, confusing the heck out of readers, but I think in an ultra-asymmetric game that intermingles components among its roles, it's totally justified. I'll keep that in the front of my mind when roughing out Deep's rulebook. Ahhhhh, ok, that was the missing piece of the puzzle, there are HARDER difficulties aren't there, yes! I couldn't think where the last place I could look for details was. Yeah, this must have been a total bitch to do the rules for, I keep thinking things like, "But why doesn't it just say that in the main body of rules?" and its like, well, which one of the five should it go in? And if you centralise more stuff into the main rulebook, that makes it impossible to give each player their own rulebook, which is absolutely a must! Really interested to see the next version. Best of luck!
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Apr 25, 2017 01:07
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