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Tekopo posted:If you are really interested in a Cthulhu theme, I would recommend steering away from Arkham Horror, which is horribly overcomplex and has a boat-load of issues, and instead going for Eldritch Horror, which seems to fit the bill since it's about going around the world, investigating stuff and killing monsters. The Arkham Horror Card Game by FFG is also apparently quite good, it's a full co-op card game but it does use the LCG framework, so usually you need to create the decks beforehand to get the most out of it, although I think it has a few premade decks. I've played Eldritch Horror but not Arkham and whenever people say this I can't help but shudder at what Arkham Horror must be like. Eldritch Horror is absurdly fiddly and complex for what it is already!
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Oct 9, 2019 00:34
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Arkham 3rd is better than eldritch, and the Arkham LCG is better than both.
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Oct 9, 2019 01:07
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ZeroCount posted:I've played Eldritch Horror but not Arkham and whenever people say this I can't help but shudder at what Arkham Horror must be like. Eldritch Horror is absurdly fiddly and complex for what it is already! Picture Eldritch Horror but you have even less control over what encounters you're going to hit and every single check is a stat-minus-two at minimum.
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Oct 9, 2019 01:56
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Greetings! I don't normally post session report stuff here, but I just got back from a 3 day con with some good gaming friends. I talked about some of the stuff in discord and it sparked some intereesting discussion so I decided to type out my thoughts and share it here. Side note: I met Joel Eddy at this con and talked to him for about 15 minutes. Really chill guy. His channel doesn't really cover stuff I'm usually interested in it but I would gladly play a game with him anytime. Terraforming Mars 4p I've previously played this a few times and knew I didn't care for it much, but a guy in our group really likes it. This time we played with prelude and a different map. I supposed the game was improved by both of the additions, but easily the worst game of the con for me. I pretty much just spammed plants and built on the board as often as I could for a pretty easy win. El Grande 4p Once we found out that a guy in our group had never played this we had to pull it out. I jumped out to a quick lead but another player came back for a narrow victory. Not much to say about this one, its the same classic game from 97. I do think I prefer the game at 5 though after this play. Root 4p. Cats, birds, lizards, otters (me) First play as the otters, and I enjoyed them quite a bit. I made many deals with every player at the table, unfortunately I couldnt' draw a crafting card worth VP to save my life. The cats went for a desperation domination victory and would have pulled it off if the birds rolled a 3-3 result on their first attack (forcing them to turmoil). They did not get that lucky roll and birds won off points. I was sitting around 27 points and the lizards maybe scored 10. Otters are for sure a top 3 faction to play with for me and I'm happy to play this game anytime. Dune 6p I played as spice guild and it was the first play for all players. Just as we got rolling on the 2nd or 3rd turn our bene gesserit player arruptly quit. An interested passerby quickly jumped in thankfully and after a 2nd teach we were going again. Some things of note: - The very first combat in the game resulted in a double traitor reveal. - We accidentally played with the expansion 10 strength leaders, which when the Fremen lost theirs they were eliminated from the game (you lose your faction power when your 10 strength leader dies). I was allied with the fremen at the time -.- - Players didn't really grasp combat until really late in the game, so every combat resulted in huge deaths. Every faction was pretty starved by the end. Ultimately the fremen/spice guild grinded out the game until turn 10 and shared a victory. I could have dropped the alliance but thought it would be funnier if I did not. While the experience of this game was amazing and hilarious, I'm not sure if its a good game really. Combat felt super arbitrary due to the cards that you blind bid for. Maybe I'm missing some nuance that makes the combat really good? Next time I play though I think I'll push for the advanced combat rules where you can pay spice for combat to see if that makes it more interesting. Despite its mechanical shortcomings, this was the game of the con for me. Pax Pamir 2e 4p I dunno why we played this game honestly, it was about 11pm when we started and we were already pretty tired. The 3 other players all alligned with Afghan locals wheareas I tried to force a failed topple with the brittish. I did a pretty decent job but was unable to hold that state when 2 dominance checks came out very closely to each other. I also made a bad read before the 3rd dominance check and was out of contention. I like Pax Pamir quite a lot, but mental fatique set in and I played terribly. Trick of the Rails 3p This was roughly th 7th play of my favorite trick taking game, and probably the first play I was succesfully able to pull off a strategy. I managed to both end the game wiht 5 B&O stocks and make it the best company for a big victory. Not sure if my opponents just played poorly or if I'm starting to get better at the game, but its the best 3 player card game IMO. Locomotive Works 4p Winsome reprint that was new to me. The design tries to emulate the income curve of 18xx, which I felt like it did a great job of. This play took like 2.5 hours which was a little long for what it was, but I liked the game. Would be a great 90 minute game if it can be played in that time. 1828 4p Super interesting 1830 derrivative. I was continously trashing my companies until they were in the grey and then buying up cheap shares later. I think I owned 100%, 80%, and 80% of my 3 companies. We had to kill this game a bit short, but really wish we could played this one out. I think my super low value copmanies would have paid me enough cash to win the game, but I can't prove that for sure. As much as I loved my play of dune this is the game I most want to play right now. High Frontier 4p This game was ran by a HF fanatic who brought a bunch of his homebrew expansions. I got destroyed by an untimely Glitch event and 2 unfortunate rolls going through hazards. Overall probably my most fun experience playing high frontier yet. Fire in the Lake 4p, medium scenario I played as NVA and was rolling along in the beginning, but then the US player was brutal. They went airstrike crazy and really commited to invading cambodia. I think they overcommited and gave themselves little chance to actually win the game, but I don't know the game well enough to really know. The ARVN player won the game on the 2nd or 3rd coup check. This is my favorite COIN game out of the ones I've played, but I also don't super love the system. I think most of the time I would prefer to just play root or el grande. I hadn't made this realization before playing all 3 in such close succession. Union vs Central 2p At this point we all left, ate lunch, and called it a con. I went with one of the group members to stay at their house for the night, and while we were waiting for his wife to get off work we started a game of UvC. At first I really couldn't understand why the game was supposed to take so long....all you have to do is build 8 pieces of rail and they aren't that expensive. Then an attack card came out....then another....then annother. All of these cards are pretty devastating and completely hose your opponent for the short term. Thankfully these cards are removed from the game after being played, while other cards get recylced via discard pile. We killed the game at the 2 hour mark when his wife came home, just as we were figuring the game out. Honestly the beginning of the game wasn't that great of an expereince, but I'd play it again to completion to see what the mid and late game was like. Overall I felt the con was a huge success and with the exception of terraforming mars want to play every game again in the near future  .It also turns out after 3 days of playing games until late at night and drinking a fair amount, your brain will eventually short circuit. Today was my first day back at work and was basically a zombie all day!
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Oct 9, 2019 04:25
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Holy crap that's a lot of solid, heavy games.
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Oct 9, 2019 04:35
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silvergoose posted:Holy crap that's a lot of solid, heavy games. We planned on playing John Company and 1830 as well but decided to sub them out for Locomotive Werks and Trick of the Rails instead. Good thing we did or our brains might have blown up at the table. I"m sure we played laughably suboptimally for most of the late night games 
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Oct 9, 2019 04:52
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Locomotive Werks is great and can definitely get sub 90 minutes. UvC is also fantastic but definitely can run long with people that are new to it, it's one of my favorite 2p games.
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Oct 9, 2019 05:00
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Late night con games of heavy stuff are some of the best experiences in my gaming memories. Good times. Terrible strategies.
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Oct 9, 2019 05:07
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taser rates posted:Locomotive Werks is great and can definitely get sub 90 minutes. It definitely was an intriguing game, but was a slog because we just kept nuking each other. I think my opponent had a train for 50% of the game and I kept getting hit with mudslides and strikes lol.
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Oct 9, 2019 05:29
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Papes posted:While the experience of this game was amazing and hilarious, I'm not sure if its a good game really. Combat felt super arbitrary due to the cards that you blind bid for. Maybe I'm missing some nuance that makes the combat really good? Next time I play though I think I'll push for the advanced combat rules where you can pay spice for combat to see if that makes it more interesting. Despite its mechanical shortcomings, this was the game of the con for me. Everything in Dune is a resource to trade. It's one of the rare political games that expressly allows secret information so everyone should either text each other or bring along some scrap paper for play. Combat in the game should be seen as a blind auction: you lose every committed unit if you win but lose everything if you lose so a small suicide squad against a larger force can potentially be disastrous for the stronger player. Atreides should totally be selling knowledge of the cards which is offset by Harkonnen getting a blind card on every buy. Dune shouldn't be seen as a dudes-on-a-map wargame so much as it's Planet eBay and there are a dozen auctions but you can only try to snipe one a turn. You look at that auction for a collector's edition Ankh-Morpork but the screenshots are at a weird angle. You have a couple minutes, do you message the seller with a question and potentially go unanswered or place a proxy bid and hope no one bids you up because Napoleon's Triumph is about to close in 30 seconds at $50!!!
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Oct 9, 2019 05:32
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So I got Keythedral in the mail and we already managed to play a 3 player game with us all being new to the game. I came in third with 38 - 40 - 48. The tile and hut placement is a nice little puzzle at the start of the game and being start or second player seems more important then I realised first. Getting only 4 cubes a turn due to hut activation felt bad but I think I will do better next time. The law cards don't seem to be as bad as reviewers made them out to be and the winner didn't even really use them. Played with first edition scoring so just the Keythedral tiles and no ressource scoring. Everybody liked it, explanation, setup, playtime and teardown were about 90 minutes and it felt crunchy enough. Looking forward to play some more of it.
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Oct 9, 2019 07:00
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By the way, I've got a quick question about The Estates. What happens if someone puts the 'cancel cube' up for auction before any permits are in-play? Does the winner of the bid hang onto it, or is it essentially wasted?
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Oct 9, 2019 07:27
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Major Isoor posted:By the way, I've got a quick question about The Estates. What happens if someone puts the 'cancel cube' up for auction before any permits are in-play? Does the winner of the bid hang onto it, or is it essentially wasted? It's wasted I think. The special cubes/Major must be used or discarded immediately after acquiring them.
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Oct 9, 2019 07:28
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Selecta84 posted:It's wasted I think. The special cubes/Major must be used or discarded immediately after acquiring them. Oh, right! So could you choose to discard it, even if there's a valid row for it to be used on, then? Interesting...
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Oct 9, 2019 07:57
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Major Isoor posted:Oh, right! So could you choose to discard it, even if there's a valid row for it to be used on, then? Interesting... Indeed. Only roofes and building cubes have to played.
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Oct 9, 2019 08:00
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In Dune, the Atredies player should be currying for favour by spilling the beans on certain cards up for auction, for a price. Or at least pretending they are good then it being a dud Trip to Gammon or whatever. Just another currency in the game.
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Oct 9, 2019 09:56
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al-azad posted:Dune shouldn't be seen as a dudes-on-a-map wargame so much as it's Planet eBay and there are a dozen auctions but you can only try to snipe one a turn. You look at that auction for a collector's edition Ankh-Morpork but the screenshots are at a weird angle. You have a couple minutes, do you message the seller with a question and potentially go unanswered or place a proxy bid and hope no one bids you up because Napoleon's Triumph is about to close in 30 seconds at $50!!! Well I guess I’m getting dune
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Oct 9, 2019 10:34
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Chill la Chill posted:Well I guess I’m getting dune As if you weren't before, Chill. Please don't lie to the thread.
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Oct 9, 2019 14:44
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2 games I've been eyeing lately have been Nusfjord (a streamlined faster Uwe game might work for my group) and Yellow & Yangtze (likewise, a more streamlined T&E might be easier to teach), and they might be my next pick-ups. Anyone who's played them want to chime in with their impressions of the games?
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Oct 9, 2019 16:37
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al-azad posted:Everything in Dune is a resource to trade. It's one of the rare political games that expressly allows secret information so everyone should either text each other or bring along some scrap paper for play. Thanks, I’ll have to keep this in mind for the next time.
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Oct 9, 2019 16:47
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I don’t think Y&Y is easier to teach actually. It’s a friendlier game but not any lighter. Each tile has a new power, battles add negotiation since others can join in, etc. Still a great game and not hard to learn, just don’t think of it as a lighter version. Similarly, I haven’t played Nujsford but when I’ve seen it played it seemed to go long for what it is, but I can’t confirm.
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Oct 9, 2019 17:00
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I thought the appeal of Nusfjord was that you can play a game in about 20min or less per player (as opposed to other Rosenbergs' 30+)Bottom Liner posted:I don’t think Y&Y is easier to teach actually. It’s a friendlier game but not any lighter. Each tile has a new power, battles add negotiation since others can join in, etc. Still a great game and not hard to learn, just don’t think of it as a lighter version. Maybe so, but I remember looking up T&E and thinking that it seemed be a step too much for my group. Whereas I feel confident I'd be able to teach them Y&Y fairly easily. Maybe toying with the game on Steam a bit helped.
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Oct 9, 2019 17:12
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There are more rules to Y&Y is what I’m saying. It’s not easier to teach since it takes the T&E platform and adds another layer on top. It’s “easier” in the sense that a single mistake won’t cost you the game, but that has nothing to do with rules overhead. That said, they’re not heavy games and once people grasp the conflict rules and the symbols vs colors concept it’s pretty straightforward.
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Oct 9, 2019 17:14
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If by streamlining you mean fewer rules and therefore an easier teach, then in no way whatever is Y&Y a streamlined T&E. If you're picturing some other metaphorical air resistance like meanness, then maybe. I've played Nusford a few times and it didn't feel overlong. It and Patchwork may be the only Rosenberg I'd play again, because I hate AFfO's worker placement wall and Caverna's maze of rooms. Nusford is much more measured in scope and in playtime.
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Oct 9, 2019 17:42
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You should try Glass Road. It's a fun mix of resource manipulation using the two wheels of resources and the attempt to predict other players' actions using your action selection cards. But it is more chaotic and luck based than the typical Rosenberg, since a really bad round of action predictions can put you out of the running for first. Also, Via Nebula is good, and I don't understand why Amazon is trying to dump their copies. golden bubble fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Oct 9, 2019 |
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Oct 9, 2019 18:14
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Yeah, Glass Road is a good and fast Rosenberg. I just love the card mechanism and the little building combos. Nusfjord feels a bit like Glass Road in that regard. It's all about the buildings and comboing them. Some critique that the big point building only come out in round 4 and you might get a bit unlucky. But I never really thought of it as a problem. A diverse start should allow you to play almost every card you are dealt. And the playtime is also pretty good for a game of it's complexity. Not to long and the different decks offer a lot a variety. In our last 5 player game e.g. I came in first with 36 or so points with just 1 boat, 5 elders and 10 or so buildings. I had a nice little engine going where I would get fish and wood from using my elders. Second place had like 6 buildings (which also worked well together) or so but 4-5 boats, 3 elders and just a ton of gold from serving fish every other round. So I quite enjoy it. And the solo play is also pretty good. Selecta84 fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Oct 9, 2019 |
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Oct 9, 2019 18:48
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Back from SHUX '19, had a really good time. Had a chat with Quinns where I sort of disassociated as we spoke about the convention scene in Canada and board games in general, played a variety of games (but not that many, which was strange, I definitely thought I played more), and about half a game of basic Arkwright, whose rules learning took so long that my gf had enough time to walk to an ice cream store and come back by the time we started the game (a little over an hour). Really would like to play more of that, but finding someone else to play it with is some sort of herculean task that I will never accomplish. Oh, also played another game of Blood on the Clocktower, one that really emphasized what kind of role the Storyteller has in this game, as opposed to others of its ilk: so, we had a group of people who had played the game, and one who hadn't. The Storyteller (Evin, a guy who ran our last game), wanted to introduce a new complex minion but didn't want to have the new guy randomly draw it. So instead he threw a role into the mix, and after my gf drew it, during the night phase he woke her up, gave her the new role, and let her do her thing. Then he planned some stuff around misinformation regarding a drunk, a guy who looked evil but wasn't (me), and a few roles that gave out info. Made for a heck of a wild game. Not one I'd buy, mind you, but I'd play it again. But really, I have no idea what the game would be like with someone who wasn't literally employed to do this thing all day. Played Alien Artifacts, which was a decent tableau builder, and Flamme Rouge, which was so good and a game I really need to buy. The imagery it invokes as you have these exhausted pairs of bikers trying to streak towards the finish line was unmatched during the whole con. Came away from the whole thing with a copy of Now Boarding (for cheaper than Fowers' website) and High Society. Because you know, I need more games obviously.
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Oct 9, 2019 19:03
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Papes posted:Fire in the Lake 4p, medium scenario Were you playing with 2nd edition rules? They nerfed airstrikes quite a bit, along with other changes to make US less powerful. See here -- the Sortie Limit, Rotation, and Withdrawal rules are all part of the game now, along with the updated cards.
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Oct 9, 2019 19:09
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I may have an unfairly negative view of Alien Artifacts because, while definitely a tableau builder, it named its suits after the four X's, which I found irrationally annoying.
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Oct 9, 2019 23:06
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Mr. Squishy posted:I may have an unfairly negative view of Alien Artifacts because, while definitely a tableau builder, it named its suits after the four X's, which I found irrationally annoying. I've heard similar complaints, that it explicitly bills itself as a 4x and is really really not.
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Oct 9, 2019 23:21
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I've only played Alien Artifacts once but it felt like the player interaction was lower than it was meant to be given how weak the pvp fights were.
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Oct 10, 2019 00:04
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:Were you playing with 2nd edition rules? They nerfed airstrikes quite a bit, along with other changes to make US less powerful. See here -- the Sortie Limit, Rotation, and Withdrawal rules are all part of the game now, along with the updated cards. I believe we played with 2nd edition rules. The air strikes weren't too damaging, it just added up because he did them a lot even though it made major cities/provinces turn to active opposition.
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Oct 10, 2019 03:14
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Years after getting Forbidden Stars, I finally got it to the table this week. Last weekend I played a four player game, which was...honestly too much. It was everyone's first time, so I wasn't expecting a fast game, but we still spent about 7 hours and even then had to cut it short. Still fun, but I probably don't want to do it at that count again. Then today I played it again at 2p and it was excellent. Took a little over four hours, and we fought to the last order of the last round, with it being anyone's game right up until the final battle. The only thing I missed about the larger player count is the uncertainty of having multiple opponents to deal with; I'm curious how it plays at 3, since that still has a smallish board that you can move around and a shorter play time. Among other things, I like how the factions feel distinct without involving radically different gameplay, the deck upgrade system, the need to balance offense and defense, how easy the rules are to learn with so many moving parts...I like dudes on a map games in general, and this one I enjoyed a lot.
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Oct 10, 2019 04:43
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Taught Three Kingdoms Redux to two newbies having only played it once years ago. I played Wei and used Cao Cao to focus on development and rank, Wu built up a quick army and started smashing, and Shu complained that his starting poo poo sucked. I got to 10 development the same turn Wu got his fifth general stationed, and won 30 to 28 to 26. Both players want to play it again soon! Despite winning, I didn't play that well, lost some key auctions, and am still terrible at auction games. I think I like the game, would play it again, but it's not at the top of my auction preferences (Dungeon Petz and Goa). Tough game with so many agonizing and impactful decisions, most of which feel like if you make the wrong one, you're completely screwed. The card decks feel a little overly random. The tiebreakers always eventually resolving down to "welp Wei wins" reminds me of NT's "if it's still tied after all these conditions...the French win".
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Oct 10, 2019 05:30
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Forbidden Stars will get much quicker on repeat play. 4 players shouldn't exceed 4 hours
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Oct 10, 2019 05:52
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Llyranor posted:2 games I've been eyeing lately have been Nusfjord (a streamlined faster Uwe game might work for my group) and Yellow & Yangtze (likewise, a more streamlined T&E might be easier to teach), and they might be my next pick-ups. Anyone who's played them want to chime in with their impressions of the games? Y&Y has an app in early access on Steam. Bit expensive at the moment so I haven't tried it, but the company has a good track record with making good app implementations. It should be hitting mobile over the next few weeks where it where be inevitably cheaper and more convenient to play.
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Oct 10, 2019 07:54
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Rusty Kettle posted:Y&Y has an app in early access on Steam. Bit expensive at the moment so I haven't tried it, but the company has a good track record with making good app implementations. It should be hitting mobile over the next few weeks where it where be inevitably cheaper and more convenient to play. Same company is doing Root and Mage Knight as well, in case anyone wasn't aware! I plan on organizing a goon league for Root 
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Oct 10, 2019 07:59
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gently caress
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Oct 10, 2019 08:00
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Rusty Kettle posted:Y&Y has an app in early access on Steam. Bit expensive at the moment so I haven't tried it, but the company has a good track record with making good app implementations. It should be hitting mobile over the next few weeks where it where be inevitably cheaper and more convenient to play. Thanks. I actually did try it on steam, and found it quite easy to play (having learned the rules first) which is why I think I could teach it pretty easily. I guess T&E isn't particularly heavy either, but for some reason Y&Y feels more intuitive to me. Selecta84 posted:Yeah, Glass Road is a good and fast Rosenberg. I just love the card mechanism and the little building combos. Llyranor fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Oct 10, 2019 |
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Oct 10, 2019 14:30
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| # ? May 11, 2024 18:33 |
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Barrage was great at 3P and the components issues have been overblown. Ultra-thematic and the unique player powers seemed powerful but not unbalanced. The T'zolkin-style resource wheel is fun too. Took 3 hours plus 30 mins of setup + learn for 3 players who had each never played. If you like Terra Mystica, there's a good chance you'll like Barrage.
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Oct 10, 2019 22:34
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