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Look Sir Droids posted:Is there anything I should know about Twilight Struggle before playing it the first time, other than reading the instructions? Pay very close attention to how the defcon loss condition works, because it's not 100% intuitive and is a very easy way to insta-lose. (If you play a card that allows your opponent to respond and lower defcon, it's your "fault" not theirs, and you lose).
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Feb 3, 2021 21:37
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Whoever is playing USA should expect to get their poo poo pushed in in early war but when mid war comes around things will start swinging back in their favour. Basically US strategy for the early war is to hang in as best as possible. If you don't know the cards yet be prepared for some pretty brutal events. Twilight Struggle is good but unforgiving.
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Feb 4, 2021 00:56
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Look Sir Droids posted:Is there anything I should know about Twilight Struggle before playing it the first time, other than reading the instructions? If DEFCON isn't currently at 2, you should strongly consider launching a coup. (Unless, as others have noted, you have an enemy card in your hand which could potentially lower DEFCON during your turn, in which case your priority is nullifying it somehow). In the Early War, only Europe, Asia, and the Middle East can be scored. The other three regions can be played into at any point, but they don't start getting scored until Mid War. Also note that SE Asia scoring is a starred event, so it can only happen once. There will probably be a lot of surprises in your first game due to not knowing the cards. Like there's a card that basically says "The US now owns Japan, gently caress you"-- a veteran Soviet player would know they can't hold Japan long-term without expending insane resources, but a new player might try it and get hurt. There's no avoiding this, but hopefully it'll affect both of you equally. There's a card in the Late War-- which you probably won't see, but whatever-- called Wargames. It's a starred neutral 2Ops that only works when DEFCON is at 2. Its effect is that your opponent gets 6 points, and then the game instantly ends with no final scoring. In other words, if you're ahead by 7 points, you can play that card and win. So what that means is, once 1980 rolls around, you both need to get a lot more paranoid about what used to be a tolerable point difference. You will run out of cards and need to reshuffle at the start of turn 3, and the start of turn 7. The card "5-Year Plan" can be used by the Soviets to discard a Scoring Card without playing it. A useful way to plan your turns is by thinking about how you'll manage all the enemy cards in your hand. You can (usually) hold onto one; you can hold onto a second one if you play the China card; you can send one to space. Any other enemy cards will have to be played; your job is to minimise their damage. This card strengthens US events for the rest of the turn? I'll play it at the end. This one gives them a free coup in Central America? I'd better play it early, before I actually get influence there. This one gives them control of a country? I'll play it, and then use the points to coup that country. When you play an enemy card, you can choose whether the event happens before or after your ops, and that helps a lot. Typically, the Soviet player uses their free starting influence to lock down Poland and East Germany, and puts a point into Yugoslavia to get access to its neighbours. Typically, the US puts all its points into West Germany and Italy. Basically you want to lock down your Battleground states ASAP. France can be left empty for a while, because the Soviets have no access at the start of the game, and there's a couple of early events that reduce US influence there. There are situations where you should place your starting influence differently, but that's really not newbie advice. Also there's a common house-rule that the US gets 2 extra influence during setup to place anywhere they have influence (which is typically placed in Iran or sometimes Italy). But that rule is based on the assumption both players know what they're doing, so you'll probably be fine without it.
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Feb 4, 2021 01:29
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Look Sir Droids posted:Is there anything I should know about Twilight Struggle before playing it the first time, other than reading the instructions? Since it's your first time playing: You can't afford to give up your military ops points. Fortunately, you can coup even at DEFCON 2 so long as the target isn't a battleground country; however, especially as the US, you may have trouble finding a legal target in the early game so don't put it off for too long! If you can, hold on to the opponent's non-one-time good cards until turns 3 and 7. If you can keep Decolonization from coming up an extra time in the game you've just avoided handing that Commie bastard 4 Ops points that break the rules on placement. Or, that Capitalist Pig has one less chance to screw up your hand with Five Year Plan. If you're the US, you'll be behind the USSR in VPs and struggling to keep equal in influence for a good part of the game. This is by design. Don't lose hope! Make gains where you can, recognize that you can't match the USSR everywhere, and whatever you do make sure you don't get knocked out of regions -- getting couped out of South Africa before you have anything else going on there can be painful. If you're the USSR, don't get complacent. Solidify your gains and lock down your regions to prevent unexpected loss of Domination. Make sure you understand the conditions for Presence, Domination, and Control, especially Domination. It can be easy to flip your opponent's Domination of a region to Presence.
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Feb 4, 2021 02:14
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I just spent money on games for the first time in almost a year. Got the Civ AND expansion before it disappears from print, and a copy of Aquatica because I missed it at the last physical Spiel and it plays solo. Civ: Terra Incognita is a radical shake-up of the game. The focus bar has been extended to six slots, armies are now represented directly on the map, you can adopt government types that make certain techs resolve as if they were in higher slots, and each of the 18 civs has a unique technology. The map is also now discovered by exploration instead of built from the start. I'm looking forward to trying it out.
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Feb 4, 2021 11:27
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fawning deference posted:Anyone else looking forward to Syndicate? I absolutely love the design but I'm not sure about the actual game, I was waiting to hear more.
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Feb 4, 2021 12:30
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Is Boardlandia reputable? Looking for somewhere to preorder the TTR: Europe 15th Anniversary edition.
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Feb 4, 2021 16:50
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Bodanarko posted:Is Boardlandia reputable? Looking for somewhere to preorder the TTR: Europe 15th Anniversary edition. Boardlandia is a good online store, you can feel comfortable ordering from them
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Feb 4, 2021 17:42
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Res arcana is now on bga and I'm very excited to learn it.
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Feb 4, 2021 18:06
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Spikes32 posted:Res arcana is now on bga and I'm very excited to learn it. If it doesn't use the optional rules from Lux et Tenebrae, consider toggling them on if you are playing with fewer than 4 players. The game can be quite short once you learn it, and will be lengthened unnecessarily if you have too much "space" to grow without bumping into opponents.
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Feb 4, 2021 20:04
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By the way belated thanks for all the recommendations I got for two-player coops. I finally searched them all on Boardgamegeek to take a closer look. One question: what's the replayability like on Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective? I think I'll be headed to my FLGS to pick up Codenames: Duet and, pending the answer, either Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective or I might roll the dice on Aeon's End, though I have to be careful with that one because El Fideo posted:Edit 2: Aeon's End is a cooperative deckbuilder about being space wizards trying to protect the last human city from horrible monsters, but it's a bit crunchier and also has a terrible quarterbacking problem, so that might not be great if
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Feb 4, 2021 20:54
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Sherlock doesn't have replayability, but you also don't consume it so you can flip it or 'DM' it for friends once you exhaust cases
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Feb 4, 2021 21:03
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How many cases does it come with?
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Feb 4, 2021 21:43
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SH:CD has 10 cases, each of which will take 60-90 minutes, so it's not like there's a lack of content. It's just that it's exhaustible because you'll know the answers, but I certainly got my money's worth. Sitting on the 4th box right now, waiting for the energy to actually play it.
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Feb 4, 2021 21:43
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My wife printed out a couple pages of new missions for The Crew and we played it after lunch today. Two-players requires a third hand played out on the table (it's JARVIS, the space robot helper's hand) in 7 little tableaus, one card face-up, one face-down. Whomever is the commander for the round controls JARVIS, playing his cards and uncovering the ones beneath. While it's not technically a two-player game, it's perfectly playable with two. The extra missions started out easy, which is nice because we're kinda rusty. We blew straight through lunch break and she was almost late for a Zoom meeting. What a great little game.
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Feb 4, 2021 21:43
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My boyfriend just got Gloomhaven JOTL so I guess I'll be playing that 2 player a lot over the next few weeks, any non-spoilery hints that anyone feels like giving?
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Feb 4, 2021 23:25
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Play Hatchet for happiness and success
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Feb 4, 2021 23:33
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RabidWeasel posted:My boyfriend just got Gloomhaven JOTL so I guess I'll be playing that 2 player a lot over the next few weeks, any non-spoilery hints that anyone feels like giving? Screwing up rules is part of the Gloomhaven experience and you shouldn't worry about it.
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Feb 4, 2021 23:54
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You want to avoid getting hit at all, even if you are tank. Remember that instead of taking damage, you can either burn a card from your hand or 2 from your discard.
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Feb 4, 2021 23:58
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RabidWeasel posted:My boyfriend just got Gloomhaven JOTL so I guess I'll be playing that 2 player a lot over the next few weeks, any non-spoilery hints that anyone feels like giving? The difficulty ramps up around Scenario 4. Don't get discouraged  Also there's a Gloomhaven thread on the forum so feel free to drop by for more specific questions, hints, tips, etc. It's a wonderful game.
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Feb 5, 2021 00:01
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RabidWeasel posted:My boyfriend just got Gloomhaven JOTL so I guess I'll be playing that 2 player a lot over the next few weeks, any non-spoilery hints that anyone feels like giving? for us the most complicated part of GH was figuring out enemy actions - who they'd target, and what they'd do one of my groups was really pedantic about getting things 100% correct, and the other enjoyed themselves.
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Feb 5, 2021 00:03
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The tutorial isn’t a great representation of the Voidwarden’s skillset once you’re past the tutorial. It’s possible to make them work with 2 players, but they’re better at higher player counts. If this is your first time playing on Gloomhaven, I’d recommend sticking with other characters! If you have played Gloomhaven before, there’s on rule change that’s easy to overlook: Jaws players are allowed to trade items between missions. That means if one character is hoovering up more of the gold and loot (cough, Hatchet), they can buy items for other characters!
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Feb 5, 2021 00:03
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fischtick posted:My wife printed out a couple pages of new missions for The Crew and we played it after lunch today. Two-players requires a third hand played out on the table (it's JARVIS, the space robot helper's hand) in 7 little tableaus, one card face-up, one face-down. Whomever is the commander for the round controls JARVIS, playing his cards and uncovering the ones beneath. While it's not technically a two-player game, it's perfectly playable with two. Thanks for this! My wife and I really enjoyed The Crew so this heads up on new missions is appreciated.
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Feb 5, 2021 00:08
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Aramoro posted:I absolutely love the design but I'm not sure about the actual game, I was waiting to hear more. Felt the same. I loved the look on KS but everything I looked at in terms of gameplay just seemed... fine? I'm a quick trigger on boardgame kickstarters but just couldn't muster the energy for that one.
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Feb 5, 2021 00:14
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Thanks guys, neither of us has played Gloomhaven before so we are definitely going to mess up a lot
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Feb 5, 2021 08:16
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RabidWeasel posted:Thanks guys, neither of us has played Gloomhaven before so we are definitely going to mess up a lot The monster rules boil down to "enemies attack the closest target". All of the details are there to handle what "closest" means, tie-breakers, what happens if they can't reach a target, what happens if they have a multi-hit attack, etc. You'll get stuff wrong but if you keep the rule of thumb in mind you won't be too wrong.
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Feb 5, 2021 08:34
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Just remember that it's a coop game. You can house rule however you like to make it enjoyable around your table.
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Feb 5, 2021 08:34
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The Gloomhaven house rule we decided on was letting us swap between all the cards available for your level in your deck, not just the one you picked when you levelled up. Deck has to end up legal so if you're lvl 3 you can have 1 lvl 2 and 1 lvl 3 for example.
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Feb 5, 2021 08:57
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Hosting a game day tomorrow. Playing base Root. What would be the best faction for someone who suffers from analysis paralysis? (Cause I need to make sure they're not taking 10 loving minutes a turn  )
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Feb 5, 2021 12:34
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That's honestly a tough one, it seems like a bad game for AP. I guess the Woodland Alliance? They start with nothing on the board, and they have fairly straightforward, modest goals. Definitely not the birds, where every action is a big commitment.
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Feb 5, 2021 13:11
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Yeah I would say Woodland Alliance, you start off with a limited set of action which open up as the game goes on. Eyrie are constant engine building, Cats have too many choices early on. Not Vagabond as that's too open ended.
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Feb 5, 2021 13:14
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Aramoro posted:limited set of action which open up as the game goes on. This sounds perfect tbh.
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Feb 5, 2021 13:16
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You'll have to tell us how long they take to place their first sympathy token.
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Feb 5, 2021 13:35
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I'll post a trip report for tomorrow. Selection is currently Root, Steampunk Rally Fusion, A War of Whispers, and Small World of Warcraft.
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Feb 5, 2021 13:43
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King of Bleh posted:Pay very close attention to how the defcon loss condition works, because it's not 100% intuitive and is a very easy way to insta-lose. (If you play a card that allows your opponent to respond and lower defcon, it's your "fault" not theirs, and you lose). This is how our first game ended. I couped, forcing DEFCON down to 2, and all my buddy had left was We Will Bury You. I was the US and was up big pretty early, so I think we did scoring wrong. I wasn’t really clear on how scoring cards work. When you play a card, you are doing what happens on the card AND you get to use the points to do an action, right? One card in particular, missile envy, do you keep exchanging it back and forth or does it get discarded? Most cards were very particular about word meaning but I wasn’t sure on that one. Really enjoyed the game though and strategies started to become clear as we played.
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Feb 5, 2021 16:11
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Look Sir Droids posted:This is how our first game ended. I couped, forcing DEFCON down to 2, and all my buddy had left was We Will Bury You. I was the US and was up big pretty early, so I think we did scoring wrong. I wasn’t really clear on how scoring cards work. For the given region, scoring you give points to the person with more battlegrounds (the difference), and then check the three potential conditions. Often both people will have presence, maybe one will have the next one. You do not get to do the event and points; if it's yours or neutral, choose one. If it's theirs, you get the points and the event happens anyways.
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Feb 5, 2021 16:21
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Look Sir Droids posted:This is how our first game ended. I couped, forcing DEFCON down to 2, and all my buddy had left was We Will Bury You. I was the US and was up big pretty early, so I think we did scoring wrong. I wasn’t really clear on how scoring cards work. When you play a card that's your side's event or a neutral event (as determined by the color of the star on it) you have to choose between doing the event or using the points for operations. When you play a card that's your opponent's event, you "get" to do both (but the event will almost always be bad for you unless you're doing something Really Clever.) The exception is cards played on the space race, which never do the event. When you play Missile Envy and trade it to the opponent, they must play it for ops. So the event won't happen a second time and it doesn't get traded back.
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Feb 5, 2021 16:24
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So we are looking for a more "in-depth game" to add to our collection. It appears 4xx is the name that gets thrown around the most. We are kicking around tracking down one of the 2 games, or if there is something else we should check out please let me know!! Eclipse 2nd Edition or Twilight Imperium. Would you recommend one over the other? Is there another game we should look at? Big maps + exploration + diplomacy + some combat all seem great to us Edit: our "core" group is 4 players. We sometimes have more but switch to lighter games about the 4 person count.
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Feb 5, 2021 22:54
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Tiny Chalupa posted:So we are looking for a more "in-depth game" to add to our collection. It appears 4xx is the name that gets thrown around the most. big question is how many players do you have most of the time?
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Feb 5, 2021 22:56
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ketchup vs catsup posted:big question is how many players do you have most of the time? I'd say 4. Lowest count we've ever had is 3 and that was.....2 game days? We meet weekly for food, drinks and games
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Feb 5, 2021 23:29
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