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LifeLynx posted:My daughter is almost 9 and I believe most kids around that age, with help from a board gaming adult, can play most games in the 12+ to 14+ range. If they can read, it's just up to personality and patience, and kids have varying levels of the latter. I really feel like the recommended ages past 8+ are so parents don't review-bomb games they bought with no research that their kids can't handle. Agreed and it definitely also helps if they are used to playing and learning new board games. It was more that the expected AP didn't show its head, and that she played such a blinder, that made me smile.
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Mar 14, 2021 23:56
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Okay so I gotta check if I'm the only one like this. I just got to play my first game of Blood Rage after hearing good things about it and I hated it and I'm wondering what the big deal is. Like, I'm definitely trying to distance my opinion from the fact that I got completely blown out of the water when I played, but my opinion on the game was falling pretty quickly throughout the game well before I actually started actively losing. The game seems like complete monkey cheese nonsense with the cards where you just draft a bunch of complete nonsense that seems to make a lot of the other systems going on in the game sort of irrelevant. Pillaging seems extremely swingy where someone can just drop a card for massive strength bonuses, random monster/upgrade effects completely change the game in ways that you can't really interact with, someone just gets to put a piece on the board that has some kind of nonsense effect that's a huge gently caress you to anyone else who has to deal with it, and you just get randomly blown out for no reason and it's all supposed to be mitigate by the drafting where at least you get to see what bullshit cards you're passing. I dunno, my game was basically I was middle of the pack on points after the first round, trailing in last but only by a little bit, then completely smashed by a like 50 point lead because everyone else got some upgrade that just doubles their points for getting ragnarok'd or whatever or bigass stat point bonuses and I get my like, 10 points for completing a quest woo. The game felt like none of the cards are remotely balanced in any way, and none of them were like, huge outliers and overpowered or something but it just made it feel like none of the little territory control aspects of the game mattered as much as just playing the biggest baddest combo card that negates whatever your opponent is doing.
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Mar 15, 2021 00:21
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Mayveena posted:I like Ches and have taught it often. I have not played Mex however. Mex is quite good! I'm only 4-5 games down with it, but really have enjoyed those games. The train limit mechanic is interesting, you can only buy 1 train per train buying action per company until I think the last 3 train has been bought. There's also a nationalizing company that kicks in, meaning that if you have a company that's not going to get a train there's a chance you can merge it and not take the cash/bankruptcy hit.
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Mar 15, 2021 00:28
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I don't love it but Blood Rage is perfectly serviceable. That said, there are definite strategic pitfalls like the Loki cards that you have to be aware of and watch for throughout the game because if people get the right sets of cards then yeah, they can take off. I would give it another few plays before deciding on it fully based on that experience.Glagha posted:it just made it feel like none of the little territory control aspects of the game mattered as much as just playing the biggest baddest combo card that negates whatever your opponent is doing. That said, there is some truth to this and it just seems to be Lang's approach to these kinds of games. The game is generally more about the draft than the board. It's much worse in Rising Sun where the variety of effects are even more dramatically swingy and without editorial guidance for having a balanced game (especially with some of the kickstarter stuff added in). Blood Rage is absolutely tame in comparison. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 00:32 on Mar 15, 2021 |
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Mar 15, 2021 00:29
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LifeLynx posted:I really feel like the recommended ages past 8+ are so parents don't review-bomb games they bought with no research that their kids can't handle. According to Donald X. the reason Dominion says 13+ is that it costs significantly more to do the necessary testing for lead and stuff to print a lower number.
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Mar 15, 2021 00:51
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Poopy Palpy posted:According to Donald X. the reason Dominion says 13+ is that it costs significantly more to do the necessary testing for lead and stuff to print a lower number. Ah sleeving has another purpose
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Mar 15, 2021 00:55
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LifeLynx posted:Mine is obsessed with Forbidden Desert right now, so I bought her Forbidden Sky for her birthday. I'd get some flavor of Pandemic if it didn't feel kind of inappropriate right now. I'll take any other recommendations for coop games in the Pandemic-like category! hahah no way, now's totally the time! I bought Pandemic Iberia for this reason  (Actually, I wonder how covid impacted the Pandemic franchise's sales, compared to other board games?)Also, I managed to bag a three-pack of the classic book-based two-player game Ace of Aces, which should hopefully get here in a couple of weeks. It includes a copy of the 'Powerhouse' version (blue box, contains a SPAD vs a Pfalz, looks like) plus two copies of the 'Handy Rotary' version. (browny box. Sopwith Pup or Camel vs a Fokker Dr.I) Has anyone else here played it before? I think the one I played a little bit years ago was the Handy Rotary version, but I don't recall. Since I'm tempted to sell two and keep the other, so that I break even or turn a slight profit, while keeping a copy for myself. I'm not sure which of the two is generally considered better, though. Kinda tempted to just sell the duplicate HR one, but it's hard to say...
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Mar 15, 2021 01:00
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LifeLynx posted:Mine is obsessed with Forbidden Desert right now, so I bought her Forbidden Sky for her birthday. I'd get some flavor of Pandemic if it didn't feel kind of inappropriate right now. I'll take any other recommendations for coop games in the Pandemic-like category! Forbidden Island was good, didn't much like Desert, you'll have to let us know how Sky is
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Mar 15, 2021 01:50
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I bounced off Blood Rage myself. It felt like a cutthroat drafting card combo game whose scoreboard is in the form of a board and minis. As a game I thought it was fine, just not my thing. But it also is a game where the one person who has played before (the teacher) will totally wreck all the new players, because the game depends on knowing the cards and being able to draft sensibly and with other players' goals in mind. Kind of like how the person teaching 7 Wonders will be the one who has played before, and they will win with a Science victory that no one else goes for or sees coming.
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Mar 15, 2021 05:20
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Megasabin posted:Opinion on 18MEx (1st edition) vs. 18Chesapeake for a group that has never played an 18XX before but is otherwise very comfortable with heavy games. I can trade for either. Both are good. Mex has more special rules and McGuffins which add a little to the complexity, but is still very teachable. Ches has the advantage of having very familiar geography. For an absolute beginner, I would prefer to start with Ches because it’s fewer rules, but with heavy Euro fans I’d probably lean towards Mex.
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Mar 15, 2021 07:31
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Pandemic Legacy Season 0 question: We've noticed that the box has a false bottom, because spies. Does the game ever points this out or is it a "Do not open. Ever" secret Risk Legacy type of deal?
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Mar 15, 2021 10:52
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Fat Samurai posted:Pandemic Legacy Season 0 question: We've noticed that the box has a false bottom, because spies. Does the game ever points this out or is it a "Do not open. Ever" secret Risk Legacy type of deal? Don't touch that until the game tells you to.
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Mar 15, 2021 11:06
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Thanks. We were so proud of ourselves for noticing 
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Mar 15, 2021 11:16
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Funzo posted:I come to you in search of knowledge. Is there a thread consensus on the best "dudes on a map" gamees? I have the new version of Kemet coming, but I didn't know if there were others I should be taking a look at. It would be nice to have something that scratched that tabletop wargame itch but was self contained and doesn't result in selling my house to Games Workshop. In terms of a board game equivalent of an RTS (like a table top wargame) there actually aren't many DOAM gamers that really capture it. Starcraft has been mentioned, there's also Rune Wars, but I'm kind of surprised no ones mentioned Twilight Imperium? This thread doesn't seem as up on it as all the people at my flgs / core gaming buddies, for us all it's one of those we play as often as we can. It's just that it's not that often because it takes all day, but it's absolutely the one most of us would go to as "top dog". (For me, right behind Dune, if you count that as a DOAM... More like a CHOAM amirite?) Edit: oh also, yeah Blood Rage is terrible. I've seen 12 games of it, played one. The person doing the Loki thing always won. If it takes a few games to learn how to counter draft that, and then it's good, that's still a bad game. I know that is a stupid opinion, but to me, that would be fine, if the strategy you needed to draft around was the one where vikings attack and control different areas. Like if the straightforward, "how you expect to win" strategy was dominant, it would feel fine that you have to try and grab some of it yourself. !Klams fucked around with this message at 11:37 on Mar 15, 2021 |
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Mar 15, 2021 11:24
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!Klams posted:In terms of a board game equivalent of an RTS (like a table top wargame) there actually aren't many DOAM gamers that really capture it. I've won all the games of Blood Rage i've played doing the Loki thing. Even if you know whats happening it can be hard to stop.
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Mar 15, 2021 12:54
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Twilight imperium is great but it's a day long game. Not a great universal recommendation
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Mar 15, 2021 13:13
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The End posted:Twilight imperium is great but it's a day long game. Not a great universal recommendation Yeah, I mean I mentioned that it takes a day, but also that it's universally loved among people I play with / know from the gaming store, so it doesn't seem to me like a bad recommendation. I have a particular craving for asymmetric DOAM games where you build an army, and there are SO few that really hit the spot. Even Starcraft and kemet actually miss the mark a bit for me, because they're so much about constant fights. Twilight is just the best of them to me by a country mile. I don't really see it get a lot of love in this thread, but I often feel like this thread has more mature tastes, it feels almost like a cutthroat bridge group sometimes. I don't mean that as an insult either, like you guys are all so vastly knowledgeable and have an objectivity that prefers 'good' in the sense of 'well designed and withstanding longevity'. As a whole this thread is VERY quick to cut through COTN type stuff, and I do think sometimes that I'm drawn in by splashy stuff in a way most if you aren't.
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Mar 15, 2021 14:48
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Megasabin posted:Opinion on 18MEx (1st edition) vs. 18Chesapeake for a group that has never played an 18XX before but is otherwise very comfortable with heavy games. I can trade for either. Haven't played CHES but I've played MEX about a dozen times and I think it's my current favourite. It is not that complicated but the problem is I say that having already learned the system so from my perspective it's all a matter of figuring out the differences from 1830 and so on. There are tons of euros sitting on my shelves that I think are far more complicated and fiddly than most 18xx. After understanding the initial auction and general flow of the game the only complicated part is the NdM merger and even that isn't complicated as much as requiring everyone to slow down for a second and think about it. I don't even think MEX is that mean either and plays way faster than say 1830 despite the one-train buy a turn rule for most of the game. The train rush gets nuts though and I've seen people barely get to use expensive trains before seeing them go bye-bye but that's what the optional phase out rule is for... if you're a coward. The End posted:Twilight imperium is great but it's a day long game. Not a great universal recommendation Just play Civ/AC/MC/WE for the ultimate several hour DOAM experience! Or Mare Nostrum: Empires. FulsomFrank fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Mar 15, 2021 |
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Mar 15, 2021 17:04
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Blood Rage draft is bad yeah, Loki is overturned. For a better implementation of similar mechanics, I find Chaos in the Old World to be the better game, FFG and all. Same area-control style DoaM, but instead of a draft you have surprisingly well balanced asymmetric factions. It's just hard to recommend it broadly simply because it's been OOP since the FFG-GW split. I suppose FFG could still retheme it somehow.
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Mar 15, 2021 20:23
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And similarly hard to recommend but for other reasons is Cthulhu Wars, which I've heard from many is CitOW but better in every way. Unfortunately it's bonkers expensive and cycles in and out of print from what I've seen. It's also a monster shelf/table hog but seems to be the best of the lot for that type of DoaM game (asymmetric factions, throw down fight a lot style). I have seen the core box on sale for $99 and expansions for ~$30 each though which isn't too bad. You could snag that and some expansions cheaper than a copy of CitOW at this point.
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Mar 15, 2021 20:40
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Bottom Liner posted:And similarly hard to recommend but for other reasons is Cthulhu Wars, which I've heard from many is CitOW but better in every way. Unfortunately it's bonkers expensive and cycles in and out of print from what I've seen. It's also a monster shelf/table hog but seems to be the best of the lot for that type of DoaM game (asymmetric factions, throw down fight a lot style). I'll second CW basically killing Blood Rage for me gamewise. Blood Rage isn't really bad, but the draft just does not feel nearly as good to me as having your faction which has these preset neat things.
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Mar 15, 2021 20:46
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Cthulhu Wars is fun but I wish it had the footprint/cost of like, Root.
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Mar 15, 2021 20:55
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CW is one to try out of TTS during these plague times. It's really fun but absolutely not worth the price.
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Mar 15, 2021 20:56
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Bottom Liner posted:And similarly hard to recommend but for other reasons is Cthulhu Wars, which I've heard from many is CitOW but better in every way. Unfortunately it's bonkers expensive and cycles in and out of print from what I've seen. It's also a monster shelf/table hog but seems to be the best of the lot for that type of DoaM game (asymmetric factions, throw down fight a lot style). Core box is all you need. Four factions well balanced against each other. You'll want to pick up a couple more faction boxes later to add variety - in order I recommend Sleeper, Opener, Windwalker - and probably the High Priests, but the major expense in CW is the neutral units and alternate maps. If you're not a completionist you can get everything you really want for maybe $200, which seems like a lot until you consider that you get more models for your money than the typical $300 all-in from CMON.
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Mar 15, 2021 21:05
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Speaking of, has anyone tried Cthulhu Wars Duel yet? $24 puts it in that "might as well try it" range for me.
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Mar 15, 2021 21:07
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Major Isoor posted:hahah no way, now's totally the time! I bought Pandemic Iberia for this reason I remember reading an article a few months into the pandemic where the designer of Pandemic was talking about how the game was selling out everywhere. I also remember the game was out of stock for a while, but it's hard to say whether that was because of the name or just that everything was hard to get for a bit. Marmaduke! posted:Forbidden Island was good, didn't much like Desert, you'll have to let us know how Sky is I didn't like Forbidden Island at all, and I was prepared to hate Desert, but it's fun. We've had trouble with Desert where somehow it's really easy with two players, but very difficult with three. It's hard to say exactly why, but I feel like it's some combination of more event cards popping up between turns and the game having the same number of sand tokens no matter what, so it's a faster timer in every way. We've won every time in two-player and only once in three-player.
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Mar 15, 2021 21:29
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Bottom Liner posted:Speaking of, has anyone tried Cthulhu Wars Duel yet? $24 puts it in that "might as well try it" range for me. It's the same game, but two-player and with standees. When they release the second box with the other two core factions, it should be possible to pick up a 3-5 player Earth map and essentially have the whole game.
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Mar 15, 2021 22:18
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Aramoro posted:CW is one to try out of TTS during these plague times. It's really fun but absolutely not worth the price. With painted miniatures it's WAY better live than on TTS. And living with a miniature painter I'm fortunate to have extremely well painted mini's. It looks awesome on the table  .
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Mar 15, 2021 23:08
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Major Isoor posted:Also, I managed to bag a three-pack of the classic book-based two-player game Ace of Aces, which should hopefully get here in a couple of weeks. It includes a copy of the 'Powerhouse' version (blue box, contains a SPAD vs a Pfalz, looks like) plus two copies of the 'Handy Rotary' version. (browny box. Sopwith Pup or Camel vs a Fokker Dr.I) It’s probably worth keeping both, I believe you can play the planes against each other. The rotary is more manuverable, but the powerhouse does more damage (or something). I have Flying Machines which are the green books, and those have a bit more asymmetry because the DH2 is a pusher plane and it’s gun is on a swivel mount. I’d be interested in buying the extra Rotary books from you if you want to hit me up in PM!
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Mar 16, 2021 00:25
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LifeLynx posted:I didn't like Forbidden Island at all, and I was prepared to hate Desert, but it's fun. We've had trouble with Desert where somehow it's really easy with two players, but very difficult with three. It's hard to say exactly why, but I feel like it's some combination of more event cards popping up between turns and the game having the same number of sand tokens no matter what, so it's a faster timer in every way. We've won every time in two-player and only once in three-player. Maybe I didn't like it so much since the only time I played it was 4-players, I remember it all went downhill pretty fast
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Mar 16, 2021 00:36
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LifeLynx posted:I remember reading an article a few months into the pandemic where the designer of Pandemic was talking about how the game was selling out everywhere. I also remember the game was out of stock for a while, but it's hard to say whether that was because of the name or just that everything was hard to get for a bit. Huh, interesting! I wonder if that was because it was still in the early days, before things got bad for the US IRL? Either way, it's good to hear that they haven't exactly struggled, during covid! Fellis posted:It’s probably worth keeping both, I believe you can play the planes against each other. The rotary is more manuverable, but the powerhouse does more damage (or something). I have Flying Machines which are the green books, and those have a bit more asymmetry because the DH2 is a pusher plane and it’s gun is on a swivel mount. Hmm, yeah that's a fair point - it's nice to have a little flexibility. I was also speaking to my dad about it just earlier, and a friend of ours (John) has some copies buried somewhere. The big memory they have of the game were my dad plus another mutual friend taking on John, with John handily beating them both. He was also in that pusher-plane and the others were in a Dr.I and a SPAD, haha Would've been interesting to see, that's for sure!Also, I'll keep you in mind, for when it gets here! Mind you though, I'm in Australia, so I'm not sure about shipping costs to the US will be like - it might not be super worthwhile for you, in the end. We'll see how it goes, in any case.
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Mar 16, 2021 00:49
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new dungeon crawl in my quest to own every dungeon crawl ever made:  anyone actually played this before? the box art was worth the price imo so im not worried if it's terrible i also got another copy of heroquest so i can start frankensteining my copy together but everyone knows what heroquest looks like
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Mar 16, 2021 01:14
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Powerful "Dare you enter my magical realm?" vibes.
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Mar 16, 2021 01:21
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jarofpiss posted:new dungeon crawl in my quest to own every dungeon crawl ever made: That's a particularly awful game; grats. I remember it having a rock paper scissors, hand management type combat system that seemed promising but was ultimately pointless, and every other mechanic in the game ranged from clunky to actively malignant towards players.
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Mar 16, 2021 01:23
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Dr. Video Games 0069 posted:That's a particularly awful game; grats. can't wait to try solo mode!
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Mar 16, 2021 01:26
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Infinitum posted:Powerful "Dare you enter my magical realm?" vibes. i only get excited about games where i can play a wizard tbh. i tried to start charterstone last night with my girlfriend but there were no wizards and no goblins and i lost interest and had to go lie down
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Mar 16, 2021 01:31
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jarofpiss posted:new dungeon crawl in my quest to own every dungeon crawl ever made: Drak Borgen (AKA DungeonQuest) is a classic violator of souls from the 1980s. It's brutally hard, to the point where the game has a higher win rate than any individual character. It's been known for players to find 50 gold on the first turn of 26 and immediately turn around to exit the dungeon because this is a solid winning strategy. But good players do not play it to win. They play it so they can laugh hysterically at the latest disaster to befall the current player, even if it is them.
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Mar 16, 2021 01:41
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Jedit posted:Drak Borgen (AKA DungeonQuest) is a classic violator of souls from the 1980s. It's brutally hard, to the point where the game has a higher win rate than any individual character. It's been known for players to find 50 gold on the first turn of 26 and immediately turn around to exit the dungeon because this is a solid winning strategy. But good players do not play it to win. They play it so they can laugh hysterically at the latest disaster to befall the current player, even if it is them.
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Mar 16, 2021 02:18
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Major Isoor posted:Huh, interesting! I wonder if that was because it was still in the early days, before things got bad for the US IRL? Either way, it's good to hear that they haven't exactly struggled, during covid! If I had to guess, I'd bet that Pandemic still probably got a sales bump (relative to other games) even after people knew it was bad just because it would come to mind more often. Yeah, some people might think it's TOO timely, but I still think anything that reminds people your game exists is probably good for sales. In video games, Pathologic got a big sales bump too, so it's not unique to Pandemic, and that game's way more visceral than Pandemic's abstraction.
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Mar 16, 2021 02:46
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Major Isoor posted:Huh, interesting! I wonder if that was because it was still in the early days, before things got bad for the US IRL? Either way, it's good to hear that they haven't exactly struggled, during covid! Oh yeah Aus would make that less good, i’m in no rush or have particular desire for it. See if you can sell it locally or wherever, if you want to move it then hit me up and we can talk! The pusher plane is very very good if you are adept at the close range dance. Since your fire arc is like 2.5x, you can really lay the hits on
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Mar 16, 2021 04:45
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