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admanb posted:Nah it'll be fine. Hopefully your group is used to heavy-ish games that take a few hours to play. There's nothing inherently chaotic about adding the fifth player (unlike, I would argue, Root) it just makes everything that much slower. Also add in an extra favour into each bank (ie 4 rather than 3).
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Jun 4, 2021 00:03
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nordichammer posted:Sideral, Gaia, and then sell the rest. These games are on your shelf for a reason. Yeah, this. Having just taught sidereal the other day, one thing I'd say is, you don't really need a perfect idea how the cards and trading work, just make sure you know the details on the admin bits. It's really really hard to explain how everything works, but once people have had a single round, everything about it is really obvious and easy to grok.
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Jun 4, 2021 01:07
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LifeLynx posted:I can't get into Mage Knight solo no matter how much I try, and I'm mostly trying because a friend bought it for me. Spirit Island is one of my favorite solo games, and I can see why people make the comparison between it and Mage Knight. Both have semi-perfect knowledge of what the game is trying to do to stop me, and let me strategize over how to play the cards in my hand to make the best of a bad situation. Both have me starting off weaker than the enemies and give me the tools I need to outpace them as long as I play smart. But Mage Knight is so flavorless. It's like if every Spirit started with a handful of cards that simply did one basic game action, like deal 1 damage (2 damage if you have a fire element) or defend 2 in a land (defend 3 if you have an earth element). And the upgraded cards don't add that much excitement. Do play an entire 3-day campaign start to finish if you haven't yet, before fully giving up on Mage Knight. For me it does check a lot of similar boxes to SI at a grander scale, though you pay for that scale with more clunky rules and more components to wrangle. I do think at least some of your complaints about dry-ness and theming go away once you see the full arc of a campaign though; Mage Knight characters definitely start off weaker and more constrained than a turn one Spirit, but by endgame you're razing entire armies with flashy power turns in a very comparable fashion to late game SI. But yes, you're going to be disappointed if you go into basically any game expecting a design that matches the elegance and expressiveness of Spirit Island, it's almost without peer in my opinion.
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Jun 4, 2021 17:36
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I don't know what's happening with Vlaada but he needs to redo Mage Knight to current rules and design standards. At its core it's a really good game but it's just too difficult to play, like the 21st century version of Magic Realm.
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Jun 4, 2021 18:07
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Mayveena posted:I don't know what's happening with Vlaada but he needs to redo Mage Knight to current rules and design standards. At its core it's a really good game but it's just too difficult to play, like the 21st century version of Magic Realm. Young kids happened to Vlaada. I had kids at roughly the same cadence and hooooo wow I can understand a lack of output.
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Jun 4, 2021 18:13
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Really good timing to hit it big with Codenames too. Good for him, hope he’s had plenty of time to work on something big again with all the success that brought and time it afforded him.
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Jun 4, 2021 18:26
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Bottom Liner posted:Really good timing to hit it big with Codenames too. Good for him, hope he’s had plenty of time to work on something big again with all the success that brought and time it afforded him. It's the other way round, isn't it? Vlaada did Codenames because he had had kids and needed to produce something with less rules.
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Jun 4, 2021 18:35
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Mayveena posted:I don't know what's happening with Vlaada but he needs to redo Mage Knight to current rules and design standards. At its core it's a really good game but it's just too difficult to play, like the 21st century version of Magic Realm. what i want is for Vlaada to do this, but to Magic Realm. give me modern day magic realm. give me Mage Knight 2: More Tables and Chits edition
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Jun 4, 2021 18:41
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Jedit posted:It's the other way round, isn't it? Vlaada did Codenames because he had had kids and needed to produce something with less rules. I’m saying it’s good that it was a huge success so he could take time off without stress and hopefully in that time come up with something big again.
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Jun 4, 2021 18:53
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Codenames succeeding was a karmic reward for Vlaada for doing everything else in his life correctly
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Jun 4, 2021 18:54
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The Oath game went really well! We saw a turn six Successor win via relics / banners. Some thoughts: Mistakes: - We messed up the bandits being target-able across map. - We sorta messed up on being allowed to discard face-up advisors. Strategy: - Multiple players got huge stacks of secrets and proceeded to get in a bidding war over the Darkest Secret banner, resulting in... someone with a huge army stabbing them for it. Hilarious waste of resources on everyone's part all around for people who did not stand to get a victory condition off it (chancellor / exiles without the Visions of Sanctuary / Faith).\ - I won by din of being last in the turn order successor and swiping a cheap Banner of the People, who my rival for banners / relics couldn't afford to fund alongside his armies campaigning for more relics. At the same time I knocked the Oathkeeper of Supremacy back to the Chancellor with some easy campaigning, giving me the dice-roll victory. I think my takeaway from this is to be wary of late-in-the-turn-order citizens and chancellors and if you're a late turn exile consider swapping to Citizen just for the sweet timing. Likewise chancellors should be wary of granting late turn exiles citizenship. Tutorial: - The default setup walkthrough is super helpful! However it leaves Yellow in a position to get slammed by the chancellor the turn immediately following. I'd recommend the game runner take Yellow, or at least avoid giving it to someone who doesn't like aggressive play. - I have no clue how you're supposed to notate the little journal. Did I miss some instructions on how to fill that out? - The cleanup is kinda neat but definitely only interesting for the gamerunner.
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Jun 4, 2021 18:55
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tokenbrownguy posted:- I have no clue how you're supposed to notate the little journal. Did I miss some instructions on how to fill that out? I spent some time trying to figure that out, but since the journal was a KS bonus they didn't actually make it part of the game. So you can pretty much just fill it out however you want. I put in who won, how they won, and whether anyone ended the game as a citizen. The row of icons at the bottom are the suits so you can use that to mark what card suits were added (you could also mark what was removed, but that's technically secret). The four icons in the top right and at the bottom are the Oathkeeper types, so you could use one set of those to mark what the victory condition was at the start of the game and what was chosen for the next game. That's all stuff that's "logged" by updating the deck and filling the World box, so the Chronicle is for funsies/looking back on ancient history. tokenbrownguy posted:- The cleanup is kinda neat but definitely only interesting for the gamerunner. One thing to note here is that the cleanup is supposed to be done by the winner of the game. Mechanically that does matter because the "you" in cleanup always refers to whoever won.
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Jun 4, 2021 19:08
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tokenbrownguy posted:- I have no clue how you're supposed to notate the little journal. Did I miss some instructions on how to fill that out? I think the only useful thing to notate is the winner's role/victory condition, who is a citizen for the next game, the winner's vow choice for the next game, and the deck additions. Beyond that, just anything that made the game memorable I guess.
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Jun 4, 2021 19:48
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Spirit Island is my fav coop, but I don't think it's replaced Mage Knight for me. MK has that epic feel of sprawling through the countryside (the long playtime helps that epic feeling, but is also the game's biggest downside imo), whereas SI is about defending the same territory from the getgo. I also find SI fairly rules-light for its weight (I could get into it again easily despite not having played it in half a year). MK is more on the fiddly side, but that's been better since I printed a player aid (mostly for the locations). I'd definitely save SI over MK during a fire, but I still think they're different enough for there to be space for both. I also drew some pants on the blood mage, so resale value would be way down lol I think the main things the 2 games have in common is excellent hand management (yetbthey feel different enough), and top-tier power progression (within a single session) Llyranor fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Jun 4, 2021 |
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Jun 4, 2021 21:59
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SI wins on theme alone. Tactical black-hole nuking half your island to deny it to the Dutch? My gawd.
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Jun 4, 2021 22:01
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This reminded me that they announced a Mage Knight app a while back, which seems like an ideal way to play it. Been a while though. quote:Scarlatch-DWD 
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Jun 4, 2021 22:05
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tokenbrownguy posted:Mistakes: Ha, this is an easy one to forgot and it gets really important in the Oath of Supremacy games. You got some Exile just doodling around the map flipping sites and he's like "oh don't worry I'm just checking what's out here, looking for relics, you know" and then all of a sudden it's like "also I'm attacking three bandit sites at once, gimme that Oathkeeper tile now" I'm glad to see other folks having positive reactions to their early plays of Oath. The rules can be daunting to read but I've found that most people just kind of "get it" even if there is a bit of disorientation in terms of "so...what exactly am I trying to do"
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Jun 4, 2021 22:05
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tokenbrownguy posted:SI wins on theme alone. Tactical black-hole nuking half your island to deny it to the Dutch? My gawd. I appreciated this username/post combo
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Jun 4, 2021 22:25
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I think SI and MK are the two best solo games out there, but SI is also one of the best coops if not outright best. MK is solo only for me now, and while they have a similar power curve it feels grandiose in a way SI never really does. SI is like a 1 hour solo game usually, MK is a game to sit down with for a while, come back to later, etc. I think even if the app is great I'll keep my copy because it hits the spot nothing else can a few times a year. It was also my first game after a friend gifted me Catan a decade ago, so it is one of the few games with sentimental value for me. I'll often take it on work trips to play in the hotel when I'm alone and it's a great way to kill a night in a boring place.
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Jun 4, 2021 23:15
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mmmm game day That's Steampunk Rally Atomic Edition down the bottom left.
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Jun 4, 2021 23:38
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When is that Mage Knight app coming out?
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Jun 4, 2021 23:39
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Infinitum posted:mmmm game day What are the Game Counters?? Is this an Iron Clay thing?
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Jun 5, 2021 00:46
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FulsomFrank posted:What are the Game Counters?? Is this an Iron Clay thing? Yeah, that's the Iron Clay box.
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Jun 5, 2021 01:27
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Jun 5, 2021 23:31
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Mine followed the instructions on the box. 
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Jun 6, 2021 00:19
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Got to play 1840 today, had a good time. Every player gets a major company at the start, the majors can own up to three minor companies. All the money the minor companies earn goes into the major, and they are forced to choose how much to pay out/keep at given points. Bigger payouts mean more jumps on the market/cash in hand, but the majors are really thirsty for money. There are 5 types of trains and each minor company can own one. You're never forced to keep a train, but older trains start having more and more maintenance fees as better trains are bought, to the point where it may be better to dump it rather than try to run it. There are also state railroads, your major can pay to lay track for them and get a bonus action depending on the space (tile lays, place an extra token this turn, etc.). They run and pay automatically, and get multipliers to their payouts as the game goes on. There were some real meaty decisions on how much to pay, when to grab a better train, should I have 2 minor companies or 3, etc. I disliked how there is no plain track, it's all dits all the time. Great early on, incredibly tedious lategame (much bigger map than, say, 1862EA).
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Jun 6, 2021 03:49
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First in person game in a while tonight and we played Forbidden Stars. 3 players, no Orks. As it appears in most of the 3 players games I play, one player gets pinched between the war between the two other players. In this case it was the Eldar getting sandwiched between the Chaos Marines and me as the Ultramarines. Came down to the wire in the 6th round. Two objectives each, and both of us making a play for the 3rd. Mine fell short as the Chaos Marines were able to get a bastion in place before I could assault. The classic curse of going before them. Their push worked out as they were able to leverage Dread Ritual to attack my weak side and claim their objective. Excellent game. Don't feel too bad for the Eldar though, in the first game they stomped in 3 turns because we all forgot how to really play and that the Eldar troops can basically teleport.
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Jun 6, 2021 06:45
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Played Dungeon Lords tonight. Three of us ended up with positive scores (the fourth player only had -1 so not too bad) and everyone really dug the theme, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The teach ended up being a bit longer than I'd expected - first we ran through the tutorial combats in the rulebook, then I went over the flow of the round and did an example of the worker planning and placements, and even skipping over some things like spells and scoring, it took close to an hour before we started in earnest. Aside from that, it went off really well and we all had a great time with it. One player was sure he was going to get crushed so he intentionally attracted the paladin just for fun, only to end up defeating him, plus earning four separate titles, and even the last place player walked away with a title of her own.
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Jun 6, 2021 07:00
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Always glad to hear a dungeon lords teaching success!
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Jun 6, 2021 11:10
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Bellmaker posted:Got to play 1840 today, had a good time. Good God. How fiddly would you say it is with say, 1830 being a 1 and 1817 being a 10? I find the Lonny games can sometimes feel a bit "chromey" with regard to extra little bits or pieces or mechanics that can feel borderline superfluous at times. I've heard a lot of good things about '40 that makes me want to grab a copy or get people together for 18xx.games session.
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Jun 6, 2021 12:06
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FulsomFrank posted:Good God. Probably an 11 to be honest, you’re always trying to add $10 to your run (more games should end like 62, IMO). It could have also felt that way because I grabbed a purple train in CR4 and no one was prepared for it, so we knew who won for a while but played it out. CRs are definitely the “cool round”, similar to the “cool zone”!
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Jun 6, 2021 12:27
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Had some dear friends over for the first time in, oh, almost two years, let's say. The Crew with 5, two hadn't played before. Still lovely, still love the fact that if you fail it was all of two minutes and you can try again or do another. Pix with those plus our six year old. It's...it's really weird being able to play actual games with him???? He drew a great anchor, a passable candle, a better crab than the other person, and he didn't lose. The Field of Cloth of Gold I taught to my most frequent (which is to say not often but sometimes) 2p games opponent and he went from "this is so weird" to "okay I think I get it" to "yeah that was really fun and cool" in the ten minutes it took to play. So glad I picked this up in last year's hollandspiele sale! Wizard without me because lol kids needed bedtime
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Jun 6, 2021 14:21
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Bellmaker posted:Probably an 11 to be honest, you’re always trying to add $10 to your run (more games should end like 62, IMO). more 18xxes need to have mechanisms for ending the game earlier. That late game run-good phase is the only part of the game I dislike. The greater the liklihood for catastrophic bullshit happening and ending the game, the more interesting it is. Why yes, I'm a big fan of 57.
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Jun 6, 2021 14:30
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Board game day yesterday... aaaannnnnd it was a bit of a poo poo fight due to ~irl~ problems. Effectively had a 3 player day, so Hansa Teutonica was put on pause because multiple players had expressed interest in it.. so bleh. Red Cathedral never arrived on time, and the person who with the new PNP stuff decided to leave the 3 games I asked to get printed off at home and just..  ANYWAY Lorenzo Il Magnifico was 4 players up until the end of Round 4 when a player had to leave, so I shifted it back down to 3 players for the last 2 rounds by covering the market slots back up. I want to play it again, with less interruptions, but I really really like it. Most of my playing group enjoy Worker Placement games, and this seemed to gel well with everyone. It was challenging balancing the engine building around meeting the excommunication requirements, and was hilarious when 1 round had the dice rolls be 1,1,2 which made poo poo EXTRA fun with regards to jostling for slots. There is not a great How To Play video out for it either, but thankfully I was able to teach it at the table within about 10min. Learning the iconography was about the hardest part of the experience. ---------------------------- Tiny Epic Pirates got a run, but I think I need to have another proper read of the rules as there was some confusion around Captain's Orders, Crew Slots, and Jostling that we slowed the game right down. Basically dragged the timer out to 2 hours due to manual discussion. Not going to comment on it atm past that, so I'll probably have a solo game to try and get to the bottom of it. It's meant to be a light quick game, and it didn't feel like it. -------------------------- Gladius is fun. Only got to play a single round of it, again due to IRL poo poo, but I am absolutely going to through it into my bag the next time someone invites me over for some lighter stuff. Essentially Gladiators come out, you bet on the outcome using hidden markers, you then gently caress with the outcome using your own personal deck+power, and then flip the cards over and show how they've empowered or screwed over the gladiators, and then tally the votes up after 3 rounds. Once players know what's going on I'd say each game would take 10-15min at most to play. This was a Kickstarter game, so expect it to hit stores... soon? You can preorder here The How-To vid gives a good overview (Even if they should have re-filmed it so it wasn't out of focus in parts) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0aBlqV2SRY ------------------------- Had to end the evening a lot earlier than expected, so rather than play something new and stress about it, we finished off with a game of Steampunk Rally Atomic Edition. If you like drafting + engine building I think you should check this out. My group always has fun with it.  Ended up with a 3 way tie that was broken by someone player a card that literally says "If this card is played on the last round, it breaks all ties and wins" Bastard 
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Jun 6, 2021 15:06
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Overall just a frustrating day with too many interruptions. Oh well, it's looking like I have the numbers for a Twilight Imperium day on the 3rd of July  Just have to figure out table space requirements for 6 players 
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Jun 6, 2021 15:11
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Bellmaker posted:Got to play 1840 today, had a good time. There are no minor companies in the game. What you are calling minor companies are lines attached to the major company. I don't see how you can win if you only have two lines and everyone else has three lines. Even waiting a turn may be problematic but it depends on what's still in the deck. It's a tram game, not a train game so dits make sense. I don't see a significant difference in play really but that's me. My late games (I've played it four times now) have sometimes been drawn out, let's just concede games but also very close games. Depends on the experience of the players, both with this specific game and with 18xx games in general.
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Jun 6, 2021 15:35
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Mayveena posted:There are no minor companies in the game. What you are calling minor companies are lines attached to the major company. I don't see how you can win if you only have two lines and everyone else has three lines. Even waiting a turn may be problematic but it depends on what's still in the deck. It's a tram game, not a train game so dits make sense. I don't see a significant difference in play really but that's me. My late games (I've played it four times now) have sometimes been drawn out, let's just concede games but also very close games. Depends on the experience of the players, both with this specific game and with 18xx games in general. I won handily with 2 well-connected lines (4 and 16), they were running for $300ish each in the mid game. I filled them with purple trams in CR4/5, the bonus output combined with pushing the maintenance fees up did wonders. In the fourth round my orange tram was still making small amounts of cash despite the -$300 penalty, and upgraded it to purple after that. The folks with three lines found themselves overextended, but they probably were paying out too much. I’ve only played one game of course, more testing will need to be done. Bellmaker fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Jun 6, 2021 |
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Jun 6, 2021 15:49
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Bellmaker posted:I won handily with 2 well-connected lines (4 and 16), they were running for $300ish each in the mid game. I filled them with purple trams in CR4/5, the bonus output combined with pushing the maintenance fees up did wonders. Yeah not sure you'd do that in a game with all experienced players. So much of the game is planning to anticipate what could happen. Well connected lines should cost you enough to put you in a hole that takes more than a minute to come out of. As someone who I do not like (clearclaw) says, 18xx is about making sure the losers lose. Allowing people to get lines that run for $300 in the mid game is the opposite of that  . And certainly if you have two lines that run for $300 each, you don't need a third. We have not seen/allowed that to happen in our games.
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Jun 6, 2021 15:54
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Mayveena posted:Yeah not sure you'd do that in a game with all experienced players. So much of the game is planning to anticipate what could happen. Well connected lines should cost you enough to put you in a hole that takes more than a minute to come out of. As someone who I do not like (clearclaw) says, 18xx is about making sure the losers lose. Allowing people to get lines that run for $300 in the mid game is the opposite of that Fair enough, I paid $80 for the first line so I don’t think it went cheap, the second one is probably where I got away with things! I am eager to play it again, and its now it’s on 18xx.games too
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Jun 6, 2021 15:56
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LifeLynx posted:Mine followed the instructions on the box. Box cats best cats. We found that letting the cat chill in the box next to what's going on seems to be the magic solution to her getting kind of needy during a game.
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Jun 6, 2021 17:06
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