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Aramoro posted:That's what I'm saying, the game is not complicated, but the rules are poorly laid out and explained in the book. A good rules manual can make or break some games. I complained earlier that I love Lorenzo Il Magnifico, but the manual desperately needs a clean up. It's absolute word salad in parts, and there is unique iconography that is poorly explained.
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Nov 21, 2021 21:46
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Had someone try to teach me Lisboa at the same time as they were learning the basics themselves. Woof. That really turned me off Lacerda.
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Nov 21, 2021 23:03
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A friend of mine bought Oath, and we sat down for a 6-player game where none of us knew how to play and we were learning from the rulebook/learn to play guide. We got through the first game and haven't opened it since, which is a shame since I know it's highly regarded but we had a real struggle with it going in blind. Usually when one of us gets a new game we talk about it on Messenger first so one of us (usually me) can learn to play ahead of time, this was an exception to that rule.
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Nov 21, 2021 23:25
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The problem with Oath is that knowing the rules doesn't help you play the game because it takes a game or two to see the parts in motion to know what and especially why you should do the various actions or target specific things. Root gets around this because generally all actions lead to victory points in one way or another. Oath's various victory conditions and game states are wide open and the rules and general presentation of the game give no guidance as to how to approach things. I'm pretty sure Oath would be way more approachable and maybe better if it still have a VP track but the various win conditions shifted the ways you score VPs. Same effect in the end, but with much better ways of guiding players' actions. Pax Pamir 2e did this as a big change from 1e.
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Nov 21, 2021 23:36
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Jewmanji posted:Had someone try to teach me Lisboa at the same time as they were learning the basics themselves. Woof. That really turned me off Lacerda. The same goes for any Lacerda. You need to be able to teach not only the mechanics but also how they mesh into the clockwork. Lisboa isn't as bad as On Mars for that, but it's not as easy as The Gallerist or Escape Plan.
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Nov 22, 2021 00:35
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I think Oath with a victory point track would be a far worse game. With a track like that you can build victory points in different ways one after the other, which would make the game not work, unless you lose points for losing board state as well, which just turns the VP track into a piece of bookkeeping that distracts from the actual board. It’d be like having a VP track in chess
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Nov 22, 2021 01:21
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please knock Mom! posted:I think Oath with a victory point track would be a far worse game. With a track like that you can build victory points in different ways one after the other, which would make the game not work, unless you lose points for losing board state as well, which just turns the VP track into a piece of bookkeeping that distracts from the actual board. It’d be like having a VP track in chess Have you played Pax Pamir 2e?
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Nov 22, 2021 01:22
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Does anybody have a recommendation for a playing card case that can hold somewhere along 2500 cards of party cards and stuff like that? We had collected a lot of our party card games together into a Cards Against Humanity Bigger, Blacker Box some time ago that we want to repurpose for collecting together all our Dominion cards; we repurposed two other BBB's when they were on sale for this but you now can't get any more of them. I see a lot of cases with foam. I tried one of those and they made me cringe. They also couldn't hold Cockroach Poker cards which are juuust a little bit taller than regular cards.
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Nov 22, 2021 07:55
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I played Azul yesterday and enjoyed it quite a lot. I see there are several versions of the game. What's the deal with that?
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Nov 22, 2021 13:03
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Fat Samurai posted:I played Azul yesterday and enjoyed it quite a lot. I see there are several versions of the game. What's the deal with that? They all have slightly different rules and layouts. The general theme of building a stained glass window is there but the windows are different shapes and the scoring systems are different. I have three of the versions and enjoy them all equally. The original is like $16 at Target right now. It sold out at Amazon.
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Nov 22, 2021 13:07
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Azul is one of two games I will keep forever as board games you can play with people who don’t play board games (the other is Flamme Rouge)
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Nov 22, 2021 13:13
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The case of the many Azuls can be solved if you understand that the original game was very popular and sold well.Lawlicaust posted:...The general theme of building a stained glass window is there... Excuse me OP but the theme of Azul classique is you're laying ceramic tiles. Glass of Sinatra is windows, Queen's Garden is flowers. In Summer Pavilion you're artisans building pavilions out of materials, which seems vague but apparently the pavilions never got built so you can let the imagination run wild.
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Nov 22, 2021 13:31
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Lawlicaust posted:They all have slightly different rules and layouts. The general theme of building a stained glass window is there but the windows are different shapes and the scoring systems are different. I have three of the versions and enjoy them all equally. Thanks!
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Nov 22, 2021 13:34
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Look at Calico if you want Hard Mode Azul Also it is cat themed!
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Nov 22, 2021 13:50
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The first Azul game is by far the best out of them all, on top of being insanely easy to set up, explain, and play. $16 is a steal.
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Nov 22, 2021 15:40
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Bellmaker posted:18West is fun, but I have no idea how the whole NPR/GNR northern route should work as folks have failed with it every time. What's the gist of 18WEST? At first I was thinking it was a simpler, lighter Derrick game but then I realised I was misremembering it. We played 1867 on the weekend and it went faster than before. I still maintain the initial few OR/SRs are very slow compared to other entries and it really relies on people being aggressive with starting minors and buying 2Ts as fast as they can or else you sit in the yellows for what feels like too long. The other issue is that starting capital is tight after the private auction and that leads to minors starting with less capital and thus taking longer to buy another 2T. Conversely, if you start them with minimum value you're still almost required to do some shuffling in order to force a train buy with loans. Once the 3Ts show up the game really kicks into high gear though and the rush is real as soon as capital really is flowing. I want to play it more and figure it out but it feels a bit loose in our group. We've only got about 4 plays of it in though.
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Nov 22, 2021 16:37
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The only thing I remember of 18West when I used to play 18XX games was that the TP was disgustingly OP and if you don't build specifically to counter it, it will have an incredible late game.
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Nov 22, 2021 17:32
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If anyone out there is interested in MicroMacro: Crime City, I'm going to suggest you pick up the sequel instead, MicroMacro: Crime City – Full House. While the first game is awesome, it also gets a little repetitive. I'm playing through the sequel and it fixes this by having a variety of cases that don't all start and end in murder.
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Nov 22, 2021 18:13
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FulsomFrank posted:What's the gist of 18WEST? At first I was thinking it was a simpler, lighter Derrick game but then I realised I was misremembering it. You should generally be getting into the 3s by OR2.1 or 2.2 at the latest, otherwise people are definitely not buying enough trains or starting too few companies. More minors early on is almost always better than fewer in 61/67. The other thing you can try besides shuffling and loaning up for more trains is buying a train down and purposefully letting a minor get nationalized in OR1.2 to get cash back to start something else in SR2.
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Nov 22, 2021 18:24
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Zaphiel posted:If anyone out there is interested in MicroMacro: Crime City, I'm going to suggest you pick up the sequel instead, MicroMacro: Crime City – Full House. While the first game is awesome, it also gets a little repetitive. I'm playing through the sequel and it fixes this by having a variety of cases that don't all start and end in murder.
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Nov 22, 2021 18:29
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FulsomFrank posted:What's the gist of 18WEST? At first I was thinking it was a simpler, lighter Derrick game but then I realised I was misremembering it. In 18West here are three types of companies: -Grangers (more or less minor companies that block up the lucrative eastern cities and can be bought in to other companies 1822-style once 4Ts break), -Land Grants (they can lay track that adds to their run) and have a destination where they unlock their other 5 shares and get a doubler station like 1870 -Public Companies (get a token that can go in a blocked city and can buy a train out of phase before they operate). E-W runs let you double a city in the route so that's the goal (as it's 4x for your destination (or 8x if it's a 4D!)). Your last 5 shares can't be bought out by other players before 6Ts, so you can't get hoovered out completely like 1822, but financing can be pretty tight (4Ds are $1100). Tekopo posted:The only thing I remember of 18West when I used to play 18XX games was that the TP was disgustingly OP and if you don't build specifically to counter it, it will have an incredible late game. This hasn't happened in any of our games yet. It seems strong in the midgame (easy 3T E-W run from Nawlins-San Diego), but it hasn't carried over into the endgame. But we've only played a handful of times so far. taser rates posted:You should generally be getting into the 3s by OR2.1 or 2.2 at the latest, otherwise people are definitely not buying enough trains or starting too few companies. More minors early on is almost always better than fewer in 61/67. The other thing you can try besides shuffling and loaning up for more trains is buying a train down and purposefully letting a minor get nationalized in OR1.2 to get cash back to start something else in SR2. This is 100% true from my 1867 experience.
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Nov 22, 2021 19:54
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My buddies stayed the whole weekend, so we got a few more games of The Estates. Then we gifted one of my friends a late birthday present in the form of Coldwater Crown. Mostly for as a gag, as he used to go fishing with his family every year, but the game turned out to be pretty great. A fairly standard euro but it has an interesting mechanic where every turn you first place one of several markers to make an action, then pickup another marker to make another action. The markers are labeled 1 and 2 on their sides and every time you pick up a marker you flip it. The 2-side means a better action. So you can be blocked from taking a certain action first (because a marker may already be placed there), take into consideration whether you want to take a 2 that turns into a 1 for your next turn, if you should leave a 2 on the board for an opposing player to use and so on. Also it has fish. Then we played Roll Player which was also a lot of fun, although for such a "light" game it involves a lot of number crunching in the end. Like there are a lot of obvious ways to optimize things, so rather than just go by gut feeling you end actually counting all your dice again and again. Lastly we went downtown and finished an escape room on hard difficulty. 
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Nov 22, 2021 20:29
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FulsomFrank posted:What's the gist of 18WEST? At first I was thinking it was a simpler, lighter Derrick game but then I realised I was misremembering it. Texpac is strong for four reasons 1. It is one of two companies that can consistently run from the West Coast to an East off-board with a single 3-train. 2. San Diego is actually the best destination in Green and Brown, and can often be a key chokepoint on the west coast. 3. Its eastern access isn't dependant on you overbidding on a Midwestern Granger. 4. Sopac is building east to meet you, meaning you're likely able to desinate OR1.2 In 18xx early money > late money so print money with texpac and buy other people's better late game companies. tomdidiot fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Nov 22, 2021 |
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Nov 22, 2021 23:35
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Where can I find some 3D-printable Kingdom Death-esque character models? I’m not looking for bootlegs, just random model files I can buy/download/whatever that are in the same theme. To clarify, “regular” models, not titty waifus.
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Nov 23, 2021 17:53
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My brother in law has asked for some help. He's got a couple of kids--say 8 and early teens--and he wants a boardgame to play with the family to get them off screens. He has absolutely no boardgame experience, so after steering him away from Risk I got some criteria and are hoping you could help me get him some solid suggestions, because I know absolutely nothing on the current game scene past surface-level stuff like Catan and Dominion. - Wants to be done in 2 hours or so - Something tactile like minis preferred, not just cards. Grabs the kids' attention, hooks their mind to the game concept better. - Relative simplicity is key. They're not a big gamer family, and the players aren't that old, so a simple surface that conceals long-term depth is good, but Eclipse is out. - Wants a theme as a hook, instead of "move the most squiggles to gain the greatest number of points." Catan might be too thin here--leaning more Fury of Dracula-deal than abstracted Eurothing--but if the game is really good this is probably the weakest, most ignorable criteria. Dad likes wizards and such but would probably go with anything. Even understanding that Talisman is an unpopular choice I was tempted to recommend it with a fast-levelling rule to get the play-time requirement in (yeah yeah, I know you don't like it) since it matches everything else, but there's got to be better-designed games that have come along since the 80s that scratch this very particular set of itches, no matter how fond I am of the old girl. I might wind up getting them the good modern game you recommend and Talisman and let them decide for themselves what sort of gamers they are. Out of the games in the OP, the Mage Knight game seems intriguing. Would that work? If not, I'll take any suggestions and do the research. Thanks.
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Nov 23, 2021 18:54
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Infinitum posted:Look at Calico if you want Hard Mode Azul Definitely hard mode Azul. After playing a lot of Azul, my family prefers Calico. It’s not as approachable for new players but way more of an optimization and risk puzzle. It generally plays faster too. Calico comes out for all our family games but I would probably pull out Azul instead if playing with less experienced gamers.
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Nov 23, 2021 18:55
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Xotl posted:- Wants to be done in 2 hours or so I played arkham horror for the first time recently and while not my personal fave it might suit them. Or something like last night on earth or zombicide. Comedy option Space Alert.
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Nov 23, 2021 18:59
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Is it possible to get a copy of the King fo Dragon Pass board game? Did it ever get reprinted?
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Nov 23, 2021 19:02
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Xotl posted:My brother in law has asked for some help. He's got a couple of kids--say 8 and early teens--and he wants a boardgame to play with the family to get them off screens. He has absolutely no boardgame experience, so after steering him away from Risk I got some criteria and are hoping you could help me get him some solid suggestions, because I know absolutely nothing on the current game scene past surface-level stuff like Catan and Dominion. If they are just getting into games, I would avoid anything like Mage Knight or Fury of Dracula. I would recommend games that are much easier to learn even if they might grow out of them after a few months due to simplicity I would start with a mix of the following: -Azul -Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion -Ticket to Ride -Isle of Cats -Sushi Go -Stuffed Fables -Wingspan -Pandemic -Parks -Viticulture -Sagrada -Santorini -Splendor -Vindication -Small World -Forbidden Desert/Island/Sky -Queendomino Most of the above games are not my favorites or ones I would regularly choose to play but almost every game on the list is appropriate for new gamers especially ones that are 8. I have all of the above and those worked the best teaching my daughter to play.
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Nov 23, 2021 19:10
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MonsieurChoc posted:Is it possible to get a copy of the King fo Dragon Pass board game? Did it ever get reprinted? Dragon Pass was a boardgame published in the 1980s by Avalon Hill (and was a reprinting of the 1970s boardgame White Bear & Red Moon). It's been OOP for decades, although Chaosium is working on an updated version (release date TBA). Both are set in the (extremely cool) fantasy world of Glorantha.
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Nov 23, 2021 19:11
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Lawlicaust posted:If they are just getting into games, I would avoid anything like Mage Knight or Fury of Dracula. I would recommend games that are much easier to learn even if they might grow out of them after a few months due to simplicity 8 makes it really difficult. Ticket to Ride jumped out at me as a strong contender even before seeing this list.
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Nov 23, 2021 19:16
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Lawlicaust posted:If they are just getting into games, I would avoid anything like Mage Knight or Fury of Dracula. I would recommend games that are much easier to learn even if they might grow out of them after a few months due to simplicity Agreed - I'll also throw Cubitos (roll a bunch of dice and push your luck to win a race) and Horrified (co-op where you collect the items you need to vanquish Universal Studios monsters or legends like Bigfoot and the Chupacabra) - bonus points for Horrified since it's pretty easy to come by for <$20.
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Nov 23, 2021 19:19
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JoeRules posted:Agreed - I'll also throw Cubitos (roll a bunch of dice and push your luck to win a race) and Horrified (co-op where you collect the items you need to vanquish Universal Studios monsters or legends like Bigfoot and the Chupacabra) - bonus points for Horrified since it's pretty easy to come by for <$20. Yeah, I have this one as well and it’s totally fine for teaching an 8 year old to play the games. The only downside of it is that it becomes a solved puzzle very quickly and bores the hell out of any adults playing it. We played it a few times before getting very tired of it. It is cheap though. With the sales right now, you can get Azul, Ticket to Ride, Sushi Go, Horrified and Jaws of the Lion all for very cheap. Any combination of those should be good.
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Nov 23, 2021 19:23
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Lawlicaust posted:If they are just getting into games, I would avoid anything like Mage Knight or Fury of Dracula. I would recommend games that are much easier to learn even if they might grow out of them after a few months due to simplicity Definitely not recommending Fury of Dracula--just saying that a heavily themed nature would appeal more to this bunch. "Hey guys, we're hunting vampires" is a clear and powerful hook, and the sort of thing I think would work for them. But yeah, the game has to meet the other criteria. quote:Most of the above games are not my favorites or ones I would regularly choose to play but almost every game on the list is appropriate for new gamers especially ones that are 8. I have all of the above and those worked the best teaching my daughter to play. Perfect, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm trying to focus on. Lots to dig into: thanks for the work. While I'm at it, I'm seeing mentions of Mansions of Madness: Second Edition. With it being cooperative and vaguely Clue-like in structure, might this work? I'm thinking cooperative allows for a bit more complexity since Dad can guide the team and show everyone the ropes. EDIT: Hmm, Horrified seems like it might do the monster hunt thing better, and it's even got the Monster Squad nostalgia for dad. Xotl fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Nov 23, 2021 |
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Nov 23, 2021 19:23
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Xotl posted:Out of the games in the OP, the Mage Knight game seems intriguing. Would that work? Christ, no. Even the fans here will tell you that it's a monstrously complex game. One game that perfectly meets your requirements is The Faceless, which can best be sold to you as "Stranger Things: The Game". The players are a group of kids wandering around a nightmare realm trying to avoid a monster and recover the memories of their friend that it has imprisoned so they can bring him home. The trick is that the players are represented by a compass and can only move in the direction of the arrow, while around the edge of the board are minis with magnets in the base that represent children who weren't saved. The game is built around playing cards that move the captured children and thus shift the arrow so your party can travel in the right direction. But it may be very hard to find. My copy is for sale, but unless you're in the UK that won't help much.
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Nov 23, 2021 19:31
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Xotl posted:While I'm at it, I'm seeing mentions of Mansions of Madness: Second Edition. With it being cooperative and vaguely Clue-like in structure, might this work? I'm thinking cooperative allows for a bit more complexity since Dad can guide the team and show everyone the ropes. EDIT: Hmm, Horrified seems like it might do the monster hunt thing better, and it's even got the Monster Squad nostalgia for dad. MoM2e is app-driven, so it sounds like it fails the premise of getting the kids away from screens. Were it not for that same reason, I'd think Forgotten Waters could make for a great family game.
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Nov 23, 2021 19:44
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I haven’t played mansions in a while but it also could have a painfully long playtime. That was what kept it off my recommendations.
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Nov 23, 2021 20:39
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Captain Scandinaiva posted:My buddies stayed the whole weekend, so we got a few more games of The Estates. Then we gifted one of my friends a late birthday present in the form of Coldwater Crown. Mostly for as a gag, as he used to go fishing with his family every year, but the game turned out to be pretty great. I've had this one in the wings for a while to try and shamelessly sucker my fishing fanatic brother-in-law into playing (and enjoying) a board game with us. Glad to hear it's a solid experience, I did a bunch of research before buying it and remember being really impessed with some of the ways it tries to bring out the fishing theme, mainly in terms of timing your board (your gear) to the main board (the fishing grounds) effectively to catch exactly the type/size of fish you require for the big show-off competition at the end of the game. Can't wait to see how it goes over. That's one of the great things about this hobby is that someone has made a game featuring just about anything you can think of (same is true of any hobbly really but especially this one as its main conceit is basically "experience in a box"), and so you can leverage cross-talk across hobbies to bring more people into this one. Someone saying they don't like board games is kinda like someone saying they don't like movies. They probably don't like any given board game, but chances are there is a game/genre/sub-hobby/film out there that is perfect for them. Then again some people just really do not like watching movies.
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Nov 23, 2021 20:42
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Xotl posted:My brother in law has asked for some help. He's got a couple of kids--say 8 and early teens--and he wants a boardgame to play with the family to get them off screens. He has absolutely no boardgame experience, so after steering him away from Risk I got some criteria and are hoping you could help me get him some solid suggestions, because I know absolutely nothing on the current game scene past surface-level stuff like Catan and Dominion. Cartographers. You want Cartographers. Something like Resistance might be good as well if they'd like more player interaction.
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Nov 23, 2021 20:46
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My nephew first played Last Night On Earth when he was 10 and absolutely loves it. It's great if you have someone older to play zombies and let the kids be heroes, so you can go a little easy on them if they've had terrible luck (it's an extremely luck driven game... Not as much as Talisman, but still). He also adores Braggart, which is nice and quick.
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Nov 23, 2021 21:15
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