Board Games 5E: I thought I was having fun but it was my brain tricking me

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Board Games 5E: I thought I was having fun but it was my brain tricking me

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AAAAA! Real Muenster: Jul 12, 2008; My QB is also named Bort

FulsomFrank posted:

Good weekend of gaming.

First we did a seven player game of Mega Civ western map. Two total newbies, one of which I had to dissuade from being demoralised before the game even started thanks to that dogshit video SU&SD did for Western Empires. I set up the night before and we got properly rolling by about 11:00 and called it about six hours later. I had Minoa, which is very fun to play as and not that difficult even though I screw up here and there. BUT, the only thing I agree with Quinns about and it still astounds me to this day, is how goddamn bad the graphic design on the map is in a practical sense. Playing as Minoa is an exercise in carefully stacking chits and putting them in just the right place so that you can see what's beneath them. Throw in the fact you're going to have boats that are twice the size as normal chits for almost the entire game and you've got yourself a frothy soup of frustration. You also really need someone to be on the ball with census and someone else responsible for handling the trade cards.

I came in second and made plenty of mistakes. The winner was Hellas who played well but also had the luck of the Irish because he ended up drawing round after round of no calamities and even when he did get some, was able to mitigate them with the help of his previous purchases. Was very happy that everyone had a great time and the one person I was referring to earlier even sent me a message after saying how much he enjoyed the game and he'd play again any time. You love to hear it.

I had no idea Mega Civ was a thing, that is amazing. Having played a ton of vintage Tresham Civ, I totally agree about the province size and density. I've always wanted a game like Tresham civ with the pop growth and management + city building, straight forward combat, and buying tech.... but with a faster playtime, better map, and a less punishing calamity mechanic (so like what happened with the winner in your game not getting any calamities... hrmm, interesting correlation?). I havent found one yet, so as a hobby and creative outlet I've started making my own just for shits, and I taught myself the free photoshop, GIMP, to make the map. Considering your comment about playing Crete, I'm curious what you think of the map (work in progress, please ignore the little bits of color sticking out from some of the province lines):

The color coding in the regions is to make certain things more obvious, like which provinces are floodplains, and so there can be more than 1 tech to improve the pop max of a region, so early game the lush mountains where early peoples thrived are roughly equal to major river based civilizations, but later on with tech you can take the floodplain regions to the moon.

edit: please let me know if this is not the appropriate thread for asking that kind of question. I posted in the boardgame dev thread but its been really quiet there.

AAAAA! Real Muenster fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Mar 7, 2022

# ? Mar 7, 2022 21:12

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# ? May 17, 2024 02:12

Magnetic North: Dec 15, 2008; Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

edit: please let me know if this is not the appropriate thread for asking that kind of question. I posted in the boardgame dev thread but its been really quiet there.

It's fine. I'm personally of the opinion to keep things in specialty threads when they exist, but obviously they are also commonly quite slow with lower visibility. So, if there were an involved back and forth discussion, that probably would be better in the smaller thread, but a briefer chat is fine for here too. Same goes for The Kickstarter Thread; since there's a home for it, I'm happy leaving much of that discussion there.

At the same point games narrower topics such as specific games like Dominion and Netrunner and other games have their own threads but they also get talked about here on occasion. So it's not 100% either.

Maybe some other goons can show some love to the Board Game Design Thread? And are there any other broad topic threads that might be relevant enough to board goons to warrant perhaps linking in the OP outside of the KS thread, Design thread and the Deals Thread?

# ? Mar 7, 2022 21:35

FulsomFrank: Sep 11, 2005; Hard on for love

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

I had no idea Mega Civ was a thing, that is amazing. Having played a ton of vintage Tresham Civ, I totally agree about the province size and density. I've always wanted a game like Tresham civ with the pop growth and management + city building, straight forward combat, and buying tech.... but with a faster playtime, better map, and a less punishing calamity mechanic (so like what happened with the winner in your game not getting any calamities... hrmm, interesting correlation?). I havent found one yet, so as a hobby and creative outlet I've started making my own just for shits, and I taught myself the free photoshop, GIMP, to make the map. I'm curious what you think of the map (work in progress, please ignore the little bits of color sticking out from some of the province lines):

The color coding in the regions is to make certain things more obvious, like which provinces are floodplains, and so there can be more than 1 tech to improve the pop max of a region, so early game the lush mountains where early peoples thrived are roughly equal to major river based civilizations, but later on with tech you can take the floodplain regions to the moon.

edit: please let me know if this is not the appropriate thread for asking that kind of question. I posted in the boardgame dev thread but its been really quiet there.

Friend, any Civ related content is great to see and always welcome. I'm not an expert by any stretch but I think I've played enough games to get a decent understanding of what I like and don't.

My skin-deep assessment of the the map you've posted is that it looks quite promising and it's interesting that you're going with that variation in agriculture because it's a similar idea to something my friend and I are working out in our own personal Civ project. My only criticism is that from the look of things a lot if not most of the territories you've got down there are hyper connected to other ones - in other words, you've got every province/territory a wobbly hex that connects to another province that is also a wobbly hex... Unsure if this is because it's a preliminary design choice or not but look at your Tresham Civ board again and note how disparate territories are with regard to how many other territories they touch as well as the relative pop caps to them.

You also might want to be a little more erratic with the pop cap on the territories too. Again, look at the original boards and note the lack of congruity between the numbers. It's rare to see a giant group of 1s, 2s, 3s all in one big stretch. Not saying you can't do it but spreading them out better combined with my advice regarding the territory sizes might do wonders.

That's a fun part about designing maps because you get to play around with the relative "safety" of certain places versus their utility for cities, populations, movement etc.

Anyway, just what I noticed off the top of my head. No clue about what your design goals are but I'm definitely interested and have always wondered why 1829/30 spawned an entire sub-genre yet Civ was left to languish (comparatively).

# ? Mar 7, 2022 21:48

Mayveena: Dec 27, 2006; People keep vandalizing my ID photo; I've lodged a complaint with HR

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

I had no idea Mega Civ was a thing, that is amazing. Having played a ton of vintage Tresham Civ, I totally agree about the province size and density. I've always wanted a game like Tresham civ with the pop growth and management + city building, straight forward combat, and buying tech.... but with a faster playtime, better map, and a less punishing calamity mechanic (so like what happened with the winner in your game not getting any calamities... hrmm, interesting correlation?). I havent found one yet, so as a hobby and creative outlet I've started making my own just for shits, and I taught myself the free photoshop, GIMP, to make the map. Considering your comment about playing Crete, I'm curious what you think of the map (work in progress, please ignore the little bits of color sticking out from some of the province lines):

The color coding in the regions is to make certain things more obvious, like which provinces are floodplains, and so there can be more than 1 tech to improve the pop max of a region, so early game the lush mountains where early peoples thrived are roughly equal to major river based civilizations, but later on with tech you can take the floodplain regions to the moon.

edit: please let me know if this is not the appropriate thread for asking that kind of question. I posted in the boardgame dev thread but its been really quiet there.

So every designer who enjoyed Civilization wants this. There have been many attempts to get there, but none so far have really captured the reason we loved Civ so much. If you didn't know about Mega Civ, then I would suggest you get more familiar with some of the offerings out there such as Clash of Culture Monumental, Western Empires, and the upcoming Eastern Empires. Not saying that CoC is what you want to do of course. Civilization New Dawn is another game in that space.

One of the things about designing board games is assuming you want to sell your design you need to be aware of what's out there.

Jennifer Schlickbernd, Co-designer Advanced Civilization

# ? Mar 7, 2022 21:54

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

Still waiting on my copy of Western Civ to ship out from the KS campaign last year. Haven't heard anything for a while now

Shes Not Impressed posted:

Had some friends over and decided to show them War of the Ring. We lost to a Free People's military victory.
Couldn't roll a single six on a hunt, either.
I am forever shamed.

I've always been curious how War would work as a team game. Was it enjoyable for both sides?

# ? Mar 7, 2022 21:56

silvergoose: Mar 18, 2006; IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS

Infinitum posted:

Still waiting on my copy of Western Civ to ship out from the KS campaign last year. Haven't heard anything for a while now

I've always been curious how War would work as a team game. Was it enjoyable for both sides?

I've played half a dozen games of 2v2 WotR and it's been a blast every time. Lots of shouting, blaming teammates, intoning about how the kings of the east are coming to destroy the free peoples, and maybe a little more chaotic strategically than 1v1, the dice are a little exacerbated.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 22:09

canyoneer: Sep 13, 2005; I only have canyoneyes for you

Infinitum posted:

Still waiting on my copy of Western Civ to ship out from the KS campaign last year. Haven't heard anything for a while now

I've always been curious how War would work as a team game. Was it enjoyable for both sides?

I missed the inline quote and thought you were asking about War, the game we played as kids with a 52 card deck.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 22:40

LifeLynx: Feb 27, 2001; Dang so this is like looking over his shoulder in real-time; Grimey Drawer

Charterstone was one of the most memorable board gaming experiences I had, probably because we had a full amount of players. Some of it was accidental, like me accidentally getting the character that gets pumpkins and cats because I'm basic and I ran charity Magic events at the LGS for the cat shelter I volunteer for. But a lot of it was laughing at the new rules we uncovered at the start or end of each session or coming up with names for our charters, roles, etc. I thought the game did a good job of keeping everyone engaged; even if you think you're losing, there was always the chance that the scenario card had some kind of catch-up mechanic in it. The balance was way off and the excitement of what would happen next was blunted by watching the blue and red players do laps around everyone else who was playing fairly. It had lots of charm, but I don't know how you'd fix the blue/red imbalance unless you had total board game newbies who wanted to play with you, in which case let 'em have the cheat codes.

The coins are neat and generic enough that I now use them for lots of other games I play solo.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 22:49

Mayveena: Dec 27, 2006; People keep vandalizing my ID photo; I've lodged a complaint with HR

Infinitum posted:

Still waiting on my copy of Western Civ to ship out from the KS campaign last year. Haven't heard anything for a while now

Really? Where are you? I'm in SoCal and I've had mine since the start of the pandemic. We played it last year, I thought it was a good iteration on Advanced Civ.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 22:52

Shes Not Impressed: Apr 25, 2004

Infinitum posted:

Still waiting on my copy of Western Civ to ship out from the KS campaign last year. Haven't heard anything for a while now

I've always been curious how War would work as a team game. Was it enjoyable for both sides?

We skipped the 4 player rules since the other two players were completely new. We just worked together. The new guy on FP side rolled so many 5s and 6s in battles that wave after wave of orcs broke upon Minas Tirith. We pulled Isengard armies south to siege Helm's Deep and suddenly Gandalf the White shows up in Fangorn and Saruman is kaput.

They really picked up on how theme matched mechanics, too.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 22:52

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

Mayveena posted:

Really? Where are you? I'm in SoCal and I've had mine since the start of the pandemic. We played it last year, I thought it was a good iteration on Advanced Civ.

The Merry Old Land of Aus

# ? Mar 7, 2022 22:53

Mayveena: Dec 27, 2006; People keep vandalizing my ID photo; I've lodged a complaint with HR

Infinitum posted:

The Merry Old Land of Aus

Awwww. I'm sorry you don't have your copy. I even signed up for Eastern Empires. Looking forward to that one!

# ? Mar 7, 2022 22:57

Major Isoor: Mar 23, 2011

Hey, just wondering - what's the best (and not too long, hopefully) video introducing the mechanics of Dune (2019)? Since I'm gonna be playing it with a group on the long weekend here, and none of the others have played before. (I think I played at the end of 2019, so it's been a while!) Hopefully with a YouTube crash-course under our belts we can get through quickly and easily, compared to the alternative anyway!

# ? Mar 8, 2022 00:29

Magnetic North: Dec 15, 2008; Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

Major Isoor posted:

Hey, just wondering - what's the best (and not too long, hopefully) video introducing the mechanics of Dune (2019)? Since I'm gonna be playing it with a group on the long weekend here, and none of the others have played before. (I think I played at the end of 2019, so it's been a while!) Hopefully with a YouTube crash-course under our belts we can get through quickly and easily, compared to the alternative anyway!

RTFM has one. He's not one of the bigger board game rules channels like Watch It Played or Gaming Rules, but his videos are quality stuff. His Root videos helped my group immensely. Just check the description for the few minor corrections.

# ? Mar 8, 2022 00:34

Major Isoor: Mar 23, 2011

Magnetic North posted:

RTFM has one. He's not one of the bigger board game rules channels like Watch It Played or Gaming Rules, but his videos are quality stuff. His Root videos helped my group immensely. Just check the description for the few minor corrections.

Thanks for that! I've forwarded it on

# ? Mar 8, 2022 00:42

Joe Chill: Mar 21, 2013; "What's this dance called?"

"'Radioactive Flesh.' It's the latest - and the last!"

I would suggest reading the Dune FAQ as well or at least keep it handy:
https://www.gf9games.com/dune/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Dune-FAQ-Nov-2020.pdf

Edit: The link to the FAQ in RTMs video description is to the oldest one, not the latest (Nov. 2020).

Joe Chill fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Mar 8, 2022

# ? Mar 8, 2022 03:15

AAAAA! Real Muenster: Jul 12, 2008; My QB is also named Bort

Magnetic North posted:

It's fine. I'm personally of the opinion to keep things in specialty threads when they exist, but obviously they are also commonly quite slow with lower visibility. So, if there were an involved back and forth discussion, that probably would be better in the smaller thread, but a briefer chat is fine for here too.

Noted, thank you! I'll leave the more general boardgame chatter here but I'll move my reply to FulsomFrank to the Board Game Design Thread since I am hoping there is more design discussion.

FulsomFrank posted:

Friend, any Civ related content is great to see and always welcome. I'm not an expert by any stretch but I think I've played enough games to get a decent understanding of what I like and don't.

This warms the cockles of my cold, dead heart. Per the above, I'm going to reply in more detail in the Board Game Design Thread as to keep the design chatter in here to a minimum.

Mayveena posted:

So every designer who enjoyed Civilization wants this. There have been many attempts to get there, but none so far have really captured the reason we loved Civ so much. If you didn't know about Mega Civ, then I would suggest you get more familiar with some of the offerings out there such as Clash of Culture Monumental, Western Empires, and the upcoming Eastern Empires. Not saying that CoC is what you want to do of course. Civilization New Dawn is another game in that space.

One of the things about designing board games is assuming you want to sell your design you need to be aware of what's out there.

Jennifer Schlickbernd, Co-designer Advanced Civilization

Thank you for this, I hold no illusions that I will be the next Jamey Stagmeier or something like that, but it is still good hear. I've read the op of the design thread and know that I'm likely doing a personal project for my own growth rather than starting a business. I've already pushed myself to learn a lot (GIMP, geography, ancient history, boardgame design themes and methodologies (two types of random, concept of information flow, ect)) and expect to continue to do more, so I am gaining something from this either way. Learning about other games in the genre is on my short list of next things to do - I had heard of Clash of Culture and it looks like it may be a decent game, but is far away from how I am trying to achieve the Tresham Civ feel. I had not heard of Civilization New Dawn or Western or Eastern Empire, so now I will have to do some research on them, and maybe pick them up once my infant is vaccinated and I can leave the house again.

# ? Mar 8, 2022 03:55

PerniciousKnid: Sep 13, 2006

Major Isoor posted:

Hey, just wondering - what's the best (and not too long, hopefully) video introducing the mechanics of Dune (2019)? Since I'm gonna be playing it with a group on the long weekend here, and none of the others have played before. (I think I played at the end of 2019, so it's been a while!) Hopefully with a YouTube crash-course under our belts we can get through quickly and easily, compared to the alternative anyway!

There's also a few playthroughs by MCDM, if you want a more thorough refresher for yourself.

# ? Mar 8, 2022 05:26

Selecta84: Jan 29, 2015

Has anybody played Imperium: Classic and/or Imperium: Legends?

I'm looking for a new deck builder and the theme is intriguing.

The German edition just came out but the second hand market already seems to be flooded with it.

# ? Mar 8, 2022 06:31

homullus: Mar 27, 2009

Selecta84 posted:

Has anybody played Imperium: Classic and/or Imperium: Legends?

I'm looking for a new deck builder and the theme is intriguing.

The German edition just came out but the second hand market already seems to be flooded with it.

I have played Imperium: Classics, once. I hope to play it again. The rulebook that comes with Classics also addresses Legends, so I know something about both. Things I like are:

(1) it attempts to say something about what happens when a culture shifts to being a, well, civilization (i.e. based on cities), namely that some of the old ways hang around and some don't;
(2) it attempts to differentiate these changes by culture, with some never shifting from "barbaric" to "civilized," staying barbaric or starting civilized;
(3) the different cultures have different playstyles and goals;
(4) variable starts increase replayability;
(5) good, colorful art that varies through the cultures; and
(6) ancient world! yay!

Things I don't like are:

(1) set up is astonishingly fiddly, such that the rules for setup may even be longer than the core gameplay rules;
(2) the game itself has a lot of bookkeeping. The "real game" (per my one playthrough) is an exercise in cycling through your deck, and there are a number of different and I think inelegant ways to limit the speed with which you do so;
(3) the game takes as its starting point the idea that moving toward civilization and capitalism and imperialism are "advancement" (though it does somewhat acknowledge this);
(4) it's explicitly ahistorical (Olmecs v. Atlanteans? sure ok why not); and
(5) because of (1) and (2), it has a less favorable teaching-to-fun ratio.

# ? Mar 8, 2022 18:13

nordichammer: Oct 11, 2013

canyoneer posted:

Snip

This was a really cool post. Thank you for sharing.

# ? Mar 8, 2022 20:52

Doctor Spaceman: Jul 6, 2010; "Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

Any thoughts on Small City Deluxe on Kickstarter? I'm interested but I've also got a stack of unplayed Clinic and I'm not sure if I need more.

# ? Mar 9, 2022 01:34

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Doctor Spaceman posted:

Any thoughts on Small City Deluxe on Kickstarter? I'm interested but I've also got a stack of unplayed Clinic and I'm not sure if I need more.

Small City is a decent game and not too dry, but it's in my sell pile. I certainly wouldn't feel a need to own both it and Clinic.

# ? Mar 9, 2022 01:57

Bottom Liner: Feb 15, 2006; a specific vein of lasagna

Lol at the art reading so much better than Clinic because Kwanchai understands you can portray isometric art on a non-isometric grid. I don�t think Ian O�toole really values functional design and just goes hog wild with aesthetics.

# ? Mar 9, 2022 01:58

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

We've scheduled round 2 of Nemesis this weekend, and one of my players linked this in the group Discord today

# ? Mar 9, 2022 09:28

Selecta84: Jan 29, 2015

homullus posted:

I have played Imperium: Classics, once. I hope to play it again. The rulebook that comes with Classics also addresses Legends, so I know something about both. Things I like are:

(1) it attempts to say something about what happens when a culture shifts to being a, well, civilization (i.e. based on cities), namely that some of the old ways hang around and some don't;
(2) it attempts to differentiate these changes by culture, with some never shifting from "barbaric" to "civilized," staying barbaric or starting civilized;
(3) the different cultures have different playstyles and goals;
(4) variable starts increase replayability;
(5) good, colorful art that varies through the cultures; and
(6) ancient world! yay!

Things I don't like are:

(1) set up is astonishingly fiddly, such that the rules for setup may even be longer than the core gameplay rules;
(2) the game itself has a lot of bookkeeping. The "real game" (per my one playthrough) is an exercise in cycling through your deck, and there are a number of different and I think inelegant ways to limit the speed with which you do so;
(3) the game takes as its starting point the idea that moving toward civilization and capitalism and imperialism are "advancement" (though it does somewhat acknowledge this);
(4) it's explicitly ahistorical (Olmecs v. Atlanteans? sure ok why not); and
(5) because of (1) and (2), it has a less favorable teaching-to-fun ratio.

Thanks.

I think I will try to get a game in before I might purchase it.

# ? Mar 9, 2022 10:52

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

Does anyone have a good reference guide for Nemesis? The manuals a bit of a mess.

Is there also a list of what cards are in each draw pile? Was trying to find 'Chemicals' and guessed the wrong pile twice

# ? Mar 9, 2022 13:50

Slyphic: Oct 12, 2021; All we do is walk around believing birds!

Infinitum posted:

Does anyone have a good reference guide for Nemesis? The manuals a bit of a mess.

Esoteric Order has a guide for it - https://www.orderofgamers.com/downloads/Nemesis_v2.3.pdf

Still looks a bit wall-o-text, but for games I'm actually familiar with, the Order always seems to do a good job of it.

# ? Mar 9, 2022 14:50

bagrada: Aug 4, 2007; The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering!

Infinitum posted:

Is there also a list of what cards are in each draw pile? Was trying to find 'Chemicals' and guessed the wrong pile twice

This guy made a list of the base game cards from 2018 that shows the draw piles. There is a lot of crossover. Chemicals look to be solely yellow but energy charges are in red and yellow, and clothes are in green and yellow for instance. I think the expansions add more as well.

# ? Mar 9, 2022 20:17

Quixotic1: Jul 25, 2007

Infinitum posted:

Does anyone have a good reference guide for Nemesis? The manuals a bit of a mess.

Is there also a list of what cards are in each draw pile? Was trying to find 'Chemicals' and guessed the wrong pile twice

There's also an app for the game now that keeps track of the amount to put in the sack and what gets pulled out when you have to draw one of them aliens. Also i think turn order and some other thing, haven't been able to try it out myself yet.

# ? Mar 9, 2022 20:25

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

Cheers all

# ? Mar 9, 2022 20:28

Jcam: Jan 4, 2009; Yourhead

For the Canadian goons here, 401Games appears to have done a massive restocking. I�m seeing gems such as Pax Pamir 2e, War of the Ring 2e, and Food Chain Magnate!

# ? Mar 10, 2022 02:09

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

This War of Mine is selling all remaining Kickstarter Editions and will donate all revenue to Ukraine

quote:

Important information about the sale:
All of the products are limited (first ordered � first served)
Everything includes appropriate taxes
Shipping will start within 2 weeks (priority tracked shipping)
Core Box DOES NOT include Stretch Goals from the campaign (unfortunately, we do not have SGs left in stock)

# ? Mar 10, 2022 07:00

FulsomFrank: Sep 11, 2005; Hard on for love

Jcam posted:

For the Canadian goons here, 401Games appears to have done a massive restocking. I�m seeing gems such as Pax Pamir 2e, War of the Ring 2e, and Food Chain Magnate!

And like ten copies of 1830 for those who have been struggling to track down a copy because it's here one day and the next gone for like a year.

# ? Mar 10, 2022 16:15

vulturesrow: Sep 25, 2011; _{Always gotta pay it forward.}

It's been a minute since I posted on SA.

First off, I bought Pan Am for my son and me to play, strictly for thematic reasons (he loves airplanes, especially the big commercial ones). But it is actually a pretty fun game. Any goons played/playing it?

My question:

Where are my solo gamers at? Talk to me about my options. My kids are increasingly less interested in board gaming with me and my wife never was lol.

What's the current state of the industry, i.e., what's the new bg hotness? I've not been keeping up.

# ? Mar 10, 2022 20:43

Spiteski: Aug 27, 2013

I've enjoyed under falling skies and final girl which are games designed as a solo.
Final girl is a kickstarter but I've been using the TTS version which has all of season 1 for free. (See the OP about berserk games and TTS tho before supporting/buying it).

Other games that I've enjoyed playing solo multihand/character are sleeping gods and spirit island.

# ? Mar 10, 2022 21:25

PRADA SLUT: Mar 14, 2006; Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective works well solo if you want a hours of lying on the floor staring at the ceiling

You can solo most (multiplayer) �RPG/adventure in a box� games as well, Sleeping gods, kingdom death, too many bones, Gloomhaven, etc. all work.

# ? Mar 10, 2022 21:28

Magnetic North: Dec 15, 2008; Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

vulturesrow posted:

First off, I bought Pan Am for my son and me to play, strictly for thematic reasons (he loves airplanes, especially the big commercial ones). But it is actually a pretty fun game. Any goons played/playing it?

I have not played it, but I see to recall the broader board game world appreciated it for what it was; a simple route building game with a very simple stock system. Pan Am is from design collective Prospero Hall, who focus on creating licensed games, but they also tend to make games that include more modern game design philosophies and are not just roll-and-move junk. This isn't to say all their stuff is great, but Horrified and Villianous are both very popular and comparatively mainstream in the hobbiest world.

vulturesrow posted:

Where are my solo gamers at? Talk to me about my options.

I'm not a solo gamer (yet) but one thread-approved solo-able game is Sprawlopolis a very small, very clever city building game. (I have not personally played it but I should rectify that.)

Spiteski posted:

Final girl is a kickstarter but I've been using the TTS version which has all of season 1 for free. (See the OP about berserk games and TTS tho before supporting/buying it).

Note: the publisher of Final Girl also features in the naughty list in the OP due to endorsing crypto bullshit, and apparently continues to try to pump up that downline.

Also, even though I fully enthusiastically proselytized the Fourth box, SHCD: The Baker Street Irregulars, I don't know that game would be be all that much fun alone. Two minds mean you can support each other when you miss things, work out theories, read aloud, etc.

# ? Mar 10, 2022 23:06

armorer: Aug 6, 2012; I like metal.

vulturesrow posted:

It's been a minute since I posted on SA.

First off, I bought Pan Am for my son and me to play, strictly for thematic reasons (he loves airplanes, especially the big commercial ones). But it is actually a pretty fun game. Any goons played/playing it?

My question:

Where are my solo gamers at? Talk to me about my options. My kids are increasingly less interested in board gaming with me and my wife never was lol.

What's the current state of the industry, i.e., what's the new bg hotness? I've not been keeping up.

I have Pan Am and enjoy it, and it has been appreciated by my friends as well at a few game nights where I brought it out.

# ? Mar 10, 2022 23:28

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# ? May 17, 2024 02:12

Mayveena: Dec 27, 2006; People keep vandalizing my ID photo; I've lodged a complaint with HR

vulturesrow posted:

What's the current state of the industry, i.e., what's the new bg hotness? I've not been keeping up.

Biggest hotness is Ark Nova, Capstone Games publisher. It's been delayed to mid April for retail because of shipping issues but if you don't mind paying MSRP you can get it now from Capstone Games. Boonlake from them has been popular as well. There are probably other games that are lighter than those, but others will have to help you with those, as I'm mostly a heavy games person.

# ? Mar 10, 2022 23:36

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Board Games 5E: I thought I was having fun but it was my brain tricking me

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