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Game day is Sat, but I may as well start setting up now. Forgot how much of a table hog TI is. Managed to snag a plastic trophy from the dollar store and bought a lego minifig for the prize. War game day is serious business. Carillon posted:What's the best approach for teaching a game like John Company second edition to a group? One I know is decently familiar with the first edition. I know the rules and will make sure to have them down even better before the season, but I worry that it'll take most of the time just teaching the rules and then play will feel rushed. I always don't know howto approach this so any good tips or ideas would be appreciated. For big complicated games I always link a video for my players to watch a couple of days to a week before so they can watch it. Any minutiae can be hashed out at the table with either "Any questions people need clarified before we start?" / "Want to do a practice round?" YMMV, but I have an engaged group of core players who will do the 'homework' they're assigned before game day. The flip side to this is you should try to familiarise yourself as much as possible with the manual and rules, so when questions do come up they can be answered quickly. I had a friend come around to play Nemesis the other week on short notice and did the teach at the table, and that was more of a "Here is a 15min high level overview of the rules and what you're trying to achieve, we'll explain the rest of it as we go" "Hey I got this new game, lets watch this 20-30min how to play while we eat dinner" also works 
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Apr 14, 2022 06:28
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dishwasherlove posted:Complex games are never gonna hit full stride in the first session. Badger the players to read the rules or find and send them a decent YouTube run-down before the session. Sure maybe only one of them will do it, but that will be someone else to help roll things along. Yeah, we almost always treat the first game as a 'learning game', expecting that we may well get some rules wrong, make terrible mistakes that we don't appreciate until several turns later and so on. I think framing the first game can be as important as teaching it - if everyone feels free to treat it as a learning experience rather than a competitive game, to try things out and explore the systems of the game, I think that can make things go easier as well. Particularly for first plays of heavy games we often end up playing 'semi-co-op' in the sense that we'll give suggestions or advice on each other's turns as we're all making sense of how things mesh together. Obviously you don't have to take it that far, but for our group at least we all recognise that we're not good enough with really complex games to be in any way competitive on our first playthrough so just making sure we come away with a good experience and a solid understanding of the rules and how things play off each other is a more realistic goal, and then we can get cutthroat in later plays.
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Apr 14, 2022 06:35
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Yeah framing the first game as 'The Learning Game' is also a great suggestion. Even when I've read the rules and I'm confident in answering questions, something is always going to come up with a "wow we totally beefed that rule" I definitely played the first 2 games of Feast for Odin incorrectly due to tile laying rules.
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Apr 14, 2022 06:43
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General rules explaining tips are to start with what players are aiming to do (For JoCo I'd say something like the game is about running the company well enough that you can pull the most cash from it), and then basic turn structure (go around the table, do an action - or w/e it is for JoCo) - then you launch into the explanation. For a heavy game it could take a while, but heavy games also take an age to play so it should balance out. Also, Cole himself drip-feeds his explanations throughout the game. When someone can do a thing, only then does he explain it in detail. It's a controversial tactic but it might be something to consider.
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Apr 14, 2022 08:30
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For JoCo I always gave the barebones overview with the choices you might have each turn. I don’t tend to explain the consequences and why you’d do all the actions since it’s pretty wasted on a learning game and people can figure it out on their own but that’s something the thread has disagreed with me about before. Unless the final rules JoCo 2 are much different, each turn has a main procedure that you go through anyway including a lot of randomness and events players have no control over. Aside from maybe saying something short about how that this or that might influence the elephant’s movements or how the military/trade is doing in the colonies. Mr. Squishy posted:Also, Cole himself drip-feeds his explanations throughout the game. When someone can do a thing, only then does he explain it in detail. It's a controversial tactic but it might be something to consider. Oh huh didn’t know that. Feel it’s the best approach but I don’t even explain in detail. It’s a learning game, more people shouldn’t get hung up on it. Pull some levers. There is that argument that for a lot of people, they play games so infrequently or have so many games that they feel they have to do well since they might only get to play the game again in 2 years, but that’s a collection and attitude towards learning game problem.
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Apr 14, 2022 13:29
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Chill la Chill posted:Oh huh didn’t know that. Feel it’s the best approach but I don’t even explain in detail. It’s a learning game, more people shouldn’t get hung up on it. Pull some levers. He's appeared a few times on Heavy Cardboard where he demonstrates his methods. For Pax Pamir (to pick a game I have a slightly firmer grasp of specifics than JoCo), he suggests explaining what actions are when they show up in the market, or explaining that you can exact bribes only after someone's got a a majority on areas or cards. Essentially just wait until someone can do a thing to explain it. Though a fair few players would not appreciate that new rules keep showing up all of the time.
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Apr 14, 2022 14:25
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So any TI common rule mistakes to watch out for? It's been a few years between drinks for me, so want to keep an eye out on things
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Apr 14, 2022 14:36
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The more complex a game, the more I emphasize that our first game is for learning purposes and any mistakes will be both expected and forgiven. It's kinda annoying when a game takes too long to have a second "real" game of it played. I taught Gaia Project last week and that game has a ton of little things to remember and keep track of. It's also one of those games where I can describe what you're capable of doing all game but it's only after the learning game will things start to make sense. Lot's of "if I knew such and such on turn 2 I would have played it differently." Well no poo poo. Remember that next time when the competition really starts. I also taught it to two different groups on successive nights and I used what I learned teaching the first group to to teach the second better.
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Apr 14, 2022 15:06
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Mr. Squishy posted:a majority on areas or cards Fuckin lol I thought it was just area. For God's sake. PAX PAMIR IS A NIGHTMARE TO TEACH AND I DREAD IT.
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Apr 14, 2022 15:36
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FulsomFrank posted:Fuckin lol I thought it was just area. For God's sake. PAX PAMIR IS A NIGHTMARE TO TEACH AND I DREAD IT. My understanding is you still have to rule the area via tribes in order to extract bribes. Wouldn’t be the first rule I massively screwed up though.
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Apr 14, 2022 17:07
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Yeah, if you have more spies than anyone else on another player's court card, they have to bribe you equal to the number of spies if they want to use an action on that card.
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Apr 14, 2022 17:12
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Mr. Squishy posted:Yeah, if you have more spies than anyone else on another player's court card, they have to bribe you equal to the number of spies if they want to use an action on that card. Ohhhhh okay, phew wasn't screwing anything up. I thought you meant if you have more cards connected to a specific region you could hit up bribes.
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Apr 14, 2022 17:14
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FulsomFrank posted:Ohhhhh okay, phew wasn't screwing anything up. Right, same confusion here. Phew!
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Apr 14, 2022 19:48
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Infinitum posted:So any TI common rule mistakes to watch out for? It's been a few years between drinks for me, so want to keep an eye out on things Players don't start with any commodities. Production X doesn't mean you can only spend X resources, it means you can make up to X units in one action. So if your production is 4, you can make, say, a carrier, cruiser, and 2 fighters; or a dreadnought, 2 fighters, and 1 infantry (even though fighters and infantry only cost one resource for 2, they still count as 2 units). Space Cannon (the PDS ability) is a bit confusing. If you activate a system with your own PDS, you can choose to have them fire at another player's ships. If you activate a system with another player's PDS, they can fire at you after you're finished moving any ships. Also, players with upgraded PDS can also fire from adjacent systems at this time (and vice versa). Of course, this is all optional and can be negotiated. You can only trade with a player who is your neighbor, meaning you each have a ship or control a planet in the same or adjacent systems (wormholes count as adjacent). You can do up to one trade on your turn with each of your neighbors. During the agenda (political) phase, you can trade with anyone. At the start of the game, you're dealt two secret objectives. Keep one and shuffle the other back into the deck. During the game you can have a maximum of 3 secret objectives, both scored and unscored combined; if you draw a fourth, shuffle one back into the deck. Each secret objective says when it can be scored: you can score a max of 1 "status phase" secret objective each round (along with 1 public objective, if you can), and you can score any number of "action phase" secret objectives each round, but only one per combat.
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Apr 15, 2022 02:38
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I think I saw this on Discord, but I should mention it here. A game was first printed 20 years ago and has been out of print for much of that time, Pueblo is being reprinted by Mojito Studios. They have also also reprinted another long dead game, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects and are re-theming a small but well liked game Think Str8 as Lost Code. I am absolutely wretched at abstract strategy games; I cannot get my mind around Tak or Hive or Chess. However, Pueblo is the abstract game more than any other that I was always super curious about. Particularly, it's because it is not merely a 2 player battle; it can play up to 4. The fact that every block is the same but its rotation lets you put it into all sorts of positions is just something that sounds so cool, and the fact that the amount that the Chieftain moves is controlled by the players and is not random seems like a very interesting mind game. The new art on the box looks awesome. It's done by SillyJellie an illustrator and muralist from Malaysia, who you may know for doing concept art for the video game No Straight Roads which has some striking visuals if you've ever seen it. I honestly don't know how much more of the art we'll get since it's ostensibly just blocks, a board and a few little bits. I also don't know if they'll make it all Kickstarter-y, excessive, huge and deluxe like it looks like they did for Cleopatra. Pueblo is just so very simple game; I hope they spend the money on just making the components nice and chunky and bitty instead of some sort of weird stuff. Also, it would be wrong to ignore that this game could be considered to have a culturally appropriative theme. It isn't really my place to say. I'm not an indigenous person, and I don't know much about any First Nations. Obviously, in 2002 there was less public awareness of it, so we could afford it grace as an artifact from the past that may or may not have meant well, but if it will be reprinted today, we should remain open to a re-examination. On a similar note, I could not find an English rules PDF for Pueblo, but I saw some reference "cult sites" as a concept in the expert variants of the game, which sounds iffy at first glance. (If anyone has a copy and can check the English rules for this reference, that would be wonderful.) For background, if you type "cult site pueblo" into your favorite internet search engine, it seems to refer to a religious belief of the Pueblo people called Kachina. Even wikipedia uses the word 'cult' a few times as well, but obviously that word has some extreme negative connotations. For a counter-example, the word "cult" doesn't appear in the rulebook for Pillars of the Earth where you're building a Cathedral. Hopefully they work with cultural consultants and make the correct choices. Regardless, I am cautiously optimistic that I can get a copy of this game that has been on my mind for many years now. What is the gooncensus on Pueblo, for those that have played it?
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Apr 15, 2022 11:05
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Phelddagrif posted:Rules Cheers, much appreciated. Spent the evening going over a bunch of rules and I feel like I've got a pretty good grip of things now. I did have a question regarding wormholes and adjacency.  Are all the tiles highlighted considered adjacent to the alpha wormhole on tile 26? Or is it just tile 39 that is adjacent? The reason I ask this is because I may want to shoot a PDS2 via a wormhole later  (And you know be useful for trading) I've also decided on my draft L1Z1X Mindnet. Beep boop, bombardment time
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Apr 15, 2022 14:27
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Just tile 39.
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Apr 15, 2022 15:48
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I've always thought of it as the wormhole providing a seventh 'edge' of the tile through which to determine adjacency.
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Apr 15, 2022 16:26
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Wormholes are adjacent to each other. Wormholes are not adjacent to tiles that are adjacent to other wormholes.
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Apr 15, 2022 16:36
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Cheers lads
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Apr 15, 2022 23:29
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Infinitum posted:I've also decided on my draft L1Z1X Mindnet. Beep boop, bombardment time Don’t forget, L1Z1X can keep spacedocks/PDS they capture, and one of their new expansion leaders lets them bombard planets with PDS regardless.
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Apr 16, 2022 11:33
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This isn't exactly breaking news but: Board game publisher Exploding Kittens decided to get in on NFTs in January. I missed this in my search when I added the crypto section to OP, and I found no evidence of a retraction, so I've updated the OP to include them. I don't think tons of goons like Exploding Kittens, Throw Throw Burrito or Happy Salmon, but it's probably worth knowing.
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Apr 16, 2022 14:39
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Twilight Imperium was a massive hit. Can confidently say no mistakes were made, and if there were they were not game impacting. Just so so happy that I got this to the table finally after nearly a year and a half of non-starts and scheduling issues all related to the pandemic screwing everything up. I think this was the 4th or 5th time I had attempted to get this to the table? 5 player game of: - The L1Z1X Mindnet - Xxcha Kingdom - Federation of Sol - Yssaril Tribes - Universities of Jol-Nar Ended in a  Uni Victory I harrow'd and I harrow'd well, but I could not harrow them all. Also please enjoy the ONLY LAW that passed, and then the immediate outcome on the 2nd Agenda.  Really game changing those Agenda phases -------------- We are no officially planning for Round 2 in May. We will likely be aiming for an 8 player day with a group buy for the PoK expansion, as there seems to be mass interest - currently taking a straw poll and it's looking like we'll hit that easily. I love my game group 
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Apr 16, 2022 14:43
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Due to a few medical conditions that popped up recently, I both am not working all that much and also cannot play any video games. I have never been a solo board gamer in the past, but I'm finally tempted to try out solo board gaming. So far I have played a bit of Mage Knight (still great) and did the solo mode of Pax Pamir 2nd Edition which I thought was decently well done. Both of these were a nice excuse to bust out some games in my collection that I haven't gotten to the table in years. So now I'm wondering, what are people's favorite solo games or official/unofficial solo modes for games?
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Apr 16, 2022 15:56
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Too Many Bones
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Apr 16, 2022 16:04
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I reckon you could do a Pandemic Legacy season solo and really enjoy it. Just control all 4 characters yourself. Highly strategic
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Apr 16, 2022 16:08
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I don’t know what your budget is, but the Arkham Horror and Marvel Champions LCGs have a lot of long term play value. So too does Gloomhaven.
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Apr 16, 2022 16:45
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CitizenKeen posted:I don’t know what your budget is, but the Arkham Horror and Marvel Champions LCGs have a lot of long term play value. So too does Gloomhaven. Thanks for the suggestions, all! I should have been more specific. I play Marvel Champions with 2 others weekly (not my copy), and we occasionally switch it up and play Arkham Horror LCG (my copy) though I only have the base and 2 side scenarios. I haven't thought about playing it much because it seems like 2 handed is the way to go and it strikes me as a bigger cognitive load than single-handed, but I should try it out. We also have a Gloomhaven campaign that's a bit on hold so I wouldn't want to do that solo. Pandemic Legacy S0 is earmarked to be played with some friends.
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Apr 16, 2022 17:16
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I adore A Feast for Odin solo
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Apr 16, 2022 17:23
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A personal pan pizza for odin
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Apr 16, 2022 17:26
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Radioactive Toy posted:Due to a few medical conditions that popped up recently, I both am not working all that much and also cannot play any video games. I have never been a solo board gamer in the past, but I'm finally tempted to try out solo board gaming. So far I have played a bit of Mage Knight (still great) and did the solo mode of Pax Pamir 2nd Edition which I thought was decently well done. Both of these were a nice excuse to bust out some games in my collection that I haven't gotten to the table in years. So now I'm wondering, what are people's favorite solo games or official/unofficial solo modes for games? Not as heavy games as you mentioned, but you can get a lot of mileage out of Sprawlopolis and Fleet: the Dice Game for quite a low price.
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Apr 16, 2022 17:52
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Sleeping Gods 7th Continent This War of Mine
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Apr 16, 2022 18:46
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Spirit Island is a joy solo
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Apr 16, 2022 19:21
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Can highly recommend Under Falling Skies (pure solo) and Super Skill Pinball (plays 1-4). The new Super Skill Pinball (Ramp it Up!) has one table that's intended for 2v2 team play so it might be slightly worse value for a pure solo player than the original.
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Apr 16, 2022 21:26
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I second A Feast for Odin, and add in Lost Ruins of Arnak as a game I enjoy solo, which it also has a web app assisted solo campaign and I think an actual solo mini expansion but none of those are strictly necessary.
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Apr 16, 2022 22:42
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I was just talking about this as well, but the solo mode for John Company 2nd is quite fun. I've run through a few sessions virtually and it's been quite nice.
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Apr 16, 2022 23:31
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BGG just published a primer on colorblindness in gaming from someone who has spent a fair bit of time trying to tackle it, what with suffering it themselves, and it talks about accessibility in board gaming. It's an excellent read, and also suggests some simple modifications to make things more accessible, as well as examples and resources, such as the excellent COBLIS "Color Blindness Simulator". I remember playing the original Guildhall ages ago and noticing the differing symbols on the cards, and realizing it was colorblind accessibility. That little feature always stuck with me. I distinctly remember that 2015's Century: Spice Road was heavily criticized because it used indistinguishable red, brown and green cubes, which was about as bad as you can imagine. At the time, I thought, "Well, that's gotta be the game that raises the level of awareness, right?" Nope, those loving pricks at Bezier published Whistle Stop two years later with inaccessible components to the consternation of certain colorblind board game personalities. I'm sure there are other more recent examples out there, but usually I don't notice them because I am not personally affected by colorblindness. I mean, let's be real: it should not still be a problem, considering that people were talking about Through the Desert having accessibility issues 14 loving years ago. I know, I know, we all love the little pastel camels; I love them too. They look like Jordan Almonds and we all just want to eat them all up. But that is not without its cost. We could potentially be denying someone the joy of playing a Knizia game, and that sucks. Maybe it's time to consider passing on games if they refuse to do the work to make the game accommodative.
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Apr 17, 2022 00:15
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Radioactive Toy posted:Due to a few medical conditions that popped up recently, I both am not working all that much and also cannot play any video games. I have never been a solo board gamer in the past, but I'm finally tempted to try out solo board gaming. So far I have played a bit of Mage Knight (still great) and did the solo mode of Pax Pamir 2nd Edition which I thought was decently well done. Both of these were a nice excuse to bust out some games in my collection that I haven't gotten to the table in years. So now I'm wondering, what are people's favorite solo games or official/unofficial solo modes for games? i just bought a painted kickstarter set of Tainted Grail because i want a true one-hero board game where i don't have to control an entire party. it cost me a fortune because the guy that owned it apparently lives in the northernmost point of alaska and i didn't notice it before i bought the auction. it should be here some time in may and i'll let you know how great it is when i get it to the table Dungeon Degenerates is super fun even solo and it's a fantastic game with a totally badass style and weirdo art. Iron Helm is a great game that's really quick to set up and very simple to learn but it's designed for solo play and I've had a bunch of fun playing it. don't know how much replayability you'd get out of it without the addon stuff but i think it's worth the price D100 Dungeon is a pen and paper map drawing fun as hell dungeon crawl that's designed to be played solo. there are a ton of expansions and if you want a more board game feel you can get a bunch of laser cut components from the game crafter to add to the experience. this is probably a top 5 game for me with the world builder expansion jarofpiss fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Apr 17, 2022 |
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Apr 17, 2022 02:34
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IRT ColorBlindness and accessibility, I was very saddened when meeplelikeus went on hiatus. Their near academic deconstruction on accessibility was my kind of inside baseball as someone with lifelong color blindness frustrations.
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Apr 17, 2022 02:39
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Radioactive Toy posted:Due to a few medical conditions that popped up recently, I both am not working all that much and also cannot play any video games. I have never been a solo board gamer in the past, but I'm finally tempted to try out solo board gaming. So far I have played a bit of Mage Knight (still great) and did the solo mode of Pax Pamir 2nd Edition which I thought was decently well done. Both of these were a nice excuse to bust out some games in my collection that I haven't gotten to the table in years. So now I'm wondering, what are people's favorite solo games or official/unofficial solo modes for games? Lately I've been enjoying Imperium: Classics/Legacy, Pandemic: Fall of Rome, and Raiders of Scythia as solo games.
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Apr 17, 2022 02:51
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