Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Azran
Sep 3, 2012

And what should one do to be remembered?
Gloomholdin' is an impressive feat of game design but I don't think I'd ever try to play it :v:

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

SuperKlaus
Oct 20, 2005


Fun Shoe
I still cannot comprehend Unfathomable (wakka wakka).

Our hybrids do not even engage with the concept of surreptitious sabotage. They either play as innocent as real humans until a really ugly event comes up (frequently one that if totally failed means a triple monster activation)/a similar golden opportunity to just spike the volleyball all at once or just say "gently caress it do it live" and actively attack from the word go. The Brig seems to lack teeth because of how much imprisoned characters are permitted to do from there (notably, use Treachery cards).

We aren't understanding what incentivizes a hybrid to stay hidden but try to hurt the team in small ways as opposed to waiting for a decisive strike. Certainly some of those events are so ugly opportunities for decisive strikes abound. I never played BSG but my understanding was that Brigging someone there was like putting them in stasis and they were just out of the game until release. Also, I understand that revealed traitors in BSG had badly limited options for their turns. Operating on the assumption that those are true, I can respect wanting to remove from the game what amounts to player elimination (via freezing a traitor outright in the Brig or by having their life post-reveal be boring), but now there is not enough of a threat to levy at traitors to make them want to stay heads-down.

Surely we are still doing something wrong but if we can't get it sorted I'm gonna have to sell this one.

FirstAidKite
Nov 8, 2009
Lmao I finally got around to messing with the first part of The Emerald Flame and I got stuck because I need to use a stencil but I don't have a pencil small enough to fit in the stencil. Literally can't progress because no mechanical pencil. Gonna have to fix that and maybe grab a cheap clipboard too for holding the documents down. My fiancee was able to get through the puzzle she was doing and I noticed some things for making progress in other puzzles so at least this wasn't a wasted venture, just a minor but silly setback.

Magnetic North
Dec 15, 2008

Beware the Forest's Mushrooms
I've added a section for solo games to the thread recommendations, using some suggestions from silvergoose, Stickman, Binary Doubts and Viper915. Thank you all for the contributions. As usual, be sure to tell me all the various ways I hosed up.

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?
Gloomholdin' is like those outfits in fashion shows where they took an idea and pushed it to the absolute limit of what's possible in a design space, and no, I'd never want to WEAR that loving thing, but it's a drat impressive design, and there's probably a lot to learn from how much of it does or doesn't work.

PRADA SLUT
Mar 14, 2006

Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/calliopegamenight/tsuro-luxury-limited-edition

$350 Tsuro with fancy wooden box and metal dragon pieces and stone tiles and poo poo

PRADA SLUT
Mar 14, 2006

Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so
last call for free gloomhaven but you have to pick it up in seattle

TheDiceMustRoll
Jul 23, 2018
I'm not sure if anyone has already posted this, but it looks like Star Trek: Ascendancy is getting two new expansions.

if you've slept on the game (and have a big table and a bunch of dedicated players) I think you should check it out

PerniciousKnid
Sep 13, 2006

SuperKlaus posted:

I never played BSG but my understanding was that Brigging someone there was like putting them in stasis and they were just out of the game until release. Also, I understand that revealed traitors in BSG had badly limited options for their turns. Operating on the assumption that those are true, I can respect wanting to remove from the game what amounts to player elimination (via freezing a traitor outright in the Brig or by having their life post-reveal be boring), but now there is not enough of a threat to levy at traitors to make them want to stay heads-down.

BSG brig wasn't all that bad, you just can't move or add multiple cards to skill checks, so it's more like a team penalty than player elimination. You can still play cards, still scheme with your team, build up your hand.

Jarvisi
Apr 17, 2001

Green is still best.

TheDiceMustRoll posted:

I'm not sure if anyone has already posted this, but it looks like Star Trek: Ascendancy is getting two new expansions.

if you've slept on the game (and have a big table and a bunch of dedicated players) I think you should check it out

How is it and what player count is it best at? I love star trek and 4x games but could probably only get 2-3 players interested

Buck Wildman
Mar 30, 2010

I am Metango, Galactic Governor


PRADA SLUT posted:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/calliopegamenight/tsuro-luxury-limited-edition

$350 Tsuro with fancy wooden box and metal dragon pieces and stone tiles and poo poo

lol

tomdidiot
Apr 23, 2014

Stupid Grognard

FulsomFrank posted:

Unsure about the US but while shipping in Canada is fairly prompt and on schedule as far as I'm used to, but I know personally that they are all MEGA-SUPER-DUPER SLAMMED constantly and always lately. Additionally, negotiations with the union for one of Canada's top-3 delivery companies are degrading, which is only going to make things worse.

Mayveena: do you like 22MX more than vanilla 22? I would be tempted to grab 22CA for the setting alone as well.

Don't think I will bite on any of the new AAG stuff right now. None of it really screams essential right now, which is unfortunate. Just need someone to officially announce they're producing The Old Prince so I can get excited for a professional release.

Not Mayveena, but I like 22CA most of the 22s because it really rewards long term planning, and analyzing the board and understanding synergies between the minors, privates and concessions and how they're stacked..

The companies feel a bit more balanced in 22CA than in 22; pretty much all of them are viable in the right circumstances (right minor, right privates), and they all have their own little corners of the board, whereas 22 games tend to result in whatever early companies all getting tokens in to run London->Brum->Manchester and hit secondary tokens. You don't have to police the concession bid to make sure someone doesn't skulk away with the LYR or LBSC; even the GT and GNWR (the two strongest companies in 22CA) need at least some work/some help to really reach their potential. Even the ICR/NTR, arguably the weakest minors in the game, can be good if the right privates/minors come up (all the maritime/East Quebec minors + the Quebec City private)

The map is long, flat and a lot more resctrictive, with more natural chokepoints compared to 22. There are fewer token slots in 22CA vs in 22 (Y cities only go 3 slots in grey, and regular cities never go beyond 2 slots). Most of 22 is fairly open and building around is simple enough, and the terrain most of the time seems to only be there to shaft the minors; 22CA has the gigantic wall of grain towns in the prairies either requiring a grain train/pullman to bypass, or tokens in the key cities, rocky mountain passes, running through the US, all of which feel a lot more meaningful. This feeds into the above with the companies feeling much more distinct than in 22.

The trains are a bit less intersting because its less of a no-brainer to get an E or at least a second train. The extra OR in the last set makes it so the Es/second trains really pay for themselves comapred to 22 or 22MX where the Es may only run once. On the one hand, this helps those who like to build for the late game, but on the other, it does remove an interesting decision point ("is it worth it for me to go for an E over the 7")

22CA can be punishing but is less so than 22; 22 has "trap" minors that have prohibiitve terrain costs, which mean that they will spend so much time with their early L train (in '22, minors start with an L train, which you can upgrade to a regular 2 train for $80) that you'll lost the game starting them, where as 22CA has trap minors that are able to upgrade their train just fine, but are so stuck in the middle of nowhere that they won't be able to hook up to a major to be eaten before the 4s come out. Except M23. Don't start M23.


22MX is a little gentler than both by comparision; the smaller map and builder cubes (terrain discounts you get by forfeiting track lays) help make the game a little more forgiving. It's shorter than either 22CA or 22 as well becasue it has a 22MRS-esque train roster (instead of 6 instead of 9 3-trains, 4 instead of 6 4-trains etc.), but the lack of concession variability does make it a tad less interesting.

Kazzah
Jul 15, 2011

Formerly known as
Krazyface
Hair Elf
Hell yeah, they just announced Love Letter - VIP - Gold Edition, only $199.

Buck Wildman
Mar 30, 2010

I am Metango, Galactic Governor


CLANG goes the solid platinum handmaid card onto my table, permanently scratching both

Buck Wildman
Mar 30, 2010

I am Metango, Galactic Governor


$200 extra for the diamond thread sleeves, handwoven by blind eunuch monks

PRADA SLUT
Mar 14, 2006

Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so
goons stop I can only get so hard

bobvonunheil
Mar 18, 2007

Board games and tea

Jarvisi posted:

How is it and what player count is it best at? I love star trek and 4x games but could probably only get 2-3 players interested

I like Star Trek: Ascendancy. It's Twilight Imperium with a much lighter rules/bloat overhead, and the different factions are very well defined and play differently enough to be interesting, but not so different you have to learn a bunch of unique rules. It also feels like Star Trek, from the way the ships move in warp to how you can peacefully annex neutral aliens and even enemy planets.

I like it best at 3 or 4, with 5+ the wait between turns gets a little much. You'll need an expansion to play with more than 3 though as the base game only includes 3 factions (Federation, Romulans, Klingons).

Rockman Reserve
Oct 2, 2007

"Carbons? Purge? What are you talking about?!"


I grabbed Exit: the Secret Lab a few weeks ago as a quick cheap table tax at my FLGS and I finally went through it with my wife, it was really fun and clever. Any other standouts from the Exit series I should be on the lookout for? Any to avoid?

Magnetic North
Dec 15, 2008

Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

Rockman Reserve posted:

I grabbed Exit: the Secret Lab a few weeks ago as a quick cheap table tax at my FLGS and I finally went through it with my wife, it was really fun and clever. Any other standouts from the Exit series I should be on the lookout for? Any to avoid?

:hfive: Hey there, fellow latter-day Exit discoverer. I too have only played Secret Lab. If you trust BGG rankings, only 3 are higher rated. However, they also get lower ranked over time, so they either used up all their good ideas, the novelty colors people's perceptions, or the hype faded.

FirstAidKite
Nov 8, 2009
The only thing I think worth mentioning is that some of the EXIT titles are sequels to other EXIT titles, but are not necessarily presented as such. This doesn't ruin anything since the puzzles are still separate and the metaplot isn't important but there are a few connecting threads you might appreciate more if you know to expect them.

For example, there's an entire plotline that's basically just a really dumb Jigsaw and an even dumber set of protagonists who keep falling for his traps and needing to escape his puzzles. That starts with The Abandoned Cabin and gets followed up on in I believe The Forbidden Castle, and then eventually ends up in EXIT: The Game - Return to the Abandoned Cabin. The Mysterious Museum is also a follow up to The Sunken Treasure. I haven't played every EXIT game but I've played a good lot of them and IMO if you enjoy a couple of them then you'll probably enjoy them all. Of the ones I played, I'm partial to The Polar Station because it's just one big The Thing reference.

I should note that I am not a conventional player of these games though because I go way way out of my way to avoid destroying components, mainly because I still like having them out as decorative pieces and the idea of running them like a GM for a group game night sounds nice. Generally my fiancee and I would use a scanner/printer to take in scans of cards or pages that needed to be altered and I would use an image editing program or a printed copy of the scan to avoid destroying the original pieces. It made it take longer but it was worth doing. Now I can go through and make copies of any of the parts that would normally be destroyed and have guilt-free cheap copies explicitly for destroying that I can scan/print out as needed. Or I would if I had a working scanner/printer lol.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

Rockman Reserve
Oct 2, 2007

"Carbons? Purge? What are you talking about?!"


Yeah, I’m a huge dumb fangirl for erasable FriXion pens and markers (seriously, they’re basically magical) and I think going forward I’m going to try to be able to save the components to gift to friends in the future. Secret Lab had one puzzle that would be kind of a pain to replicate in full even with a decent scanner and two-sided printer but honestly? It’s just obscure enough that having the pieces pre-cut isn’t *that* much help.

silvergoose
Mar 18, 2006

IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS




Rockman Reserve posted:

Yeah, I’m a huge dumb fangirl for erasable FriXion pens and markers (seriously, they’re basically magical) and I think going forward I’m going to try to be able to save the components to gift to friends in the future. Secret Lab had one puzzle that would be kind of a pain to replicate in full even with a decent scanner and two-sided printer but honestly? It’s just obscure enough that having the pieces pre-cut isn’t *that* much help.

Oh we use those things all the time, for the (mentioned some pages ago) logic puzzle set kind of things. Cause lemme tell you, having multiple colors but able to "erase" mistakes is essential when you're guessing at basically everything all the time.

Jinkeez
Dec 31, 2008
Probating FirstAidKite for spoilers? Is it really a spoiler that in an escape game there's a jigsaw puzzle mechanic? Seems kinda harsh.

Tekopo
Oct 24, 2008

When you see it, you'll shit yourself.


I played the Orient Express one recently and it was really good, better that Tomb or Secret Lab, which are the other ones I played.

Magnetic North
Dec 15, 2008

Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

Jinkeez posted:

Probating FirstAidKite for spoilers? Is it really a spoiler that in an escape game there's a jigsaw puzzle mechanic? Seems kinda harsh.

(Possible spoilers for Exit games that I have not played, mostly alluding to the above post) I think they meant there was a narrative character similar to Jigsaw, the trap-building foe of the Saw movie franchise. Not that it contained a physical jigsaw puzzle.

Tag your spoilers, people.

Aramoro
Jun 1, 2012




Jinkeez posted:

Probating FirstAidKite for spoilers? Is it really a spoiler that in an escape game there's a jigsaw puzzle mechanic? Seems kinda harsh.

It's better than that, probed for spoilers when the mod does not even know if it is a spoiler or not.

Absolutely fascinated to know what the report was here specifically. Is it really a spoiler to read the back of box?

Aramoro fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Jun 12, 2022

Doctor Spaceman
Jul 6, 2010

"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."
That probe seems loving ridiculous.

Jinkeez posted:

Probating FirstAidKite for spoilers? Is it really a spoiler that in an escape game there's a jigsaw puzzle mechanic? Seems kinda harsh.

Jigsaw as in the character from Saw I assume.

PerniciousKnid
Sep 13, 2006

Aramoro posted:

It's better than that, probed for spoilers when the mod does not even know if it is a spoiler or not.

Absolutely fascinated to know what the report was here specifically. Is it really a spoiler to read the back of box?

"Exit: The Game – The Abandoned Cabin
A kind stranger's invitation becomes a grim trap - can you escape before he returns?"

Somebody report BGG lol

SixFigureSandwich
Oct 30, 2004
Exciting Lemon

Doctor Spaceman posted:

That probe seems loving ridiculous.

Agreed.

dishwasherlove
Nov 26, 2007

The ultimate fusion of man and machine.

This thread never fails to entertain.

Has anyone run The Republic of Rome in the last 10 years. How did it go? Gonna dust off my copy I have only played once and run it for a birthday long session.

Tekopo
Oct 24, 2008

When you see it, you'll shit yourself.


The one and only time I played RoR, we played the Punic Wars scenario, another player hosed me out of something for no reason, I swore a vendetta on his house and then we lost our war against Carthage and the republic collapsed.

So overall I think it fairly accurately models Ancient Rome.

Mayveena
Dec 27, 2006

People keep vandalizing my ID photo; I've lodged a complaint with HR

FulsomFrank posted:

Unsure about the US but while shipping in Canada is fairly prompt and on schedule as far as I'm used to, but I know personally that they are all MEGA-SUPER-DUPER SLAMMED constantly and always lately. Additionally, negotiations with the union for one of Canada's top-3 delivery companies are degrading, which is only going to make things worse.

Mayveena: do you like 22MX more than vanilla 22? I would be tempted to grab 22CA for the setting alone as well.

Don't think I will bite on any of the new AAG stuff right now. None of it really screams essential right now, which is unfortunate. Just need someone to officially announce they're producing The Old Prince so I can get excited for a professional release.

I ordered 1822MX because of the WheelTappin podcast discussing it. My copy has yet to arrive. After leaving its tour of Florida, it then took a two city tour of Kansas and is finally in a very obscure city in California. Hopefully Fedex will finally get it to me this week. I should be playing it next weekend and will report.

PRADA SLUT
Mar 14, 2006

Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so

Doctor Spaceman posted:

That probe seems loving ridiculous.

Jigsaw as in the character from Saw I assume.

Yeah, and even the game box lays out the “you’re trapped in a cabin” line right on it. Hence the whole advertised “escape room experience”.

Tekopo posted:

I played the Orient Express one recently and it was really good, better that Tomb or Secret Lab, which are the other ones I played.

The Fortune City cowboy one has the grand whodunnit” of Orient Express but it’s not particularly hard

PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Jun 12, 2022

Magnetic North
Dec 15, 2008

Beware the Forest's Mushrooms
Just finished the second case in that same Unlock box, Heroic Adventures, which is a Sherlock Holmes case. Not only that, it's written by the same guy who did the absolutely excellent Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Baker Street Irregulars for which I have limitless praise. So this module has to be better, right?

Well, it was lightyears better than Insert Coin, but was still decidedly meh. It certainly played more fair, and was much less linear, which were improvements. Still, it felt like we were mostly going through the motions. We didn't feel especially clever for figuring it out.

(minor mechanical spoilers for Unlock and non-specific spoilers for Insert Coin and Sherlock Holmes from the Unlock Heroic Adventures) If you aren't aware, the game attempts to hide information from you by having red clues and blue clues indicated by puzzle pieces. A red can only be combined with a blue, you cannot combine two reds or two blues. The clues are numbered, and if you want to see what happens when you combine or utilize the two together, you find their sum. Here's the problem: In both of these game sessions we've had so far, we have put together what clues that we thought had some logic behind them, went to find the sum card and ended up with a number that was some other unrelated clue which somewhat spoiled the narrative. Now, I'm not a mathematician, but why is that even a possibility? It's just arithmetic. Why can't they go through every possible blue and red, take their sums and be prepared to expect that outcome. There are only 60 cards and only 99 numbers, and not all cards are numbered: some have letters to avoid discovery. And there are maybe 8 or so (if that) of each red and blue, and they get removed once irrelevant. I don't know enough math to say for certain, but that has to be able to be massaged into place, right? Like, 7 reds * 7 = 49 so that should probably afford enough space to skip some numbers, and that ignores that they get removed. I dunno, it's super hokey and feels like some creativity could provide a better way.

One more session left in that box, but unless it absolutely rules, I think we'll be getting other products before going back to Unlock. It's wild considering how well these have been received generally and how poor we've found them to be. I'd normally wonder if we were just spoiled because something open like a SHCD game can be so much more open, or it's just classic goony snobbery but The Secret Lab was better than this.

TheDiceMustRoll
Jul 23, 2018

Jarvisi posted:

How is it and what player count is it best at? I love star trek and 4x games but could probably only get 2-3 players interested

3-4 is the sweet spot, especially if you're going to have the Borg in it.

Exploration is fun, warp to a planet, pull it off the shuffled stack and draw a card, unless you draw an anomaly or whatever. Planets can be placed anywhere in proportion to the planet you warped from, they're joined by like, little bridges that are warp tunnels or whatever, I don't know. Once two of these tunnels or bridges join your planet it cannot be moved around. So there's a little bit of a "base building" component to this - players have to "build" the galaxy towards you and you can't gently caress around or with other players until contact is made. Home planets must be 18 inches apart from one another so, you cant just build on the corner of a table, but this also means that more players means more table space is needed. Like way more. God so much more.

So you explore and draw planets, usually the exploration cards require a roll, everything in the cards is a screenshot of good quality from the shows and movies, it's all very excellent, high quality stuff. Adding to your empire is done in a variety of ways and some factions are better than others, but conquest, special card fiat and cultural dominance are the big ones. Some exploration cards can actually kill the planet you're on like the crystalline entity.

You can build lots of ships but it costs an action to move a ship or a fleet, so you group into fleets, everyone has three fleets with varying numbers in said fleets, with said purposes - except for the Klingons which is just "many ships, kill you" which makes sensse. Laying down colonies and placing starbases too is a thing you're doing a lot, too. There's also no real limit on how much sit you can build outside of minis, and there are minis expansions. They are of poo poo quality, popped out of molds with chunks of sprue and shite still on them so I wouldn't bother, just grab some free stls on thingiverse and find someone with a 3D printer (t. person who bought literally everything for the game). The minis in the box are fine, they...are board game quality, nothing amazing but it's very obvious by ship profile and color which is which, and they all look like they're supposed to.

The federation fights defensively and had advantages to doing the cultural conquest, the Romulans start with stealth tech and just dip out of battles they don't like, Klingons are pure aggression, they can build bigger fleets and always do damage on a 6 result, so you just, eh, swarm.
The expansions are all excellent, but I haven't been able to get the Andorians or Vulcans on the table yet. Ferengi play exactly how you think they would, you can set up trades with other players which gives you a set amount of resources each, but ferengi always get a little more, and Ferengi can buy victory points, which nobody else can. They also get free resources go being in orbit (but not attacking) other rival planets, so basically, you go the peacemaker route, and both of you get rich(but you get richer, heh heh heh heh) The Cardassians start with more actions and most of their technology is based around invading planets, sneaking ships behind enemy lines and generally doing cardie poo poo, and as I said I haven't played with the Vulks or Andorians yet.

Technology is insane - you WILL be upgrading technology cards which cost research alongside your weapons and shields. It's very possible to upgrade your guys to the point where you can't be harmed by weaker cultures, with the Klingons being the outlier here, they always get a kill on a 6, but that's still a losing strategy for you. Research tech cards can also give you more warp tokens or more actions per turn, so you basically can't neglect any of it. You need culture to buy victory points (fleets are limited by victory points and a bunch of other stuff, victory points more or less more akin to advancing an "age" in "age of empires") and you need research get more actions, stay competitive with people, etc and minerals to trade, build more poo poo, etc. Vulcans play 4D chess starting with three victory tokens but needing ten and have to pull off secret agendas while everyone else needs five VP or to conquer three homeworlds (and hold them until the end of the round.

And there's the borg expansion - the borg's transwarp hub is placed in the center, they draw initiative like everyone else, and they explore like everyone else. Borg follow the commands of an AI deck, players are not playing them, and when you fight them the borg get +1 to their shields, eventually becoming invincible if you dont kill them quickly. They also heal and destroy colonies, every four turns after taking yours their colony produces another borg cube to make your life loving miserable, so it's in everyone's interests to put aside all rivalries and kill the borg asap. Also, the people who kill the cube basically pop open a pinata of free advancements and resources, so there's a bigger motivation.

tl;dr: This is unironically the actual, literal, no-holds-barred, BEST star trek game ever made, it's a damned fine 4X game in its own right, but if you're playing with a handful of star trek fans it's objectively the bestest Star Trek game ever. You will have an enormous amount of fun, smile at all the references, chuckle at the theme/lore appropriate flavor text and abilities you get for each faction, etc. The Klingons have an advancement where you can, instead of rolling, suicide your own ships and kill as many ships of the enemy's as you suicide. Prepare for ramming speed, indeed.

The fact they're adding the Breen and the Dominion War is pretty interesting, although the DW seems to be like the borg, an AI faction so I can imagine that if you want the game to be reasonable, you'll have to pick and choose. Also weird they didn't announce tholians yet since there's a card that references the tholians as a player (immune to a fire planet's hazard).

And after all that is said and done, there's a massive modding community with tons of home-brewed factions with every Star Trek race you can concieve, probably even Pakleds if you hate yourself hard enough. Truly, one of the best and most based games ever made

TheDiceMustRoll fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Jun 12, 2022

FirstAidKite
Nov 8, 2009
Something else worth noting about the EXIT games is that there are also a few puzzle books.



However, I'm not sure how many, if any, are available in English, nor do I know how much they go in on component destruction compared to regular EXIT, and I'm also not sure if there are any plans to localize them at all anyway.

Thames and Kosmos also have the unrelated Adventure Games which are more akin to playing through a point & click adventure game. You pick a character at the start and some actions/interactions/reactions are dependent on the character chosen. These titles still have a kind of escape game vibe but giver a greater focus to the story and having puzzles that are more in line with what you'd expect from a reasonable adventure game (ie not asking you to do anything like the infamous gabriel knight cat hair mustache puzzle). The only thing I'm not really a fan of with the Adventure Games line of stuff is that you have health and if anyone dies then the whole game is lost and you're expected to start over from the beginning or wherever you had your last checkpoint (each of the games is broken into 3 distinct play sessions). They also have a points system based on any hidden things you find, more of an actual storyline to follow compared to the EXIT games, and the games have multiple endings to encourage some kind of replayability. Also, unlike EXIT, they do not require you to destroy any components. They're an interesting thing and probably worth looking into if you spot any of them for cheap, if only to try them out and see if they're your cup of tea.

Radioactive Toy
Sep 14, 2005

Nothing has ever happened here, nothing.
I was able to get Three Kingdoms Redux to the table for the first time last night. I really appreciate a game with a strict player count, as balance, even with asymmetry, seemed very tight. The decision space for the game seems pretty high, so it probably wasn't smart to play our learning game starting after 9pm. The interplay between bidding on spaces, each general having different stats and special abilities, cards with special abilities, and needing to compete for points on 8 different fronts makes the game extremely brain burny. I can definitely see this game rewarding a few plays in quick succession.

In the end I think??? I had fun playing it but it was hard to tell. It's definitely a good game but the group needs to all be in the right mood.

Fate Accomplice
Nov 30, 2006




I played Alchemists for the first and hopefully only time yesterday after owning it for years.

Cumbersome deduction mechanism, bland worker placement, required app usage, no thanks.

RandolphCarter
Jul 30, 2005


I got Jaws of the Lion free because of Targets buy 2 get 1 free today. Never played Gloomhaven, but the couple videos I watched way back when made it look interesting, so free smaller version was a no brainer. For solo play is one handed ok, or should I play two characters?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Azran
Sep 3, 2012

And what should one do to be remembered?
Can't play with a single character so solo is two characters at the very minimum

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply