|
Cryptid is one of my favorite games, so when I saw the two-player spin-off game Cryptid: Urban Legends I had to grab it and give it a try. And it’s *weird*. There’s definitely a weird sort of cat and mouse feeling going on, where the Scientist is trying to corner and capture the Cryptid, and the mechanics are frankly pretty unique feeling…but in practice there’s just basically no actual decisions to be made during gameplay. There are five phases (sensor, hiding, victory, restrict, expand) and literally only the Sensor phase, where you and your opponent trade turns playing movement cards on sensors, has real choices involved. During the Hiding phase there’s generally only going to be one thing the Cryptid can say to either win or not get captured, so the choice is pretty illusory there. During the Restrict phase, the Scientist chooses to remove the left or right of the game board - but can’t remove a side that has presence from the Cryptid, whose win condition is to have presence on both the far left and far right side, so in practice this isn’t really a choice at all and it’s just removing whichever side is empty. Then, during the Expansion phase, the active player adds map tiles back to the board - but again, there’s no real choice involved. There’s only two types of map tiles: normal city blocks and mysterious city blocks, which have tiebreaker point chips on them. As Scientist, you want to put any mysterious blocks on the far side from any Cryptid presence (as you’ll automatically get that point next turn with absolutely nothing the Cryptid can do about it if it’s placed where it’s not diagonally adjacent to Presence). As the Cryptid you want the opposite, the mysterious block on a side you can grab for the points. So again, it’s not a real choice at all. The whole thing feels like a weird two-row semi-interactive version of Conway’s Game of Life rather than some deep strategic affair. It’s a shame, because for such a small form game the art and components are super nice, and the mechanics feel unique enough that there could be something there. But as presented it feels much shallower than it looks at first blush. I’m kind of wondering if removing the restriction during the Hiding phase that Presence can only be placed adjacent to existing Presence would swing things too far in the Cryptid’s direction. As it stands, the game seems pretty tilted in the Scientist’s favor just due to how the mysterious city blocks work.
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2022 17:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 02:43 |
|
|
Syenite posted:Anyone have more suggestions for light(ish) 2-4/3-5 player games that the OP may/may not mention? I picked up The Crew and Star Realms and those have both been hits with the group I play with, and there's a bunch of others in the OP that also look very interesting, but I'd like some personal recommendations to narrow things down a bit. We've also enjoyed heavier stuff like Arkham Horror, Moonrakers, and Clank, but that's definitely a more serious commitment for a group. Skull Downforce Deep Sea Adventure For Sale
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2022 21:48
|
|
|
Arboretum went over well with some friends recently. Simple to learn, brain burning decision making.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 02:11
|
|
|
I didn’t buy Pax Pamir 2E so my spouse could embarrass me every single time. I would like a refund* *so I can buy John Company 2E.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 02:14
|
|
|
Jewmanji posted:I didn’t buy Pax Pamir 2E so my spouse could embarrass me every single time. I would like a refund* Git gud or 
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 02:37
|
|
|
KingKapalone posted:Anyone played on a Jasper table from boardgametables.com? I posted this in the crowdfunding thread since we're talking about the Ironwood Kickstarter but thought I'd ask here. make the table. it will be heirloom quality real furniture if your friend is a woodworker and will be 1000x nicer than anything you buy that is shipped to you
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 04:11
|
|
|
Gaming tables always look real neat and in theory are cool but whenever I think about having to take off or put on individual leaves, I immediately get turned off from them. Especially since there's usually no storage so you just sorta prop them up against the wall or something.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 04:17
|
|
|
Morpheus posted:Gaming tables always look real neat and in theory are cool but whenever I think about having to take off or put on individual leaves, I immediately get turned off from them. Especially since there's usually no storage so you just sorta prop them up against the wall or something. agreed. mine is dedicated so i didnt make a topper. the whole point for me is the well which gives a slightly better viewing angle for dwarven forge type terrain than a standard tabletop height because it’s 3” lower. i still use dice trays and all that so a normal table would be fine if i didnt have it
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 04:21
|
|
|
This conversation reminded me about those fancy mahjongg tables that you shove the pieces into and they automatically shuffle them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOObykgZJLk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDNvqS9QPk Meanwhile street players show off why they don't need some big fancy table https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzcmCvOM2KY
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 06:29
|
|
|
You guys know some easy games that play 7? Currently I’ve just got secret hitler and 7 wonders, which isn’t a great offering (plenty of x+y equals 7 games though)
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 06:59
|
|
|
Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig! It plays 3-7 and turns are taken simultaneously, preventing a lot of down time. The game has been a succes whenever I take it to board game gatherings.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 07:07
|
|
|
Long Shot the Dice Game is probably best in class for lighter 7 player games that's not just a party game. Turns move quickly and everyone is constantly engaged and playing and it has actual interaction despite being a roll and write.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 07:07
|
|
|
6 nimmt, goes up to 10 even, though it's arguably best somewhere in the middle of its range. Rules light and surprisingly skill based for how random it can seem.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 07:18
|
|
|
No Thanks! And Wits & Wagers Vegas get a regular outing at 7 for us.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 07:38
|
|
|
Autodrop Monteur posted:Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig! This is also real good because new players have a buddy on each side of them to help them, and there's an ios app to score castles now which solves the major problem of the piece text being VERY TINY Cartographers works out of the box, and Railroad Ink is sold in paired sets where you probably end up buying both, which allows 8-12 depending on edition. Dixit is also good - all these are easy games. Steampunk Rally plays up to 8 no problem and again is simultaneous play, but is a little trickier. I've played 8 no problem though.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 07:44
|
|
|
Thanks, that’s plenty for tonight, and the flgs has most of em
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 07:45
|
|
|
Codenames: Duet works great with seven.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 09:49
|
|
|
Mysterium also plays seven. Another vote for Between Two Castles as well
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 10:10
|
|
|
FirstAidKite posted:This conversation reminded me about those fancy mahjongg tables that you shove the pieces into and they automatically shuffle them. Yeah it's my wife and my dream to someday own one of those things. We want a Riichi one though. ...prolly won't happen, but I can dream.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 12:03
|
|
|
The last semi-public play space I remember collapsing was arcades, and as sad as it was to watch them go, my personal MVC2 and Capcom vs SNK 2 controllers never have broken Up and Roundhouse buttons on the player 2 side that no one will ever bother fixing. I guess a contract system would be a good idea, but we sure didn't have one in the last go-around.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 16:50
|
|
|
Any of you play hexplore it? My copy arrived in the mail last week and I've been looking at the volume 1 stuff. Haven't opened the other volumes yet. Game is surprisingly compact. The binding on the books is bad though, they didn't use enough of a margin for the text so the text in some parts just goes all the way into the spine and if you try to spread the book more to read it, the weak binding breaks. This is particularly noticeable with the 2-page spread of the map where they didn't even print the full map so there's a center section cut out even if you laid the 2 pictures right next to each other flat. Some of the map text goes over that middle point so the text gets cut off, leading to stuff like Restwind Dale being turned into "Restw Dal." The actual game components are fine though, they look nice. Lots of big dry erase boards for the different classes and races. Lots of character customization. Probably gonna replace the dry erase markers with some wet erase ones though because I have an easier time with those. Or any kind of erasable marker with a fine tip, really.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2022 21:56
|
|
|
I got Dice Realms today, a game I originally balked at because of the price but the pull of Tom Lehmann drew me in. My wife and I adore all of his games that we've played, with Race/Roll for the Galaxy and Res Arcana being some of our most played games. I was hoping to be able to get a quick game in today before having things to do, but just sorting the pieces and creating the dice for the first game already took longer than a full game is expected to take! If people haven't seen it, it's a dice crafting game where you are able to upgrade sides of dice to do different things, which has shown up in a few different games. It also has a bit of Dominion in it, where each game you play with a random bank of tiles which can drastically alter the strategies available. The short playtime gives me hope that it will have some Race for the Galaxy tempo of engine building and deciding when to gun for the end, and like Race there are a few different endgame conditions. I knew going in that the actual components themselves felt very unflavorful and it is a bit disappointing, but I understand that they had some printing limitations for the die faces and couldn't do anything lavish. Planning on playing some tomorrow so I'll drop some impressions if I can!
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2022 22:09
|
|
|
I'm eagerly crossing my fingers that it gets an app because the bones are neat but the box size, price, and fiddliness kept me away.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2022 22:14
|
|
|
So after two years of waiting and delays due to pandemic and refining pieces, I finally got my copy of "They Live: Assault on Station 54" from Iconiq Studios. I'll post pictures, but holy poo poo is this game gorgeous. The theme of the game is similar to BSG, The Thing, Resistance, you can play as Roddy Piper and Keith David as well as other characters from the movie not named and others created for the game. I'm hoping I can round up some friends soon to play this and try it out. Anyone else here get a copy and already played it?
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2022 05:14
|
|
|
My teets group is driving me batty, we learned Red Rising last night and one of the players was complaining about his faction card being weak before we finished with the rules or had seen any other cards. C'mon son.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2022 06:12
|
|
|
Jiro posted:So after two years of waiting and delays due to pandemic and refining pieces, I finally got my copy of "They Live: Assault on Station 54" from Iconiq Studios. Nope, but as a big John Carpenter fan I'll look at your pictures. I'm on the mailing list for the upcoming Escape From New York boardgame, though.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2022 12:03
|
|
|
xiw posted:My teets group is driving me batty, we learned Red Rising last night and one of the players was complaining about his faction card being weak before we finished with the rules or had seen any other cards. C'mon son. Is it possible he's done some reading up of strategy online prior to the game and read someone's Internet Opinion™ that it's a weaker faction card? I had this a fair bit with a couple people I used to play games with occasionally during lockdown. They were super competitive even when we were doing learning games together, until me and one other person were just like "we just wanna shoot the poo poo and move (digital) cardboard around a table, please chill"... I say "until" but they never chilled. Some people are just hypercompetitive. They'd even complain they didn't like a game if they lost at it, and not want to play it again.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2022 20:21
|
|
|
I'll admit I'm one of those people who will dig into strategy discussion for basically any game but doing it before you even played the game once seems unhelpful
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2022 22:39
|
|
|
Spiteski posted:Is it possible he's done some reading up of strategy online prior to the game and read someone's Internet Opinion™ that it's a weaker faction card? I had this a fair bit with a couple people I used to play games with occasionally during lockdown. They were super competitive even when we were doing learning games together, until me and one other person were just like "we just wanna shoot the poo poo and move (digital) cardboard around a table, please chill"... I find these types a) never learn the rules themselves, b) always miss listening to something during rules explanation, and c) moan out a "you didn't explain thaaaat'" when they run face first into their missing knowledge like you intentionally torpedoed their entire strategy or something.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2022 23:51
|
|
|
Don't even get me started on the 'it's only cheating if you get caught' people. I don't want to memorize the board state before I take a piss come the gently caress on.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 00:14
|
|
|
Just got back from a game of Root with tons of expansions. We used the new Advanced Setup for only the second time, and Hirelings and Landmarks for the first time. We were all playing factions new to us. I was first player as Lizards versus Keepers in Iron (Badgers), Corvid Conspiracy (Crows), and Underground Duchy (Moles). It was on the Autumn map with standard clearing markers. The Hirelings were the The Bandit (demoted Vagabond), the Feline Physicians (demoted Marquis), and Highway Bandits (Porcupines on paths). The Landmark was the Legendary Forge. We used the Exiles and Partisans deck. First off, massive blunder on my part: I chucked 2 of 3 Bird cards in my opening 5 because I thought I would have to discard revealed Bird cards. That is not the case; the Moles have to do that, not the Lizards. Oof. On the plus side, going first with Lizards and AdSet means that I am guaranteed to crusade or convert twice on my first turn, because the outcast will become hated since an empty Lost Souls pile is empty. Picking the Lord of the Hundreds might have been the better choice, but I wanted to try the Lizards. Picking last meant my homeland was way in the northwest corner, which was not as nice since it meant that my Gardens mucking up Rule weren't usually messing with other faction's abilities to move. Still, I was quickly able to get to the Legendary Forge (in "Texas", the 5-pathed Fox clearing) and craft three items there for a lot of points. Soon, I had two of each garden amongst 4 clearings and was scoring rapidly and drawing 4 cards a turn. Then, the Badgers and Corvids teamed up to break through the Ambushes in hand to kick down my two Fox gardens there. The Moles then had the Bandit steal a card, so after the ambush and leaving me with one. Boy oh boy, do these Lizards need cards. I decided that if I could not win, the Moles would, since they had done the least ill to me, and maybe the others could stop them and I'd get my chance again. Well, I certainly couldn't stop the Moles anyway, and neither of my other opponents elected to, whether they could have or not. The moles one on their next turn: 30+ to 23(L) to 18(B) to 8(C) or so. My thoughts: The game was good. it was close in the first few rounds, the badgers got ahead, but they got outpaced by the lizards and moles. Part of me wonders if I could have played possum a little longer to not attract attention, but I basically just needed one turn and still couldn't really stop the Moles since I don't think I ever had 3 Acolytes. Getting ganged up on is part of the game, but that doesn't mean I can't be a little salty about it. AdSet is cool as hell. I cannot imagine going back unless everyone really has their hearts set on a specific faction matchup. I'm gonna join the chorus in saying that the E&P deck is way better than the original. I hope they design at least one more deck, though, for a little bit of variance. It was weird because the Badgers were tucking some cards and everyone was drawing so many cards, we had to reshuffle twice in a game that was probably only ten or 11 turns long. The Lizards are super weird. They felt like trees, static, even... rooted  . Since the Lizards can only move during a Crusade (which is a Consipracy which requires Acolytes), they are very torpid to move, which might be a little thematic. In this case, being out of the way meant gaining few Acolytes from fighting which meant few Crusades. I had hoped to use League of Adventurous Mice to overcome that but the suit was Fox for so darn long it came out one turn before my gardens were betrodden and my progress finished. Similarly, lots of crafted cards are just not useful to them, like Corvid Planners, since they don't move via anything that cares about rule (unless something else grants them the ability). The conspiracies felt quite powerful, and did not have the same movement restrictions, so I think you need to get in people's way more than I did. As I alluded to above, I think you need to pick them early for best results. Just two and a garden somewhere essential is going to be such a pain, which means they'll get murdered and make more acolytes. Getting my gardens Miracle-No'd was upsetting since it required two people to team up to do it, but I was in the lead by like 6 points at that point... then the Moles went, nearly caught up except they hadn't had their hand murdered. Multiple gardens in one place is cool but it must be well defended by at least 4 Lizards if not more. If the hated suit stays the same for a while, people will just avoid those clearings, so while it feels efficient, it can have a hidden cost. Also, being able to use a card for something and then craft it later is sick as hell and I never got tired of it. AdSet also gave them a big boost (starting with Acolytes) so that really greased the wheels. I am looking forward to playing them again.I've heard the Moles described as "someone has to go kick down their sandcastle" and that seemed true. They scored enough to win without ever having to pay the Price of Failure (where you lose your highest Swayed minister, which would have prevented them from appealing to the Earl of Stone for points). But they seem rad as heck. They nearly went for a Bird Dominance victory, but decided against it once they realized they could just score 6 or 7 points in a turn. The combination of the Burrow, the Dig rule and their strong recruiting ability is just sweet. I am dying to give them a try. I love the art for these guys probably most out of everything in the entire game, except maybe that one birb on Corvid Planners. I played the Corvids before, and again no one (except me) was trying Exposure. I felt good to no-scope the first one they tried to plant in my territory. People set off SO many Raids, and never learned to consider Exposuring it so we would stop drowning in frigging birds. There was a Snare with like 8 Warriors in it, but none of us could stop rolling 0-0 to kill the one bird and his plot. I don't know why this player wasn't crafting more: there was no Vagabond; it was just free Hirelings were cool. The swing on gaining Hirelings for 4 turns as opposed to 2 or 1 is pretty big. The Bandit was very cool, giving a way to interact with both Ruins and the Crafted Item box. The Feline Physicians was very annoying in the hands of the Corvids, since the tough part about getting plots out is to also have one crow remaining to actually fire the trap off. They were incredibly pointless in my hands, so recognizing that asymmetry might be key. The Highway Bandits were basically just roadblocks; very few people moved through them except when the Badgers ran back and forth through them for free warriors. The Landmarks are very situational, very much a little 'spice' to sprinkle on, but it was interesting. I was the only person to interact with the Forge at all. These are not what you rely on to change your games of Root as far as I can tell, but will offer a tiny bit of mystery and silliness. I still have absolutely zero idea how the Badgers work. In short, Root owns. Play Root.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 00:33
|
|
|
So far I love landmarks and I’m indifferent to negative on hirelings, esp at 4 players. New factions are great.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 00:35
|
|
|
Bottom Liner posted:So far I love landmarks and I’m indifferent to negative on hirelings, esp at 4 players. New factions are great. Which Hirelings have you tried? I've heard they can be a mixed bag.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 00:37
|
|
|
I'm gonna play root some day and you better believe I'm gonna win. That game box scraped me up something nasty. The last time a board game cut me up it was Monopoly. Not gonna let Cole get away with making me scrape my wrist and bleed my own blood lmao
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 00:52
|
|
|
FirstAidKite posted:I'm gonna play root some day and you better believe I'm gonna win. Wait... the real question here is, how on earth did Monopoly cut you up? Did you jump on the battleship piece, or something?
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 01:27
|
|
|
FirstAidKite posted:I'm gonna play root some day and you better believe I'm gonna win. I'm gonna give an alternate view of Root: I played it today, expecting to like it but it wasn't doing anything for me. I played Cats and had a lot of warriors on the board but they ended up doing gently caress all. So I got behind. With most games, if you really want to stop someone you can put a dent in their lead. But I was basically helpless the whole time. There was a crafting mechanic that hardly did anything, I didn't really care what was in my hand 95% of the time. The field hospital mechanic of the cats is just terrible. Maybe I would have had more fun with another animal but they looked tedious to play. Played Agricola, we liked that. Wanted to play something with a lot of players, like Nemesis, but 2 people bailed within hours of the event. Some people might be turned off at coming to my house to play if they don't know me.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 01:34
|
|
|
root can be very fun but it's way too easy to have a bad time playing it the base game isn't that fair either, cats are pointed out as the newbie faction while they're imo the weakest of the 4 base factions, and it's not even close (especially in games with new players where the vagabond runs amok, the woodland alliance spreads sympathy everywhere, and the eyrie builds up a 12 action board while everyone kicks the cats because they're by far the most visible at the start) I like it a lot but I exclusively pull it out for super finetuned games so I know people will have fun with it. just playing it out of the box with other newbies was a horrible experience
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 01:38
|
|
|
After playing Root today, I'm starting to lean towards Euro style games more. It feels bad when you roll 2 0's in a row or you're fighting the revolutionaries, you roll a 3, they roll a 0, and you swap the numbers. If you get hosed by rng in a game like Nemesis, at least it somewhat fits with the horror theme.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 01:50
|
|
|
The thing about Root is knowing well what gives each faction its points. It's easy to fall into a "dudes all over the map, fight anyone in your way" mode of thinking but alone that's not normally enough to get you where you need to go to win before anyone else does. Cats for example get the most points from building stuff. Not owning, not using, not defending, but BUILDING. And some factions "run themselves" easier than others, so if no one gums up the works, they'll coast to victory.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 01:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 02:43 |
|
|
I knew I had to build but I needed places to build in. There were entire turns where I devoted myself to getting space against just one opponent and I would completely fail. Revolutionaries would blow up one of my spots just at the beginning of their turn and the birds would push lots of warriors and gently caress my poo poo up.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 02:05
|
|