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Pryce posted:Beyond the Sun? I love it, but I’m also a sucker for any sort of tech tree in any game. And the expansion should be showing up just about any day now. Rio Grande's March 18th newsletter said it's set to arrive by the end of the month.
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Mar 27, 2023 17:02
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Rockman Reserve posted:….what kind of magic custom pens are they? The only real erasable ink stuff that’s common right now is wet and dry erase (duh) and FriXion/Rocketbook type stuff. Dunno about Twilight Inscryption, but I love the Staedtler non-permanent (water based) markers. They're even available in fine tips. They'll write on plastic and wipe cleanly off with a damp paper towel, but won't smudge with handling in the meantime.
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Mar 27, 2023 19:53
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Twilight Inscription uses chalk(?) markers I think. I dunno about magic but having player it they leave very durable marks that definitely need a bit of vigorous paper towel scrubbing to remove. I'm pretty sure you can get other markers like that but they're definitely not typical dry erase stuff.
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Mar 27, 2023 20:36
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Southern Heel posted:What was that tech-tree boardgame that came out recently? Was it any good? BTS is great and has a nice racing tempo. I've only played it on BGA, however, so can't speak as to setup time since some of those tech flips might be onerous.
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Mar 27, 2023 21:15
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OTB play isn't too bad, but the tech board is big so it's actually a decent table hog. Especially if you use the tech tableau option.
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Mar 27, 2023 22:33
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Ah, maybe not for me then - half my time boardgaming is at home with a partner who cares very little for thematic games, and the other half is at a pub where space is quite limited. We did get Hexago on the table, which was very fun:
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Mar 28, 2023 08:31
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Got to play Hameln Cave last night after our Arkham Horror LCG session went sideways. I know there's an English version coming later this year (as Sail) but I'm glad I have the original version since I like the aesthetic a little better and the new one is adding a bunch of cardboard bits that don't seem strictly necessary (technically I guess they add a little bit of replayability, but at the cost of making it a little more annoying to set up/put away). It's a 2 play co-op trick taking game where you're trying to pilot a boat out of a collapsing & haunted cave, who wins the trick and what cards were played determines what happens (boat moves and in which direction, fight ghosts, etc), also has a variety of different characters to play as, each with a unique ability. We barely pulled off a win (on the easiest difficulty) but had a lot of fun with it! 
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Mar 28, 2023 12:59
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With Eldritch Horror, Brass:Lancashire and War of the Ring on ebay I'm on the lookout for suitable replacements. I don't want to backfill them with games which are too simple that are completely boring. Since Pandemic (2.6) and The King is Dead (2.2) are games which have been a distinct hit and so I'm looking to set my expectations properly for weight Concordia (3.0) (I want to avoid Catan) Castles of Burgundy (2.9) or maybe Troyes (3.4)? Great Western Trail (3.7) (maybe too complex?) Wingspan (2.4) (I have reservations about luck and theme) Star Realms (1.9) (have RFTG (3.0) but it's a hard teach) Ticket to Ride: Europe (1.9) (too simple and maybe wrong variant for primarily 2p?) Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 14:57 on Mar 28, 2023 |
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Mar 28, 2023 13:50
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If RftG is too complex a teach do not get GWT. A 2p teaching game is at the very least 2 hours long and all the information is frontloaded. I can teach Concordia twice in the time it takes me to explain GWT once. All the others are solid. I recommend Pan Am if you don't want to get TtR because it's too simple.
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Mar 28, 2023 15:08
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Southern Heel posted:With Eldritch Horror, Brass:Lancashire and War of the Ring on ebay I'm on the lookout for suitable replacements. I don't want to backfill them with games which are too simple that are completely boring. For all the whining (including mine) about luck in Wingspan, it can be smoothed out by removing a small handful,of bird cards (2-4), and if you get the Oceania expansion (which you should) it dilutes the bird pool so much that you don't even really need to take them out and just have to put out with some bitching from the peanut gallery on the off chance someone gets one and does so early. As to theme, I can't help you there; I find it the least objectionable part of the game. (I do find it to be a relatively shallow engine builder that showed me everything it had the first few times I played each expansion.) Concordia, especially the Venus version (be careful and buy the base Concordia Venus and not the Venus expansion for the base game), is a top game and per my BGG stats the second-most-played game of mine last year. It has nothing to do with Catan. The teach is easy. I think 3.0 is too heavy for it. I've never played Troyes, but as to Castles of Burgundy: a fine Euro, sort of scratches the same itch as Catan. 2.9 is orobably too high a complexity rating for it. The game's greatest weakness (other than it being a point salad) is that the 2019 version came with difficult to interpret buildings. There's a trick to understanding what every building/structure does (e.g., castles look like a die because they give you an extra wild die to use), but until everyone internalizes that they'll be squinting at the quick reference cards. Also, you'll need to print off a one-page guide from BGG for the monasteries and look them up when they come out unless you like flipping through the rulebook. Still a fun game in spite of these issues. Great Western Trail is a great game, I think, but if you're ditching Brass:Lancashire for complexity reasons you'll want to skip over it. I think GWT is about as difficult to teach as B:L (and more difficult than B:B), the rulebook is nigh-incomprehensible when you're trying to find a rule (I missed an important rule, that you can start anywhere you want, the first three times I played), and the iconography can get a little puzzling for new players. Plus point salad. Pan Am is a good suggestion to replace TTR on your list, I think. A little (but not much!) heavier and more directly contentious. Plays pretty open at 2P and more tightly at 3P/4P. Not the sort of high quality you'd expect from the people who make Funko Pops but IIRC it had some of the Lords of Waterdeep design crew in on it.
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Mar 28, 2023 15:52
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If they like the interaction of The King is Dead, a Knizia could be a great followup. Ra and Modern Art in particular are around that weight and fantastic. Although, if you're worried about luck I'd go Modern Art over Ra. Highlighting interaction again, they might enjoy Chinatown or Bohnanza if you think they'd dig trading. They'd probably like how cutthroat Keyflower is too, although it's not the easiest initial teach (I find it soars pretty immediately after that though). Space Alert is still incredible and a fine co-op follow up to Pandemic. If you're looking for more complexity Caylus and the just reprinted Russian Railroads (under Ultimate Railroads) are top tier worker placement. Concordia is a fine game, but again if your group likes a lot of interaction, maybe check out Hansa Teutonica too. Anyway there are many more but those are games I rate 8+ on BGG that are readily available. e: if you're playing a lot of 2-3p, Dominion + Seaside/Prosperity expansion is still hard to beat. Wouldn't rec if you're mainly at 4p though. Most of the above games are best at around 4p. T-Bone fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Mar 28, 2023 |
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Mar 28, 2023 15:52
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Southern Heel posted:With Eldritch Horror, Brass:Lancashire and War of the Ring on ebay I'm on the lookout for suitable replacements. I don't want to backfill them with games which are too simple that are completely boring. You can pick up wingspan Asia as a stand alone 2p for cheaper than the main game, but despite goon misgivings (and legit foundational issues) it’s an absolute best seller trend setting game for a reason. Scanned the post history and didn’t see mention of Azul, it’s as elegant a design as they come and complex in different ways at 2 vs 5. Have yet to see a single person bounce off the design. GWT is definitely too complex at this time given your concerns, I would consider Quacks of Quedlinburg as it has a bag builder component that’s as/more satisfying as GWTs deck building.
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Mar 28, 2023 15:55
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Thank you for the indepth responses. 90% of my boardgaming is duo, though I do have a couple of family members who occasionally get involved and a bimonthly meet-up with a work boardgame group. I want to orient mostly towards "Best a 2p" games. To be clear on what I've understood so far: - Concordia Venus can be played 2p with the same kind of mechanisms at the original but already compatible and without the need to buy the expansions, but also works at 3p/4p? - Wingspan: Asia for 2p is suitable fill-in for the full-fat game. - Russian Railroads: I hear/read that this is basically a worker placement "numbers go up" game with basically nothing beyond a very superficial theme? - Pan Am is a slightly more crunchy than TTR and is fine at both 2p and above?
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Mar 28, 2023 16:06
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I like Pan Am but I've never played it at 2. It gets lumped in with TTR a lot, but honestly it has enough going on that it's a very different game in practice.
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Mar 28, 2023 16:10
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Southern Heel posted:
I quite like RR and cannot dispute this description in any way.
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Mar 28, 2023 16:19
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Southern Heel posted:- Concordia Venus can be played 2p with the same kind of mechanisms at the original but already compatible and without the need to buy the expansions, but also works at 3p/4p? I love Concordia and play it 2p a reasonable amount. The standalone Venus version includes a map that plays well at 2, but the rest of the included maps are suited for more players. There are expansion maps available that play well at 2p, and you would need them for base Concordia (non-Venus version), while you can get away with the 2p map in Venus until you decide if you want another 2p map. I wouldn't bother with star realms at this point, it was fine for when it came out but I think there are many better options available now. I also have been enjoying a lot of Res Arcana this past year, same designer as RftG, probably an easier teach I think. Scratches a similar itch of trying to make the most out of what cards you get. Plays great at 2 but can play up to 4, more with expansions. Viper915 fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Mar 28, 2023 |
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Mar 28, 2023 16:34
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Yeah it's very much worker placement with tracks, although with you considering Concordia/CoB, I didn't think you cared too much about theme. RR is supposed to be best at 2 actually (at least it's considered so by the competitive community). If you're mainly 2p (which I don't do a lot of outside of wargaming so my recs aren't going to be great), I can't recommend Dominion enough. It is something of a money sink with the endless expansions, but man are they still killing it with the design. The newer expansions are better than ever and DxV has been going through and updating the older content so it's a perfect time to jump in really if deck building interests you at all.
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Mar 28, 2023 16:40
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Southern Heel posted:Thank you for the indepth responses. 90% of my boardgaming is duo, though I do have a couple of family members who occasionally get involved and a bimonthly meet-up with a work boardgame group. I want to orient mostly towards "Best a 2p" games. To be clear on what I've understood so far: Concordia Venus comes with maps that can play any number from 2 to 6 out of the box. (For 2, you take the Ionium map and don't populate the cities in Italy -- "Ionium mini".) You can also get 2P-specific add-on maps that each add new unique rules for the map. BGG forums have "Heat Maps" that show how "tight" each map is at each player count. (Theoretically, you could play 2P on the 6P Cyprus map, but there would be almost no conflict.) Finally, base Concordia only comes with maps that play 4-5 so if you go for Concordia, (which I think you should) get the Venus set; it's the price of base Concordia + a 2P map. I own but haven't played the Wingspan:Asia set, but have played with the Asia birds in regular Wingspan ( they're compatible). There were no "totally bullshit" birds that I remember from this, so the luck complaint is mellowed a bit. Pam Am plays 2-4 and is fine at any number. It's more chill at 2P than at 3-4P. There's more contention for spots as there's a greater number of pawns hunting for spaces on tracks above 2P, and you have to wait longer to replace if you get knocked off an auction track by a higher bid. There's definitely less luck involved in Pan Am than TTR; random events happen at the beginning of each round, allowing players to react to them and the shift in the stock price (the person who's bought the most Pan Am stock wins) as well as announcing how many times Pan Am will randomly expand and potentially take over routes at the end of the round. There's some luck, but not like drawing randomly and hoping you get a green boxcar so you can finally complete your segment. Edit: T-Bone posted:If you're mainly 2p (which I don't do a lot of outside of wargaming so my recs aren't going to be great), I can't recommend Dominion enough. It is something of a money sink with the endless expansions, but man are they still killing it with the design. The newer expansions are better than ever and DxV has been going through and updating the older content so it's a perfect time to jump in really if deck building interests you at all. Admiralty Flag fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Mar 28, 2023 |
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Mar 28, 2023 16:48
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Not sure I can justify £90+ for Ultimate Railroads, so I have gone for Concordia Venus and Troyes for now, and pivot to Pan Am or UR depending on development
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Mar 28, 2023 17:10
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Too Many Scrolls is live, let’s goooooo https://youtu.be/UKy_Xs0sttk https://gamefound.com/projects/chip-theory-games/the-elder-scrolls#/
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Mar 28, 2023 17:20
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Southern Heel posted:Not sure I can justify £90+ for Ultimate Railroads, so I have gone for Concordia Venus and Troyes for now, and pivot to Pan Am or UR depending on development my troyes advice: spending to reroll leads to sadness. the flip will never fail you
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Mar 28, 2023 17:24
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While we’re talking about deckbuilders, has anyone played Core Worlds? I have enjoyed Dominion when I played it but it is a little light on presentation for me, and conversely I also did enjoy my time with Ascension but it’s kind of a stupid game.
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Mar 28, 2023 18:34
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PRADA SLUT posted:Too Many Scrolls is live, let’s goooooo As someone with Too Much Too Many Bones content, this game does seem to fix a lot of the issues I have with TMB. Namely, cool abilities get refreshed during combat now instead of being once per ENTIRE COMBAT which was incredibly lame. The other issue this seems to fix is the small 4x4 grid making combat a war of attrition as you stand in a single place wailing on each other. It's too bad the Elder Scrolls generic fantasy world does nothing for me.
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Mar 28, 2023 18:55
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So can someone convince me ultimate railroads is worth the money for a mostly 2P experience? Would it work on a pub table for a group or is it a quiet dining-room event?
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Mar 28, 2023 19:12
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Southern Heel posted:So can someone convince me ultimate railroads is worth the money for a mostly 2P experience? Would it work on a pub table for a group or is it a quiet dining-room event? The game is available on BGA (with all of the expansions). You could try playing it there.
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Mar 28, 2023 19:34
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Anonymous Robot posted:While we’re talking about deckbuilders, has anyone played Core Worlds? I have enjoyed Dominion when I played it but it is a little light on presentation for me, and conversely I also did enjoy my time with Ascension but it’s kind of a stupid game. Core Worlds has some neat ideas but regularly overstays its welcome. It’s about an hour too long in my experience and really didn’t work well without the expansion that adds the guild cards. I would steer clear.
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Mar 28, 2023 20:38
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OmegaGoo posted:Core Worlds has some neat ideas but regularly overstays its welcome. It’s about an hour too long in my experience and really didn’t work well without the expansion that adds the guild cards. Good looking out, my usual group runs long on playtime so that would be tough.
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Mar 28, 2023 20:47
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PRADA SLUT posted:Too Many Scrolls is live, let’s goooooo Cautiously optimistic about this game but not interested in backing without watching some actual gameplay first. Hopefully videos are coming.
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Mar 28, 2023 21:37
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My campaign of MHW is steadily going on. Managed to get upgraded weapons for both the Gunlance and the Hammer but I'm still kind of struggling to take out Great Jagras before I run out of time, although my hunters aren't going down. It has a special move that it gains one health if it does any damage, which makes it last surprisingly long, especially when you are fighting the tier 2 version of Great Jagras. Also tried to fight a Tobi-Kadachi, and I managed to kill it without too much trouble. I was a bit worried that after fighting Great Jagras and Kulu-Ya-Ku, that the monsters would feel a bit too much alike in terms of fighting them (just have one hunter at the front and one at the rear so overlap of attacks is mitigated), but Tobi has a special rule that makes it zoom to a rock (meant to represent it climbing up trees in the videogame), and that makes it a lot more flippy and annoying to deal with. As well as that, the dodge values of the Tobi are a lot higher than the Great Jagras, but damage is overall lower and since the Tobi doesn't regain health when it deals damage, just tanking the hits instead of dodging can be a good proposition. The only way to dodge better is to upgrade your cards, and you can only do that by upgrading your weapon, which is kind of weird but works within the context of the game. Overall I like how the campaign is trucking along and how the weapons work. I really like the Hammer and a bit more "eh" about the Gunlance, but both are relatively fun to play.
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Mar 28, 2023 21:53
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Anonymous Robot posted:While we’re talking about deckbuilders, has anyone played Core Worlds? I have enjoyed Dominion when I played it but it is a little light on presentation for me, and conversely I also did enjoy my time with Ascension but it’s kind of a stupid game. After my first and only play of Core Worlds it was dubbed "Ascension with strategy", the very faintest of praise with which a deckbuilder can be damned.
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Mar 28, 2023 23:00
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What’s a deckbuilder with a little more thematic flavor than Dominion, in that case?
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Mar 28, 2023 23:07
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Anonymous Robot posted:What’s a deckbuilder with a little more thematic flavor than Dominion, in that case? Great Western Trail  Also, El Dorado. And that one where you use your deck to fight boss battles that I forget the name of.
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Mar 28, 2023 23:42
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“deckbuilder” + “thematic” doesn’t often lend itself well to well-designed games - the most prominent ones I can think of from the deckbuilder boom are somewhat middling titles like rune age, resident evil, and star realms, with the clank! series being a more modern example. recently games like great western trail, dune imperium, and lost ruins of arnak have incorporated deckbuilding elements into their hodgepodge designs to entertaining end. for games that are predominantly deckbuilding, I’d recommend: - Valley of the Kings, which features a tiered, cascading market row that I’m surprised isn’t used in more games, and the conceit that in order to score victory points for cards, they must be entombed (removed from your deck entirely, somewhat similar to exiling in dominion) - March of the Ants, which incorporates an area control element and has a bit of an Evolution feel - The Quest for El Dorado, and its standalone expansion The Golden Temples, which are fixed-market (with tiered decks) racing games, playable by themselves or combined into one supergame. goonmind sentiment thinks golden temples is better than the original.
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Mar 28, 2023 23:54
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Anonymous Robot posted:What’s a deckbuilder with a little more thematic flavor than Dominion, in that case? Tyrants of the Underdark or its reprinted version are I think the best option for that. I'm not a big fan of deckbuilding, but it's a really solid game and a lot more interactive than most since a significant part of the game is area control/majority.
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Mar 29, 2023 00:16
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I have been playing Aeons End: a New Age recently with my son and I think it's good! I reckon Quest for El Dorado is excellent and probably the best deckbuilder/thematic experience because it has actual interaction and the race-like nature of most deckbuilders is even more emphasised by the journey on the map, but Aeons End is maybe becoming my second favourite deckbuilder as a 2p co-op experience. AE: a new age has a pseudo-legacy/campaign mechanic that can kind of be remixed and re-used after it's done which is pretty neat. It's really just a way of opening up content gradually in the game. But I found it pretty fun. It's a good alternative to stuff like Marvel Champions if you feel like deck building rather than deck construction. You can just kind of jump in. Valley of the Kings is also great but it's pretty dry. Thematic mechanics, yeah, but I don't really feel like I'm building a tomb or whatever vs El Dorado where I do feel like it's a race through the jungle/water/villages to get to the temple, or Aeon's End where it does kind of feel like i'm firing off spells at a boss monster. Blamestorm fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Mar 29, 2023 |
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Mar 29, 2023 00:49
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I don't even know how long ago it was that I funded this Kickstarter but my copy of Beast showed up at my door today.  The game is gorgeous  Hogbad the fiery war pig is probably already my favourite beast  And it even comes with little prints of some of the box art  Anyways, hopefully it plays as good as it looks! Should be finding out next week at game night.
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Mar 29, 2023 01:04
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Hogbad sounds like the final boss in a d&d campaign run by tim buckley
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Mar 29, 2023 01:06
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My copy of Beast arrives Monday I think. Looking forward to it!
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Mar 29, 2023 01:10
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I'm unfortunately stuck in AU/NZ fulfilment hell with Beast. Cannot wait to play it. I initially backed it having never played any hidden movement games, and have since fallen in love with Mind MGMT, Whitehall, and Whitechapel and now I'm even more hyped.
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Mar 29, 2023 02:05
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socialsecurity posted:So I've been looking for a new in-person board game group, my current one only wants to meet for a few hours every few months now and we differ quite a bit on what we like to play (it took a year to get them to even try Railroad Ink once, I've brought Feast for Odin for 3+ years now and still no bites). I see a bunch of meet up groups locally, has anyone had luck with those? As much as I like playing board games the community is not the most pleasant at times. It is often best just to find a local group on Facebook or something and specifically mention the game you have/want to play. There is probably some other poor nerd out there looking for someone to jump in the same thing. I've got dozens in my Twilight Imperium group because I just outright stated that I was looking to commit warcrimes vs space-cats instead of trading turnips in 16th century Hamburg or whatever. Every boardgame group has a bunch of people that kind of hate the games they play and being open about what you want might get some interested folks. I have always found it better to just be straight up with what you're going to teach/play and then try to reach the proper headcount of people who are specifically interested in that game as opposed to general 'games night' where people are real wishy washy about what they play and will sulk about not getting into it. Like I really really really dislike multiplayer-solitaire type Euros and I feel like I have permanently got them out of my system but I can usually advertise some wild high concept backstab/murder fest that I'm into and get folks pretty enthused about it. The best game group are people who are enthused about the game you're actually gonna play. Mr. Grapes! fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Mar 29, 2023 |
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Mar 29, 2023 09:35
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