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Funny, I picked up Brass Birmingham last weekend based on its reputation alone and played it on Sunday with 3 other clueless rookies. The first game of course is a wash as we tried our damnedest to get the rules right, but it was incredibly interesting. Truth be told I didn't get that rush of 'holy poo poo this game slaps' that I got from some games I love like Gaia Project but I can see that once we grasp the broad strategy and tactics it can grow into that. It feels like the kind of game you need an old hand to guide you through (funnily, like TM and its derivatives including GP). I thumbed through some strategy posts on bgg and had a couple eureka moments.
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May 16, 2023 19:18
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FulsomFrank posted:Is the Steam version of Brass:Birm any good? The mixed rating has me spooked and the implementations can be VERY hit or miss. If my dog knew the rules of Brum, she could beat the Steam AI, and my dog is not very bright as canines go. I did find single player useful to teach myself the game so I could go to the table and not make a fool out of myself. I've not played multiplayer with it, but one of the folks I play with says there are major synching problems and platform crashes. IIRC, players occasionally have to exit and reenter the game to refresh the game state. And of course, improvements are unlikely because where's the money for that?
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May 16, 2023 19:19
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SettingSun posted:Funny, I picked up Brass Birmingham last weekend based on its reputation alone and played it on Sunday with 3 other clueless rookies. The first game of course is a wash as we tried our damnedest to get the rules right, but it was incredibly interesting. Truth be told I didn't get that rush of 'holy poo poo this game slaps' that I got from some games I love like Gaia Project but I can see that once we grasp the broad strategy and tactics it can grow into that. It feels like the kind of game you need an old hand to guide you through (funnily, like TM and its derivatives including GP). I thumbed through some strategy posts on bgg and had a couple eureka moments. I'm glad you tried Brass. I can see how coming into it with four newbies it might take a couple of games to get past the learning curve and move from "How does getting coal to my level 2 cotton mill work again? Does it have to use my links or can it use anyone's links?" to focusing more on tactics and strategy. It's my belief that if you keep at it you'll be richly rewarded. It's #1 for a reason! You might want to watch Rodney Smith's video on Brass:Birmingham. After one play, it should correct any rules mishaps you've started to internalize as well as ensure you know the corner cases. (E.g., IIRC he covers both types of overbuilds, which I found surprising.) I really enjoy watching his videos because of production quality, thoroughness, and pacing -- he throws a lot at you but it's organized and not just spewed. Those eureka moments are something, but even better is when you get to put them into play on the board. At that weekend meetup I mentioned, we finished early and stopped by the advanced players' board to see how they were doing -- a 3P game. I saw that one player literally hadn't played any coal or iron well into the rail era, and the market was up to £5 for iron and £6 or £7 for coal. I didn't say anything, but wondered if it might actually happen. I talked to one of the players that night, and sure enough, he had lost the game because the third player had overbuilt one of the second player's iron works with a L4 iron works -- the market was completely dry and there were no cubes on the map, so it was the rare situation where he could do that. That point swing was enough to tip the close game.
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May 16, 2023 19:34
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Right it was some things that only really made sense after we played the first game, and in hindsight. A big one was undervaluing Developing in the canal era. No one did it and thus there were maybe 2 industries surviving the board into the rail era, and a ton of extant iron lying around. 'Of course, if you build a II or better industry during canal you can score it twice!' That one is even in the tips on the back of the rulebook. And severely undervaluing Breweries. You need them to sell, who knew?
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May 16, 2023 19:50
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SettingSun posted:Right it was some things that only really made sense after we played the first game, and in hindsight. A big one was undervaluing Developing in the canal era. No one did it and thus there were maybe 2 industries surviving the board into the rail era, and a ton of extant iron lying around. 'Of course, if you build a II or better industry during canal you can score it twice!' That one is even in the tips on the back of the rulebook. And severely undervaluing Breweries. You need them to sell, who knew? Just a couple of things and I'll shut up about Brass. Coal is the one exception to developing away most of the time. Level 1 only produces two chunks of coal, and if you build in the right spot, they'll get used in the canal era or just go straight into the market. In fact, if I can, I'll often build L1 coal in Coalbrookdale with the intention of overbuilding it in the Canal era once it's exhausted -- it's only 1 VP, and that coal will go fast in the Rail era, paying off my loans. Staging yourself for the Rail era is possibly the most important thing you can do in the game. Optimally, you'd have a lot of money (e.g., spend your last Canal era turn taking two loans), high turn order (which two loans will get you), cached coal (like above), and presence to build two high-value links (like Coalbrookdale). Your first turn can then be build brewery (hope you have the cards for it! Or build it at the end of Canal) and then double rail.
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May 16, 2023 21:38
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anyone have any opinions on wolfgang kramer’s Big Boss? just saw that funko is putting out a new edition with good production values at a low price point. worth the grab?
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May 17, 2023 01:31
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panko posted:anyone have any opinions on wolfgang kramer’s Big Boss? just saw that funko is putting out a new edition with good production values at a low price point. worth the grab? In my opinion, it’s just okay. Impressive ideas for the time it was released, but it isn’t a classic that holds up to the test of time.
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May 17, 2023 02:22
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Hey thread, what's the deal with Terraforming Mars and Wingspan? They constantly show up in lists and reviews of games that are good for people getting into the hobby and for playing solo, and are literally the two games suggested by the guy at my FLGS. From reading this thread I got the feeling that there's something slightly broken or off about these games which makes them not as fun or interesting as their popularity implies. If I hadn't got that feeling I definitely would have bought one (or both) of these games since the themes appeal to me.
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May 17, 2023 16:05
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Wingspan is pretty but mediocre all around without much strategic depth. It's pleasant enough and the theme and presentation can do wonders for getting casual or non-gamers interested in a board game. I hear positive things about the expansions with regards to fleshing out the competitive game but others will have to fill you in on those. TfM has a great theme but the presentation is garbage and the game has a lot of flaws that fans of it overlook or play around. It's a big game that gives you a ton of toys to play with and that's what players like. They get to do a lot of stuff and have 30 cards with a million interactions on the table and play for 5+ hours while ignoring the endgame triggers. Played competitively, it falls apart under the giant deck of cards that can handicap players or hand them a win arbitrarily. TfM Ares Expedition is much better in design and presentation. It's a standalone game that uses 90% of the mechanics of one of the all time great games (Race for the Galaxy), it plays much faster, and has good quality cards, art, etc. Also much cheaper. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 16:31 on May 17, 2023 |
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May 17, 2023 16:22
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XenoCrab posted:Hey thread, what's the deal with Terraforming Mars and Wingspan? They constantly show up in lists and reviews of games that are good for people getting into the hobby and for playing solo, and are literally the two games suggested by the guy at my FLGS. From reading this thread I got the feeling that there's something slightly broken or off about these games which makes them not as fun or interesting as their popularity implies. If I hadn't got that feeling I definitely would have bought one (or both) of these games since the themes appeal to me. The games are both fine - TfM is a tableau builder where the strategies are somewhat "obvious" right out of the gate. "Oh, I get points for Jupiter tags, so I'm gonna look for those." However, like a lot of single-deck card games, some of the cards are great for every strategy and some are just duds and there's a lot of luck of the draw. You can add drafting to mitigate that (and many groups do). There's also the factor that, since a lot of the points come from playing more cards, the best strategy in the game "Terraforming Mars" is often to not terraform Mars, but to continue the game as long as possible. That being said, it's an interesting game, and probably worth playing, but also (in my opinion) overrated. With Wingspan, it's mechanically a decent enough game and has at least a few interesting decisions to make while playing, but towards the end, the easiest way to score VPs in bulk is just lay eggs constantly. The cards are pretty and you learn fun stuff about birds while you play, and it's reasonably accessible. It does seem to run long compared to "how much game" there is, but it could be because most of my playthroughs of it have included new players. Overall, I think "something slightly off" sums up my feelings of both, but they're both definitely on the better end of games. They both got incredibly hyped, which led to opinions being very high and then possibly leading to some disappointment when the games touted as new classics end up being solid 7/10s. (Both on BGG are currently at 8+.)
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May 17, 2023 16:33
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XenoCrab posted:Hey thread, what's the deal with Terraforming Mars and Wingspan? They constantly show up in lists and reviews of games that are good for people getting into the hobby and for playing solo, and are literally the two games suggested by the guy at my FLGS. From reading this thread I got the feeling that there's something slightly broken or off about these games which makes them not as fun or interesting as their popularity implies. If I hadn't got that feeling I definitely would have bought one (or both) of these games since the themes appeal to me. Terraforming Mars is all about the theme. If you're not into the theme or are more focused on mechanics in games, then there are better choices. The theme does make it a lot more accessible, nerds love Mars and the act of terraforming it. I wouldn't say it's a great "back into the hobby" game for a lot of people, it's the exact kind of game I feel that chases people out of board gaming: There are a ton of cards and you're not going to know what most of the cards you haven't seen yet actually are your first play. There isn't a lot of direct player interaction (which is good for some people, others can feel like you're mostly just all playing solo) and the player interaction that there is can feel really bad (removing resources from other players). For people who aren't specifically into science fiction, the theme is a turn off. However, it's one of my favorite board games and I play it whenever I can. Usually with a group who's all played it before and it's a sort of middle of the day game. Not a beginning or end of the day sort of game, so we can play something more strategic at the end and something more chill to warm up first.
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May 17, 2023 16:40
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I used to think that one day they'd make a revised edition of TfM to fix some of the more obvious issues but I recently found out that they're making a second Prelude expansion (literally called "Prelude 2") so I think they're going to just ride the money train until it dies. Which is a shame because there is a really solid game in there if you whittle it out of the original plus some of the less bad expansion content (most of the expansions make the game worse by adding more cards to the game that give you resources or victory points without terraforming) and they could make it have some decent quality artwork and stuff.
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May 17, 2023 16:41
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RabidWeasel posted:I used to think that one day they'd make a revised edition of TfM to fix some of the more obvious issues but I recently found out that they're making a second Prelude expansion (literally called "Prelude 2") so I think they're going to just ride the money train until it dies. Which is a shame because there is a really solid game in there if you whittle it out of the original plus some of the less bad expansion content (most of the expansions make the game worse by adding more cards to the game that give you resources or victory points without terraforming) and they could make it have some decent quality artwork and stuff. I play Terraforming Mars on my phone a lot, and I was wondering why they have so few expansions in the app. Then I bought the Turmoil expansion for my physical copy, tried reading the rules a few times and realized why the app doesn't have these expansions. Bolting on extra fiddly features that don't really make the game feel better is exactly the kind of expansion I don't like. I prefer when it makes the existing mechanics a bit deeper or have more options, like buying Ascension or Dominion expansions.
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May 17, 2023 16:45
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I really can't stress enough how much better Ares Expedition is while still being everything people like about regular TfM.
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May 17, 2023 16:48
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CellBlock posted:With Wingspan, it's mechanically a decent enough game and has at least a few interesting decisions to make while playing, but towards the end, the easiest way to score VPs in bulk is just lay eggs constantly. quote:The cards are pretty and you learn fun stuff about birds while you play, and it's reasonably accessible. It does seem to run long compared to "how much game" there is, but it could be because most of my playthroughs of it have included new players. Edit: for completeness on expansions, the European xpac is just more birds with nothing special, just that some birds have "end of round powers," most of which are laughable. Skippable except for completionists.
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May 17, 2023 16:54
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I don't think TfM is bad in any way. At worst it's mediocre which to be fair in this hobby is pretty damning with the wealth of choice the average buyer has. The theme does a ton of heavy lifting of course, but I don't mind and in fact sometimes quite enjoy making the best of what luck deals me. I'll play something else if I want to test my skills.
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May 17, 2023 16:54
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Bottom Liner posted:I really can't stress enough how much better Ares Expedition is while still being everything people like about regular TfM. There's no app for it yet, and I play like 99% of my Terraforming Mars games on the iOS app.
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May 17, 2023 16:55
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SettingSun posted:I don't think TfM is bad in any way. At worst it's mediocre which to be fair in this hobby is pretty damning with the wealth of choice the average buyer has. The theme does a ton of heavy lifting of course, but I don't mind and in fact sometimes quite enjoy making the best of what luck deals me. I'll play something else if I want to test my skills. This is a big point about a lot of games. If you have a very small collection and are thinking about adding TfM to it - go for it. If you have a larger collection, then you almost certainly have games that scratch the same itch as TfM but better already in it.
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May 17, 2023 16:57
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Interesting news that Mercury games of Container, Big City, Polis etc. fame is going to be publishing 1868: Wyoming. The game itself looks neat based on what I've seen but it's more curious in my opinion that Mercury is going to dip its toes in the world of 18XX. Still waiting on the announcement of who's going to be printing The Old Price: 1871 but I think it's almost a total lock that it's Grand Trunk. Which is great and also a shame because that means it'll be at least another year before we get a professionally produced version of it 
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May 17, 2023 17:32
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Thanks for all the replies!Bottom Liner posted:TfM Ares Expedition is much better in design and presentation. It's a standalone game that uses 90% of the mechanics of one of the all time great games (Race for the Galaxy), it plays much faster, and has good quality cards, art, etc. Also much cheaper. Bottom Liner posted:I really can't stress enough how much better Ares Expedition is while still being everything people like about regular TfM. CellBlock posted:Overall, I think "something slightly off" sums up my feelings of both, but they're both definitely on the better end of games. They both got incredibly hyped, which led to opinions being very high and then possibly leading to some disappointment when the games touted as new classics end up being solid 7/10s. (Both on BGG are currently at 8+.) CellBlock posted:This is a big point about a lot of games. If you have a very small collection and are thinking about adding TfM to it - go for it. If you have a larger collection, then you almost certainly have games that scratch the same itch as TfM but better already in it. The mention of the TfM iOS app reminded me that Wingspan also has a digital version, so maybe I'll just try them both out on my ipad 
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May 17, 2023 17:33
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I've heard much much worse opinions of ares expedition, by the way, like it being godawful, so ymmv on that one.
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May 17, 2023 18:45
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silvergoose posted:I've heard much much worse opinions of ares expedition, by the way, like it being godawful, so ymmv on that one. Would be curious to see negative reviews of it from non TfM loving folks. It's just a port of RftG role selection combined with TfM resource and tag systems which works out pretty well. I expected to hate it too, was pleasantly surprised. No reason to play it over Race, but it is completely playable.
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May 17, 2023 18:50
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I will not play TfM, but I will play mini TfM, which is apparently called Ares Expedition. It goes quicker.
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May 17, 2023 18:55
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XenoCrab posted:I saw TfM: Ares Expedition at the store, but wasn't sure exactly what it did differently and if was even standalone (it probably said standalone on the box), so I'll look into it more. I'll join the chorus of voices saying they prefer Ares over original TfM. If you're not familar with Race for the Galaxy or Puerto Rico, Ares Expedition copies its mechanic of breaking down a multiphase turn into a small hand of cards you select from every turn. It still has the building combos of cards but it lets you speed through the game on a slightly smaller map of Mars, I really enjoyed the one play I've gotten in.
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May 17, 2023 19:00
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I also prefer ares expedition. there's much less downtime in a max player game compared to TM.
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May 17, 2023 19:06
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*Overhearing tfm and tableau builder chat, bursts into thread after playing several games of the newest tableau builder hit* Res Arcana is good!!
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May 17, 2023 19:25
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Bottom Liner posted:Would be curious to see negative reviews of it from non TfM loving folks. It's just a port of RftG role selection combined with TfM resource and tag systems which works out pretty well. I expected to hate it too, was pleasantly surprised. No reason to play it over Race, but it is completely playable. Yeah sorry I don't have any specific details and haven't played it myself, my wife likes race a lot, dislikes terraforming mars, and hated ares expedition, that's my data points.
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May 17, 2023 19:29
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I'm not in love with Res Arcana. I feel that turn by turn, it pretty much plays itself. I never felt any of the decisions were massively taxing. The most important factor in winning is your deck composition, which is randomly assigned to you at the start. Drafting the decks at the start makes it ok, but I would not like it if it were any longer.
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May 17, 2023 20:26
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Mr. Squishy posted:I'm not in love with Res Arcana. I feel that turn by turn, it pretty much plays itself. I never felt any of the decisions were massively taxing. The most important factor in winning is your deck composition, which is randomly assigned to you at the start. Drafting the decks at the start makes it ok, but I would not like it if it were any longer. How many players are in your games? At 2p, you can pretty reliably get your first or second choice place of power, and magic item. There is more "welp, now what" scrambling at higher player counts, as your plan has to change due to other players having a comparative advantage going for your same goal, and sometimes also due to cards entering play that you didn't know they had. You're also more likely to face attacks. But also, yes to both the draft and the length. Drafting the two groups of four gives you some uncertainty w/r/t cards that cheapen demons and dragons, but otherwise lets you direct your deck in more interesting ways.
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May 18, 2023 02:13
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XenoCrab posted:Hey thread, what's the deal with Terraforming Mars and Wingspan? They constantly show up in lists and reviews of games that are good for people getting into the hobby and for playing solo, and are literally the two games suggested by the guy at my FLGS. From reading this thread I got the feeling that there's something slightly broken or off about these games which makes them not as fun or interesting as their popularity implies. If I hadn't got that feeling I definitely would have bought one (or both) of these games since the themes appeal to me. Welcome to the thread! One thing to bear in mind that this thread skews heavy so the advice's applicability can vary. If you're new to board games but not hobby games (i.e. have played MtG or 40k before) then Wingspan as fine a place as any to start. Personally, I think it's light-years better than TFM (haven't played Ares Expedition) though there are certain quite pleasurable parts of TFM. One thing people miss is that Wingspan is extremely popular with people, and you're a people so it has a decent shot of liking it and so do the people you play it with. On the other hand, if you're already entrenched in board gaming or are joining an existing group you might find less traction with Wingspan. Alternatively, if you're brand spanking new to most forms of in-person analog gaming, then Wingspan might be a smidge complicated depending on your personal proclivities. For instance, I would not try to teach it to my parents. If you really love the theme or are just super enthusiastic about the idea of modern hobby board games, then that can carry you.
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May 18, 2023 10:49
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XenoCrab posted:Hey thread, what's the deal with Terraforming Mars and Wingspan? They constantly show up in lists and reviews of games that are good for people getting into the hobby and for playing solo, and are literally the two games suggested by the guy at my FLGS. From reading this thread I got the feeling that there's something slightly broken or off about these games which makes them not as fun or interesting as their popularity implies. If I hadn't got that feeling I definitely would have bought one (or both) of these games since the themes appeal to me. Wingspan is charming but not as deep as it may want to be, but is my groups' go to game for "we are 4 drinks in so we can still formulate some strategy but things can't be too deep". I feel like, with 4 at least, enough cards are cycled through so you can do just enough planning to make things work, but you still have to be reactive to what is out without being 100% married to a certain path. Maybe I am a sucker because I have fun with the game since everyone else I play wit with has fun with it. The Newest expansion (Asia, i think) makes the 2 player games pretty fun too. I really dislike Terraform Mars, but i think that mainly comes from the fact that the people I have played with want to make the PERFECT ENGINE and make the game take 4 hours and legit get mad at me when i do things like 'advance the end game factors' WHEN THEY HAVE NOT ACHIEVED THEIR ENGINE! Its a fun 40 minute game that takes 5 hours.
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May 18, 2023 14:28
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Just played a bizarre game of root with the Riverfolk, Marquise, Eyrie, and Corvids in which I, the Riverfolk, was the most aggressive of the bunch. Early on I saw that the Marquise was getting a little ahead in points, and absolutely no one was purchasing any of my services (generously priced, I might add) to fight them, so I took it upon myself to basically spend a bunch of funds throwing down units and battling them. The Corvids weren't really getting their plots going, the Eyrie was just expanding but not fighting (so I also destroyed a roost or two of theirs), and still no one was using my guys as mercenaries or even counterattacking. I was the defender once. Never had someone purchase a service. And this was with only one other person that hadn't played the game before. Eventually a flurry of combat occurred near final few turns, but it was strange how long it took for that to happen. I won, but I probably shouldn't have since this was my first time playing the Riverfolk and I didn't realize there was a difference between committing and spending funds - mind you the biggest issue I faced wasn't lack of funds, but lack of warriors on the board.
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May 18, 2023 14:46
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enigmahfc posted:I really dislike Terraform Mars, but i think that mainly comes from the fact that the people I have played with want to make the PERFECT ENGINE and make the game take 4 hours and legit get mad at me when i do things like 'advance the end game factors' WHEN THEY HAVE NOT ACHIEVED THEIR ENGINE! Its a fun 40 minute game that takes 5 hours. Yeah, that is absolutely a problem TfM has. It's that it's easy to stonewall. I'm lucky in that my group doesn't employ those tactics so it usually ends up as a pretty brisk game. But it leans that way sometimes and I'm never afraid to be the guy to start the end of the game.
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May 18, 2023 14:56
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A good engine builder should end before you get a chance to actually finish it. The juice is in figuring out shortcuts and what you can do without.
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May 18, 2023 19:11
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an actual dog posted:A good engine builder should end before you get a chance to actually finish it. The juice is in figuring out shortcuts and what you can do without. or go the London route - not only do most of your engine parts break upon use, they produce negative end game pollution points unless you have the fewest.
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May 18, 2023 20:46
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Anyone at Geekway?
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May 18, 2023 21:45
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got my copy of thunder road: vendetta the other day - my deprived inner child of the eighties is ready to gently caress up some cars very impressed by how well all the pieces tetris into the box, even with the expansion stuff, extra cards, etc.
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May 19, 2023 02:45
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I finally played board games and now you have to suffer a long-form post about what I played and what I think so if you don't like that sort of stuff well I feel sorry for you but here it goes: The Crew: Deep Sea: I think I'm enjoying this a lot more than the original, and although you can get some absolutely fiendish goal combinations, it adds a nice level of variety and depth to the game that makes the whole affair a lot more repliable, although I would never, ever try one of the real-time missions (we used the alternate low-communication variants every single time). The Crew is probably one of the smarter trick-taking games I've seen, since the premise of it is so simple and playing a fully-cooperative trick taking game is just a delight, since you really have to mind-bend your plays in order to successfully complete certain objectives. The only issue there is with The Crew is something that me and my friends talked about : if you play with someone that doesn't really understand the intricacies of trick-taking games, or just doesn't understand how everyone is required to play to meet certain objectives, the game falls apart very fast and can become frustrating and unenjoyable. We played with 3 which made most of the missions fairly balanced, apart from one (Don't lead with Pink or Subs was incredibly hard to do with 3, and we only completed it by getting lucky). Cascadia: First game of the weekend and it was fine? I just built a paradise of bears and hawks. The drafting options are fine and at least you can mix it up a little bit, and I liked the fact that you could have quite different games based on what kind of animal bonuses you had. Overall it was pleasant and I didn't really have any complaints: although I'm not a huge fan of drafting, there was a lot of scope in this to gently caress people over/hate draft without screwing yourself over too much, so for a drafting game catered to more than 2 players, it was absolutely fine. Underwater Cities: I jokingly called this "Underwater Mars" but although there are some similarities, there isn't really all that much similar between the two games. While I detest Terraforming Mars (mostly because I don't like games that require a drafting phase before you can play the proper game), I think I enjoy this more, because although the cards are important, the worker placement segment of the game works to create a required level of competition between the players. I also really enjoy the way that the turn-order determination is made, and that advancing up the turn order track gives you small bonuses that can be meaningful in the long run. Although the cards aren't as varied as Terraforming Mars (or Ark Nova, see later), they can still provide powerful effects, and I like the balancing mechanism of pairing the most powerful cards with the weakest actions on the board, and vice versa. Overall I think this is a TFM-like that I think I would not mind playing more of, and generally I've found that any given game of Underwater Cities to be highly enjoyable. Glory to Rome: I think I'm starting to get aggravated with this game. Although the relative unbalancedness of the game was interesting at first, I think the game is way too draw dependant to be enjoyable now, and it can be aggravating to have your strategy made meaningless because you either didn't draw something or someone else got the exact card they need to prevent you from doing your plans. There are also end-game situations where following someone is much better than calling for a specific role, so people tend to pass more because calling anything is to the advantage of your opponents. I think I would rather play Eminent Domain than this, which I think does the lead/follow dichotomy much better than Glory to Rome. Super Skill Pinball: Taught people one of the super-easy tables during a lull in games, still my favourite roll and write game available, although with four players, you do have to wait until the last player ends their turn. I think with the sort of group that I had there, I could afforded to go to one of the more complex tables, but I didn't want the game to take too long. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and the game still feels like a pretty cool simulation of pinball. Anno 1800: I had played this before and I feel Anno 1800 is probably one of the most mid games ever created. It's not bad, but it's not exactly good either. There are weird situations in which some of the citizen cards are much better than others for no real reason. It still feels weird to me that it takes an absolutely huge amount of actions to create some technologies, and then someone can just go there and use them with some relatively easy to get trade tokens. Some of the technologies require incredible amounts of time and resources to construct for very small gains (for example, level 3 ships, and level 3 warships in particular). It's kind of cool to work out how to produce stuff, but the game doesn't seem to gel together for me in a satisfying way. Mind MGMT: This is not a 5 player (1 v 4) game, this is a 1v1 or 1v2 game at most. Somehow has less player agency in terms of individual moves than pandemic. Reliant on hive-minding the Rogue Agents to a ridiculous degree. I can see how the game itself is very smart in terms of the deduction puzzle, and how you are meant to try to deduce what the steps of the Recruiter are and what kind of symbols he's after, but after the initial rounds, and after two players had an interminable discussion on hypothetical movements, I fully checked out and was simply not having fun anymore. I think the game can be good if played with less players but I don't think this sort of game is for me unfortunately. Ark Nova: "Animals on Mars". I think this is probably the weakest of the trio though, and the moving parts of it aren't as interesting as either Underwater Cities or even Terraforming Mars. Although it attempts to foster competition, most of it is focused on being the first to score a specific card. The only other competition is picking stuff up before your opponent. I kinda liked making my own little zoo and placing animals there, but picking up (mostly randomly) cards from a huge deck, that you might not even completely go through in any given game, really unbalances the game for me and means that getting the right thing is not a matter of skill most of the time, but just luck. I enjoyed some of the moving parts of the game but overall the decided randomness of the game makes it even worse than TfM IMO. Automobile: Still love this game. Taught the game at midnight which might have been a mistake. Lots of comments on how the art for the version I have looks bad, which is fair, but at least it has wooden components unlike the lovely mayfair version (that still looks bad). The graphic design is really an issue. I think people enjoyed it but Automobile is a harsh, unforgiving game. Managed to win the game which is a first for me, since I usually just lose Automobile, as the prophecy foretold. Pandemic: Well, it's Pandemic. What more can I say? More player agency than Mind MGMT though! BattleCON: Managed to rope someone into playing this. They liked it though, and actually made a note of the game because they were interested in buying it! So a win for BattleCON. Might bring some other games in my collection t osee if they are interested in trying out other fighting card-games in the future. We played Lucida vs Kallistar, with me playing the former, and at the start my opponent had me on the ropes with some interesting plays, but eventually I got the old Lucida engine going and after managing to hit repeatedly, I was able to build enough of a momentum. Game ended with Kallistar using her "Die if you don't win" finisher, which I managed to dodge. Space Alert: Still the best coop out there. We played a couple of games of this, one with white threats, one with mixed white/yellow threats. We managed to disable the nuclear device in the second game and not die! Such a brilliant game, wish I could find a group to do a campaign of it/try out the red threats. Dungeon Petz (1/2): Played half a game of this, with Dark Alleys, since one of the players had an emergency and left halfway through. No real fair way to automate the player, and I hate playing with the 3 player rules, since the entire point of Dungeon Petz is that if you spend enough, you are (almost) guaranteed to get the slots you want, which is not true in the 2/3 player game. So we packaged up. Still enjoyable while it lasted, and I managed to make a 21 point pet with the first seller, which is not my record (45 point pet), but still a pretty good score. Dune Imperium: Just did not enjoy this at all. The combination of worker placement being limited by your draws was frustrating, I didn't like the market row aspects of it either (although there are ways to go early), and I especially did not like the intrigue cards, which do not seem balanced againt each other, especially in combat or for end-game scoring (the latter of which I did not see a single one of). We played with a bunch of expansions which did make the game better, and having a look at the base board, I could see that some of the issues that I described above were even WORSE without the expansion, which is just incredible. I can see why people might like this, but not being a fan of market row deckbuilders, I think I'll give this game a solid pass in the future.
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May 19, 2023 10:00
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I’ve only ever played Mind MGMT 2 players and I love it that way. I think it might also work with 2v1 but preferably with people who have played it already 1v1.
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May 19, 2023 11:11
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Tekopo posted:Glory to Rome: I think I'm starting to get aggravated with this game. Although the relative unbalancedness of the game was interesting at first, I think the game is way too draw dependant to be enjoyable now, and it can be aggravating to have your strategy made meaningless because you either didn't draw something or someone else got the exact card they need to prevent you from doing your plans. There are also end-game situations where following someone is much better than calling for a specific role, so people tend to pass more because calling anything is to the advantage of your opponents. I think I would rather play Eminent Domain than this, which I think does the lead/follow dichotomy much better than Glory to Rome. This has always been my experience too. I've played 5-7 times over the years, and I've never started with a Patron in hand to improve my Clientele. It's always felt like a big reason why I am losing, and regardless if that's true or not that's not a good thing. I should play La Granja again. I don't have those same feelings of individual annoyance when playing that game, but that's probably because there are no suits. Each farm card is unique, and each are applicable to any of the 4 slots. This does make them slightly more universal and even: they all include 1 of 3 fields and 2 of 3 farm extensions. The market barrow is also fairly well understandable: requiring 2-4 goods and the stall value is approximately 1 per normal crop, 2 for processed goods and pigs. Sure, maybe you wanted an olive field but didn't get one but that's only like 19% of the time. If you're looking for a specific farm extension, you're about 1% to not draw at least one of them: the odds for drawing 4 featuring both the others.
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May 19, 2023 11:39
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