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BonHair posted:I keep being unable to keep up with this thread and as a result boardgames in general. But, being on paternity leave, I have a lot of time pushing around a sleeping baby, which is podcast time. Are there any good boardgame podcasts out there that you guys know of? Cult of the Old and So Very Wrong About Games are the two I listen to. The first is about individual games and their impact on the hobby and the latter is about games in general.
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Aug 25, 2023 08:01
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Infinitum posted:Wondering if it's worth grabbing the 1st edition of Lords of Vegas for $175 AUD, or waiting for the 2nd ed to drop for half the price I love Lords of Vegas but I don't $100+-USD-love Lords of Vegas. Worth waiting on.
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Aug 25, 2023 09:19
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BonHair posted:I keep being unable to keep up with this thread and as a result boardgames in general. But, being on paternity leave, I have a lot of time pushing around a sleeping baby, which is podcast time. Are there any good boardgame podcasts out there that you guys know of? I really like Shut up and Sit Down's (better than their video reviews a lot of the time) and I also enjoy So Very Wrong About Games but I tend to look for specific games when it comes to them, while I could hear SUSD talk about games I'm never going to buy or play all day long. I know No Pun Included has a podcast but I've only ever listened to their interview with Paul Dean (which I think was pretty good).
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Aug 25, 2023 09:22
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BonHair posted:I keep being unable to keep up with this thread and as a result boardgames in general. But, being on paternity leave, I have a lot of time pushing around a sleeping baby, which is podcast time. Are there any good boardgame podcasts out there that you guys know of? The ones I listen to in order of priority are: The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast: Fun, a bit wacky and occasionally sophmoric, mostly talk about games they like, not super critical, very long episodes. The main episodes include games played, a big review, a news segment and a discussion topic so it's everything a growing board gamer needs. Recently added monthly episodes about PnP RPGs (Lords of the Dungeon) and irregular episodes about Minis games (Battletome). It's my favorite but I've been listening for about 9 years so I'm biased, and I don't know if it'd be easy to get into. For instance, I tried to listen to Board Game Barrage recently and it put me to sleep for whatever reason. I expect someone might have the same reaction checking these guys out now. But it is the show that I never miss, and has lots of content. SUSD: You probably know about SUSD, but this typically has Tom and someone discussing games they haven't talked about in video form, often because they are just alright. This means the podcast can often be a bit of a bummer. But it is funny. Tom and Quinns make a great pair when they're on the show together, but I think Tom really elevates anyone. Board Game Blitz: Short (30m or so) episodes but packs a lot into them because Crystal talks really fast. There's a lot about casual and puzzle/escape room style games, but also 18xx sometimes (Ambie Valdez, a big proponent of the genre, is one of the hosts, but has played a lot less since having twins). I like it. A good thing to add into the podcasts with greater amounts of content, especially if you like puzzle-y stuff. This Game Is Broken: This one is a British panel show, except a podcast. (apparently, I'm not super familiar as a  ) One of the five hosts and the others compete in trivia games related to board games, such as "Which is Higher on BGG" or something. It's got Matthew Jude, Paula Deming, The Brothers Murph and Dave Luza who are all funny people and have good chemistry. Like improv stuff sometimes has, there are the occasional singing game or other bit that falls flat. This one is very different but it's a change of pace.Game Brain: A podcast about local gaming group in Los Angles. (Local to them, not me.) It has a rotating cast of fairly hardcore board gamers, and they talk quite at length about some of this stuff. This is certainly the gooniest podcast I subscribe to. (In fact, it was suggested to me by a goon.) However, it is the first one that I don't always get around to because I typically only listen at the gym or when driving alone, and if they are talking about some Lacerda or something I just don't give a fuuuuuuuck. Rolling Dice and Taking Names: A podcast about two old Southern men who got into gaming through CCGs. There is a lot of hokum in these episodes talking about their life (I distinctly remember them discussing confusion over ventilated shelving one time, and a lot of talk of lawnmowers). It's goofy. It's one of the only ones where non-Magic CCGs bleed into the discussions, which is another angle I appreciate as a CCG-fan and recovering MTG player. I haven't listened in a while, so I only get back to them if I'm taking a long drive alone or something. It's a similar level of stupidity to The Secret Cabal but with shorter episodes. The BoardGameGeek Podcast: A podcast with a rotating suite of guests. I've only listened once (for the 18xx episode with Ben Mandelker from Game Brain), but Candice Harris is a great talent that the board gaming world was looking for for ages. She's clearly extremely plugged in since her choice of guests have included some known-but-deep-cut figures like Rob Oren. I need to elevate this one in my rotation, possibly above Game Brain into the spot of "sometimes I miss this one" instead of "sometimes I make a point to listen to this one. Honorable mentions: Talk Cardboard: The No Pun Included podcast. They have been trying to have guests on there like Paul Dean and Jessie Earl (aka Jessie Gender) and those interviews were great. However, I just don't like the podcast overall, so I've stopped listening regularly. Gaming Rules!: Paul Grogan has a podcast feed for two monthly videos where he has a Monthly Q&A and a list of all the games he played in the previous month. The audio-only versions are also available as a podcast, but I have not listened in that form. I have watched this content on YouTube fairly regularly, and he is one the best board game content creators out there. (I believe Radho does something similar for some of his streaming content but I have not looked at that as much.) Drive Thru FM: Similar to Gaming Rules!, this is a YouTube channel where some of the content is in podcast form. In this case, it's not a vid cast, but an audio only video. I have listened to some of this stuff on YouTube and enjoyed it. Joel Eddy is a pretty standard omnigamer, and his channel is kinda small. (I think it's a side gig for him, like MarcoOmnigamer.) So there is not tons of content here on the podcast side. The other ones I hear good things about that I have never listened to are Blue Peg, Pink Peg and Board Game Insider. I don't suggest SVWAG.
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Aug 25, 2023 10:16
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Can't believe I forgot about the BGG podcast, they recently interviewed the Spirit Island designer and it was great. Also Paul Grogan's stuff is top notch as always and I always enjoy his very low-key humor
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Aug 25, 2023 11:02
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Spiteski posted:God it improves the game so much. I did discs with stickers made from a BGG-free shared art pack. You are now one step closer to playing 18xx. I’ve seen a LOTRxx floating around and I can’t imagine it’s actually any good but would love to play a rethemed game where orcs finished their industrialization of middle earth :sicko:
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Aug 25, 2023 13:35
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I've played 4th Age a few times at cons and it's alright, it's basically a 70 derivative with a different train mix and where each company has a special power.
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Aug 25, 2023 14:05
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I listened to SVWAG until I played a few of the games one of the host earnestly recommended as being superior to a game I like, and lost so much respect for his taste that I could not sit through another episode.
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Aug 25, 2023 14:18
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Mr. Squishy posted:I listened to SVWAG until I played a few of the games one of the host earnestly recommended as being superior to a game I like, and lost so much respect for his taste that I could not sit through another episode. Guess that means they really are so very wrong about games, huh 
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Aug 25, 2023 14:26
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ActingPower posted:Guess that means they really are so very wrong about games, huh I disagree with a lot of SVWAG's opinions but I like their breakdowns of game mechanics and their interactions, as well as the news discussions.
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Aug 25, 2023 14:52
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Mr. Squishy posted:I listened to SVWAG until I played a few of the games one of the host earnestly recommended as being superior to a game I like, and lost so much respect for his taste that I could not sit through another episode.
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Aug 25, 2023 16:01
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Mr. Squishy posted:I listened to SVWAG until I played a few of the games one of the host earnestly recommended as being superior to a game I like, and lost so much respect for his taste that I could not sit through another episode. lol
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Aug 25, 2023 16:09
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Seconding board game blitz, especially if you want fast yet chill episodes. I only really listen to podcasts for entertainment, not learning about games I might want to try, that's what this thread (and a couple other places) are for.
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Aug 25, 2023 16:38
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Sorry if there's a specific COIN thread but I've picked up Cuba Libre and will be running it for my chums on Sunday. Is there any light reading they can do to prep (because the rulebook definitely isn't light reading.) Or does anyone have any tips or suggestions as to how to teach a game of this? I did swither with just running them through the Playbook and treating it as a forced tutorial.
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Aug 25, 2023 18:02
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Yoshimo posted:Sorry if there's a specific COIN thread but I've picked up Cuba Libre and will be running it for my chums on Sunday. Is there any light reading they can do to prep (because the rulebook definitely isn't light reading.) Or does anyone have any tips or suggestions as to how to teach a game of this? I did swither with just running them through the Playbook and treating it as a forced tutorial.
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Aug 25, 2023 18:14
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Forbidden Jungle is out! I found it in Barnes & Noble. Island was okay, Skies was bad, and Desert is a favorite in our house. I hadn't heard much except that this is a mix of Island and Desert, and from glancing at the rules and cards it looks more like Desert than any of the others, which is a good sign. Also at Barnes and Noble, I picked up The Hunger for $10 ($40 off!) and Tiny Epic Galaxies Blast Off for $5. I check the clearance section every time I go - about three or four times a year - and it's rare to not find something good on a deep discount.
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Aug 25, 2023 18:27
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svwag is good, actually
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Aug 25, 2023 18:38
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I can't believe they went from the stars back down to the jungle.
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Aug 25, 2023 18:53
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taser rates posted:I can't believe they went from the stars back down to the jungle. Now it's a different sea of green.  I was a big fan of Forbidden Desert. I will definitely check out Jungle.
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Aug 25, 2023 18:57
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LifeLynx posted:Forbidden Jungle is out! I found it in Barnes & Noble. Island was okay, Skies was bad, and Desert is a favorite in our house. I hadn't heard much except that this is a mix of Island and Desert, and from glancing at the rules and cards it looks more like Desert than any of the others, which is a good sign. all I want from these games is 4K versions of the background paintings of each card to rotate on my TV.
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Aug 25, 2023 18:59
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For someone interested in Dune Imperium, should I pick up the base game or wait for the new standalone? I'm a bit confused on if it is a replacement.
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Aug 25, 2023 19:02
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Probably wait for the standalone. It's essentially a do-over of the base game. There's not enough info out yet to tell if it's going to be better, but it's going to be out in 2/3 months, so you may as well wait for some reviews to come in with people comparing the two versions.
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Aug 25, 2023 19:09
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I like SVWAG, but you definitely have to be cautious about their recs - I think they're the ones most responsible for bringing Hansa Teutonica back into the spotlight (it was the topic of their third episode back in 2017) and I'm grateful to them for that, but I only realized I clashed with them on their love for coop and minis stuff after really desperately hating Street Masters.
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Aug 25, 2023 19:14
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they like spirit island, my favorite game. therefore they are good actually. (i hate all the little reiner knizia small box games they love)
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Aug 25, 2023 19:28
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my philosophy is to never go in on a game that you've only ever heard one person / podcast / source praise. street masters fit that box for me even though i like its general concept, so i'm still waiting to try it
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Aug 25, 2023 20:15
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I just stick stuff like that on my list of games I want to play, which is so incredibly long already that it never feels like a must buy, just if someone brings it to a game day great I'll suggest it.
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Aug 25, 2023 20:49
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Ubik_Lives posted:Probably wait for the standalone. It's essentially a do-over of the base game. There's not enough info out yet to tell if it's going to be better, but it's going to be out in 2/3 months, so you may as well wait for some reviews to come in with people comparing the two versions. Cheers mate. Will do.
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Aug 25, 2023 20:50
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taser rates posted:I can't believe they went from the stars back down to the jungle. It's legitimately a jungle on an alien planet and there are aliens you fight.
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Aug 25, 2023 21:06
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if it’s set on another planet, aren’t the player characters the aliens?
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Aug 25, 2023 21:17
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Yoshimo posted:Sorry if there's a specific COIN thread but I've picked up Cuba Libre and will be running it for my chums on Sunday. Is there any light reading they can do to prep (because the rulebook definitely isn't light reading.) Or does anyone have any tips or suggestions as to how to teach a game of this? I did swither with just running them through the Playbook and treating it as a forced tutorial. There is a Watch it Played video on Twitch by Rodney Smith teaching it so you can watch it for ideas: https://twitch.tv/videos/1299595197 I'm still new to the game but I think they key points for explaining the rules are faction victory conditions and the Sequence of Play area on the board. Rodney called the Sequence of Play area the "engine" that drives the game which I think is a great way to explain it.
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Aug 25, 2023 22:01
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We got Ra to the table for a 5P game for the first time and we ran out of tiles in the third epoch, which I’m assuming is not supposed to happen? As far as I understand you keep all the tiles to the left of your scorecard throughout the game and pretty much discard everything else out of the game at the end of each epoch, so I’m not sure what happened there. Unless that triggers scoring, which I didn’t see anything about that in the rule book so 
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Aug 26, 2023 03:48
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There are exactly enough Ra tiles to do all three epochs with 5p, so if you ran out before getting there something is messed up for sure.
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Aug 26, 2023 04:02
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Yeah first step is count your Ra tiles. Even if you're missing other stuff, that situation shouldn't be possible with the right complement of Ras.
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Aug 26, 2023 06:06
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Mr. Squishy posted:I listened to SVWAG until I played a few of the games one of the host earnestly recommended as being superior to a game I like, and lost so much respect for his taste that I could not sit through another episode. Oh so it's a lot like this thread 
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Aug 26, 2023 20:58
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Just played Great Western Trail: New Zealand for the first time. Lots of fiddly bits compared to GWT, enough that I think they distract from the experience. There's just too much game to play, and I think I'll pass on NZ for base GWT going forward. (The naval board reminded me of the Rails to the North expansion, which I have but never have played, but there's still a lot of extra stuff beyond base GWT besides sailing from port to port.) How does Argentina compare to base GWT in terms of complexity/what's packed into a play session? I like GWT a lot, but hesitate to spring it on my family, so I wonder if there's a simpler version to ease them into it.
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Aug 27, 2023 01:32
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I want to play more GWT but the person I play heavier games with doesn't like it  Although....I have some other friends coming by next week. Mayhap I lure them in with Scout and then magician-style pull the tablecloth from under them surprise suckers it's the wild west under here now let me explain every one of these goddamn icons
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Aug 27, 2023 01:46
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Admiralty Flag posted:Just played Great Western Trail: New Zealand for the first time. Lots of fiddly bits compared to GWT, enough that I think they distract from the experience. There's just too much game to play, and I think I'll pass on NZ for base GWT going forward. (The naval board reminded me of the Rails to the North expansion, which I have but never have played, but there's still a lot of extra stuff beyond base GWT besides sailing from port to port.) Argentina is a little more complex than base GWT in my opinion, but not significantly so.
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Aug 27, 2023 02:14
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Me and my SO have been playing a game recently: Turing Machine. The conceit of the game is a little hard to explain, but here goes: It is a math / logic game where you are searching for a 3 digit code with numbers from 1 to 5: 333, 145 etc. The numbers are separated by their position in the code: the first number is always Blue Triangle, the second is Yellow Square and the third is Purple Circle. It's nice and clear and seemingly colorblind friendly, and I explain that nuance only because it will be necessary to explain how the game works. The puzzle is composed of Critieria cards and Verifier cards. The Criteria cards are plain English tests like "This checks if Purple is even or odd" and the results are "Purple is even" and "Purple is odd." Most have more than two results such as "Blue + Yellow compared to 6" which could mean that their sum is greater than, less than, or equal to 6. By the combination of these cards, there is only one code that will pass all these criteria. The way you check your tests is with Verification cards which are set up alongside each Criteria card. These cards have a field of Red Xs and Green Checks. Here's an image of these cards from BGG. To test a code, you take out these little punch cards with holes that look like they came out of a 1950s computer. These punch cards are numbered 1 through five and are different for each of the 3 positions. Putting three together is "a proposal." The way the cards work, when you combine the 3 cards, only one hole will remain. Here's an image of the punch cards from BGG. So, you line up your punch cards with the Verification card for the Criteria you want to test, and that single remaining hole will line up with either a Red X or Green Check to tell you the result of your test. So, if 145 gave me an X and the Criteria is "Purple is even or odd" then I know Purple is even because I was testing if it was odd by using a Purple 5, which failed. Here's is an example of how they might line up from BGG. You make a note of your answer and then consider the implications. In this case, you could scratch out 1, 3 and 5 from Purple since you know they are not possible. Nothing has told us yet if Purple is 2 or 4, but something should eventually. You can test only up to 3 Criteria per round, and you can elect to do fewer if you want to. In competitive play, everyone can only guess the answer at the end of a round, and ties are broken by fewest total tests conducted. It's a race to find the solution first but you're eliminated if you're wrong, similar to Clue or other competitive deduction games. The plus side of the abstraction is without the narrative element, the negative player experience where only one person gets to play out the entire puzzle is largely mitigated. Still, we've been playing cooperatively anyway and putting our heads together, which has been much more fun for us. The complication gets pretty deep. Some criteria will mention "a color it knows" where it's only checking a certain color. For instance, it might be checking if Blue, Yellow or Purple are even or odd, but you won't know at the start. If you put in 111 and get an X, you know that it's not testing that any of them are odd. Does that mean you know all numbers are even? No. You just know it can't be checking for oddness, which means you know there is at least one even number but not which one. The Criteria only know about what they know about and don't know anything else and does not know the entire code. These types of confusions can lead to people thinking "the computer is wrong" but that is impossible, according to the designers. Positives: 1: It's impressive. The way this computer has been somehow encoded into the physical board game components is fascinating. I'm no Luddite, but I have not really liked many App-Required games, instead preferring the Exit games and their analog entertainment. 2: It's fun. I love logic and deduction and I like math so long as it's just numbers between 1 and 5 for my 2nd grade education, so this is perfect for me. The ability to review the implications of the Criteria and know that they are telling you more than they appear is very satisfying. 3: It's incredibly varied. There are 45 different Criteria cards, many of which are related to "a color it knows" so they can be more varied than ones with hardcoded values with 6 or even 9 answers to sift through. But there are also several ways to play: Easy, Medium and Hard puzzles with 4, 5, or 6 verifiers offer a lot of options. For the truly hardcore, there are Extreme and Nightmare modes. 4: Its online presence is a website instead of an app. Thank you for not making me download anything for something that is quite simple. Neutrals: 1: The included pad is small, and if you play 3-4 games a day you will burn through it very fast. Sensible people won't run out as fast. We've solved this with lamination. 2: Some cards show up a lot. I don't know if it's because they "play nice" with other Criteria cards or if it's just random. Either way, friendship ended with Mudasir. Criteria Card 19 is my best friend now. 3: There is a Wordle-like Daily Challenge, but that only matters is someone else is doing them to compare. 4: For easier puzzles, there is a luck element some might not find appealing. For instance, if Blue and Yellow sum to 6 and you pick 241 first, you got a Check and no longer need to test that in only one guess. If I picked 141 and got an X, I need to test one more time to find out if the Criteria is telling me it's equal to 6 or greater than 6. Negatives: 1: The setup is a bit of a faff. This is mostly mitigated if you keep the cards in order, but it does take a bit to lay out and clean up every time and there is not much time saved between multiple games since you will want to take the extra time to reorder the cards first. 2: Setup is easy to screw up. Sometimes you realize halfway though you'd made an error because you discover that it is impossible to find the answer, which is kind of satisfying in its own way, but having the Criteria cards and Verifier cards both be numbers can get you a little mixed up. (Fortunately, Criteria are always 2 digits and Verifiers are always 3, so you can't mix them between each other, but the difference in 339 and 393 will bite you occasionally.) 3: There are only 20 puzzles in the rulebook. That's a bit stingy. Yes, there are literally millions online and they have a PDF for an offline puzzle bank, but file is so huge it doesn't want to print for me. But I'd hate for someone to feel cheated or getting a low value in the box for their getaway to a cabin without internet. You know what eliminates all the negatives? The fact that the game is now in Beta on Board Game Arena. No worrying about set up and there are essentially unlimited puzzles. We've had a terrific time with it. It's been great to run down these puzzles and flex our brains a little each morning. We've played it literally every day since buying it a few weeks ago. I don't think it's for everyone, but anyone who likes math, logic and deduction should look into it. https://turingmachine.info/ Turing Machine - How To Play from Watch It Played Magnetic North fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Sep 8, 2023 |
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Aug 30, 2023 14:15
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Spirit Island spirits as Tom Waits songs. A Spread of Rampant Green - All The World is Green Shadows Flicker Like Flame - God's Away on Business Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares - Way Down In The Hole River Surges in Sunlight - Misery Is The River of the World Grinning Trickster Stirs Up Trouble - Everything Goes To Hell
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Sep 1, 2023 17:11
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Who's Chocolate Jesus?
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