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Yeah I never really liked Lanterns the few times I played it. All of the criticism people give Splendor applies equally to Lanterns IMO.
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Dec 30, 2016 06:25
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Just finished a 3.5 hour (!) session of the first scenario in Mansions of Madness, 2nd edition. Thing said it was only supposed to take 60-90 minutes... I figured adding 30-60 minutes to that for the first time was probably closer to accurate. Anyway, we lost, but it was very fun. It didn't feel like it took nearly as long as it did. We were basically one investigator action away from winning at the last possible moment. Game's pretty brutal. I think I might try it again solo tomorrow.
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Dec 30, 2016 07:12
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Android emulator on my pc, playing twistrug. I fear I won't play US, as it means I'm committing myself to the full game. Gotta try turning up the handicap if I play USSR though. What does handicap actually do?
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Dec 30, 2016 07:55
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Bottom Liner posted:Yeah I never really liked Lanterns the few times I played it. All of the criticism people give Splendor applies equally to Lanterns IMO. Lanterns is one of those games that I really like at two, that gets worse as you add players to it. Four players is almost completely tactical, where with two players you can actively deny the other player card draw and good dedications with solid strategic play.
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Dec 30, 2016 08:48
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Lord Frisk posted:Android emulator on my pc, playing twistrug. I fear I won't play US, as it means I'm committing myself to the full game. Gotta try turning up the handicap if I play USSR though. What does handicap actually do? Gives the handicapped side additional influence to spend at the start of the game in countries they already have influence.
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Dec 30, 2016 10:47
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Played Republic of Rome today with 6 players. About seven hours of playtime including figuring the game rules out, and we squeaked out surviving with 3 wars left on the board. Would have lost on turn 1 with Hannibal and 2 punic wars out but conveniently he died falling off an elephant before the war phase. An experience but I think I'd rather have played 7 games of something else though to be honest.
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Dec 30, 2016 10:56
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xiw posted:Played Republic of Rome today with 6 players. About seven hours of playtime including figuring the game rules out, and we squeaked out surviving with 3 wars left on the board. Would have lost on turn 1 with Hannibal and 2 punic wars out but conveniently he died falling off an elephant before the war phase. I liked RoR the one time I played it, but for my time TI3 is a better investment. More to do and better interactions.
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Dec 30, 2016 11:08
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We played Resostance with the Avalon roles expansion for the first time. We put commader and assasin in. It was a blast and breathed new life into an already good game. I won all 3 rounds yaaaay (though i had good commanders in my 2 rounds as blueshirt)
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Dec 30, 2016 12:16
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The canon 2 roles to add next are false commander and bodyguard, right?
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Dec 30, 2016 12:20
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Thinking of getting either the Arkham Horror or the LOTR LCG boxes. From what I've seen Arkham Horror looks more enjoyable, but I know my group will take better to an LOTR themed game than a Lovecraftian one. Would I be making a massive mistake getting the LOTR one? e: Oh there's an actual LCG thread. Ignore my idiocy. stev fucked around with this message at 13:19 on Dec 30, 2016 |
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Dec 30, 2016 12:50
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I think the LOTR is suppose to be the better system either way, but I have no experience with either. Just noticed a more warm reception than the AH card game in this thread.
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Dec 30, 2016 13:37
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Steve2911 posted:Thinking of getting either the Arkham Horror or the LOTR LCG boxes. From what I've seen Arkham Horror looks more enjoyable, but I know my group will take better to an LOTR themed game than a Lovecraftian one. Would I be making a massive mistake getting the LOTR one? Arkham Horror has a cool mechanic where you get to draw sweet cuthulu tokens out of a bag. I don't think Lord of the Rings even has a bag at all. Also the Hobbit movies ruined lord of the Rings, it's pretty lame now. Arkham is new and fresh.
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Dec 30, 2016 14:31
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Rutibex posted:Arkham Horror has a cool mechanic where you get to draw sweet cuthulu tokens out of a bag. lol
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Dec 30, 2016 14:44
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Both are very good. LOTR is more like a game for hardcore CCG lovers that have no friends to play with, while Arkham is like a less ponderous Mage Knight. I think Arkham is a better system (bearing in mind it's reeeally young in terms of cardpool) by virtue of FFG learning some lessons with each LCG system they develop (like the ever-evolving ideas of "pips" and pods in deckbuilding), but it's really a matter of taste. Buy LOTR if you want deckbuilding to be a puzzle on how to tackle given scenario, and Arkham for more of a highly customizable adventure board game experience. Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Dec 30, 2016 |
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Dec 30, 2016 14:57
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Hmm thanks for the advice. I think based on that I'll go with Arkham.
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Dec 30, 2016 15:02
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KongGeorgeVII posted:I have no idea how you people find the time to explore 3 islands, cover them and get some houses on top of that. Well, in the challenge scenario, we started with a longship, which itself takes about 1 game turn (5 vikings) to acquire. And you can get a stone house as a bonus from Newfoundland.
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Dec 30, 2016 15:17
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In general though, if you ever end the game with a bunch of red and orange tiles just sitting there doing nothing, then you could have filled up some houses. If your home board is covered in almost all blue/grey tiles, then you could have made about half of those blue tiles green...and explored/filled up more islands. Once you get used to the pacing of the game, and how you really accelerate your "production" as the game goes on, you can time your exploration of islands or building of houses to line up better with the stuff you're going to get. Grabbing something like two islands earlier just to secure bonuses can really help, for instance. You'll often reach a point where you have so much stuff piling up that you have to grab another island or some houses just to put all that stuff somewhere. Also keep in mind when you look at the point values on new islands, for many of them, just covering a few of the "-1" spots will turn the island into a net positive, even if you don't reach the full value of it. My biggest issue so far in the game is anticipating what size tiles I will need. I often end up with too many larger pieces, and when it comes time to score points, I usually have one or two big green coats or blue chests that I can't put on a board anywhere, which is really inefficient and bad. One extra island explored would help that out a lot for me.
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Dec 30, 2016 15:22
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Re: Lanterns chat. I agree that it has major flaws, and I also think it will get replaced by Cottage Garden soon, but so far it's my go-to *really* casual game for playing with non-gamers. I tried Carc but it's too agressive for that purpose IMO. I tried Istanbul and Mad King Ludwig, but they both feel too fiddly, and with too many details one needs to remember. Lanterns is simple, quick, without direct conflict.
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Dec 30, 2016 15:42
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And, unrelated to that, two things I've learned at yesterday's board game night. Orleans is Cool and Good, but make sure you play with 4. A week ago I played for the first time, with two players, and the experience was thoroughly "Meh". On the one hand I want to say I don't like the idea of a deckbuilder without a discard pile, making it less likely for your draws to average out, but on the other hand, if one game can pull it off, it's this one. I haven't fully explored the mechanism, but being able to store your followers on buildings without activating them may allow you to dynamically thin your deck when you need it. Tash Kalar still owns. I still think it's "snowball-y" but that can go both ways. After being stuck with "bad" cards (that needed a lot of pieces to activate, which I just couldn't get), and falling behind 8-2, I managed to play one card to build position, and then repeatedly build off of that, and I ended up winning the tiebreaker at 9-9.
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Dec 30, 2016 16:19
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angel opportunity posted:In general though, if you ever end the game with a bunch of red and orange tiles just sitting there doing nothing, then you could have filled up some houses. If your home board is covered in almost all blue/grey tiles, then you could have made about half of those blue tiles green...and explored/filled up more islands. All great advice! I definitely am with you on your issue, it feels counterintuitive to try to take smaller pieces but sometimes that's really the best play. Always going for a robe or a cloak or something seems like the optimal strategy, but if you're not going for your income diagonal on your home board those pieces become problematic, at times. I've only ever explored and completely filled two islands in my solo games, gonna gear up for 3 sometime soon. I'm thinking I'll have a new challenge up probably on the 2nd/3rd of January. If anyone has any requests or anything feel free to PM me! I should have a separate topic and the Google Docs leaderboard up(  ) then, as well!Has everybody dug the first scenario? Feel free to just throw out me scenarios if you'd like, as well, let's get this party started! I'm also thinking some time in the (near?) future I'll do a contest where winner gets plat or a new avatar or something, but I'll cross that bridge once I get a solid foundation for the challenges setup. Anyway, more Uwe talk, how is Cottage Farm? Looks like a less chunky AFfO, to me, which seems right up my alley. Give me all the polyominos! Non-Uwe talk, my girlfriend's parents got me Resistance, excited to play that soon, it's probably been over a year since I played it last. It comes with the Inquisitor expansion, is that neat?
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Dec 30, 2016 16:21
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Dancer posted:And, unrelated to that, two things I've learned at yesterday's board game night.
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Dec 30, 2016 16:21
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Your solo scenario looked really good and I wanted to do it, but unfortunately I can't play solo since in-laws are over and always using the table. Hopefully I can try some later.
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Dec 30, 2016 16:25
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Johnny Truant posted:All great advice! I definitely am with you on your issue, it feels counterintuitive to try to take smaller pieces but sometimes that's really the best play. Always going for a robe or a cloak or something seems like the optimal strategy, but if you're not going for your income diagonal on your home board those pieces become problematic, at times. Inquisitor is good if you have a larger (7+) group. It's really dumb to call it an expansion, though. It's just one token with recycled Coup art and a rule added to the rulebook. And the next AFfO scenario could be "Vikings in Asia Minor" or "Normans in Sardinia" or something.
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Dec 30, 2016 16:35
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PaybackJack posted:I liked RoR the one time I played it, but for my time TI3 is a better investment. More to do and better interactions. That surprises me, because what I've read about Republic of Rome sounds like it has more to negotiate over than TI3. Although maybe the TI3 expansions are more transformative than I thought, I've only played the base game.
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Dec 30, 2016 17:30
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My mom got Ticket to Ride for Christmas, and we tried it in a 2-player game. First impression is the card system really doesn't work right with 2 players. Seems like 4-5 players, the open cards are constantly grabbed off the table and cycled so cards you want are often coming up, and at the same time there's a serious risk of others taking something you really wanted there and making playing one line now vs holding it so you can complete the card-set of another while it's still on offer a real trade-off decision. Meanwhile in our game...we just spent most of it drawing blind off the top of deck because neither of us wanted any of the five cards on offer. I think she had fun anyway but drat that was a bit of a bummer game - didn't help that we happened to draw routes on completely different areas of the board which made for little interaction.
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Dec 30, 2016 18:06
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I don't know if I've posted this in this thread before, but if you're ever wanted a glimpse into the mind of a horribly broken wargamer like myself, this is an incredibly good read. A work of art. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/940888/life-altering-game-deserves-kind-session-report Soren posted:And what will you do, she said, shaking her head pityingly, what will you do when you wind up old and with nobody around, living alone day after day? What will you do when you suddenly realize that’s the worst thing that can happen to anyone, and it’s too late to find somebody to love you?
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Dec 30, 2016 18:18
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Insurrectionist posted:My mom got Ticket to Ride for Christmas, and we tried it in a 2-player game. First impression is the card system really doesn't work right with 2 players. Seems like 4-5 players, the open cards are constantly grabbed off the table and cycled so cards you want are often coming up, and at the same time there's a serious risk of others taking something you really wanted there and making playing one line now vs holding it so you can complete the card-set of another while it's still on offer a real trade-off decision. Meanwhile in our game...we just spent most of it drawing blind off the top of deck because neither of us wanted any of the five cards on offer. I think she had fun anyway but drat that was a bit of a bummer game - didn't help that we happened to draw routes on completely different areas of the board which made for little interaction. For what it's worth, once you get familiar with the route tickets the interaction can go way up as you specifically attempt to block routes you see the other person pursuing. On the flip side a lot of people who like TTR are the sort of people who really dislike that kind of aggressive play.
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Dec 30, 2016 19:02
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Are either Viticulture or Valley of the Kings any good single player? Edit: Most of my games are best in the 3 to 5 players range and I was thinking of picking up something for weeknights. AFfO is a bit pricey for my first foray into Uwe's games, so I'd appreciate other recommendations. KPC_Mammon fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Dec 30, 2016 |
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Dec 30, 2016 19:13
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Cross posting from the r/relationships thread in GBS. Trigger Warning: Existential Terror quote:How do I [15m] Explain to my Parents That The Way They Play Board Games Makes it Really Tense and Unfun for Me?
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Dec 30, 2016 19:16
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Crackbone posted:For what it's worth, once you get familiar with the route tickets the interaction can go way up as you specifically attempt to block routes you see the other person pursuing. On the flip side a lot of people who like TTR are the sort of people who really dislike that kind of aggressive play. I'm not the biggest TTR guy but thinking of ways to block people is the main thing I do. I also assume everyone else is also playing it this way so it's very stressful for me.
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Dec 30, 2016 19:23
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discount cathouse posted:The canon 2 roles to add next are false commander and bodyguard, right? CommonShore posted:Inquisitor is good if you have a larger (7+) group. It's really dumb to call it an expansion, though. It's just one token with recycled Coup art and a rule added to the rulebook.
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Dec 30, 2016 19:34
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KPC_Mammon posted:Are either Viticulture or Valley of the Kings any good single player? Viticulture - I haven't tried it yet, but I set the board up and looked at all the components. Its solo mode uses these "automata" cards that were created specifically for solo play. Basically you just draw a card that tells you what the pretend 2nd player does each turn. It looks a little strange but probably works okay?
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Dec 30, 2016 19:37
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Mr. Squishy posted:I'm not the biggest TTR guy but thinking of ways to block people is the main thing I do. I also assume everyone else is also playing it this way so it's very stressful for me. Yeah, one of the worst gaming meltdowns I have ever seen was in TTR while testing the waters with some new folks. The person involved was furious when their long term plan didn't succeed and felt singled out when blocked. They would probably be a problem in a lot of games but Dominion at least went over smoother.
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Dec 30, 2016 19:47
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Chomp8645 posted:Cross posting from the r/relationships thread in GBS. Play Archipelago with them, hide the Separatist card. Then generate as many crises as possible while intentionally tanking them.
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Dec 30, 2016 20:00
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fozzy fosbourne posted:Yeah, one of the worst gaming meltdowns I have ever seen was in TTR while testing the waters with some new folks. The person involved was furious when their long term plan didn't succeed and felt singled out when blocked. They would probably be a problem in a lot of games but Dominion at least went over smoother. I think the problem with TTR is the presentation and simplicity of rules makes it very easy for people to expect a "friendly" game, especially people new to the niche boardgame scene.
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Dec 30, 2016 20:03
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Japanese Dating Sim posted:Viticulture - I haven't tried it yet, but I set the board up and looked at all the components. Its solo mode uses these "automata" cards that were created specifically for solo play. Basically you just draw a card that tells you what the pretend 2nd player does each turn. It looks a little strange but probably works okay? Viticulture solitaire is solid; next gen even. It also includes a campaign style set of challenges which will legit expand your skills in the game. The "automa" system has as its premise the idea that 1) a simple random-acting opponent isn't interesting, and 2) you don't actually need to simulate an opponent; you just need to simulate how that opponent would interact with you. In short it works and it's an impressive bit of design.
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Dec 30, 2016 20:21
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Broken Loose posted:Inquisitor adds a lot to the game, but it also severely increases the number of arguments. I found out that 5P no characters + Inquisitor is surprisingly enjoyable, but I encountered a ton of arguments from people here who never tried it. It's a decent option to customize an already heavily customizable game. Yeah, I remember this discussion. To be clear, I did try playing it that way... hundreds of thousands of times in simulation. And I found that (to my absolute and complete lack of surprise) Blue wins a deductive-proven no-drama pleasure cruise more than half the time (that's before any kind of social cues). That's why in the Avalon manual it tells you not to use Lady with less than 7 players. Even then, you should really have Lancelot any time you have Lady - otherwise, even disregarding the balance problems, you'll have too many games that end in undeniable deductive clarity (assuming basically competent play). Resistance isn't fun when there's no room to lie or bluff, and Lady is very strong at setting up unimpeachable logic chains that ruin games. To be clear, you should absolutely use Lady/Inquisitor - it's great! - you just need enough players and roles to make it work. And I mean, yeah, sure, try whatever you want. Heck, one of our most memorable games (out of hundreds) was one with 7 blues (no Merlin) and Oberon (done as a prank on everyone by the guy setting up). Maybe you like a goofy game, or you're playing quick-time-no-thinking-allowed, or maybe your Reds just really like a challenge. But just know that what BL is suggesting here is a wildly imbalanced setup, so don't be too surprised if it ends in a very non-dramatic win for Blue. jmzero fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Dec 30, 2016 |
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Dec 30, 2016 20:34
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I just played Sentinels of the Multiverse with two friends and it was fun. I searched the forums here and it seems everyone hates it. Are there any good reviews or critiques of it that explain why the game's design is flawed?
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Dec 30, 2016 20:40
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Crackbone posted:I think the problem with TTR is the presentation and simplicity of rules makes it very easy for people to expect a "friendly" game, especially people new to the niche boardgame scene. That's how I feel. I will play a lot of games aggressively (Carcassonne, for example, which is another good gateway), but for me Ticket to Ride doesn't really feel right like that. I find that the game works best when it's a scramble to get paths before others do more than spending turns actively blocking people when it provides no direct benefit to my routes.
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Dec 30, 2016 20:57
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clockworkjoe posted:I just played Sentinels of the Multiverse with two friends and it was fun. I searched the forums here and it seems everyone hates it. Are there any good reviews or critiques of it that explain why the game's design is flawed? I remember playing the app and it was just adding and subtracting over and over again like a drawn out math test, I can't fathom why anyone would want to do that manually for fun.
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