|
Tales of Woe posted:Are people in this thread still high on Voyages of Marco Polo? Looks like it's about to be available again, and it's in my 'fast-playing middleweight euro" wheelhouse so I'm wondering how essential it is. My main concern is that it looks like it could be a game where your strategy is heavily dictated by your player power without room for opportunism or tactical revision, due to how few turns you have. How does this play out in practice? Your player power does essentially decide your approach to the game on a broad level. Generally, you either have travel powers and you want to focus on traveling across the board, or you have goods/contract powers and you focus on contracts. But if you are travel-focused, you still need to decide which route you will attempt, which has a lot of randomized setup bonuses involved and is not an obvious choice. If you are contract focused, you need to plan a way to get goods that your opponents are not going to interfere with or benefit from. The limited number of turns means that flexibility is important. Your first choice will get blocked and you won't have time to wait for it to come up again. You will need to find a second or third choice. At any given time, there should be a few different ways to get a certain good, coins, or travel.
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2017 20:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 26, 2024 02:15 |
|
|
If anyone wants to play Wir Sind Das Volk!, I'm learning it with another goon, and I'm coolcorn on BGC. Start a game with me 
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2017 21:42
|
|
|
Marco Polo is still the top of its class although Concordia and Navegador may shove it over. I'd say Marco Polo would make an exemplary gateway game. And on a similar note of out-of-print Z-Man games coming back, Endeavour 2nd edition is on the horizon from a new publisher.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2017 21:57
|
|
|
(this will be my last post about this, don't mean to spam) So far 11 people have volunteered for Game of Thrones pbf. Only need one more in order to play two concurrent sessions. If you like dragons, dire wolves, or backstabbing goons, this is the game to play. Join up. Recruitment closes 12 hours from now. (note: need to supply own imaginary dragons and/or dire wolves) Dancer fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Aug 22, 2017 |
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2017 21:58
|
|
|
Marco Polo, Concordia, and Navegador are all peak high end mid-weight euros, but they are all very different and worth having even if you already have the other ones. Marco Polo is the best dice placement game that exists, and its assymetric roles give players unique perspectives on how best to optimize their own strategy and gently caress over other players. Its lightweight, plays fast, and does Feld's 'built a temporary engine from spare parts' model better than he does. Concordia is very good at combining light area control, deckbuilding, and multiplicative scoring in a simple and very understandable game. The slow growth of your empire is very satisfying, and the depth involved in sniping out the cards you want keeps the game interesting, especially with the Salsa expansion. Navegador is your best intro to market games. Bring this to your gaming group, see who gets interested in manipulating the market such that they gain a big economic advantage, and start grooming them for Arkwright/18XX/FCM/Indonesia. The Rondel mechanism sets a pace for play without making players anxious about blocking, allowing you to focus out-expanding your fellow players instead. Grab the promo if you can.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2017 22:38
|
|
|
Just played my first game of Inis. I only played it two player because I wanted to get the flow of the game down before bringing it to the game night and I'm surprised how well it played with two players. So many games, especially drafting games, say they play 2-4 while the 2 player rules are an afterthought but these really worked.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2017 22:55
|
|
|
About to attempt my first game versus the Automa in Scythe, drat these rules took me a minute to read.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 01:07
|
|
|
So I was introduced to Too Many Bones today. I don't think I got a good feel for it, but has anyone else played it?
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 01:15
|
|
|
Ive recently purchased a used copy of Star Wars Imperial Assault. Unfortunately its been difficult to find a group that willing to put the effort into a campaign. I've managed to find someone on boargamegeek.com that has created a single player variant. https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/111869/redjaks-automated-emperor-variant I havn't delved this deep into a board game before and was wondering if anyone had some suggestions as to where to get the variant cards professionally printed? I've tried my local staples with no luck, any card printing service I find online seems to be extremely klunky to get what I am looking for, and anything else seems to be on the higher end of expensive.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 03:54
|
|
|
Dredge posted:Ive recently purchased a used copy of Star Wars Imperial Assault. Unfortunately its been difficult to find a group that willing to put the effort into a campaign. I've managed to find someone on boargamegeek.com that has created a single player variant. I don't have a link offhand, but people have made web apps of the decks, you don't actually need to print them if you have a phone or iPad or computer handy. I thought there might've been a rough mobile app too. Also FFG supposedly still has a descent style app for it on the back burner.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 04:00
|
|
|
So, I think Labor Day weekend, I'll be teaching a couple friends to play Evolution and Tragedy Looper. I plan on doing dry runs myself maybe this weekend so I have a better feel for them - especially Tragedy Looper. Any recommendations on things to say or ways to teach that one? I've not played it myself but I've been digging into the rule books (and people don't need to worry about spoiling a scenario; I guarantee I will be the designated villain every time the game hits the table)
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 04:08
|
|
|
Dredge posted:Ive recently purchased a used copy of Star Wars Imperial Assault. Unfortunately its been difficult to find a group that willing to put the effort into a campaign. I've managed to find someone on boargamegeek.com that has created a single player variant. Print em on normal paper and cut them out. Sleeve some regular playing cards from the dollar store or whatever. Slide the cutout "cards" into the sleeve in front of the playing card face. Voila. Sleeved set of cards that can be shuffled, etc and are durable. Also, they are identically and opaquely backed.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 04:33
|
|
|
The Voyages of Marco Polo may be my favorite game because of how tense and tight the decision making is. The asymmetry in characters and board variability keeps it exciting and interesting also. That is all.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 04:35
|
|
|
Just got Pit Crew. I was initially put off from the purchase because of the dice rolling mechanism but I think it is pretty smartly interpreted. Looking forward to giving it a try. Anyone else have tried it? Any thoughts?
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 14:02
|
|
|
The Patchwork app must have gotten an update at some point recently. Last time I played it, I could beat the hard AI 9/10 times. But the hard difficulty has been upgraded to be a little felt face of Uve, and it is TOUGH. I lost the first 2–3 games literally by 50 points. It was a half dozen games before I even took a patch off the AI. The closest I got, I filled all but 2 squares, claimed the bonus tile, got 3/5 patches and still lost 17–14. It's a perfect info game and the AI starts with correct amount of money, so it's literally just playing that far over my head. It's been neat and a very stern learning experience. If you played the app a while ago and wanted a challenge, this is it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 14:18
|
|
|
They implemented some sort of Monte Carlo algorithm about a month ago. It's part of the reason that AI takes so long to play (and drains so much battery  ), and yeah it's tough. I've gotten 2 victories in around 20 games against it.The primary lesson I've learned is the value of aggressive passing. Yes, it feels like you're wasting time units. If you do the maths, you need to make an average of 3 points per unit of time to get a positive score, and you only make 1 point per unit when passing. But the cost of giving your opponent a good tile is often so much greater.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 14:27
|
|
|
Yeah, it was amusing learning that from the AI then trying to mix it into my own game. It really doesn't want to spend buttons early on tiles that don't produce income or tiles that are overpriced and will pass those to you very predictably. But when you go, "Well OK, I don't want them either" and pass back it seems to hit a loop. We passed back and forth for a half dozen turns before I finally broke down and bought the 10-cost, 3-button piece it didn't want and the game continued from there. I took 3/5 patches, missed the 7, and lost 29-3. I wouldn't be surprised if breaking that loop was my biggest mistake.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 14:47
|
|
|
Anyone else played Unearth? Just played it the other day because we were in the gaming store looking for 2 player games and they'd just got it in. It looks gorgeous, all the art is lovely, it's a really compelling thing to play with. The dice having functions at 1,2 and 3, and then at highest number shown creates a nice tradeoff where the only 'bad' number is a 4, except that with the cards you can play even 4 is good if you have multiples. It's a really clever way of having random chance to keep it exciting, but massively mitigating it such that you can actually plan a strategy and enact it without getting dicked by the game. The cards you get are a great comeback mechanic as well. I don't know if it would be as balanced with more than 2 players, but it felt really close and interesting the whole time. I'll probably pick it up just because of how much I admire it as a 'thing', everything about it feels good.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 14:58
|
|
|
Hey, is Scythe like, good? And what kind of "good" are we talking about here? Like Caylus-level AP gamer thinking a lot with other AP gamer good, or like 7 Wonders/Splendor good where you can still play with normies who just like board games sometimes?
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 15:34
|
|
|
It is definitely in gruppe B, but not THE gruppe B. There's a reason it shot up in the BGG hype train and that's because it's a great game for normies. Here's hoping my normie friends will love Container. It's a simple game but man do a lot of normies get turned off by a board game if it doesn't have vibrant art on the cover featuring zombies or Cthulhu. Then again, Great Western Trail shot up there too and it's a literal farming/ranching game so I guess idgi sometimes
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 15:44
|
|
|
Chill la Chill posted:It is definitely in gruppe B, but not THE gruppe B. There's a reason it shot up in the BGG hype train and that's because it's a great game for normies. Note that I consider myself a normie. My statement was tongue-in-cheek.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 15:45
|
|
|
ShaneB posted:Hey, is Scythe like, good? And what kind of "good" are we talking about here? Like Caylus-level AP gamer thinking a lot with other AP gamer good, or like 7 Wonders/Splendor good where you can still play with normies who just like board games sometimes? Somewhere in the middle. It's a middleweight engine-building/area control euro with tinges of 4x games and ameritrash. It's probably more approachable than something like Caylus for eurogame noobs despite having more rules/stuff in it. I think it's decent but not great.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 15:46
|
|
|
ShaneB posted:Hey, is Scythe like, good? And what kind of "good" are we talking about here? Like Caylus-level AP gamer thinking a lot with other AP gamer good, or like 7 Wonders/Splendor good where you can still play with normies who just like board games sometimes? I think it is only okay. I've only ever played 4p games, but player interaction is pretty minimal. There was no real competition for resources and the mechanics discourage you from jacking other people's resources since you need to invest both power and popularity into an endeavor that may not be worth that much, since I don't know why anyone would ever have more than 4 of any resource. I also feel like the objectives had a huge range of difficulty, to the extent that the one faction whose ability is that they can complete 2 objectives loving sucks since there are times neither objective you draw are worth the opportunity cost of that pursuit. I think they'd need to make the map a lot tighter (or at least adjustable for fewer players) and basically rework how the combat works to simultaneously encourage it and discourage dumping on someone who is "winning," but at that point I'm thinking of a different game (Kemet?). I'm not sure it's "normie friendly" since there are a fair amount of rules and the way the economy is set up may not be particularly intuitive.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 15:50
|
|
|
ShaneB posted:Hey, is Scythe like, good? And what kind of "good" are we talking about here? Like Caylus-level AP gamer thinking a lot with other AP gamer good, or like 7 Wonders/Splendor good where you can still play with normies who just like board games sometimes? I played my inaugural game with my family, who run the gamut of sophistication. It tended to follow the board game trend of there being a lot of blank staring at first, but once everyone fully understood the row actions and what they signified, it was mostly a no brainer. It's a lot fun with some respectable strategic depth. Turns can go extremely fast once everyone knows what they're doing and the varieties of factions and player board setups can ensure a degree of variety. I was amused by the fact that for the game prominently featuring giant war mechs we had only two combats in our whole first game, at the absolute end in an attempt to just get the final stars on the board. E: this was a 3 player game for context. I would say the sweet spot would be 4, and I can only imagine a 7 player game with the expansion as being a completely ruthless, claustrophobic clusterfuck. Buck Wildman fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Aug 23, 2017 |
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 15:50
|
|
|
Skypie posted:So, I think Labor Day weekend, I'll be teaching a couple friends to play Evolution and Tragedy Looper. I plan on doing dry runs myself maybe this weekend so I have a better feel for them - especially Tragedy Looper. Any recommendations on things to say or ways to teach that one? I've not played it myself but I've been digging into the rule books (and people don't need to worry about spoiling a scenario; I guarantee I will be the designated villain every time the game hits the table) I know you asked about Tragedy Looper, but the things I'd emphasize with Evolution are that body size does not affect eating requirements and that there are many copies of each card in the deck.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 15:54
|
|
|
ShaneB posted:Hey, is Scythe like, good? And what kind of "good" are we talking about here? Like Caylus-level AP gamer thinking a lot with other AP gamer good, or like 7 Wonders/Splendor good where you can still play with normies who just like board games sometimes? I'd rate scythe as lower middle - there is no end of round setup or income phase to muddy anything up, and your actions don't resonate stuff you have to remember after you've resolved your turn (I suppose recruits but that is very specific and easy to remember). I think you can convince non-true board gamers to play it if you make sure they realize it is not nearly as complicated as they think it looks.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 15:56
|
|
|
Johnny Truant posted:About to attempt my first game versus the Automa in Scythe, drat these rules took me a minute to read. GrandpaPants posted:I think it is only okay. I've only ever played 4p games, but player interaction is pretty minimal. There was no real competition for resources and the mechanics discourage you from jacking other people's resources since you need to invest both power and popularity into an endeavor that may not be worth that much, since I don't know why anyone would ever have more than 4 of any resource. In my experience, games against the Automa actually have more interaction, since its movement rules are so aggressive. I also think player interaction increases with experience and the game is most interesting at higher player counts.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 15:59
|
|
|
quote:Many comments on Scythe Why do you think it's so well-regarded? Fallout-esque alt-history theme?
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:01
|
|
|
ShaneB posted:Why do you think it's so well-regarded? Fallout-esque alt-history theme? It's an extremely pretty, appealing aesthetic and as has been said it does an ok job of balancing depth with approachability.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:03
|
|
|
Huxley posted:The Patchwork app must have gotten an update at some point recently. Last time I played it, I could beat the hard AI 9/10 times. But the hard difficulty has been upgraded to be a little felt face of Uve, and it is TOUGH. I have been playing the new AI a lot and I think I'm going to stop playing on Hard. The game takes twice as long and I preferred playing simply to beat my high score, which was fast fun with the previous iteration of Hard.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:06
|
|
|
ShaneB posted:Why do you think it's so well-regarded? Fallout-esque alt-history theme? It's pretty accessible at its game weight. There are lighter but more difficult to explain games out there.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:08
|
|
|
Skypie posted:So, I think Labor Day weekend, I'll be teaching a couple friends to play Evolution and Tragedy Looper. I plan on doing dry runs myself maybe this weekend so I have a better feel for them - especially Tragedy Looper. Any recommendations on things to say or ways to teach that one? I've not played it myself but I've been digging into the rule books (and people don't need to worry about spoiling a scenario; I guarantee I will be the designated villain every time the game hits the table) With Tragedy Looper, the section of the Villian handbook that goes on about how to teach the game is a pretty good starter for teaching folks. However, Make absolutely sure that you throughly explain that Roles are completely divorced from Incidents.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:22
|
|
|
Skypie posted:So, I think Labor Day weekend, I'll be teaching a couple friends to play Evolution and Tragedy Looper. I plan on doing dry runs myself maybe this weekend so I have a better feel for them - especially Tragedy Looper. Any recommendations on things to say or ways to teach that one? I've not played it myself but I've been digging into the rule books (and people don't need to worry about spoiling a scenario; I guarantee I will be the designated villain every time the game hits the table) The main thing about Tragedy Looper is that while it seems pretty complex there are only 3 main things to keep track of, and they are (mostly*) unrelated: - Goodwill influences whether a NPC can use the Ability printed on the card. The Players are the ones to decide to use it, and it's usually beneficial to them. - Paranoia only matters for the Culprit of an Incident. If the Culprit has enough Paranoia the day of an Incident, it happens automatically, whether the Mastermind wants or not. Clever Players may use this to their advantage (usually by murdering non-important people) - Intrigue is usually related to the Roles, Intrigue and Roles together allow the Mastermind to directly influence the Plot. A Role has nothing to do with being a Culprit or not, and the same with Abilities. A NPC can have an Ability, be the Culprit of an Incident and have a Role, or just be a face in the crowd for the Mastermind to parade around the Players and deflect attention from the more important pieces. Another thing to consider is how much information you give away. The manual has some good examples, be careful you don't give away more than you have to. Dry running the scenarios you want to play is a good idea, because some interactions are subtle. Also, the most important thing Players should know is that they should never lose the loop twice in the same way. *A Role may give the Mastermind the option to refuse to trigger a Goodwill Ability, but that's it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:22
|
|
|
ShaneB posted:Why do you think it's so well-regarded? Fallout-esque alt-history theme? That plus kickstarter hype plus nice art and components. Lots of new people entering the hobby means that thematic and approachable strategy games have blasted up the charts recently - see also Terraforming Mars, Viticulture, Blood Rage, etc. There's so many people playing these games without the context of older 'classics' like Caylus or Kemet to temper their excitement. Fine by me, let people enjoy things. As long as it's not CAH.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:27
|
|
|
Tales of Woe posted:That plus kickstarter hype plus nice art and components. Lots of new people entering the hobby means that thematic and approachable strategy games have blasted up the charts recently - see also Terraforming Mars, Viticulture, Blood Rage, etc. There's so many people playing these games without the context of older 'classics' like Caylus or Kemet to temper their excitement. Fine by me, let people enjoy things. As long as it's not CAH. Yeah I split a weird gap where I got into gaming when Settlers came out, so I was playing like Settlers and Carc and Tikal and Acquire with my high school friends, played again in the late 00s in grad school with stuff like Alhambra, Caylus, Through the Desert, Thurns and Taxis, Ticket To Ride Europe and Marklin edition, and then now have a few of the more recent big guns with 7 wonders and Dominion and stuff. But I missed the Kickstarter hype games like Gloomhaven and whatnot that seem to be popular on the BGG charts. So I feel like I don't know how to evaluate a game in the abstract in terms of will it fit my play group and my dedication to trying to grok a game. ShaneB fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Aug 23, 2017 |
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:31
|
|
|
Johnny Truant posted:About to attempt my first game versus the Automa in Scythe, drat these rules took me a minute to read. Picked up a copy after gettin addicted eh? :P ShaneB posted:Why do you think it's so well-regarded? Fallout-esque alt-history theme? The aesthetic and components are good, and it while it takes a while to setup once people play 1 or 2 turns it's pretty straightforward to play. It's pretty accessible for the weight, and it's a decently good game. I've played it a few times and it's fun. I don't bust it out unless someone wants to play it, but I do own it and am not getting rid of it
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:34
|
|
|
ShaneB posted:Hey, is Scythe like, good? And what kind of "good" are we talking about here? Like Caylus-level AP gamer thinking a lot with other AP gamer good, or like 7 Wonders/Splendor good where you can still play with normies who just like board games sometimes? I'd say it is closer to the first group than the latter. Splendor has 3 rules, 7 Wonders has like 3 with a focus on the scoring. Scythe has many more, so I doubt that Scythe is a engine builder disguised as a dude on a map game. Combat is really only useful to do once or so, and even then it feels bad. I've only played with 3-4 players, but the map is very large. There is very little fighting for spaces or resources unless you want to be directly antagonistic. Even so, you can be punished for winning a fight, which is dumb. Combined with the power being partially tied to a random draw from a deck, the entire fighting experience is kind of meh. It, encounters, and the objective cards are what I consider 'traps' in that if you focus too much on them, you will fall behind. That said, it's a fun, pretty game. I picked up a copy of my own after playing it about 4 times. It's a good game that could be cleaned up a bit.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:39
|
|
|
I've played a 6 player (all experienced) game of Scythe and we finished in 1:15. It's got a great flow to it once players grasp it, but it can be front loaded and overwhelming as far as teaching. I would never try to teach it to casual board gamers that only play party games. The asymmetric factions and action boards are what keep me playing, I find it a fun puzzle every time I sit down, despite having some issues with the balance, map, and big picture design choices.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:42
|
|
|
I agree that combat in Scythe kind of fizzled and has a heavy cost even in victory. It has to be a very calculated decision. I got the impression that the designer intended this because the manual went on and on about the mechs being a suppression force rather than an active threat, fear of conflict, blah blah. One of the factions has a special ability for their mechs that removes the penalty for bullying enemy workers off territory. One of the players in my first game who grossly overextended herself kind of got locked down into their capital early on due to this and spent most of the game impotently seething as a result. I want to find the time to play again now that everyone has more experience. Buck Wildman fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Aug 23, 2017 |
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 26, 2024 02:15 |
|
|
FunkMonkey posted:I agree that combat in Scythe kind of fizzled and has a heavy cost even in victory. It has to be a very calculated decision. I got the impression that the designer intended this because the manual went on and on about the mechs being a suppression force rather than an active threat, fear of conflict, blah blah. Which is why I didn't care for Scythe. Don't show me awesome WWII Mechs in your artwork and then say I shouldn't fight with them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 16:58
|
|
