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Chill la Chill posted:I think this blog post should go on the OP wrt general types of games: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/27367/schools-design-and-their-core-priorities I feel like these labels are getting less useful over time. Like, he figures Eclipse is "Ameritrash", but at least half of its DNA is "Euro" - and it doesn't really "feel" like either of those categories did historically. If you play Eclipse at 2P, what is the real core of how it's different than Tigris & Euphrates or Twilight Struggle? Would you ever think of the difference there as coming down to "Drama", "Challenge", and "Realism"? Thinking about games in terms of "what players want from them" can prompt some interesting ideas (just like the old Spike/Timmy/Johnny MtG player types), but I don't think we can bundle games fruitfully this way. While there's still vestiges of these categories, neither the games nor the players fit cleanly. On the demand side, there's lots of different game properties that people like (certainly "balanced for competitive play", "simple rules", "accessibility", "interesting theme" are common) in many combinations (eg. varying interest in politics or randomness). And on the supply side, all the ideas are intermingled such that even if I can say "this is a wargame", I don't know that I can say exactly what mechanics or properties make it so. I mean, to me, the clearest example of the "Ameritrash" legacy is stuff like the licensed Cryptozoic deckbuilders (eg. DC Deckbuilding Game). Theme over everything, feeling like you have to force in some kind of mechanical interpretation of a Batmobile because that's what players recognize, not much effort at balance, a low ceiling on how long the rulebook can be, and high luck, high politics, screw-you-drama game play. But, uhh, DC Deckbuilder is actually low politics and fairly low "drama". If we decide those things are the sine qua non of Ameritrash (and, to be fair, most Ameritrash games DO have that stuff), there's lots of stuff that's going to end up in weird categories. I think it's more useful to describe games by properties and mechanics. Lords of Waterdeep is a low-weight worker placement with medium politics and poor competitive balance. That tells you something. Is it dramatic? Does it focus on delivering challenge? Is it a Euro? None of those questions have interesting answers. jmzero fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Jan 19, 2018 |
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Jan 19, 2018 22:46
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OmegaGoo posted:Gee. It's like I'm surprised. (when they promised Jan 2018, my response was "ok, I'll have it next summer") To be fair, this wasn't the traditional issue of poor logistical planning and bad expectations like so many campaigns. They were about ready to start shipping the finished product from China when the factory's production mistake became apparent.
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Jan 19, 2018 22:55
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Merauder posted:To be fair, this wasn't the traditional issue of poor logistical planning and bad expectations like so many campaigns. They were about ready to start shipping the finished product from China when the factory's production mistake became apparent. Hahaha "mistake" This was a scamming manufacturer not a slipshod one.
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Jan 19, 2018 22:58
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Hahaha "mistake" Having experience working with products from Panda and their general quality of service, I'm less inclined to automatically assume any kind of ill intent.
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Jan 19, 2018 23:17
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I think Panda’s just a middleman, they contract out to other manufacturing in China in addition to their own stuff. Another factory for the ol’ blacklist unless heads roll.The End posted:Read Poorly Made in China, it explores in detail how this kind of practice (loving with products and hoping the client doesn't notice) is basically standard operating procedure in China. This essentially
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Jan 19, 2018 23:37
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Merauder posted:To be fair, this wasn't the traditional issue of poor logistical planning and bad expectations like so many campaigns. They were about ready to start shipping the finished product from China when the factory's production mistake became apparent. I know, but this sort of thing seems to be running rampant recently. Release dates are constantly changing. I'm actually really happy that they're going for quality rather than early release.
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Jan 19, 2018 23:52
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:FCMs real problem is you can only play with people of the same skill level. This is basically impossible to orchestrate in real life so you can never actually get it to the table. Get gloomhaven. That and forgetting you were going first this round instead of last, and setting up a sweet advertising layout that steals everything valuable from your opponents, only to have them take it right back and gently caress you for the rest of the game. No, I'm not bitter I ended with $40, why do you ask?
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Jan 20, 2018 00:00
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Has anyone taken a look at the kickstarter for Western Legends I watched the play through and i feel like it would be four player solitaire since there are so many options..
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Jan 20, 2018 00:14
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Is Panda the manufacturer or are the a go-between that keeps eyes on the ground in China for other companies? Regardless, I think by now these companies have figured out KS orders can be hosed over, chances are you'll never do business with them again.
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Jan 20, 2018 00:14
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Panda is legit but like most contract manufacturers they may outsource specific things as part of the whole depending on needs. I don't know but they likely do not run their own injection molding in house (for example), because that's a whole industry/biz/suite of full time jobs on its own.
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Jan 20, 2018 00:39
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Played Flamme Rouge for the first time today and I have no idea why people rave about it. The general gameplay is bland and inoffensive enough, but the mechanics meant to stop people getting lucky and rushing ahead also punish you for being unlucky.
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Jan 20, 2018 01:27
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Jedit posted:Played Flamme Rouge for the first time today and I have no idea why people rave about it. The general gameplay is bland and inoffensive enough, but the mechanics meant to stop people getting lucky and rushing ahead also punish you for being unlucky. It is very luck based, but every casual gamer we know will willingly join a game.
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Jan 20, 2018 02:22
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Bloody Pancreas posted:For anyone that loves Spirit Island as much as I do, the 2 promo spirits were literally just made available on the Greater Than Games storefront. OF COURSE shipping to the UK is more expensive than the promos themselves.
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Jan 20, 2018 02:45
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DC deck builder freaking stinks
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Jan 20, 2018 04:19
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Ropes4u posted:Has anyone taken a look at the kickstarter for Western Legends I watched the play through and i feel like it would be four player solitaire since there are so many options.. It's another 'sandbox' game, just like Merchants and Marauders and Xia. (and Firefly, if you want a licensed, blander game). They're often bland games where players sort of mill about doing their own thing until someone starts approaching victory, at which point everyone dogpiles them and someone either nicks away with the win, or that person was too far in front and wins anyway. They're inoffensive, bland games that basically serve as an activity to while an evening away at. I'm backing it out of love for Red Dead Redemption, but I may end up pulling the plug. I don't expect an amazing game.
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Jan 20, 2018 07:29
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Played Clank in Space the other night and by god am I sick of bland deckbuilders that are essentially Ascension with a board. It's 2018... have we learned nothing at all?
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Jan 20, 2018 07:30
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The End posted:Played Clank in Space the other night and by god am I sick of bland deckbuilders that are essentially Ascension with a board. It's 2018... have we learned nothing at all? A friend of mine owns it and likes it Enough - basically she accepts that it's a nice object and playing giant piles of cards feels nice enough and it's easy - but she made the mistake of bringing it to our weekly meetup and now it's like, hotly demanded by several different groups there so now she's forever The Clank Lady.
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Jan 20, 2018 07:37
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Jedit posted:Played Flamme Rouge for the first time today and I have no idea why people rave about it. The general gameplay is bland and inoffensive enough, but the mechanics meant to stop people getting lucky and rushing ahead also punish you for being unlucky. I think If you're getting dropped off the back of the pack you took a big risk and it didn't pay off- you hung off the back of the pack for a while then got unlucky. You need to hedge your bets by being in the middle of the pack. You can also pretty much catch up if you get dropped as well, but have to burn some high value cards, so it's rarely crippling. I'm not saying it's a strategic masterpiece, and there is a lot of variance. On some tracks there are only 4 places you can effectively use a 9 card and if you don't get them during those.times you are hosed for example. Cthulhu Dreams fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Jan 20, 2018 |
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Jan 20, 2018 07:58
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The End posted:Played Clank in Space the other night and by god am I sick of bland deckbuilders that are essentially Ascension with a board. It's 2018... have we learned nothing at all? I would literally sit out of a game of Clank and play 25 games of Ascension on my phone in the same amount of time and be way happier. It's a worse game and it takes forever because most people are trash at deckbuilders in the first place and this one adds a movement mechanic that can be a real slog.
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Jan 20, 2018 08:04
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:I think If you're getting dropped off the back of the pack you took a big risk and it didn't pay off- you hung off the back of the pack for a while then got unlucky. You need to hedge your bets by being in the middle of the pack. Nope. I manoeuvred my Sprinter to the very start of the first incline, shuffled my deck, and drew a 2 and all three 9s. Burned a 9 I got on the next reshuffle to catch up at the start of the second incline, got the two Exhaustion cards I'd been forced to draw as punishment for being last and the other two 9s.
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Jan 20, 2018 10:27
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Maybe you should have drawn better cards. Another thing about FR is track construction's a pain.
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Jan 20, 2018 10:51
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Jedit posted:Nope. I manoeuvred my Sprinter to the very start of the first incline, shuffled my deck, and drew a 2 and all three 9s. Burned a 9 I got on the next reshuffle to catch up at the start of the second incline, got the two Exhaustion cards I'd been forced to draw as punishment for being last and the other two 9s. But why not just take the two at the first incline? If you were in the middle of the pack in a 3 player game you basically cannot get dropped unless the guy next to you plays a 4 or a 5 and everyone behind you plays a 5 and noone infront of you plays a 2. Which requires the exact layout of your Rouler in the lead, their two roilers in the back and a srprinter next to you who plays one of exactly 3 4s in his deck, Ands assuming you're in a 2*3 pack, if the front is spread out you have even more wiggle room. Just play the 2 and you won't get dropped. Unless you were at the back in which case yeah you can get dropped but that's a bad place to be. Cthulhu Dreams fucked around with this message at 11:04 on Jan 20, 2018 |
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Jan 20, 2018 10:59
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:But why not just take the two at the first incline? If you were in the middle of the pack in a 3 player game you basically cannot get dropped unless the guy next to you plays a 4 or a 5 and everyone behind you plays a 5 and noone infront of you plays a 2. Which requires the exact layout of your Rouler in the lead, their two roilers in the back and a srprinter next to you who plays one of exactly 3 4s in his deck, Ands assuming you're in a 2*3 pack, if the front is spread out you have even more wiggle room. I didn't explicitly say I played the 2, but I did say I played a 9 between the inclines then drew the other two at the second. Everyone in front of me played at least a 3 and the two racers directly behind both had 5s, which left me out of touch. I think you're forgetting that this was on an incline, so there's no slipstreaming. It was a 4-player game, by the way.
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Jan 20, 2018 11:15
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Yeah you got into an awful spot and then got unlucky - that is literally the only possible way you can get dropped for playing the two in that scenerio. The guys behind you both play 5s (they can play a higher card but that would waste it which they won't want to do at the first incline), and the guy next to you has to play a 4 or better so you're not immediately behind him. This is why I suspect it's bad play to have your sprinter at the back of the pack (10/12 in this case) I know it's an incline so there is no slipstreaming, but you wouldn't get an exhaustion if anyone else played any other card. If you were one square further ahead relative to the other racers you wouldn't have been able to be dropped at all, so it's possible that your play on a previous turn was expensive as well.
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Jan 20, 2018 11:55
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The End posted:It's another 'sandbox' game, just like Merchants and Marauders and Xia. (and Firefly, if you want a licensed, blander game). They're often bland games where players sort of mill about doing their own thing until someone starts approaching victory, at which point everyone dogpiles them and someone either nicks away with the win, or that person was too far in front and wins anyway. They're inoffensive, bland games that basically serve as an activity to while an evening away at. I'm backing it out of love for Red Dead Redemption, but I may end up pulling the plug. I don't expect an amazing game. I want the game but your description is exactly what I was afraid of...
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Jan 20, 2018 13:12
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Uh wtf? https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gloomhaven-Board-Game/291875780
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Jan 20, 2018 14:32
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 drat, that's cheaper than coolstuffinc had it for... I mean, not by much, $125 vs $114 so just $11 but still.At least people will hopefully get to pick it up from walmart though!
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Jan 20, 2018 14:50
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My copy of Gloomhaven isn't even in yet and I just bought Spirit Island, the expansion, and the promo cards. What a time to be alive.
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Jan 20, 2018 16:00
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I'm living the dream, I bought Gloomhaven from my FLGS.
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Jan 20, 2018 17:11
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Just a reminder for all of our new Gloomy Companions, there is a separate thread for Gloomhaven where we spend 43 pages talking about how good the game is: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3840191
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Jan 20, 2018 17:20
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Kiranamos posted:Just a reminder for all of our new Gloomy Companions, there is a separate thread for Gloomhaven where we spend 43 pages talking about how good the game is: thanks!
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Jan 20, 2018 17:20
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Things you never expect to read on BGG posted:Yea, because who doesn't like good old gang bang before you eat them, right? Especially if one of the giant dudes has his way with their... (in response to a request for a female clan in HATE)
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Jan 20, 2018 18:33
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If you never expected that on BGG, you've never looked at BGG.
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Jan 20, 2018 18:39
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I played Cacao today. it feels like a Carcassonne that trades away some strategic balance for more gameplay variety. Would be a great gateway game for people new to board games.
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Jan 20, 2018 18:40
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Toshimo posted:If you never expected that on BGG, you've never looked at BGG. For real. BGG is a creepden.
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Jan 20, 2018 18:42
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Walmart seems to be attempting to position themselves as a competitor to Amazon.
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Jan 20, 2018 19:19
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It’s sold out, btw
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Jan 20, 2018 21:03
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I just opened my copy. I want to play it, but I'm scared of the organization problem presented. I think I'll look into dealing with that first.
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Jan 20, 2018 21:04
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Bottom Liner posted:For real. BGG is a creepden. That quote really doesn't sound particularly supportive to me.
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Jan 20, 2018 21:11
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OmegaGoo posted:I just opened my copy. I want to play it, but I'm scared of the organization problem presented. I think I'll look into dealing with that first. Planos for the standees, terrain and monster cards and an accordion folder for the map tiles (this one https://www.amazon.com/Smead-Frequency-Expanding-Pockets-70863/dp/B0186K7B3O/). Also lots of sleeves. Some Numbers fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Jan 20, 2018 |
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Jan 20, 2018 22:07
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