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silvergoose posted:I mean we've played pretty much all of ticket, it was nice playing a super express version in ten minutes. And, yeah, excited to play it with the gosling. Northern pacific is gonna be my super express TTR game
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Nov 2, 2018 16:47
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Roads and Boats is definitely a big step up in TtR complexity but plays nicely. Not cheap though and unsure if someone needs to grab it if they're happy with whatever version they have now. Nordic/Europe I think are the best. Nordic is a goddam knife-fight and I've only beaten my girlfriend once, I think. It's also a super cozy winter game.
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Nov 2, 2018 17:12
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Team Asia rules are pretty fun too
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Nov 2, 2018 17:17
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Played Lowlands yesterday, it’s definitely a more fun puzzle than it appears on the box. Trying to find room for your exponentially expanding herd of sheep is definitely more engaging than most euros; and the see-saw of pulling ahead on the dike track then wanting the dike to fail means that your optimal strategy is in constant flux.
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Nov 2, 2018 17:36
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I've played a ton of Nordic IRL and a lot of Switzerland on the phone and definitely prefer Nordic as a 2-player. I think the Swiss nation routes make it too easy to draw into points. We've also enjoyed both UK and Penn, and those are what we've played 9 times out of 10 since we got them.
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Nov 2, 2018 18:17
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Jedit posted:You can still play a few of the old PBM games - KJC are apparently on the go even to this day, running Monster Island and It's A Crime. The Here I Stand scenario book includes play-by-email tips. I wonder how many years a play-by-snail-mail would take.
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Nov 2, 2018 18:38
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Ok so that's: Stelas Chaotic Flame hito El Fideo Some Numbers if Tek, softnum, and, pseudo wanna confirm, that should be two games. I'll leave signups open for another day before launch.
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Nov 2, 2018 19:33
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Urgh. Just had an email that UK distributors are having to allocate Teotihuacan and I might not get my preorder. Nobody in the history of time has suffered like me.
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Nov 2, 2018 19:39
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Gutter Owl posted:Ok so that's: I'm always down for kissin anime boys.
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Nov 2, 2018 20:20
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Gutter Owl posted:Ok so that's: I'll give it a shot
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Nov 2, 2018 20:28
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So, remember when I asked about a chart comparing train games? I went ahead and built one: https://jon-varner.github.io/weight-of-trains/ The details if anyone is interested: I did this primarily as a React exercise, so I could learn the BGG API and Victory charts. All the data comes from the BGG API, plotting average playing time against average weight. The BGG API is not the best--it returns XML (so I had to use a library to convert it to JSON) and can't return some things you'd expect. For example, you can't get a list of games by category, or even a list of the top ranked games. So I hard-coded the IDs for the 30 highest ranked games in the "Trains" category. Why 30? So it would include some of the games most recently discussed in this thread. All the data aside from the game IDs is pulled from the API. Since the heavy lifiting is done, I could easily modify this to compare different games, use different X and Y values, etc. CaptainRightful fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Nov 2, 2018 |
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Nov 2, 2018 21:17
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Gutter Owl posted:Ok so that's: I'm down as well if you need to round out a third game.
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Nov 2, 2018 23:22
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I really wanted to like Meltwater but it was Too Sad  Looking forward to your new game GO <3
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Nov 3, 2018 01:32
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India is my favourite TtR map since it doesn't have tunnels and the gimmick (duplicate routes give a bonus) is easy to understand and fun to play with. And it's got Switzerland in the same box so you get good value.
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Nov 3, 2018 02:16
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CaptainRightful posted:So, remember when I asked about a chart comparing train games? I went ahead and built one: This is neat. I was thinking about doing a similar project at the end of the year. Is this the api that you used? https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/BGG_XML_API2
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Nov 3, 2018 03:12
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Papes posted:This is neat. Yeah, I recommend fast-xml-parser to turn it into JSON. You can check out my code here: https://github.com/Jon-Varner/weight-of-trains
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Nov 3, 2018 03:38
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Crows and Moles in Root!quote:We are currently planning on doing a KS early in the year to help us fund the third printing as well as the second expansion. Currently we plan on the following for the project.
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Nov 3, 2018 11:15
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   Saw this in the new releases on coolstuffinc For a description about a card game it certainly doesn't seem too concerned with actually describing what kind of game it is or how it is played
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Nov 3, 2018 11:37
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FirstAidKite posted:Saw this in the new releases on coolstuffinc SPANC isn't new, though. I looked and it first came out in 2005, which was a surprise as I honestly thought it was 1990s. And it's a card game about scantily clad catgirls illustrated by Phil Foglio. You already know if you're interested in it.
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Nov 3, 2018 12:11
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Hey all, I'd like to talk about handicaps in non-abstract games. In abstracts, handicaps are usually fairly simple: in chess, you start without one of your pieces, in Go your opponent gets to place a few stones on key points before the game starts, etc. But in non-abstracts, how would you go about figuring out what makes a good handicap? Note that points makes a very bad handicap, because really it's "try to not lose by more than n" and the game isn't actually different at all. The game I'm most interested in right now is Empires of the Void II. The resources in the game are: credits (which are used to recruit units and pay for buildings), goods (which are used to make buildings cheaper and research tech), units, influence, control. Potential handicaps that I can envision: Start with additional credits (easily adjustable, gives you a potential head start on units or buildings) Start with a random good (might let you get an extra tech or faster building start) Start with an extra unit on the board (kinda interchangeable with credits, really, except less flexible and won't require you to recruit it first, might let you attack a planet faster) Choose any planet and add an influence there (gives you an ally power and the ability to get better units immediately, this might be too powerful?) Choose any planet and add a control cube (I think that's way too much, it would give you two resources and a building spot and such) I don't need advice on this particular game per se, but I would love a bit of discussion on how you might handicap other euros or such games that don't have quite as abstract a board (which would leave very few possible handicaps).
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Nov 3, 2018 14:44
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silvergoose posted:I don't need advice on this particular game per se, but I would love a bit of discussion on how you might handicap other euros or such games that don't have quite as abstract a board (which would leave very few possible handicaps). A lot of games give a small bonus to players who are later in the turn order. I think in that case there's a starting point for what kind of handicap (qualitatively) might be appropriate. Doctor Spaceman fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Nov 3, 2018 |
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Nov 3, 2018 14:56
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Doctor Spaceman posted:A lot of games give a small bonus to players who are later in the turn order. I think in that case there's a starting point for kind of handicap (qualitatively) might be appropriate. Hmm, true! Or an extra yellow cube in Century spice road, etc. Good point.
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Nov 3, 2018 14:57
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Doctor Spaceman posted:India is my favourite TtR map since it doesn't have tunnels and the gimmick (duplicate routes give a bonus) is easy to understand and fun to play with. And it's got Switzerland in the same box so you get good value. Tunnels are the dumbest TTR mechanic and I don't know why they keep reusing them. They add complication and variance without really adding anything interesting to the game. I work in a board games bar and have just started recommending customers ignore them and play them as normal tracks. Especially in TTR Europe where I'm convinced it's optimal to just discard any ticket that involves Switzerland since its full of lovely 2-point tunnels.
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Nov 3, 2018 15:27
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silvergoose posted:Hmm, true! Or an extra yellow cube in Century spice road, etc. Good point. The manual for SidCon says to give an extra cube of one of their starting types to inexperienced players if you want handicaps, so yeah that seems like a good place to start.
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Nov 3, 2018 15:32
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I wonder why more games explicitly design for handicaps, it would be especially nice for playing with kids!
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Nov 3, 2018 15:55
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Nations lets each player pick their own difficulty level, but it boils down to which resources they start with. Whichever resource is the “smallest” is a good candidate for handicapping.
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Nov 3, 2018 15:55
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Triskelli posted:Nations lets each player pick their own difficulty level, but it boils down to which resources they start with. It's more than that, Nations' difficulty is how many free resources you get for passing basically. And the game can be so punishing that those free resources can get you out of a hole you otherwise couldn't climb out.
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Nov 3, 2018 16:13
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Jedit posted:SPANC isn't new, though. I looked and it first came out in 2005, which was a surprise as I honestly thought it was 1990s. Heck if I know what's actually new or what's just getting a reprint, I was just saying what was under the new releases section since it's made up of new, reprinted, and upcoming preorder titles Jedit posted:And it's a card game about scantily clad catgirls illustrated by Phil Foglio. You already know if you're interested in it. Ok but I don't know who that is and my point is that's a silly description that doesn't say anything about the game 
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Nov 3, 2018 17:31
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FirstAidKite posted:
Then you are not in their target audience
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Nov 3, 2018 19:19
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I was at my flgs getting a hex map and I saw that a new Arkham Horror game had come out, so I bought it because I am a big dumb idiot and even though I would swear up and down that eldritch horror is bad, I still like the nonsense fuckabout nature of it. We played for about 3 hours if you count set up time and reading through the quickstart guide and we didn't finish a 2 player game. I feel like we are maybe halfway through. At any rate, curious if anyone else had picked it up and also here are my pros and cons versus eldritch horror for anyone else who is a sucker. Pro's +The modular board design is cool and, at least in the Azathoth scenario, makes getting around the map much less god drat stupid. +The Mythos phase has been turned into pulling tokens from a bowl, similar to the LCG. It generall resolves a lot quicker and, since you have to draw all the tokens before refilling the bowl, feels a lot more evenhanded. +Monsters feel a bit more dynamic since most of them move around, and the one's that don't you kinda really want to kill. +I think the headlines deck plus the mythos tokens is broadly more interesting than the mythos cards. +I like the codex system a lot more than the investigation system. It just feels a little bit more dynamic, at least on first playthrough. I am sure it is ultimately more static +The Event deck is a good time and mixing in the mechanic from pandemic where you build a small discard pile up that inevitably gets shuffled and put back on top (well bottom in this case) to immediately be redrawn into is alarming. +The encounter decks are a little more interesting since you mix in cards from the event deck as you draw them. +Feels like the skill use is a bit more even. +Manual generally clearer, although I still have some layout complaints. Con's -Did I mention we played this game for 3 hours and we don't really appear to be in sight of either victory or defeat? And that it was a 2 player game? -CAN YOU BELIEVE THESE MOTHERFUCKERS KEPT THE DELAYED MECHANIC? It's a little bit better since it only costs you one of your turn's actions instead of both of them but jesus christ. -An insurmountable amount of fiddly bits. Just an absurd amount. -The level of shuffling required is still ludicrous. Less than Eldritch horror but off the top of my head you've got the 5 district encounters decks, the streets deck, the event deck, the headlines deck, the anomaly deck, the monster deck, the items deck, the allies deck, and the spells deck. Also most of these decks are tiny. All of the encounter decks are 8 cards for example, so I feel compelled to get sleeves because shuffling 8 cards without sleeves is tedious. -Monster engagement fuckin sucks because if you are engaged with a monster, you don't get to have an encounter. You also don't fight the monster. You just do nothing in the encounter step and let's be honest, the encounter step is where the fun of these stupid games is.
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Nov 3, 2018 19:24
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FirstAidKite posted:Ok but I don't know who that is and my point is that's a silly description that doesn't say anything about the game
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Nov 3, 2018 19:30
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Failboattootoot posted:I was at my flgs getting a hex map and I saw that a new Arkham Horror game had come out, so I bought it because I am a big dumb idiot and even though I would swear up and down that eldritch horror is bad, I still like the nonsense fuckabout nature of it. We played for about 3 hours if you count set up time and reading through the quickstart guide and we didn't finish a 2 player game. I feel like we are maybe halfway through. At any rate, curious if anyone else had picked it up and also here are my pros and cons versus eldritch horror for anyone else who is a sucker. I literally just grabbed it five minutes ago because I'm also a sucker for all things mythos. I should be playing with some people this evening, so I'll have some thoughts later.
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Nov 3, 2018 19:35
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Chill la Chill posted:Northern pacific is gonna be my super express TTR game I'd like to hear more opinions about Northern Pacific.
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Nov 3, 2018 20:25
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PerniciousKnid posted:I'd like to hear more opinions about Northern Pacific. I added it to my chart because why not? https://jon-varner.github.io/weight-of-trains/
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Nov 3, 2018 21:10
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PerniciousKnid posted:I'd like to hear more opinions about Northern Pacific. Northern pacific is a game that consists of 2 rules and can be taught in like 45 seconds. Due to the game systems being so trivial, it really just boils down to short term alliances, risk management, and mind games. If those are things you generally like I’d highly recommend it.
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Nov 3, 2018 22:08
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Failboattootoot posted:
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Nov 3, 2018 23:13
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LifeLynx posted:I went to my LGS with the goal of maybe picking it up, and then I saw the play time on the back. I'll stick with the LCG when I need a Mythos fix. Theoretically it's supposed to play faster than that and people are reporting 2-3 hour play tunes from what I'm seeing.
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Nov 3, 2018 23:24
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Anyone planning on backing Pipeline? KS goes up this week.quote:The refinement of oil has long been part of the government-controlled energy sector. Amassed with an incredibly complex and inefficient system of refineries, the government has felt the severe pressures of worldwide demand and the ever-increasing global standards for refinement. Unable to keep up with demand, the government has only one option: privatizing the oil industry. It looks like an interesting mix of an almost Galaxy Truckeresque puzzle with a heavy economic game. And the Ian O'Toole art is predictably great:   It's also a Capstone game and they've done a fantastic job with everything they've published. Looking forward to reading the full rules: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256730/pipeline T-Bone fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Nov 4, 2018 |
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Nov 4, 2018 00:04
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few people in discord have already played it a while back, said it was good
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Nov 4, 2018 00:08
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The other guy in my Wednesday group who went to Spiel says he spent maybe £100 on games for himself across the four days and passed on Concordia Venus despite being about the biggest Concordia fan I know. I'm pretty sure that's illegal.
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Nov 4, 2018 00:45
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