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Cartographers is great! I found Racoon Tycoon to be very accessible for newcomers but it runs the risk of running a bit long (two decks have to run out for the game to end) and the best part (the auction) is somewhat half-baked: you always know the exact composition of the deck and you can keep calling for auctions as long as you don't win one; once the deck runs out, the game just... keeps going but there's no more auctions ever
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May 17, 2024 11:07
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Azran posted:you can keep calling for auctions as long as you don't win one; once the deck runs out, the game just... keeps going but there's no more auctions ever Yeah our plays of it devolved into this by like the second game and never changed. Overly long and too simple for that length sadly.
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May 17, 2024 11:11
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Redundant posted:I appreciate the Splotter advice people provided. It looks like I will stick to my guns and get Bus at some point when it's back in stock. I don't strictly need more games but maybe I splurge on Bus and Through The Desert and consider myself settled again! I have had to constantly had to fight down my internal urge to buy Food Chain Magnate (the original, not that overpriced KS version), I decided on Bus as well. I know Splotter games can be merciless if you mess up early. I am just not sure how it will go with my normal boardgame group. Bus seems at least a bit more approachable. And hey, good news, GameNerdz has the new printing up for preorder if you are into that sort of thing. Nothing terribly exciting recently in my group. Just a lot of Root and Spirit Island. Root we have stuck with the base game so far, but will be adding in the first expansion the next time we play it. I appreciate the variety of tools that are built into that game to teach it to new players, but whew, that can still take a chunk of time. There is still one regular in our group who hasn't played it, but I am going to introduce it to him through the Steam version which was recently on sale. Spirit Island I think is probably my favorite board game at this point. All of our group appreciates it, but there is one other who is about as obsessed with it as me. We have started to get together at least once a week separate from everyone else just to play 2 player versions of it. Between the amount of Spirits, adversaries, and scenarios (which we haven't even touched), there is just so much variety. Right now we are between on focusing on a few spirits and starting to push the level 5 and 6 versions of some of the adversaries and just continuing to try new spirit combinations at lower levels. An old game, but new to us, has been Flamme Rouge. I knew going in that it was going to have a lot of similarities to Heat, having the same designers. I still enjoyed it quite a bit, but don't think I would ever choose to play it over Heat if we have at least 4 players. The exhaustion mechanic I don't think works quite as well as heat does in Heat, even if it is serving the same basic purpose. I am wondering if the Peloton and Meteo expansions would help with some of this, but they don't seem available right now in the US. I guess we also played Mythic Mischief for the first time last weekend. For those who haven't heard of it, you are a team of... mythic creatures (vampires, zombies, witches, ghosts, etc) at a magical high school. You are trying to get your rival gangs captured by the librarian by either adjusting the path he is taking to pickup tombs of books, or by adjusting the position of your opponents. All factions have certain abilities that are the same, but then several that are similar, but asymmetric. I only played two games of it, but definitely see the potential with the various factions. But yikes at the usual IV Studios pricing for their games. Luckily I wasn't the one who paid for it.
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May 17, 2024 12:00
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Screaming_Gremlin posted:I have had to constantly had to fight down my internal urge to buy Food Chain Magnate (the original, not that overpriced KS version), I decided on Bus as well. I know Splotter games can be merciless if you mess up early. I am just not sure how it will go with my normal boardgame group. Bus seems at least a bit more approachable. And hey, good news, GameNerdz has the new printing up for preorder if you are into that sort of thing. I love Flamme Rouge. I would say it was probably my gateway game. Whilst the exhaustion and heat have similar uses I really like the approach to a race being to stay in 2nd place for as long as possible before rushing off. It introduced a different limitation to the race pattern which I can absolutely get behind. I think I actually prefer Flamme Rouge to Heat, but some of that may be nostalgia and we haven't broken out the car parts yet in Heat so maybe that will swing it.
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May 17, 2024 13:16
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Redundant posted:I love Flamme Rouge. I would say it was probably my gateway game. Whilst the exhaustion and heat have similar uses I really like the approach to a race being to stay in 2nd place for as long as possible before rushing off. It introduced a different limitation to the race pattern which I can absolutely get behind. I think I actually prefer Flamme Rouge to Heat, but some of that may be nostalgia and we haven't broken out the car parts yet in Heat so maybe that will swing it. I definitely want to play more Flamme Rouge. We only did two races, so obviously my impressions are pretty early. Especially compared to Heat, where I have more experience. Like you mentioned, I did like the mechanic where you really are trying to stay just out of the lead of the pack to avoid taking exhaustion. It does add quite a bit of strategy on when the optimum moment to break away (with a bit of luck that you pull the right hand of cards for the moment). Elevation also definitely helped as well, which we waited for the second game to introduce. If nothing else, I think Flamme Rouge will be preferred racing game at the 2 - 3 player mark. Heat definitely gets more interesting once you add in card drafting and not just using the default deck for each player. I still want to try a Championship mode, but that pretty much would dedicate an entire night to just that game. I sort of want to do that once I have a chance to get a 5 or even 6 player game night going. Of course when if I can actually wrangle our group together for that, I also want to try out Zoo Vadis, so not sure we would have time for both. Also forgot that I played Ghost Stories for the first time a few weeks ago. Talk about a game designed to kick your teeth in. We definitely are going to need to work on our strategy if we ever want to have a chance of beating it. Thankfully, everyone seemed to have fun regardless, so it is more of when we play it again and not if.
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May 17, 2024 13:44
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Tried Fliptown the other evening. It's from the same designer as Sprawlopolis/Agropolis and it is great. Probably quite easily the best X'n'Write I've played. It's easy to understand but there is a ton to do. Great art too (& the artist is related to Pancho Villa, interestingly enough). Better balanced than Fleet The Dice Game and way more thematic than Welcome to... or Ganz schön Clever. Plus solo play was super easy and fun. I guess the only other bingo-game that comes near this would be Cartographers, but that one I've already played to death.
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May 17, 2024 13:49
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Well one of my FLGSs is having a 30% of all boardgames and 45% of all boardgame expansions sale so I caved and picked up Spirit Island: Jagged Earth despite never even playing the base game. I even took a close look at Twilight Imperium but I've purchased every edition of the game and only played the 1st edition more than once so it's
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May 18, 2024 20:59
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Grab the SI digital implementation on the platform of your choice and run through the free tutorial if you need some encouragement.
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May 18, 2024 23:59
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Finally caved and bought a board
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May 19, 2024 00:03
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As someone who's had a carrom board in my wishlist forever but has never bitten the bullet — nice.
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May 19, 2024 00:35
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Lovely crokinole board there!!
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May 19, 2024 00:39
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Frozen Peach posted:Finally caved and bought a board one of us one of us one of us
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May 19, 2024 00:49
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Frozen Peach posted:Finally caved and bought a board That's a nice looking board. I have one of the $99 Mayday ones and it gets a ton of use. That one looks like it's notably higher quality.
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May 19, 2024 02:23
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Frozen Peach posted:Finally caved and bought a board since we are only as sick as our secrets: I tell people that the center is called the crokinhole
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May 19, 2024 05:41
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homullus posted:since we are only as sick as our secrets: I tell people that the center is called the crokinhole I think everyone I've ever taught this game to has independently decided to call that the crokinhole. Usually by declaring something like: "Right in the crokinhole!"
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May 19, 2024 06:33
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armorer posted:That's a nice looking board. I have one of the $99 Mayday ones and it gets a ton of use. That one looks like it's notably higher quality. quote:we offer a board for less than half the price that is 80% as good. This is our goal: 1/2 the price of a premium board, that is 80% as good. quote:How do we do it? We bought several of the hand-made boards from custom shops and sent them to our factory in China to have these made to similar standards.
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May 19, 2024 06:40
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SelenicMartian posted:The current Mayday KS campaign says Yeah, I mean I'm saying I have the Mayday board. I'm aware it's basically entry level.
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May 19, 2024 07:18
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Their goal is admirable, following the 80/20 maxim basically. But undermined with the most industrial-capitalist statement I've ever read.
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May 19, 2024 07:30
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armorer posted:Yeah, I mean I'm saying I have the Mayday board. I'm aware it's basically entry level. put some wax on it and it'll probably shoot more than well enough
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May 19, 2024 08:30
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Frozen Peach posted:Finally caved and bought a board 
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May 19, 2024 08:41
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SettingSun posted:Their goal is admirable, following the 80/20 maxim basically. But undermined with the most industrial-capitalist statement I've ever read. it's very funny that we're at the point that companies are just using it as a marketing point openly now 
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May 19, 2024 08:45
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I remember the talk being that the Mayday boards are solid enough. I'm probably going to back the campaign even if it is peak capitalism.
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May 19, 2024 13:12
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Peak capitalism would be buying up the good board manufacturers, shuttering them and rebranding your poor quality board with thier brand name. Like Pyrex and Gaggia did.
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May 19, 2024 13:26
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So now that I've slept on it I'm still thinking about my FLGS big sale. Any thoughts on Star Wars: Outer Rim and Marvel Champions? I've been out of the hobby for a while and I'm especially looking for some games that would be fun with the family but not TOO simplistic. The coop nature and theme of the marvel game appeals to me and, at least at first glance, the Outer Rim seems like a 'travel around and roll dice' kind of thing which would be a fun type of game to have around.
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May 19, 2024 14:50
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Marvel Champions is okay if you don't care about the theme, though it's bad value if you want to get a lot of plays out of it without buying a bunch of expansions as you only have 3 scenarios and 2 of them are tuned to the extreme ends of difficulty. It might also be too complicated for a casual family game.
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May 19, 2024 15:52
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At first glance it seemed really expensive for what it was... even on sale. Good to know the complexity may be a bit much (I think the box did say 14+).
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May 19, 2024 16:03
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MC is awesome as a nerd co-op game that’s fast. You get all the fun of creating decks in your downtime and theory crafting, but you can knock out most adventures in an hour or so including setup/teardown. It’s superior to Arkham LCG or Gloomhaven or whatever in that respect, primarily: speed. And I consider it a competitor in that realm. The core box is fine but you need to buy more. It’s an LCG, not a standalone. There’s an inflection point as you buy product where the permutations of heroes / missions is greater than you’ll reasonably ever complete, but that’s not in the core set.
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May 19, 2024 16:36
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CitizenKeen posted:MC is awesome as a nerd co-op game that’s fast. You get all the fun of creating decks in your downtime and theory crafting, but you can knock out most adventures in an hour or so including setup/teardown. It’s superior to Arkham LCG or Gloomhaven or whatever in that respect, primarily: speed. And I consider it a competitor in that realm. Marvel Champions is a god-drat slog 4 player. The boss has too much HP, has multiple phases, and once you are setup its a snooze fest. Turns are very insular, you don't really interact with the players too much, except to ask for help , or for them to use an ability. A typical MC turn is discarding cards to play cards, then telling the table how much damage you do, or if you get rid of a villain "Enchantment"
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May 19, 2024 16:53
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mikeycp posted:put some wax on it and it'll probably shoot more than well enough Oh to be clear, my Mayday crokinole board plays wonderfully. I do wax it occasionally, but it really doesn't need much maintenance. It just doesn't look as nice as the one pictured above. The Mayday board is veneer over mdf and it's pretty obvious that's what it is. As far as usability goes though, it's great.
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May 19, 2024 16:57
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drat Dirty Ape posted:So now that I've slept on it I'm still thinking about my FLGS big sale. Any thoughts on Star Wars: Outer Rim and Marvel Champions? I've been out of the hobby for a while and I'm especially looking for some games that would be fun with the family but not TOO simplistic. The coop nature and theme of the marvel game appeals to me and, at least at first glance, the Outer Rim seems like a 'travel around and roll dice' kind of thing which would be a fun type of game to have around. I like Outer Rim but I think I'm in the minority. It's quite long and I would recommend everyone plays the bounty hunter characters. The problem is they're made the game. Thematic so if you're playing Han Solo, then great you can hire Chewbacca for free! You're playing Bossk? You suck! Also the smuggling characters kinda want to do different things to the bounty hunters so if you're all doing the same thing I think it's more fun. Now I understand if you play the game a lot all the characters are balanced in some way. But if you're not then the smugglers just feel more powerful and makes it feel a bit wonky?
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May 19, 2024 18:19
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Lol, someone made a Grape Escape version of Warhammer. I dig the Creepy Crawlers aesthetic, and the idea of the spellbooks as clay molds is a great one, even more so because the spellbooks then serve as stat sheets for the creatures they make. They have a lot of fun with the dough gimmick, letting you squash defeated enemies to turn them into terrain hazards or stick plastic swords and spears through them to debuff them. I can’t say how this plays, or what the value proposition is- I’d never get this to the table, so I’m mostly appreciating this as a fan of toy design.
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May 19, 2024 18:20
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I now own a 5x5 Kallax, where do I go to be inducted into the Sacred Order of Grognards?
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May 19, 2024 18:43
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Frozen Peach posted:Finally caved and bought a board I was looking at Brown Castle as well! Mayday's are cheaper, but to get them shipped to Hawai'i costs at least a hundred dollars, and "more outside of Honolulu", which... that's never been a thing before. Brown Castle will send me one of their nice and pretty boards for $30.
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May 19, 2024 19:12
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armorer posted:The Mayday board is veneer over mdf and it's pretty obvious that's what it is. Pretty sure the Tracey boards are also just Veneer over MDF, and those regarded as among the best. That gives them the most stable, flat and repeatable surface to build from. The big difference must be in finishing the surface.
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May 19, 2024 19:34
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Anonymous Robot posted:Lol, someone made a Grape Escape version of Warhammer. 
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May 19, 2024 19:57
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RabidWeasel posted:I now own a 5x5 Kallax, where do I go to be inducted into the Sacred Order of Grognards? You're already here?
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May 19, 2024 21:00
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Played a bit more ark nova and man the whole 'do you get positive points' as a goal for even if you don't win is pretty sneaky as a piece of game design. We've got a player who'll win once in 30 games but they'll happily keep playing forever and requesting the game because you have that as a less competitive goal available.
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May 20, 2024 00:04
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xiw posted:Played a bit more ark nova and man the whole 'do you get positive points' as a goal for even if you don't win is pretty sneaky as a piece of game design. We've got a player who'll win once in 30 games but they'll happily keep playing forever and requesting the game because you have that as a less competitive goal available. Haven’t read the rules in a hot minute; what’s the rule?
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May 20, 2024 00:44
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I've never played Ark Nova but it sounds like Galaxy Trucker: "Did you make money? You win! The person who made the most money won more, but you win too!"
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May 20, 2024 01:16
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Sokani posted:I've never played Ark Nova but it sounds like Galaxy Trucker: "Did you make money? You win! The person who made the most money won more, but you win too!" Ark Nova basically ends when the first players score goes from negative to positive. Then everyone else finishes their turn. So it’s really easy to end with a negative score if you are behind and didn’t have a big turn loaded up.
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May 20, 2024 01:47
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