Board Game Thread 4e: The Call of Catan

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Board Game Thread 4e: The Call of Catan

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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fozzy fosbourne posted:

My biggest beef with Mage Knight is that it feels like it crossed that invisible threshold where I'm wondering why I'm not playing an automated version on a computer or iDevice. Vlaada mentioned in his Tash-kalar blog how he got the motivation to design TK because of an initiative to make more mobile friendly games, and I'm surprised that they haven't considered Mage Knight. It seems like it would be perfect, and it doesn't have negotiation or other weird mechanics that make it unfriendly for digital adaptations.

Edit: I still like it, and enjoy playing it once in a while, but it's mostly respect for the attempt at pushing the boundaries of games like this. Outside of Magic Realm, I haven't really encountered anything else like this

I have really enjoyed Mage Knight but the #1 thing that would improve it for me is an app that would automate or semi-automate the fights. Most of the fights are just finite state machines with only optimal decisions to find and make, no real choices in them (that's capital-C "Choices" as in choices between things that are more like apples and oranges, as opposed to Decisions which have a "correct/most optimal" solution.) The rest of the game grinds to a halt while it and everyone else waits for you to get through this. It's not so bad with smaller fights but as soon as things get larger with a big web of resistances and poo poo it quickly becomes :psyduck:

# ¿ Jan 20, 2015 19:40

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 05:09

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Tekopo posted:

you agreeing with me that Vlaada does bad rulebooks

I have seen this before and I'd like to ask you to take the time to explain this to me. I want to invoke the thread's semi-between-the-lines "explain your feelings/claims" clause (which is normally invoked at claims of "Fun", but I think it can apply here.)

I don't want to really single you out. I'm ready to see things differently, but I honestly do not follow the claims that Vlaada's rulebooks are bad. I have read the claims of "lots of front-loading" but I either don't know what that means or I'm not seeing it because my experience is the opposite of what I'd call heavy front-loading:

Dungeon Petz helped me effectively and efficiently learn the game at a Tabletop Cafe while the other players packed up the previous game and unpacked DP. I was rushed but everything I read made sense. The takeaway is that I had only minor troubles getting a brand-new game up and running with reasonable confidence under time pressure.
Mage Knight was intimidating looking as hell, but the follow-along-in-the-rulebook tutorial made it a snap and even really helped with explaining the game to a new player by following the same principle (which is common to all Vlaada games I have experienced) -- only introduce things as they are needed & come up, because otherwise it just makes people interrupt and ask "what's that and how do I use it?" and break the flow. "Don't worry about it yet" might be true but it doesn't help and breaks flow. The Rulebook (nitty gritty encyclopedic rules) is separate from the How To Play book and - from what I remember - was logically laid out and easy to use to quickly resolve any questions or situations that came up.
Galaxy Trucker had us up and running and learning how the game works and flows in less than 15 minutes, and introducing the rest of the cards and rules after the tutorial game was trivial once we knew the foundation.
Space Alert required people to sit down and shut up and listen the first time around, but it still introduced things incrementally in a well thought out way that made the profoundly unusual way the game works accessible. And once that foundation was there, introducing and assimilating the rest of the rules was smooth as butter. In particular I want to point out that the entire section of "How To Teach This Game To New Players" is really, really well thought out and written. It's concise, accurate, and effective.

I think that's all the Vlaada games I have experience with. Not all the games worked for us, but I never had any issue with any of the rules. What am I not seeing, or not thinking, or have missed?

# ¿ Jan 20, 2015 20:03

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Tekopo posted:

The main thing about Vlaada rulebooks is that they might be great for starting up and are fun to read, but they are incredibly awful about actually finding rules that you might have missed, because you don't have a clue where the rule is: is it in the advanced section, or maybe it is in the 'learning how to play', wait, no, it's actually handled separately in THIS section etc etc.

And the problem is that Vlaada games are usually fiddly as hell. There are a TON of small rules that you have to remember, especially for some of his meatier games. I bet that there were a ton of rules in Dungeon Petz that you outright missed out when you read the rulebook in a Tabletop Cafe: thankfully none of them actually detract from the game, but it is incredibly easy to realise later on that you haven't played the game right (it took me at least 5 attempts to be reasonably sure that I hadn't missed anything out)
TtA is pretty much the Magnum Opus of Vlaada rulebooks because it is divided into multiple different games types: there's the base game, then the advanced game, then the full game and rules could be in anywhere of the three sections.

Lastly, and this might just be me, I dislike doing 'stepping stones' type learning. I've had a lot of success just outright going for the main scenario in Space Alert, partially because I think it isn't a difficult enough game to warrant the 'stepping stone' approach and partially because I like making newbies dive into the deep end (and so far everyone I've done this with seemed to love the game).

Thanks for spelling it out. I wouldn't personally lay "bad documentation" at Vlaada's doorstep, but it's a fair complaint if there is trouble looking up the fiddly bits after the fact, especially if the games tend to have such questions pop up. Having significant trouble looking stuff up after the fact in games isn't really my recollection but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Also there were things you brought up that are outside my experience; the way you describe TtA makes me cringe.

Speaking of separate, more comprehensive rulebooks for looking up specific rules questions that come up: The Witcher Adventure Game stands out as incredible in this regard. The how to play was straightforward but I have - honestly, no word of a lie (and I would never lie to you anyway, you dear friends) -- I have never had an easier time looking up specific rules questions in a reference and having a conclusive answer in no time flat. Like, not even any significant casting through the index to figure out what your issue is listed under.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2015 21:32

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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I'm interested from the perspective of seeing what the designer chose to do and how they tried to do things (and how well it works) but at just under $100 it's well outside "impulse buy" territory. I'm curious in making up my own mind about it - I have read people say that the game takes sandbox and randomness (to create uncertainty) too far. Big sandbox but no substance.

I can see that happening, has it happened there and to what extent? :shrug:

e: ^^^ whelp

The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Jan 20, 2015

# ¿ Jan 20, 2015 21:39

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Countblanc posted:

I love late capitalism

Holy poo poo, I'm in awe of that kind of runaway success :stare:

# ¿ Jan 21, 2015 00:51

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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The End posted:

monkey cheese garbage

I mean yeah but as a self-employed person I can honestly say that I truly admire the ability of anyone to actually make a living no matter what they're doing -- I certainly don't begrudge anyone's ability to rake it in on a popular gadget, gewgaw, knickknack, blog, or card game.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2015 00:55

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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AbortRetryFail posted:

Your lovely post doesn't help me due to it being highly subjective. Please make less lovely posts in the future, thanks.

They are being brusque but their post is right and helpful to you in that if your group likes playing Betrayal at House on the Hill, they'll probably find enjoyment in Dead of Winter for similar reasons.

If you explain what your group enjoys about Betrayal people who have played Dead of Winter might be able to go in more detail whether the same elements are present. But short version is that yes, if your group find enjoyment in the experience one offers you'll probably find enjoyment in the other.

In Dead of Winter players each represent a "clique" of like-minded survivors. The game probably goes better if your group role plays it a little. The game warns that goals assigned secretly to players are not all equally difficult. If you're OK with this you'll probably be OK with the rest.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2015 01:21

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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I will say that I did like how the zombies themselves and locations work in general in Dead of Winter. Adding and dealing with zombies is a mostly manageable process that can easily give you enough rope to hang yourself with if you push your luck or start feeling cocky. I liked the feeling that the players are in charge of how much risk you expose yourself to. Of course, if you play it safe you won't gather enough things to keep going. And others' actions can affect you -- but I liked the feeling that risk was something accepted by the player(s), so I rarely felt screwed by the game or dice, the screwing mainly came from "God drat it I told you to spend fuel before coming here and you didn't now you got bit on the way and if everyone here dies as a result I'm never forgiving you :argh:

# ¿ Jan 21, 2015 01:36

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Single Tight Female posted:

How's Eldritch Horror as a solo game? Alternatively, any good solo suggestions that aren't Mage Knight, LOTR LCG, Ghost Stories or Flash Point? Probably looking for something longer than FP but shorter than Mage Knight with a decent level of complexity and moving parts. Flash Point's too easy to nail down and Mage Knight's just a bit too hefty to play regularly.

Playing Eldritch Horror solo steering multiple characters works fine. Eldritch Horror also plays quite differently depending on which old one you're up against, so that's nice and mixes things up.

Legends of Andor would be ditto - steer two or more characters and play solo. The game is well-done and not fiddly. I wrote about it not that long ago if you want to check my post history.

I like Robinson Crusoe but it's not for everyone. It's great for role-playing a survival situation of desperate attrition where just barely being able to scrape by is a victory. Terrible rulebook though, look up the illustrated how to play guide - it's a life saver. You can play a more "true" solo in the sense that you're not (quite) steering multiple characters.

If you don't mind printing scans & cutting out 30-year-old chits, look up The Voyage of the BSM Pandora which is a solo game vaguely crossed with a choose your own adventure (sort of) about travelling the galaxy on an expedition to seek out new life and, ideally, hit them over the head and bring them back with you. "True" solitaire game, intended for only one player. I enjoyed my original copy, there aren't enough games that focus on exploration. I posted a barely-read thread somewhere here in Traditional Games where I played it and took pictures and stuff.

Ditto (regarding printing and cutting out scans) for Dawn of the Dead which can be played solo (and quite well). You have the four characters from the classic movie and are trying to lock down the mall where you want to hole up.

Back to modern times I haven't tried Samurai Spirit but have heard nice things.

Defenders of the Realm is fun but kinda dated I think. It's basically a time struggle against an unrelenting semirandom horde. Also a little on the expensive side due to all the plastic in there.

Galaxy Defenders I own but haven't tried yet - I'm looking forward to checking out the "AI" cards for enemies. Again, it's a co-op you play solo by steering at least the minimum # of characters to play.

Alien Uprising didn't work for me, I wrote about that one too in this thread a while ago if you want to look it up.

Sentinels of the Multiverse I just can't get past the :yum:

I drew it myself artwork because I'm a shallow, shallow man and haven't even cracked the plastic.

I'm sure I'm missing some but maybe that gives you something to work with.

The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Jan 21, 2015

# ¿ Jan 21, 2015 22:04

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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I'm sure I will someday. On top of the teenage deviantart reject style being a real turn-off (harsh but an accurate summary of my feelings) I also have a lingering bias against board games that consist of just a bunch of cards.

With those two things together the odds of ever being bored enough to dig in are pretty slim.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2015 22:10

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Wait, do game distributors seriously not cover faulty games? As a store, if you order a dozen of something and one is messed up, you call your distributor and tell them "Hey we checked order #xyz and there is only 11, 1 is damaged - I can't sell that." Then they go "OK send it back and we will credit you/replace/basically RMA it." This is normal :confused:

isn't it?

It may be that the publisher is like "any damage or missing items we will service directly, do not return to store" which is a thing, but it's not what I think got described. "Buyer Beware all sales final" on sealed retail items seems kinda shady.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2015 23:31

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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S.J. posted:

Sounds like he's right, though? I pretty much guarantee it would take longer for them to get the replacements in themselves than for you to contact the publisher directly, based on my own experience.

Well, if I brought a game home and it was misprinted or missing pieces, I'd expect the retailer to take it back and give me one that wasn't faulty if I wanted to return it.

That being said, taking it up with the publisher to replace any faulty components is fair and certainly the best fastest solution if an exchange at the store isn't possible or practical for whatever reason.

e: The ugly situation of having like 600 cards that is a pain in the rear end to check for missing ones even on a good day muddies things. That really should not happen.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2015 00:28

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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disperse posted:

So, I played Magic Realm Tuesday night with a new player and he didn't hate it.

We decided to play a cooperative game, he chose the Berserker and I played the Wizard (a good support character).

We played for 2 1/2 hours and got to day 14, half-way through the game, which is pretty typical.

We fought and defeated two heavy trolls and the T. Demon at the Altar and then the Berserker looted treasure (including the v. powerful timeless jewel) while the Wizard ~~learned spells from~~ was cursed by the Altar. On the way to the Chapel to remove the disgust and ill-health curses from the Wizard we sold our loot to the Soldiers and then murdered them with the help of our two hired rogues.

I feel like I did a pretty good job of explaining the game as we went, the other player even corrected me on a couple points later in the game.

Sounds like a nice game :unsmith:

, and speaking of Magic Realm...

fozzy fosbourne posted:

I wonder if spaced repetition and other modern learning theory could be used to retain board game rules. I'm half joking half spergin. I have a bunch of games that don't make it back to the table frequently because I have to relearn the rules if enough time has passed. Maybe I should anki drill Twilight Struggle cards in my head

Maybe play a game once one day, again the next (even if just gold fishing it solo), then in 4 days, etc

I think you might be onto something, but I also think the mental burden of re-learning a game just seems more daunting than it actually is. I know that wanting to re-play a game is far more common to me than wanting to brush up on the rules.

Setup time can also be a gotcha.

e: I have a vague project idea of games that can be stowed/put away in the "setup and ready to play for next time" configuration.

The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Jan 22, 2015

# ¿ Jan 22, 2015 17:19

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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fozzy fosbourne posted:

I think I enjoy games that require optimizing an engine within a random context.

I think I know what you mean, I enjoy "dealing with and trying to make the most of what you have & get" mixed with "how well can you change on the fly to still do what you need if things change".

I'm far less good at "If I do this then she'll need that but I can make sure that thing is [state] so there's no way I can be stopped from :smaug:

in time! Hah!"

# ¿ Jan 22, 2015 20:18

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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fozzy fosbourne posted:

One exception for me is poker although I think that might be in part because I've studied the game. And I've played with strangers when I've been serious about it.

I like poker too, I'm good enough to lose my money slowly :v:

Countblanc posted:

To add to the solo games with replayability pile, Archipelago with the single player expansion (like $10, it's a big ol' deck of cards) is my favorite SP board game.

I want to check this out, unfortunately sold out everywhere I look as well.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2015 21:40

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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One thing that roll-to-move (then have limited options based on where you land) in a game like Talisman does is free people from having to plan turns, pay attention to what other people are doing, etc.

Playing is a little like getting a multiple-choice question on your turn. It's kind of liberating not just for the player (who is FREED from things like paying attention or planning turns) but also for the host (you don't get "Oh, it's my turn? What happened? OK now what can I do?") People can just play and not have to invest much.

Some people not only like that, but kind of want it.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2015 00:59

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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I don't know how a Cold War soundtrack should be anything other than 80's music but to each their own :confused:

# ¿ Jan 23, 2015 18:20

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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3.5 million, I just peeked. Amazing. Talk about runaway success, right place, right time, etc. :allears:

# ¿ Jan 24, 2015 00:58

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Single Tight Female posted:

I played Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem 3 player at about 2am on Sunday as the neighbours were having some kind of rave and nobody could sleep, and despite a few rules blunders, I totally loved it.

This sounds like it could be fun with the right crowd, thanks for sharing.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 18:44

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Can someone tell me a little about how Alien Frontiers plays? Like for example where does it fall on scales of cut-throat competition on one side, to multiplayer solitaire on the other? Does it feel like barely keeping your head above water?

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 18:57

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Thanks for the talk about Alien Frontiers, that really paints a good picture. For some reason I just couldn't really get my head around what to expect from the game and whether to pick it up and try it out. I remember looking at it once and going "Nah", then recently looked at it again and couldn't remember why I had felt that way but at the same time couldn't really get any sort of sense of whether I'd dig anything in it or not.

The comments about dice rolling & processing/planning at the start of your turn, yeah I hear you on those.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 20:38

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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As for World of Warcraft the board game, oh wow I remember that, feast your eyes :shepface:

I only played it once, though despite the clunky parts I would have played it again except my wife was all like

My nephew just borrowed my copy. I'd be interested in playing it again just to see how differently I would see it today. If that happens I'll share :sun:

One interesting thing about the game is that it has a mechanic called "spotting", and it actually works well to get a feeling of combo-making. Short version is that finding and equipping weapons and equipment that work well with each other is a part of effective play. It's neat because in most games, which weapon or items to use is really just a straightforward decision with a correct/optimal answer: use the one that does (or prevents) the most damage most efficiently. But in the WoW game while some items are objectively better than others you'll more often be wanting the items that are better for you - i.e. they have good synergy with whatever else it is that you've found or purchased or whatever. I remember it being very satisfying to manage to put together good combinations, and decide when to move on from the comfort of the ones you have when they have outlived their usefulness.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 20:39

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Well, I don't know a lick about WoW besides what'd I'd call common or general knowledge. But I do like trying new things and seeing how designers try to solve different problems. At the time, a big-scale fantasy game that featured competitive - but not necessarily confrontational - play with a big players-versus-environment thing going on and didn't require a player to play as the environment/DM... that wasn't exactly common.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 20:52

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Scyther posted:

For what it's worth it's got an iPad app, so there's a cheap way to try it out without spending a bunch of money and gathering up someone to play with. My group has enjoyed it, but the criticisms leveled at it are definitely sound.

Thanks for the pointer, I think I'll try that out.

iPad app versions are great for a number of things, some of them being setup and upkeep and shuffling. For example I really enjoyed playing a shitload of Elder Sign digital version a while ago. But it's a game that's got so many moving parts that I just :suicide:

at the thought of having to manually set up and upkeep everything. It wouldn't be worth what I get out of it if it weren't for the computer handling everything.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 20:56

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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fozzy fosbourne posted:

I'm curious how much can be automated while keeping the boardgame charm. The big dilemma I see with automation is that you then make mechanics opaque or "mystified". One of the really great things about board games is every mechanic is completely exposed and thrust in your face because you have to manage it, while in many video games the mechanics aren't even revealed unless some gamefaq sperglord reverse engineers it. The other subtle aspect of manual bookkeeping vs automation is that the former forces a complexity ceiling in a game.

Anyways, curious to see the next stages of evolution here and to try out the Xcom game.

I hear you. Though XCOM from what I understand is more a "time pressure" thing than a "intelligent opposition" thing. I think it's interesting and want to try it, and look forward to what gets tried next in this area.

But AI is hard, even for videogames. Board game automated opponents mostly boil down to glorified timers and big piles of dumb resources. The day the "bad guy" in a board game can take into account the game state and shift tactics to compensate will.... probably be the day you realize the game would work better as an iPad app or something :haw:

# ¿ Jan 27, 2015 18:35

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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StashAugustine posted:

COIN can sort of do this, although the AI is unable to plan beyond some basic scripted stuff (like Castro's AI will default towards marching on Havana).

That's neat, I haven't really looked at any of the COIN games yet. That's the series that includes "Cuba Libre" and a couple others, right?

# ¿ Jan 27, 2015 19:35

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Broken Loose posted:

If I ever release any expansions

For which game? I'll check your games out. I'm on a particularly active checking-out-new-games kick lately and am grasping at things to check out, even stuff that doesn't normally align with my interests. (You can PM me if you don't want to out yourself)

As for component chat, I recently followed someone's link to the Broken Token and I loved their clear plastic overlay for Eclipse, so that your cubes and disks can slot snugly into orderly little rows :spergin:

My wife was just recently complaining about how she hates the way the ubiquitous wooden cubes and disks don't stay put. I showed her the Eclipse templates ones on the website and her reaction was "well, what are you waiting for? Get some made for our games already!" :argh:

# ¿ Jan 27, 2015 22:17

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Broken Loose posted:

None that are out yet. I have a kickstarter for a game called Final Attack! that should hopefully be live by the end of next week. The cat is now officially out of the bag.

Final Attack! is a real-time cooperative social worker placement card game with a board. (Seriously.) It scales cleanly from 1-5 players and takes 20-30 minutes to play. In the game, you pilot component machines to a combining anime Super Robot, and you fight giant nigh-invincible shapeshifting mechanical beasts that can only be defeated by your TV show finisher, the Final Attack, which unfortunately takes an entire episode to charge.

Congratulations on not only being about to launch the campaign, but on the shitloads of work you have had to do to get there! Looking forward to it.

Countblanc posted:

The thing I'm most excited for with BL's kickstarter is watching people come out of the woodwork and be like "wow this is great, but oh man do I hate cartoons from eastern countries"

Now that you mention it I am thinking about it. Sure not my thing but I certainly wouldn't be rude enough to actually grumble about it (my outlet for that is Sentinels of the Multiverse. Dude who made SotM, if you're reading this congrats on your game but it just rubs me the wrong way because I am a shallow person but I just can't get past it OKAY)

Besides, from what I gather from the video the "anime TV series" theme and structure is in lockstep with other elements of the design, like the endgame.

The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Jan 28, 2015

# ¿ Jan 28, 2015 01:08

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Don't get me wrong, I really am looking forward to seeing how your game works but I just am uh getting a few subtle hints that I am not the intended audience.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2015 03:44

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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I'm not familiar with Blood Bowl, so I found your writeup to be interesting. Especially the part about what kind of decisions can revolve around something like how do you handle your single reroll.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2015 18:59

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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Broken Loose posted:

most Extra Rules actually make sense in context... this is related to the conveyance bit I said earlier.

Using Fornax H1 as an example, it simply sets you on fire. At first, the machine is on fire as a mild distraction ("It burns!"), then you have to essentially resolve an attack that needs Coolant to be Held off, and finally it breaks into full-blown panic (I find that people on fire make demands or statements more often than they request things of others). When you get to the point late game where the Arms tells the Legs, "GIVE ME BALANCE IT BURNS" instead of politely asking, it suitably incites panic and desperation much like being on fire would.

I'm happy to hear this. I started out genuinely curious but I was really starting to wonder whether Final Attack! was really just Wacky In-joke Anime-themed Mashup of Designer's Favorite Games.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2015 00:10

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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I've played a bunch of Alien Frontiers (iPad version). I think the dice-as-ships and how they are used is nicely done. I had a lot of trouble remembering what all the different stuff and fields and artifacts and abilities did, I had to keep referring back to the rules constantly for my first few games before it finally clicked (due to repetition more than anything).

It's nice to play against the AIs because you don't have to wait long for them to think about their turn. As mentioned, you roll first and then decide what to do which can be a bit of a drag because planning your turn can only be done at the highest level of "what should I try to go for if I can?" But on the iPad against some computers you can be the bus stop all you want and no one minds :haw:

I can't shake the overall feeling that the game's sort of on the dull side though. I've enjoyed playing and learning the ropes and testing my mettle against other players, but it's not particularly exciting. Maybe that's just me. Worker placement games don't tend to really engage me, though I can appreciate the mechanic. And I do kind of dig the 70's sci-fi thing it has going.

It's sort of at a sweet spot on the iPad for me because you don't need to worry about setup or anything, and learning the game is easier thanks to the contextual stuff and the ability to just touch an e.g. artifact to get a summary. In person I'd have to be asking to see cards all the time and poo poo, along with the dice-roll-at-turn-start, I think in person it would be just too hard to keep momentum going enough for me.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2015 19:54

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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I have it but haven't played it yet, it's waiting. It knows to wait :mad:

# ¿ Jan 29, 2015 23:29

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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fozzy fosbourne posted:

My Archipelago solo expansion finally arrived from France. It's smaller than a deck of cards and I paid 30 bucks for it (after international shipping). This is my boardshame

My boardshame is that I backed, received, and actually tried to play (more than once) the kickstarted game Damage Report. Sort-of interesting central mechanic idea but holy poo poo is that game garbage. With terrible and terribly inconsistent art and design, to boot.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 08:19

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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My local Tabletop Cafe rocks. My wife and I went to try a few things out last night and they had XCOM (brand new) as well as Keyflower (isn't this out of print/hard to find?) on the play shelf. I even noticed Dungeon Twister (not the card game version) which as far as I know is supposed to be actually a surprisingly non-trivial game and also impossible to find.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 18:35

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
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taser rates posted:

I played a 2p game with Trynant last weekend at Magfest, and it's a phenomenal heavy-weight game.

Is this mis-spelled? I trying to look this up with no success. And there are a staggering number of games named "Tyrant" if that's what it's supposed to be so can you provide a link to the publisher's page or something?

Help a guy out :h:

e: Hah nevermind I'm a dummy. The game is Arkwright and that name is the person you played with :doh:

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 19:23

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
...snookums

Poison Mushroom posted:

Not only is the Oatmeal game nearing 5 million dollars, but a horrible dicefest board game is just running away with success, too.

God, I'm getting bitter recently.

It's a gentle reminder to cultivate friendships with popular webcomic artists :yayclod:

Maybe whoever does oglaf is into card games.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2015 09:00

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
...snookums

Seriously though if you omit all the tables of magic and treasures and junk the page count goes down considerably.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2015 03:37

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
...snookums

Tried Cthulhu Wars finally. I think this is a solid game. However, I haven't played games like Kemet or Chaos in the Old World. I'm a novice at this kind of game so I will be easier to impress. Here's some brief talk.

My first game had me already thinking in interesting directions right from the get go as I got a handle on the mechanics and how they affected what I could do (and more importantly, what the other players could do.) The manual has a section at the end describing each faction and giving tips on playing them effectively. For example, Cthulhu is relatively cheap to re-awaken after he's been "killed" so get him early and don't be afraid to throw him into fights. I know one way to look at that is as spoilers, but I found that it helpful to get me up to speed and be able to play effectively at a basic level.

Rules are good. No reams of fiddly special cases.

Token, board, and print quality are outstanding. The player sheets are just cardstock but all the tokens are super dense, heavy tokens that are pre-punched in a way that there are not any of those little thin tabs that rip if you're not careful. The figures are sharply detailed and have a distinct size scale: cultists -> monsters -> great old ones. It really does help to convey the board state at a glance. I'm a really visual person so this might not mean anything to some of you, but it's pretty cool to get that first horrific monster striding across the map. And the abilities are powerful and immediately useful, no minor buffs like "+1 to future die rolls" or anything. It's stuff like "Buy as many units as you want from as many gates as you like as long as you can afford it " when everyone else is limited to 1 per round - so you can barf up a horde as a reaction if someone gets in your face, and use that as deterrent.

Miniatures are a challenge to fit back into the box but I think I settled on a pretty good method.

Combat uses dice but there are no rerolls or anything. It's quick and simple. You choose your casualties so you use the "cannon fodder" approach to protect your more valuable units.

Maybe someone else can compare and contrast with other modern "territory warfare" games. But it played well and didn't run into anything annoying, and seems to have actual design gone into it.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2015 19:33

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 05:09

The Eyes Have It: Feb 10, 2008; Third Eye Sees All
...snookums

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

Interestingly enough, I had a friend who was an absolute blast to play BSG with who was a petulant, horrible baby when we played Archipelago. Some people really do read the "everybody wins, use VP to determine the Grand Winner" as "everyone, in fact, loses - except for the Grand Winner"

I remember reading a FAQ for Defenders of the Realm - which is a pure co-op game where there is a similar and optional way to decide an "MVP". Anyway the designer was addressing something similar; players would sink the game at the end if the only other option was to win but they wouldn't be the MVP. It was common enough apparently to address in a FAQ.

The idea boggled my mind. I mean sure I can see some awful person pulling something like that now that I have heard about it, but god drat.

The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Feb 4, 2015

# ¿ Feb 4, 2015 00:32

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Board Game Thread 4e: The Call of Catan

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