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Infinitum posted:What is the appeal of Meltwater out of curiosity, I don't have an interest in it. I can only speak for myself but it is a claustrophobic, tight, hex based wargame for 2 players that covers a very interesting, if grim and depressing topic. It is also a bit of an art piece, the message behind it about the futility of nationalism, unchecked military spending and nuclear war. Will I play it often? Almost certainly not. Do I want to own it because it is interesting? Hell yeah. Plus I'm pretty sure it was made by a goon.
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Nov 16, 2021 08:47
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 08:53 |
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Spent my afternoon making a print and play version of Rocky Mountain Man from Nate Hayden and Blast City Games. Same designer from Cave Evil and other such impossibly out of print games that have cult followings.   Mounted the maps on two boards, the hexes don't quite match up perfectly though, maybe like 1 or 2mm off which is gonna bug me, but if I trim them down then the boards won't be the same size... Didn't realise when I was setting up the print files I would be able to have the whole board printed on adhesive in a single go so I split it up into two halves on standard paper size here in Australia. Would have made it super simple to have everything line up perfectly but you live and learn I guess. It's a game about being a mountain man in the Rockies in the early 19th century, trapping beavers for their pelts and mapping out the Colorado River. Surviving the elements, negotiating encounters with Native Americans, other trappers and wild animals. The production version of the game is a folio game, so I think my copy is overproduced in comparison. The real version has a coated paper map you draw on as you explore and comes with crayons that you can apparently wipe off to reset the map. I went with a sheet of acrylic and some markers on top of my fully mounted 2mm boards and all my tokens are cut out of the same 2mm boxboard. It also all fits in this thin box including all the sleeved cards. 
KongGeorgeVII fucked around with this message at 07:16 on Nov 20, 2021 |
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Nov 20, 2021 06:59
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nonathlon posted:Thanks - I've had my eye on Rocky Mountain Men for a while, because it's apparently an evolution of Source of the Nile, a classic but an awkward fiddly one. Was the build hard? It was a little bit annoying mostly because US paper sizes are different to Australian paper sizes so I had to modify the documents myself. I'm a graphic designer so setting up documents for print is my bread and butter so depending on where you live your milage may vary. I also spent probably 2x the price of the game printing it myself, however with shipping costs it was still cheaper. If you live in the US I'd definitely just buy the game from the Cave Evil website. If you don't want to use the crayons you can always just buy a sheet of acrylic and some markers to use on top of the paper map. Magnetic North posted:As someone who read a few 1820-30s mountain man memoirs this year, this seems relevant to my interests. Honestly I'm not exactly sure what a folio game is, it's just how it is described on the site. I'm pretty sure yes, it doesn't come in a box, just a folder. Even with the production copy.you have to cut out the cards yourself. Some of the other Cave Evil games like Sea Evil and Psycho Raiders I believe come as part of a magazine with a bunch of comics and other bits and pieces. They are kind of like a cross between a zine and a boardgame. I haven't actually played the game yet, just built it and gave the rulebook a quick read. I think it's probably simpler than most wargames but be aware as far as I know Nate isn't known for writing super comprehensive rules. There are apparently lots of edge cases that you kind of have to make your own ruling on, although it's pretty easy to get in contact with him if you have questions. When I was looking at shipping to Australia he responded personally to my emails and there is a cave email discord he is active on as well as on BGG. You are only controlling one chit, so it's not like you are managing a while army or two. You can use up to a certain amount of movement points each turn to move around the map and explore new hexes. You draw a new card every time to determine the terrain, encounters, discoveries, whether rivers continue, branch or end etc. It's not the most streamlined set of rules but it also isn't a Phil Eklund game. I'm not a wargamer per se and I think it's not that hard to grok but I have taught myself how to play Pax Renaissance and tend to like heavier games in general. It's a pretty chilled out, freeform game. You can play 2 players but it is basically 2 person solitaire. You don't even take turns, you literally just play a solo game on the same map so if one player plays quick they could end up with more turns per season/year than the other so really it's a solo game you could play beside your significant other if they were also keen. Lots of things are resolved with a d6 roll on a table, it's more of a storytelling experience than a tactical sim. Lots of comments on BGG describe it as a fun, relaxing game you can play after work to unwind.
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Nov 20, 2021 15:06
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I played recently with a friend and his 10 year old and the kid took to it really well, I was pretty impressed. The kid has been playing boardgames all his life though since his dad is a pretty avid boardgamer. 8 might be a bit young though, but I'm not sure really.
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Nov 25, 2021 05:22
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Hell yes I'm in.
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Nov 28, 2021 06:31
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aFfO is a great game without the expansion. You definitely don't need it because the base game is so solid and doesn't need to be fixed. On the other hand however, now that I have the expansion I would never play without it because it just adds to the game in pretty much every way. You can definitely play the base game first to see if it clicks with you before you commit to the expansion.
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Dec 1, 2021 11:36
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 08:53 |
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My Hollandspiele order just arrived in Australia! Very excited. Picked up the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Meltwater, Escape From Hades and Nicaea. Seems like I got one of the copies of Meltwater with yellow discs instead of black. Now that it's out of print I wonder if this makes it even more valuable since it's rare. For real though I think I actually prefer the yellow to black. Pops more on the table and feels radioactive. Very keen to give tFotCoG a try because I don't have many 2p games that play super quick and it seem alike such a fun puzzle. Nicaea is on the opposite end of that spectrum, looks like it'll be fun with a big group. Escape from Hades I'm curious about, the rules look like a fairly light wargame, not too many rules but the player aid is 4 pages with one page just dedicated to all the phases. I'll have to get it on the table to see how it actually plays. I love the boxes that Hollandspiele uses because they are so thin, it's great they really don't take up a ton of shelf space. The cardboard chits also seem pretty good, quite a dense cardboard, I almost thought it was MDF or something when I first got my hands on it. My rulebook for Escape from Hades came with some damage on it, a bit crumpled and it's got some kind of brown stain on the front cover which is a bit disappointing but not a huge deal. The other big thing are the maps for Hades and Meltwater just being folded paper, they are going to be a pain in the arse to get to lay flat, I have a transparent acrylic sheet but I don't think it's big enough, and definitely not for the double map for Hades. I'll have to get another or a bigger one to go with it, kind of a pain. The canvas maps for Nicaea and tFotCoG are nice enough, I don't love or hate them but I'm just glad they aren't folded.
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Dec 29, 2021 03:02
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