Board Games 5E: I thought I was having fun but it was my brain tricking me

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Board Games 5E: I thought I was having fun but it was my brain tricking me

«‹›3 »

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Captain Scandinaiva posted:

Anyway, what's a good medium length, medium complex game on BGA? Gonna play online with some friends, it's always difficult to get people to decide beforehand so everyone can prepare. Then when we finally get started no one can be bothered to learn a new game and we end up playing 7 wonders and Colt Express. Nothing wrong with 7 wonders, mind you, we've planned to play that tomorrow actually. But is there another game that you can sort of pick up and play without reading all of the manual, or that can be explained by someone pretty easily to experienced players? Since we played Viticulture when we last met in person, we might go for that. But I'm interested in Lost Ruins of Arnak and Beyond the Sun too, and they both seem a little dense.

Kingdom Builder sounds like it would be pretty good for you. The main rules are basically draw a card and place 3 pieces on matching terrain, emphasizing that you must place adjacent if you can. After that there are just the 4 special powers and 3 scoring cards in play that need to be explained which are typically pretty straightforward.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2022 23:56

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 16, 2024 09:23

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Papes posted:

Horseless carriages components will be fine and not worth the endless discussion they�ll end up generating

If they're not printed on 5 inch thick cardboard they're worthless

# ¿ Jan 19, 2022 21:41

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Duck Dealer is underappreciated imo, still haven't played my copy of Cannes yet though.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2022 22:52

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

garthoneeye posted:

Duck Dealer and (to a lesser extent) Greed, Inc. are the only flops I would argue Splotter has. Cannes came out when their only real hit was Roads and Boats.

Duck Dealer and Greed both followed up the back to back smashes (critically) of Antiquity and Indonesia. So they were seen as massive disappointments which is part of what I would deem necessary to call a game a flop.

Greed Inc is also underappreciated imo, I think it might actually be my 3rd favorite Splotter after R&B and Indonesia. In terms of public perception though I think you're right since those were both on the backs of Indonesia and Antiquity.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2022 01:38

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Thinning is actually relatively weak in GWT from my recollection, it's too slow compared to anything else you could be doing.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2022 08:53

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

Are there any boardgames out there that handle having a big event happen mid-game that is designed to slow all of the players down/throw a wrench in their plans/cause some damage without being overbearing and lovely?

I ask because I'm working on making some boardgames as a hobby / creative outlet. I'd like to find a way to try to somewhat model the Bronze Age Collapse in a Tresham Civ-like game. Its game that will already have calamities as little one-off negative events, though I am going to be trying to bake in positives the players get for getting hit with calamities (e.g. if you get hit by a flood you'll suffer the immediate hit to cities and/or pops but you'll get a discount on flood mitigation techs). Its a goal of mine, that if it doesnt work I'll just ditch the idea, to try to model the Bronze Age Collapse in an interesting way to temporarily influence the game's basic gameplay loop without just giving the players a gently caress you event. This would probably mean that they endure some negatives/penalties for a few turns but afterwards get bonuses to certain things (tech cost, building new cities, warfare, I'm not sure yet). In any case, I figure it would be smart to spend some time researching games that already do something similar with the gameplay (even if its a different genre).

This is a central mechanic in the 18xx genre pretty much. There are pre-defined moments at which old trains will "rust" (ie disappear) from the game, somewhat modelling the obsolescence of technology, and learning how to navigate that is one of main questions in each game. I've also seen this implemented through increasing maintenance costs as opposed to outright removal, but the same principle is there. Worth taking a look at 18xx-adjacent game Rolling Stock as well for this.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2022 18:54

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

FulsomFrank posted:

I found a copy out of the blue of Panic on Wall St from Australia (!) with free shipping for ~$45 CDN like six years ago and it was perfect! Except that the company products/stock tiles are in Spanish. Very strange. Great game though.

How is Rolling Stock? This is the second time in a week someone has brought it up and it seems very interesting. Not a bad price from AAG either but they're selling Rolling Rock Stars so unsure if it's the same or not. We have friends coming over for dinner on Saturday and I'm tempted to see if I can trick them into playing some 18MEX or 30. I really liked 61/67 but it's just slightly on the chromey side with the mergers and distinct phases.

Rolling Stock is great and extremely difficult, don't have experience in Stars unfortunately and I've heard it's quite different, but you can pnp the originally easily from the designer's website since it's just cards and some round tokens. It essentially rolls up 18xx trains and private companies into just private companies which get auctioned off each turn and incur progressively higher maintenance costs as the game progresses. The stock market is also a real piece of work, it's composed entirely of unique share price cards (ie multiple share companies will never share the same price) and when you buy or sell shares the price changes first (up when buying, down when selling) before the transaction occurs. It feels like an 18xx card game in a lot of ways but you simultaneously have to throw away most of your conceptions of what 18xx play looks like because of how different it is, it's really more about managing cash flow than building a stock portfolio because if you don't it's incredibly easy to end up in a death spiral with no way out.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2022 19:04

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

High Tension Wire posted:

Brian Boru is a wonderful trick-taking area control game. Only played it with 3 players but everyone had a hoot.

The King is Dead was also pretty good, but didn't have the same wow-effect after few games, I might sell it forward because my shelf space is limited and I'd much rather play Brian Boru when I have friends over. Peer Sylvester makes some pretty sly games, I gotta say!

If you haven't, I recommend playing The King is Dead in teams, I think it's one of his best games played like that.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2022 22:15

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

High Tension Wire posted:

Would you recommend playing with just the basic cards or with the cunning plans in teams? Have to try that, I guess.

Never played with them, didn't seem necessary.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2022 21:37

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

I like the original Pax Pamir more tbh, 2e kind of streamlined the game in a way that made it less interesting, though it's still a decent game.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2022 23:00

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

FulsomFrank posted:

Is 18AL worth grabbing for $120 CAD if I can get it? I already have MEX so unsure about this.

No, don't bother.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2022 22:45

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

This is technically only boardgame adjacent, but Dorfromantik is an early access game on Steam that's pretty much a Euro tile laying game adapted for single player, pretty nice and chill.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2022 12:04

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

As someone that's pretty into 18xx, I wasn't a huge fan of For-Ex but it is certainly unique.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2022 00:55

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Fat Samurai posted:

Whats a good rec for 8 players? We�re renting a house for Easter, and I�d like to pack a couple of games.

I have Avalon and Decrypto. I feel that a PnP of Blood on the Clocktower may work better than Avalon just so I can push the players to interact (they are new to boardgames) but

6nimmt, Bohnanza

# ¿ Apr 3, 2022 20:08

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

I don't really get the Terraforming Mars comparison, the only thing they have in common is the the card drafting aspect, everything else is completely different. It was fine, but I'm not exactly eager to play it again over other games.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2022 16:13

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

many people have been saying this

# ¿ Apr 30, 2022 05:16

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

FulsomFrank posted:

I see that 1880 is going to be showing up soon. Cannot recall if I asked this already but has anyone played it and can weigh in on its quality? Ultimately I guess is it worth grabbing a copy of?

I think it's innovative and has some interesting elements but is also ultimately kind of boring, which is how I'd describe a lot of that designer's 18xx games. Basically, companies will run in a fixed order based on how they're parred regardless of their stock market value, and stock rounds interrupt the operating order based on how fast or slow trains are bought, which has some rather interesting effects on decision making. There's also a midgame event where the stock market freezes before unfreezing right as the permanents come out. My problem with the game is that I feel like there are really only roughly two interesting moments for how long it is, and it is a fairly long game. There are a lot of people that really like it though and I wouldn't really call it bad, so it could be worth grabbing for the right price.

# ¿ May 17, 2022 00:59

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

That does sound quite interesting, but that board is truly awful lol.

# ¿ May 23, 2022 22:55

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

18GB I've played twice, a long time ago. It's a chip off 1825/60 and is kind of interesting, especially if you've played neither of those two, though from what I've heard they're making a bunch of changes so I don't know how those will affect it.

1822PNW I have not played myself but have talked to people that have played it in person and it sounds like a fairly interesting twist on the 22 formula. The big thing is that instead of bidding on concessions which let you open majors later, you can only form majors via merging minors. There's a bunch of other small stuff but that's the main change.

18NY I have played a decent amount, both the old version and the currently everchanging "v2". Full disclosure, I game with the designer every Saturday. There are some interesting things, like the fact that you're never train tight since you can voluntarily scrap trains, the hostile takeovers/mergers, and the formation of the NYC. There's a lot of interesting maneuvering early on with the minors which is probably the best part of the game. The end seems possibly rather overly determined by who gets the 4DEs in the current version, whether or not that's an improvement over the old version where it was overly determined by who got the 5DEs remains to be seen. I liked the v2 version where they buffed some of the crappier companies by making their presidencies 30% certs, not so certain I'm a fan of how they buffed the west side of the map though.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2022 23:46

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

FulsomFrank posted:

Unsure about the US but while shipping in Canada is fairly prompt and on schedule as far as I'm used to, but I know personally that they are all MEGA-SUPER-DUPER SLAMMED constantly and always lately. Additionally, negotiations with the union for one of Canada's top-3 delivery companies are degrading, which is only going to make things worse.

Mayveena: do you like 22MX more than vanilla 22? I would be tempted to grab 22CA for the setting alone as well.

Don't think I will bite on any of the new AAG stuff right now. None of it really screams essential right now, which is unfortunate. Just need someone to officially announce they're producing The Old Prince so I can get excited for a professional release.

I like 22MX at 3 more than the other 22s, though I still think just original 22 is the best one overall. 22CA just has too many extraneous things for me, and I typically like big games like C2C or 25.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2022 18:03

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Mr. Squishy posted:

COIN games are a long running and pretty popular series of wargames about various historical COunter-INsurgent conflicts. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Ancient Gaul... any time a little guy has stood up to a big guy, there's a GMT game about it. They're literally all done by an ex-CIA guy, iirc.

They're not all designed by Volko, though he was the one that started the series.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2022 17:34

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Admiralty Flag posted:

I too have a recommendation request. My sister and her family will be coming into town to visit for a few days. There will be 7 of us in all. I know she will have Uno and Phase 10 with her. I need an alternative. Has to be light and can't involve much reading as one of my nieces has severe dyslexia. Light is the keyword here too. Been thinking about the Resistance but not sure how that'll fly. I'm willing to go to the store and buy something I've never played sight unseen to avoid the fate of playing Uno or Phase 10!

For nights when we have five (e.g., when my oldest and their oldest hit the bars, leaving the old folks and the underaged niece at home), I plan on pulling out the Crew. I feel pretty good about this option.

Take 5/6nimmt and Fool are both excellent high player count card games.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2022 17:38

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Would also recommend Navegador at 5, I think I like it more than Concordia nowadays though I never played with Venus.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2022 08:12

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

silvergoose posted:

I treat "play cards and a special card to pick up all your cards" as a very different mechanism than deck building, myself

Same, just because the actions are card shaped doesn't make it a card game.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2022 22:50

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

armorer posted:

Does that crazy thing serve a gameplay function? It must, right?

Giving you a seizure so you don't play it again possibly.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2022 04:05

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

6 nimmt, goes up to 10 even, though it's arguably best somewhere in the middle of its range. Rules light and surprisingly skill based for how random it can seem.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2022 07:18

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Not a Children posted:

Hello thread! I'm on the hunt for new co-op games. My group has gone through the typical gamut of cooperative games and we're looking for more.

What we've covered:

A ton of "EXIT" games
Pandemic seasons 0-2
Gloomhaven and Jaws of the Lion
The Crew (both versions)
Spirit Island (still getting plenty of fun out of this one, but it's a bit too heavy for my SO so she usually sits it out)
Clank Legacy (in progress - only sorta co-op but we're having great fun with it)

Particularly frustrating is the fact that we have been looking for copies of Aeon's End Legacy and Betrayal Legacy and so far have not gotten lucky enough to snag one. Any recommendations for more-available games that we can play? Bonus points if there's a legacy component.

To contribute to the gloomhaven discussion - After sinking 100+ hours into the digital version I do not believe we'll ever be breaking out my friend's physical copy again. It just saves a ridiculous amount of time when you don't have to set up, organize, and pack in every session.

If you've got 4 or 5 people, Space Alert.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2022 18:48

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Muir posted:

What�s the first best 18xx at 2 players?

1860 or one of the 1825 units.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2022 06:23

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

FulsomFrank posted:

Yeah it looks great. I can't wait for this. I hope there are no secret changes at the factory before they ship out. GTG is really a great company.

(Now get to work on 1871 dammit)

EDIT: Might as well add that I got to play another (mostly) complete game of 1867 on the weekend. We blasted through the 2 and 3Ts, which was great to see because in the past we've struggled with these guys and the beginning drags. After that it was nuts and at one point my wife was making $790 a run.

My question is regarding strategy in this game because it feels like you're not going to win by looting a company or stock shenanigans and that once someone gets going it seems impossible to stop them. I am not good at incremental capitalisation games and cannot wrap my head around stopping someone. If you buy shares from them (already at a good price) sure you stop money going into the company but you're also flooding the company's coffers. Also, as that company puts out fat paydays you want more of those shares so not only is the stock climbing but so is its treasury via dividends (since cash is tight in this game IMO and most people can only afford a couple shares if any) AND via players purchasing shares.

Maybe the issue is the cash tightness but I really cannot see how you get around this based on my 1/2 dozen plays to date.

1861/67 are both mostly about maneuvering around the 4t nationalization event and the aftermath, there's not really a whole lot to do to change the situation after that. Though it also sounds like you and your players are merging at high prices which is why you're only able to afford a couple of shares at a time, try merging faster at lower prices or growing up single minors instead to take advantage of higher share count. 61/67 winners can often, though not always, be determined by an early share count lead.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2022 17:25

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

They should just make a Red Mars series or something.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2022 21:52

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

uncle blog posted:

I'm looking to fill a missing "slot" in my collection. Most of my games tend to either be party games, very short fillers or on the complete other end, like massive 4x's and other games that are hard to learn and take a minimum of two hours to play. A gateway+ kind of game is what I'm missing.

So what I'm ideally looking for is a game that supports 2-4 players, not co-op or hidden movement, plays comfortably under two hours, is easy to teach yet interesting enough for more experienced players, has an okay theme and has a lot of player interaction. Bonus points if we have a shared space/board we all interact with or affect in some way. This might be a big ask.

Stephenson's Rocket may fit what you're looking for. It's Knizia's take on Acquire with no tile randomness, has a lot of player interaction in the form of tile laying for the companies plus being able to veto other player's track building. Also works surprisingly well at all player counts 2-4, though it's a pretty different game at every count.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2023 07:30

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Azran posted:

Btw what's the game above Root and the one below Caylus/Pandemic S1 in the OP's title picture? The man I'd guess is either something like Civilization or A&A, no idea about the clown.

The one above Root is Acquire I believe.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2023 06:51

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

That reminds me of the guy that posted on reddit who thought Hanabi was a competitive game.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2023 22:42

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Cole is definitely one of those designers whose games I respect more than I actually like, though I'm still a fan of original Pax Pamir and to a lesser extent the remake.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2023 16:41

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

I'm glad they're going back to the original superior name.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2023 19:48

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Napoleon's Triumph

# ¿ Mar 4, 2023 15:15

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

I don't find there to be much difficulty to the rules at all in SR, no more so than any other Knizia game of that era. Definitely wouldn't say that scoring from goods tokens is inconsequential either, it adds up by the end of the game for someone that can use them well enough so to make a difference.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2023 05:20

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

Played 18Korea for the first time yesterday, it has a cute bit of historical detail where halfway through the game the north is cut off and all the cities in the south disappear and need to be rebuilt. Other than that, it has a million private companies with some hilarious abilities which you draft from a random selection of at the start of the game, and is extremely cash rich. Not my cup of tea but it was short (about 2 hours from rules explanation to the second to last set of permanents) and I'd probably play it again if asked just to see more of the private companies. Also finally got around to playing my copy of South African Railroads which I definitely want to play more of mainly because I think I won in the opening when the other players way overspent, everyone still enjoyed it though.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2023 19:24

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

smh no one mentioning the best things pop up coop game Space Alert

# ¿ Mar 21, 2023 02:29

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 16, 2024 09:23

taser rates: Mar 30, 2010

yea, i love board games (digital)

# ¿ Mar 24, 2023 00:16

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Board Games 5E: I thought I was having fun but it was my brain tricking me

«‹›3 »