|
I’ll send this as a PM but I’d recommend in the where to buy section including a bit more info about recommended online retailers. There are a lot of pretty scammy online retailers in the space and it would be good newbies to avoid them. Reputable online retailers of board games: Gamenerdz: Widely regarded as a reputable online retailer for board games at a reasonable price. They have a generally good deal of the day every day that is a deal. Their customer service is solid and they have free shipping at $75. Gamenerdz has had significant supply issues lately (pandemic related or just popularity) especially on Miniatures and painting supplies. Gamenerdz very rarely does large scale sales, they did virtually nothing for Black Friday in 2021. Boardlandia: A more recent challenger in the online board game market, Boardlandia became very popular in 2020/2021 due to great sales and better Instock than other retailers. Like Gamenerdz, Boardlandia has good customer service, fast shipping times, and a lower free shipping threshold ($80). Unlike Game Nerdz, Boardlandia has a very limited miniatures and supplies selection. Boardlandia does huge holiday sales that can be a great way to get games. Miniature Market: One of the longest term online tabletop gaming retailers that specializes in miniatures. Generally the best selection and prices on miniatures, paint, terrain, etc. Miniature Market generally isn’t as comparable on price as the other retailers on board game prices but does have good deals. Their shipping speed is very good but they have a higher free shipping threshold ($99). Card Haus: Another longterm retailer of tabletop games but one that hasn’t changed with the times as much as Miniature Market. They still have the highest free shipping threshold ($125) and prices that aren’t as competitive. They made major changes to their site in 2021 to focus more heavily on board games than card games and a shopping experience that looks/feels much more like Game Nerdz. Recommended online retailers of accessories: LaserOx: LaserOx produces high quality inserts and organizers for many games using mostly recycled materials. They also don’t have abusive pieces of poo poo leading the company. Tower Rex: Tower Rex makes excellent organizes for a very reasonable price. I’ve been very happy with everything I’ve ordered from them. They look good, assemble super easily, and work well. Folded Space: If you prefer foam core instead of laser cut organizers, Folded Space makes good products. Board Game Price checking: Board Game Atlas: Good resource for price history and sources for board games. It can be a day or two behind on live prices especially on boardlandia but should give you a ballpark for what things are regularly selling for especially for frequently out of stock items.
|
#
¿
Dec 30, 2021 21:00
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 20:16 |
|
|
Bottom Liner posted:They've just kinda stepped back as a reliable board game retailer after moving warehouses and shifting much more towards TCGs and their fulfillment business for KS campaigns. Yeah, both their store and the site are just not great anymore. Significantly higher prices, worse assortment, and worse service than the other major retailers out there. Their “sales” just make games the same price as everyone else’s normal price.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 30, 2021 21:29
|
|
|
Llyranor posted:For boardgame price comparisons, I suggest Boardgameoracle instead of Boardgameatlas. More useful for Canadians, too. Had no idea about this until you posted it. Already seems way better and easier to navigate. Definitely seconding.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 31, 2021 00:23
|
|
|
Aramoro posted:My wife picked up Mariposa the other day and it seems to be a pretty good light game as well. The theme fits really well and and its a neat little game about getting your butterflies as far north as you can whilst still being able to return to the south. Slightly heavier but Isle of Cats in another simple and thematic game that I’ve had a lot of success introducing to all different groups. Plays quick, rules are intuitive, lots of avenues to victory. Plays like an Azul/Wingspan hybrid.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 10, 2022 23:11
|
|
|
Admiralty Flag posted:As the Broken Token organizers are out (see the second post of the thread for more info if, like me, you were unaware), who in general is the go-to organizer recommendation? There’s some good Etsy shops out there like Tower Rex or Laser Ox. I’ve ordered from both and the quality is as good or better than Broken Token ever was.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 27, 2022 23:39
|
|
|
Infinitum posted:Just gonna drop this curse off JFC. Mostly competent technically but loving why?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 4, 2022 03:04
|
|
|
Mayveena posted:Is this what we all strive for??? I have a large laser cutter and have considered slowly converting all of my games to wood boxes… but ones the exact size actually required for every game and not that.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 6, 2022 23:27
|
|
|
CitizenKeen posted:Since Covid I've been buying RPGs instead of boardgames (for the most part) and I have a lot of pent up boardgame energy. Isle of Cats came out right before Covid and is pretty solid. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion Calico The Crew Search for Planet X Canvas Unsettled
|
|
#
¿
Feb 6, 2022 23:40
|
|
|
Mayveena posted:All hail the new crowdfunding leader, Gamefound because Kickstarter does not know what the gently caress they are doing Good. As a consumer I really like gamefound. Better UI, easy to pick upgrades, integrated surveys, great support. I’d buy everything on gamefound over ks if offered the option
|
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2022 07:05
|
|
|
I’d prefer to back everything on Gamefound but alas Kickstarter is currently an important part of the funding process for creators, especially newer ones. Maybe one day.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 23, 2022 23:52
|
|
|
PRADA SLUT posted:Out of morbid curiosity, I looked at the Kickstarter updates for Shadow Tactics. This is the best update I’ve seen on anything: quote:Last month I promised to fetch a roadmap for the remaining part of the project. Unfortunately even though I kept trying to organize a meeting with András for weeks I barely reached him. We still don’t have an official roadmap. I know nothing, I talked to no one, I don’t really work on this, but here’s a roadmap!
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2022 23:48
|
|
|
Jarofpiss appears to be arguing in bad faith but there is unfortunately a tiny nugget of a point in there. This thread has of very strong perspectives on topics and discussion that ranges from newbie board gamer discussion to very deep mechanics or theme discussion. Magnetic North put together a very curated newbie friendly op but the discussion on most pages is by people that have been in hobby a decade and are very knowledgeable about all the politics around it and specific good/bad games and (not even oversexualized ones.) I can see how some of the discussion could be very offputting for someone newer to the thread. I think there’s a point to letting people discuss Kickstarter, bad games, etc. without the thread dogpiling them but there’s a very clear line on that discussion which ends at discussion of overtly exploitative poo poo or similar matter that is clearly racist/sexist/etc. Edit: editing it remove references to how verboten topic.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 26, 2022 18:14
|
|
|
This poo poo from the last few posts is exactly why I was hesitant to even say they had a nugget of a point. The thread can be overly harsh about kickstarter and some games that are popular to newcomers but fall apart after a number of plays. But the thread is generally correct about all of the exploitation, x-phobia, and discrimination or poor representation in games. poo poo like this: PRADA SLUT posted:Thread wants to position itself as "inclusion and acceptance", just so long as it's an "approved" game/publisher/source/retailer/whatever. Is really twisting the facts and arguing in bad faith. I agree that the thread takes the making GBS threads on kickstarter too far but to pretend there aren't valid points about the shittiness of how kickstarter treats their employees and that blockchain is problematic is why no one in this thread takes you seriously. It's possible to disagree with someone and debate the merits without either engaging in hyperbole or omit really key facts. PRADA SLUT posted:I'd add Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures in that case as well then. Same here. Media can have a disturbing or difficult subject matter and still not be exploitative. Or media can be outright exploitative. Sherlock Holmes is probably the best example of media about a difficult subject matter that is not downright exploitative or glorifying exploiting people. You know the difference but are just pretending it doesn't exist to argue in bad faith. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Mar 26, 2022 |
|
#
¿
Mar 26, 2022 20:30
|
|
|
FirstAidKite posted:In monopoly you're a landlord And there are variations that are blatantly awful/sexist/ageist like Ms. Monopoly and Monopoly for Millennials. It’s truly the worst franchise.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 8, 2022 04:36
|
|
|
ninjoatse.cx posted:I need a recommendation for a board game for a group of 3+ adults. Accommodating more people is better. Few components The Estates Canvas Queendomino Cards but no hands Splendor No cards but more components Azul (any version) Sagrada More complex but way less than root Viticulture Isle of Cats Tzolkin Parks The games I keep at work Six Nimmit Codenames Splendor Azul Viticulture The Estates Pictomania Sushi Go
|
|
#
¿
Apr 11, 2022 00:20
|
|
|
I don’t own crypto and think blockchain is the dumbest poo poo imaginable. I have to tell idiots at work regularly for the last five years that no, we shouldn’t have anything to do blockchain and whatever they read is a scam. But even I think the constant Kickstarter and Van Ryder is evil because crypto/NFTs to be really tedious. It’s like atheism to me. The only thing more/as annoying than a zealot spouting stupid poo poo is an atheist getting hard for how much he hates religion with a group of people that don’t need to be convinced. There’s plenty of other reasons to not support Kickstarter and pledge $1 as infinitum mentioned. Unless there’s something new/funny/frustrating to discuss about some other stupid company that is trying to fleece people with NFTs, it just feels like rehashing the same poo poo. As I’ve said in a previous post, jarofpiss and Prada are completely disingenuously trolling but that doesn’t mean that the thread isn’t off putting at times because of what feels like a combination of mandatory opinions and a troupe of trolls that would have long since been thread banned in any other forum. Edit: I strongly agree with the post before mine despite my annoyance at hearing the same crypto conversation over and over again. Most people in this thread want to talk board games and not constantly have it be political debates on clearly settled issues we all agree with. It’s insane to me that in this forum a community can say, “here’s the views of 95%+ of us and rules we want to operate by” and a mod can just go “Lol, nah, decorum and polite discourse.” No forum here has really operated like that in 5-10 years. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Apr 22, 2022 |
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2022 11:24
|
|
|
Viper915 posted:Hey is CoolStuffInc still ok? They're not in the third post which makes me wonder if something ugly came up about them. I was about to order something from them rather than miniature market to avoid the asmodee connection, and figured I'd look in the third post, expecting them to be listed. They just don’t have as good a selection, prices, or customer service anymore. If you don’t want to use MM then Boardlandia, Gamenerdz, and a few other local places like Over the Brick are just better. There’s no clear issue with them that I’m aware of though other than not evolving with the times.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2022 11:38
|
|
|
Infinitum posted:The Pledge Manager for Robot Quest Arena isn't up yet. I exclusively done PM access only for a while and it has definitely kept me from backing some bad games. You get to see all the stretch goals/updates/more info before you commit real money without the risk of not being able to pledge. Even though many games do Late Pledge or gamefound post KS, there are still some that don’t. Throwing out a buck is a nice low risk way to give yourself more time. Larger Games not having PM access only are usually a red flag to me as well. If you have your poo poo together then PM access only just let’s you convert more people later and make more money. If you have an expensive pledge without PM access, that feels a lot more like a hard sell for something that doesn’t have poo poo together.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2022 12:14
|
|
|
Infinitum posted:Noone cares. Take it to QCS. loving talk about board games, jfc. YMMV since you aren't in North America but I generally buy a Giant Box of Mayday premium sleeves every year during their holiday sale. Depending on card size you can get them about 50% off during the sale and I have several dozen games sleeved in them with no issues. I've found them as good as pretty much any other sleeve and at the holiday price, they are the cheapest way to sleave a ton of cards.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2022 20:52
|
|
|
Admiralty Flag posted:Sorry, but I’ve never heard of this. I’m guessing holiday sale = December? What should I look for in case I decide to, e.g., sleeve my entire Dominion collection as a Christmas miracle? Here’s the one after Christmas this past year:  I usually buy enough to hit the free shipping and sleeve most of what I’ve bought in the last year. The deal is a price reduction too not a coupon so you can stack it with other coupons.  All of those are at least a dollar off the regular price and then I had another 5% coupon. So a $2.79 pack of premium Sleeves was 1.78 - 5%. Generally the best sleeves deal around. Boardlandia also puts Mayday sleeves on sale during the same time prior with a lower shipping threshold abs similar prices. They generally just sell out really fast whereas Mayday direct does not.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2022 22:53
|
|
|
!Klams posted:I find it always ends up that way when you make it yourself, because it's fun to make, and lends itself to being made collaboratively, and really cheap. Yeah, you don't realize how little fish it takes to make a roll until you make it yourself and are like... gently caress, what do I don't with the other 80% of the fish... Guess I'll make 4 more rolls.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 25, 2022 02:16
|
|
|
silvergoose posted:That's...okay now I have a more delicate question. Handicap was used to mean a disadvantage in sports long before it was used to reference people who may be in need of accommodations. It was only starting to be used as slang for people in the early 1900s. I don’t see a problem using handicap to reference a disadvantage in a game.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2022 15:21
|
|
|
Infinitum posted:Paint the Roses + Good Cop Bad Cop should also be high on your pull lists. My copy of Paint the Roses just arrived and I’m going to try to get it to the table tonight. So excited for it.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2022 21:52
|
|
|
Paint the Roses is fantastic. It seems so simple but led to the biggest shouting match we’ve ever had over a game where everyone was wrong and right at the same time. And then we all lost our heads. 10/10
|
|
#
¿
May 1, 2022 00:08
|
|
|
Another game of Paint the Roses that ended in execution. We filled the garden but lost on the very last turn because the queen still moved. There’s probably a better meta strategy that we should do to stay just ahead of the queen while she is slow and then complete multiple hard cards during the last turn before her speed increase. Otherwise she inevitably catches up as the game goes on. We’re still playing easy mode too.
|
|
#
¿
May 8, 2022 03:10
|
|
|
Wow, that might be even stupider than the Kingdom Builder Deluxe with the 200 miniature buildings. There just isn’t enough visually distinct on that Azul to even warrant a limited edition. It’s literally just a palette swap. What the hell.
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2022 14:03
|
|
|
dishwasherlove posted:Next time a segment of seasoned thread posters highlight other poster(s) in the thread acting in bad faith and making GBS threads the place up, crying out for basic moderation, you can just provide it instead of sending in a conscientious newbie with 6 hour ban privilege. Good fix. This is really the core issue. Many regular posters of this thread and previous incarnations lost any faith in effective moderation occurring here because of the regular threadshitters and then the hyper defensive mod responses. I think I’ve barely looked at this thread since the last back and forth. I don’t really have an opinion about the current drama other than to say the knee jerk defensive response to it is representative of the modding this thread receives. Just poor excuses and no addressing core problems. And often actively making things worse.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2022 19:11
|
|
|
Cthulhu: Death May Die just came in stock at Boardlandia for $87. I would imagine it will be sold out in a few hours at most. Edit: It’s not on board game deals or anywhere yet. I got an email because I signed up for an in stock alert and got the alert about a minute before I posted. There no quantity limit noted and nothing about a preorder so they either found some boxes or there was a unannounced reprint. Edit 2: Instock at Boarding School Games, Asmodee NA, and Atomic Empire as well. Looks like a reprint. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Oct 10, 2022 |
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2022 18:12
|
|
|
It’s a relatively short (90 mins at most) dungeon crawl where you are on a suicide mission to disrupt a summoning ritual and “kill” an elder one. There are six scenarios in the core box of different settings and elder ones to be defeated. The gameplay is very streamlined unlike the Arkham games and what you can do is pretty straight forward. The game is ridiculous and campy and very different from the bloated Cthulhu games out there. The game is split into two main phase: Disrupt the Ritual and Kill the Elder God. In the first phase, you usually have to identify/stop/kill cultists so that their ritual goes awry and only summons a weakened version of the elder god. In phase two, you are in a suicide mission to kill the god. Your character gets comically powerful as you fight the god and their minions. In my experience, the game usually ends with everyone dying or nearly dying in the last turn in a suicide mission to kill the god. Combat is pretty simple dice rolling with some push your luck mechanics and skills and abilities to modify the dice. For the most part, the game is about having fun and the stories that come out of a brawling nun punching The Black Goat to death. There are some balance issues that you might want to house rule with randomized characters and enemy abilities because picking your character can lead to some minmaxing. I’d probably have more critical comments about the game if it didn’t play so quickly. Some of the components are too small. There are some balance issues. With only the six scenarios in the core box, you might get a little bored after 10+ plays but there are additional seasons that really spice things up.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2022 19:33
|
|
|
Fate Accomplice posted:there will be a season 3 Cthulhu: DMD KS launching soon: Makes sense. Must have done a reprint of the original box while preparing for the campaign launch.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2022 22:15
|
|
|
Admiralty Flag posted:Let me second the linked organizer if you feel the need to get one right now. I love Tower Rex's stuff, I get compliments on my organizer every time I pull it out, and it's supporting a Ukrainian company. Good stuff all around. (For storage: I put the spirit boards and the two foldable boards in the B&C box and everything else (rules, teaching script, and six island boards) in the bore box with the organizer. I get some lid lift earth both, mostly with B&C, but it works for me.) Thirding this. Everything I bought from Tower Rex has been very high quality. Easy to assemble, looks great, and arrives quickly. Their prices are also pretty comparable to other companies even though they are shipping direct from Ukraine. I have a laser cutter and there are several things I will by from them rather than design/cut myself just because their items are just so well designed. They are pretty much my go-to for organizers.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 15, 2022 18:39
|
|
|
I'm in the same boat with Miniature Market. Ordered over two weeks ago with no update. If I can ever get ahold of them to cancel or it finally ships, it will probably be my last order with them. I've had a positive experience previously using https://overthebrick.com/ so I may just move to them for anything miniature related online unless there is a scandal I don't know about there. They usually have better inventory available than GameNerdz which is perpetually out of a large amount of paints.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2022 21:51
|
|
|
Jewmanji posted:Sorry to be the bearer of this news: Why not just make Red Planet as a live action movie?
|
|
#
¿
Dec 2, 2022 02:08
|
|
|
Boardlandia is having a year end inventory cleanup sale and have marked down a lot of inventory even below their November Black Friday prices. Lots of cheap Arkham Horror packs and other expansion.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 19, 2022 21:16
|
|
|
Got my copy of Frosthaven today and so far the most difficult part of the game is getting the lid off of the box because it’s so ridiculously large. Pictures don’t really do it justice. It’s double the size of the gloomhaven box.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 3, 2023 21:15
|
|
|
GreenBuckanneer posted:Anyone play Bloodborne & Dark Souls mini games? People have described the gameplay of blood borne pretty well so I’ll talk about the minis. Overall most of the mini sculpts are pretty good but the bases are not. I rebased all the minis which ended up being a very time consuming experience because they were not uniformly created. Some minis like the mobs were manufactured then attached to bases, others were manufactured with their base, and some like the church giants were even hollowed out to reduce the overall material. So some minis would be just easily cut off their existing bases and others required a dremel. My minis had a thick hydrophobic finishing coating that made paint not stick well so I had to scrub them pretty well. Lots of cool minis in the sets though.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2023 21:32
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 20:16 |
|
|
Bjay9 posted:I have a group that meets most weekends. We usually play one "lite" game then settle in for a larger one. I looked at the BGG page for the game and still have no idea what the theme is or what it’s about. It sort of looks like someone tried to make some sort of engine game but forgot to add a theme. It looks like all the fiddly bits of terraforming mars but no flavor. Edit: For an actual game write up, I finally got Dog Park to the table after not playing games for a few months. It will take a few more plays before I have a strong opinion of it but it’s a lot like parks + wingspan + isle of cats. There are a few key mechanics that play together: 1) Recruit up to 8 dogs to be walked over 4 rounds. Dogs each have abilities very similar to Wingspan birds. You spend victory points to bid on dogs so there’s a bluff/bid component and you have to think longterm ROI of each dog. 2) Walking dogs each round give victory points. Dogs that are unwalked cause you to lose points each round but you only have to walk a dog once time all game to not lose points. 3) The walking phase plays like Parks with less randomness to the layout. 4) There are random public and private objectives. The public objectives are always about having the most of each type of dog but with different values each game. The private objectives are more complex. So lots of different interacting mechanics but the core gameplay loop is very simple and ways to teach. The game itself plays in a little over an hour when teaching and will probably play in under an hour with an experienced group. It initially feels like there might be too much randomness in the available dogs to build any sort of strategy that isn’t get lucky but the bidding mechanic might give you more control longterm. The art style is great and if you know someone’s who likes Wingspan and is a dog person, they will love it. Probably a good gift game at least. I’ve gifted several wingspan and isle of cats over the years because they are generally well received by more casual groups. This probably fits the same niche but Dogs. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 13:23 on Mar 21, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2023 13:02
|
|