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It is a real joy to teach Spirit Island to new people. The first game they flail in the water and when we play the inevitable second game the gears start to turn in their head. "If I play this that pushes these guys here, then I can play this there and destroy them...oh and YOU can play that there then too...!"
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Dec 30, 2021 17:12
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Aggro posted:Hell yea more Spirit Island discussion. My wife and I played for a little bit never really got comfortable with the higher difficulty scenarios because we always wanted to try different spirit combinations. And our few attempts at using some of the more complex spirits led to some ugly defeats which soured her a bit on the game. I've played hundreds of SI games and I've barely touched any of the scenarios. There's just so much game in trying different spirit combos and adversary difficulty levels. In the latest expansion they codified rules for mixing two adversaries together and welp there goes all my time. It bears mentioning that the complex spirits really are complex. I have a very hard time playing the Time spirit on difficulties above 2 for most adversaries and I'm playing a side game of 4d chess if I play the time-space bending hummingbird spirit.
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Dec 30, 2021 19:44
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Asmodee may have bought MM on the sly but until I palpably notice a shift in their operation their brick and mortar store is still my go to.
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Dec 30, 2021 21:24
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Azran posted:The Resistance Avalon is the only version of the game that comes with roles already included, right? Regular Resistance just has plot cards, and roles are in an expansion if I'm reading this right. Is there any preference in terms of what version to go for? I dig the dystopian, futuristic art of the regular game but roles seem a bit easier to teach/learn than plot cards. That is correct, base Resistance is just spy/resistance. The Avalon roles are backported into Resistance in the Hidden Agenda expansion. I don't have a lot of experience with the second expansion Hostile Intent though.
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Jan 2, 2022 08:08
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Oof yeah, Lightning's primary advantage is its ability speed up powers, just ahead of its great affinity for destruction. Good catch!
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Jan 6, 2022 15:44
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One of the newest SI adversaries, Russia is kind of goofy to play because their level 2 ability generates a very interesting problem. It reads: "The first time an action destroys explorers, if possible push one of those explorers to an adjacent space instead." This introduces a huge amount of procedural issues and the rules were re-written in a way that could explain this properly. What is an action? Is a fear card an action? What if an action indirectly kills an explorer from say, being pushed into the ocean while it is in play? Probably the only time playing this game that I got an actual headache trying to sort it out.
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Jan 7, 2022 16:53
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Ascension is an early market row deckbuilder. Perfectly serviceable in the genre but I don't consider it anything special.
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Jan 7, 2022 19:26
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hekaton posted:I'm about to play twilight imperium IV for the first time tomorrow, is there any tips to making it a more seamless process or should I just buckle up? Just played a game of it tonight. Great game and I hope your group has devoted a significant amount of time into playing it. It pays to know the rules very well because there are a lot of them. There is something that is incredibly important to remember: TI is a game for points. First to 10 wins, the moment it is reached. Everything you do in the game should lead to you scoring a point. Do go out picking meaningless fights. Also protect your homeworld. You can't score if you lose it!
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Jan 9, 2022 08:01
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Is Hyperborea out of print? Talk a bit ago has me interested but there only seems to be a single copy on Amazon and Miniature Market doesn't even have a page for it.
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Jan 21, 2022 16:17
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Ark Nova is pretty good! Doesn't have a place at my 1# GOAT but it isn't a bad game.
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Jan 29, 2022 17:38
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We did NOT acquire Libertalia, but we brought the designer aboard and are developing a game with the same name and a suspiciously similar premise. And we're NOT reprinting it.
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Feb 2, 2022 21:35
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Llyranor posted:I'll just leave this here This just confuses me. I actually enjoy TfM but it wears out its welcome before the 2 hour mark. The person in the lead has a vested interest in just ending the game; something trivial to do in the game by anyone let alone the person in the lead.
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Feb 4, 2022 16:18
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I love games with a hard time limit on when they end so you can't sandbag forever. Like in TI if it somehow goes to the 10th round, best score wins. I'm not the biggest fan of player arbitrated end states like TfM and will always push it to create time pressure.
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Feb 4, 2022 18:10
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Ark Nova definitely did not take as long as TfM the last time I've played. Taught two new people and it took just over 2 hours. As mentioned you can sandbag by doing literally nothing, but that's hard because the end game state is to get someone's points track and income track to overlap.
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Feb 9, 2022 16:21
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I have a soft spot for TfM and Ark Nova does what it tries to do but better. I don't like the theme quite as much but it's still a very good theme. It's my hotness right now.
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Feb 9, 2022 17:59
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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? This reminds me of Spirit Island's blighted island effects. For those not familiar, allowing the bad guys to do their thing unfettered slowly destroys the island and eventually tips over a threshold. You flip a randomized card and its effects remain for the rest of the game. Such as every turn every spirit must destroy a presence; an extremely bad thing that is hard to mitigate. Sometimes they are explicitly good in exchange for making the one of the Lose the Game conditions much easier to reach. It also changes some of the effects of most of the event deck. Also if you play too well then you never blight the island and never have to do this.
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Feb 9, 2022 18:17
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Fat Samurai posted:My store has a whattsapp group to organise games, and everyone will open every game to the max number of players, even ones where no one knows the rules. I've been called out for not including more than three spots for a Spirit Island game that went from 10AM to 2PM, including explanations. 3 player Spirit Island is like the platonic ideal player count. Limits waiting, plenty of synergy options, and most importantly, it makes the island geometrically pleasing to look at. Did they want max available player count of 6? Having played at that count, even with me cracking the whip to keep turns speedy with no new players, it took forever and it amplified the skill gap between players.
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Feb 14, 2022 16:56
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Play Sharp Fangs and Many Minds together and just carpet the island in beasts. Maybe you'll draw the event that generates a fear for each beast that shares a land with an invader. 
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Feb 21, 2022 18:05
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canyoneer posted:I just started playing Spirit Island in the app and I'm getting clobbered. Doing small board, one spirit, low complexity. I won a single game with Vital Strength of the Earth and got wrecked in a few attempts each with Lightning or River Surges. Whenever I play Spirit Island alone I always play two handed. The interplay between spirits is such a good and fun part of the game I consider doing solo a sort of challenge mode. Definitely try a River Lightning duo game. At low difficulty settings, River can neutralize their entire board by pushing explorers around and preventing builds. Lightning can nuke entire spaces of buildings and continue to do so with River feeding them energy. A tip I throw around a lot when teaching new players is that you do not need to be afraid of blight. It's a resource. Let spaces blight if it means you can build some momentum for a bigger turn later. This is true for Lightning especially, as you'll tend to reclaim constantly because you're blasting out all your cards every turn.
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Feb 22, 2022 22:30
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The more I play Ark Nova the more I like it. Every time we finish playing we spend like 20 minutes afterward discussing strategy we saw and what we could do in the next game. I haven't done that for a game since learning Spirit Island. After half a dozen or so plays I can totally see why people rate it so highly.
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Mar 7, 2022 04:35
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medchem posted:How is Ark Nova with 2 players? I have only played it at 3 players but I can see it going fine at 2. Probably easier to pinpoint which actions to take to royally screw your opponent's momentum. It's really about building up your zoo faster than your opponent(s) anyway.
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Mar 7, 2022 17:05
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Gloomhaven is one of the best games I’ll never play again. I’ve never been so burned out on a single thing. It’s just too much. It’s like playing a videogame but having to do all to computational minutiae by hand. Some people love that and I did for a while but I’m not ready for more. Don’t know if I’ll ever be.
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Mar 20, 2022 17:38
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I've played Ark Nova every weekend for like a month since I bought it, with multiple groups. I am definitely starting to see why it's on a lot of goty lists It's just a joy to play. I'm trying to get Gaia Project to the table but all people want to play is Ark Nova and honestly I don't blame them.
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Mar 28, 2022 06:15
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hoiyes posted:Someone talk me out of backing the new Mars COIN game https://www.gmtgames.com/p-893-red-dust-rebellion.aspx I’m a sucker for Mars theming and COIN so I guess I’m out $65 thanks.
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Mar 29, 2022 03:45
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For Ex sounds incredible and I want to play it, but my group would not like it in the least. Sometimes it just be like that.
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Mar 30, 2022 02:59
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People are super hesitant to split the party into to two so you can play two games at a reasonable player count but it's either do that or the game you're playing is second to the party you're having. Which imo is perfectly ok; I get a headache trying to get into a game when more than 5 people are seated at the table. Just too much mental input.
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Apr 3, 2022 15:57
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Infinitum posted:Twilight Imperium chat. I like the Nekro Virus because you get to check out of diplomacy and are strongly rewarded for being very aggressive. If a bunch of tech objectives appear you can easily get them by stealing them. You also make your neighbors highly nervous—whenever they research a tech you don’t have they know you’re coming. The Emirates are a safe option. Their control of trade is very powerful and can give you an economic edge. I don’t play the Lizix much but if I remember right they are bland. I think they beef up their dreadnoughts.
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Apr 10, 2022 15:49
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The more complex a game, the more I emphasize that our first game is for learning purposes and any mistakes will be both expected and forgiven. It's kinda annoying when a game takes too long to have a second "real" game of it played. I taught Gaia Project last week and that game has a ton of little things to remember and keep track of. It's also one of those games where I can describe what you're capable of doing all game but it's only after the learning game will things start to make sense. Lot's of "if I knew such and such on turn 2 I would have played it differently." Well no poo poo. Remember that next time when the competition really starts. I also taught it to two different groups on successive nights and I used what I learned teaching the first group to to teach the second better.
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Apr 14, 2022 15:06
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I'm enjoying Gaia Project's solo framework but it's just a simulacrum ai of a second player so while I can tune my skills it does feel a little hollow. Still recommend though if you like that sort of game.
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Apr 17, 2022 17:57
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Some Numbers posted:I had a 4 player BSG game where someone else made the Loyalty deck and somehow put 3 Cylon cards in it. I figured this out when I drew my second Cylon card at Sleeper and then got thrown in the Brig by another Cylon reveal. Similarly, but on the opposite spectrum: I've once accidentally created the loyalty deck with no Cylons at all. This created the most retroactively hilarious game of BSG I've ever played as several people spent several turns in the brig and paranoia was at an all time high, accusing people of sabotaging events and everything. I wish the game ended in a human loss, but alas, we were not *that* bad at the game.
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Apr 19, 2022 00:43
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I have nothing but good things to say about Ark Nova. Terraforming Mars but better is perhaps the most apt description of it.
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Apr 21, 2022 15:45
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RabidWeasel posted:As good as that sounds, I strongly suspect that my group will not be as excited about conservationalism as colonising Mars The theme really grew on me the more I played it, and perhaps it will for anyone else who has a passing interest in animals and/or zoos. That said, TfM's theme is like 95% of the reason I play it. Terraforming is just fascinating.
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Apr 21, 2022 16:06
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The Covenant guys I watch for LCG game streams push Katana sleeves that I rather like. I don't get really fancy with them though. Just the standard old clears. Also I sleeve basically any cards for any game I envision playing more than like twice.
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Apr 22, 2022 17:09
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After Forbidden Stars went out of print I have debated protecting my copy my encapsulating all the carboard bits in coin cases, or having custom bits 3d printed. It's not on my short list of games my groups are playing right now so I haven't decided one way or another.
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Apr 22, 2022 18:12
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I have Talisman digital and even with turn skip and fast forward it takes forever to play.
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Apr 24, 2022 00:49
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War of the Ring 2e has good looking but soft plastic miniatures for all the armies. I found a TTS module that replaces all of them with wooden disks of varying size and color and I discover that I like that look a LOT more. Wonder where I can get something like that made for my physical copy...
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Apr 29, 2022 17:00
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In WotR all the faction pieces function identically in battle (between factions), but what faction they belong to matters for recruitment and war readiness. So you need to know what’s in your mixed army to determine whether or or not you can initiate a battle with all of them or know at a glance if you have any pieces of a certain faction left to recruit.
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Apr 30, 2022 18:00
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In my experience with Ark Nova, don’t commit to a strategy early and let what you draw and see in the market dictate the flow of your game. Like if I have 3 birds early, the bird score card is out, and I don’t see anyone else playing them I’ll try to push for 5 birds. That sort of thing.
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Apr 30, 2022 23:10
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One of the other things I *really* like about Ark Nova is your hand size is small and is kept small with the break phases. Typically we don't see about half the deck in any given game. Big difference in comparison to TfM. I also like that it's almost always worth it to play an animal over nothing if you have one since the appeal alone is a big incentive.
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May 1, 2022 14:49
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I've played a decent amount of AN at all player counts. It doesn't in my experience meaningfully change as you expand the player count, save for you having more players taking a card from the market/association action before you are able or breaking sooner than you would like.
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May 1, 2022 16:04
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