The Boardgame Thread

[Sky]

The promo gear cards aren't craftable, so from a gameplay standpoint you're not missing anything. They can be used in the game, but you're going to have to intentionally put them in outside of gameplay. I don't really see a reason to put them in unless you've really exhausted the hell out of everything else (and good luck on that).

[schild]

It's compulsion, not rational behavior.

[Goldenmean]

The promo gear cards aren't craftable, so from a gameplay standpoint you're not missing anything. They can be used in the game, but you're going to have to intentionally put them in outside of gameplay. I don't really see a reason to put them in unless you've really exhausted the hell out of everything else (and good luck on that).

I researched some and came to the same conclusion, especially considering lots of it is so blatantly out of place in the universe. That's logic talking though. Sadly, logic does little to prevent the whispering completionist voices in my head pointing out that there's a handful of tiny item cards that my box is missing. Stupid brains.

[Goldenmean]

Off the topic of Kingdom Death, played a game of Great Western Trail last night, and man, that's a really, really interesting game. I don't think I ever ranted here about how much I liked Mombasa from last year, but GWT is the new one by the same designer, and they're both really excellent mid-heavy weight euros.

Great Western Trail is a sort of interesting mesh of mechanics tossed together and made into something pretty unique. The theme is that the players are ranchers who are driving their cattle to Kansas City to sell them repeatedly. Cattle are represented by cards in your personal deck of cards, and you can buy additional cattle (with higher values than your starting ones) throughout the game, along with objective cards, which are both a one time boost when played and also potential VP at the end of the game (or negative VP if you don't meet their conditions). That part of the game is essentially a deckbuilder.

The main flow of the game is almost sort of a rondel game at its core. The board is a series of branching trails that initially contains several neutral buildings, some hazards that slow you down and cost money to pass, and a whole bunch of empty spaces. A turn is moving 1-3 spaces forward and then taking the action(s) of the building you end up on, or if you end up on a hazard or a building that you don't want to use (or later in the game, someone elses building), you also have access to some less powerful default actions. Interestingly, empty spaces don't actually cost movement, so at the beginning of the game, you can make the trip to Kansas City pretty rapidly, as the map is sparsely populated. However, one of the neutral buildings let's you spend money and construct new buildings, which only you can use along the trails. To add insult to injury, in addition to just slowing other players down, some of the buildings also tax other players who move past them, in much the same way that hazards do, except in this case, the owner of the building gets the money.

This building construction is really what makes the game unique, because unlike traditional euros where your buildings all sit back in your player area and you can trigger them all in turn and get your little production chain spinning nicely and no one else can do a thing about it, everyone is placing buildings in the same shared space here, so the board is going to be different every time you begin another run to Kansas City. That nice little combo you did last time where you sold some cows for some money and then used that money to buy a new cowboy worker the next turn, and then proceeded to that space where you used that cowboy to add new cows to your deck? Yeah, someone dropped a big old "I'll take that money, thank you very much" building between them.

This is really just the broadest overview of the game. There's a lot of spinning parts. You have different sorts of workers you can purchase, which increase your ability to do different things. You need cowboys to purchase better cows, or to make it cheaper to do so. Craftsmen let you build better, more interesting buildings. Engineers let you move your train faster along the track, which is a whole other subgame I haven't even mentioned yet. As the game goes on, you can upgrade your personal board, giving you a larger hand size for cows, or the ability to move faster, or unlocking new abilities you can use if you don't end up taking advantage of a building on your turn, etc.

I've only got one game of this under my belt, but this feels like a strong contender for my top games of the year, and it's been a good year for games. It's not a short game, but the play is pretty fast. Occasionally you'll run into an extended bit of analysis paralysis where someone hems and haws over where to place a building, or they've set up some sort of chain of buildings which lets them do three times as many things as usual in a turn, and there's some busy work every time you get to Kansas City, but mostly this game spins along at a pretty rapid clip, because most turns will be "Move my guy to this building. Do these quick little actions. Done. Go", and then you can immediately start thinking about your next turn, and only rarely need to recalculate if someone dropped a building right in your way, or took the cow you had your eye on, etc.

This isn't the sort of game that'll change your mind about euros if you're more of an ameritrasher, but it's an excellent euro. If Alexander Pfister puts out another game on the level of this or Mombasa, he'll probably shoot up to being my favorite designer (not that Isle of Skye or his earlier stuff is bad, but it's mostly a bit too light for me)

[Sky]

It's compulsion, not rational behavior.

All too aware of that 

[Ruvaldt]

Got Cave Evil: Warcults today, and it's excellent.  The artwork is stellar, theme is just as good as Cave Evil, etc.

My only complaint is the packaging.  At first sight it's a neat idea and looks good, but it feels like they didn't think it through; there's not much space in the empty area of the box for all of the chits, cards, etc once they're punched out so it's challenging to make the container close right.  I'd have happily paid another $10+ for a proper box and might have to anyway.

Other than that though, I'm very satisfied. 

[Sky]

I had the same thoughts about the chit sheets. Why make a dedicated pouch for a sheet I'm going to immediately punch out? Blah.

Gotta call my old sound guy buddy who digs Cave Evil to try out the new one. Or maybe find an excuse to head over to CLRC for a 'conference' with the nerd there....

[schild]

Mine still hasn't shipped. Stupid t-shirts and figures.

[Sky]

Any of you Super Mario Bros players up for a challenge? https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/BCDD-0000-00FB-69FD

Have to beat it in the next 23 hours or so to unlock a freebie for KDM :)

[Sky]

Aaaand already beaten...

[schild]

Looks like they got the figures in as my Cave Evil stuff just shipped.

[ghost]

Huh.  Just got the new Cave Evil stuff in the mail.  Totally forgot that I had pre-ordered it.

[lamaros]

Played some more 1846 this weekend, game just isn't as fun as 1830.

Rolling Stock is a fun game, and Pax Renaissance is a good game.

Edit: my right to poke fun re the mini purchases of some of you probably needs to be revoked, I spent $330US on three 18xx games.

[ghost]

18xx and ASL and miniature games are all crazy money and crazy time investment.  One of these days, when my boys get old enough, I'll probably play some of all of them.  My time is so limited now that I'll probably have to pass. 

The oldest boy is getting into the Pokemon thing.  It's a bit simplistic for me, and the cards are super fucking expensive, but he digs it so I guess we will play.....


For grown up (ish) games, have been playing some Seasons with the wife and oldest child.  It's a good game.  I have heard that it "scratches the Magic itch without the investment", but it's not all that.  I think it will get limited after maybe 10-15 plays, but I do like it.  It's worth getting, I think. 

The Golden Ages is good.  Classic Euro style game but a civ builder.  I am happy with the purchase. 

[ghost]

Anyone played Ashes:  Rise of the Phoenixborn yet?

[Hawkbit]

Anyone played Ashes:  Rise of the Phoenixborn yet?

I played a few games from the base set. Ultimately feels pretty bland but if you get into deckbuilders it might be fun. I couldn't get anyone else into it, so it is shelved.

[ghost]

Hmm.  That's unfortunate.  It looks great.  So much is packaging and shininess these days.  I just don't have time to sit around and put together playable decks for card games any more.

[Ragnoros]

Haven't played it, but from a couple video reviews it looks like Magic: The LCG. For me, it basically comes down to, are the cards interesting enough to be compelling? Given that most of the interesting Magic cards were mistakes, probably not? Plus I'm just not much of a fan of plaid hat, their execution has always been lacking for me.

[eldaec]

Almost all LCGs are basically Magic: the LCG.

Problem is none of them are as good as Magic.

[schild]

Almost all LCGs are basically Magic: the LCG.

Problem is none of them are as good as Magic.

If only that first sentence was true.

[ghost]

The mechanics of most card games are pretty similar, although the deck building mechanic did throw things for a bit of a loop.  Not sure that deck building and a collectable style game go together all that well, but I'm sure someone will do it eventually.

[Goldenmean]

The mechanics of most card games are pretty similar, although the deck building mechanic did throw things for a bit of a loop.  Not sure that deck building and a collectable style game go together all that well, but I'm sure someone will do it eventually.

Someone already did in digital form. War of Omens was a kickstarter several years back, and has apparently been doing pretty well for itself on kongregate and similar services. I haven't checked in on it for a while, but for a period there I was playing it pretty regularly. It doesn't have the depth of Magic or Hex, but it felt like there was more there than Hearthstone or its ilk, and it plays in a similar time frame.

[ghost]

Played Sid Meier's Civilization tonight.  It's a bit long, but a decent distillation of the video game series.  The combat is kindof wonky, but otherwise I thought it was fun.

[lamaros]

Clash of Cultures does board game civ very well.

[Stewie]

You should try getting your hands on the 1980 Avalon Hill version of Civilization. It's a long game but it's great. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71/civilization

Unfortunately, due to the length of the game I almost never get to bust mine out.

[Goldenmean]

Yeah, of all of the civilization games, the Avalon Hill one is still the best in my books. Some weekend before I die, I'd like to actually get my copy of Mega Civilization to the table, instead of just spreading the map out and cackling madly at the ridiculous scope of it. Just need to find somewhere between four and seventeen other people who want to blow several days of their life on a single board game.

[ghost]

I have the original Civilization and Advanced Civilization, I just don't play 7 hour games anymore.  Anything north of 2 and it's borderline undoable. 

I have Golden Ages, which is a cube pusher, but reasonably does civilization building in an hour or so. 

[Soln]

I checked on my order of Zimbabwe and Indonesia.  Got a reply from Joris.

yes, all the US games are currently moving from the port to the warehouse where they will be transshipped to all customers- I was hoping to still make it in 2016 but it will likely be early 2017...

They still have some units in their store with Food Chain Magnate.  Also, CSI just listed Zimbabwe for pre-order.

[Goldenmean]

They still have some units in their store with Food Chain Magnate.  Also, CSI just listed Zimbabwe for pre-order.

It's up to actually order, which is obnoxious because it means I could have gotten it faster if I just hadn't bothered pre-ordering from Splotter at all, though it would have ended up costing a bit more.

[Soln]

Aye.  I feel your pain.  I have the same issue with GMT. 

[schild]

I'm still waiting for my Ascension Collector's Edition from the fucking Kickstarter.

[Rasix]

My son had a rather boardgamey Christmas. I managed to sneak a few newer (to us, go easy) board games (King of Tokyo, Sushi Go Party, Ticket to Ride: First Journey) into the slew of Hasbro boredom.

One of the games he seems to like a lot is Risk, which has a rather nasty setup time and is somewhat of a chore to play. Wife can't stand it and the cats like to randomly wreck games. Any suggestions on something that would be easier to just pick up and play? He's 7, so nothing scary or horror related. He seems to pick these games up pretty well. Better than my wife who seems to cap out strategically at Clue.

This has really made me wish my son was older or my wife was into this crap or had friends that weren't your standard suburban parents. Some of these games look rather neat. Only one of the newer games that has any traction with my boy so far is King of Tokyo, partially because he just hates losing and still doesn't take it well. So, something cool co-op wise would be neat as well.

[Hawkbit]

My daughter grasped Castle Panic pretty well at 7. The wife, daughter and I have 100+ games of it under our belt over the years, especially in those age 7-8 years. I Played it with my nephew when he was 8 and he totally got it.

One of the themed Love Letter variants might be good too (batman, adventure time, etc..) I'll check my shelves at home to see later tonight. King of Tokyo was a good choice at that age too.

[jgsugden]

...
This has really made me wish my son was older or my wife was into this crap or had friends that weren't your standard suburban parents. Some of these games look rather neat. Only one of the newer games that has any traction with my boy so far is King of Tokyo, partially because he just hates losing and still doesn't take it well. So, something cool co-op wise would be neat as well.

A lot of local game stores have board game nights where a variety of folks meet up to play games. It is a good way to make new friends to join (or establish) your gaming circle.  You can often meet people in places like these that have similar challenges to you (6 to 10 year old kids they're trying to get into board games, significant others that are not strategy fiends, etc...).  If so, you can at least commiserate if not use each other to come up with ways to make your situation better (get the SOs to hang out and share a communal interest while you play, find some games that are great for playing with multiple kids, etc..)

For capable kids that do not like losing: Try a few cooperative games.  Pandemic is a pretty good place to start.  It isn't that many notches up in complexity from KoT. (and I second Castle Panic for that age).

[eldaec]

If he likes Risk, you could do worse than Small World.

Would second/third Castle Panic.

Also in a year or two, Legends of Andor - a fantasy co-op that is neither a pandemic clone nor an ameritrash sea of tokens and fiddly crap.  

Mice and Mystics always comes up as a dungeon crawl for young gamers - but I've never tried it.


How was ticket to ride first journey? I have nieces and nephews to infect.