The Boardgame Thread

[Stewie]

Found a cheap copy of Race for the Galaxy recently, finally got to give it a play yesterday. It's kind of... not good. Virtually no player interaction and takes at least a few plays to really understand all the fiddly rules.

While I don't necessarily disagree with what you say here, what your opponents are doing affects you quite a bit. If they are searching for certain types of planets or cards that help those planets you will probably want to stay away or possibly hate settle em. I find that I am frequently trying to base my actions according to my opponents strategy (settle, go for large developments, produce and trade etc). Sometimes piggybacking on action I know they are going to do, occasionally taking actions at inopportune times for them etc.

So while you don't directly interact, (at least in the base game) you are definitely not playing solo.

[Ard]

I'm going to ditto that.  I intentionally sit on cards in my hand that I know other players need, especially the high cost development cards that are the cornerstones of strategies in play.  This is actually one of my favorite card games.

[ghost]

Played a couple of new games over the weekend:

1.  Roll for the Galaxy-  liked this a lot.  It's like Race for the Galaxy (obviously) but is more accessible, I think.  It's a typical euro style dice-as-workers worker placement game, so don't expect heavy interaction.  Will be playing again.

2.  7 Wonders Duel-  reminds me a lot of All Creatures Big and Small and the smaller Le Havre 2 player game.  It's pretty fun with more direct interaction than you'd think.

3.  Camel Up-  pretty basic racing/betting game.  Very accessible for non-gamers.  Will keep and play again.

[Hawkbit]

Duel is good, but I wish they used full size age cards. Really one of my only complaints.

[eldaec]

Tin Goose - an economic game about aeroplanes from Matt 'Sekigahara' Calkins. It isn't as beautiful as Seki, but it is as good an auction game as I can imagine (I generally dislike auction games). It triggered some very interesting discussions about best strategies, but not much outright love around the table.

Evolution - Using cards to build better creatures in the hope of not starving to death or getting eaten by your neighbour. Nicely interactive mechanics - cards give your creatures traits which trump each other in the competition for food, and despite being able to eat other player's creatures, the game never really feels mean. Even when you build a carnivore you are usually so close to starvation (or to being eaten by something else) that no one can really begrudge you chomping on their leg.

Burgle Bros - Light puzzley coop from Tim Flowers, which sees you sneaking around a building cracking safes, dodging alarms and escaping to the roof for some reason. If you like Pandemic you'll like this, the specific mechanics are very different, but it plays with a similar feel.

[lamaros]

Eld, you wrote the same comment on Tin Goose on BGG? :P

Sounds interesting. Not sure it's worth the AUD$80 it's going for here, though.

[ghost]

Duel is good, but I wish they used full size age cards. Really one of my only complaints.

Every time I play a game with non-standard playing card sizes it makes me stabby.  Unless there is a clear reason for them to be non-standard size, like some of the square card games.

[eldaec]

I fucking hate square cards.

"Hey we need to design some cards so they are much more likely to end up the wrong way up, and at the same time make them impossible to shuffle without splitting sleeves every damn time. SQUAREWARD HO!"

[ghost]

I'm specifically thinking of the Catan card game versions that require turning of the cards to indicate a specific value.  I'm okay with those. 

[Soln]

New (and reprint) Phil Eklund games up for preorder:

Bios Genesis
Pax Renaissance
Pax Renaissance Expansion
Khyber Knives - Pax Pamir Expansion

[jgsugden]

Betrayal at House on the Hill is not for everyone, but those that enjoy it often really love it - and there is finally an expansion coming out this fall: Widow's Walk

[Goldenmean]

New (and reprint) Phil Eklund games up for preorder:

Oh, thanks for the heads up. I had this open in a tab for a while and went back occasionally to check if the pre-order was up, but my computer rebooted at some point and it fell off of my radar. Really excited for Bios: Genesis especially.

[Soln]

Let us pray that ye olde rules are more clear this time.   

It is indeed a good thing when Phil Eklund releaseth a new game.  Almost as much as when Splotter reprints.  Good things in these weird times.

[Goldenmean]

Let us pray that ye olde rules are more clear this time.   

It is indeed a good thing when Phil Eklund releaseth a new game.  Almost as much as when Splotter reprints.  Good things in these weird times.

You've got to love a rulebook with a bibliography.

I'm pretty new to the Eklund-sphere, but I've picked up all of the recent Pax stuff and Neanderthal/Greenland, and am twiddling my thumbs like everyone else for the High Frontier kickstarter. Maybe one of these days I'll actually be able to sell my gaming group on playing them, but for now, I've enjoyed just reading the rules and messing around solo.

[Sky]

Anyone else interested in Massive Darkness? KS is going up June 7. Guillotine Games' (Zombicide) take on a dungeon crawler. I think with the refinements they've developed for Black Plague it might be a good time for this.

[lamaros]

Anyone else interested in any kickstarter game?

Adjusted, and answer is always no, unless it's a reprint from a reliable publisher.

[Thrawn]

Anyone else interested in Massive Darkness? KS is going up June 7. Guillotine Games' (Zombicide) take on a dungeon crawler. I think with the refinements they've developed for Black Plague it might be a good time for this.

Guillotine Games, so it will make millions of dollars, ship late, and be available on Amazon for half the price of the Kickstarter BEFORE you get your Kickstarter copy delivered.

[Goldenmean]

Anyone else interested in Massive Darkness?

I love a good dungeon crawler, but I was thoroughly unimpressed by Zombicide, and considering it's probably going to be several hundred dollars all in, I can't see myself backing this unless they put the rules up and it looks drop dead amazing.

I've still got Middara, Swords and Sorcery, Masmorra, Gloomhaven, Perdition's Mouth, Arcadia Quest: Inferno, Lobotomy and the new Super Dungeon Explore en route anyway, so my dungeon crawling dance card is going to be pretty full regardless.

[Sky]

I don't care for chibi and don't currently have a dungeon crawler. I like GG's stuff, so I'll probably snag a copy.

[Rendakor]

I didn't really care for Zombicide either.

[Teleku]

Anyone else interested in any kickstarter game?

Adjusted, and answer is always no, unless it's a reprint from a reliable publisher.

Quite a lot of us are interested in Kickstarter games.   

Having said that, in the case of Massive Darkness, don't see much that's very enticing about it.  And as Sky said, I've still got Swords and Sorcery, and Gloomhaven coming along similar lines.

[lamaros]

Anyone else interested in any kickstarter game?

Adjusted, and answer is always no, unless it's a reprint from a reliable publisher.

Quite a lot of us are interested in Kickstarter games.   

Having said that, in the case of Massive Darkness, don't see much that's very enticing about it.  And as Sky said, I've still got Swords and Sorcery, and Gloomhaven coming along similar lines.

Fools and their money!

[Sky]

Fools and their money!

No need to be a cunt about it.

[jgsugden]

Fools and their money!

No need to be a cunt about it.

You are aware that this is f13, right?

[Sky]

Fools and their money!

No need to be a cunt about it.

You are aware that this is f13, right?

Yes, the place where telling someone not to be a cunt is a playful jab 

[lamaros]

Yeah I'm expecting Sky's reply was in the same spirit as my comment. 

[Sky]

Speaking of GG, the DLC for Zombicide in Tabletop Simulator is now up on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/468726/

[Thrawn]

Speaking of GG, the DLC for Zombicide in Tabletop Simulator is now up on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/468726/

Well that seems like it would be a huge waste of $7.  I'm sure you can find dozens of better video games of a similar genre and type to play online with people.

[Sky]

Just mentioned it because we're talking about GG and Zcide is a popular game.

[MrHat]

The Pathfinder Adventures iOS app, which is a port of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, is free and fantastic.

[Soln]

I just looked and I can't tell if it's the full game or "something else"?  If it's the full game for free, then holy shit.  Thank ye for posting!

[Hawkbit]

The Pathfinder Adventures iOS app, which is a port of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, is free and fantastic.

Yes, thanks for posting this. I bought the box game when it came out and I really liked the idea, but it felt too fiddly and I knew if they made a version that handled all of the fiddly rules behind the scenes it would be good. So, yeah. This is the exact version I was looking for.

[Lucas]

Purchased a copy of Eldritch Horror (never played Arkham or Elder Sign) loved it, although i failed miserably on my first solo attempt. Nice theme atmosphere, great cards, mechanics are good for what it is. Longevity seems fine, i look forward to buying the xpacs :). Setup is a bit too much on the long-ish side (nothing compare to Arkham, from what I read), and made me realize I really should start purchasing those card/token holders.

[MrHat]

I just looked and I can't tell if it's the full game or "something else"?  If it's the full game for free, then holy shit.  Thank ye for posting!

You start with 3 characters unlocked and I think the original adventure and a random quest mode.

Everything you do earns quite a bit of gold that you use to unlock more adventures and more characters.  No need for any real money, the gold comes way fast enough for everything.

[eldaec]

Also, don't bother with story mode. It seems to quickly hit a paywall.

Random quest mode is much better designed.