The Boardgame Thread

[ghost]

Started Pandemic Legacy.  It's neat.  I dig it.  It's extremely well done.  The problem is that I'm just not in love with Pandemic as a base game.  I have a feeling I'll never want to see Pandemic again once I finish it up. 

Also played The Golden Ages.  It's good.  I like Civ games and this one is reasonably short and well done.  It's a straight up Euro style game with meeples and wooden cubes, so if that stuff bugs you I'd say avoid. 

[Goldenmean]

Started Pandemic Legacy.  It's neat.  I dig it.  It's extremely well done.  The problem is that I'm just not in love with Pandemic as a base game.  I have a feeling I'll never want to see Pandemic again once I finish it up. 

Yeah, this is my feeling with Pandemic Legacy as well. It's a great experience, but I'm really jonesing for a Legacy game whose base systems I actually enjoy. Fortunately there are a few of them on the horizon. Most notably, Gloomhaven looks amazing. Non dice based dungeon delver with Legacy systems? Yes please.

I'm still pretty optimistic about Chronicles Origins and Seafall also, and I expect the genre is just going to blow up in the coming years.

[eldaec]

I have exactly one issue with pandemic legacy, and that is that it doesn't leave you with a unique playable game at the end of the process. Knowing I have unique playable risk legacy on the shelf is part of the appeal (even if I never actually play it).

That aside, PL is easily the best thing I played last year, board or video game.

[ghost]

You have to like cooperative games though.  I like playing cooperative games with my kids, but with my friends I'd rather play something competitive. 

I think the "legacy" thing is going to wear itself out once people realize they have 5 or 6 games fhat they can't sell and can't replay.  And it won't improve already shitty games, of which there are a bunch.

[eldaec]

The can't sell thing is only an issue for the relatively small group of people who sell games. And anyone who sells games is almost certainly enough of a hobbyist that they should play Pandemic Legacy if for no other reason than historical interest. Also because it is that good. Split the cost with the group who will play it and you are talking less than a round of drinks each.

The co op point is fair, but is more than outweighed by the observation that there are so very few co ops that are good games at the basic level, as opposed to just being a mountain of little plastic men plus dice.

That said,

I agree legacy is much more interesting because it is unusual.

[ghost]

I think quite a few people sell or trade games.  It's a very common activity on Boardgamegeek and within local groups.  I'm not referencing Pandemic, in particular, but more the legacy concept.  It will be like every other game fad that has run through the hobby-  deck building, dice building, cooperstive games, werewolf style games.  They will slap the Legacy mechanism on every piece of warm shit that game designers can come up with. 

Agree that Pandemic Legacy is good.  I don't know if it if is good enough to help someone who hates cooperative games and/or regular Pandemic get through the entire Legacy cycle. 

[Sky]

Well, if you hate co-op and/or Pandemic, why would you play it? As far as resale, if it's got base Pandemic, it's worth at least that much.

I'm considering it because 2 player co-op and my fiancee has a fetish for plagues.

[ghost]

Everyone is going to play it.  It's the number one game on Boardgamegeek.

You should get it-  it's good.

[Sky]

Pitched it to her last night. At first she started into her 'you barely ever play games' spiel, but when I told her it was about plagues she listened a bit.

Good enough for me, ordered a copy of Blue (her favorite color, gotta stack the deck).

Also should get in the rest of my Kingdom Death stuff (excluding the expansions, I think CNY laid the smack on Poots again) either today or tomorrow, depending on the whims of Fedex.

[ghost]

Ironwood-  I can also recommend Quarriors for what you are looking for.  Just taught my 7 year old to play.  He loved it and picked it up pretty quickly. 

[kaid]

Ironwood-  I can also recommend Quarriors for what you are looking for.  Just taught my 7 year old to play.  He loved it and picked it up pretty quickly. 

The dice masters game is also pretty similar along this line if one likes some other themes. I really liked quarriors my only main gripe against it is its level of randomness can be a bit high but that bothered my friend more than myself.

[ghost]

Ironwood-  I can also recommend Quarriors for what you are looking for.  Just taught my 7 year old to play.  He loved it and picked it up pretty quickly. 

The dice masters game is also pretty similar along this line if one likes some other themes. I really liked quarriors my only main gripe against it is its level of randomness can be a bit high but that bothered my friend more than myself.

The thing I like about Quarriors is the non-collectible, all inclusive nature of it.  Dice masters is certainly cool too. 

[jgsugden]

Pandemic Legacy underway.  It takes a very good game and makes it much better.  Get three of your friends and give it a try if you like cooperative games at all.

[Sky]

[Goldenmean]

Jealous. Wonder how long it'll take for the expansions to show up on the store.

[Sky]

No idea. Started up the game I had left off when I broke my foot last autumn, first antelope hunt. Love how the feel of the game changes with a new monster. I decided to risk it before my first Nemesis event in the next lantern year (Butcher), and having the cat bow with cat arrow paid off big time. Also, the frenzied chick with the sword and double digit insanity didn't hurt things.

Quickly looked through the expansion books, each comes with a booklet with new rules. Some are minor, some change major functionality (and include new character sheets to use if you include it). Lots of new cards, both decks and gear/events. And of course a ridiculous pile of plastic mans.

[Sky]

For the three people who don't know what I'm on about: http://techraptor.net/content/kingdom-death-monster-review-unparalleled

[Goldenmean]

If, like me, you're one of those people who didn't actually kickstart Kingdom Death, but still want the expansions, they're up now on http://shop.kingdomdeath.com/ (with the exception of the Lantern Festival, which no one has, and the Spidicules expansion, which kickstarter backers have at this point, but isn't up for ordering yet). The whole batch will run you 800$. Whee!

[Sky]

Since I never directly mentioned it, the picture I posted upthread is all the KD:M expansions except the Lantern Festival.

No Spidicules on the store because there was a packing mistake at the factory, seems almost everyone got either right or left legs.

[eldaec]

Been introduced to xwing minatures. I think this may be my perfect minatures game. No painting necessary, also really like how flexible the system is if you want to flex up or down complexity.

Not using upgrades makes it a really smooth gaateway game - but throw everything in there and theorycrafting isn't far off EVE levels.

[Soln]

Yeah I'm very close to pulling the OCD collection mania for XWing and Armada for the same reasons.  Been resisting since launch.  Plus, TOYS.   

[jgsugden]

What is the cost like on XWing?  Are we talking thousands of dollars to get to the point you can play whatever you want or just hundreds?

[lamaros]

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1503414/can-you-guess-which-ffg-game-series-would-cost-mos

[eldaec]

What is the cost like on XWing?  Are we talking thousands of dollars to get to the point you can play whatever you want or just hundreds?

Roughly 10 dollars per model if you hunt for discounts. You need 3 to 6 models for a team.

To play competitively you also need to grab specific upgrade cards that will inevitably be packaged with models you don't want. This will drive you up into the low hundreds. But you do not need any of that shit for casual play, where it is trivial to print your own copies.

To have everything I imagine it costs something in the low thousands. But you need to ask yourself whether you genuinely need to be able to field something like a z95 pirate swarm as well as a TIE swarm as well as y wing swarm (you really don't).

I bought a dozen space ships. It gave me a handful of competitive lists for local serious business tourneys and more options than I will ever use for casual play. Further purchases will be made as and when I see anything too awesome for me not to own.

[jgsugden]

That is about like the Dungeons and Dragons Minis scene from the 2000s ... I spent ~200 bucks three times a year to build up an army of minis for DDM and D&D.  As I plan to play D&D for decades, it was worth the investment.  I've spent thousands on the games, but as I've likely spent less than $1 / hour of game play, I think it was worth the investment...

However, XWing seems like a game that will have an 8 to 12 year lifespan and then end up with all the minis going into boxes in attics across the nation.

[eldaec]

Hmm, ok couple of weeks later I now own about 30 spaceships, have 5 more on order and ffg have all my money.

[eldaec]

I regret nothing.

[Lucas]

So, this past weekend I joyfully attended the eight edition of "Play", the biggest boardgaming convention here in Italy (looks like the attendance was around 33,000 this year) that, coincidentially, takes place in my hometown

It's not Essen or GenCon, but hey, it runs for only two days :(.

Anyway, beside meeting Jason Matthews (Twilight Struggle), I haven't had the chance of trying anything beside "Bang! : The Duel" (very nice and smooth 2-player version of Bang), so I just kept observing tables here and there while my attention wandered between hot teenage cosplayers, Camarilla vampires and sweaty fighters in full plate trying to kill each other.
---------------

I wanted to purchase both Eldritch Horror and Mage Knight (lately I'm trying to look out for games that can also be played with official solo rules...unofficial variants often results in flawed and forced gameplay, but that's inevitable) but the italian versions are both undergoing a reprint, so I went for Mice & Mystics and Zombicide.


- Regarding M&M I'm in the middle of the first scenario(playing solo) and yes, I'm enoying it. Narrative is lovely and you start understanding the potential and the decent variation once you get to the first "sidequest". Still, IMO tactical combat and some movement rules are unnecessarily clunky and the rulebook is a bit sparse (so you have to rely on the FAQs).

- Zombicide: still have to try it out; opened the (BIG) box, got scared about all those frail miniatures in those inserts then proceeded to close the box again 

[Sky]

Zombicide's plastic is pretty robust. Did you get the 1st season core box? If you like it, there's a ton of content for it. The newest variant, Black Plague (medieval setting) cleans up the rules quite a bit. Check out the website for free scenarios, rules updates, etc.

https://zombicide.com/it/

Also have a bunch of painted stuff from the 1st season on my website. Search function isn't great, as 'zombicide' gives you all the work in progress stuff and the 'completed' category is everything I finish :)

[Lucas]

Zombicide's plastic is pretty robust. Did you get the 1st season core box? If you like it, there's a ton of content for it. The newest variant, Black Plague (medieval setting) cleans up the rules quite a bit. Check out the website for free scenarios, rules updates, etc.

https://zombicide.com/it/

Also have a bunch of painted stuff from the 1st season on my website. Search function isn't great, as 'zombicide' gives you all the work in progress stuff and the 'completed' category is everything I finish :)

Yes, I purchased the "first season" and if I like it I'm definitely going to buy the others.  The extra stuff (extra character miniatures, dogs, storage boxes) is tempting, but also very pricey when you start to add up (just like the LCG model).

On the other hand, I might start to take some lessons on miniature painting. I'm a disgrace when it comes to art or manual coordination, but I always wanted to take a chance at that.

[lamaros]

I played Die Macher the other day, quite good!

[Goldenmean]

I played Die Macher the other day, quite good!

That's one of those games that I was really excited to hear was getting a reprint, promptly purchased it, and now years later have resigned myself to never actually seeing on the table because it's so hard to sell people on the theme.

[Sky]

Steamforged games announced on FB they have cut a deal with Bandai to make a Dark Souls board game.

I met them at Reapercon '14 between the Guildball KS and release and regretted not backing as the game was pretty well-received there. Not sure what that portends for the DS game, but it something to put on the radar.

Kickstarter  this month.

[schild]

In mundane boardgame Kickstarter news:

Tokaido may actually be shipping soon - 1 year and 5 months late.
Ascension: Whatever Edition - Still no news. 2 years and 5 months late.
Millenium Blades - 3 months late

I've all but stopped putting money into Kickstarter board game projects simply because neckbeards make for terrible business people.

[lamaros]

I got the two Monikers expansions from their latest kickstarter. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes that party game.