The Boardgame Thread

[Soln]

Has anyone here tried the Netrunner and Lord of the Rings LCG's?  I hear Netrunner is great.

[luckton]

Netrunner is apparently "The shit" right now for non-CCG stuffs.  I have the Lord of the Rings; it's decent.

Also, here's something:  http://www.starlitcitadel.com/games/game-guide-flowchart.html

[jgsugden]

Anyone have any thoughts on the SHadows of Brimstone Kickstarter?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1034852783/shadows-of-brimstone?ref=category

At this point, I kind of expect (beyond the minimal KS exclusives) that I'll be able to get it cheaper after release from Amazon, etc... but it looks interesting.

[Xilren's Twin]

Has anyone here tried the Netrunner and Lord of the Rings LCG's?  I hear Netrunner is great.

As it happens, my Netrunner core set box arrived in the mail Tuesday.  Some of the folks at the shop where my son and I play Magic have breen trying to get people into it.  I loved the original TCG version years ago, so it was a natural pickup for me.  Really like the Living card game style where you dont have to chase rares but just buy a set that has everything you need and build away. My store had the core set for $40 but i got it online for $25.  The additional sets are like 10-15 and there's no pressing need to buy them all.

If you've never played, i'd highly recommend trying it out to see if you like it.  It's fun for me, but not everyone likes the asymetrical decks and gameplay.  If you have any specific gameplay questions, i'll try to answer as best i can.  (nerd trivia - the original design was another Richard Garfield game - you know, the father of magic...)

[ghost]

My copies of Ogre got here today.  Holy shit they're gigantic.  I'm regretting getting two now.  Guess I'll Ebay one of them before they get cheap.   

[schild]

Eh, looks like you'll make like $40 after fees on it. If that. Doesn't seem worth the work or shipping. They were $100 a piece right?

[Sky]

Someone posted an unboxing of Ogre and it looked pretty wild, those map tiles are ginormous.

I'm in on Brimstone but might pull out. I've been on the fence with that and Journey for a while now, but Journey has some nice resins and Adrian Smith.

There's also this going on, though they're using standees instead of minis. I like the modular gear cards ala KD:M, and some of the mechanics sound interesting.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magecompany/machina-arcana

[schild]

Machina Arcana is a fucking Steampunk game with like lifted Cthulhu art.

Fucccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccck that fanwank.

[Onoes]

I missed that Kickstarter for Oger, but am interested.  Is there any reason to want a Kickstarter version vs Retail?  I'm seeing pre-orders for the retail for as little at $70, claiming they will be shipping in around 2 weeks.

Is the cost difference just people wanting it "NOW!", or is there another reason?

[ghost]

The only reason to Kickstarter OGre was that it wasn't going to happen without it, in all likelihood.  Te Kickstarter extras are mic though, especially my pimpin' Ogre shirt.  

Addendum-  I unbiased it and put it together today.  It's very well produced.  If you can get it for $80 or less it's definitely worth it.

[Soln]

I bought today at Uncle's in Bellevue, Expedition: Northwest Passage.  Loved the art and got interested from an article on BBG by its desiger (Yves Tourigny).  Adventure game + race game + tile laying.

[ghost]

Played Biblios last night.  I wasn't all that impressed with it. 

On the other hand, we followed it up with Jaipur, which is a really nice game.  It plays quick and is a lot of fun. 

[ghost]

Looks like Boards and Bits is going belly up.   

That was my favorite online store. 

[luckton]

Ordered Eldritch Horror for the holidays.  A streamlined version of Arkham that doesn't take hours just to setup, explain, and exceute?  Sure thing.

[ghost]

Yeah, it looks interesting.  I still saw a shitton of little cards over on the side of the board though.... 

[schild]

I'm sure it's not random at all.

[ghost]

What do you mean?

[MrHat]

On the other hand, we followed it up with Jaipur, which is a really nice game.  It plays quick and is a lot of fun. 

Thanks for the reccomendation.

Ordered this instead of replacing my tiny backgammon board dice.  Looks like a fun 2 player.

[ghost]

I think you'll like it.  Let me know if you don't and you can send me your copy for when ours wears out.   

[luckton]

Yeah, it looks interesting.  I still saw a shitton of little cards over on the side of the board though.... 

I think FFG somewhat learned their lesson regarding this.  There's still a variety of card types, but vs Arkham some items have been consolidated, and the total amounts of cards per type has been reduced greatly.  The latter probably because they wanted more space to work with for expansions.

The concepts of travelling around, gearing up, having encounters, closing portals, getting clues, and stopping the Ancient One are all still here.  They've just been tweaked and put on a global scale instead of a small city.

You don't have skill sliders anymore; your characters stats are locked in.  You can get +1 and +2 improvements, but aside from Assets that modify them, that's it.  Spells also have a flip-side now that do additional effects depending on your test result.  Allys have been folded into Assets, and money is gone; to buy stuff now you just do an Influence check and your buying power is determined by the number of successes.

Portal wrangling is no longer an entire multi-turn venture.  You either pass or fail, and there's no longer a Time and Space thing you can get lost in.

Lots of other tweaks and stuff too.

[Ruvaldt]

And lots of dice rolling/card drawing.

What bothered me the most about Arkham Horror is probably also what would bother me about Eldritch Horror.  With Arkham there was so much left up to chance that it didn't feel like my decisions were meaningful.  It doesn't look like they addressed that.  It would be nice to be wrong though.

[ghost]

I am of the firm opinion that, unless you have a really, really good fucking reason to do so, if you design a game with cards, any cards, that are not Magic:  The Gathering's exact dimensions then you should have your testicles nailed to the floor.

I also like some randomness in my games.  I don't want every game I play to turn into a spreadsheet.  Gambling is fun.

[Ruvaldt]

I like some randomness.  I play Blood Bowl on a very regular basis, after all.  Arkham Horror just feels like it plays itself sometimes and doesn't allow me to make meaningful decisions.  I want randomness, but I also want agency.

[ghost]

It's a bit of a choose your own story sometimes, yeah. 

[ghost]

I decided to purchase Tom Vasel's game.  Not sure if it's any good, because I haven't played it yet, but the production values are just out of this world.  Definitely there is some value in the game. 

[schild]

Tom Vasel made a game?

Edit: On second thought, I don't care. He's a tool.

Edit 2: On the topic of board games, I wish Williams Sonoma was FunAgain so I could've put Roads & Boats w/ &cetra on my wedding registry.

[ghost]

You don't have them already?

They're a bit overrated, in my opinion. 

[Miasma]

More reasons to hate the world.

[ghost]

Angry birds is a kids game.  My kids like it, but yeah, it sucks. 

[Ghambit]

Serpent's Tongue shipping this week (finally):
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/123408/serpents-tongue

Preliminary indications are that the game (mechanically) is very well made; and the support for the game from the designer is pretty noteworthy.  Anyways, I'm still selling my Deluxe KS set though if anyone wants it (new in shrink).  You'd get it in time for xmas.

If it doesnt get sold by then, I won't be able to resist playing it.   

[schild]

Is Serpent's Tongue the game with its own language? If so, NOPE.

[ghost]

There's no room for that game to be average.  It's either going to be crazy good or complete shit. 

[Hawkbit]

A friend talked up Boss Monster pretty well, has anyone played it?

Wondering if it's family friendly for a bright 8yr old.

[schild]

Boss Monster is bad Ascension.

[lamaros]

Boss Monster is bad Ascension.

It must be really really bad, then.