The Boardgame Thread

[Rendakor]

Got a third person over today and gave Pandemic: Legacy another shot. Lost two games without the Legacy rules, then lost the first half of January but won the second half. We realized at the end of first half of Jan. that treating diseases is easier once they're cured; somehow we missed that and once we figured that out it got easier. Final boardstate when we got the win:

I really like the progression hook; it stops it from feeling repetitive.

[Goldenmean]

I really like the progression hook; it stops it from feeling repetitive.

That's pretty much why I love the Legacy system and look forward to seeing more games use it in the future. It's like you're buying a slightly different game every time you play, and that's a big selling point if you get bored of things as quickly as I do. Pandemic probably isn't even in my top 100 favorite games, but I played more games of Pandemic Legacy than I have of almost anything in my collection, because it kept changing sufficiently to keep things interesting, and because I wanted to see the story develop (not that it has a great story, but I was still interested to see what was in the next pocket, etc.)

And as an aside, you're probably going to want to start using spoiler tags on board states if you keep playing through the campaign. It gets pretty spoilery pretty fast.

[Rendakor]

Fair enough, I'll spoiler stuff next time I play.

[Lightstalker]

Sekigahara : The Unification of Japan

This is easily the best game I've come across in 2014, and for my money is a better 2 player direct-conflict game than Twilight Struggle. It describes itself as a low complexity 3 hour block warfare game. This dramatically undersells how intuitive the rules are for traditional gamers in place of wargamers, how thematically brilliant the game is at telling a reasonable story that matches the themes of the conflict, how replayable the game has been given only minor variation in starting conditions, and how goddamn awesome it looks on the table.

So, I signed up for GMT Games P500 for Sekigahara after reading this post... and we are a month away from the next printing.  You saved yourself $22 if you helped push this into the reprint queue, otherwise it'll run $69.


   

[Sky]

Codenames, Lost Cities and Paperback purchased.

[Rendakor]

Pandemic: Legacy update: won both March and April on the first try. Now we get to start May with 0 funding.

Anyone have a suggestion for something similar to Splendor? The quick setup and short play time are the biggest selling points.

[Sky]

Played Lost Cities. I like a bit more of the theme in my game, but it was fun enough. She really liked it and we ended up playing most of the night watching the olympics (forgot to mention it back then).

So far, so good!

[jgsugden]

Just started Seafall, the "made for Legacy" game with a 4X design that was just released at Gencon.  We played the Prologue  (aka "learn to play with minimal ways to screw yourself while learning, but meaningful impacts on the game board and interesting stuff happening in the lore of the game" round of the game).  * Nothing spoilery below that you don't discover right off the bat... *

It took us 2.5 hours for 4 players to get through the 'brief' prologue because there seems to be more exploration in the prologue than in other rounds of the game.  Exploration turns seem to be the longest ones. 

I've read reviews that say the game bogs down in the first couple games... However, we enjoyed the prologue phase and are looking forward to the first real game.  My group is looking to play once every few weeks with 1 or 2 games per session if we're lucky.  If we can achieve that, we should wrap around the end of the year. 

Mechanics are generally fine.  The "Choose Your Own Adventure" Captain's Book is an interesting approach, although you have to trust the person that keeps the book not to peek into it and cheat.  I'm not so sure I like that someone can get a huge advantage by peeping into the book.  They needed a better mechanic for this process that won't allow people to cheat. 

The thing to note for new players that was not spelled out early enough IMHO: It doesn't really matter who 'wins' the Prologue.  All the prologue does is teach you to play a bit, establish turn order / tie-breakers for the first game and give you a chance to immerse in the lore a bit.  There are a few fun wrinkles we encountered in the first round, but I'd focus on enjoying the breadth of experiences in the game more than trying to "win" the prologue. 

[lamaros]

I'm slowly getting towards 100 games.

The one out one in rule has been generally applied, but I figure 100 is the point where I'm going to stick to it hardline.

Most new games don't do a lot for me, I'm finding my collection is growing more by getting improved editions of older games more often. Mare Nostrum: Empires and Medina being the most recent.

I was skeptical about Seafall but keen to give it a go, but some recent reviews have indicated that my fears are probably realised, so I might just give it a miss.

[Soln]

Yeah Seafall is getting bad reviews.  Even Dice Tower, Polygon.  Let us kno JG how it goes.  I love crunchy games and assumed this would be on my list some day but I'm also going to wait it out.

[jgsugden]

Seafall: I've read the bad reviews (avoiding the significantly spoilery ones).  One review in particular was of interest to me - the person played four games and then his group decided to quit.  As they were no longer going to play it out, he popped open all the Legacy elements ... and said he instantly regretted their decision.  Without saying what was in those elements, he said he was very sorry they gave up.  http://www.polygon.com/2016/8/24/12617898/seafall-review-preview-unboxing-pandemic-legacy-rob-daviau

Part of the joy of the Legacy system is in trusting the game’s ability to surprise and delight you with each new session. And as we opened up new packages, we were positively delighted. But SeaFall has a bit too long of a runway to really get to the fun stuff.

So that’s why, after 12 hours of play, I did the unthinkable.

After our fourth game, after all my players left ... I opened everything up.

Every box. Every card. Every ... thing inside SeaFall. I looked at all of it. I had to find out if this $80 game that none of my players were willing to buy with their own money was really worth the time and the treasure needed to experience it all, start to finish, across 15 or more games.

After uncovering all its secrets, you’re just going to have to believe me that they’re worth the struggle to discover them.

Next session should be on the 23rd or 24th. 

Right now, I see the prologue as a way to 'randomize' some board elements and to train players a bit on how to play.  It sets up a storyline and gets things rolling.  As that is all I have done, I don't really know how the true game plays, yet.  I can see the mechanics, I've thought through the cost
/benefit of certain actions, the balancing elements (gang up on the leader seems to be the primary one), etc... and I have theories about how it will play, but it'll be quite a while before we see where it really goes.  My group knows there are some growing pains and we plan to stick it out, so we'll just have to see if it gets better as we go along.

[Rendakor]

Reading that review, I'm going to give Seafall a pass. I don't even have 5 consistent players, period, let alone 5 who would be interested in that sort of game.

[lamaros]

I don't play games to slog out empty time to set up some future payoff. If the game isn't fun from the start then I don't care if it gets fun 20 hours later.

Make me a game that starts 20 hours in if that's the case.

[jgsugden]

Makes sense. However, I'm going to try it for myself and see how it goes.

Game 0: (Prologue) This is mostly just training on the basic rules and randomizing some game elements.  The end left us simultaneously annoyed, impressed and worried that the game might be a bit flat.  That concern that the game would be flat, in retrospect, was very wrong.  All concerns we discussed at the end of the game were soon addressed by the evolution of the game.

Game: 1: We played a session a couple weeks after the prologue and added a new player to get to 5. We only had time for one (post prologue) game. Most of the fun came from continuing to explore the game. Little changed for us in the overall sense of the game: No new rules, a few "only once ever" options were used up, a few minor ways in which the provinces began to differentiate themselves.  It was far from a great game, but not a waste of time.  I'm looking forward to the next game, but not like I was for Pandemic Legacy.

Game 2: I felt the bogging down discussed in the reviews during this match, but we unlocked new mechanics which should help with the next game's feel. Two major problems this game: the game was very frustrating for multiple players and players felt like they had  no chance to compete after a single roll of the dice went against them.  I won the round, but it was determined by luck, not skill. I made fine moves, but victory was determined due to die rolls not going unexpectedly against me and the 'choose your own adventure' choices, which are essentially random, not going against me.   So far, the game victor has been determined by luck more than skill, but the player making the most obvious game mistakes has been last in both rounds so skill seems to be required to put you in contention, but amongst players that make good choices it is luck, so far, that determines who will win. 

Game 3: We played the day before Halloween. We unlocked a lot of new elements in the game that really revitalized our interest in it. The game is getting a lot more brutal and there's a lot more direct player-versus-player conflict then in the earliest rounds. We discovered that were three rules we were playing incorrectly in this game. Those three rule errors were checking for game victory at the end of every turn (rather than every round), that we were allowing people to trade in multiple goods to reduce costs at the same time, and for some reason we had the rules about explore Endeavors entirely wrong. I suggest going back after the first, second and third games and rereading the rules just to make sure you're doing things correctly.  There are a lot of tough bits.  I won the third round after winning the second round - and I again feel like luck played a large hand, although not as much as in game 2.  Bad luck will keep you from winning a particular game, but good decisions will keep you scoring points that will help you move along. 

I should be at a nightmarish disadvantage in the next game.  That worries me as it will not only make it very hard to win the game, but will also make it hard to achieve a long term goal that was introduced in the last game that we really want to achieve - Based upon our board, the number of players and the options in the game, I may be crushed hard.  Next session should be in two weeks.

[Sky]

Set up for my first run of Zombicide: Black Plague (solo). Based on my rudimentary experience with the original game, I like the looks of this one.

Things I noted thus far (haven't played, I'll dig in over the weekend): putting 4 Holy Grail characters on the table is just silly and awesome (I love theme and style); and my other two characters being painted fucking rules. I need to get cracking and paint more of my set. Painted minis are a million times better than plain plastic!

[grebo]

So, I signed up for GMT Games P500 for Sekigahara after reading this post... and we are a month away from the next printing.  You saved yourself $22 if you helped push this into the reprint queue, otherwise it'll run $69.

   

Saw this yesterday and remembered I had signed on back in early 2015.  Glad I went right over and changed my credit card from the expired one that was on there, they just charged me today. 

Thanks for the reminder!

[schild]

oh shit Sekigahara is being reprinted.

Ugh. I need a place to send it. Fucking moving across the country getting in the way of fun.

[Soln]

I bet GMT will hold it for you with a pre-order if you ask.  They are cool like that.

[lamaros]

Yeah not sure if I want them to hold it and send with 1846 or just send asap.

I think asap is the go. Damn Australian shipping costs, though.

[eldaec]

League of Legends - the boardgame....

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/featured/mechs-vs-minions

It looks pretty neat.

Card drafting and programming cooperatively to fight hordes of bad guys. Feels a bit like robo rally I guess.

Doesn't seem anything like League of Legends. Which is fine by me.

Edit:

Fwiw, BGG and every board game reviewer I know of is goimg nuts for this.

Miniatures
Coop
Only limited use of dice
60 minute playthrough
Not zombie or lovecraft themed (though is clearly a zombie retheme)
75 usd plus shipping
Limited optional progression system (unlocking cards/scenarios/big miniature)
Variable scenarios for replay.

It is ticking a lot of boxes. I'm really attracted to the minimal amount of dice rolling and apparent lack of finicky little rules that zombie coops are usually full of.

[jgsugden]

I finally had a chance to play my KS copy of Bloodrage. It instantly moved into my top 10 games. The strategy complexity is on par with Power Grid, the mechanics encourage adopting different play styles each game, and there is a good balance between skill and luck. Great minis and fun theme. Go get it.

[Soln]

Done and done.  Also Feast of Odin by Uwe Rosenberg is now in stock at CSI.  The game is like a bigger version of Caverna, which is mind boggling.

BTW how is SeaFall going?  Local guy at a FLGS this weekend said they started arriving, but he "holding off" until there was more consensus. 

[jgsugden]

...
BTW how is SeaFall going?  Local guy at a FLGS this weekend said they started arriving, but he "holding off" until there was more consensus. 

I'm updating post #2008 above after each game. 

Summary: Good and bad.  It is not the next Pandemic Legacy, it is more frustrating than fun at times, but I still believe it will pay off. 

My #1 piece of advice: Do not include *any* slow players in your group if you play. 

[jgsugden]

Didn't mean to double post - I wish there was a delete option.

Errrr... it strikes me that Bloodrage's mechanics and theme might be a good basis for a legacy game.  You might over each realm as it falls into Ragnarock....

I can also mentioned a promising but expensive Kickstarter: Deep Madness.

New company, but well run KS so far.  They seem to be trying to copy Cool Mini or Not's approach.  Very responsive.  Well prepared.

Very expensive.  $100 for the game, but that should have well over a hundred miniatures (maybe 200 by the time everything is done) in it.  If you get all the expansion and extra game material, it might well cost $250.  They have yet to announce at least one big thing and it is already over $200, even if you got in on the Early Bird.

Gameplay looks similar to Claustrophobia, Mice and Mystics, or Last Night on Earth.  I find those games to be 'Love Em or Hate Em' games with few people in the middle.   Personally, I enjoy them. 

[Stewie]

Recently picked up Terraforming Mars. It feels like a combo of Race for the Galaxy meets Terra Mystica. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167791/terraforming-mars

I have played two 3 player games and for the first time I've solo played a game.

The two 3 player games we played seemed a touch long ~3 hours. Could be that we are still getting familiar with the game. Apparently it scales well as the game end condition is reaching 3 terraforming goals (enough heat, oxygen and water tiles played) so more players = more people trying to score points by doing those 3 actions. So more players doesn't necessarily mean more play time.

Pros:
- Lots of ways to score points and this leads to multiple win conditions.
- 12 different corps to play to give you a slightly different strategy to pursue each game.
- The card draft mechanic (variant in the rules. No-brainer and must be played imho) is fun and adds another level of strategy.
- Tile placement on game board can result in some player competition.
- The limited milestone/awards each game is another thing that players can compete for.
- Theme is cool and doesn't just feel pasted on.
- Game end condition is player controlled and allows for some players to try and rush/control game pace.

Cons
- Feels like you are just building an engine and the only difference is the type. Yet no matter what engine you build it is basically the same process.
- Components look cool but are ultimately just a let down. The cubes looks cool and metallic yet are just cheap painted plastic with burrs on the corners. The play mats are flimsy and your marker cubes slide around. 
- I get the feeling that some games will feel lost because your opponent had better card luck. (although in theory this should be mitigated by the draft mechanic)

Overall a pretty fun game with a decent amount of strategy and I feel like its worth getting.  I've watched/read a lot of reviews of this game and it looks like everyone is rating it very well (some even saying it will be going into their top 10 all time) That being said I would rate Terra Mystica higher for its pure lack of luck and I might prefer Race/Roll for the Galaxy for their card based engine building that is less time consuming. (still need to play more to confirm this) 

[ghost]

Played Quadropolis today.  It's a light city building game that seems overrated to me at this point.  It's an abstract city building game which basically boils down to a simplistic tile laying engine builder.  The components are nice, but I'd rather play any of the other Days of Wonder titles, including Cargo Noir. 

[Shannow]

Looking for suggestions for a cpl of new boardgames:

1. Good ones that can be played solo. I must admit I love Pandemic.

2. My daughter, who is 7, also wierdly enough loves playing Pandemic (even though she doesn't get all the rules) and we are now playing Rebel Assault. Looking for games, not kiddie ones, that we can play together..probably more of the co-op/adventure style. (She doesn't lose well).

[Ruvaldt]

Looking for suggestions for a cpl of new boardgames:

1. Good ones that can be played solo. I must admit I love Pandemic.

2. My daughter, who is 7, also wierdly enough loves playing Pandemic (even though she doesn't get all the rules) and we are now playing Rebel Assault. Looking for games, not kiddie ones, that we can play together..probably more of the co-op/adventure style. (She doesn't lose well).

GMT's COIN series are playable solo and are quite good.  Several have gone into reprints this year (Cuba Libre, A Distant Plain, Falling Sky, Liberty or Death) so they're easy to find, though they do still carry a ~$70 price tag if you didn't preorder them.  Labyrinth by GMT was also just reprinted and is good for solo play as well.  All of the games I've mentioned have several playable sides so the games play out very differently depending upon what side you choose to play.  As a result they're very replayable.

Leaving Earth is also very good can be played solo.

As for co-op games that are kid friendly, Sentinels of the Multiverse is pretty great.  Flash Point Fire Rescue can also be fun, but it needs more than two people to shine.

[jgsugden]

If she does not lose well, then learning to lose gracefully is a valuable thing to practice.

There are a number of great games on the MENSA list that are fun.  They don't take a genius to play, but develop the brain.  I recommend Set, Tribond, Rat-a-Tat Cat, Blokus, Ingenious and Hive to start.

As for adventure style games: Mice and Mystics.  Recommended ages 7+.

[Teleku]

No child loses gracefully.  It's normal.

[Sky]

Don't think I've mentioned that Kingdom Death will be doing a version 1.4 reprint of Monster next month via KS. Good time to snag a copy if you didn't the first time.

I'll be in for the updated rules/cards and any swank new minis he is certain to unveil.

[Shannow]

I have a 16 year old as well, I'm quite aware of children and losing. :) thanks for the recommendations!

[Teleku]

Don't think I've mentioned that Kingdom Death will be doing a version 1.4 reprint of Monster next month via KS. Good time to snag a copy if you didn't the first time.

I'll be in for the updated rules/cards and any swank new minis he is certain to unveil.

Ohhh, thanks for the heads up!  Interested to see what options are available for those who purchased the base game.

[schild]

Fuck. Maybe I'll get the 1.4 reprint and gift my copy to a friend since I can get a giant pile of expansions with it I'm sure.

[jgsugden]

No child loses gracefully.

This is not true.  I know a dozen families that have raised kids that can lose gracefully - kids as young as 5.   There are a lot of parents in my gaming circles.  Most of their kids are graceful losers by the time the kids start playing real games.  That can be anywhere from 6 to 13.

It's normal.

I'll agree that kids usually start off having trouble losing gracefully, but I think that whether that behavior persists or not is something we have a degree of control over.  This is why I encourage parents to help their kids to learn to lose gracefully - and to practice it.  The kids that are always allowed to win by their parents are the ones that *most often* can't handle losing when they play with others.  Of course, there is a degree of randomness in this equation.  Parents that 'do everything right' might end up with a kid that flips the game table, while a kid that gets all the wrong messages may blunder into being a kid that congratulates the winner before asking if there is time to play again.