Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 04:19:48 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Search:     Advanced search
we're back, baby
*
Home Help Search Login Register
f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  General Discussion  |  Topic: The Boardgame Thread 0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.
Pages: 1 ... 66 67 [68] 69 70 ... 78 Go Down Print
Author Topic: The Boardgame Thread  (Read 585209 times)
Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737

the opportunity for evil is just delicious


Reply #2345 on: April 04, 2017, 06:14:52 PM

This thread is expensive  why so serious?
Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531

Like a Klansman in the ghetto.


Reply #2346 on: April 04, 2017, 06:22:03 PM

Anyone actually play Gloomhaven? 

If you scroll back a few pages you will see me ranting at length about it. My feelings haven't changed. It's my favorite boardgame. I buy a ton of games, so I generally only play a game once or twice before trying something new, but with the exception of my Arkham Horror card game campaign, I haven't played anything else since buying it.

I wasn't following it, but might snag it now based on all the reviews. It does appear to be a Legacy-type game though, right? Things happen that permanently alter the game and there's no real reset to get it all back to the beginning.
Ghambit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5576


Reply #2347 on: April 04, 2017, 08:55:51 PM

This thread is expensive  why so serious?

Cheaper than a long night out at the club; and less social risk.

"See, the beauty of webgames is that I can play them on my phone while I'm plowing your mom."  -Samwise
Goldenmean
Terracotta Army
Posts: 844


Reply #2348 on: April 04, 2017, 09:37:16 PM

I wasn't following it, but might snag it now based on all the reviews. It does appear to be a Legacy-type game though, right? Things happen that permanently alter the game and there's no real reset to get it all back to the beginning.

Kiiiiind of, but not really in the traditional sense. There are legacy elements, but it is very easy to ignore most of them if you want, or work around them. I'll go through the list.

1) There's a board that you put stickers on to permanently track your campaign progress. What scenarios you've unlocked, certain global achievements, the prosperity level of the town, etc. But it's easy to ignore this entirely. You literally only open this up in between games. Personally, I like the way it looks as you slowly unlock the world, and it's a nice visceral record of your adventures, but we've been tracking everything in a spreadsheet anyway, which is arguably more useful. Also, there's apparently a third party set of "resettable" stickers that just peel right of again if you want to do things that way. Haven't used them, so can't comment, but here they are http://www.sinisterfish.com/product/gloomhaven-removable-sticker-set-retail/

2) There's a road and city event deck that changes as you play the game. Some of those are "destroyed", but you can just toss them out of the way instead and that solves that problem. Everything is numbered, so you just need to find cards 1-30 to reset back to the vanilla version of the game.

3) You theoretically start with 6 of the 17 characters and slowly unlock the remaining ones over time via personal quests. The "advanced" characters are in sealed envelopes, but you can either just ignore this entire concept and play with everything unlocked from the start, or just reset it by retaping the sealed envelopes (or just never breaking the seal and instead opening the envelopes from the bottom). There's also a sealed town records book that you're only meant to open once you've finished the personal quest of one of the characters.

4) The only thing that's actually difficult to reset is enhancements. At a certain point through the campaign you unlock the ability to "enhance" your ability cards for every member of that class. These are represented by stickers you permanently place on the card improving some aspect of them. You could theoretically track this on paper, but considering these are things actually used during the game, that would probably add a certain amount of irksome tedium and note keeping. Best option here if you're desperate to reset entirely is that third party sticker set I linked above, but another mitigating factor is that enhancements are really, really expensive. This will probably change as we move into the end game, but my groups haven't enhanced at all, because by the time you've got enough money to do so and have gotten a hang of the playstyle and know what cards you'd most want to enhance, that character is probably pretty close to retiring anyway, and we're always more interested in creating a new character of the unlocked class than starting a new one of the same class to take advantage of any purchased enhancements. You could probably ignore this mechanic entirely without breaking the game.

Everyone's got their own threshold for this sort of thing, and peronally I'm just buying a second copy of this to stick in a closet until my daughter might be old enough to want to play with me down the line, but if I were starting fresh with the intent to reset a single copy, I'd just not use the fold out "campaign status" map at all, not destroy cards, but not worry about trying to work around the enhancement system. It would mean that characters in subsequent games might start a little bit more powerful if the previous groups enhanced their cards, but the game has difficulty levels, so you could still tune it so that it's balanced.
Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737

the opportunity for evil is just delicious


Reply #2349 on: April 04, 2017, 09:57:23 PM

Sleeve the cards and stick notes in the sleeves?
jgsugden
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3888


Reply #2350 on: April 05, 2017, 03:12:52 PM

Sleeve the cards and stick notes in the sleeves?
But were you replying to Gambit or Goldenmean?

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737

the opportunity for evil is just delicious


Reply #2351 on: April 05, 2017, 03:43:41 PM

Golden.  As a hack to avoid destroying the Gloomhaven stickers.
Goldenmean
Terracotta Army
Posts: 844


Reply #2352 on: April 05, 2017, 06:35:21 PM

Yeah, you could do that if you really wanted. Other people have talked about doing similar things in an attempt to reset the legacy elements. The notes might need to be slightly elaborate in some cases. Most cards have multiple anchor points for enhancements, and some cards get pretty complicated, so a simple "+1 attack" note sleeved with the card wouldn't be sufficiently clear in some instances. Personally, I'd just toss money at the vinyl "reset-friendly" sticker pack if I were that concerned about resetting, but I'm more time constrained than money constrained, and I know that isn't the case for everyone.
Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531

Like a Klansman in the ghetto.


Reply #2353 on: April 05, 2017, 07:03:21 PM

Realistically, how long would it take me as a solo player doing 2-3 missions per week to complete the entire box? It sounds like it would take months.

That's what determines if I would go legacy or not, I guess. Regardless, definitely picking this up. Already got budget approval from the missus.

EDIT: It looks like as a new player I would only need the box and the single player campaign for $10 extra, right?
Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117

I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #2354 on: April 05, 2017, 07:45:10 PM

This thread is expensive  why so serious?
Goddammit. why so serious?
Goldenmean
Terracotta Army
Posts: 844


Reply #2355 on: April 05, 2017, 11:23:37 PM

Realistically, how long would it take me as a solo player doing 2-3 missions per week to complete the entire box? It sounds like it would take months.

That's what determines if I would go legacy or not, I guess. Regardless, definitely picking this up. Already got budget approval from the missus.

EDIT: It looks like as a new player I would only need the box and the single player campaign for $10 extra, right?

Depends on your definition of complete. There's 95 scenarios in the book. Of those around 50 are the campaign proper, with the rest being side quests unlocked by road and city events, or maps that you find in treasure chests, and some of them being specific to various personal quest arcs.

Of the 50ish campaign scenarios, you won't encounter all of them, because some are mutually exclusive. Of the campaign scenarios, I don't think all of them are necessary to get to the "end" scenario for the campaign, either. I would guesstimate that if you do all of the campaign scenarios you get access to, and any side quest scenarios you pick up organically during the course of the campaign, you're probably looking at somewhere between 50 and 60 scenarios. So, if you're doing 2 or 3 a week, you're looking at something in the third to half a year range. Not bad for 100$ Though if you're just powering through the campaign, ignoring sidequests, you could certainly complete it faster than that. I don't really know what the shortest path would be. I can't imagine it being less than two months at the rate you stated.

But that's just the campaign. I mentioned earlier that there's a town records booklet that you unlock the first time you retire a character. I'll save the spoilers, but that also has goals you can progress on. I get the impression based on my progress that this will probably take longer than the campaign to fully unlock, but it's possible that it accelerates later.

Also, again based on my progress, I don't think that you'll have unlocked all of the classes by the time the campaign ends, but this is going to vary a lot by how many characters you play at once. More characters means more progress on their personal quests being done at once, which leads to faster advanced class unlocks.

Personally, my plan at the moment is that assuming I do not somehow fall out of love with the game, I'm going to complete the campaign naturally, and then do the scenarios I didn't see as a sort of "What if?" alternate timeline thing. And if I get through all 95 scenarios and I want to keep playing, I'll just use the included dungeon/monster randomizer decks and start playing one off plot free scenarios just to progress through unlocking the remainder of the town records and the advanced classes, if there are any. Maybe by then the expansion will be out, or maybe I'll actually start playing other games again...

As for the solo challenge scenario add-on, all of that content is available as PDFs on boardgamegeek. It's not really a campaign. It's a single difficult scenario for each of the seventeen classes, intended to be played solo, and an item card reward for completing it. Because item cards are never shuffled, you could easily proxy it with handwritten notes even if you don't want to take the effort to get the PDFs printed and cut. It's nice to have all that printed out professionally obviously, but if you're concerned about budget at all, it's easy to skip. It's also worth noting that you won't even be capable of doing that content for a while. There are some prereqs before it unlocks (mostly just to make sure that you know what you're doing before attempting them, because they're meant to be pretty difficult. I haven't tried any yet, though I'm pretty close to the necessary prereqs)
Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531

Like a Klansman in the ghetto.


Reply #2356 on: April 06, 2017, 07:25:29 AM

Thanks! I backed it last night, so we'll see. I'm pretty excited to see it in person, looks great.
Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117

I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #2357 on: April 06, 2017, 07:33:56 AM

Yeah, I backed, too. Solo D&D-lite is just too tempting. And I have enough hordes of minis that I can proxy in for anything they don't include :)

Not sure about legacy-ing up my game, so I'll probably look into that vinyl set.

Need to clean up some storage space in the basement and set up a semi-permanent table for KD:M down there...
Lucas
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3298

Further proof that Italians have suspect taste in games.


Reply #2358 on: April 06, 2017, 03:43:46 PM

 DRILLING AND MANLINESS Backed the 2nd printing too (missed the first), plus the extra solo scenarios book   DRILLING AND MANLINESS

" He's so impatient, it's like watching a teenager fuck a glorious older woman." - Ironwood on J.J. Abrams
Teleku
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10510

https://i.imgur.com/mcj5kz7.png


Reply #2359 on: April 07, 2017, 12:02:35 AM

Oh nice, didn't realize they were already doing a 2nd edition printing.  Pledged for the upgrade combo.

Still pissed I accidentally sent this to my Mom's house instead of here in Moscow, but oh well, can play it at the next post.  I absolutely hate the idea of permanently marking, ripping, or using one off stickers for boardgames, so I'll certainly be using ways to get around that when I do start playing.

"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants.  He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."
-Stephen Colbert
Lucas
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3298

Further proof that Italians have suspect taste in games.


Reply #2360 on: April 10, 2017, 10:12:07 AM

Yesterday evening I beat the first scenario of Arkham Horror LCG, with investigator "Skids" O'Toole, single-handed, one core set, campaign mode.


I got 2 XP for the scenario resolution, plus 2 more from resolving the Attic card and defeating a stronger ghoul.
---

Now, I updated my deck a bit, but I'm still uncertain about the "basic weakness" card in campaign mode: can I change it (picking another one at random) or do I have to keep it at least 'til the next campaign?

" He's so impatient, it's like watching a teenager fuck a glorious older woman." - Ironwood on J.J. Abrams
Goldenmean
Terracotta Army
Posts: 844


Reply #2361 on: April 10, 2017, 12:09:30 PM

Now, I updated my deck a bit, but I'm still uncertain about the "basic weakness" card in campaign mode: can I change it (picking another one at random) or do I have to keep it at least 'til the next campaign?

You keep it. That's a campaign long effect.
schild
Administrator
Posts: 60345


WWW
Reply #2362 on: April 10, 2017, 12:18:09 PM

i genuinely don't understand the appeal of single player board games or lcgs.
Lucas
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3298

Further proof that Italians have suspect taste in games.


Reply #2363 on: April 10, 2017, 01:55:48 PM

i genuinely don't understand the appeal of single player board games or lcgs.

Regarding single-player board games, I like the appeal of a physical board, moving things around, drawing cards, rolling dice etc, which is a nice change from my main videogaming hobby, where everything is untangible (but "setup" times are generally much quicker, yeah :P).

Now, since bringing my GF to a table is almost a mission impossible (luckily my father still likes them, as well, as my GF's brother, but we rarely manage to meet up) and boardgaming opportunities are MUCH more sparse here in Italy (boardgaming still equals Monopoly/Risk/Trivial Pursuit  for 99,9% of the potential *gaming* demographic, I'm not even talking people with totally different, potential interests; what devilry is "Catan" or "Ticket to Ride"? :P) I have two choices left:

- Surrender and just drop boardgaming as a hobby altogether (sure, can do that, but, at least right now, why should I, since I can fit it into my schedule from time to time?) ;
- Play boardgames with an integrated or a fan-made solo variant (or co-op ones, yeah) ;

But yeah, undoubtedly boardgames as a social activity are immensely better and way more fun, I agree.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2017, 01:58:07 PM by Lucas »

" He's so impatient, it's like watching a teenager fuck a glorious older woman." - Ironwood on J.J. Abrams
Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531

Like a Klansman in the ghetto.


Reply #2364 on: April 11, 2017, 06:36:09 PM

Has anyone played Clank!? I want a new game to play and choosing between Inis, Clank! and Blood Rage. Blood Rage will never get played because of the theme, but Clank! looks to have a light enough theme I can get my wife and kid to play.
Goldenmean
Terracotta Army
Posts: 844


Reply #2365 on: April 12, 2017, 10:24:13 AM

Has anyone played Clank!? I want a new game to play and choosing between Inis, Clank! and Blood Rage. Blood Rage will never get played because of the theme, but Clank! looks to have a light enough theme I can get my wife and kid to play.

Yeah, I've got Clank!. It's a decent game, but a little light for me. Sounds like that's what you're looking for though. I'd definitely stay away from Inis if you're looking to play with non-gamers. It's interesting, but a card drafting area control game is probably a bit obtuse for most.
Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737

the opportunity for evil is just delicious


Reply #2366 on: April 12, 2017, 05:36:22 PM

In the mail today:
Quote
Hello Sierra Madre fans! I have just launched the kickstarter campaign for Bios:Genesis 2, my game on the origins of life and the micro world. This second edition has much more art and expanded rules, and has enough components so that players can have 4 lifeforms instead of 3. This new edition is inspired by the rapid sellout of the first edition.
To pledge or to watch the 2 minute video, go here
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/684398802/bios-genesis-2nd-edition-begin-evolve-conquer?ref=alrw58

Edit: AND my copy of Mark Herman's latest masterpiece -- Perikles -- arrived today!
« Last Edit: April 12, 2017, 08:35:07 PM by Soln »
Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531

Like a Klansman in the ghetto.


Reply #2367 on: April 13, 2017, 02:02:24 PM

Thanks for the head's up on Inis. Anyone have experience with Aeon's End? I've watched a few playthroughs and it looks like something we would like. I know there's a KS going on a reprint/expansion with only 7 days left, but I already spent my money on Gloomhaven. Grr!
Goldenmean
Terracotta Army
Posts: 844


Reply #2368 on: April 13, 2017, 03:14:38 PM

Thanks for the head's up on Inis. Anyone have experience with Aeon's End? I've watched a few playthroughs and it looks like something we would like. I know there's a KS going on a reprint/expansion with only 7 days left, but I already spent my money on Gloomhaven. Grr!

I like Aeon's End quite a bit. I think I might have rambled about it at length in backscroll somewhere, but my elevator pitch for it would be along the lines of "Sentinels of the Multiverse meets Dominion with an apocalyptic fantasy theme". It's a co-op, which I like, and has different enemies that play significantly differently and require different strategies to beat. It also solves my least favorite thing about non-digital deckbuilders, which is constantly having to shuffle a tiny deck. In Aeon's End, you don't shuffle your deck at all, which both saves a lot of tedium, but also reduces randomness and adds an interesting level of strategy as you decide what order to discard things in order to set up combos for future turns once you cycle through your deck.

Downsides might be that the rift mechanic is mildly fiddly, and there's still some pretty swingy randomness in how many times the AI goes at once. Turn order is determined by a deck of cards to keep the game from being entirely deterministic, and if the AI ends up getting a bunch of turns in a row due to being the last player before reshuffle and the first player afterwards, you're going to have a bad day. I seem to recall a blurb that they might have fixed that in the new edition though.

Oh, yeah, I'm not super wild about either art style, but that's obviously going to come down to personal taste. First edition was a bit too grimy and the card layout was ugly. Second edition is a bit too far on the other side. The layout is a lot better, but the clean anime style doesn't fit the theme very well. Not a big deal either way.
eldaec
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11838


Reply #2369 on: April 18, 2017, 09:05:33 AM

If Inis is too gamery I'm not sure Aeon's end is going to work better.

I filed AE under "why wouldn't I play magic instead?" but based on v little knowledge.

"People will not assume that what they read on the internet is trustworthy or that it carries any particular ­assurance or accuracy" - Lord Leveson
"Hyperbole is a cancer" - Lakov Sanite
Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531

Like a Klansman in the ghetto.


Reply #2370 on: April 18, 2017, 10:53:40 AM

I ended up just sticking to Gloomhaven and not backing AE. I like the idea of it, but would rather a coop deck builder dungeon crawler, not just a boss fight. Both are arriving in August so I figure I'll be busy anyways.

I bought Pandemic Legacy to play with the wife and kid, this is working very well so far. Lots of losses, but fun to see our strategy grow.
schild
Administrator
Posts: 60345


WWW
Reply #2371 on: April 18, 2017, 12:45:36 PM

why is diablo on the aeon's end box?
Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531

Like a Klansman in the ghetto.


Reply #2372 on: April 18, 2017, 01:59:27 PM

That's a Rageborne, not Diablo. Totally different things.  awesome, for real
Shannow
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3703


Reply #2373 on: May 01, 2017, 12:29:07 PM

Played Revolution from Steve Jackson games over the weekend. Simple and fast, simultaneous secret bidding area control game basically. Would play again.

Someone liked something? Who the fuzzy fuck was this heretic? You don't come to this website and enjoy something. Fuck that. ~ The Walrus
schild
Administrator
Posts: 60345


WWW
Reply #2374 on: May 01, 2017, 12:41:19 PM

Played T.I.M.E. Stories at Dreamhack.

It's actually pretty good.

It's also, super terrible in that it has absolutely zero replayability.
schild
Administrator
Posts: 60345


WWW
Reply #2375 on: May 01, 2017, 03:28:51 PM

i backed gloomhaven

sigh
jgsugden
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3888


Reply #2376 on: May 02, 2017, 03:26:50 PM

i backed gloomhaven

sigh
I sat there for a month watching the Kickstarter constantly saying, "I know it is a great game - I know it is a lot for the money - but I know three people with copies and they all want me to play it with them.  I don't need my own copy."

I backed gloomhaven

sigh

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
lamaros
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8021


Reply #2377 on: May 02, 2017, 04:49:22 PM

I backed 18CZ.
Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737

the opportunity for evil is just delicious


Reply #2378 on: May 02, 2017, 09:04:03 PM

I backed 18CZ.

Anything special or cool about this 18xx?  Other than set in Czech Republic? 
lamaros
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8021


Reply #2379 on: May 02, 2017, 09:30:14 PM

TBH I've not really looked in to it that much, just went in on a group buy. I know it's from a well respected 18xx designer and it looks like a decent production, with some ok reviews from 18xx play-testers.
Pages: 1 ... 66 67 [68] 69 70 ... 78 Go Up Print 
f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  General Discussion  |  Topic: The Boardgame Thread  
Jump to:  

Powered by SMF 1.1.10 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC