OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

[Pyperkub]

I had no idea the Dark Tower reboot was out. That game was so cool. Might have to make a game store road trip today before the championship games... Curse you Skiny!

[Skinypupy]

I had no idea the Dark Tower reboot was out. That game was so cool. Might have to make a game store road trip today before the championship games... Curse you Skiny!

From what I understand, there’s lots of folks still waiting to receive the game from their pledges. My guess is that I just got lucky, as I haven’t seen it on the shelf in any store before.

Good hunting!

[baelthazar]

This weekend I had Anachrony set up on the table, to take a turn during breaks at work (the table is in my home office). The game remains a giant gem for solo play, even if it does take up a good amount of time (and the entire table along with a TV tray to hold the Chronossus bot board and some containers). I won pretty handily, which makes me feel like I might not have done something correct.

I set up a second game (currently in progress), using the Fracture of Time expansion. Boy, that changes the dynamic completely, with the ability to Flux shift your already placed exosuits (i.e. workers on the main board) to other spots. You can effectively double your actions and free up spots to use them again (the board feels far less restrictive and there is less of a "rush" to get to a spot). But it also ramps up the complexity of making a plan.

I'm also finding myself using strategies that I had not before. I'm warping in more resources than before, I'm using the "forced labor" choice to refresh exhausted workers (which I did not do before), and I'm plotting out a better engine. Overall, the expansion seems to improve on the game in every way, with the exception of making the bot a bit more complicated to manage.

It's a great game, and I can see myself playing one more round once this one is over, then I might have to switch back to some Final Girl or something quick and less cognitively taxing before diving into my new Core Space content.

[AWS260]

Today I played Perikles, an old Martin Wallace game about shifting alliances and wars between Greek city-states. It was a really fun night with friends, but the game... eh. I've played some absolutely wonderful games from the mid-2000s that hold up brilliantly today, but I don't think this is one of them.

The political aspect of the game is fun, with a lot of sharp-elbowed maneuvering for influence in a fast-moving area-control model. But the military aspect is fiddly as all get-out. Deploying armies requires parsing some pretty arcane rules about who can ally with whom, and then combat requires calculating the ratio of attacking power to defending power, comparing this against a table of target numbers, and then rolling dice to see if either side hits those numbers. It's logical, but the juice is not worth the squeeze.

[hepcat]

I've come to the conclusion that (to me) Martin Wallace is a bit overrated as a game designer. I've not enjoyed most of his games.

[tylertoo]

I played a session of Rangers of Shadow Deep on Sunday, and then my wife and I played Obsession and she beat my ass, so I said let's play again after dinner and she beat my ass again.

It's interesting because I'm always trying to be super strategic and plan two or three moves out. By contrast she just wings it, doing whatever seems to be best on a particular turn without looking ahead, and she wins.

All in all, about 6-7 hours of gaming Sunday. It's hard work but someone's gotta do it.

[Skinypupy]

We played Thunderstone Quest Friday night, which I really enjoyed. Fairly simple deck building mechanics with lots of strategy involved. Wasn’t crazy about the mechanic where you draw less cards as you lose HP (felt overly punitive), but otherwise really liked it.

Played an other couple rounds of Return to Dark Tower as well. Won one fairly easily and lost the other on an incredibly unlucky draw and tower rotation. Still enjoying that one quite a bit. My only gripe is that I rarely end up fighting enemies on the map. The rewards are never great, and it always feels like there’s something more important to do.

[Hyena]

I'm super excited, I'm going to be joining a real D&D campaign for the first time since college (hint: Clinton was in his first term). It's going to be with a buddy of mine and 4 of his brothers over Roll20 using 5e rules. Our first session will officially be the 17th, but we're going to be doing a quick meetup so everyone can get their characters set up with backgrounds and everything.

If anyone is interested, I can post some updates as I'm sure I'll be buzzing with excitement about it after every session.

[Blackhawk]

Post away!

[Zarathud]

Congrats! Roll20 is a great way to get back into D&D. We used it during COVID to finish the first part of Baldur’s Gate (before Avernus) and keep going with the kids exploring around Phandelver. It’s very useful to look up rules and the biggest gripe was before I used Zoom for chat.

We are doing COVID tests before the kid’s session this Sunday so we can go play unmasked. Very close to the end of the written adventure.

[Hyena]

Seriously jazzed about it. Our first "zero-session", the DM said this is a long campaign, and even meeting twice a month it might take a couple years.
I'm going to be running a wildhunt shifter Ranger/Rogue. Probably going to go Gloom Stalker/Scout for the respective subclasses, focusing on being a stealthy sniper with longbow and sneak attack, while my buddy is going to be a Moon Druid for the bear tank. Not sure what any other classes are yet.

[YellowKing]

That sounds like a blast. I'm hoping to join a forum campaign a buddy of mine will be running. Not the same as in-person, of course, but will be my first taste of real D&D since a (very) brief stint with 4th Ed in 2007.

[YellowKing]

Last night we played a 4-player session of Set a Watch: Swords of the Coin. This is the standalone expansion to SET A WATCH. and one I know that hepcat has played.

It was a big hit. SET A WATCH was already a favorite of mine, and while the expansion doesn't rock the boat too much with new mechanics, it does add a lot more flavor and variety to the character classes.

The biggest change is a new Merchant phase and item deck. Performing actions in camp nets you coins that can then be spent on items that can be used to assist in battles. Because money accumulates on actions not taken, this mechanic encourage players to use camp actions they may have under-utilized in the base game.

I think the game really shines with the new character classes, though. I played the Witch who has some very powerful abilities to let her see enemies before they're revealed, but only rolls 4-sided dice. The Monk can upgrade his dice through meditation, and the Artificer has a magic staff that can be used for offense or to materialize items out of thin air. My favorite, I think, was the Bounty Hunter. He plays very similarly to the Beast Master from the original game, collecting trophies from his kills that can then be used in powerful attacks.

Many people prefer Set a Watch as a solo game because the puzzly nature and importance of combining abilities in the correct order can lead to analysis paralysis with multiple players. Our group is a bunch of engineers who love puzzles and co-op games, so that didn't bother us. However, our single game did take nearly 3 hours.

The game, on paper, looks a bit easier than the base game - the monsters by and large don't seem quite as powerful, and the items add a lot of power. However, we still only managed to scrape by on normal difficulty. I'll have to give it a few more plays solo to really do a valid comparison. I'm also looking forward to mixing it with the base game to see how it plays.

Big thumbs up from me. It's a great example of how an expansion can add to the base game and feel fresh without disrupting the mechanics.

[hepcat]

Set a Watch is a great game made even better by the expansion, as you say. I need to get it back on the table soon.

[Hyena]

So pumped, we start our 5E campaign tonight!!

Technically our Roll20 game doesn't seem to qualify for this board gaming thread, so should I dig up the 5e thread, continue it here, or create a separate thread for my AAR?

[Blackhawk]

So pumped, we start our 5E campaign tonight!!

Technically our Roll20 game doesn't seem to qualify for this board gaming thread, so should I dig up the 5e thread, continue it here, or create a separate thread for my AAR?

Any are acceptable (and note that RPGs still qualify as tabletop, and plenty of board game discussions in here are for games played on Tabletop Simulator.) If you feel it's enough, by all means start a new thread. Or use the pen-and-paper mass thread.

[Hyena]

So pumped, we start our 5E campaign tonight!!

Technically our Roll20 game doesn't seem to qualify for this board gaming thread, so should I dig up the 5e thread, continue it here, or create a separate thread for my AAR?

Any are acceptable (and note that RPGs still qualify as tabletop, and plenty of board game discussions in here are for games played on Tabletop Simulator.) If you feel it's enough, by all means start a new thread. Or use the pen-and-paper mass thread.

Perfect, I remember seeing that thread earlier, I'll put it in there. Thanks!

[Skinypupy]

I grabbed the new Star Wars version of Love Letter (Jabba’s Palace) today.

Love letter has always been a big hit with the kids, and this version is no exception. They make just enough tweaks to the formula to make it feel fresh, while keeping the core gameplay intact.

[wonderpug]

I grabbed the new Star Wars version of Love Letter (Jabba’s Palace) today.

Love letter has always been a big hit with the kids, and this version is no exception. They make just enough tweaks to the formula to make it feel fresh, while keeping the core gameplay intact.

Thanks for the heads up that this exists! Just ordered mine; it’s sure to be a hit with my kids.

[YellowKing]

Our game group is still knocking out one-off games here and there, so last night's selection was Tetrarchia.

Your group plays the four Emperors of ancient Rome trying to seal off the six borders of your empire from invading Barbarian armies. It plays very much like a lighter version of Pandemic: Fall of Rome, with encroaching armies heading to your capital while you attempt to quell unrest and revolts in your provinces that threaten to break out and spread.

Like many co-op games, strategy is all about action efficiency. You have 6 AP to use each turn, and there are various costs associated with every action you take. And like the best co-op games, you'll always have more to do than you can afford.

There is a strong luck streak in this one as combat is decided by dice rolls, but these rolls are modified by the number of garrisons you have chained to your Emperor and any allies you have helping attack. So knowing when to press the advantage and when to back off becomes key.

The game's difficulty is HIGHLY customizable, and the recently released set includes all the expansions which opens up a wealth of different game variants. Due to the tiny package (the game board is SMALL), I feel like it may work better as a solo game, however. In fact, I may pick it up just for that purpose.

Overall good fun, very puzzly, and how well the history/theme ties into the dead simple mechanics really speaks to the elegance of the game design.

[YellowKing]

My copy of Vagrantsong arrived today, and appears to be well worth the wait (was originally supposed to ship last November). I haven't had a chance to play physically yet, but played the first two scenarios quite a bit on TTS.

Component-wise, however, it far exceeded my expectations. The acrylic standees are wonderful, with huge bases that ensure you'll never have to worry about knocking them over. Everything in the game is high-gloss, from the gameboard to the card to the rulebook. The tokens are heavy cardstock, and the humanity (health) markers are a nice colorful translucent plastic. And I love that the Scenario Booklet is spiral bound so you can lay it flat and see everything you need to know or quickly flip over to the hidden event text boxes.

In fact my only complaint is the "bindle" cloth bag they give you for token draws. While I love that it's cloth and themed to the game, the opening is so small I can barely get my hand in. I'll likely have to substitute something else. It's a small nitpick for what is otherwise a really beautiful game that I'm proud to have in my collection.

[AWS260]

Rurik: Dawn of Kiev: This one I really liked. Area control, action programming euro game with some light combat. The heart of the game is the action selection board. Here, players take turns placing numbered workers. The higher the number of the worker the more powerful the action but the later in the round they get carried out. You can also add a bribe to your worker to place a low numbered worker at the top and thus get a large action early in the round. These actions are used to place new soldiers on a large map of Kiev, build structures and tax provinces. There is direct combat but it is mostly used to ensure you control a majority in an area and the game rarely rewards wiping out a large number of enemy troops. The game-play is fast, a four player game can be played in a little more than an hour which is very nice for this type of game. Finally, this is a fully blinged out Kickstarter game so it has beautiful miniatures and the best insert I've ever seen in a game. Does the game need these things? No, it's quite overproduced for what it is but I love it for that. Highly recommend checking this one out if you have the chance!

I played this for the first time last night and enjoyed it a lot, despite coming in last by an enormous margin. The action-selection mechanism is really clever and engaging, and makes for some really agonizing decision-making as you try to predict what others players are planning. I endorse this recommendation!

[Skinypupy]

We started doing a monthly neighborhood board game night this year. Been really interesting because so far it's been a rotating cast of participants (only two of us have been there for all three sessions), most of whom are very casual or first time gamers, and we usually only have a couple hours to play. The guy who set it up also has some pretty severe physical limitations as well (parapalegic and difficulty with fine motor skills), which limits the types of games we can play. Anything that requires holding cards in secret from other players is out, for example.

So far, we've started with some pretty basic games. First month was Machi Koro and King of Tokyo, last month was Splendor, and this month (tonight) was Stone Age. It's been quite fun to watch the "board gaming light" come on for people who had no idea that there are board games more complex than Monopoly or Clue.

Looking for a few more "newbie" games to introduce. They were able to pick up Stone Age, so I'm sure we'll bring in Lords of Waterdeep at some point. Ticket to Ride will probably make an appearance, and I think Horrified or Clank might work as well.

[Isgrimnur]

Azul, Whitehall Mystery

[Fardaza]

We started doing a monthly neighborhood board game night this year. Been really interesting because so far it's been a rotating cast of participants (only two of us have been there for all three sessions), most of whom are very casual or first time gamers, and we usually only have a couple hours to play. The guy who set it up also has some pretty severe physical limitations as well (parapalegic and difficulty with fine motor skills), which limits the types of games we can play. Anything that requires holding cards in secret from other players is out, for example.

So far, we've started with some pretty basic games. First month was Machi Koro and King of Tokyo, last month was Splendor, and this month (tonight) was Stone Age. It's been quite fun to watch the "board gaming light" come on for people who had no idea that there are board games more complex than Monopoly or Clue.

Looking for a few more "newbie" games to introduce. They were able to pick up Stone Age, so I'm sure we'll bring in Lords of Waterdeep at some point. Ticket to Ride will probably make an appearance, and I think Horrified or Clank might work as well.

Ticket to Ride would be great, but the host won't be able to play if he can't hold cards.

[TheMix]

Castle Panic? It's pretty light with just the base game, but adding in the expansions definitely ramps things up a bit. And the cards are expected to be laid out. Or, at least, there is nothing wrong with having them on the table.

[wonderpug]

Some beginner friendly games without fine motor skills I can think of:
Horrified
Forbidden Island/Desert/Sky
Jaws
Kingdomino
Werewords
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Mysterium
Codenames
Bang! Dice Game
Sushi Roll
Exit or Unlock series

[TheMix]

Sentinels of the Multiverse would also fit the bill (probably). Depending on the heroes and villain that are chosen, the difficulty varies a lot. And all the cards are laid out on the table. And co-op, if that matters.

[Blackhawk]

Just a thought, but a landscape GM screen (for D&D) is a good way to place cards on the table and still keep them secret. That is, essentially, what they're designed to do.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Just a thought, but a landscape GM screen (for D&D) is a good way to place cards on the table and still keep them secret. That is, essentially, what they're designed to do.

Along the same lines, a dedicated card holder could be mighty helpful:

[Skinypupy]

Thanks all for the excellent suggestions.

[YellowKing]

So the guy that hosts our weekly gaming group said this week was reserved for a "mystery game." Well he wasn't kidding - it was literally a mystery game. Specifically one he Kickstarted a year ago called The Vandermist Dossier.

This was the Dutch publisher's first English game, so he backed it based on the strength of reviews of their other games.

The game concerns a woman looking for her missing sister who apparently got wrapped up in a missing persons case in a small Dutch village. You are given some letters, a map of the village, and a dossier with some various notes and things, and off you go with no instructions other than to find out where the sister went.

If you've played any escape room or mystery box type games, you pretty much know what to expect here. However, the game features some really nice components that feel fairly authentic.

It took us roughly two hours to solve the case, and we were able to do so without any hints. However, the challenge level felt just right and we really enjoyed the puzzles. There were at least three "AHA!" moments where we all cheered when we figured out something we were stuck on.

Again, this isn't really breaking any new ground but I can recommend it for a light evening's entertainment.

[Fardaza]

That looks interesting YK. The pics on BGG show an addressed envelope. Is it a legacy game that you're only going to play once?

We did a homemade escape room game at a couple's house around Christmas. She kept giving us hints and nodding her head when we tried something. It kinda spoiled the fun a bit. But, we were all tired and ready to go home about the time she started it, so I wasn't terribly upset that she was helping us.

[YellowKing]

That looks interesting YK. The pics on BGG show an addressed envelope. Is it a legacy game that you're only going to play once?

Yes, just good for a one-time play. However, there is only one component that is compromised during play. The game comes with a refill kit so you can replace that component and re-gift it to someone.

[AWS260]

I recently played Academic Society, about publishing scientific treatises in the 17th century.

It takes a nifty approach to worker placement. Most of your scholars (workers) start on a separate "influence" board, representing high-ranking positions that will score a lot of points at the end of the game. Keeping them in those positions costs resources, and if you don't pay they're removed and can never be returned to the influence board. BUT you might want to forgo some of those end-game points, because every scholar that falls off the influence board becomes available to use on the regular worker-placement board. (I think of it as the university dean being demoted and having to do actual academic work.) From the regular worker-placement board, you can permanently send them "on sabbatical," another board location that where you can build a mini-engine that gives recurring bonuses.

So there's an interesting mix of incentives. You want your scholars on the influence board for end-game points, but you also want them on the regular worker-placement board to take actions, but you also want them on sabbatical to provide bonuses. And every decision is permanent: once off the influence board or on sabbatical, they can never return.

Very cool conceptually, and a beautiful physical production, but at the end of the day it feels a bit dry. There's a lot of resource-shuffling, gaining 1 chemistry point here, spending 2 physics points there, etc. Still, definitely worth trying if you have the chance.

[YellowKing]

Just got back from a four player game of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the Pandemic-inspired WoW game.

I had heard great reviews of this one, and I was not disappointed. Could it be my favorite non-legacy Pandemic game to date? Quite possibly. I'll give it a few more plays before making that statement definitive, but even after one session it certainly ranks right up there with Pandemic: Cthulhu which was my favorite going into tonight.

The only mechanic I wasn't super keen on going in was the way the quests progress, which kind of feels like moving the Creature From the Black Lagoon's boat in Horrified. However, in practice it works quite well due to the fact that Questing carries harsh damage penalties so that one player can't just spam progress towards a quest. And it does encourage teamwork in that other players can contribute cards towards the same quest action, greatly increasing your efficiency.

The other thing I wasn't real sure about was the use of dice, even though I didn't mind them much in Fall of Rome. However, the design choice here was pretty brilliant. There's really only one "bad" roll, which would be rolling two single shields (1 in 36 chance). However, even that is likely enough to negate you from taking much - if any - damage. Meaning your action was just wasted. The other 35 out of 36 results are always going to net you at least some progress in whatever action you were taking. It neatly takes away the argument from Pandemic purists that dice are evil.

Add in the fact that the different heroes all feel varied and powerful, and it's a great time.

One of our gaming group guys has literally everything Pandemic-related ever produced, so I've hesitated to buy any versions for my own. In fact I only own three Pandemic titles - the original, which I bought long before my gaming group, Pandemic: Iberia just because I thought the art was really nice, and Pandemic: Cthulhu because it's my favorite flavor. This one's going on the buy list, without a doubt.

[AWS260]

Last weekend I played Boonlake, a heavy eurogame about... settling some kind of land somewhere, I think? It was my second play, after trying it once at PAX Unplugged last December.

It is one of the most theme-less games I've played in recent memory. There's a setting - steampunk-ish settlers in a very generic version of the American Southwest - but it's almost entirely window dressing, with little connection to the mechanisms. I don't require mountains of theme to enjoy a game, but I do want the theme to help me understand the mechanisms.

With a nothingburger theme, you're left with a pile of interconnected, often highly procedural levers to pull. The game does a good job of keeping you involved, because everyone can do a minor "follow" action after the active player's turn. But it doesn't add up to much (other than a pile of points). The elements that I thought would be most interesting, like the tension between moving quickly down the "river" or hanging back to have a better selection of goodies, just aren't tense enough.

Boonlake isn't a bad game, and if friends wanted to play again I would. But there's nothing exceptional to bring me back it.

[AWS260]

This week I played Ark Nova, a fairly complex new game about building and running a modern zoo. It does a couple of things that I really like:

First, the action selection method is lifted directly from Civilization: A New Dawn. You have a row of action cards, and can pick any action on your turn. The strength of that action depends on how far to the right it is, and once you take it, it slides all the back to the left. As a result, you're incentivized to pick different actions each turn.

Second, it has two victory point tracks that you advance on--Conservation and Appeal--each driven by different actions in the game. The tracks start on opposite ends of the same line, progressing toward each other, and when someone's marker on the Conservation track meets their marker on the Appeal track, that triggers the final round. Your final score is how far past each other your markers are (and if your markers never actually meet, you'll have a negative score). So you can focus on one track or the other, but in order to succeed you have spend at least some time focusing on both.

Our game was the first for all of us, and we were pretty pleased that no one ended with negative points. In the end, the difference between first and second place was just two points (31 to 29).

I certainly liked it better than Boonlake, the other heavy game that I've played recently. It's much more thematically coherent, and comes with an enormous stack of unique cards that's fun to explore. It's not something that I'll be jumping to buy for myself, but I sure would like to try it again.

[YellowKing]

I'm eagerly awaiting Ark Nova. My FLGS is reserving me a copy. I'm buying it for solo - it's a bit too heavy for my wife, and my game group won't play competitive stuff. But the solo is a lot of fun based on several sessions I've played with the demo in TTS.

[hepcat]

Yesterday I had some folks over to try out some new kickstarters I just got.

First up was Dead Reckoning. I honestly backed this on a whim. John D. Clair (the designer) has built a little cottage industry out of his "card crafting" mechanic. This simply means you sleeve a mostly clear card into a clear sleeve, then add other cards that are mostly clear except for one new "strip" on them that adds abilities to that card, building your card's power/abilities as you play. It was neat in Mystic Vale when he premiered it, but I was starting to think it was getting thin after playing Edge of Darkness. So I had some misgivings about this one. I fully expected to play it once and find it mediocre before moving on.

I was wrong.

Dead Reckoning is my pick for my most surprising game of 2022 so far. This game is a blast. It really feels like the 4x they keep touting it to be in the advertising. It's also thematic as hell. Throw in a pretty solid solo mechanic, as well as add ons to make your crews asymmetrical, and a couple of (lite) campaign expansions that give it a bit of a legacy bent, and it's a solid game that I can't wait to play again.

I spent most of my game taking control of islands further out on the sea and throwing down forts to protect them. I was basically an explorer. Another player decided early on he was to go full on pirate mode and he cruised the seas, attacking us when he had the chance. The other play tried his hand at just amassing booty (the victory points are, appropriately enough, gold). The pirate won because he attacked my gold laden ship off the coast of my harbor as I was transporting a butt load of treasure back home on the final turn of the game. I didn't realize that sinking me would cause me to lose ALL of that. Which is on me, as it's clearly spelled out in the rulebook and makes perfect sense (if you only have a few coins, you don't lose...but anything over 5 and you better be friggin' careful).

I also never felt pigeonholed by the game. I could choose to have gone pirate at any time, or even privateer and start hunting the pirate(s) in our game. Options never closed off for me, and I loved that.

In short, your hand of cards are you crew. You have deckhands, captain, buccaneers, etc.. You can purchase advancements for them by exploring islands (which reveal cards and are essentially your market, among other things) and you get to level up one character per turn by flipping their card, revealing the next level and ability. You play on a grid of face down map tiles (4 x 3) that are exposed as you explore them with your ship. These map tiles are either open ocean or (mostly) islands that you can use influence to control. Anyone can produce on these islands, but if you don't control it by having the most influence on it (in the form of influence cubes generated by your Buccaneer and various other effects), then you can't load stuff onto your ship while you're there.

You can upgrade your ship with new board tiles that give you more cargo space, speed (in the form of a sail icon), cannons, etc..

The game ends when someone gets their fourth achievement from a group of around 10 (30 gold in your treasure chest, spend 12 cargo, reveal a set number of map tiles, etc..). Then everyone else gets one turn and you score based on your gold, which you get from treasure, buildings, achievements, etc..

Honestly, I can't sing the praises of this game enough. Two huge thumbs up.

Next was Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles from one of my favorite game designers, David Turczi (the maker of the great Anachrony and about 3,402 solo AI add ons to games...he's built a niche for himself as the go to guy when you want to add a solo component to your game).

Honestly, this one disappointed me. This was the one I was anxiously awaiting for as I was sure after Anachrony, he'd make another great game. But if you have Anachrony, I see no reason to get this game. And if you have a choice between the two, I would go with Anachrony. There's nothing in Perserverance that makes it stand out from its predecessor. It's not horrible. It's not even bad. What it is though is just redundant. However, the caveat being that we only played the first game. There are two games in the box. The first game is essentially a stripped down version of the second game and there's the ability to play both as sort of a legacy like game. I haven't tried the second one yet. But if it's like the first one with more stuff to remember, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to enjoy it as much either. I hate to say that as Turczi is hands down one of the nicest game designers ever. He's constantly on BGG helping people, taking praise and criticism alike with a cheery nature, and just generally being a real mensch. But I just can't bring myself to recommend Perseverance. Get Anachrony if you can. That's all I can say.