Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 8:37 pm
I’m about to break down and subscribe to BGA.
I have a sub but you don't need one. I use it all the time, so they are worth the $30 a year or whatever it is to me. Much like I throw money at OO every time it comes up.
All a sub does is allow you start a "premium" game which is good if you have friends, so you can coordinate games.
If you join, let me know. I play sometimes with Montag, redrun, bb2112, and a few others who have never been to OO. You can play asynchronously, which I often do so I can be leisurely with playing.
Picked up the starter decks for Star Wars Unlimited, the new TCG from Fantasy Flight. Our family isn't generally big on TCG's (we've bounced off MTG several times now), but I'm a sucker for anything Star Wars
Really impressed with this one so far. Played our first couple games today with the Vader vs Luke decks, and was a blast. The base gameplay is simple enough that all of us picked it up very quickly, but you can definitely see how some of unique the strategies will start to play out. Had one game today where my Palpatine and Vader (equipped with Vader's lightsaber) came out against Luke and Han (who Wonder Twin B equipped with Luke's lightsaber). There was this MASSIVE clash of damage that resulted in all four of them wiping each other out in a blaze of glory...then his lone X-wing swooped in to finish off my base and win the game. It was pretty awesome.
It's not a game that I'm likely to spend a ton on $$ in building custom decks, but is certainly one I would recommend for a quick pick up and play. I may even grab a few booster packs along the way (once this initial run calms down), as I really dig the artwork.
When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come.
Learning Maracaibo on BGA. It looks crazy complex.
Made it out for some return to old games this past week. We played some Quarriors and Kingsburg. I also learned how to play Parks. I batted zero for 6 on the day. That was two all day sessions in a row that I've won zero games. Humbling but good to get out. And probably necessary. I found myself exhausting, overheating, and getting cranky fairly deep in to both days and not because I was the LOSER all day. I hope that's not another condition of getting old and it's a condition I can reverse. My neighbor already makes me cranky too consistently, so I'm hoping not being at home is an escape from his ever present intrusive escapades.
Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 9:23 pm
It's not a game that I'm likely to spend a ton on $$ in building custom decks, but is certainly one I would recommend for a quick pick up and play. I may even grab a few booster packs along the way (once this initial run calms down), as I really dig the artwork.
Grabbed four booster packs last night and have tweaked the starter decks. Each pack comes with both a new leader and a new base which will significantly alter the deck build. It's been fun to make some slight adjustments and see how it plays out. The Wonder Twins have been playing it non-stop.
When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come.
It was a good weekend for gaming. Last night, a raucous 8-player game of Hellapagos. Despite the constant threat of starvation and dehydration, somehow only two people ended up dying - both by gunshot. That was followed by my first game of Pax Penning, which is quite a bit more twisty than the designer's previous game, Turncoats. I set myself up for a big final turn, but the game ended just before I could act.
Today I played Terra Nova with the fam. It's a really good weight for us - plenty thinky, but not overwhelming. My son did a great job of setting himself up for big points in the last couple of rounds and squeaked by me for the win.
Trying Pixies on BGA. Again, I'm playing these game asynchronously so quick games still take several days. Also again, playing the games slowly over days to learn them leaves me slow to figure out if I enjoy them. I'd throw caution to the wind and play these games live but I don't want to slow strangers down while I learn new games as games can seem long without F2F contact and with strangers chat is low and trash talk is offensive much less having the possibility of being fun with the right people.
Possibly next on deck is learning Memior '44 or maybe I'll do some live gaming with games that have become favorites like Space Base for light gaming or Ark Nova for longer gaming or Wingspan for in between.
I keep debating doing tourneys but I don't like to sit for too long at a stretch. They also have seasons of competitive play and the new season resets soon.
Had board game night with the work crew last night... they were going to play Agricola. I sat through the explanation then got up and left. I just couldn't see having any fun playing it. I was thinking about it this morning and realized a potential reason. My job is basically worker placement. I stress over the details, the resources, the tasks, the sequence all day long. The idea of doing pretty much the same thing for fun didn't sound particularly fun.
I enjoy Agricola with a the draft. Hands without drafting is heavy heavy heavy luck based for such a long commitment to a game. The game is pretty draining mentally for me though. One round with three or four players taking upwards of two hours with the draft is like a whole gaming day mentally for me nowadays so it's not preferred. I do, however, have a blast sucking at the game asynchronously on BGA though. That's a good sign for a game for me; enjoying it when I clearly am absolutely horrible and noncompetitive with anyone but people who are still learning the game mechanics.
Le Havre replaced Agricola for me from that line of worker placement games. Very different games, but because they are both Uwe Rosenberg games I lump them together. I haven't tried Caverna, but I've heard that they fixed some of the issues with Agricola.
As far as worker placement though, Lords of Waterdeep is still my favorite.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
I've been in a big board game slump solo-wise, due to being so engrossed in various video games. But I usually don't force myself when I go through those phases; Kickstarters will start arriving soon and I'll be back in soon enough.
I'm still hitting up my weekly Frosthaven group, however. We meet every Tuesday night for 4 1/2 hours, and even with that block of time we usually only get one scenario in. At that pace, we're figuring it's likely going to take us another year to year and a half to finish.
We did do something fun a couple of weeks ago, though. We all took a day off work and played from 9am to 10pm. That was a good time and we're planning on adding more of those marathon sessions whenever we can coordinate it with our work schedules. Considering each all-day session shaves 3-4 weeks off the campaign, we could potentially save months of time by scheduling those occasionally.
coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 8:47 am
Had board game night with the work crew last night... they were going to play Agricola. I sat through the explanation then got up and left. I just couldn't see having any fun playing it. I was thinking about it this morning and realized a potential reason. My job is basically worker placement. I stress over the details, the resources, the tasks, the sequence all day long. The idea of doing pretty much the same thing for fun didn't sound particularly fun.
Being a farmer is tough. I can understand you not wanting to come home from that and then just do it all over again in a game.
Trying Faraway and Memoir '44 and Barrage on BGA. Still forming an opinion on Faraway. I don't think I care for Memoir '44 but I'll keep playing until I win once . I think I'm digging on the learning curve for Mariacaibo. I'm still forming an opinion of Vale of Eternity. The Arena season starts soon, so I'll be holding off on trying new games. I like to play in the arena for a bit every time it resets where my competitive side takes over for a while before going back in to the learning and exploring side as well as the just sheer enjoyment side of games take over. Now that Terraforming Mars vanilla is out of beta, that's all people I know personally are playing. While I enjoy the game still, I'm not an all one game all the time person unless it has novelty for me.
Edit: decided I don't care for figuring out the pathing of figuring out channeling upstream in Barrage. I should still play because it forces me to think in ways that I'm not good at thinking but I'm not diligent enough to play games to make me more sharp.
We tried Dune Imperium this weekend. It's pretty durned complex with a lot to remember. After two games we were still making rules errors and going D'OH! I think it could benefit from a two round walk through and a larger player aid. I might look for one on BGG, though it looks like the host bought a game with a bit of advanced stuff built in that we didn't play with (Jessica, Chom, and some other stuff) so a larger player aid might confuse things. I'm interested in getting it to the table again. I also want to read the rules for myself.
Edit looks like we played Uprising which is an adjacent game to Imperium.
Doomed Run is the campaign mode for Set a Watch, and requires all existing content for the game to be combined. To do this they give you a nice big box storage solution that not only holds the core box and the two expansions, but also organizes all your cards and characters with dividers.
The campaign consists of 7 or 8 "runs" which are extended versions of the original game. Each run is defined in the book as to what enemies and locations you'll be using, and you'll start out being able to choose your party from the original game's core set of characters. As you complete runs, you'll unlock new characters that can be added to your party, and gain powerful mythic items.
The new expansion that was part of the Doomed Run Kickstarter is called Forsaken Isles, and offers only a slight new mechanic called Doom. Certain monsters from Forsaken Isles can curse you with Doom tokens. Once you have three tokens and need to place a fourth, you get a new Unhallowed (super strong monster) added to your lineup and some other nasty effects. Doom can be removed by doing Bolster, Seal, or Vanquish actions, so it's really just an incentive to use those options more.
Doomed Run itself offers a couple of new mechanics aside from the campaign game play. First you'll be choosing a side quest during each run segment. These side quests are generally negative conditions you have to endure, but if you can complete the segment with them in place you win the reward. The reward could be unlocking a new character, or gaining a mythic item. The other new mechanic is the Warden feature, in which each run you'll have one character act as your Warden. Each character now has a Warden card that bestows a boon for the run. There's something about setting a character aside to act as the Warden, which grants the boon but makes them unable to participate. I'm not exactly sure how it works because it doesn't kick in until after Run 1.
So far it's been a blast and I'm definitely happy with the Kickstarter value. The Forsaken Isles expansion, like the Swords of the Coin expansion before it, adds just enough gameplay to give it something different without overwhelming you with rules. And the campaign offers a lengthy experience that is completely replayable.
As a bonus, the KS came with a miniature version of the base game called "Pocket Watch." It's an even smaller version of this already fairly small game that literally can fit in your pocket. Really cool.
YellowKing wrote: ↑Sat Feb 24, 2024 12:08 pm
You guys have got me wanting to get Tales from the Red Dragon Inn back on the table.
Seppe and I just finished up chapter 1 Saturday. We're loving it. It's like Frosthaven for those times you want a legacy game with some meaty gameplay, but without all the complexity (and the ensuing confusion every time you sit down to it after a few weeks away) of FH. They do carrot on a stick just right for that context.
Also, we've adopted the saying "It's easy...until it's not" for Tales from the Red Dragon Inn. The past couple of games were going so easy that we thought we'd bump up from the middle difficulty to legend...then suddenly something would happen and we were fighting for our lives.
YellowKing wrote: ↑Sat Feb 24, 2024 12:08 pm
You guys have got me wanting to get Tales from the Red Dragon Inn back on the table.
Seppe and I just finished up chapter 1 Saturday. We're loving it. It's like Frosthaven for those times you want a legacy game with some meaty gameplay, but without all the complexity (and the ensuing confusion every time you sit down to it after a few weeks away) of FH. They do carrot on a stick just right for that context.
Also, we've adopted the saying "It's easy...until it's not" for Tales from the Red Dragon Inn. The past couple of games were going so easy that we thought we'd bump up from the middle difficulty to legend...then suddenly something would happen and we were fighting for our lives.
The Wonder Twins and I finished Chapter 18 yesterday. It continues to be just an absolutely fantastic campaign experience in every way. The streamlined combat, the flexibility to drop in new characters very quickly, the entertaining (and genuinely funny) writing, the cool abilities and equipment that are easy to understand but mesh in interesting ways...it's all just a really great package that comes together to be far more than the sum of it's simple parts.
We're playing on Story mode and haven't ever been particularly challenged, but that's been perfect to keep the kids' interest. I can see it getting really challenging at the other difficulties.
When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come.
A friend hosted a long weekend of gaming at his family's cabin, so I have played an absolute crap-ton of games over the past few days. Here are extremely brief overviews, because I'm too tired to write up more:
Kites: Cooperative sand-timer-flipping. Starts at light speed and only gets faster from there. Very fun, would recommend for almost anyone. Senji: Area control, diplomacy, secret orders, set collection, back-stabbing. Verrat: Set collection, secret orders, back-stabbing. My Favorite Carrera: Trick taking, anime girls, cars. Stellar Ventures: Build an interstellar corporation, see it eaten by aliens. Rebel Princess: Not about Carrie Fisher's character. Like hearts, but instead of avoiding points you're princesses trying to avoid proposals from skank-ass princes. Imperial 2030: Area control, diplomacy, back-stabbing. Dawn of Ulos: Area control, stock manipulation, orcs, elves. Soda Smugglers: Lying, apologizing. Hellas: City-building in ancient Greece. Auf Teufel Komm Raus: Push-your-luck, betting. Don't LLAMA Dice: Push-your-luck, llamas.
That's all I can remember right now. Every single one was a lot of fun - not a stinker in the bunch.
Sagrada continues to be popular during weekend game nights.
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
I picked up Arcadia Quest Inferno for $10 last week on Miniature Market. It's not something I would have ever considered at full price ($50) but for $10, why not? It's got a decent BGG rating (7.9/10) and looks like it could be some silly fun.
Even if the game sucks, it comes with some pretty cool minis that I could repurpose for something else.
When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come.
. I think I'm digging on the learning curve for Mariacaibo. I'm still forming an opinion of Vale of Eternity. The Arena season starts soon, so I'll be holding off on trying new games. I like to play in the arena for a bit every time it resets where my competitive side takes over for a while before going back in to the learning and exploring side as well as the just sheer enjoyment side of games take over. Now that Terraforming Mars vanilla is out of beta, that's all people I know personally are playing. While I enjoy the game still, I'm not an all one game all the time person unless it has novelty for me.
