The Big Board-Gaming Catch-All

shoptroll wrote:
MonoCheli wrote:
Poppinfresh wrote:

I've never even heard of Space Cadets. Sounds pretty fun!

I would call it Artemis in card board and made of mini games.

Does that make Space Alert the card board form of FTL?

Yes! But without pause.

MonoCheli wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
MonoCheli wrote:
Poppinfresh wrote:

I've never even heard of Space Cadets. Sounds pretty fun!

I would call it Artemis in card board and made of mini games.

Does that make Space Alert the card board form of FTL?

Yes! But without pause.

Also fewer doors and, for reasons passing understanding, you're even more likely to die horribly hilariously in Space Alert.

Put me in the "games should be lived in" category. While there are a few games I love the spectacle of and take really good care of (3d Catan, for instance) for the most part, my life is such that the stress of worrying about keeping a game pristine isn't worth it. And maybe it's blasphemous, but I can still remember the time so and so spilled scotch on this or that and it brings back fond memories everytime I play that game.

Very few games get SO much play they actually WEAR OUT and become unplayable. I suppose my "big bag of Munchkin" is approaching that level of worn-ness, as is my very first Fluxx deck, but I haven't felt the need to rebuy either yet.

rabbit wrote:

I suppose my "big bag of Munchkin" is approaching that level of worn-ness, as is my very first Fluxx deck, but I haven't felt the need to rebuy either yet.

Not even for color artwork and errata?

I think my copy of Great Dalmuti that I had in college is the most worn game I own, and still very playable. I have an advantage in that I have a terrible memory. Other people might remember that this one card with a certain crease is such and such, so it's marked, but I sure as hell don't.

My copy of War of the Ring has some decent wear on the box itself, and the cards probably have some wear on them, but the cards are about to be replaced by the second edition upgrade kit, so no biggie. Assuming I can find one, hopefully for a decent price...

CptDomano wrote:

Soo....I may have just bought Eclipse and Age of Industry. Since, y'know, it's been like two whole weeks since I've dropped a crapload of money. :lol:

Eclipse is a blast, although I'm still looking for the right group of people to really get into it. And yeah, I've kinda been itching for AoI ever since DanyBoy taught it to us one drunken evening last October.

Minarchist wrote:

And yeah, I've kinda been itching for AoI ever since DanyBoy taught it to us one drunken evening last October. :)

Yeah, that is exactly why I bought it. Just have to remember that being drunk is probably key to that game. That way you can make poor choices and feel all right about it

Re-posting from the Tabletop RPG thread, as this is the more appropriate place for it:

Mixolyde wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:
Trachalio wrote:

Has anyone talked about/checked out Mobile Frame Zero?

It's a mech tactics game that uses Lego for building the mechs.

I think I remember reading about Mechaton or something similar on Vincent or Clinton Nixon's web sites years ago, which I think is a predecessor to this. Nice to see all the nicely made, published material. Unfortunately I own very little lego these days.

Edit: Yes, this is the game I remembered reading about years ago. Nice to see it doing so well!

Reading through the free PDF now and it's pretty solid, especially for a free game. Although, I think I would consider this more of a board game, than an RPG. It's like a cross between Battletech, Mechwarrior and HeroClix, where you remove the pieces off the figure when they get blown off. Fun!

Check out the Flickr and subReddit links on the main page for tons of awesome Lego build pics.

CptDomano wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

And yeah, I've kinda been itching for AoI ever since DanyBoy taught it to us one drunken evening last October. :)

Yeah, that is exactly why I bought it. Just have to remember that being drunk is probably key to that game. That way you can make poor choices and feel all right about it :D

I'm glad it left an impression on you. I have revolutionized a heck of a lot of industries and always had fun doing it.

If you start finding two base maps too straightforward after some plays, check out the expansion maps. They add a lot of neat twists to the game.

CptDomano wrote:

Soo....I may have just bought Eclipse and Age of Industry. Since, y'know, it's been like two whole weeks since I've dropped a crapload of money.

rabbit wrote:

Very few games get SO much play they actually WEAR OUT and become unplayable.

You know, this is a "problem" I realize that I'm having with my own card games. It's probably just that my group has never really settled on one game for too long, but I can't picture any of our cards ever really wearing out. How long does it usually take for the cards to start wearing down to the point where replacing them makes sense?

Any game where card selection is secret makes sense, in my opinion. That first version I had of Citadels before I sold it, bought another, and sleeved it--it was obvious if people were picking expansion roles (up to 2 in a game, so not as worn) or original roles (used more often).

Soo....I may have just bought Eclipse and Age of Industry. Since, y'know, it's been like two whole weeks since I've dropped a crapload of money.

rabbit wrote:

Very few games get SO much play they actually WEAR OUT and become unplayable.

You know, this is a problem I realize that I'm having with my own card games. It's probably just that my group has never really settled on one game for too long, but I can't picture any of our cards ever really wearing out. How long does it usually take for the cards to start wearing down to the point where replacing them makes sense?

carrotpanic wrote:

Any game where card selection is secret makes sense, in my opinion. That first version I had of Citadels before I sold it, bought another, and sleeved it--it was obvious if people were picking expansion roles (up to 2 in a game, so not as worn) or original roles (used more often).

I might have to do this with my second copy of Starbase Jeff, where secret card selection is a central mechanic to the game. Unfortunately, the cards are square and are laid out on a table to build a grid-based starbase, so I'm not sure how plastic sleeves will affect that.

CptDomano wrote:

Soo....I may have just bought Eclipse and Age of Industry. Since, y'know, it's been like two whole weeks since I've dropped a crapload of money. :lol:

Great life choice. Have a 6 player game of Eclipse scheduled for this Thursday and I can't wait. Age of Industry is pretty fun too, still disappointed I didn't get to play with you guys at Pencon. Next time!

DanyBoy wrote:
CptDomano wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

And yeah, I've kinda been itching for AoI ever since DanyBoy taught it to us one drunken evening last October. :)

Yeah, that is exactly why I bought it. Just have to remember that being drunk is probably key to that game. That way you can make poor choices and feel all right about it :D

I'm glad it left an impression on you. I have revolutionized a heck of a lot of industries and always had fun doing it.

If you start finding two base maps too straightforward after some plays, check out the expansion maps. They add a lot of neat twists to the game.

I've enjoyed playing this a lot and want to try out the other maps. In fact, I really like it when designers take systems from an existing game and place them in a different scenario, like Ticket to Ride, Age of Industry, etc. I'm still desperately waiting for new scenarios based on the A Few Acres of Snow ruleset.

Dysplastic wrote:

I'm still desperately waiting for new scenarios based on the A Few Acres of Snow ruleset.

New edition on the way, or so I heard. No idea if it has any fixes or scenarios in it.

carrotpanic wrote:

Any game where card selection is secret makes sense, in my opinion. That first version I had of Citadels before I sold it, bought another, and sleeved it--it was obvious if people were picking expansion roles (up to 2 in a game, so not as worn) or original roles (used more often).

This is where I got started and well now it is an impulse as I like how cards shuffle with sleeves.

Natus wrote:
Dysplastic wrote:

I'm still desperately waiting for new scenarios based on the A Few Acres of Snow ruleset.

New edition on the way, or so I heard. No idea if it has any fixes or scenarios in it.

I would assume it at least fixes the game-breaking strategy. I'm waiting on it just for that reason.

Minarchist wrote:
Natus wrote:
Dysplastic wrote:

I'm still desperately waiting for new scenarios based on the A Few Acres of Snow ruleset.

New edition on the way, or so I heard. No idea if it has any fixes or scenarios in it.

I would assume it at least fixes the game-breaking strategy. I'm waiting on it just for that reason.

I feel like the "game-breakingness" of that strategy is a bit overblown. I mean, it absolutely exists and is effective at the highest level, but you still need to be able to execute it perfectly. I know how it works at a fundamental level but when I pull the game out from time to time I find I don't remember exactly how to execute it so I don't focus on trying to pull it off exactly.

Well, at any rate, if they're fixing stuff I can wait. I have plenty of other stuff to play.

Minarchist wrote:
Natus wrote:
Dysplastic wrote:

I'm still desperately waiting for new scenarios based on the A Few Acres of Snow ruleset.

New edition on the way, or so I heard. No idea if it has any fixes or scenarios in it.

I would assume it at least fixes the game-breaking strategy. I'm waiting on it just for that reason.

The strategy won't ever be fixed in the base game. Supposedly the only way to fix it is with custom scenarios to play.

Um: Wallace posted the fix on BGG, a year ago:

1. Remove the French bateaux card from the initial deck and place it with the available cards.

2. Reserve - you cannot place location cards in your reserve.

3. Raids - the raid distance is now two connections plus one connection for each additional card played (so playing two Native American cards would allow you to raid a location up to three connections away).

4. Home Support - you can only take cards from your draw deck, so if you had fewer than three cards available you would only be able to draw these. Consequently, the only time you shuffle your discard pile is when you need to refill your hand at the end of the turn and your draw deck is exhausted.

I havent played like 200 times or anything, but I've played a lot, and these rules seem to balance things out without just rewriting the whole game.

rabbit wrote:

Um: Wallace posted the fix on BGG, a year ago:

1. Remove the French bateaux card from the initial deck and place it with the available cards.

2. Reserve - you cannot place location cards in your reserve.

3. Raids - the raid distance is now two connections plus one connection for each additional card played (so playing two Native American cards would allow you to raid a location up to three connections away).

4. Home Support - you can only take cards from your draw deck, so if you had fewer than three cards available you would only be able to draw these. Consequently, the only time you shuffle your discard pile is when you need to refill your hand at the end of the turn and your draw deck is exhausted.

I havent played like 200 times or anything, but I've played a lot, and these rules seem to balance things out without just rewriting the whole game.

This fix was quickly proven to not be effective on yucata.de. Out4blood was still unbeatable.

Since then, Wallace has said himself that the strategy can not be fixed, it can just be contained with custom scenarios which would eventually be coming from him.

Edit: That said, the rule changes did still help the game. I think it might have made it slightly more difficult to pull off the strategy, but you can still do it.

well, i mean, I understand the strategy, but can't always perfectly execute it. But then, thats true for chess too. I dont feel like a wargame needs to stand up to some theory of perfect endless replay-ability. AFAOS remains one of my favorite games of all time.

Im sure there's some equally broken strategy for War of the Ring.

Agreed, I still love AFAOS.

Got a first run of Seasons in tonight with the wife. We both liked it. One of those games where people's eyes glaze over as you explain but is really easy once you move into it. She had the better strategy the whole game (mostly due to her setting up her 3 years of cards better) but I managed to eke out a victory by playing a card the last round that allowed me to look at 4 and play one for free...and my Luck of Insanity kicked in and I found the one card that was worth 30 points but cost 20 crystals to play (basically a 10 point game). But it was free. It was the only card in the deck that could have won me the game. So yeah, I won by less than that margin.

It must be tough to play against me all the time.

Anyway, I recommend it. There is a lot of depth once you dive into the ways the various cards can interact with each other, and more cards to introduce once you get comfy with the original 30.

Also playable online! Come join us on one of our online boardgame nights. Held sporadically.

My wife and I just played two player Ticket to Ride - Märklin with 4 player rules and double train cars. It was epic. My wife beat me with a combined total of 433 to my 398. It was fun to mix up the game a bit.

Chaz wrote:

I think my copy of Great Dalmuti that I had in college is the most worn game I own, and still very playable. I have an advantage in that I have a terrible memory. Other people might remember that this one card with a certain crease is such and such, so it's marked, but I sure as hell don't.

That's funny, my most worn game is also The Great Dalmuti! It used to be our go-to game on Boy Scout camping trips. This pack of cards got stuffed in a Ziploc baggie and dragged through dust, dirt, and sand for most of a decade. The cards are still very readable, easily shuffled. It would take a lot more damage before I'd really feel that I need to replace the deck.

Okay, so I played my first game of Merchant of Venus (Fantasy Flight Version) with my usual gaming group (two of my friends). Unfortunately the friend who bought & set up the game for our game night neglected to read the rules/look up a demo video, so the game turned out to be a lot of fumbling and constantly looking at the rule book. Ultimately one friend had a commanding lead early on (~turn 15 of 30) from what I assume was just our inexperience with the rules of the game, and there appeared to be very little either one of us could do about it.

My question is for anyone who may have played this game before--is this an issue with the game? Essentially what happened is my friend was able to visit just about every culture with the first contact bonus, buy as many goods as he could, then luck out by meeting a culture he can sell to while the market was up. It just seemed like he was very easily able to amass a bunch of wealth early on and then basically just skated around the universe until the end game.

The concept of the game was interesting, I just felt like maybe we hit a perfect storm of luck that allowed for that to happen.

I know, late to the party, but I played Lords of Waterdeep for the first time last night. I had given it to a friend for Christmas. Even though it is Euro-ish (and I hate Euro games), I really enjoyed it. The D&D theme was harmless but didn't really add anything. But I found the mechanics interesting and surprisingly deep. I also like screwing my neighbors, so it had that going for it.