The Big Board-Gaming Catch-All

Glad to have more folks exposed to Loreds of Waterdeep, Nevin. Now you've just got to join us in getting ready for this year's expansion:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardga...

Keithustus wrote:

Glad to have more folks exposed to Loreds of Waterdeep, Nevin. Now you've just got to join us in getting ready for this year's expansion:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardga...

Really really really hoping they're doing a demo at PAX East this year.

Minarchist wrote:

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.

Seasons is awesome! It has a lot of variety and decisions even in two players. Which is good since that was half the reason we bought it.

When explaining just about any card game, I explain that the cards tell you what they do. So if you are unsure, look at the card. That said, I will have to explain some of the icons and what the terms mean...

Bonnonon wrote:

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.

We've never tried it that way, awesome!

MitchellW wrote:
Bonnonon wrote:

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.

We've never tried it that way, awesome!

Hmm...

My favorite TTR memory is one of my friends deciding he was going to try and win by only taking the 6-car routes. Optimized to take the least points in routes at the beginning, and just kept drawing cards until he could lay down a sixer.

His downfall, of course, was telling us what he was doing. Some just worked around the sixers, but I went and stole one of his routes

Speaking of trains and Martin Wallace, my copy of Steam arrived yesterday.

Since Mr. Wallace has consistently impressed me, there was flat-rate shipping, and I was feeling a bit completionist, I also got the two expansion maps packs. So I've got 8 maps worth of railroading action to try out.
Seriously, between this, a few versions of Ticket to Ride, two 18xx games, a crayon rails game and Age of industry, I'm thinking I have some kind of train problem. (I'll tell you when I have enough! :P)

In the same order I also received a pair of Strategy & Tactics issues. X-mas monies and holiday sales, right? S&T is a magazine game: a mag with articles about military history and wargaming plus a poster map and a sheet of counters for a game. The two I grabbed on sale were on WW1, and the Austrian war of succession.
Realistically, if I want to play the games I'd have to do it solo, or save 'em for a rainy day at the cottage. But for a history buff like me, they are a fascinating way to spend an afternoon; read up on a topics, then have an object-lesson to mess with.

There's a Seasons expansion coming out in June. Figured it's worth posting since that's been name-dropped lately here.

shoptroll wrote:
Keithustus wrote:

Glad to have more folks exposed to Loreds of Waterdeep, Nevin. Now you've just got to join us in getting ready for this year's expansion:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardga...

Really really really hoping they're doing a demo at PAX East this year.

You people with all your raving about Lords of Waterdeep. I'm probably going to have to get it as some point.

I wish I wasn't the person that ends up buying all the games in our group (there's always one!)

DanyBoy wrote:

Speaking of trains and Martin Wallace, my copy of Steam arrived yesterday.

Since Mr. Wallace has consistently impressed me, there was flat-rate shipping, and I was feeling a bit completionist, I also got the two expansion maps packs. So I've got 8 maps worth of railroading action to try out.
Seriously, between this, a few versions of Ticket to Ride, two 18xx games, a crayon rails game and Age of industry, I'm thinking I have some kind of train problem. (I'll tell you when I have enough! :P)

You do have a train problem.
Planning on busting out Steam on Monday? Hopefully I can make it that night.

Which issues of S&T were those? Were the articles and stuff pretty nice, or did it the focus mostly seem to be about the included game? I've bee eyeing that magazine along with Battles and Against the Odds for a good wargame magazine to try out.

They are issues #261 and #262. I can't tell you much about the content yet, since I've only just flipped through them quickly.
S&T is pretty much the only wargame mag readily available here in Canada, so it's the one I'm trying out, though I did look into subscribing to the two you mentioned at one point. I remember that AtO's reputation of good writing, covering the unusual intrigued me, and was more historically-focused, but also the included games were known to be of inconsistent quality from issue to issue, some greats, and some horrible.

DanyBoy wrote:

Speaking of trains and Martin Wallace, my copy of Steam arrived yesterday.

Since Mr. Wallace has consistently impressed me, there was flat-rate shipping, and I was feeling a bit completionist, I also got the two expansion maps packs. So I've got 8 maps worth of railroading action to try out.
Seriously, between this, a few versions of Ticket to Ride, two 18xx games, a crayon rails game and Age of industry, I'm thinking I have some kind of train problem. (I'll tell you when I have enough! :P)

In the same order I also received a pair of Strategy & Tactics issues. X-mas monies and holiday sales, right? S&T is a magazine game: a mag with articles about military history and wargaming plus a poster map and a sheet of counters for a game. The two I grabbed on sale were on WW1, and the Austrian war of succession.
Realistically, if I want to play the games I'd have to do it solo, or save 'em for a rainy day at the cottage. But for a history buff like me, they are a fascinating way to spend an afternoon; read up on a topics, then have an object-lesson to mess with.

Awesome stuff. I got Age of Steam for Christmas and have been itching to get a real mp game going. The single player and 2 player scenarios I tried weren't so great for beginners, but I see that the system has much potential.

Which issues of S&T were those? Were the articles and stuff pretty nice, or did it the focus mostly seem to be about the included game? I've been eyeing that magazine along with Battles and Against the Odds for a good wargame magazine to try out.

More love for Lords of Waterdeep and its imminent expansion.

Anyone have any experience with Summoner Wars and its ease of play? She loves LoW and 7 Wonders, so I'm thinking if I can capitalize on her newfound enthusiasm for strategy to try some of the stuff I want to play, we might be on to a winner...

Haakon7 wrote:

More love for Lords of Waterdeep and its imminent expansion.

Anyone have any experience with Summoner Wars and its ease of play? She loves LoW and 7 Wonders, so I'm thinking if I can capitalize on her newfound enthusiasm for strategy to try some of the stuff I want to play, we might be on to a winner...

Summoner Wars is fun, and it's not too hard to learn the basics. Don't get me wrong, I royally suck at it, but it's fun nonetheless

There's an iOS app which makes for a good introduction too, cheap way to test it out.

I think Summoner Wars is actually really easy to play, but has surprising depth of strategy. The rules are quite simple, and you can pick factions that are pretty straightforward to start with. But it's very different from LoW and 7 Wonders in that there's direct conflict and very specific tactical decision making that can make or break you. Not for everyone, but worth a shot, especially since you can get a 2 faction set for relatively cheap.

Dysplastic wrote:

I think Summoner Wars is actually really easy to play, but has surprising depth of strategy. The rules are quite simple, and you can pick factions that are pretty straightforward to start with. But it's very different from LoW and 7 Wonders in that there's direct conflict and very specific tactical decision making that can make or break you. Not for everyone, but worth a shot, especially since you can get a 2 faction set for relatively cheap.

What my wife didn't appreciate about Summoner Wars was the dice-rolling in combat. She consistently doesn't like it in games we play.

I got Family Business in 1996 after 8th grade. It's easy to learn and people really like it, so it still gets lot of play. Fits easily in a backpack and I just carried it around all the time in high school. I love how warn and beat up it is. When I was young, it was damaged with spilled lemonade and nacho cheese. Nowadays it's beer and pub food. Almost lost a card (my favorite mobster, Big Tuna) recently and I was very sad.

IMAGE(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-zbfjNhsfnvU/UPBGcy5FO0I/AAAAAAAAAVU/c0rNb3n9NtA/s1222/13+-+1)
IMAGE(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1fn3vAxaydY/UPBGc2AQ_JI/AAAAAAAAAVc/9dl9c7uDx3Y/s1222/13+-+2)

MitchellW wrote:
Dysplastic wrote:

I think Summoner Wars is actually really easy to play, but has surprising depth of strategy. The rules are quite simple, and you can pick factions that are pretty straightforward to start with. But it's very different from LoW and 7 Wonders in that there's direct conflict and very specific tactical decision making that can make or break you. Not for everyone, but worth a shot, especially since you can get a 2 faction set for relatively cheap.

What my wife didn't appreciate about Summoner Wars was the dice-rolling in combat. She consistently doesn't like it in games we play.

I understand people being against randomness in games, and I'm actually against a lot of games that I feel have too much. But really, rolling dice to me is a very tacticle joy.

MitchellW wrote:
Dysplastic wrote:

I think Summoner Wars is actually really easy to play, but has surprising depth of strategy. The rules are quite simple, and you can pick factions that are pretty straightforward to start with. But it's very different from LoW and 7 Wonders in that there's direct conflict and very specific tactical decision making that can make or break you. Not for everyone, but worth a shot, especially since you can get a 2 faction set for relatively cheap.

What my wife didn't appreciate about Summoner Wars was the dice-rolling in combat. She consistently doesn't like it in games we play.

I hear you man! I'm also an anti-dice person. I tolerate it in Summoner Wars because I do find that it doesn't tend to affect the game balance overall (Frankly, I think the order of your cards in your deck and when you get them is a much larger random contributing factor to success or failure in this game) over the course of a whole game.

For those looking for a dice-free two player combat game, I hear Dungeon Command is pretty good.

McChuck wrote:

I got Family Business in 1996 after 8th grade. It's easy to learn and people really like it, so it still gets lot of play. Fits easily in a backpack and I just carried it around all the time in high school. I love how warn and beat up it is. When I was young, it was damaged with spilled lemonade and nacho cheese. Nowadays it's beer and pub food. Almost lost a card (my favorite mobster, Big Tuna) recently and I was very sad.

Used to play FB a ton in grade school and still have a copy. But as multiplayer card games go, it sadly has not aged well. Needs an update to be at all competitive with the modern line-up.

To confirm my dice bias, I played the RPG Mythender at GenCon. The guy running it sold me with the line "I have 298 dice in my bag, and by the end of the game you'll get to roll most of them."

thejustinbot wrote:

To confirm my dice bias, I played the RPG Mythender at GenCon. The guy running it sold me with the line "I have 298 dice in my bag, and by the end of the game you'll get to roll most of them."

Ahhh - Mythender. I <3 Ryan Macklin.

This is a thing that is happening, and you should come or be subjected to endless humiliation that you have rejected your fellow GWJers and instead chosen to wallow in your own self-piteous loathing. Not sayin'. Just sayin'.

thejustinbot wrote:

To confirm my dice bias, I played the RPG Mythender at GenCon. The guy running it sold me with the line "I have 298 dice in my bag, and by the end of the game you'll get to roll most of them."

I guess I know what game Demyx wants to try now.

HedgeWizard wrote:
thejustinbot wrote:

To confirm my dice bias, I played the RPG Mythender at GenCon. The guy running it sold me with the line "I have 298 dice in my bag, and by the end of the game you'll get to roll most of them."

Ahhh - Mythender. I <3 Ryan Macklin.

Last I saw the PDF of the full rules should be up this coming Monday. Very excited to get a go at it again.

Haakon7 wrote:

More love for Lords of Waterdeep and its imminent expansion.

Anyone have any experience with Summoner Wars and its ease of play? She loves LoW and 7 Wonders, so I'm thinking if I can capitalize on her newfound enthusiasm for strategy to try some of the stuff I want to play, we might be on to a winner...

Summoner Wars is my favorite game. It's easy to learn and teach but tough to master. It's streamlined and games are not long. It has very fast setup times and take down times. Dice and card drawing adds a good random element but not enough for a newbie beat a seasoned player. Storage is very easy with all the expansions. Building your army/deck is very fun. iOS game with online play and active community. A ton of factions but very well balanced.

It's a brillant game, I love it.

After listening to the 3MA on Phantom Leader, I'm very curious to try it. But I won't try the iOS version unless they do either or both of: reduce the price from $15 and/or add stat tracking (e.g. pilot with the most kills, etc.). How is the analog version?

Keithustus wrote:

After listening to the 3MA on Phantom Leader, I'm very curious to try it. But I won't try the iOS version unless they do either or both of: reduce the price from $15 and/or add stat tracking (e.g. pilot with the most kills, etc.). How is the analog version?

Pricier and more fiddly would be my guess. Of course I'm saying this with no personal knowledge.

I played about an hour of one of my favorite games of all time, Starbase Jeff, two nights ago. It's a Cheap Ass Game that I picked up a few years ago. Times were good and all the new people I taught it to enjoyed it.

Earlier today, I was poking around Cheap Ass Games' web site and discovered that they've mostly gone to a "Get our games for free, donate what you feel like" model. Including a bunch of easy print-and-play games here and more substantial stuff here. I own a bunch of the major games already and love Agora, Falling, Kill Doctor Lucky, and Unexploded Cow. I will have to print and play a few of the others. I've read that Renfield is a really good one. The easy games page includes a PDF with 14 brand new games using regular decks of cards. Some are poker-themed or related, but all are brand new, and they all seem pretty interesting. Grab some free games and then donate what you like!

My understanding was that CAG had basically folded for the past few years, and only recently re-emerged thanks to Kickstarter (where he redid Unexploded Cow).

It's good to see them back, I hope they start releasing more of their old games.

Finally got around to playing Lords of Waterdeep after having it sit on my shelf since September. We were 4 people all new to the game, but I was just a tad disappointed with it. It was a very solitary experience (meaning.. I wish there was more interaction between players) even with all four of us getting into the game,. Don't get me wrong, we did enjoy ourselves, but I felt that it could have been a bit more cutthroat than what it was. I mean, we all did our quests and such and occasionally there was some contention regarding who would get the first player token so you could grab the best buildings.

There were quite a few intrigue cards played, but most of them were pretty tame, I thought. Get some gold and another player gets gold, remove a cleric from tavern, etc. Nothing that really upset anyone's plans exactly.

Am I missing something or is it a pretty friendly game (which I don't really mind. Sometimes it's nice to not be super competitive)?