The Big Board-Gaming Catch-All

trichy wrote:
lostlobster wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
pyxistyx wrote:

heh, I WISH i could find someone regular to play with that was interested in stuff like Arkham and Eldritch Horror! I'm happy enough playing them solo, but it would be nice to be able to bounce off of someone who was similarly into them and didn't just get bored and stop paying attention half way through and having to abandon the game

Move to the greater Boston area!

Move to the Northern New Jersey area!

Nashville!

Northern VA

pyxistyx wrote:

heh, I WISH i could find someone regular to play with that was interested in stuff like Arkham and Eldritch Horror! I'm happy enough playing them solo, but it would be nice to be able to bounce off of someone who was similarly into them and didn't just get bored and stop paying attention half way through and having to abandon the game

I'm not sure I'm being clear. I would definitely prefer playing with my family. What happens is that I get them to join but then our schedules don't mesh together, and I'm stuck not playing at all... Not playing at all suuuuuuuuucks.

Bubblefuzz wrote:
pyxistyx wrote:

heh, I WISH i could find someone regular to play with that was interested in stuff like Arkham and Eldritch Horror! I'm happy enough playing them solo, but it would be nice to be able to bounce off of someone who was similarly into them and didn't just get bored and stop paying attention half way through and having to abandon the game

UK GWJers meet up to play games at UK Games Expo June 1-3?

A local group usually makes the trip, if I can get the all clear work and family front I'd like to head up there for my first expo in 20+ years!

Edit. Ian Livingstone is there. Signed copy of Deathtrap Dungeon, yes please.

of all the options above, this is the most realistic!
This summer might be a bit...weird...for me though, if all goes well, so might be something to consider for next year.

Arts n' Crafts time!

Was looking around for some cool alternatives to the cardboard clue tokens for the Arkham games and saw a tutorial on making these glass tokens which I thought looked like it might be worth a shot, so I tried putting together a few sample ones to see how they looked.

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/img_45361.jpg)

Really like the look of these from the front. (The numbered ones are for Eldritch Horror, the non-numbered ones are for the card game). I printed out some collages of old 20's newspaper headlines and maps and then glued them to the base of the stones and cut around them once dry then painted the backs to try to match the green of the stones. Simples.

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/img_45341-e1520362303313.jpg)

The backs are a little rough, but hopefully I'll figure out a way to improve on that as I go. And they'll be varnished anyway so they shouldn't fall apart or anything.

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/img_45371.jpg)

I can't believe that you spoke of a tutorial for how to make those but didn't link it.

oh woops! I meant to go back and do that after I found it again but i got distracted and forgot :O

The US bound ship for The 7th Continent is either, not the ship that was sent in the link, arriving in Houston on the 10th, or the live tracker is wrong.

Chimalli wrote:

The US bound ship for The 7th Continent is either, not the ship that was sent in the link, arriving in Houston on the 10th, or the live tracker is wrong.

It looks like the Batlic Bridge is now scheduled to arrive in Jacksonville on the 18th.

EriktheRed wrote:
Chimalli wrote:

The US bound ship for The 7th Continent is either, not the ship that was sent in the link, arriving in Houston on the 10th, or the live tracker is wrong.

It looks like the Batlic Bridge is now scheduled to arrive in Jacksonville on the 18th.

7th Continent update just said 16th... and then a couple weeks after that... so... first week of April, maybe?

dRailer wrote:
EriktheRed wrote:
Chimalli wrote:

The US bound ship for The 7th Continent is either, not the ship that was sent in the link, arriving in Houston on the 10th, or the live tracker is wrong.

It looks like the Batlic Bridge is now scheduled to arrive in Jacksonville on the 18th.

7th Continent update just said 16th... and then a couple weeks after that... so... first week of April, maybe?

Well what do I know about international shipping? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I was pulling the date from here.

EriktheRed wrote:
dRailer wrote:
EriktheRed wrote:
Chimalli wrote:

The US bound ship for The 7th Continent is either, not the ship that was sent in the link, arriving in Houston on the 10th, or the live tracker is wrong.

It looks like the Batlic Bridge is now scheduled to arrive in Jacksonville on the 18th.

7th Continent update just said 16th... and then a couple weeks after that... so... first week of April, maybe?

Well what do I know about international shipping? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I was pulling the date from here.

I wasn't saying Serious Poulp was right. Just that you are wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. If you want to completely blind-guess the schedule by relying on so-called informational websites with buzzwords like "logistics" and "resources" and "vessel schedule" in them, well... I'm not going to stop you. Totally kidding. lol... I'm betting you're right and Serious Poulp actually wrote their update days ago. *shrug*

I was about to send this as a PM to Erik, but is is too good not to share with all:

Terraforming Mars is coming to Steam

Will be on ios as well.

dRailer wrote:

I don't know why I'm sharing this experience. Not looking for solutions, just... thought it was funny.

You "rank up" here by posting more. I figure that means the Powers That Be want us to think "when in doubt, go ahead and post something and contribute to the conversation."

I mean, I didn't click on this thread to not read about people's board game experiences.

bhchrist wrote:

I was about to send this as a PM to Erik, but is is too good not to share with all:

Terraforming Mars is coming to Steam

Will be on ios as well.

Ok, now I'm REALLY going to be glued to my PC.

Scottish_Leprechaun wrote:
bhchrist wrote:

I was about to send this as a PM to Erik, but is is too good not to share with all:

Terraforming Mars is coming to Steam

Will be on ios as well.

Ok, now I'm REALLY going to be glued to my PC.

Definitely excited for this. We've got plenty of tableau-builders in our physical collection already which means I have a hard time picking it up, but I've go no problem getting it digitally

bhchrist wrote:

I was about to send this as a PM to Erik, but is is too good not to share with all:

Terraforming Mars is coming to Steam

Will be on ios as well.

That'll be a day one purchase for me, for sure. Though I'll likely get it on my Android first. I do most of my digital boardgaming there.

cool! I've been eyeing that one up but it has so many moving parts it's intimidating for ME, let alone the people that I currently play games with. This sounds like an ideal solution.

pyxistyx wrote:

cool! I've been eyeing that one up but it has so many moving parts it's intimidating for ME, let alone the people that I currently play games with. This sounds like an ideal solution.

Honestly the rules for Terraforming Mars aren't too complicated. Don't let yourself get intimidated by it. It also has a great fun solo mode that you can play to familiarize yourself with the rules before bringing it to the table with other people. I wouldn't wait for the video game version of it to play it.

EriktheRed wrote:
pyxistyx wrote:

cool! I've been eyeing that one up but it has so many moving parts it's intimidating for ME, let alone the people that I currently play games with. This sounds like an ideal solution.

Honestly the rules for Terraforming Mars aren't too complicated. Don't let yourself get intimidated by it. It also has a great fun solo mode that you can play to familiarize yourself with the rules before bringing it to the table with other people. I wouldn't wait for the video game version of it to play it.

Agreed. The rule explanation I got was pretty lengthy but the actual mechanics are pretty simple once you get into it. If you can play something like Race for the Galaxy you can play Terraforming Mars.

Excellent points by both Erik and Shoptroll. I typically do not play non-app board games solo, but Terraforming Mars is a major exception (along with Spirit Island). The strategy changes in solo vs. multiple players, but the mechanics are the same. Plus, it is actually fun vs. just something to do to learn the game.

While there are a lot of cubes, they fall into three categories: Those that are used to buy things, those that are used to indicate what is mine and what is yours, and those that track scores/terraforming levels. That is pretty much it.

The metallic ones are basically money/resources (units of 1, 5, and 10) used to buy stuff. It will be interesting to see how much I play the tabletop version solo post app, however.

In case you all are interested, Amazon has Twilight Imperium 4th Edition on sale for $99. Even if it NEVER makes it to my table, I'm seriously considering dropping the cash on this beast...

AMAZON

Fredrik_S wrote:
MisterStatic wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:

Cardboard Edison just revealed the finalists in their annual award. Holy sh*t, Dicescrapers is in the finals. http://cardboardedison.com/award

Congrats, Frederick! It looks great! I have begun my first design prototype ever. It actually has much the same theme but quite different mechanisms. But, it does use dice and players build skyscrapers (but not with the dice), so I almost called it Dicescrapers as a temporary name...then I saw this. So I guess that is off the list! I am finding it incredibly difficult and rewarding to go through this process. But, as my first attempt in designing anything, I am sure I will fail many times moving forward.

Oh, that's awesome! Good luck on your design and you need a second set of eyes on it, feel free to send it my way.

Thanks, Frederick. That is very kind of you. I am very divorced from the whole creative process (in the Army over 20 years) so I don’t even know where to go next. I do know it needs some balancing and that it is not a brief process. It will probably even be frustrating. I am very new to this, but creating is very exciting!

Whoa, the Through the Ages steam beta isn't lasting long. It's releasing on March 26!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/75...

Tonight settles it. Pandemic Legacy Season 2 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. October. What a great twist.

Spoiler:

IT’S NOT FACE PAINT

MisterStatic wrote:

Thanks, Frederick. That is very kind of you. I am very divorced from the whole creative process (in the Army over 20 years) so I don’t even know where to go next. I do know it needs some balancing and that it is not a brief process. It will probably even be frustrating. I am very new to this, but creating is very exciting!

Making things is the best, no doubt. Even if it never reaches a wider audience, the sense of accomplishment that have created something that didn't exist before is immense. Some of my the stuff I am most happy with is the stuff that only me and my kids tried out.

Anyway. My approach to balancing / finding fun is to force my regular group to play it over and over and over again. Then in between sessions with them I play it on my own. Over and over again. Just try new things, throw it out and try something else. And yea, it does become frustrating when ideas you have don't work out, but as Michael Bluth said "head down and power through". Good luck!

Finally I finished all the base scenarios and DLC for mansions of madness. Which expansion should I get next and in what order?

Played two games at our local game day today. This group specialises in bigger games so we played:

Vengeance
Five players was probably too much for this game as the downtime while other took their turn got to people. On the other hand I got to see all my hard work painting the minis on the table. I definitely like this game a lot but I think 3-4 players is the sweet spot.

Rising Sun
This was very good. Very clever design with lots of ways to earn victory points. Even when you find yourself in a battle you can’t win there are ways to get points. And there’s lots of tricks to bidding in the battles that can let you win even if your opponents have the advantage. The minis are very high quality as well.

Tennessee Game Days Report!

As usual, this bewilderingly affordable convention was one of the highlights of my year, as I got to try a lot of new games, play some old favorites, and see a gaggle of Goodjers. If you have the chance to come out next year, you absolutely should. Here's my list of what I played this year as well as a few short thoughts. First time plays are in bold.

Segrada: Each year, there's one game that is everywhere at TNGD. Last year, it was Terraforming Mars, and this year, it was this delightful dice drafting game. Players take turns adding colorful dice to a excellently constructed play mat, trying to complete a stained glass window. Relatively simple rules (dice of the same color or pip can't be adjacent) makes this a deceptively simple game, and there were quite a few moments of, "Nice! I'll just slot this here OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE IT'S ALL RUINED" as well as lamentations to the heavens that the gods did not see fit to bless us with a &%^#& five. Excellent game, and one of my favorites of the weekend.

El Grande: I've played this once before, but I was excited to try it again. This granddaddy of area control games still might be the best of the genre. I love Tammany Hall and other similar games, but there's something about the way all the pieces of this game work together that make it incredibly engaging, even when I'm losing. Badly. People, it was ugly. Even so, I had a blast, and can't wait to try it again.

Trendy: This simple little German trick-taking game about fashions coming in and out of style was simple, absurd, and quick. It's also an absolute blast. Fifteen minutes of either riding someone's coattails or blowing up their plans, and we were all laughing.

Great Western Trail: I got to play this once, and teach it a second time, and it still remains one of my favorites of last year. While it's genuinely overwhelming when you first get started, the pieces fit together so well that the "a-ha" moment occurs within minutes. The first game was won by someone who decided to focus on the train, seizing stations and catapulting his engine past San Francisco. It's a great game, and one I want to play more of.

Keyflower: I wanted to try this last year, but didn't get the chance. This year, Minarchist sat down and taught us this wonderful worker placement game that combines auctions with tile laying. It's a genuine brain-burner. I took too long to figure out a specific strategy, but still managed to do all right in points. I'm eager to play again.

Pulsar 2849: I was excited/nervous to play this new title from Vladmir Suchy, the man behind the hysterical but flawed Last Will and Prodigals Club. I love those games, but they're a bit of a mess. Fortunately, this is not the case with this space exploration point salad game. In this game, players are exploring a galaxy, colonizing planets and placing energy gathering gyrodynes on pulsars. There's a fascinating question of whether you want to go for pulsars (which give small amounts of points every single turn) or technology (large chunks of points one at a time), while at the same time cultivating various point multipliers. It's really, really good.

Concordia: Only the second time I've played this economic engine game, but it did cement that I want this game in my collection. It's just so, so good. Simple enough to grasp immediately, but with enough depth that I instantly wanted to try it again. Also, designers, take note of Concordia's "score after the first round so players know what they're going for" technique. It's really smart.

Spirit Island: Well, they can't all be hits. This brutally punishing cooperative game is my favorite theme of the entire con (ancient gods work together to drive white colonists off a South Pacific island). Unfortunately, it was so overwhelmingly difficult that we didn't actually finish the game. Nothing we did felt like it had any impact whatsoever, and as Domano pointed out, we were supposed to be GODS. Instead, I felt more like a minimum wage security guard at the mall during Black Friday, helplessly trying to push the onslaught of people a few feet over before I got inevitably trampled to death. We all agreed that we want to try again, but it'll be a while before I give that one another shot.

Sidereal Confluence: Every year, I like to sit down to a monster sized game, and this year was eight players trading cubes and threats with this mammoth negotiation game. Sidereal Confluence is my favorite game from last year, and was a huge hit with everyone who played it. It's just so bizarre and unique. One player had the best technology in the game, but wasn't allowed to use it, forcing them to license it out in exchange for the resources they needed. Another player had the ability to steal from other players, but only if they refused to trade with him, meaning that he basically ran a protection racket. It's an amazing game, and after five and a half hours, I narrowly missed winning, being beaten by half a point.

Glass Road: This might be my favorite new game I played at the con. A tight, compact worker placement game with one of the most clever supply tracking mechanics I've ever seen. Made by the designer behind games like Agricola and A Feast for Odin, this is really streamlined, with a three player game (with two new players) taking less than an hour. It's really amazing.

Between Two Cities: A Stonemeier game that sees players cooperating with those to their left and right to build these tiny cities by laying tiles. It's pretty good, if a bit simplistic. I had fun with it, but there's not that much depth. Apparently, it really shines at higher numbers, so I'd be interested to try it with five or more players.

Planet Coaster: This falls into the Mousetrap category, in that the game is not that great, but the toy you get is a lot of fun. Players take turns bidding for segments of a cardboard roller coaster, and assemble them to try to get the best coaster. At the end, everyone takes turns rolling a marble down their coaster to see if it works, and can therefore be scored. It's okay, but it's a blast watching a marble rocket down a hill, spin through a loop-de-loop, and skip off into the corner. I'd recommend it for those with kids.

Tzolk'in: An oldie but a goodie, which unfortunately didn't really work due to some painful AP on the part of one of our players. What should have been a ninety minute game took nearly three hours. I still really like this gear-based worker placement game, while acknowledging that there's much better out there.

Nice write up, thanks! Agree with you on Sagrada. It's just terrific.

trichy wrote:

Spirit Island: Well, they can't all be hits. This brutally punishing cooperative game is my favorite theme of the entire con (ancient gods work together to drive white colonists off a South Pacific island). Unfortunately, it was so overwhelmingly difficult that we didn't actually finish the game. Nothing we did felt like it had any impact whatsoever, and as Domano pointed out, we were supposed to be GODS. Instead, I felt more like a minimum wage security guard at the mall during Black Friday, helplessly trying to push the onslaught of people a few feet over before I got inevitably trampled to death. We all agreed that we want to try again, but it'll be a while before I give that one another shot.

Bummer, I'm totally digging on this one right now, but my tastes in coop have changed over time where I actually enjoy greater difficulty as it makes the victories much sweeter. Did you play on the "new player" level with no blight card and/or the power progression?