The Big Board-Gaming Catch-All

I've sneered at SU&SD reviews in the past, but I thought this one of Eclipse: Second Dawn of the Galaxy was very good and infectiously funny while still keeping the pace. It doesn't hurt that he pretends to throw out his TI4 edition at the end since it's become obsolete.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I settled on Just One, which seemed the best fit for what I know of his regular gaming groups. (You know, once this damned pandemic is over.)

Feegle wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I settled on Just One, which seemed the best fit for what I know of his regular gaming groups. (You know, once this damned pandemic is over.)

Great choice! My 74 year-old aunt actually asked if we had brought that to our tiny, pre-quarantined Thanksgiving of seven people. We had, naturally.

Itch.io Black Friday sale. Anna Landin reports that all of her games are on sale, and Itch isn't taking a cut. 100% of proceeds to the creator. I'm unfamiliar with her tabletop games but she has a huge thread of what they are here.

Hey, an actual new release board game! Occasionally a game will come out of nowhere and suddenly I'll hear numerous mentions that get me interested. Such was the case with Whistle Mountain.

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Apparently this is loosely tied to Whistle Stop, which I never played, but is a completely different game and unrelated in any other way. It's a worker placement game similar to Tzolk'in where you place workers to get stuff but then remove workers to DO stuff.

You're building scaffolding in a river valley, then machines on top of that scaffolding. As you build, you try to rescue/promote workers from the valley up away from rising floodwaters and then into scoring tiers.

The cool thing is you build machines on the board which become the worker placement spaces, and depending on how they're arranged on the board you may be able to trigger other adjacent spaces. There's a nice agonizing balance between building something you need but also giving everyone else the chance to use it as well (and sometimes first).

Have played 2 player and 4 player and both were fun and very different. With 4 there is so much more competition for stuff, whereas with 2 you're really focusing on the other player and trying to simultaneously benefit yourself and thwart their plans.

I just went crazy and bought a buttload of Arkham TCG. I've heard good things here about it and went on faith.

This was the haul:

Arkham Horror: TCG - Core Set
Arkham Horror: TCG The Dunwich Legacy Expansion
Arkham Horror: TCG The Miskatonic Museum Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG The Essex County Express Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Blood on the Altar Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Undimensioned and Unseen Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Where Doom Awaits Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Lost in Time and Space Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG The Path to Carcosa Expansion
Arkham Horror: TCG Echoes of the Past Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG The Unspeakable Oath Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG The Pallid Mask Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Return to the Night of the Zealot Upgrade Expansion
Arkham Horror: TCG The Forgotten Age Expansion
Arkham Horror: TCG Guardians of the Abyss Stand-alone Scenario
Arkham Horror: TCG Labyrinths of Lunacy Stand-alone Scenario
Arkham Horror: TCG Curse of the Rougarou Stand-alone Scenario
Arkham Horror: TCG Carnevale of Horrors Stand-alone Scenario
Arkham Horror: TCG Daisy Walker Investigator Upgrade and Playmat, "2017 Invocation"

-BEP

bepnewt wrote:

I just went crazy and bought a buttload of Arkham TCG. I've heard good things here about it and went on faith.

This was the haul:

Arkham Horror: TCG - Core Set
Arkham Horror: TCG The Dunwich Legacy Expansion
Arkham Horror: TCG The Miskatonic Museum Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG The Essex County Express Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Blood on the Altar Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Undimensioned and Unseen Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Where Doom Awaits Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Lost in Time and Space Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG The Path to Carcosa Expansion
Arkham Horror: TCG Echoes of the Past Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG The Unspeakable Oath Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG The Pallid Mask Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror: TCG Return to the Night of the Zealot Upgrade Expansion
Arkham Horror: TCG The Forgotten Age Expansion
Arkham Horror: TCG Guardians of the Abyss Stand-alone Scenario
Arkham Horror: TCG Labyrinths of Lunacy Stand-alone Scenario
Arkham Horror: TCG Curse of the Rougarou Stand-alone Scenario
Arkham Horror: TCG Carnevale of Horrors Stand-alone Scenario
Arkham Horror: TCG Daisy Walker Investigator Upgrade and Playmat, "2017 Invocation"

-BEP

Your haul is admirable, never mind the price you paid in dollars or sanity.

Can I ask where you found that haul? I’ve been trying to find some for a while but it’s been sold out everywhere I looked.

I've played a ton of Arkham Horror TCG online. It's probable my favorite or close to it of the Arkham games. Except maybe for eldritch horror.

That's a whopper haul, should keep you busy battling beasties for a while!

I've got the core set and enjoyed. My detective skills have determined that am receiving Dunwich Legacy for Christmas, probably. My wife never buys me games, but I've dropped some heavy hints and a delivery arrived for her with "Chaos Cards" packing tape has me pretty hopeful. Looking forward to getting to it.

I've been collecting it as well, I think I got all of the first cycle and scattered from the rest. I don't understand why they don't keep the older packs in print, it can't be that hard since it's all the same card stock anyway.

The last of my Cyber-November game purchases have come in. I look forward to being able to play games with people in person again instead of just with Vorpal Board.
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jonnypolite wrote:

Can I ask where you found that haul? I’ve been trying to find some for a while but it’s been sold out everywhere I looked.

A guy on FBook Marketplace was selling a bunch of games, including all of these. There's also a second Core set and a second copy of one of this:
"Arkham Horror: TCG The Unspeakable Oath Mythos Pack"

I don't know anything about the game, so I don't know if having a second Core set makes sense.

Natus wrote:

Your haul is admirable, never mind the price you paid in dollars or sanity.

If Kit never asks how much it was, I can always tell myself it was less than it really was... right? Or is this how the insanity starts?

master0 wrote:

I've played a ton of Arkham Horror TCG online. It's probable my favorite or close to it of the Arkham games. Except maybe for eldritch horror.

The only one I have played is Elder Sign. We enjoyed it, but I haven't brought it out in a couple years.

I'm going to need help understanding what I have at some point. I'll hit some Let's Play videos or How To Play videos soon. If you know of a video or site that does a good explanation of what the different expansions are and how they work with the set, please let me know.

-BEP

I also picked up Mystic Vale and a bunch of Dragonfire stuff from the same guy.

Dragonfire Core Game
Dragonfire: Wondrous Treasures Expansion
Dragonfire: Character Pack: Heroes of the Sword Coast
Dragonfire: Adventures - Shadows over Dragonspear Castle
Dragonfire: Adventures - Chaos in the Trollclaws
Dragonfire: Adventures - Sea of Swords
Dragonfire Character Pack: Heroes of the Wild
Dragonfire Promotional Characters: Githyanki Fighter & Githyanki Rogue
Dragonfire Moonshae Storms
Dragonfire Corruption in Calimshan
Dragonfire Ravaging the Sword Coast
Dragonfire Sword Mountains Crypt

Kit and I played Mystic Vale when we were in San Diego a couple years ago. I thought it was ok and she liked it so I've been looking for it on the cheap. The guy was also selling a bunch of add-ons for it, but they had already sold.

Much like the Arkham stuff, I am not familiar with the Dragonfire game. I glanced over the BBG page and it seems like it was the kind of game I would like so I took a chance on it, too.

I don't think I'll be buying any games for a long time if I want to continue living in this house.

-BEP

We just got The Haunted Mansion - Call of the Spirits. It's a great little game dripping with the theme of the ride. You try to collect ghosts in sets to score points while trying to limit the number of hitchhiking ghosts ("Haunts") that you collect.

bepnewt wrote:

I don't know anything about the game, so I don't know if having a second Core set makes sense.

If you want to play with another person, another core pack is helpful since it's difficult to build a complete starter set for two players with one core pack. If you are solo-ing, one core pack is fine. If you don't want to spend the money, you can get by with what you have by opening some of the other packs and get the detective cards out and following the build guides in the rules.

bepnewt wrote:

I'm going to need help understanding what I have at some point. I'll hit some Let's Play videos or How To Play videos soon. If you know of a video or site that does a good explanation of what the different expansions are and how they work with the set, please let me know.

-BEP

The core pack has a self contained story in it, so start with that. After that comes the Dunwich Legacy (the big box called "Dunwich Legacy Expansion"). After you finish the stories in that box you start opening up the smaller sets one after another as you finish them. You can look up which order they are in or it should say at the end of the adventures (like.. The story continues in -insert name of expansion pack-).

It's one of my favorite games and I hope you enjoy it. Remember... losing spectacularly can be just as much fun as winning and even if you lose, the story continues.

Fantasy Flight has a "how to play" video right here:

Speaking of Arkham, but not the card game. Does anyone have the Innsmouth expansion for the second edition of the Arkham Horror board game? For a reasonable price I'd be interested in buying it from you if you are willing to part with it.

Fredrik_S wrote:

If you want to play with another person, another core pack is helpful since it's difficult to build a complete starter set for two players with one core pack. If you are solo-ing, one core pack is fine. If you don't want to spend the money, you can get by with what you have by opening some of the other packs and get the detective cards out and following the build guides in the rules.

-snip- other great info.

Thanks. I guess I'll keep the second Core set, then. I don't play games solo. I tried that with 7th Continent and wasn't a fan of solo play. I need to sell that game.

I appreciate the info and will check out that video after work.

One more thing - does having a second copy of "Arkham Horror: TCG The Unspeakable Oath Mythos Pack" make sense or should I get rid of it? One was opened, the other sealed.

-BEP

bepnewt wrote:

One more thing - does having a second copy of "Arkham Horror: TCG The Unspeakable Oath Mythos Pack" make sense or should I get rid of it? One was opened, the other sealed.

-BEP

Not really. I mean, there are the equipment cards in there that you could double down on, but nah.. sell it off.

Anyone have any great game ideas for giving kids? Mine are 11 and 8, but play games above that range. I'm working on my Christmas shopping.

Fredrik_S wrote:
bepnewt wrote:

One more thing - does having a second copy of "Arkham Horror: TCG The Unspeakable Oath Mythos Pack" make sense or should I get rid of it? One was opened, the other sealed.

-BEP

Not really. I mean, there are the equipment cards in there that you could double down on, but nah.. sell it off.

Cool, thanks!

-BEP

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Anyone have any great game ideas for giving kids? Mine are 11 and 8, but play games above that range. I'm working on my Christmas shopping.

Bears Vs. Babies, Exploding Kittens, Unstable Unicorns, Castle Panic, Villainous, The Haunted Mansion.

My boys (8 and 10) love My Little Scythe, and I like it a lot too. It’s got lots of great decision points and it’s quite fun, and quick, we can get a game done in less than 45 min. They also
love Catacombs.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Anyone have any great game ideas for giving kids? Mine are 11 and 8, but play games above that range. I'm working on my Christmas shopping.

My 8 and 14 year old both enjoy Clank (and Clank in Space) quite a bit. We just finished Clank Legacy as a family and had a great time.

jigsawhc wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Anyone have any great game ideas for giving kids? Mine are 11 and 8, but play games above that range. I'm working on my Christmas shopping.

My 8 and 14 year old both enjoy Clank (and Clank in Space) quite a bit. We just finished Clank Legacy as a family and had a great time.

We played Clank Legacy earlier in 2020, which I must have mentioned at the time. It really made our week for quite a while, and improved our quarantine!

If the kids are into Disney at all, then Villainous is a great pick. Each Villain plays differently, but the theme can usually pull kids through. There are several versions, and they can all be played independently, so I suggest choosing by theme.

The Marvel version is much more complicated, and I do not suggest it for younger kids.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Anyone have any great game ideas for giving kids? Mine are 11 and 8, but play games above that range. I'm working on my Christmas shopping.

Vast: Crystal Caverns is a big hit among my friends' kids. (Mine are only 5, so not there yet.)

Oh, and Galaxy Trucker!

Anyone have thoughts on the Fireball Island remake for kids? Great table presence, for sure.

Fireball fell flat for us, it's just not that engaging as a game, i think. Great toy, though, but the novelty of the toy part wears thin quickly.

Splendor is another good game for the kids, mechanics-wise. Theme-wise, it may make their eyes glaze over.

King of Tokyo, particularly the Grim Edition, however, is fantastic.