The Big Board-Gaming Catch-All

quasiChaos wrote:

Anyone played Spirit Island on Steam? They just released multiplayer beta, but just wondering how well it plays in general as a solo experience. Plus, it's on sale so I'm even more tempted.

It’s a good adaptation, highly recommended.

In terms of solo: I am not a huge fan of solo spirit island. I enjoy the interplay with others, and find running more than one spirit a bit too much for my brain. However, I have friends who can play multiple spirits solo and enjoy it, so that might be just me.

Long shot... Any UK based GWJ board gamers heading to Airecon next week?

quasiChaos wrote:

Anyone played Spirit Island on Steam? They just released multiplayer beta, but just wondering how well it plays in general as a solo experience. Plus, it's on sale so I'm even more tempted.

I'm tempted, too, since I wasn't such a fan of the physical game, but a PC/IOS adaptation might be just the thing.

Natus wrote:
quasiChaos wrote:

Anyone played Spirit Island on Steam? They just released multiplayer beta, but just wondering how well it plays in general as a solo experience. Plus, it's on sale so I'm even more tempted.

I'm tempted, too, since I wasn't such a fan of the physical game, but a PC/IOS adaptation might be just the thing.

It's on sale on Steam now, I picked it up last night. My wife and I have a few friends we regularly play online board games with so this looked perfect. As far as playing solo I went through the tutorial and played a game last night, feels like it would lose its luster playing solo for more than a few games. The mechanics really lend themselves to discussion between a team and that's where the fun is.

I have been testing out the game Earth on TTS. It is in its last week on KS HERE.

Think Ark Nova and Terraforming Mars with some Wingspan elements. The joy of this game is that it plays MUCH faster than the other two by design. In Earth, you are growing plants and adding terrain on your 4x4 card tableau. Like those games mentioned, there are all unique cards, 200+ unique cards. The difference is that on each player turn, all other players get to play a similar, lesser turn. Additionally, the plan and terrain cards have a color bar element that activates whenever the action associated with the color (plant, compost, water, of grow) is activated.

Basically, no downtime and everyone does something every turn, propelling you to the end game (first to build a 16 card, 4x4 tableau, triggers end game).

We played a game with 5 as a teaching game that I was the only one who had played. We finished in 2 hours, including teaching. Same group of 5 playing likely finishes in 1 to 1.5 hours. Mino was in the game and can chime in, but it was as wonderful experience. It is $43 US for the game. IMO, a steal.

On a separate topic, Roll Player: Adventures is pretty awesomeballs. Nearly half-way through playing with three. ZERO regret as to the price point to satisfaction ration. The story is great, and the cooperative really does not fall into alpha gamer complex. There is no timer running to make decisions, but the adrenaline feels that way, as you discuss what you can do to modify the dice and what your friends can do. Got the personal backstory add on and am very happy I did.

Happy to elaborate more, but bottom line is that all three players are compelled to keep playing each week to learn more of the story and are loving the game mechanics. I have Roll Player along with the first expansion. While you can import a character, I would not recommended it, and select one of the many starters. I could easily see replaying it in different roles and making different decisions. The way success and failure plays out, I think it is best to RP you decisions over Min/Maxing what you do well and what you don't. Some good writing on the story side.

bhchrist wrote:

I have been testing out the game Earth on TTS, . It is in its last week on KS HERE.

Think Ark Nova and Terraforming Mars with some Wingspan elements. The joy of this game is that it plays MUCH faster than the other two by design. In Earth, you are growing plants and adding terrain on your 4x4 card tableau. Like those games mentioned, there are all unique cards, 200+ unique cards. The difference is that on each player turn, all other players get to play a similar, lesser turn. Additionally, the plan and terrain cards have a color bar element that activates whenever the action associated with the color (plant, compost, water, of grow) is activated.

Basically, no downtime and everyone does something every turn, propelling you to the end game (first to build a 16 card, 4x4 tableau, triggers end game).

We played a game with 5 as a teaching game that I was the only one who had played. We finished in 2 hours, including teaching. Same group of 5 playing likely finishes in 1 to 1.5 hours. Mino was in the game and can chime in, but it was as wonderful experience. It is $43 US for the game. IMO, a steal.

It was great! I did the KS right away. It's quick and easy, and I think could have the ease of play to help those not normally into heavy board games fit in nicely. Everything is symbols and colors, easily recognized. And with literally no downtime, boredom just doesn't exist.

So, two quick things.

1. Ark Nova keeps getting better and better. One of the best "any player count, 1-4" game I have played. Minotaar and I had an epic 2 player game, two wildly different strategies employed, and it was decided by 2 points, with me playing a card towards my strategy opened a door for Mino to piggyback on and fueled his comeback engine. This story is not unique from the group of us playing semi-regularly on TTS. Just a fantastic game that keeps getting better as I play it more. That is a rare trait.

2. Roll Player: Adventures is the game that keeps on giving. Playing it with three, including my son and my best friend. The story is fantastic, the mechanics feel inspired, not contrived, and we all have a ton of agency in how we confront conflicts. Basically, they have taken the core mechanisms of Roll Player of using cards and traits to manipulate the random rolls of dice. Somehow, they have made it even better and weaved a compelling story, both individual PC (with the expansion, which I highly recommend) and from a party standpoint. Choices we made in the first or second (of 10) adventure are rearing their heads in adventure 5 and 6. A campaign, not legacy coop game. I love Clank Aq Incorp Legacy, but man, this thing sings to me.

Got to attend the outstanding Tennessee Game Days this weekend. They had a section for mask-required gaming, required vaccination proof for all attendees, and a huge library of board games to borrow... All for $35. Seriously, if you're looking for a better value, I'm not sure it exists. While there, I got to play:

Nemesis: I mean, it's Alien. They can't call it that, but it's Alien. A semi-co op game about crew members on the Nostro... ah, unnamed space ship, trying to survive an attack by xenomo... uh, intruders. This game has some bumps, but holy hell, it might be the most atmospheric game that I've ever played. It's wildly unfair, but that fits the theme perfectly. You might get lucky, but it's much more likely that you'll be messily devoured. Our game ended when a fire spread too fast for us to control, and it felt wholly earned. Do I think it's worth the $150 that it costs? No, but if I ever spot a copy for less than a hundred, I'm gonna be mighty tempted.

Viticulture: A delight, plain and simple. You're running a winery. Well, to be fair, you're running a run-down hovel with a single crush pad, a barrel, and empty fields. It's up to you to build the winery. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Complex enough that I felt like I really had to think through what I was doing, but approachable enough that my friend who LOATHES worker placement ranked it one of her favorites of the weekend. Added it to my wishlist before the first game was done.

Memoir44: Enough people have called this a classic that I decided to finally give it a go, but man, what a letdown. One player plays the Axis, the other the Allies, in stripped down recreations of D-Day battles. In addition to the obvious discomfort of the theme, this was so simplified that it felt like a war game designed for twelve year old kids. Nothing was interesting, games ended without anything really challenging or thoughtful happening, and it just felt so very, very dated. Big flop.

Burgle Bros: Thought this was going to be game of the con for me. A co-op game about robbing an office building, while dealing with laser grids, fingerprint scanners, nosy guards, and loot that has a habit of kicking you in the ass. It's challenging, funny, thematic, visually stunning, and might be the first co-op game that resulted in a literal high five among the players that I can remember. (We had the good sense to look embarrassed right after that). Absolutely fantastic.

Beyond the Sun: Good as Burgle Bros was, it was IMMEDIATELY overshadowed by this, my actual game of the con. It's a tech tree board game, packed to the absolute brim with interesting decisions, all of which are delightful. You each are guiding future corporations in developing new research and colonizing worlds, but it's done through this elegant system of resource management and planning. Fantastic game, and one that is 100% being added to my collection.

Caper Europe: Two-player heist game about competing thieves crews trying to rob several locations. I really wanted to like this one. It's gorgeous, with fantastic art and components, but it just left me cold. I'm not a big fan of drafting mechanics, and this didn't sell me on it. In addition, it just felt a bit flat.

Tumblin' Dice: This is the love child of skeeball and cornhole, played with dice, and it rules. Nothing complex about it, but any game that lets my opponent make a perfect roll to knock my dice out of place, only to result in me scoring MORE points? We were shouting and laughing around the table. Outstanding game. Wish it wasn't so expensive, but it'll always come out at TNGD.

Rising Sun: I really, really didn't like Blood Rage, so I was curious if this would be the game that convinced me of Eric Lang's brilliance. Spoiler: it wasn't. I just don't click with his designs. Players compete as feudal Japanese lords in an area control game that has jaw-dropping minis and art that don't really translate to the gameplay. My friend was delighted to recruit these insane monsters that towered over enemy soldiers, only to discover that the boring card without a mini I chose was FAR more devastating. In a game that's ostensibly about warring monsters and armies, the winner ended up being the person who taxed shipping routes. Just not for me. (Note: this game is also kryptonite for AP-prone players.)

Winner's Circle: REPRINT WINNER'S CIRCLE. I need it. Inject those horses into my veins. My wife demands that we play this each year, and I'm always happy to oblige. Players bet on a horse race, but take turns deciding which of the horses the current dice roll applies to. Sometimes that means assigning an amazing dice roll to your favorite horse Regret. Sometimes that means assigning a sh*t dice roll to the horse your wife bet on, and watching her scream in rage. It's tight, fast, and exciting. Gimme a reprint, now.

Furnace: Players compete to build a series of factories, creating a production engine that swallows coal and spits out money. So much to like about this, but it left me a bit cool. Part of it is the length. By the time I felt like my engine was spinning up, the game was over. Add to that a strange two-player mechanic involving a ghost player, and it just didn't click with me. (I will say, this BEGS for an app. Perfect fit for mobile gaming).

Tiny Town: Players compete to build a small animal village in this adorable adaptation of a popular puzzle app. Did I say adorable? I meant ruthless, stressful, and panic-inducing. This game is HARD, to the point that the theme felt discordant. "Who's going to build a bakery for the bunnies?! Not you, you placed one cube in the wrong spot, and now the rest of the game will be an endless cycle of anxiety and self-recrimination ending with something that looks like less of a town and more of a landfill populated by possums." Not my favorite.

Kingdom Builders: An old favorite that's definitely starting to show its age. Players assemble kingdoms out of small settlements, trying to score points based on randomly drawn goals. If that sounds like it could describe a few dozen games, that might let you know how generic this felt. It's pleasant, but nothing that lingered with me.

Fantastic weekend, and definitely needed. Even lousy games are a good time when I get to actually play with people I care about, and I found some outstanding future additions to my collection.

Beyond the Sun is very good. Try the Boardgamearena implementation if you haven’t, it made me sell my copy because it’s so much faster and handles all the heavy lifting.

Yes, trichy, some of us have tons of Beyond the Sun games on BGA simultaneously. I got a friend into it and he’s got like 25 arena games of it at a time! If you need to learn, can do some GWJ group games. Free to join.

trichy wrote:

Burgle Bros: Thought this was going to be game of the con for me. A co-op game about robbing an office building, while dealing with laser grids, fingerprint scanners, nosy guards, and loot that has a habit of kicking you in the ass. It's challenging, funny, thematic, visually stunning, and might be the first co-op game that resulted in a literal high five among the players that I can remember. (We had the good sense to look embarrassed right after that). Absolutely fantastic.

Burgle Bros is still my favorite cooperative boardgame. And why would you be embarrassed about being excited about something? Lean into your nerd, brother. Was it the first or the second one? I think I like the second one more, but the first one is a more pure, rudimentary and brutal game.

trichy wrote:

Got to attend the outstanding Tennessee Game Days this weekend. They had a section for mask-required gaming, required vaccination proof for all attendees, and a huge library of board games to borrow... All for $35. Seriously, if you're looking for a better value, I'm not sure it exists. While there, I got to play:

Nemesis: I mean, it's Alien. They can't call it that, but it's Alien. A semi-co op game about crew members on the Nostro... ah, unnamed space ship, trying to survive an attack by xenomo... uh, intruders. This game has some bumps, but holy hell, it might be the most atmospheric game that I've ever played. It's wildly unfair, but that fits the theme perfectly. You might get lucky, but it's much more likely that you'll be messily devoured. Our game ended when a fire spread too fast for us to control, and it felt wholly earned. Do I think it's worth the $150 that it costs? No, but if I ever spot a copy for less than a hundred, I'm gonna be mighty tempted.

I'm off to Airecon in UK for a long weekend tomorrow, sounds similar in that need NHS vaccination proof, masks for walking the halls, can take off when seated. This'll be my first biggish (5k folks) full weekender convention. So looking forward to it.

Also good to hear all that about Nemesis! Have a game arranged over the weekend to try it. You've described what I hope it will be.

Also loosely arranged Spirit Island, Caverna, Brass Birmingham and The Great Zimbabwe, the rest will leave to random fate...

Remember when I first found this thread about 4 or so years ago asking about intro family/kids games?

Fredrik_S wrote:
trichy wrote:

Burgle Bros: Thought this was going to be game of the con for me. A co-op game about robbing an office building, while dealing with laser grids, fingerprint scanners, nosy guards, and loot that has a habit of kicking you in the ass. It's challenging, funny, thematic, visually stunning, and might be the first co-op game that resulted in a literal high five among the players that I can remember. (We had the good sense to look embarrassed right after that). Absolutely fantastic.

Burgle Bros is still my favorite cooperative boardgame. And why would you be embarrassed about being excited about something? Lean into your nerd, brother. Was it the first or the second one? I think I like the second one more, but the first one is a more pure, rudimentary and brutal game.

It was the first. I'm supposed to play the second one next weekend.

trichy wrote:

Viticulture: A delight, plain and simple. You're running a winery. Well, to be fair, you're running a run-down hovel with a single crush pad, a barrel, and empty fields. It's up to you to build the winery. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Complex enough that I felt like I really had to think through what I was doing, but approachable enough that my friend who LOATHES worker placement ranked it one of her favorites of the weekend. Added it to my wishlist before the first game was done.

Yes! This is a favorite for all ages at our house. The Tuscany expansion is also highly recommended.

trichy wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:
trichy wrote:

Burgle Bros: Thought this was going to be game of the con for me. A co-op game about robbing an office building, while dealing with laser grids, fingerprint scanners, nosy guards, and loot that has a habit of kicking you in the ass. It's challenging, funny, thematic, visually stunning, and might be the first co-op game that resulted in a literal high five among the players that I can remember. (We had the good sense to look embarrassed right after that). Absolutely fantastic.

Burgle Bros is still my favorite cooperative boardgame. And why would you be embarrassed about being excited about something? Lean into your nerd, brother. Was it the first or the second one? I think I like the second one more, but the first one is a more pure, rudimentary and brutal game.

It was the first. I'm supposed to play the second one next weekend.

There's a second one?? We've still got enjoyment to wring out of the first for sure, but that's definitely going on the wishlist.

trichy wrote:

Memoir44: Enough people have called this a classic that I decided to finally give it a go, but man, what a letdown. One player plays the Axis, the other the Allies, in stripped down recreations of D-Day battles. In addition to the obvious discomfort of the theme, this was so simplified that it felt like a war game designed for twelve year old kids. Nothing was interesting, games ended without anything really challenging or thoughtful happening, and it just felt so very, very dated. Big flop.

It is the most simple and approachable Command & Colors system game. Command & Colors: Ancients is quite good and offers significantly more depth, although it's not as visually appealing. The basics of the system are the same (playing cards that allow you to activate units on segments of the board) but it's a better thematic fit for Roman era and there's more complexity over command, influence and combat resolution.

That said my favorite lightweight war game is Manoeuvre. Simple mechanics, lots to think about and there's a fantastic cat-and-mouse feel as units retreat more often than take damage so the board state is always changing and you find yourself moving forward, feinting, pulling back and countering. It's really quite good and my go-to if I want to play a quick war game for two.

trichy wrote:

Beyond the Sun: Good as Burgle Bros was, it was IMMEDIATELY overshadowed by this, my actual game of the con. It's a tech tree board game, packed to the absolute brim with interesting decisions, all of which are delightful. You each are guiding future corporations in developing new research and colonizing worlds, but it's done through this elegant system of resource management and planning. Fantastic game, and one that is 100% being added to my collection.

I think Beyond the Sun is the best game design in years. Every system in the game ties perfectly back into the others in a way that very few games these days accomplish. It's endlessly variable, mechanically simple and so incredibly interesting due to the interworking systems. Just fantastic.

And yeah, I'd love for Winners Circle to get a reprint. Such a classic.

Trichy, I share your skepticism of Eric Lang's designs (I like Blood Rage well enough, the ones after I have NO use for), but regarding Memoir '44...what made you uncomfortable about the theme? War? D-Day? I'm genuinely curious, since there *are* wargames that have either problematic titles (Lebensraum) or take on some controversial subjects (Brotherhood & Unity: the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina).

I like Winner's Circle--I am after all a Knizia-phile--but it doesn't hit the table nearly as often as his other designs do. I had no idea it was OOP. That's shameful!

Man, I really wanted to love Nemesis, and was ready to back the reprint a couple years ago. Then I played it on TTS. I think I just don't like this style of co-op where it always feels like you have an impossible list of tasks to do to win.

benign1 wrote:
trichy wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:
trichy wrote:

Burgle Bros: Thought this was going to be game of the con for me. A co-op game about robbing an office building, while dealing with laser grids, fingerprint scanners, nosy guards, and loot that has a habit of kicking you in the ass. It's challenging, funny, thematic, visually stunning, and might be the first co-op game that resulted in a literal high five among the players that I can remember. (We had the good sense to look embarrassed right after that). Absolutely fantastic.

Burgle Bros is still my favorite cooperative boardgame. And why would you be embarrassed about being excited about something? Lean into your nerd, brother. Was it the first or the second one? I think I like the second one more, but the first one is a more pure, rudimentary and brutal game.

It was the first. I'm supposed to play the second one next weekend.

There's a second one?? We've still got enjoyment to wring out of the first for sure, but that's definitely going on the wishlist.

I didn't know there was a second one either. I have had the first on my wish-list forever, but never pulled the trigger. How is it for two players? And is the an easy way of describing why the second is better than the first? I may just hop into the sequel if it is remarkably better.

Natus wrote:

Trichy, I share your skepticism of Eric Lang's designs (I like Blood Rage well enough, the ones after I have NO use for)

Have you tried Ankh out of curiosity? I ask because it feels very Knizia-like compared to the rest of his games.

Natus wrote:

Trichy, I share your skepticism of Eric Lang's designs (I like Blood Rage well enough, the ones after I have NO use for), but regarding Memoir '44...what made you uncomfortable about the theme? War? D-Day? I'm genuinely curious, since there *are* wargames that have either problematic titles (Lebensraum) or take on some controversial subjects (Brotherhood & Unity: the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Generally, playing as Nazis nowadays makes me a bit uncomfortable. I don't think poorly of anyone who doesn't feel that way, just not something I feel like participating in.

Garth wrote:

I didn't know there was a second one either. I have had the first on my wish-list forever, but never pulled the trigger. How is it for two players? And is the an easy way of describing why the second is better than the first? I may just hop into the sequel if it is remarkably better.

I am a little bit split on this. I really enjoy the first one because it can be really difficult and you can fail pretty spectacular which to me can create some great memories. I have not failed any of the 5 games I have played of the second version.

So on one hand the first one is harder and has more difficult decisions. The tiles are less soul crushingly hard in the second one. A lot more locations are helpful rather than stopping you in your tracks, so it's smoother sailing. On the other hand, in the second one you have more tools to choose from and it has a better end than simply escaping the place due to that you get a objective you are trying to fulfill that is different than just trying to rob the place.

I think the second one would be better for 2 players simply because of these two things.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Man, I really wanted to love Nemesis, and was ready to back the reprint a couple years ago. Then I played it on TTS. I think I just don't like this style of co-op where it always feels like you have an impossible list of tasks to do to win.

Same, but I'm not a dungeon crawl kind of gamer. They always feel very random and more of an experience than a game.

Boudreaux wrote:
Natus wrote:

Trichy, I share your skepticism of Eric Lang's designs (I like Blood Rage well enough, the ones after I have NO use for)

Have you tried Ankh out of curiosity? I ask because it feels very Knizia-like compared to the rest of his games.

Yes, and I found it even more bizarre design-wise than Rising Sun. I know players can romp to a win in Lang's "dudes on a map games"--my teenage son did with Ankh--but for me they are "anti-strategy" games. All the things I love about strategy games (my favorite genre) from Diplomacy to Dune to T&E to HIS go out the window with Lang's designs, in my perception. I don't find that to be the case with CitOW and The Godfather, however, and I can tolerate the chaos in Blood Rage. But that's my own idiosyncratic take. Almost all of my friends just adore his designs.

We've played two games of Nemesis: Lockdown and it's definitely a polarizing game. Some people really dig the variety of ways the game can go and the stories that emerge. On the other hand, one guy in our group is really put off by the way things can go sideways for you very quickly, without any way to mitigate it.

Lockdown has a few twists on the original game; players are now in a research facility on Mars instead of the space vessel from the original. Some characters are survivors from that original encounter and start the game with more "knowledge" about the intruders (xenomorphs) which plays into goals and better combat bonuses due to knowing how to exploit alien weaknesses. Most of the mechanics are the same - exploring the map, utilizing your unique deck of cards to take actions, and balancing more actions and faster movement with increased vulnerability to alien encounters. The semi-coop nature is still there, with some goals being purely personal "do X and escape" and some being more nefarious Corporate goals such as "Player Y must not survive". The angle here is that you almost have to work together to survive, but you never know if the person you're relying on for safety secretly wants you dead.

One new addition we're not sold on yet is the addition of "Contingencies". Storywise, the facility is being overrun by aliens, everyone in the base is trying to achieve their goal and survive amidst power failures, fires, and alien attacks, and the overarching (Weyland-Utani) Corporation has a "cleanup team" enroute to secure the facility. At the end of the game, that team has a secret contingency order that may result in characters who survived being rescued or summarily executed. Those orders range from "Save everyone" to "Kill all players who did X or didn't do Y". Everyone knows one of the possible contingencies, the trick is to try to deduce what the actual contingency in play is so you can make sure you're not on the business end of a plasma rifle at the end of the game. Since players can't directly attack each other the contingency becomes one way to try to engineer the death of your target. Withhold (or lie about) that critical information and try to steer them toward or away from a critical action that they need to survive.

It seems cool but so far in practice, this system is kind of bland. Both of our games have been with 5 players, so we know 5 out of the possible 7 contingencies. There were immediate offers for everyone to share their knowledge; those who don't are viewed with suspicion. If 3 or 4 of us (with more benign goals) share this info, the contingencies lose a lot of their threat. It's a nice idea but seems to work better when more of them are unknown by everyone.

Overall it's a tremendously atmospheric game but with a lot of rules and component overhead. The benefit being you could play this dozens of times and every game would be wildly different.

Natus wrote:
Boudreaux wrote:

Have you tried Ankh out of curiosity? I ask because it feels very Knizia-like compared to the rest of his games.

Yes, and I found it even more bizarre design-wise than Rising Sun. I know players can romp to a win in Lang's "dudes on a map games"--my teenage son did with Ankh--but for me they are "anti-strategy" games. All the things I love about strategy games (my favorite genre) from Diplomacy to Dune to T&E to HIS go out the window with Lang's designs, in my perception. I don't find that to be the case with CitOW and The Godfather, however, and I can tolerate the chaos in Blood Rage. But that's my own idiosyncratic take. Almost all of my friends just adore his designs.

I'm not a fan of Ankh with 5 players, and it's iffy at times with 4. Too much chaos in between turns. With 2 or 3 it's by far the most strategic of the three and all of the chaos that tends to come up in his games is almost completely eliminated. Positioning of your units on the map becomes hugely important, managing the action board is critical to try to deny other people triggering events, even the order of battles drives major decisions. The only real uncertainty comes about in battles when trying to deduce what cards others might play, and even that is simplified a lot once a player has burned through a few of their combat cards.

Ankh is unique among his 3 "civ" games in that it is really, really excellent (and almost chess-like) with 2 players. Of course, all of this is very much IMO.

trichy wrote:

Memoir44: Enough people have called this a classic that I decided to finally give it a go, but man, what a letdown. One player plays the Axis, the other the Allies, in stripped down recreations of D-Day battles. In addition to the obvious discomfort of the theme, this was so simplified that it felt like a war game designed for twelve year old kids. Nothing was interesting, games ended without anything really challenging or thoughtful happening, and it just felt so very, very dated. Big flop.

I had the exact same experience at a con a few years ago. Based on the public perception I've always assumed we were playing it wrong or there's a lot of hidden depth we didn't pick up on. Glad to hear I'm not the only one befuddled by this one.

PuzzleBound wrote:
trichy wrote:

Memoir44: Enough people have called this a classic that I decided to finally give it a go, but man, what a letdown. One player plays the Axis, the other the Allies, in stripped down recreations of D-Day battles. In addition to the obvious discomfort of the theme, this was so simplified that it felt like a war game designed for twelve year old kids. Nothing was interesting, games ended without anything really challenging or thoughtful happening, and it just felt so very, very dated. Big flop.

I had the exact same experience at a con a few years ago. Based on the public perception I've always assumed we were playing it wrong or there's a lot of hidden depth we didn't pick up on. Glad to hear I'm not the only one befuddled by this one.

Honestly, I think Memoir '44 has been obsoleted by other games, especially Combat Commander. Yes, if you want some thematic granularity, the Middle East and Russian expansions help, but I haven't played my copy for years and years, whereas I play C&C: Ancients and Medieval as often as I can.

trichy wrote:

Got to attend the outstanding Tennessee Game Days this weekend. They had a section for mask-required gaming, required vaccination proof for all attendees, and a huge library of board games to borrow... All for $35. Seriously, if you're looking for a better value, I'm not sure it exists.

Great report there and I think our tastes largely align. Addressing the Eric Lang comments on his later games, I also am having an issue with them in that I'm not sure what they actually are. Ankh is more about gaining worshippers than territory, which is quite odd for what one assume is a strategic 'dudes on a map' game. In order to win, you just need to get more power, at any cost. I find it fun, but it's difficult to convince anyone to play it these days thanks to the reputation it brings of being off-key.

I was the biggest Lang fanboy back in the Chaos in the Old World days. CitOW was probably my favorite tabletop to whip out back then and I even got to play a game with Eric one year at GenCon many moons ago.

Because of my delight with CitOW I backed both Blood Rage and Rising Sun at the top tiers. Blood Rage got 5-10 plays, Rising Sun quite a few less than that, and I didn't even look at Ankh. Those designs just didn't hold up for me like some of my other favorites because I felt like they try to do too many things while doing none of them particularly well, with the high-quality minis being the selling point above gameplay. Aeoringas said it well: the first two games suffered identity crises and it sounds like Ankh is in the same boat. I'd definitely look at his future designs but they're no longer immediate Kickstarters, minis/loaded stretch goals or not.