The Big Board-Gaming Catch-All

Dreaded Gazebo wrote:

Finally got to table up Twilight Imperium 4 (vanilla, no expansions). Picked it up at release and life just hasn't allowed for it to happen. I'm an avid fan of Twilight Imperium 3 and was really looking forward to giving this a go!

I absolutely adore TI4. We try our best to get at least 1 game in every year but with the pandemic its been awhile. Thats a fantastic story you told and now I want to play it again.

merphle wrote:

I finally had a chance to crack open Return to Dark Tower and play the inaugural game with my family. None of us had ever played the original, so we kinda had no nostalgia or foreknowledge to rely on. We didn’t watch the tutorial video, and just kinda waded in. We spent a decent amount of time reading the rules during the course of play, which slowed things down, bit we eventually got onto a pretty good roll. Sadly, we ended up losing the game in month 4, at just past the 2-hour mark.

Nice! I quite like this game. There's a nice variety of scenarios and combinations.

Anyone know if there's a Battletech (tabletop) thread? Am thinking about buying it for my lad for his birthday coming up. Beginner Box maybe.

I just recently got the Btech beginner box. The rules are pretty grognardy. There are tons of tables that you have to look up. Plus, if you want to paint them, the models are a bit rough compared to other games.

I'd recommend something easier, depending on your son's tastes, like Warhammer 40k Kill Team or Star Wars Legion.

Ta. I'll see if I can look at the rules see how rough they are.

He likes painting 40k minis, just not much interest in playing it. I don't either really.

He enjoys playing Blood Bowl which is on a grid rather than tape measure etc which got me thinking about Battletech and hex movement when the beginner Box popped on on my radar.

Have you also considered Xwing? Certainly more beginner friendly. While there aren't hexagons, there are the little movement templates so you don't have to bring out the tape measures. The rules, certainly for the 3 ships you get in the starter kit are pretty easy particularly if you go with the simple rules without additional actions.

Carlbear95 wrote:

Have you also considered Xwing? Certainly more beginner friendly. While there aren't hexagons, there are the little movement templates so you don't have to bring out the tape measures. The rules, certainly for the 3 ships you get in the starter kit are pretty easy particularly if you go with the simple rules without additional actions.

I hadn't thought of that no. Never played it myself, I'll have a look into it thanks. He's not a huge Star Wars fan, but battling space ships might win him round. He likes big mechs, anime, Pacific rim, that kind of thing so thought Battletech might work on that front.

You might also want to look for Battletech Alpha Strike which, from what I hear, is a scaled down set of rules.

In other news, I've got copies recently of Brian Boru: High King of Ireland and Wayfarers of the South Tigris, and been very much enjoying both of them.

Brian Boru is just a really interesting selection of systems, pretty simple and quick but it seems to have a remarkable amount of depth.

Wayfarers is really crunchy and puzzly—probably almost the limit for me. Building out the tableau of places you've explored is really neat, and the way the different choices come up keeps things interesting. Between dice rolls for actions available, and the different cards each game, you seem to always end up pursuing different strategies to take advantage of what you have.

MikeSands wrote:

In other news, I've got copies recently of Brian Boru: High King of Ireland and Wayfarers of the South Tigris, and been very much enjoying both of them.

Brian Boru is just a really interesting selection of systems, pretty simple and quick but it seems to have a remarkable amount of depth.

Wayfarers is really crunchy and puzzly—probably almost the limit for me. Building out the tableau of places you've explored is really neat, and the way the different choices come up keeps things interesting. Between dice rolls for actions available, and the different cards each game, you seem to always end up pursuing different strategies to take advantage of what you have.

Just got Wayfarers...may get to play it this weekend. I've heard good things about BB.

Bubblefuzz wrote:

Ta. I'll see if I can look at the rules see how rough they are.

He likes painting 40k minis, just not much interest in playing it. I don't either really.

He enjoys playing Blood Bowl which is on a grid rather than tape measure etc which got me thinking about Battletech and hex movement when the beginner Box popped on on my radar.

There is a great Humble deal going on for BTech books aplenty. I wouldn't necessarily get the top tier including the beginner box since I believe you can get that cheaper elsewhere especially when including shipping. Granted, they are digital copies and growing up I wore out my physical copies of the manuals, but most people on the Battletech subreddit agree it is a great deal at pretty much any level.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/i...

I never had an issue with the rules being too grognardy when I learned it around 7th grade, but maybe I didn't know any better. Played it a LOT and then played it again in college even more. We loved making custom mech configurations and doing battle almost every night. We just had a handful of miniatures and picked ones that we thought would most closely resembled our concoctions, used a cardboard map or two and threw on some "lichen" train decorations for trees and had a blast! Highly recommend!

Carlbear95 wrote:

Have you also considered Xwing? Certainly more beginner friendly.

This is one I've started to look into recently. Looks like it may cost a bit to get into with all of the various ships, but I would also recommend you giving this a look as well. I watched a playthrough on YouTube on TableTop with Wil Wheaton, and it looks very streamlined.

Hope you find something fun to play with your youngin, whatever the game may be!

I saw an interview with X-Wing's lead designer. He said his metric was the simple/basic rules had to be streamlined enough that his 8 year old could teach his 6 year old how to play.

With the full ruleset there are maneuvers and cards and special rules layered on top, but the base of the game is solid and straightforward.

quasiChaos wrote:
Carlbear95 wrote:

Have you also considered Xwing? Certainly more beginner friendly.

This is one I've started to look into recently. Looks like it may cost a bit to get into with all of the various ships, but I would also recommend you giving this a look as well. I watched a playthrough on YouTube on TableTop with Wil Wheaton, and it looks very streamlined.

if you were anywhere near me I'd literally hand you all of my 1st ed. stuff. I'll admit I was more fascinated by the system and the prospect of playing than actually playing... then 2nd ed. came out and even though there were "conversion" kits available I knew I wasn't going to go down that road again, so I just have a box full of nice looking xwing ships and a binder of useless cards

Bubblefuzz wrote:

Ta. I'll see if I can look at the rules see how rough they are.

He likes painting 40k minis, just not much interest in playing it. I don't either really.

He enjoys playing Blood Bowl which is on a grid rather than tape measure etc which got me thinking about Battletech and hex movement when the beginner Box popped on on my radar.

There is a new Battletech box coming out in a week or so for "Alpha Strike". The rules are a lot more streamlined than the OG version. The core system is measuring tape, but there are optional rules that allow you to easily convert to hex maps, alternative dice rolls to make the game faster/slower, etc.

I think it's sub $100 for 13 mechs, books, paper terrain...

I find the Mechs much more fun to paint than anything by GW, but that's just my opinion.

Thanks all.

I think it's between X-Wing and Battletech.

Watched the old Tabletop vid and X-Wing looks fun, light and breezy. The only thing with X-Wing is that it looks to be a bit of a money pit should we dig a bit deeper into it beyond the Starter Set.

Battletech, have watched the Guerilla Games Let's Play of the Beginner 1v1 box and that looks the ideal level of complexity for my lad and I think we'd enjoy playing that together, possibly more than the X-Wing box. However I can understand what a few are saying in that stepping up to the what looks to be reasonably priced regular Game of Armoured Combat box is definitely more in depth and might be trickier to keep track of with multiple mechs and the different systems added. Will look into Alpha Strike.

The mech minis although fairly simple looking do seem like they could be fun to paint and a nice change from GW stuff.

I think Battletech Beginner Box is a defo purchase for us to try together, it might be more of a joint Christmas present for both of us, a project to paint a mech each and play a few games, see how it goes.

As his birthday is so close to Christmas and X-Wing is fairly reasonably priced for the core set at least and it might be I buy that too... Thanks to you all!

Not too bad though, as I was looking at buying the Kill Team box at £60 beforehand, but like I said, neither my boy nor myself have much interest in that beyond painting the minis.

This way we get to try 2 games!

How pricey it gets beyond that should we love one, tother or both... will see!

Played our first two games of Ahoy. Enjoying it a lot so far.
2 factions are basically playing area control and then the other 2 are doing pickup and deliver.
I've only played 1 of the factions but helped my son with 2 of the others.
The factions are somewhat asymmetrical but most of the main actions are the same across all 4 so after a couple games I feel like I could play any faction and be fine. Looking forward to playing more and working on a strategy beyond just attacking everyone all the time because it is fun

Hey Bubblefuzz, If you're looking for something kid friendly I'll throw Bot War in the mix. Full disclosure, I have worked on the game over the years. There are stockists in the UK.

https://tradersgalaxy.com.au/

Prozac wrote:

Hey Bubblefuzz, If you're looking for something kid friendly I'll throw Bot War in the mix. Full disclosure, I have worked on the game over the years. There are stockists in the UK.

https://tradersgalaxy.com.au/

Cool thanks will check it out in future... For now I picked up both the X-Wing and Battletech beginner boxes just yesterday, discounted on board game store of choice. Oops.

I bought the Battletech Alpha Strike box at PAX Unplugged yesterday. I'm reading through the ruleset now. It is a paired down rule-set that uses the same units as the regular rules. Basically it assumes you will fire all your weapons at once (because yes), simplifies movement and terrain rules, and keeps damage tracking much simpler. What you lose is mech customization, damaging specific areas, and detailed crit damages affects. But there is like half a page of tables versus 4 pages of them. Movement is based on inches, but is pretty easy. You don't have to keep track of spending movement points on turns and facing.

But the really cool thing is that they are releasing mech packs for specific units like Eridani Light Horse, Wolff's Dragoons, etc.

Nevin73 wrote:

I bought the Battletech Alpha Strike box at PAX Unplugged yesterday. I'm reading through the ruleset now. It is a paired down rule-set that uses the same units as the regular rules. Basically it assumes you will fire all your weapons at once (because yes), simplifies movement and terrain rules, and keeps damage tracking much simpler. What you lose is mech customization, damaging specific areas, and detailed crit damages affects. But there is like half a page of tables versus 4 pages of them. Movement is based on inches, but is pretty easy. You don't have to keep track of spending movement points on turns and facing.

But the really cool thing is that they are releasing mech packs for specific units like Eridani Light Horse, Wolff's Dragoons, etc.

If you want more complexity from Alpha Strike, you can look up getting the Commander's Edition book (~$40).
It has a bunch of optional rules that you can tweak the game to you and your play group's preferences. No where near as complex as OG BT, but you can add sprinkles as you like.

They released some of the mech packs already (Wolf Dragoon's) and have various Lance/Star packs that include AS cards too (from the Kickstarter).

For painting the plastic mechs, they "slap chop" really well so you can bang out a lot very quickly.

Got to table up my copy of Twilight Inscription last night. It's a long, epic roll and write with a Twilight Imperium theme.

To be clear, this is NOT Twilight Imperium: The Roll and Write game. Playing the game feels nothing like playing Twilight Imperium, although it does borrow a lot of terminology and some thematic concepts from the game.

That said, this is truly an epic roll and write if you are looking for that kind of thing! The decision space is quite large so you have lots of room to experiment, but the mechanics are smart in that they do a good job of requiring you to narrow that decision space on your turn by selecting one of the four boards to interact with. Overall the mechanics are really satisfying and you get a good sense of progression throughout the game. It's also the most interactive roll and write I've played; you really do want to pay attention to what others are doing as you'll be racing to complete objectives first, battling against each other in wars and saving up votes for agendas that can impact the game.

There's also a lot of variety, too. Every player has four boards in front of them and every board is unique. Additionally each player chooses a faction to play as and there's a ton of them in the box (each with their own special abilities) along with some variation in objectives, agendas to vote on and powerful relics you can earn. The variable boards were really awesome and had much more significant differences across players than I expected which was pretty cool.

Our three player game clocked in just over 2 hours, as did one solo game I tried. Seems like the game will be pretty static in terms of run time which is awesome. You just have to be the type of person who is down for a two hour roll and write We all agreed it was really fun and engaging throughout!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/...

Gonna get to try out My fathers work tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

Dreaded Gazebo wrote:

Got to table up my copy of Twilight Inscription last night. It's a long, epic roll and write with a Twilight Imperium theme.

To be clear, this is NOT Twilight Imperium: The Roll and Write game. Playing the game feels nothing like playing Twilight Imperium, although it does borrow a lot of terminology and some thematic concepts from the game.

That said, this is truly an epic roll and write if you are looking for that kind of thing! The decision space is quite large so you have lots of room to experiment, but the mechanics are smart in that they do a good job of requiring you to narrow that decision space on your turn by selecting one of the four boards to interact with. Overall the mechanics are really satisfying and you get a good sense of progression throughout the game. It's also the most interactive roll and write I've played; you really do want to pay attention to what others are doing as you'll be racing to complete objectives first, battling against each other in wars and saving up votes for agendas that can impact the game.

There's also a lot of variety, too. Every player has four boards in front of them and every board is unique. Additionally each player chooses a faction to play as and there's a ton of them in the box (each with their own special abilities) along with some variation in objectives, agendas to vote on and powerful relics you can earn. The variable boards were really awesome and had much more significant differences across players than I expected which was pretty cool.

Our three player game clocked in just over 2 hours, as did one solo game I tried. Seems like the game will be pretty static in terms of run time which is awesome. You just have to be the type of person who is down for a two hour roll and write We all agreed it was really fun and engaging throughout!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/...

That sounds quite fun, and a refreshing take on the TI universe. Might snag a copy to make my friends fall out of their chairs in shock.

The Earth Board Game is almost here! Gaming Rules did an unboxing of their copy. They received an early copy of the finished product since they were commissioned to create the official How To Play video.

I received a Kickstarter update that said US copies are on a cargo ship headed for the mainland and they expect shipping to homes to begin around mid-February.

Fredrik_S wrote:

Gonna get to try out My fathers work tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

So I played it. It's not bad. Nor is it the second coming of board game jesus that some reviewers claim it to be. The main core of the game is the worker placement which is fairly standard. Place a worker, gain a resource. What is neat, though, is that the map you place your workers on (the town, if you will) change as the story goes on and which decisions you make. In our case, the church disappeared and was replaced with a bank at one point. So that's pretty neat and something I've not seen in a worker placement game before.

The story was not bad, but since they have an electronic way of presenting it with the ipad it's very verbose and flowery. Some people might be into that, but it took a very long time to get through something that could have been resolved in 2 minutes reading a little card a la Arkham Horror LCG.

The iconography could have been a bit clearer. We were all a bit confused in the beginning on which workers can go to town and which can only do things at your mansion, but as the game went on and after multiple corrections around the table we got it down. Get ready to make mistakes your first playthrough.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned in reviews is that the game is very funny. When you start out you are new to experiments so you have no idea what you are doing, and the experiments reflect that, having you do things like "pour different things on a dead body", "rub worms on your head" and silly things. Later on you become more proficient and experiments take on a more sinister tone.

I did like that the story was very flexible and changed depending on what kind of experiments we were aiming for and what we had done, although quite a few things that were mentioned in story events were never resolved. Don't expect an amazing story, but it serves it's purpose and gave us more than one chuckle. Having to interact with the ipad after every round and quite often more than a couple of times does become a chore, though.

So yea.. it's not a bad game, but it's VERY long. I think we ended up playing for almost 5 hours with just a couple of short 10 minute breaks and we don't really had any AP down time, but it was the length of listening to the story, clicking through events every turn, and the multiple tear down and setups you do through out the game that makes it take a long time.

Do I wanna play it again? Honestly, I doubt it. For what you get out of the game in 5 hours, I'd rather add a couple of hours and play another round of Twilight Emperium or shave off a couple of hours and play either Arkham Horror LCG (for silly story) or a more standard worker placement game.

Picked up a dinged-up copy of Mage Knight Ultimate for about 2/3 RRP from eBay (still in shrink, ding isn't that noticeable).

I think I've got a lot of work to do (and how-to-play videos to watch).

Fredrik_S wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:

Gonna get to try out My fathers work tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

The story was not bad, but since they have an electronic way of presenting it with the ipad it's very verbose and flowery. Some people might be into that, but it took a very long time to get through something that could have been resolved in 2 minutes reading a little card a la Arkham Horror LCG.

The language is quite verbose, as it is heavily Victorian themed. Personally, I quite like it and think it adds a lot of charm and flavor. I think it lends itself to having interesting personal narratives because the choices the players make regarding the town matter, how they pass things along to their children, etc. It makes it feel like you're really a part of the story. I've played it a few times and look forward to going back to it.

davet010 wrote:

Picked up a dinged-up copy of Mage Knight Ultimate for about 2/3 RRP from eBay (still in shrink, ding isn't that noticeable).

I think I've got a lot of work to do (and how-to-play videos to watch).

I'm a bit jealous. I would love to get this and really dig into it, but I just know would never find the time. It looks like it takes some dedication.

Good luck with it!

Minotaar wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:

Gonna get to try out My fathers work tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

The story was not bad, but since they have an electronic way of presenting it with the ipad it's very verbose and flowery. Some people might be into that, but it took a very long time to get through something that could have been resolved in 2 minutes reading a little card a la Arkham Horror LCG.

The language is quite verbose, as it is heavily Victorian themed. Personally, I quite like it and think it adds a lot of charm and flavor. I think it lends itself to having interesting personal narratives because the choices the players make regarding the town matter, how they pass things along to their children, etc. It makes it feel like you're really a part of the story. I've played it a few times and look forward to going back to it.

Yup. I introduced it to Minotaar in a 4 player game and it wasn't close to a 5 hour experience. In some ways, based on the shared experience, I kinda wish it was! As always with these game, experiences vary, but my 5 plays of it are the opposite of what Fredrik seemed to experience. Our Coen Brothers script-like downfall was glorious.

Shogun is now in alpha on BGA! I've set up a room for anyone interested in learning/playing: https://bga.li/t/340188869

This is one of my all-time favorites. Lots of meaty, meaningful decisions to make combined with the right amount of chaos from the cube tower. So good! We'll ideally want 4-5. I don't quite know how smoothly it'll play turn based; I feel like it should be okay given a lot of your planning is all done simultaneously and resolution is usually pretty straightforward outside of movement/combat.