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Re: What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?
Michael Barnes wrote: Why do people still insist on playing Diplomacy? It's like an embarrassing old grandpa that you can't get to leave.
It is such a waste of time...there are tons of games now that do what it did and more in literally a tenth of the time..
I'm partial to the title, Intrigue, but if you have other suggestions Michael, I'd value a few other suggestions of titles you find do this game mechanism justice.
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- Michael Barnes
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I would also say that Cosmic is a perfect replacement for it- after all that was what it was designed for.
Dune, Game of Thrones...even Spartacus has some elements that obsolete Diplomacy. Both versions of Imperial are obviously inspired by Diplomacy but with a stronger economic game attached to it.
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Before we started I taught my brother Theseus - He ran into a brutal combo during the first learning game, his marines versus my aliens, and was dealt wiped out on consecutive turns. The rematch game saw his Scientists vs. my aliens and somehow I allowed him to get 3 Secret passages in play and I could not overcome that board control and he ended up with the victory. Great game... after about five plays I still have no real idea what I am doing when I play but doesn't mean I don't enjoy it.
The other players showed up and we did a quick rules explanation and got into Blood Rage. We played game 1 with just the base game and 5 player expansion. Everyone made sub-optimal moves throughout the game as we learned the rules, but seemed everyone very quickly at least partially figured things out and had a good time coming up with some combos. My brother came from way behind the last age by sending tons of dudes into Valhalla and questing.
We stopped all ate dinner and then played a second game, adding the mystics expansion and the kickstarter monsters. My brother stomped everybody the whole game with good questing and board control, pillaging yggdrasil twice and maxing out all his clan stats. This game was much better and closer score wise as we had a slight idea of what we were doing, except me who had a completely miserable and embarrassing performance losing by almost 100 points.
I'm glad to report that my verdict on the game despite my pretty poor showings is that it is pretty fun. I was wary of the math crunchiness issue brought up here, and while likely there didn't detract too much from my enjoyment of the game (maybe I would do better if I let it). It is lighter than I thought it would be, plays very quick, and is easy to teach. I am a bit surprised that it has gotten the amount of positive reception it has as the game definitely did not blow me away, this should not take away that it is a very solid, tight game. I look forward to playing it more and becoming less bad and that I want it to hit the table again speaks to its quality.
I think its important to talk about the add-ons and kickstarter stuff too. Firstly I think the base game alone is plenty of game for a whole bunch of plays and I wouldn't spend high dollar amounts, with one caveat, to get the extra stuff. The caveat I speak of is if you are in it for the minis as I think Fenrir and Mountain Giant are the best two sculpts and if painting is a priority you may want to seek them out. The exclusive sculpted tokens are nice but other than being slightly easier to keep track of on the player sheets there is no need at all. In this game it seems more monster options = more fun so I like having those extras. The mystics added a cool little wrinkle but again very easy to play without and wouldn't really be missed if not there. The God expansion we didn't play with because after reading the rules for them decided its the type of thing to add and mix up the game play after the "vanilla" style needs a shakeup and we were no where near that point yet.
In the end I don't think this game is nearly as good as CitOW as I have oft seen it compared toward. They kinda do different things though and this one is much easier to bring to the table with inexperienced players while a dedicated group will get a lot more satisfaction out of CitOW. Also there was one player I thought this game would be a massive hit for and I was correct due to the combination of drafting + combos + theme - this game definitely hits all those marks and you will likely really enjoy it if that combination sounds fun to you. I personally would have liked more asymmetry in the factions as that style of game more suits my tastes, but this game isn't really that. At the end of the game each side won't be using drastically different play styles, just little tweaks and bonuses that shade one way or the other. My initial impression is that staying flexible and reactive while maximizing your own slight strengths is how to be successful (remember I got my ass kicked both times so what the hell do i know). I do really like the theme and think it does a good job presenting bad ass viking stuff, if you are super into that you have no excuse not to get the game.
TL;DR: The game is pretty good and very fun, quick and easy to teach, but not a legendary title that stands as a giant of design among the masses. I will always play, even when teaching to new players with the extra kickstarter monsters (not the alt sculpts just the new ones) and mystics expansion - those are the extra goodies that are most desirable but even those are pretty solidly in the optional acquisition category. If you enjoy miniatures these are easily the best I've seen in a board game, almost all of them are excellent.
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- Michael Barnes
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I have heard pretty universally that the KS stuff is pretty disposable.
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Shadowrun: Crossfire. Brutal game this time around, we were hosed in scene two. Still excellent.
Kingsburg. I need to play again, because we had a "problem player" who made the game drag out to almost three hours and a lot of frustration. I'm concerned about the key strategy appearing to be "roll high numbers" but it plays easily and I had fun with the mechanics (which are very light).
Blood Rage. First "real" play with other opponents. I tried to not overuse my familiarity from my couple of practice plays, and to highlight and warn about particular strong combos, but the nuances were not obvious to the other players. I went with a half-assed Loki strategy after turn one, stealing rage and gaining points for suicide. 2nd place player felt that 3rd place (we played three) made moves that were "kingmaker" in the final round. My perspective was that he kingmade himself by piling in on my pillages instead of letting me pillage with no battle. Also pointed out that most of the cards I used were passed around three or four times in the draft. This is a game that is going to need a group to become familiar with to really shine. I also feel it currently lacks the narrative potential of CitOW due to being more generic and opaque. Experienced players could alleviate that, and I think that the player-base could come up with some interesting ideas to solidify clans into roles, if that's what would help (locking in certain cards for each clan for Age 1 is the first thing I can think of).
Blood Bowl Team Manager. Some bad dice rolls, we called this after four rounds with one player having 38 points, 15 ahead of 2nd place. We played a three-player game, and the game really needs players familiar with how it works, and how to hold back runaway leaders. Still enjoyable.
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Michael Barnes wrote: Thanks for digging into Blood Rage...I'm waiting on MM to get it in but I'm really interested in seeing it in action...mainly because I don't see what the fuss is about. It looks like another decent hybrid DoaM. Which I love, but is it the next big title in the genre? It seems like the reactions are either "OMG board game Jesus" or "it's alright- mehven point five".
I have heard pretty universally that the KS stuff is pretty disposable.
I've now played 6 games, 4 times where we had access to the KS stuff but didn't even use it. I haven't even used the expansions (available retail) that I have either. The base game is complete and boasts tons of replayability.
I've already let it be known but this game has blown me away. I think you need to be a fan of the hybrid type games to really enjoy it and get the most out of it because it's not exactly Ameritrash.
What I think it does really well at its core is that it's direct and quick. Like Cthulhu Wars, no time is wasted and you're getting to the fun immediately. There's not as much buildup and delay as Chaos in the Old World.
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JEM wrote: Shadowrun: Crossfire. Brutal game this time around, we were hosed in scene two. Still excellent.
HELP!!!
I can't figure out how to play this game. We never win. Ever. It's brutally difficult, and in many cases, if you're playing with ANY of the bonus point options, a setup may happen on turn one that cannot be beaten with the default hand of cards.
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