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What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?
- Michael Barnes
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- Mountebank
- HYPOCRITE
And it really is a 2000AD thing, not just Dredd. Slaine and Strontium Dog are in it. Also Nikolai Dante, but no one cares. He does not even appear on the awesome Brian Bolland Box Art. WTF, somebody actually said “let’s go with Nikolai Dante” over Rogue Trooper, ABC Warriors, the Angel Gang, Dark Judges...the storyline is some kind of OMG parallel worlds thing, but the board is Dan Tanna/Enid Blyton Block on one side and the Halls of Justice on the other.
Anyway, I had not played the original game but man, this is goooood. It’s an interesting design...it’s really very low key. There’s just not much to it at all. You play a card matching a character, they move or do an action. If you shoot or punch somebody they either play the appropriate counter card or they take damage. The rules are wafer thin with just a couple of wrinkles for high ground, cover, and simple LOS.
There is virtually no flavor text, event cards, pointless scenario setups, items, or any of that stuff. The teams are differentiated only by the assortment of icons available in their card decks and just a single special ability (like the Judges’ hi-ex rounds).
But there is subtlety in how things play out. For example, you can use Judge Anderson’s Psi ability to drain an another Character’s cards, and then you send in Judge Giant to blast them with the reduced risk of his shot being deflected. There’s quite a lot of depth and timing involved in the card play-
Sorting out when to spend to zero or hold for opportunity next turn.
I really like how the characters don’t start on the board and you choose when they come on- this is a much more impactful way to generate a scenario than a diagram of how to arrange the board.
What is really key however is this interrupting turn thing it has going on. At first I was like WTF is this shit. If you have a card with a ! icon, you can play it and take a -full turn- in the middle of someone else’s turn except for the 3 card draw at the end of a normal turn.
So a character might make a move to pick up a “reality fragment” but then boom, here comes Slaine our of nowhere. Johnny Alpha might move into a position to shoot poor old Nikolai Dante, but then he interrupts and moves into cover. This is not an IGOUGO thing because you might find your turn hijacked right in the middle of it- and this make the game feel more dynamic.
I’m really enjoying this one, it’s a unique take on the skirmish concept. Not sure if I would prefer the “plain” fantasy on this, I love the 2000AD setting.
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- Jackwraith
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Then we played Tiny Epic Kingdoms. It was Merfolk (me) vs Undead vs Orcs. We stuck to the base game, since the Orcs and Undead were first-timers. The Orcs tried combat, since the Undead did enough Research to get everyone up to at least the third level. They won their first couple engagements, but then took on both the Undead and me when we were loaded with resources and the Orcs weren't and the greenskins got beaten back. There wasn't enough water on the board to really make good use of my Patrolling abilities that I gained through said Research, so I just went for an Expand approach. The Orcs had also spent some time gathering Ore to try the Build strategy. They made it to the fourth level, but didn't have much else to speak of. When the Undead expanded to seven to end the game (the card was cleared on the next turn), they had 13 points to the Orcs' 12, but I had 14 courtesy of my own expansion (6), research (4), building (2), and the lone capital on the board, which was in my territory and surrounded, appropriately, by water. The difference between TEK and Camp Grizzly is that in the former there were multiple approaches and real decisions that had to be made. In the latter, none of that. It was just a matter of finding one item and staying one step ahead of Otis, which was easily predictable.
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- Jackwraith
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Galaxies is a dice game. There's no getting around that. But it's a dice game that, like other games with fistfuls of dice (see: Almost everything Games Workshop has ever produced), allows you to ameliorate the randomness of dice if you pay attention. The key element is the Follow action, which lets you pay Culture to duplicate the actions of other players. If you take advantage of that (which also means finding ways to generate Culture), you can pull off a variety of rather complex moves.
Kingdoms is about finding the balance between generating resources, spending those resources, and being in position to spend them efficiently. The fact that you can take three different routes to victory but can't ignore any of said routes is what really makes it work for me. Again, it's simple without being simplistic. The Heroes' Call expansion doesn't add a great deal of complexity, but it does add a ton of variety.
Western is the one I've found to be most divisive, because some don't like the huge influence that the card play has over everything else in the game. But, again, just like with Galaxies, there are ways around that if you use the Sheriff building properly (to raise or lower the value of your card and/or suit based on what's been dealt to the table.) I think finding the right way to play your hand and knowing which porches to take advantage of when they come up AND finding a balance between short-term VP strategy (bought building value) and long-term VP strategy (having the most symbols of the industries) makes the game more complicated than some people like, even though it doesn't seem so from the gameplay.
I think Mechs has gotten a bad rap recently, Vasel didn't like it because he thought the combat was "deterministic" (not sure he really knows what that word means...) and too easily predictable. But carefully planning when and how to attack and anticipating the opposition's movements and weapons is part and parcel of the game. You can't just load up your plasma cannon and go barreling into the opponent. It's not a wargame. It's an arena combat game, which means that you're scoring points by landing the right hits, just like a boxing match. Mapping out how to do that best is how the game is played.
I've only played Quest once, but it did seem a little short and pre-determined to me. But, again, I'm assuming it's just because I haven't had enough plays of it to figure it out. I've never played Defenders (co-op) or Zombies (1 vs all) because I'm kind of avoiding those game styles at the moment, but I really enjoy the series (obvsly) and think there's a lot of potential in all of them that I've played.
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However, the designer let me in on a playtest for a shorter game variant so I was able finally give it a go. It’s definitely for a niche audience, but I happen to be that audience. It’s almost no-frills worker placement, but it’s also very much a themeatic game with a legitimate atmosphere to it. It’s got some choose your own adventure stuff that isn’t an embarrassment to read. VERY morbid, definitely for those with a pitch black sense of humor. The same crowd that liked The Bloody Inn will be right at home.
The variant works well. Can’t really talk about it, but aside from one small problem that I brought up and is being considered, it does bring the playtime to about 30 minutes per player.
Definitely not a game for everyone but I really enjoyed it.
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I thought the original Vast was extremely innovative at the time and it really intrigued me, but it died quickly due to the immense effort to teach.
Mysterious Manor is still asymmetrical and everyone is still playing sort of their own game like Root, but I found it a step more approachable than Crystal Caverns and it felt tighter and more interesting overall. Root's a good touchstone because each person is pursuing their own goals with their own mechanisms, but you really need to keep an eye out for someone pulling ahead and try to mess with them if possible.
I took the early lead as the group of five skeletons, harassing the Paladin at every turn (I needed to kill him to win). He was slowly building up his power and gaining fury as he seethed in anger at the Giant Spider (his goal being to kill it). He'd find his legs mid-game and hack away at the thing, killing two spiderlings and then a third, bringing him close to victory.
The Giant Spider player started off slow. His role was probably the most difficult to understand as you can assume one of three forms every round - a giant ass spider, a half-spider sorceress, or a group of small spiderlings. They each have strengths such as the giant spider being able to lay eggs and the sorceress being able to tend to them and make them grow. There's a few paths to victory as well here and it seems to be one of the deepest factions. This player ended with the smallest progress towards their goal but finally started to figure out the synergies near the end.
The fourth player was the manor itself. He was represented on the board by a Wraith and needed to manipulate tiles and clear paths to fulfill seals on cards he had in his hand (basically he needed an obstacle-less pathway to move through dictated by cards in his hand). He would win the game flipping tiles around and swapping them across the board as well throwing up walls. He delayed me from winning by walling off several of my skellies, and he also put the Paladin in the corner slowing him down.
In retrospect we probably should have moved in the Wraith's way a little more but it was a close game. The Paladin had one health left and the Spider had two.
All four of us loved it. Really looking forward to playing more.
I also got the Shifting Realms expansion to the table, checking out the minotaur and demon land. A building combo in the demon area seems ridiculous so I need to check with Craig and see if we did something wrong. Otherwise it was fun though and I really liked the minotaur realm.
Quick game of Tales and Games: The Hare & The Tortoise which is my number 2 race game behind Flamme Rouge. I lost horribly as the turtle just wouldn't move and my hand was clogged up with wolf and fox cards.
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I enjoy the games because my group is fun, but I would have had at least as much fun with a different game.
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- Jackwraith
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While the top four played the cut, I played a 2 v 2 game of Unmatched. Like everyone says, it is an absolutely gorgeous production that I hope other publishers take note of. My Bigfoot and Bruce Lee got rolled by Alice and Robin Hood (mostly Robin Hood). Bigfoot's innate is pretty terrible in team games, and I think the Queen of Hearts map is a great one for Robin Hood, but talking with my teammate after the game and looking through our decks some more, I think we would definitely have a strategy and do better next time. Solid game.
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- hotseatgames
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- D12
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This was a four player game and I replaced Zeus with Hades. I used "simple" mode, which just changes out the monument, the artifact, and the blessings. There is an advanced Hades mode that uses a small side board where dead hoplites go. Perhaps next time. Some of Hades' blessings are very interesting. Most of them have to do with controlling monsters, but two that really stand out to me are: Plague - all other players lose 2 hoplites immediately and PERMANENTLY, and another that allows you to ignore all monster passive abilities.
These monster powers introduce an interesting decision: kill monsters for the victory condition, or leave them so you can control them to cause havoc. In our game, however, this was a non-issue, because the monsters were coming on strong for the entire game. At one point we had 9 monsters on the board. I really need to paint a few of them because the board was covered in sad grey plastic.
We were approaching the two hour mark and the game was about to end. This was the most exciting ending we have had, because 3 of us had fairly equal chances at victory. One was close to an area control victory, one via monster hunting, and I had a shot at winning by controlling the first finished monument after 3 turns. As an interesting aside, we actually ended the game with 2 completed monuments.
The player who didn't really have a shot was the only one who could stop the area control victory by my son. Unfortunately, he did NOT stop him, and he won the game. Had my son failed, I would have basically bolstered my forces in the region with the monument, and most likely still lost because then the 3rd player would have hunted his last monster and probably succeeded.
Another interesting tidbit on this game: it was the first time we used the "secret envelope" included in the KS. My son had the privilege of using it because he was the first to achieve 3 victories, but now that it's out, it is available to the winner of the prior game. I'll use spoilers just in case someone doesn't want the envelope contents... spoiled.
It is an alternate special hero power that you choose INSTEAD of your hero's power. It allows you first pick in EVERY blessing draft. My son used this to great effect. I don't think I'd call it broken but it is a great advantage to have if your hero isn't great. He had Leonidas, so he was wise to use it.
After cleaning LoH from the table, we set up a 3 player game of Terminator Genesys: Rise of the Resistance. At least I think that is the full title. This is a co-op from Lynnvander, designed by Josh Derksen of Cowboy Bebop fame, and previously the graphic designer of the only game that matters, SEAL Team Flix. ;0
I had played one game solo but this was the first time really putting it on the table. It's pretty simple to teach, but setup takes a bit since you have to build the board from several tiles and then throw down terrain tokens. Kyle Reese went first and was downed on the first turn by a T-800. Arnold got him back on his feet, soldier, and we proceeded to grab objectives and take down endos and drones. We managed to win the game and it was well liked. I expect we will continue the campaign, slowly.
EDIT: A big question came up in our Lords of Hellas game. The first monument to be finished was actually in a region that NO ONE controlled. There was the possibility that by the third turn, still no one would control it. The rule book does NOT cover this instance, and I didn't see anything with casual googling on my phone. We decided to just see what happens, and it would have been a non-issue anyway because I took the territory over via Usurp.
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Look, I’m usually someone who takes popular census on a game with a great big grain of salt, but this game is too long.
It’s also really good. The storytelling elements and macabre dressings are still working for me, and I really enjoy the three distinct phases the game takes when playing with the full rules. It’s just of exhausting after 2 and a half hours.
I’m interested in seeing what the final outcome of the short game variant is like, as it may push this to a “play every once in awhile” to a “play frequently” title for me.
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I also broke out This War of Mine. It's been awhile and I bought a copy of the expansion off someone at Gen Con, so I'm trying to get back into the base game and explore it some more before integrating the new stuff.
I forgot how great this game can be (in an absolutely terrible, but compelling sense). I lasted four days. Two of my people committed suicide. I found more people.
My last remaining starting character was wounded when scavenging (ran into a soldier who roughed me up). Everyone was hungry, ill, miserable, and exhausted.
I found a boy with down syndrome hiding in a closet and we tried to take him back but he snuck off.
We heard the two neighbor girls playing in the street, in broad daylight. Something must have happened to their parents but we weren't sure what. I decided to risk my ex-military officer's life to run out and save them. He got them to safety but took a sniper's bullet to the head. He was gone.
Night raids came, a collection of gang members and looters. My main guy was collapsed on the floor, trying to recover from exhaustion and too much work with too little time. We had been gathering a ton of water to give to another group of local thugs who were threatening us, and it took a lot out of me. Between that and burning wood and books simply to stay warm, we had little else.
But that night raid hurt. The group broke in and my guard fired her shotgun (yeah, I somehow found a gun which is exceedingly rare) right into the leader's head. They dispersed but she was wounded. We also only now had one more ammo token.
It all fell apart the next night when another group arrived, killing my guard while my other person was out scavenging. When he got back to find the woman dead and the stores looted (my canned food supply and shovel were gone, in addition to the precious shotgun), he collapsed from grief and took his own life.
Oh, I did try out one of the expansion modules - there's a small set of cards where you draw one to get a bonus when a character dies, but it comes at a cost. I drew a card which allowed me to auto-win a fight, but it cost me more misery. I don't really see what this adds to the game and am not really a fan. So first module used was a bust.
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I picked up a used copy of Scythe for cheap from a local seller. I had my first two-player game yesterday and thought it was alright. It was very fast and just interesting enough for me to want to try more. I know others have made similar comments, but it really is a simple game wearing a costume of a complicated one. My opponent just assumed it took 4+ hours (and he knows my tastes skew towards long games), but was a bit disbelieving when I told him the listed playtime. We still finished in an hour and forty five minutes counting setup time and rules explanation.
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- Jackwraith
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Anyway, solid game and something my girlfriend is willing to play.
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