What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

charlest wrote: I had GKR and got rid of it. The big knock at the time was that it's way too long for what it is. Did you not find that to be the case?

I mean the most important thing is that you're enjoying the entire play, and we do, but also no? The game definitely takes much longer on a first play than most skirmishes since you have to assemble and operate a deck that you know nothing about, but that goes away quickly and then you just slam through the 5 phases. Games with new players take about twice the time.

My spouse and I have this huge winter break game list (see instagram) and we got started on it last night... with Carcassonne which I haven't played in ages and ages.

It's still a very good game, but two things stood out to me. It is almost laughably cutthroat, esp with two. This is a knives out, fuck your opponent over game in an only slighty indirect way. Second, this game does not want to be as long as it is once you add tiles from the expansions in (traders and builders, inns and cathedrals were in). You need to cull out a certain number of tiles to make the game a more reasonable length and at least in my edition it's a real miss that they don't recommend culling a certain number of tiles out per expansion or something as an official rule.

As always, the winner was the winner of the brutal farmer main field battle, which is absolutely my beef with the game just like everyone else.

Vysetron wrote:

charlest wrote: I had GKR and got rid of it. The big knock at the time was that it's way too long for what it is. Did you not find that to be the case?

I mean the most important thing is that you're enjoying the entire play, and we do, but also no? The game definitely takes much longer on a first play than most skirmishes since you have to assemble and operate a deck that you know nothing about, but that goes away quickly and then you just slam through the 5 phases. Games with new players take about twice the time.

Interesting. I sold it without having played it due to other competing games and needing some money at the time.

A couple of people I talked to said they couldn't get it under two hours, at least with four players, and it tended to drag.

We played a game of Near and Far last night with the Amber Mines expansion. Most positive aspect is that the expansion is only $25 and adds a lot of stuff. Most blah aspect is that the expansion adds a lot of blah stuff. It is essentially 10 modules:

1. New thread cards: great addition. All it does is swap out the main game deck for a new one. This tweaks the point costs and mixes up the rewards (sometimes additional resources/reputation are gained, other times no tent can be placed). It's easy to add, easy to explain, and is an improvement, which makes it the best kind of expansion!

2. Amber mines: the main module for the expansion. This one is a mixed bag. It certainly makes visiting the Mine more interactive by adding a mini-exploration game, but it also slows down the start of the game as the Mine was usually a good way to get gems/gold to give a quick boost. It also adds the possibility of additional points by awarding points to the two players who put camps on the most amber. I feel like the main reason for this expansion was to give a purpose for food (it replaces skill as the requirement for placing tents in the Mine), which was pretty much pointless after you had 1 or 2 pack animals. We'll have to play a bit more to see how it works out with more experience, but as it is now it's just okay.

3. Magic: the Mystic's Hut was pretty crappy before, now you have a reason to go there! This slightly modifies the way treasure cards are drawn (keys off of exploration symbols in your party and not just a flat three) and also adds a magic track and spell cards. You can earn up to three spell cards, which are powerful one-shot abilities that can be reset by revisiting the Mystic's Hut. Spells are each worth one-point at the end of the game plus an additional two points for the top magic leaner. This is an alright addition, but feels more like it is trying to give a reason to visit the hut.

4. New General Store: this is 100% an upgrade to the worst building in the main game. The building now allows you to earn a coin AND take artifacts at the same time instead of either/or. If you do take an advanced artifact, you get to place a tent on the store. There is no reason not to include this module as it is simple to add and makes the building possibly worth an additional visit. In the base game, the only reason to go there is to take a coin. Getting additional artifact cards just slows you down.

5. Miner adventurers: factionless adventurers that have an added ability in the mine: when you place a tent, gain an additional coin. Simple easy addition, but has to have the Amber Mine added.

6. Magic teacher adventurers: one adventurer for each faction that has the added ability that they make moving up the magic track easier when visiting the Mystic's Hut. A minor change, but a little extra variety doesn't hurt.

7. Expert dice: each player can gain one of these the first time they visit the General Store. It replaces the 1-face with a reroll and the 2-face with a "keep or spend 1 food to reroll". A great addition and helps speed up the early game. It definitely makes quickly visiting the General Store a must.

8. Amber mine treasures/artifacts: new things to add to the base game decks. I will say that the Almanac (-1 coin/gem on all artifacts) is insanely powerful for a treasure. There is also a new advanced artifact that is relatively cheap, but is worth 10 points + 4 points for each advanced artifact including itself. Decent additions, but I am not sure that it is balanced with the core items.

9. Numbat animal companion: a new alternate starting pet. The rules change to allow players to draft their starting pet based on reverse order of prior game performance. The Numbat has three hearts so a player could feasibly explore on the second turn and place a tent without having had to visit the tavern. This would probably only be helpful if the starting adventurer pool was expensive or terrible.

10. Cooperative mode/minion cards: we have not tried this, but it looks like a fairly simple change to the game. Minion cards can be added to make cooperative mode tougher.

11. Two alternate event sets for two of the maps: these are two additional sets of events that replace the events for two maps in the base game. As it will probably take 30 games to exhaust the base game events (not counting character stories), this seems like a nice, but not essential add.

Overall, it is just an okay expansion that feels more like it is trying to patch a couple of weaker buildings in the base game (Mystic's Hut and General Store), while adding additional complexity to the most visited one (Mine). However, it is only $25, so it is still probably worth it for the two additional event sets, expert dice, new threat deck, and cooperative mode.

I played my first game of Warfighter WWII and am realizing that I am going to go broke picking up the expansions. It is a fun game with a friendlier playtime than FoF. Consequently, it will see more table time. I have Warfighter WWII Pacific coming in the mail so I will have more to muck about with.

The first game I played ended in a failed mission, but my soldiers were alive and limping along. The first location was a field that kept getting reinforced with recruits that kept shielding the more difficult targets. More grist for the mill that stopped my advance.

Gary Sax wrote: It's still a very good game, but two things stood out to me. It is almost laughably cutthroat, esp with two. This is a knives out, fuck your opponent over game in an only slighty indirect way.

Most of this tracks with my wife and I. We (try to) steal each other's features all the time. However we do enjoy playing with a ton of expansions, though only use the rules from a few of them. I've come to see the big farm fight at the end as not worth the 3 or 4 meeples dedicated to trying to win it for the points received. But I suppose it depends on how close the score is. We usually end up in the 250+ points range. It's still our main game together.

We ended in upper 100s iirc

Finished a solo campaign of Arkham Horror’s Return to the Path to Carcosa with Skids. The wider community tends to dump on the poor man who lacks any clear strengths, but he’s long been a dark-horse favorite of mine with his versatility and action acceleration. His was a pseudo-pacifist deck that forwent weapons for evasion and a handful of damage events.

Campaign was low on experience, but pretty successful otherwise. Didn’t lose any scenarios (with some asterisks for missed rules and the like). Spent a lot of time admiring the general design of the campaign. Even with another year of design experience and player feedback, the Return changes were pretty mild, mostly adding variety and fixing a few small exploits that most but for the extreme hardcore probably missed.

Maybe I’ll try Forgotten Age again with an eye to the secret ending next.

You play two investigator or one investigator setup solo?

Just one investigator. I tried two once, but it took so much longer, especially when I’m constantly building and rebuilding decks for the other two campaigns I’m in the midst of.

We were short a player last night, so instead of Vampire, we played three games of Shadowfist. It's a CCG from the mid-'90s that has managed to hang on all these years with occasional expansions, and was even published by Z-Man for several years. The setting encompasses kung fu, magic, and science-fiction, all with a Hong Kong action movie style. The gameplay is a hybrid of Cosmic Encounter and Magic: the Gathering, with Feng Shui (mana generating) site cards that you fight over. It's one of the better multi-player card games, except that the absence of the encounter deck from Cosmic leaves players free to bash the leader and prey on the weakest. One player had very competitive decks. Another player had a moderately competitive deck. My decks hadn't been tuned since the early 2000s, and my tactical skill at the game has gotten rusty.

My friend brought over his newly acquired Reavers of Midgard. This is a worker placement game with lots of cool dice to roll, but the only actual player interaction amounts to a) I got to this spot before you did OR b) I was able to give you a Terror (worth negative points at the end).

It plays smoothly and I felt like I was mostly in charge of my own destiny. In general when I was presented with an option to roll dice, I chose that option because fuck it, why not? I came in last.....

The components are gorgeous, as is the art. My only real complaint is that you have these wooden chicken leg meeples that represent food, and they are a pain in the balls to pick up. I honestly would have preferred nice cardboard tokens.

I would play this game again. My biggest criticism is that the last turn feels like the first turn. There is zero drama in this game. It just... happens.

The wooden versions of the resources were a KS extra. Assuming that’s how your friend got the game, he got the cardboard ones, too. I played one game with the wooden ones and said I never want to see the fucking things again.

We played TERRAFORMING MARS with PRELUDE and VENUS NEXT yesterday. Are we supposed to hate this? I haven't been keeping up. Anyway, we had a great time. I tried to get Plants going, but my younger son crashed asteroids and shit into them twice in the first three generations, so, nevermind I guess! My corp gave me 3Me back for playing a Victory Point card, so I just did that forever. Older son had scads of Venus cards and almost single-handedly advanced that track the whole way--I think I did TWO ticks, he got the rest. He also got this weird Microbes/Ants/Double Action thing going that was making a point a turn and keeping us off Microbes. Younger son was his normal scattered self (he's 8, forgive him), and mostly wanted to win the Thermalist prize. I ended up squeaking out a win with my 22 points of VPs from cards, to win by 4 at 93.

I hope we're not supposed to be hating TM, I have a positive Prelude review coming soon.