What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Been playing a bit more Unmatched, with the Little Red Riding Hood vs. Beowulf set. They're both pretty neat. I'm starting to think I shouldn't make sweeping revelations about balance, and come to grips with the fact that I might just be better at this kind of hand management game. Bruce Lee still creates some negative experiences with his extra long turns. (Think Villages from Dominion, only you're getting your face kicked in). She had been kicking my ass in X-Wing for quite awhile, but with our new jobs we haven't wanted to play a game that long in awhile.

I picked up Bullet <3, and cracked open the rulebook. I'm sure it'll make sense after a play or two, maybe trying solo, but right now I really don't get how it works exactly.

FINALLY got my son, 8, into a game of DnD. Kinda like a nerd version of a Bar Mitzvah or Debutante ball?

Anyway, he's been asking me about "Wig and Marty" for a few days, something I thought might have been from one of the endless localized kids shows on netflix. But he persisted in bringing it up, each time with more info like "that show with the boy and the old man jumping on portals" but it wasn't until he mentioned 'pickles' that I put it all together..."Do you mean RICK & MORTY???"

"yeah yeah, that's what I said" (bootytraps).

So I quickly figured out that R&M are apparently featured in Fortnite and some youtubers were talking about it. So I took him to the mancave to show him the R&M vs DnD comics I had (definitely wasn't gonna show him the actual show, far too violent, though the comics aren't much better). He spots the R&M DnD boxed set up on a shelf. "What's that?" he asks. "Oh, just a R&M themed role playing game...." I baited him.

Then he uttered words all DMs LOVE to hear..."Can we play???"

Cut to thumbing through the books, looking over the character sheets, and playing with the neon yellow dice in the box. I showed him how to do a 4d6 drop lowest roll character creation and he quickly realized that higher was better. Then I gifted him with some blank character sheets I nabbed off WOTC.com and he immediately started drawing in characters, starting with Thor. We talked stat assignment but he quickly realized Thor ain't no scrub and gave him 100s in all his stats Then he made Ironman with 200's!

So we played a quick scenario about some Chitari goons jumping Ironman in an alley just to go through initiative, combat rolls, damage, etc. He even figured out skill rolls because he thought Ironman should spot bad guys easier because of Jarvis, so I gave him proficiency in Perception (though with stats of 200 or whatever, does it really matter??)

It was a lot of fun. I'd forgotten how spontaneous and improv kids can be, as the DM I didn't have to plan ANYTHING, just mention "hey there is a door" and he would invent 5 minutes of story about the door and what was behind it. We ended up with a fight between Tony and Thanos with Thanos getting knocked out but being saved by time travel Loki before Thor could get him.

I need to transition to minis because I think that will help him focus. I wish I had kept all my old heroclix minis because they would be perfect (I don't recall if I had a lot of avengers though) since he seems more inclined to play superheroes rather than DnD adventurers but I can fix that with some subtle TV show or game drops. We've played the DnD adventure games though so I might just use them as props.

Oath hit the table last night. Four players. I start out with the card that lets me spend a coin to add a Secret to the Darkest Secret Banner. I soon pull a card that lets me spend 2 favor to add two Secrets when I claim the Darkest Secret. I then spend many turns digging for said vision because it's randomly the lowest seeded vision.

So, while I'm off in the hinterlands trying to gather a tribe under the promise of forbidden knowledge, the Chancellor is hoarding the hell out of relics, which was the oath.

The Citizen is slowly building wealth and biding his time to grabbing the People's Favor, his win condition.

The other Exile made a mad dash at the beginning attempting to grab two relics early and become the Oathkeeper, but it's relatively quickly shot down as the Chancellor had a ridiculous coterie of advisors that let him pay the Nomads for Secrets and then take that money right back from the Nomads by trading.

I finally grab the Vision of the Dark Secret after seeing two other visions and discarding them. I mention to the other Exile that I discarded the Vision of Conquest into the Provinces discard pile, my hope is that if he goes for it then it would relieve pressure off my gambit. It does.

I get the banner of the Darkest Secret and reveal my vision, I use my advisors that have been hiding in the shadows all game and I recruit a decent sized army to defend. The banner had four secrets on it so any military action against it would have four dice. Yes, I may finally win a game.

No. The Chancellor comes up with a complicated plan to acquire more secrets by taking one from the Citizen (with an advisor he had), and buying another from the Nomads. He moves to my area and places a Denizen down. He burns a relic to gain four more supply to do all of this. He takes the banner by swaying the people and showing them the truth. I'm gutted.

The other Exile had made a play for the Vision of Supremacy but the Citizen then takes one of his sites. I see I have at most two turns left after this one and the Chancellor has a great shot at winning based on the die roll (which actually would give the Citizen the win because he had his condition fulfilled).

I flip the Imperium the bird and I ask the other Exile player if he will offer me Citizenship on his victory, he of course says yes. I attack the hidden fortress and remove the Imperial force protecting it, giving the other Exile supremacy again. He goes next and there's nothing anyone can do to stop me.

I'm starting to pack the game up by going through all of the steps to add and remove cards, and another player says - "that was only 80 minutes, we could play it again."

The second game I'm testing out my new Citizen digs. The game feels very different. I need relics to win and everyone else is going for conquest. Both Exiles (the former ruling family) push hard to raise armies and slowly gobble up land, leaving behind solid defensive armies. The terrain - a narrow pass in the middle of the board - sets up interesting logistical problems and territory changes hand every single turn.

I push for relics early not offering much help to the Chancellor. He attacks me and steals the Skeleton Key mid game because I am setup well.

We start flying through turns as everyone is one with the game. There are deals made and we get to the final, eighth turn after only 90 minutes of play.

I have a relic which allows me to muster four troops. I make a deal with an Exile to soften the Chancellor up and if I win, I will offer him Citizenship early next game. This isn't binding but he had no shot at winning himself and goes for it.

I build an army and we clash. The Chancellor rolls well but not well enough. I end up sacrificing 12 soldiers but I take the Skeleton Key back and win as Successor. Next game I have the crown.

I haven't felt this way about a game since I discovered Dune three years ago. Will this end up in my top 10? Just maybe.

The more I play Vampire: Rivals the less I like it. I mentioned in another thread it's a good game but it loses a lot compared to V:tES as it restricts and cuts down a lot of the mechanisms to hit the 45 minute playtime.

It just feels like a kiddie pool with a thousand bodies crammed in. There's too much going on and everything is too shallow. It's fiddly, the economy is tight but the overall balance and strategy is loose. It's simply not a ton of fun. I don't think it's outright terrible, but I've yet to play a Matt Hyra game I actually appreciate.

The new Sword & Sorcery: Ancient Chronicles surprised me a bit. I never played that last set but I know Michael enjoyed it. This is a very good Descent 1E style game that is full coop. It really wants you to play in a campaign and it's a long game. I dig it quite a bit.

Great Oath thoughts. Haven't had the opportunity to put it on the table yet, but I've been talking it up to my people.

charlest wrote: The more I play Vampire: Rivals the less I like it. I mentioned in another thread it's a good game but it loses a lot compared to V:tES as it restricts and cuts down a lot of the mechanisms to hit the 45 minute playtime.

It just feels like a kiddie pool with a thousand bodies crammed in. There's too much going on and everything is too shallow. It's fiddly, the economy is tight but the overall balance and strategy is loose. It's simply not a ton of fun. I don't think it's outright terrible, but I've yet to play a Matt Hyra game I actually appreciate.

This was almost exactly my reaction after our first game. Well, honestly, it was my reaction upon reading the rulebook, but it was only reinforced by the game. There's just too much happening to too little effect. We felt like we were going through our various clan contortions to eke out points here or there but rarely felt satisfied that we had "done something." That's certainly a way to render an often subtle socio-political contest, but it doesn't make for a very appealing game that lasts for an hour in the same way it would an actual political contest that played out over weeks or months (or years.) Will obviously play a few more times before I write anything, but my thoughts are not especially positive at this point.

Yeah, for some reason my first play felt better, maybe I was more hopeful how the social and political elements would develop with a larger group. It didn't pan out and my initial impression was off I'm afraid.

I'm going to give it a couple more plays but wish I didn't have to.

McFrank11 wrote: I've purchased a Foosball table, a small version. Reminds me of my childhood... Strange, but it was really hard to setup it, thx to the manual.

I'd love to have a foosball table, and I could convince the missus that I have to have one to spark joy. But nobody in my house is the least bit interested in playing foosball but me, and it isn't exactly a solo game.

I did play a few games against total strangers at a local arcade that has foosball tables, right before Covid hit. Comported myself pretty well, considering I hadn't played in 20 years.

Foosball never grabbed my interest. I was more a Cyberball 2072 kind of guy.

RobertB wrote:

McFrank11 wrote: I've purchased a Foosball table, a small version. Reminds me of my childhood... Strange, but it was really hard to setup it, thx to the manual.

I'd love to have a foosball table, and I could convince the missus that I have to have one to spark joy. But nobody in my house is the least bit interested in playing foosball but me, and it isn't exactly a solo game.

I did play a few games against total strangers at a local arcade that has foosball tables, right before Covid hit. Comported myself pretty well, considering I hadn't played in 20 years.

I loves me some foosball, we played it all the time back in college and I'm down for it at every dive bar that still has a table.

Can't have it in the house though because the rug rats are at that perfect height to lose an eye! Same reason the dart board is safely put away for a few more years.

I'd love to have a full sized pool table as well but damned if I have any room that would fit it. Bumper pool on those little tables just isn't the same. Air hockey inside a house is a recipe for disaster as well, not to mention the noise. Maybe one of those frictionless shuffleboard games would work.

Building a MAME cabinet is high on my list once I get the new house in order. That would make for a nice series of blog posts if I had a blog (and if a dozen folks haven't done it already). I wonder if they have digital pinball machines....they must, right? With a little motion detector so you can hip check the machine on occasion?

From the top (verified purchase) Amazon review for Brybelly Universal Safety End Caps for Standard Foosball Tables:

"Y'know when you're playing foosball and there's some inebriated, loud, annoying friend of your opponent, and he's standing off to the side making demeaning comments about your ability to play? And who will "accidentally" get too close and keep your players from being able to travel bumper to bumper like they're supposed to? Well, these bumper caps will make it somewhat less cruel when you finally get sick of the guy and you wait until his swaying puts his groin juust in target range and you slam that rod over with every ounce of power you have?

"These rod end caps ARE built well enough that they'll provide a little bit of protection . No prep, just slip all of them on and get yourself back to having fun. Until that guy recovers and is there again. But he won't remember what happened last time. Thank goodness for these end caps and their ability to mitigate damage to...the game."

And that is more or less how I ruined foosball for my high school gaming group.

We played foosball constantly when I was in high school and I became pretty good. Don't play much anymore, but every once in a while I'll make it over to a friend's house who has a table in his basement and astound his kids with how I can put the ball in the smallest of openings at will. Muscle memory is a real thing.

jason10mm wrote: Building a MAME cabinet is high on my list once I get the new house in order. That would make for a nice series of blog posts if I had a blog (and if a dozen folks haven't done it already). I wonder if they have digital pinball machines....they must, right? With a little motion detector so you can hip check the machine on occasion?

They do have digital pinball machines, and Visual Pinball can interface with MAME. I built a MAME cabinet many years ago and it is still going strong, even though it's on its 3rd PC. I don't think I ever got pinball properly working on it but it would be cool to do.

charlest wrote: ...
The new Sword & Sorcery: Ancient Chronicles surprised me a bit. I never played that last set but I know Michael enjoyed it. This is a very good Descent 1E style game that is full coop. It really wants you to play in a campaign and it's a long game. I dig it quite a bit.

Sword & Sorcery: Immortal Souls is one of my top games and a no argument 10 so really looking forward to getting Ancient Chronicles to the table, but we have to finish Immortal Souls first as our 10 months of lockdown stopped all gaming including that one so we're only halfway through having started Act 2 last weekend. And this is another kickstarter that gives you a literal ton of game to play for a pretty reasonable price.

I just have a retail core set of Ancient Chronicles. I'm honestly kind of terrified of the amount of tokens a full Kickstarter set must consist of. There are already about 75 different varieties in just this one box.

hotseatgames wrote: Foosball never grabbed my interest. I was more a Cyberball 2072 kind of guy.

I knew there was a reason I liked you.