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Kevin Klemme
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Mycelia Board Game Review

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River Wild Board Game Review

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Outback Crossing Review

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15 Nov 2021 14:47 #327985 by Msample

Kmann wrote:

Gary Sax wrote: I it's just drowning in a thousand dimensions of trackable open information that constantly updates. It's fucking exhausting.


It's called Imperial Struggle, Gary, not Imperial Take It Easy


The VASSAL implentation is excellent and automatically updates region control and trade goods counts. Gonna suck to go back to the physical implementation.

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15 Nov 2021 15:00 #327987 by n815e

mezike wrote: That’s the point where your shelves are croaking as well as creaking. I need to cull a few because they appear to be spawning again and the noise is keeping me up at nights.


Telltale Kickstart.
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17 Nov 2021 09:00 #328028 by san il defanso
Second play of Dune: Conquest (I think that's the colloquial nomenclature that's been most widely used...) on TTS last night, a 3p game. I no longer think I might like it better than the original game. Now I know I do.

That's not necessarily a statement of quality, but more a statement of personal preference. Those who really enjoy the diplomacy of the original will probably like the re-design, but it will never supplant the 1979 version. For my own part, the newer game has basically all the stuff I really love about the original game in a very concentrated dose.

What I like best is how dynamic the game is. While I wasn't extensively experienced in the original, my feel was always that the game boiled down to big chances for each player when you can make your move. When you make that move, you might succeed, but if you don't you are probably out of the game for a good couple hours until you recover from the loss. The new game is far more forgiving when a plan falls through. You don't need to spend ages hoarding spice again, creeping troops around the board, etc. Everyone feels basically in the game the whole time.

Playing with 3 players was pretty good! I liked 4 better, but I would certainly do it with this player count again. The thing I noticed most was that all three players need to be very active about stopping the other players when you don't have a full complement. In a four-player game the stable game state is for no one to win, and you have to make a push to get there. In a three-player game, the stable state is for a couple people to be very near a victory on any given turn.

The quicker pace of the game and focus on hidden information coming into play can make the game feel more chaotic than the original. I'm not sure that's necessarily the case, since the original game had a lot of the same qualities spread out over hours. But it did have that diplomacy aspect there to cushion some of the wildness, allowing yourself to still be in a position to win as an ally. The new version still feels more strategic than something like Cosmic Encounter, but it cushions the chaos through a faster pace and the market cards. I know which I prefer, but that's not how everyone else will feel.

It's just so much more playable. A game that sits on my shelf for years at a time isn't better in my book. I am pretty sure I am getting the new game for Christmas, and I see it getting lots of play at my table.
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17 Nov 2021 09:34 #328029 by Michael Barnes
I actually think that Dune ‘79 may be obsolete…the more I play the revision (which at this point is more than I’ve played the original in the past 10 years), the more I realize that it should be regarded as the core, baseline Dune experience moving forward. Accessibility and playability can’t be undervalued. This a Dune that makes it to the table and without a host of provisios, disclaimers, and qualifications. It’s one of those things where you can cling to the nostalgia of playing the old game under ideal conditions 20, 30 years ago and rarely play it anymore or you can embrace the more editorial, streamlined design and actually play it. I don’t miss the auction or even some of the more detailed elements. The wilder, more freewheeling negotiation is missed, but not the crazy 90 minutes to five hours play time.
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17 Nov 2021 09:38 #328030 by san il defanso
I played my copy of Dune maybe 5 times, and I would say that, like, one of those games was what I really wanted. Games that require so much diplomacy simply are not where most players are these days. I could never scare up 5 other players who understood that kind of gameplay well enough to make the game work as it was meant. I'm counting myself in that too; I just can't think in terms of long-term alliances very well. There's a reason that Cosmic Encounter is basically the only "alliance" game I like very much.

The old Dune was a game for grognards. The new one is a game for everyone.
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17 Nov 2021 15:09 #328043 by Disgustipater
I made an awesome PnP of Dune about 10 years ago and with access to a local meetup group dedicated to long, “epic” games, I played it maybe two dozen times over the span of five years or so, but that group kind of slowly dissolved after that and I’m pretty sure it’s completely dead at this point. I haven’t played it much since then, and don’t realistically see it hitting the table much in the future, despite buying the GF9 version + expansion as a backup. And when the streamlined version was announced, I immediately dismissed it as a “lesser than,” but you guys have convinced me to give it a try.
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17 Nov 2021 15:16 #328044 by Not Sure

Michael Barnes wrote: I actually think that Dune ‘79 may be obsolete…


Message received, Michael. The extraction team is on the way, we'll get you out of this and apprehend the people that have you captive.

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17 Nov 2021 15:51 #328047 by Sagrilarus
It's a shame it only lasted 40 years before being replaced.
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17 Nov 2021 19:52 #328056 by Erik Twice
I've played a dozen games of Dune in the last year alone and I pity all of you. When are we playing online? I wasn't kidding when I said we should.

san il defanso wrote: Games that require so much diplomacy simply are not where most players are these days.

You know what Voltaire said: It's dangerous to be right when established gamers are wrong.

Being serious, it is a problem. But if I stuck with the fans of Stephan Feld I wouldn't play a single game.
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17 Nov 2021 20:04 #328057 by Sagrilarus

Erik Twice wrote: I've played a dozen games of Dune in the last year alone and I pity all of you. When are we playing online? I wasn't kidding when I said we should.

san il defanso wrote: Games that require so much diplomacy simply are not where most players are these days.

You know what Voltaire said: It's dangerous to be right when established gamers are wrong.

Being serious, it is a problem. But if I stuck with the fans of Stephan Feld I wouldn't play a single game.


There’s a poetic aspect to this post.
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17 Nov 2021 22:23 - 18 Nov 2021 06:30 #328062 by Jexik
I got 7 Wonders Duel today for half price and managed to play it the same evening.

The open info makes it a surprisingly easy teach compared to a multiplayer drafting game. I like the slow reveal of the cards and the sort of incalculable wrench of taking 3 cards out of each deck. Our particular game felt low on science. I love the original game, and found it best at lower player counts. Something like 3>4>2>>>5>7>6. My gut feeling after one game is that it’s good and at least worthy of some the high praise it got.

The only thing I think I don’t like is the itty bitty cards used.
Last edit: 18 Nov 2021 06:30 by Jexik.
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18 Nov 2021 09:17 #328070 by san il defanso
I don't think I've ever seen a Science victory with just the base game, though it's more of a possibility with the Pantheon expansion. It more exists as a way to get advances in practice. That said, the threat of a science win does still exert some pressure on the base game.

The draft is so much more interesting to me than the base game. I really like the tension of taking a card you really need, but knowing that you might reveal something your opponent really needs. That's a tension that I just never felt in the original. The other thing that makes a big difference is the automatic game ends, because those give just a touch more thematic depth to the game.
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18 Nov 2021 13:52 #328082 by Msample
I vastly prefer DUEL to multiplayer 7W. That said, the 2P version of 7W is not without merit - basically each player has a tableau ; each then takes alternate rounds playing a "dummy" player. The trick is to either run the dummy out of money, or force it to buy your resources. And occasionally the dummy can beat both players !
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19 Nov 2021 14:59 #328100 by RobertB
I thought you could sneak in a Science win in multiplayer 7 Wonders if nobody wants it and nobody takes the cards for the team.

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19 Nov 2021 18:12 #328102 by Jexik

RobertB wrote: I thought you could sneak in a Science win in multiplayer 7 Wonders if nobody wants it and nobody takes the cards for the team.


It has happened decently often in my 6-7 player games because no one really pays attention to others and there's two copies of most of the science cards.

I think they were mostly referring to Duel, where there is an Instant Win if you get enough different symbols in your city. Much like the military victory in Duel, it seems like something you threaten, but rarely achieve.

I say this after my whole one game of it, but that's my sense of it.

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