Front Page

Content

Authors

Game Index

Forums

Site Tools

Submissions

About

KK
Kevin Klemme
March 09, 2020
35174 2
Hot
KK
Kevin Klemme
January 27, 2020
20840 0
Hot
KK
Kevin Klemme
August 12, 2019
7430 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
December 19, 2023
3981 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
December 14, 2023
3508 0
Hot

Mycelia Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
December 12, 2023
2080 0
O
oliverkinne
December 07, 2023
2587 0

River Wild Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
December 05, 2023
2258 0
O
oliverkinne
November 30, 2023
2500 0
J
Jackwraith
November 29, 2023
3022 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
November 28, 2023
1973 0
S
Spitfireixa
October 24, 2023
3698 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
October 17, 2023
2626 0
O
oliverkinne
October 10, 2023
2463 0
O
oliverkinne
October 09, 2023
2291 0
O
oliverkinne
October 06, 2023
2510 0

Outback Crossing Review

Board Game Reviews
×
Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)

Recent Topics paging, uploading images and preview bugs require a patch which has not yet been released.

× Use the stickied threads for short updates.

Please consider adding your quick impressions and your rating to the game entry in our Board Game Directory after you post your thoughts so others can find them!

Please start new threads in the appropriate category for mini-session reports, discussions of specific games or other discussion starting posts.

What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

More
05 Sep 2022 15:59 #335410 by dysjunct
TWIN PALMS. Recently Kickstarted and also on BGA. A clever and cute trick-taking game, with minor climbing elements. You only play two cards, and the hands are ranked. (Suited pairs, then unsuited pairs, then suited high card, then unsuited high card. And some suits beat others). You bid on each hand, and get lots of points if you hit your bid exactly, otherwise 1pt/trick. You can also bet points on hitting your bid, if you are confident on your bid -- and the size of the bets increases with the round number, so you can come back if you are behind. Fun and light, great art.

TIME BOMB: EVOLUTION. The only hidden traitor game I still have, from what was once my favorite genre. This one distills it down pretty far to the bone, and plays quickly. Unfortunately it is set in "Steampunk London;" fortunately the art is ignorable.

BEAR RAID. Second play of this stock manipulation game. I successfully shorted a stock and drove a company to bankruptcy (thus not having to pay back the stock), but the profit I made on this was dwarfed by the other players who went all-in on a company and then had the stock split twice. In retrospect I should have seen it coming and gotten in on the action. It definitely seems that shorting/splitting is the way to go -- the action economy is very tight, so trying to buy low/sell high is way too time consuming. But at the end of the game, all your positions (long or short) are liquidated for free, so it's better to hold on and try to manipulate the price to your advantage.
The following user(s) said Thank You: sornars, DarthJoJo

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
08 Sep 2022 01:16 - 08 Sep 2022 09:27 #335476 by Gary Sax
BGG contact who is leaving town for good next week came by for a last hurrah. We played a game of Beyond the Sun which I quite liked---it's such a smart focused design in my view. They could have absolutely blown out the area control in really detailed ways but the choice not to, instead they made a pretty brutal but simple area control map. It worked for me. Those other big 4x-ey games exist! This one does not!

The core economic engine flow is also really smart; the tempo is good in the game though when you fuck it up you feel it grind to a halt. I compared it to Space Base Phoenix, the game I thought was a *miserable* engine game I mentioned weeks and weeks ago---this game is all about combining actions and production to roll into your next actions efficiently, where that game just continuously grinds to a halt to take income and punish you for being a little inefficient. Absent everything else, the difference in the skill of the economic engine design in these two games was night and day.

I see why people call it the dry tech tree game, and it is, but it worked for me as a real distillation of the tech tree from 4x games attached to a slight but effective 4x style area control.
Last edit: 08 Sep 2022 09:27 by Gary Sax.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jackwraith, hotseatgames, sornars, Gregarius, DarthJoJo, Ah_Pook, n815e

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
09 Sep 2022 08:27 - 09 Sep 2022 08:56 #335499 by Vysetron
Played a lot of stuff recently but the only one I think is especially worth telling y'all about is Puzzle Strike 2. The original is one of the best deckbuilders I've played, and this one is at least its equal despite being completely different.

Bad stuff first: the production is stupid. Box is too big because for some reason it comes with a fucking plastic Disney-looking scepter. All it does is signify who's the current king of the hill. Ridiculous.

The game itself, though? Sirlin at his most unrestrained. If you think balance is boring then this is the deckbuilder for you. By about the halfway mark you'll be throwing a lethal amount of gems at your opponent only to have it reversaled and so on. Big tension, bigger combos. It's best at 2p which was true of the original as well, basically becomes a tennis match played with a grenade.

Try it digitally first I'd say, but it's very good.
Last edit: 09 Sep 2022 08:56 by Vysetron.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gary Sax, hotseatgames, sornars, Erik Twice, DarthJoJo, Virabhadra

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
09 Sep 2022 11:21 #335503 by DarthJoJo
Thanks for the thoughts. I had been watching the campaign with interest but was put off by the monster, four-minute combos already appearing in the second and third turns of preview playthroughs. It felt like too much downtime, too early in what wanted to be a spry, punchy game.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Vysetron

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
09 Sep 2022 12:51 - 09 Sep 2022 12:52 #335504 by Virabhadra
The real question, is it worth owning both if I love the original but have next to no shelf space? Should I upgrade?
Last edit: 09 Sep 2022 12:52 by Virabhadra.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Vysetron

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
09 Sep 2022 15:42 #335505 by Vysetron

DarthJoJo wrote: Thanks for the thoughts. I had been watching the campaign with interest but was put off by the monster, four-minute combos already appearing in the second and third turns of preview playthroughs. It felt like too much downtime, too early in what wanted to be a spry, punchy game.


There's a bit of that for sure. Generally we've only taken multi-minute turns when we're at death's door and sifting through a double-sized hand as a result, and/or triggering the pink gem bonus for extra cards and actions mid-turn. It's broadly not a problem though it'd be exacerbated in a 4p game, which I haven't played and don't especially want to.

Virabhadra wrote: The real question, is it worth owning both if I love the original but have next to no shelf space? Should I upgrade?


That's tricky because it's not an upgrade, they're straight up different games. I sold Puzzle Strike/Shadows because the digital version is just a better way to play that game, whereas this feels like a better tabletop experience because it's a marginally more traditional shop row deckbuilder. Very few of the original's mechanisms make a return. It isn't really trying to be another edition of the first, unless you count maintaining the tension of sitting on the edge of defeat while growing stronger for it.

It's very much a try before you buy situation. I really like it though. In the running for my favorite of the year, possibly over Dice Realms if the other shop decks are interesting.
The following user(s) said Thank You: DarthJoJo, Virabhadra

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
12 Sep 2022 08:21 #335514 by Legomancer
This weekend was ReUnity Games, a one-day event in Framingham, MA. Have been looking forward to it for some time. I got there at 8am and hit the ground running, but I'm still having withdrawal effects from tapering off Effexor. Had to give my eyes a rest at one point and ended up snoozing on a sofa for an hour or so. Played a game after that and then had dinner, which had me feeling better, but as soon as I got back in the ballroom my head was acting up. Don't know if it was lights, crowd, stimulation, what. Ended up leaving earlyish at 9.

Anyway, I played the following:

Power Grid (recharged rules, Middle East map)
Nanga Parbat
Babylonia
Caravan
Majesty: For the Realm
Dune: Imperium

All were new to me except PG. I won Nanga Parbat and Dune (as Baron Harkonnen). Will have more on the new games soon.
The following user(s) said Thank You: allismom3, Msample, sornars, DarthJoJo, n815e

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
12 Sep 2022 23:02 #335523 by Jackwraith
Finally got The Others back on the table. First time since the pandemic. It was with an entirely new group of players, so I had (per usual) a lot of explaining to do (Looocy!) but they caught on quickly. I gave them Alpha Team because they're one of the strongest and have some of the easier to understand characters. I took Pride because, again, it's simple but can be challenging for an uncoordinated team. We also played a combat scenario (Haven in Flames) to, again, simplify the introduction. They hammered through the first couple goals in the first two rounds and put the Avatar on the table. He promptly killed Leah and Morgana (Misogynist!) but they did a good job of containing the fires with Karl staying in his human form most of the way. But Thorley took down the Avatar before dying to some fire and then Karl beasted up and charged at the Controller. The dice flew and the Controller did three Corruption wounds to Karl who was maxed out, killing him, but died to the lycanthrope's claws, winning the game for FAITH.

Setup, explanation, and game took a little under two hours. They did get some great rolls going their way, so they got a little lucky, but they played well. I also used the Corrupted Hoboes, which aren't the best Acolyte in that scenario, because the gear spots aren't plentiful, but I also didn't want to max out my efficiency and crush them and kill any enthusiasm for playing again. No problem there, though, as they all commented about how much they liked it. So I think we're set to play again next week and try something more complicated, like a Redemption scenario. I'll give them the full stack of teams and let them pick and I think I'll go back to an old favorite in Sloth...
The following user(s) said Thank You: hotseatgames, sornars, DarthJoJo

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
13 Sep 2022 08:09 #335528 by stormseeker75
My awesome wife has a wonderful way of picking a game we own that I basically forget exists and saying we should play that.

This weekend, out of left field: "We should play Noctiluca!

Alrighty then!

I remembered playing it and thinking it was good. And I think it actually is. It's probably best as a 2-player due to the analysis involved. Three might work but four sounds dreadful.
The following user(s) said Thank You: DukeofChutney, DarthJoJo

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
13 Sep 2022 08:56 - 13 Sep 2022 08:56 #335529 by Erik Twice
I'm totally addicted to Sekigahara. It's abstract, sure, but it's one of the tightest designs I've played in years. In fact, I think it's one of the best wargames I've played so far. It has none of the rules nitpicking, event-learning, forced-play patterns that dominate other games and it's actually so simple I would recommend it for people getting into this side of the hobby.

I've been playing online with Sornars on Yucata and it has been a lot of fun.
Last edit: 13 Sep 2022 08:56 by Erik Twice.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gary Sax, Cranberries, Jackwraith, mezike, sornars, DarthJoJo

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
13 Sep 2022 10:04 #335532 by Shellhead
Nothing. I'm taking a little break from board games right now, but will get back to them soon enough.

I met a woman online in June and then face-to-face in July. By late August, we fell in love and then she had to dump me recently because I don't believe in God. She knew that about me up front but thought we could be friends, and then it got serious anyway. She appreciated everything about me, even my board games, but the atheism was a total dealbreaker. I told her that I was willing to convert but she wasn't willing to wait. While things were up in the air for a couple of weeks, I went to church and also read an interesting book that a Christian friend gave me many years ago, A Life Well Lived: A Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes. It didn't make me a believer, but definitely diminished my appreciation for material things and left me feeling like my life is empty. I went on a first date with someone else last weekend, and there was physical attraction for both of us, but she is obsessed with travel and I am stuck at home giving my elderly cat 3 pills a day. That sense of emptiness returned as I drove home from an otherwise pleasant date.

Fortunately, my childhood best friend is coming to town soon. His employer is sending him to the Twin Cities for 3 or 4 months for a specific project. They are covering all his expenses, but will only pay for him to fly home every other weekend, so we are planning to hang out every other weekend. We played a lot of board games back in the day, ranging from Stratego to Squad Leader, so I think he is going to enjoy playing ameritrash games.
The following user(s) said Thank You: mads b., Rliyen, allismom3, RobertB, Cranberries, dragonstout, lj1983, hotseatgames, n815e

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
14 Sep 2022 22:18 #335555 by jason10mm
FWIW, if you are still pursuing the christian girl and want to read something with her, I recommend C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. I went through a similar experience with a religious girl once upon a time. It ended anyway but that's just 'cause she ran off to Harvard :P
The following user(s) said Thank You: Shellhead

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
15 Sep 2022 09:40 #335564 by Shellhead
Thanks, I might take a look at that in the coming months. I haven't experienced any epiphanies or miracles yet, but going to church again has been a mildly pleasant experience. It's slightly possible that I could become a normal, casual sort of Christian some day, if I keep going to church. I would rather go to Hell than become one of those intense, fanatical sort of Christians that is obsessed with judging and avoiding any sort of fun that is not connected to church. This Christian woman was semi-intense. She tried one of my board games and enjoyed it, and she liked walking around in nature. But ultimately she tanked an otherwise promising relationship because she found the existence of a kind and considerate atheist to be a threat to her faith. And then there is 2 Corinthians 6:14, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers." So no chance of us yoking.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Rliyen, dysjunct, sornars, n815e, Kmann

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
15 Sep 2022 11:16 - 15 Sep 2022 11:18 #335567 by dysjunct
One of the things that fanatical Christians and fanatical atheists have in common is a maniacal insistence on putting a literal interpretation of scripture ahead of all other considerations about religion.

(Said as a former member of both groups, now having settled into a soft apatheism. My kid has recently gotten interested in Judaism, so I take her to the local Chabad House. They’re nice people there.)
Last edit: 15 Sep 2022 11:18 by dysjunct.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Shellhead, Rliyen, RobertB, Gregarius, n815e

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
15 Sep 2022 11:58 #335568 by hotseatgames
Do as thou wilt, but if someone demanded any kind of conversion, I'd show them the door.
The following user(s) said Thank You: jay718, stormseeker75, sornars, n815e

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Moderators: Gary Sax
Time to create page: 3.399 seconds