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Mycelia Board Game Review

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Outback Crossing Review

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16 Nov 2015 19:45 #215195 by wadenels
Diplomacy is good because of the simple rules and the stalemate lines. The stalemate lines are the key negotiation points. I've successfully taken down stronger nations by debating my way through those lines, and I've beaten stronger nations by suggestively focusing them at those lines while I soak up key points on their perimeter off those lines. I've given up my positions on those lines when I thought I could entice another nation to do my fighting for me, and I've "sold" them as a bargain toward a strong alliance.

Diplomacy is not balanced, has unequal starting positions, is not friendly, and the map has warts. Those are what make it interesting. If the map really bothers you that much then download one of the many free maps people have made when the map bothered them too. But then you'll be stuck negotiating every unallied front on every turn, because everything will be equal and boring.

I don't get to play Diplomacy often, but when I do I invite the right people and have a hell of a lot of fun.

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16 Nov 2015 20:23 #215198 by stoic
I've never played Diplomacy, probably would like to, but, I absolutely loved reading about it in this extremely well written article.

grantland.com/features/diplomacy-the-boa...-of-the-alpha-nerds/

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16 Nov 2015 21:24 #215202 by san il defanso
Here's all the people who like the new rules for Merchant of Venus...

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16 Nov 2015 22:01 #215206 by Josh Look
I liked the new rules about as much as I liked the old ones...alright. And then Firefly came along.
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16 Nov 2015 22:21 #215209 by Gary Sax
See, I see Merchant as a straight routes and econ game, where a lot of its competitors add more narrative elements. Sometimes I want narrative, cards, powers, etc but sometimes I like trying to figure out routes and move goods for money. Merchants is just a simple reasonably dynamic econ model without too much else to it.
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16 Nov 2015 22:26 #215210 by Josh Look

Gary Sax wrote: See, I see Merchant as a straight routes and econ game, where a lot of its competitors add more narrative elements. Sometimes I want narrative, cards, powers, etc but sometimes I like trying to figure out routes and move goods for money. Merchants is just a simple reasonably dynamic econ model without too much else to it.


Yeah, that's true. It's been quite awhile since I played it. I suppose as far as economic games go, it's one of the few I can stand to play. Still, like all econ games, I find it a tad dry.
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16 Nov 2015 23:04 #215214 by chris@everythingepic.us
Just played Burgle Bros!

That was a Fun Time! Had to think a lot, which was GREAT ... lots of options, cool thematic rooms and choices...

We Lost! :) And it was close at the end.. which was cool, and I feel like I was a little better at the game by the end!

Nice components... well worth playing! :)

Anyone else play?

Also, played Legendary Predator over the weekend and Pandemic Legacy (first mission only so far)

Great stuff!: )

Chris

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16 Nov 2015 23:46 #215219 by VonTush
I played Blood Rage for the second time yesterday. It's the real deal. As I was setting up I realized the rulebook was sitting on my nightstand at home. Regardless I was confident after my first play that I knew the rules and taught four others the game, without the rulebook, with about 98% accuracy. That's a testament to just how well the rules get out of the way and allow the players to play each other.

If CitOW was the pinnacle of DoaM design during the FFG age of the kitchen sink design, then Blood Rage is the pinnacle of the modern hybrid editorial control games. In a world without CitOW Blood Rage would be my favorite DoaM game, but thankfully I don't live in that world. 9 out of 10 times I'd rather play CitOW (the 10th being those games where a player just doesn't fulfil their role, like Khorne not attacking).

The biggest flaw is that the art, production and minis give an amazing sales pitch, they don't close the deal and sell the theme. I don't get Norse mythology beyond the dressing. Otherwise though, I do feel that in the end it will see more play than CitOW. The rules getting out of the way so quickly and the ability for players to cut their own path and find their own voice with developing their clan, rather than being given a fairly specific role to fill, will mean it will see the table much more.
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18 Nov 2015 00:37 #215320 by Scott_F
Third play of Blood Rage was this weekend with 4 and two noobs. I enjoyed the game alot more this time around, maybe because I had read the rule book myself and the previous way I was taught was wrong regarding the winner of fights automatically pillages the reward. We also played with all of the kickstarter extras, excluding the gods.

First the kickstarter monsters are...amazing. I disagree with whoever says the exlusives don't make much of a difference. We had the Wolfman show up for one of the weaker players and it made a huge difference in my decisions (Wolfman says only monster strength in battle counts, ignore other units). Fenrir also showed up and changed the location of Ragnorak each round - pretty awesome if you have the Ragnorak upgrades and quests and can control where Ragnorak occurs. I didn't see the others but those two alone alter the strategy.

I enjoy the punchiness to it and how quickly the game moves too, unlike alot of DOAM games this one can explain movement in a sentence or two on your player board. I'm not sure how successful some of the strategies to winning are; all three games I played the player who pillaged the center space and grabbed the 20 point bonuses for upgraded rage/horns/axes won easily. But it was cool to see one of the players go for a Loki type strategy of scoring points through losing - he came in second with around 100 points but somehow ignored questing all game and didn't score any rage/horns/axes bonuses.

I agree that the the minis and the art sell the game the best, otherwise the theme is pretty meh. But if the only option is to implement CitOW's strategy of fiddly event cards or nobody should fight except Khorne I'm ok with a little less theme. I would've preferred the clans to start out a bit differently somehow, but I understand how it is an easier and more balanced game to rely on the card drafting to let the players decide their own strengths instead. I can't help comparing this to Cthulhu Wars and the different factions that mandate each faction to play a certain way rather than letting you choose your strategy (CW without the use of independent GOOs and neutrals, for now).

Also had a first play of Olympos with the expansion tiles included, a light civ game with tech tiles and a map. Take as many actions as you want but everything is spent in terms of time, and once everyone has played to the end of the time track the game is over. The game was kinda fun with 5 and all of us trying to find good tech to buy and where to move our settlers on the map. But I wouldn't really recommend this one and am actively selling it. With 5 and all of us new it took about 2 hours, which isn't bad. But there are alot of other games I own and enjoy more in a 2 hour time span than this one. The tech tiles representing civ advancements were kinda meh overall and one of the overriding focuses, the Zeus tokens, felt a little off and punished those without tokens/rewarded those with the most tokens - not exactly a civ feeling to that mechanic. The combat was basically non-existent since anyone can conquer your territory, its only a matter of whether it costs them more time to defeat you or not. It had a kinda spreadsheet feel to it at the end of the game. Maybe I just don't like civ games.

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18 Nov 2015 08:39 #215326 by charlest
The Kickstarter monsters change the strategy sure but they don't alter the enjoyment. I've played one game with them (and 6 without) and they were just additional monsters that added variety. If you have a game where no one decides to draft Fenrir the game doesn't suck.

To me, it's about on par with the alternate Old World deck in the Chaos expansion. Cool to have for variety but don't let it stop you from playing without it.

The one thing about the KS exclusives though is that the sculpts are some of the best.

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18 Nov 2015 09:33 - 18 Nov 2015 09:35 #215332 by Gary Sax
Pax Porfiriana is so profoundly nasty in an amazing, strategic way. I felt like everyone else's simcity buildup was better than mine so I sent us into depression with a headline that put unrest on everyone's properties (unrest properties don't generate money.

In depression you have to pay for your cards and about half of the income generating territories don't generate anything. So if most cards have unrest on them, you're not only at 0 income on most stuff, but you also have to pay for all the stuff you've carefully bought and put onto the board.
Last edit: 18 Nov 2015 09:35 by Gary Sax.
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18 Nov 2015 10:34 - 18 Nov 2015 10:34 #215345 by Columbob
Arkham Horror with Innsmouth and Lurker last night (also Madness/Injury and final fight cards), 3 of us against Cthugha or something, a solar kind of entity. An spectacularly epic FAIL moment happened early on, on my second turn through Yuggoth, I needed 2 successes on 2 dice otherwise I'd be Lost in Time and Space. I didn't want to have wasted 3 turns altogether, so I kept pumping clue tokens (I had 5, Patrice the violonist had 10). After 17 dice and 15 spent clue tokens I STILL DIDN'T F'KIN MAKE IT! I think our morale was pretty low after that, but we persevered through tons of monster surges, 2 of us succeeded on our personal story quest, we closed 8 gates (2 sealed with clues), but the inevitable happened and the world was burnt to a crisp.

Innsmouth activity = nil. Absolutely nothing happened up there, no gates or deep ones activity and we didn't go either. Also this was probably the only game I've played where we didn't go shopping AT ALL, what with our relatively cash-strapped investigators.
Last edit: 18 Nov 2015 10:34 by Columbob.
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19 Nov 2015 10:14 #215416 by charlest
Kicked off last night with The Grizzled, 4 player. We pulled out a win by the narrowest of margins, almost losing at one point due to Hard Knocks. Crazy close and awesome experience.

Then we did a 5 player game of Cyclades with the Titans expansion. This was cutthroat as hell and very back and forth, like Cyclades always is. I was in command early mid game and was summarily cut down by a flanking opponent who sailed across the gap between the two big islands. I made the mistake of buying the Flying sandals artifact which made me a juicy target. The player who kicked me around would win a couple of turns later.

Luchador! was next, a tag match where my partner was bringing the enthusiasm and we got manhandled.

We closed out with two games of Sorry! Sliders, which is always a great time.

Up next is T.I.M.E Stories - The Marcy Case. Stoked.
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19 Nov 2015 16:34 - 19 Nov 2015 16:35 #215446 by SuperflyPete
Got my first play in of TARGET: EARTH.

Wow. It's not pretty and it's more like a wargame in some ways because of the chit system, but seriously, it IS the analog version of X-COM that people have been wanting forever. It's literally a complete and total rip-off. And it's brilliant. Rules are pretty awful.

A decent synopsis (VERY LONG) here: boardgamegeek.com/thread/948813/review-d...-save-our-green-plan

And a guy playing it:
Last edit: 19 Nov 2015 16:35 by SuperflyPete.
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19 Nov 2015 23:17 #215465 by Scott_F
Any love for Mare Nostrum and the Mythology expansion? I haven't had a chance to play it but it's been on the list for a bit and was just offered a trade. I know there is a new version due out soon too.

Had a classic game of twilight struggle. As Russia I was losing by around 7 through the mid war. Late war I was still down but had Asia, central, and Africa with Europe even thanks to a red scare and blockade combo. Headlined missile envy last round and drew wargames to prevent the win. Lost 5 50/50 alignment rolls in South America. Flipped Italy with glasnost and four influence anywhere in Europe. Won Iraq-Iran war with 1/3 odds to flip Middle East. Hung on for the win in the late war by a few points. I had a very strong ops hand the last round and did a lot of damage, but that final US turn is nerve wracking.

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