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Mycelia Board Game Review

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Outback Crossing Review

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What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

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06 Feb 2016 22:39 #221882 by Cranberries

LAP wrote: aarrghh nobody can compete with this Dune awesomeness!


I'm using Sid Jackson's "A Gamut of Games" in the tech comm class I'm teaching, and I just noticed LAP's avatar for the first time. Cool.
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07 Feb 2016 08:56 #221896 by Legomancer

RobertB wrote: I loved M.U.L.E. on my Atari 800 way back when, but I managed to resist buying the boardgame, However, one of my gaming coworkers could not resist. We were hoping to get a 4-player game together today, but one couldn't make it and we had to settle for a 3-player game.

The designer has done a surprisingly good job of bringing the 8-bit game over to a boardgame. If you've played M.U.L.E. before, 90% of learning the game is finding out how they ported what you already knew. He's (or she's) shortened the game to six turns, but the game will support a couple more turns. I can't think of anything in the video game that isn't in the boardgame, except for runaway MULEs,

Is it good? M.U.L.E. was one of my favorite games so I'm biased, but I liked it. Of the three of us, one had never played before, and he liked it. You're solving the exact same problems in the boardgame that you are in the video game; make the most money while keeping you and your plots fed.


I'm super curious about MULE but I already have Planet Steam, which doesn't get a whole lot of play. People say PS is pretty much MULE, so I don't know if it would be redundant. Have you played both?

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07 Feb 2016 20:27 - 08 Feb 2016 09:34 #221928 by Gary Sax
Played a solo game of Food Chain Magnate, the intro scenario with no milestones. I have this sneaking suspicion I'm not going to be as into the full game with milestones, but the supply/demand/competition engine is outstanding and not all that complicated. More impressions in the dedicated thread.
Last edit: 08 Feb 2016 09:34 by Gary Sax.

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07 Feb 2016 22:46 #221938 by RobertB
Legomancer wrote:

I'm super curious about MULE but I already have Planet Steam, which doesn't get a whole lot of play. People say PS is pretty much MULE, so I don't know if it would be redundant. Have you played both?


Unfortunately, I've never played Planet Steam. Sorry. :(

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08 Feb 2016 08:19 #221944 by JEM

charlest wrote: We also played Discworld which wasn't very good. I can see it being funny and enjoyable if you're a fan of the books but its entirely random with the hand you're dealt and felt very wishy-washy.


Ankh-Morpork? I would give it another try. It's not about the hand you start with. It's about poking the board a little here and there until you can make a big move with the more powerful, later cards. I always find this game fascinating.

This week- finally got to play Thunder Alley with seven of us stood around the pool table in the meetup place, with the board on that. Was a really fun way to play. A couple of players got screwed out of the game, honestly by their own selfishness really- the game really requires you work at least with someone, and they were leaving each other behind at the back. Even after a yellow flag restart got everyone together they fell behind again. Eurogamer mentality.

Two quick two-player rounds of Greed which went well. Will be better with more players, but one more person knows the game now so I might be able to get this into the filler rotation instead of yet more Splendor or whatever.

Final game of the weekend was Rococo. I forgot how charming the game is. We had four players which is one of the easier player counts (double sided board, 2 and 4 players are more open than 3 or 5). I won by five points pushing a cheap dresses strategy, and making sure I got the queen's favour (1st player grab) for when the great journeymen tailors came out. I still probably should sell my copy, as we played the other player's copy and he always brings it.

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08 Feb 2016 08:49 #221945 by SuperflyPete
My buddy and his family came by Saturday for a game day, we played:

Machi Koro - still like it.

Sushi Go - first time, it was fun but kind of random. I see that the strategy is about prediction and looking at the table, but it seemed a little weak.

Settlers w/ Seafarers - this was an odd one. I ended up having an average of 11 cards at at given time mid game, and never got hit by the robber. My wife, who was completely pissed on Stella actually out scored my buddy, and the only thing she built the whole time was a city. It leads me to believe that the design isn't as strong as I thought...if a completely drunk chick who doesn't really know the game can beat a person who has played 50 times and knows the game inside and out, it's probably not that shit hot.

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08 Feb 2016 08:58 #221946 by charlest

JEM wrote:

charlest wrote: We also played Discworld which wasn't very good. I can see it being funny and enjoyable if you're a fan of the books but its entirely random with the hand you're dealt and felt very wishy-washy.


Ankh-Morpork? I would give it another try. It's not about the hand you start with. It's about poking the board a little here and there until you can make a big move with the more powerful, later cards. I always find this game fascinating.


Yes. Our game ended (4 player) right as the second age/strength of cards started coming out and I never got any. I just didn't like how powerful the play multiple effects were as a couple people had bad hands and couldn't do much.

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08 Feb 2016 09:12 #221948 by Sagrilarus
I tried out Talon yesterday, a solo game. I speak to it more in the Talon thread. Synopsis -- it was good, not great, I had some technical difficulties, I need to try it with a real opponent to really judge. Oh, and I need to get some dice that don't roll 1s all the time.
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08 Feb 2016 13:01 #221978 by hotseatgames
Last night we tried the Pandora faction for Theseus for the first time ever. It was a 3 player game, which was also a first. Scientists, Marines, and I controlled Pandora.

I made my base on the Marines board. Realistically, where Pandora makes their board is largely irrelevant. The only significant result of my choice was that the Marines sector started out full since there were 2 marines tokens and 2 pandora tokens. There is no lesser onslaught at the beginning. Barring that first turn I really don't think it would matter where Pandora was placed.

Having a third faction in play was chaotic. I think Pandora is probably less chaotic than simply playing with a 3rd normal faction, and also faster since there is no extra board. The added congestion led to a LOT of fighting. I was able to use the "budding" ability of Pandora to create 3 extra units, so at one point I did have 6 guys on the field. I used one of them to take over a Marines card.

The scientists managed to get some great cards in play and completely destroyed us.

My assessment after one play is that Theseus is simply not that great with more than 2 players, and I don't think I'd want Pandora in a 2 player game. I expect Pandora will be staying in its box from here on out.
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08 Feb 2016 13:59 - 08 Feb 2016 14:15 #221994 by Jexik
Just played through our fourth Lantern Year in a Kingdom Death: Monster campaign I'm in. Two of our people rolled 1's* and died to a random occurrence in the hunt phase, but we also caught and stealthily killed a baby lion, so we ended up with a ton of resources. We managed to win the showdown and get a ton of hide, and we already had the Ammonia improvement, so we're probably gonna be able to make a pretty good amount of leather gear before our showdown with the Butcher. We stopped right at the start of the town phase because that's when we have the most discussion and strategy, and it was getting late.

*Including the dual-katar-wielding, fast moving, orator of death that I had used on the first three hunts. I just laughed it off and realized how deliciously capricious the game can be. The innovations and acquisition of gear are where the real progress of the game lies, and life is very tenuous.

Speaking as someone who hasn't spent a dime on it, this game is what it's cracked up to be.
Last edit: 08 Feb 2016 14:15 by Jexik.
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08 Feb 2016 14:01 #221995 by JEM

charlest wrote: Yes. Our game ended (4 player) right as the second age/strength of cards started coming out and I never got any. I just didn't like how powerful the play multiple effects were as a couple people had bad hands and couldn't do much.


Huh. Usually people complain because the most likely scenario with new players is Vimes winning due to the deck running out. Letting someone get their win condition before the second half of the deck is pretty sloppy, though. It's like Cosmic, or Condotierre, you have to play the players as much as the board.

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08 Feb 2016 14:37 #222001 by charlest

JEM wrote:

charlest wrote: Yes. Our game ended (4 player) right as the second age/strength of cards started coming out and I never got any. I just didn't like how powerful the play multiple effects were as a couple people had bad hands and couldn't do much.


Huh. Usually people complain because the most likely scenario with new players is Vimes winning due to the deck running out. Letting someone get their win condition before the second half of the deck is pretty sloppy, though. It's like Cosmic, or Condotierre, you have to play the players as much as the board.


Yeah, two players could have won. They both had the put down guys in different areas thing.

I only drew one assassinate action card and used it, so not sure how else to stop that?

I would have won in two turns with $50 too.

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08 Feb 2016 14:57 #222007 by JEM
You can add minions to areas to cause trouble, preventing purchase of buildings which helps prevent people getting majority in areas. Also- only Vetinari wants guys in areas. The three lords need firm majorities of wooden pieces (minions and buildings) in some areas. Both easily blocked by adding minions, moving minions, stacking up trouble to force them to remove trouble, etc. Playing money stealing cards on anyone looking like they want to buy a building etc.

You have to have your winning condition in place at the start of your turn also. That means three other players being able to do nothing about your board state in one round. It just doesn't seem to add up.

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08 Feb 2016 16:22 #222022 by charlest
Yep we got the winning condition right. I guess I was too busy trying to figure out how to get money fast enough to worry about blocking people when I didn't remember all of the win conditions (I'm aware they're on the player aid).
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08 Feb 2016 17:24 - 08 Feb 2016 17:24 #222026 by wadenels
I love the Discworld Ankh-Morpork game, but I've met a lot of people that hate it. It's very much a denial game. You need to know what the possible winning states are that a player might be going for and put the brakes on all of them, sometimes to your own detriment. Meanwhile you need to try weasel your way into your own winning condition without being so obvious about it that the other players catch on and prevent you from getting there.

It's a tough balancing act with good players, but the game can be kind of flat with new players who don't understand the ins and outs or those who will pursue their own winning condition without worrying about what the other players are doing. Someone is sure to win because of good cards early in the game if the other players aren't stopping them from doing exactly that.
Last edit: 08 Feb 2016 17:24 by wadenels.
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