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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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08 Feb 2016 23:20 - 08 Feb 2016 23:21 #222044 by Scott_F
So far this year I've played alot of Cthulhu Wars and Blood Rage, both games I love and continue to bring out, especially with the new factions with Cthulhu Wars - Windwalker is a beast, Opener is crazy, Sleeper is kinda...meh. New games then!

Liberty or Death. I had one initial play of this a little while back and read the rules a couple of times, both before and after the game. I've played one COIN game, Cuba Libre, about a year ago and it was an awful gaming experience all around thanks to a poor teacher and an especially long game at 4 hours where nobody won so we used the final scoring rules. Anyways. Liberty has some cool things going on, I really liked the way both sides work as a team to really operate effectively. The battles were pretty rare and thanks to the low dice on average they had predictable outcomes once we understood the battle modifiers (like 6 different factors for each side). The map looks pretty and the board has alot of the necessary things on it. And I'm out of good stuff to say.

I don't think the COIN games are for me. I was very frustrated all game on my turn because either I couldn't go first and do what I really wanted, or some event came up that I had to block others from using so I did something kinda neat but not really. Just to initiate a battle I had to setup my forces the prior turn, and since its COIN that means two turns ago, possibly more than that if I didn't get to go first. Bleh. The COIN games really seem to limit your options on every turn, and only 1 in 4 turns can you really make the move that you want to. Each faction has four options, and depending on the order of operation on the event card they may or (probably not) will get a limited operation, for another four choices of things to do. I was the British and my options were Muster new cubes (dudes), move dudes, battle, or Garrison and boot out the Patriots. Others here can probably explain the game better but it just wasn't to my taste. Too dry and not enough fun, especially given the likely average playing time of 3 hours with 4 people that kinda are familiar with COIN. I just don't understand the love for COIN, but I guess I'm not really a wargamer either so maybe thats part of it.

Pax Pamir & Pax Porfiriana. Both new to me and I've played Pamir three times now and Porfiriana once. Now these are games that I really like. I initially thought Pamir was far easier to learn and teach but after running through one game of Porfiriana I'm not so sure, the Porfiriana rules seem alot more inherently logical once you buy into the whole cards as locations and troops must be played to locations concept. The topple and regime change ideas are fucking awesome, and both games are very interactive and present players with a glut of options each turn. Porfiriana is my favorite of the two so far, the constant stabbing and buying troops/enterprises/headlines to help yourself or fuck over the other players is just awesome. Pamir is tighter and offers fewer choices each turn, and I think that may be a problem when the card offering only has one or two political or intelligence cards available at a time since to build your hand size or tableau of options you need political and intelligence cards. Otherwise players are stuck with a tableau of three cards and a hand size of one. Pamir definitely requires a player count of three to five, ideally 4/5 area. Porfiriana played pretty good at 2 but seems best with 3/4. I definitely liked Pamir too and am very interested in the expansion the designer is working on now to open the game up a bit more.

Pandemic Legacy. The wife and I are through April. I like it, but don't love it. She isn't a game player at all and while she is really engaged every time we play I don't think the game is fun for her. The permanence of the board and the way stuff gets fucked up really creates alot of stress (for her). I'd rather not play base game Pandemic but I do look forward to this in that it is a campaign where decisions in one game will noticeably affect the next game.

Argent. Another game with a million options that I enjoy. My one complaint is that I wish the fucking player color indicators that are placed on each worker were easier to identify and notice at a glance. Its also kinda a pain in the late game to keep track of who has what spell that prevents me from fucking them over, especially in that everyone has 5 treasures and three spell cards on average. But still a fun game that wraps up around two hours and is kinda noob friendly.
Last edit: 08 Feb 2016 23:21 by Scott_F.
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09 Feb 2016 07:59 #222047 by JEM

Scott_F wrote: Argent. Another game with a million options that I enjoy. My one complaint is that I wish the fucking player color indicators that are placed on each worker were easier to identify and notice at a glance. Its also kinda a pain in the late game to keep track of who has what spell that prevents me from fucking them over, especially in that everyone has 5 treasures and three spell cards on average. But still a fun game that wraps up around two hours and is kinda noob friendly.


I printed coloured strips on sticker paper and used those. It only works if you have the expansion, though (not enough bases for 7x each colour in the base game) and if you use neutral you proxy whichever colour you are not using. It's better than those tombstones for sure.
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09 Feb 2016 23:06 #222145 by hotseatgames
Tonight I initiated a new person to the glory that is Heroscape. We played on the pre-assembled board I got from Mr. SuperflyTNT himself.

450 point armies. I may mess up some names. He had Syvarris, Viking dude, Viking flunkies, and marrow hounds.
I had Major Q10, Chompy Dinosaur, Krav Maga and Raelyn the Valkyrie.

I kicked his ASS, despite never winning initiative.
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11 Feb 2016 07:35 #222238 by KingPut
I'm no longer a virgin. Last night I played my first face to face game of ASL. I made lots of noob mistakes and got my elite Americans paratroopers distroyed assaulting a German squad defending a French town. Liked it, learned a lot. Now I can go back and read the rules again and solo it.
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11 Feb 2016 08:32 #222241 by Legomancer
Learning game of Pax Pamir last night. It's got a better rulebook than Porfiriana, but there are still important rules in the glossary, and it needs a decent player aid. Also, it's pretty obvious why you want at least four players.

One you climb through the rules, it's not THAT difficult mechanically, and the cards are designed so that it's very clear how they work. Strategy is somewhat opaque, and it's not obvious who is doing well unless you stop the game and add everything up multiple ways. It reminds me of Dominant Species in a way, in that there are multiple area control games going on at once, on different levels.

There are three empires in the game: Russia, Britain, and Afghan. We were three players and went with each one doing a different one, which may have been a mistake, as we could all just sort of sit in our own domain. But on the other hand, I got a good sense of some of the subtlety of the game, and not-so-subtlety: the game emphasizes "the Great Game", so don't underestimate the power of Spies.

I'm looking forward to another go at it. So far I think I'm still more inclined to Porfiriana, warts and all, but I'm intrigued here.
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12 Feb 2016 12:35 #222302 by Unicron
Pax Pamir and Pax Porfiriana:

Personally, i think they're different enough that I would never have to choose between them. Pamir seems better with 4 or 5 players, which would make Porfiriana a dull grind. I prefer the spies and market system in Pamir. Porfiriana has a more conventional economy. The Porfiriana rulebook was pretty shitty.

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12 Feb 2016 13:58 #222312 by Columbob
Yesterday as I was selecting a few games I thought would be fun for a relatively quiet 3 player evening, I started (finally) reading the rules for Leaving Earth, not expecting to read the whole thing. Well wadya know, I finished in time for supper and was pretty stoked to try it later on.

Turns out my buddy was pretty knocked over by a cold that started right after we finished a game of Mage Knight late on Tuesday night (or more precisely early Wednesday). Ok, so we'll wait and see if the other'll show up, then decide what we do. We could have just went back to my place next door and play something for 2 instead. Third player shows up a bit late, doesn't really feel like doing any maths tonight and we end up playing Merchants & Marauders, using the simpler stuff from the expansion (all cards, contraband, mods/special weapons, brigs/galleons). Sicko said he'd be all right after all, just didn't want to contaminate us with his geeeerrrrrmmms.

Early on Black Beard sunk Sicko's flute, and cubes and tokens went a-flying, it was great. Tried to get his revenge later on with a shining new galleon but BB fled the scene. We saw a lot of new events and there was a ton of NPC activity on board, we even saw the mighty pirate man'o war. Player 3 was almost ready to win, but plague kept him at sea and he went hunting with a severely damaged hull on his frigate, and let me tell you that merchant had TEETH and sunk him in short order. He still managed to win a few turns later with a surprising stash I didn't even suspect he had accumulated with his new pirate.

Back to Leaving Earth, it's all I'm thinking about right now and will likely solo it this weekend.

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12 Feb 2016 16:51 - 12 Feb 2016 16:56 #222332 by aaxiom

Columbob wrote: Back to Leaving Earth, it's all I'm thinking about right now and will likely solo it this weekend.


That is an absolutely incredible title, solo. I've been having a blast puzzling out how I can achieve multiple objectives using the fewest possible assets.

Tip: Things get a bit mathy, but resist the temptation to simply assume that your planning was on-point. Actually expend the assets and compute whether it did what it was supposed to do when you actually fly the mission. You'll find there are times when you didn't plan accordingly and will give you a deeper appreciation not only for the game itself, but for how just a little extra planning will pay dividends downstream.

It's a great title to solo... I'm looking forward to trying it with a group, but if I never did, I would still think it's SO well worth the money.

EDIT: I don't like "shuffling" three cards in the small packs of "result" cards. Instead, I roll a die -- a d6 -- using it as a d3 with three cards and a d2 with a pair. That way, I don't feel as if I'm inadvertently failing to "mix" the cards adequately or stacking them in my favor. The results might indeed be the same, but I don't feel as if I'm responsible for fireballs on the pad to end the game on that last potentially winning mission. :-)
Last edit: 12 Feb 2016 16:56 by aaxiom.

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12 Feb 2016 21:30 - 12 Feb 2016 21:35 #222345 by Gary Sax
I had some time and you guys were chatting about clash of cultures, so I straightened my elephants and horses by boiling them and then ice watering them. It worked. But then the game was sitting out, so I set up a solo game with the expansion.

Still my favorite game, played about 3/4 of a game. Expansion was good, pushes you a direction on the tech tree... that does have the function of giving players a bit more structure and direction than the base game... but I'm still quite lukewarm on objectives in the game.

It is not a great solo game because it is very hard to keep your tech powers in your mind if you're playing 2 sides, which is not a huge problem when playing only your own position. Explains why I played only first 3/4 of a game.

Variable end is a MUST and vastly reduces AP in the last few rounds, the F:ATties who urged me on that one were 100% right.
Last edit: 12 Feb 2016 21:35 by Gary Sax.

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13 Feb 2016 00:33 #222350 by Grudunza
Picked up Tiny Epic Galaxies recently and played a solo game and also a 2p game with my daughter. Fun! The only other one I've played is the co-op Tiny Epic Defenders, and I like Galaxies better. It's a pretty simple dice system where you upgrade your faction while trying to colonize planet cards, which can end up being hotly contested and stolen out from under you, as my daughter gleefully did twice for the win. It sure ain't Eclipse, and I don't think the "epic" title really applies, but there's a decent amount of game inside the small box, and the solo game works well, too, where you play against one of several automated factions.
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13 Feb 2016 01:43 #222353 by SuperflyPete
I despised the other Tiny Epic games but this one looks really fun. Glad you enjoyed it. You should review it!

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13 Feb 2016 08:11 #222356 by Cranberries

hotseatgames wrote: Tonight I initiated a new person to the glory that is Heroscape. We played on the pre-assembled board I got from Mr. SuperflyTNT himself.


I didn't know pre-assembled boards were a thing. Did he just Krazy-glue everything together?

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13 Feb 2016 19:22 #222378 by SuperflyPete
Duco plastic cement on the edges of tiles on a layer. Then epoxy and small tacks in the back of key tiles on layers to make a drill able surface. Then screws to hold layers together.

I then used hot glue to felt the back of the map so it wouldn't scratch up walls. Drilled 2 holes for wall hanging.

I don't do ANYTHING half assed.
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14 Feb 2016 09:18 - 14 Feb 2016 09:25 #222404 by Jexik
I played Imperial Settlers for the fourth or fifth time, and the first time in awhile. I don't care for it. I like some Euro-ish card games, like 7 Wonders (without Leaders or Babel... Cities is OK), Race for the Galaxy (Haven't played Brink of War or any of the later 'arcs'), and Dominion. I like Glory to Rome the best of the Chudyk games that I've played, although Red7 is really different than the rest. Imperial Settlers outstays its welcome- round 5 often takes about 40% of the game's time on its own, and you can usually tell who's going to win (or at least in the running) when it starts. It's just going through the motions while everyone's taking these damn micro-turns on their own separate islands. "Whose turn is it," is the phrase you'll hear more in this game than anything else. It's an economic snowball game that doesn't allow people to really melt the other guy's snowball at all. Sure, you can raze buildings, but half the time they thank you for the wood and foundation that you just gave them. Ugh.

Got in our 4th session of D&D 5e. For our 1st anniversary/ valentine's day, I got my girlfriend a set of chessex dice that were pink and sparkly (she asked for translucent pink or yellow) and she seemed to roll pretty well with them, including talking her way out of a dangerous encounter by rolling two successive DC 20 persuasion checks. It's going to drastically affect how the next dungeon plays out. We also used some of my Heroscape figures to model fights, not because it's necessary, but because her son thought it would be fun. I was really thankful for those D&D Heroscape waves! I had some Orcs and stuff ready to go. The PCs were alright- we had to use Shiori (the female purple ninja from Swarm of the Marro) to represent the Halfling Rogue. The Dwarf Cleric and Elf Wizard were easy, and we used Finn the Viking for the Fighter that now has a magic longsword and a shield.

There was Codenames and Avalon too. I think Avalon is best with 7-8 players, with Mordred, Oberon, and no Percival/Morgana nonsense. It just adds too much time to the night phase, which is my biggest gripe with One Night Ultimate Werewolf.
Last edit: 14 Feb 2016 09:25 by Jexik.
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14 Feb 2016 11:00 #222409 by hotseatgames
My spendy friend brought over some of the new Cthulhu Wars stuff last night. We had two different 3 player games.

First I controlled the Opener of the Way. This faction's GOO is more powerful with more players, so with only 2 enemy GOOs he was not that great. Their ability to spawn monsters out of any gate is pretty awesome. They have some other good abilities, but I was unable to capitalize on them because the other two players completely ganged up on me and took most of my gates. I came in dead last by a long margin. Incidentally my opponents were the Sleeper and Nyarlathotep. Nyarlathotep won.

For the second game, we set out two of the neutral GOOs that you can summon. No one even considered doing it. I controlled the Sleeper, someone else was the Opener of the Way, and the third player was the Yellow Sign. Of course, Yellow Sign having two GOOs made Yog Sothoth (the opener) now more powerful. This was yet another reason no one wanted a neutral GOO, since he would be that much stronger. I led the game for the majority of the time, but Yog Sothoth completely focused on wrecking my plans during the late game, and he ended up beating me by several points thanks to his one-time ability to double the reward for a ritual of annihilation. When I was that faction, I never got a good chance to use that ability because I spent practically the whole game with only 3 gates and no GOO.

General thoughts:
1. The new plastic gates are awesome.
2. The new heavy player boards are great. I'm still amazed they were never there from the start.
3. The lowest monster for Yog Sothoth is a lame sculpt. It's actually smaller than a cultist.
4. The sleeper has a monster called a Wizard, and its sculpture is just plain weird; and for this game, that's saying something. Imagine a hunched over bearded man surrounded by demon wings, and spreading open his giant fanged vagina.
5. 50% of the Sleeper's spells suck. His power is cool though; he gets one of his cheapest monsters for free every round.
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