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18 Sep 2018 05:14 #281807 by mc
Oh hey, I knew what I was in for when I picked Beowulf up, no illusions. I probably even got it because of some "eurogames appropriation initiative" I'd read about somewhere.... It just hadn't really clicked at all until this last time. I think what did it was the speed at which we played. It hit the tone - loose and fast and spending our treasure like, er, Geats.

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18 Sep 2018 11:41 #281819 by Gregarius

Colorcrayons wrote: Beowulf just never clicked for me, sadly.

I enjoy the Kingdoms retheme a lot more.

Is Beowulf game before its time?

Quite possibly. Lots of Knizia designs seem to be.

The Beowulf re-theme of Kingdoms is a totally different game from Beowulf: The Legend.

I really like Beowulf:The Legend, and I agree that the biggest strike against it when it came out was not the game's fault, but rather the misguided expectations placed upon it by the players. As was said already, everyone saw the art and theme and thought it would be another adventure game similar to Lord of the Rings. Instead, it's a pure auction game where the "theme" comes from how players mitigate their risks and rewards.

Considering how many people complain about Knizia's "lack of theme," it's amazing how upset they get when it doesn't fit their preconceptions.

Anyway, this is beating a dead horse. I agree 110% with Barnes' view on Knizia's themes, and if you haven't read his excellent article on the subject, go do so now.

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18 Sep 2018 16:21 #281834 by SuperflyPete
More Rolling Bones, as usual. Every time I think I've thanked Jur enough, I'm proven wrong. Thanks again!

New game to the pile is Beyond Baker Street. Really liked it but can see it being more fun with 3 than 2 or 4. I think it may actually be a prime candidate for "best with 3 ever". 4 is too many, too much to remember, 2 is too few, too easy. 3 is Goldilocks.

Mars Attacks The Dice Game came out again. It's still meh. It's an easier and less fun version of Alhambra: the dice game in many ways. Don't recommend it. Themeless, meh.

Sports Dice: Football...the designer should be buried in a pile of these chunky dice until dead. It's not even a game. Will create a game around it because I purchased it.

Dice Heist This game is fucking rad. It's good for 2, great for 3-4. Fast, simple, but many decisions, a small house point salad containing only three ingredients and covered with a wonderful dressing of theme. Totally recommend it as a 'back pocket game', sized as a wallet, but delivers 20-30 minutes of decisions and passive aggressive SCREW YOU STEW. Really love this. Funny story: I was rearranging my garage's chill area after building a larger table to play games on, and found that this was still at my house. Thought I had given it away. What a nice surprise.

Remnants Played again with a whole new set of people, went over really well. They got into it, and despite it being an economic game at its core, it's thematic enough that people really got into it. Really like it. Get an organizer, because it's fiddlybits galore.

TINY EPIC ZOMBIES Holy Christ in the Seven Heavens. What a fantastic little game. Everyone should own this. It's unlike almost anything else I've ever played. It's literally THE zombie game for me. It's so good I forgot that it came with little weapons to attach to the meeples, despite them being 3" to my left when we played. Great for 2, but UNWINNABLE unless you have at least 3 characters. Even then it's rough. Production is bad ass, art is good, and gameplay is brisk. Almost zero down time, in practice, after 3 rounds of "WTF DO I DO". Totally recommend this one, but keep in mind I'm a loyal Gamelyn advocate...I love many of their games. They just click with me.

Dice Stars Another Knizia that I forgot in the Reinerfest thread, but I love this game dearly. It's a more interesting version of something like Qwixx (which I adore), and it's fucking NASTY. Like, way nastier than any other Knizia I've played. It's fast, and supports larger groups if you wish. Totally recommend this, as a Knizia skeptic in many ways.

SEAL Team Flix: Finally got back to playing. Jesus. I can't fucking believe I was involved in this. It has to win a dexterity or dungeon crawl game award if life is fair. It's so tense that (we're halfway through the campaign) I got up and realized I was perspiring. I don't sweat much (our team shares this trait) and fuck me, I was perspiring. My bald ass head had stress sweat on it. I can't remember the last time that happened. Seriously, y'all know me, and if the game sucked and we managed to get it produced, I'd absolutely tell you not to buy it. This is a fucking amazing game.
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18 Sep 2018 17:17 #281838 by Gregarius

SuperflyTNT wrote: Dice Stars Another Knizia that I forgot in the Reinerfest thread, but I love this game dearly. It's a more interesting version of something like Qwixx (which I adore), and it's fucking NASTY. Like, way nastier than any other Knizia I've played. It's fast, and supports larger groups if you wish. Totally recommend this, as a Knizia skeptic in many ways.

I think Dice Stars is Bruno Cathala.

But I'm totally intrigued by Dice Heist. I'd never heard of it before.

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18 Sep 2018 20:50 #281861 by SuperflyPete
I stand corrected

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20 Sep 2018 09:16 - 20 Sep 2018 09:16 #281950 by charlest
I've been really enjoying the Graphic Novel Adventure series from Van Ryder Games. Grace reviewed Captive here, the best of the three I've played thus far, and convinced me to check them out.

They're choose your own adventure graphic novels with some sophistication. They each have their own mechanical systems which are very different. In Captive you have three stats, health, and an inventory. You can customize your stats a bit and certain paths or choices will only be open if you hit a certain threshold with one of your stats.

Loup Garou has a skill tree with special abilities and levelling up. It even has die based resolution for combat and reminds me the most of Lone Wolf.

Tears of a Goddess has you choose a specialization (Burglary, Disguise, or Weapon Throwing) which opens certain options/paths up during play.

They play like a combination of CYOA, Unlock!, and RPG. Solo-only and totally rad. The only knocks are that they're only likely worth a single replay and each run through is about an hour, and the constant flipping of pages is a bit tedious. They use the hidden number thing from Unlock! superbly.

We also tackled the newest TIME Stories module, Brotherhood of the Coast. This was pretty interesting but I was exhausted during our play, which sapped some of the energy. I dug the unique mechanisms and we got a little bit further in pushing the meta story along. I think there's some missed opportunity there, but overall I still really enjoy this game.

The new Unlock series is pretty great. Oz was fantastic and the Noside one was solid. Still maintaining their position as my favorite escape room series.

I'm playing my first game of Dune on Saturday and I'm unreasonably excited. I created a Dune: The Board Game: The Book Club group and wrangled up five other friends to participate. We all read the book (a few of us for the first time and a few re-reading it), and are now meeting to play the game.
Last edit: 20 Sep 2018 09:16 by charlest.
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20 Sep 2018 11:12 #281954 by stoic

charlest wrote: II'm playing my first game of Dune on Saturday and I'm unreasonably excited. I created a Dune: The Board Game: The Book Club group and wrangled up five other friends to participate. We all read the book (a few of us for the first time and a few re-reading it), and are now meeting to play the game.


This is absolutely awesome! I'm jealous. Finding five players who've read the book and who want to play this game is the Ne Plus Ultra of gaming.


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21 Sep 2018 10:25 - 21 Sep 2018 10:33 #282023 by Ah_Pook
I've been playing a metric ton of two games of late. Both largely because my nephew who lives up the block from me has fallen hard for them, and has been coming down each afternoon after school looking to play one or both. This is an excellent development, as it bodes well for the gaming future. He just turned 10, and he's fully primed to fall down the gaming rabbit hole. I'm eyeing my copies of Battlelore and Claustrophobia and Earth Reborn and I'm happy to lead the way ;)

Game one is Cake Duel , which is kinda like a 2p cross between Love Letter and Cockroach Poker. Each player starts with 3 or 4 cakes. There's a deck of 20 cards. You take turns attacking and defending by playing facedown cards and claiming them to be whatever you want (only one type of card can be claimed). Certain cards steal x number of cakes, or block other cards from stealing cakes. Any time cards are played you can challenge the claim, which ends the round. If the person was telling the truth about their claim they win the round. If they were lying they lose the round. Barring a challenge, the round ends either when someone has all the cakes or when both players pass instead of attacking (generally after your run through the deck) at which point whoever has more cakes wins. You play best of 5 rounds. The real silliness comes from the advanced deck, which is 15ish unique super powerful cards. You choose two randomly and shuffle them into the deck without revealing them, and play the entire game with the same 2 in there. This frees you up to lie about all kinds of silly stuff until there is concrete knowledge about what cards are actually in the deck in any given game. So, it's a super quick super light game with incredibly cute art that strongly encourages you to lie constantly. Really fun if you happen to have a gaming niche that it fits into.

Game two is Dice Throne, which is essentially PVP Yahtzee with 6 different characters. Your large straights, small straights, full house etc activate different attack abilities, which you can upgrade as well. You do the Yahtzee 3 rolls thing, you activate an attack, you hit the other guy. There are also cards that let you manipulate the dice or block damage or what have you. Each character has unique dice, unique status effects etc etc. It's a pretty fun game if you just wanna Chuck some dice and punch each other with minimal overhead. Mainly I'm excited because my nephew took to it extremely quickly and wants to play it a lot, and it's exponentially more involved than anything he's been into before. Prior to this he would request Animal Upon Animal typically y'know.
Last edit: 21 Sep 2018 10:33 by Ah_Pook.
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21 Sep 2018 15:34 #282065 by Erik Twice
I played a couple games today.

Founding Fathers (2010) left me with mixed thoughts. On one hand, it reminded me of Liberté, because, like it, it's a game of majorities where you don't actually control a given side and with a variable round end driven by cards. These are great mechanics, that add tension and add a lot to how you play your actions and manage your hand. All great things.

On the other, I couldn't help but notice the whole game traposes into one of those souless "raise the track more than other players" euros. It's better, in that it has some reasoning, there are only a couple ways to get points and it has some interaction, but it's every bit as straightfoward. It should be more like El Grande, and less like those games to shine.

There are also a couple niggles. The game has a fair amount of "checking the board", because each card is unique and you have to keep track of what cards everyone holds). And there are a good bunch of "free VP" cards that aren't much fun. I mean, what's the point of the "voting" if you can get the same number of points elsewhere?

I also played Flying Kiwis which was is a silly dexterity game. Nothing to say about it, other than it's silly but I would rather play it than some of the games I see around me.
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21 Sep 2018 15:46 #282066 by Shellhead
I don't know if I will get any of my games on the table tonight, but I am bringing Room 25, Kill Dr. Lucky, and Ca$h 'n Gun$ tonight. I don't know most of the people in this group yet, but there will be maybe a dozen people there, and up to four tables. The group is roughly 50/50 hipsters/D&D players, and everybody will be drinking fancy microbrews. Camp Grizzly and The Gothic Game were big hits with this group last time. Come to think of it, I will bring The Gothic Game, too, but leave it in the car. If people request it, I can go get it, but otherwise, I am hoping to play other games. The host has a big collection: maybe 50% euros, 40% AT, and 10% party games/fillers.
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22 Sep 2018 19:36 - 22 Sep 2018 19:40 #282125 by Erik Twice
Played The Republic of Rome.

There are so many things that make this a great game. Let's talk about one: It's a negotiation game in which every single deal is binding and must be agreed by at least 3 or 4 different people. Even better, it's a game where the winner is that which gets the most power, yet you can't get any of it without the table agreeing to it.

It is just plain difficult to get ahead of everyone by proposing a 4-way deal, yet it's possible and great. Most negotiation games can be won either by doing the most deals (Even if they are small) or by getting a reliable "ally". Here you need to work a whole table of 6, even people who don't trust you and people who have no vested interest in what happens to you. There's so much subtle manipulation of the balance of power in this game and it's all over the table.

There's a lot of luck in the game, but there's also a near-infinite amount of skill and come-back possibilities in it. First, even if you don't have a great position, you are always needed to aid the balance of power and to make deals come through. And, if you are not, then you can start polishing a knife. There's a massive incentive not to reduce people's choices to the point where assassination becomes a good move. Keep your enemies happy and they'll play your game, leave them cornered and they'll bite.

I started the game with three fairly poor senators, no offices and no concessions. On the very first turn, one of my senators died and my leftward opponent was watching me like a hawk. I still finished second, far beyond the guy who goy Scipio had "luck" benefit them and would have won with a little bit of luck. The game was won by the most experienced player on the table. This is not a coincidence.

The end game issue reared its ugly head again, though. We were having fun, playing the game and we suddenly drew random game end at an anticlimatic point and the winner was decided by a (admittedly low-risk) dice roll. It's truly a game that works as long as it doesn't stop, if the game comes to the default end, problems arise.

This default game end also seems more likely to trigger if everyone plays well. Better players know the importance of keeping the balance of power and are less likely to let anyone position themselves for a power-move. And you need them, because you cannot do anything without their votes.

Natural deaths and war also tend to rebalance the game. A weak guy dying doesn't change much but a powerful senator dying is a quick return to the mean. People dying in war also tend to be the lucky few that go fight them, which compensates their influence gain.
Last edit: 22 Sep 2018 19:40 by Erik Twice.
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23 Sep 2018 09:44 #282136 by stormseeker75
Played Space Base last night. Imagine if Machi Koro didn't suck. That's Space Base. So much more fun. I'll give MK the nod for being super accessible, but it's lame beyond that.

Also played Luxor, the Rudiger Dorn race game. What a clever design. I love the card movement. Tons of fun with four players. Still good with two, it's just basically a different game. It's like Cartagena in some ways because you need to get dudes together, but here you do it for getting points. I love that you don't have to win the race to win the game. Really simple, yet lots of options.
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23 Sep 2018 10:20 #282137 by hotseatgames
Played a 4 player game of Champions of Midgard last night. It was my first time, after wanting to try it for a long time. It was good, but it's really just your standard worker placement game with some dice rolling added. No player interaction beyond the standard "you took my space." That said, I'd play it again.

Next was a 4 player game of Street Masters. I think 4 is too many for this game. It ends up with a bit too much downtime. We had to call the game because it was getting late, but I think we had a decent shot at winning.
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23 Sep 2018 14:29 #282144 by Shellhead
Friday night, I met up with my new boardgame group. First, we played my cheapass edition of Kill Doctor Lucky. Four players, and the game ran over an hour before the host finally killed Doctor Lucky with the Big Red Hammer. I didn't coach people on tactics, so it was fun to watch them work it out for themselves. This might have been the first time I had played in about a decade, and the other three players had never heard of it. A couple of players at the other table had played before, and watched our end game.

Around 9:00, the host started a game of first edition Heroquest. I had never played before, so I was up for it, but he practically had to twist arms to get the two women at our table to play. Early on, I declared that the game was like shopping at Ikea, because there was this elaborate maze stocked with furniture. The game dragged on because the other players were overthinking their turns and I kept dozing off because I had been up since 2:00 AM due to insomnia. In the final hour, the players at the other table decided to not start a new game and instead watched us play. I was playing the wizard ("Jerry Potter"), and the other players were frustrated at my weaselly maneuvers to avoid close range combat. But the host and the kibitzers were all impressed at my tactical play, especially the way I deployed each of my nine spells for maximum effect. In the final fight, the elf and the dwarf were both dead. I was out of spells and only reluctantly approaching the melee when the barbarian finally managed to deliver a killing blow to the monster.
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23 Sep 2018 20:25 #282150 by SaMoKo
Played Scythe for the first time tonight. Well, half a game because one player didn’t get the rules and was taking 20 minute turns lol.

I can see why the game is divisive, but I personally enjoyed it. Good mix of economics, forward planning, and player interaction with a system that distills complexity with (what I thought to be) simple rules. Our paralyzed player would disagree with the simple rules part!

I have read many complaints that combat is barely present in the game. However, I found force of the threat of force drove most of my decisions from the mid-game onwards. Once players venture out of the safety of the starting islands, tunnels and various faction abilities allow very few safe zones. Added to this, the cost of a lost battle is extremely high, making military resources a premium. Anyone who doesn’t take combat as a consideration is likely about to be fucked.

Much better than that Terra Mystica game my wife bought, I look forward to trying it again next weekend for hopefully a full game.
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