Barnes on Games- Xia: Legends of a Drift System in Review, Moongha Invaders in Review, RESISTOR_, Secret of the Lost Tombs (again)

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The Moongha link doesn't work. Tried clicking on your name and it doesn't show up in the archives either.

Fixed.

I played the game a few weeks back myself...I didn't have the right mix of people. I loved the game but some walked way with a "Meh". So for me it is still holding up.

When the campaign launched I knew I'd be sticking with my old copy. The gaudy artwork and plastic didn't lure me in because it doesn't match the game. It gives this impression of action from the get-go, that you'd be stomping cities in no time. The old stylized art and duel-tone stickered wood discs let you know that it wasn't just a bash and smash. That there was going to be 30-40 minutes of movie before Godzilla was revealed.

The Moongha is the only KS game i have ever backed (its not quite here yet in the UK). Its two year delay doesn't really bother me, but i am not sure why I backed it, possibly your comments Micheal a few years back (oh the irony). When it finally arrives the question is whether to play it or try and hock it in shrink. Will probably give it a shot as it looks suitably trashy (though i do think the older version looked better in many regards) and im not too bothered by games feeling dated. I have noticed games feeling dated more though lately.

I don't have any bias towards the original Moongha artwork; I've never even seen it in person. The new Moongha is a good looking game. I don't know how the big chunky minis will work in actual gameplay, but they look good. The board, tokens, dice, and rulebook are all well done.

The oozy-smelly thing with the miniatures though -- I'm a little worried about that since my yellow Clash of Cultures pieces leaked yellow color all over the place.

Wallace's stock has certainly dropped in the last few years.

Can someone post the link to the Xia review, both links on this page go to the Moongha Invaders review and I can't find it on MM.

I played Moongha for the first time last night (no experience with previous edition).

My initial thought is that none of your complaints in the review resonated with my play. I see what you're saying but the impact and negativity was never present.

We played three players and turns went by so quickly it didn't matter that I needed to charge up incrementally or take awhile to deploy a monster.

The miniatures were fine and endearing. Love the 3D rubble and soldiers.

The Darkoors didn't feel like a distraction. Late game I needed some points and I made some clever plays by tossing down troops in a city to protect my Vampire. It also caused the push and pull of action selection to be more interesting as I wanted to choose to place heroes simply so someone else didn't drop them in one of my 3 vampire locations.

Similarly, I really liked the 3 city ownership/defense thing. I hate The Great Fire of London which does something similar because it gives you little recourse to protect your locations. I felt like I could do clever things here to steer people away from my locations like load up on troops or use my Moogre defensively (chasing monsters out of my cities).

The game was fast, about 75 minutes for us and it felt unique and different. Dug it and am considering picking it up (I'll do the hazmat work on your noxious fume box for $20 shipped).

charlest wrote: I played Moongha for the first time last night (no experience with previous edition).

My initial thought is that none of your complaints in the review resonated with my play. I see what you're saying but the impact and negativity was never present.

We played three players and turns went by so quickly it didn't matter that I needed to charge up incrementally or take awhile to deploy a monster.

The miniatures were fine and endearing. Love the 3D rubble and soldiers.

The Darkoors didn't feel like a distraction. Late game I needed some points and I made some clever plays by tossing down troops in a city to protect my Vampire. It also caused the push and pull of action selection to be more interesting as I wanted to choose to place heroes simply so someone else didn't drop them in one of my 3 vampire locations.

Similarly, I really liked the 3 city ownership/defense thing. I hate The Great Fire of London which does something similar because it gives you little recourse to protect your locations. I felt like I could do clever things here to steer people away from my locations like load up on troops or use my Moogre defensively (chasing monsters out of my cities).

The game was fast, about 75 minutes for us and it felt unique and different. Dug it and am considering picking it up (I'll do the hazmat work on your noxious fume box for $20 shipped).

I agree with this. Even though we butchered some rules, turns were fast and it didn't feel like things were bogging down by having to build things over multiple actions. I actually like the minis just because they feel like a throwback to the bright colored figures you'd get in a mass-market game from the 80's or 90's, and the clutter on the board was never enough to throw off your knowledge about what was happening and where.

Maybe it's just nostalgia for Barnes that's throwing off his opinion of how it plays against how he remembers it playing?