Cthulhu Wars - A Five Second Board Game Review

It's all good. Not every game is for everyone. And it's easy to dismiss the game for its ridiculous production and price tag.

I love it, but I would not love it as much as I do had I been the one to pay for it.

And that's part of my dissatisfaction, too. I don't know anyone else who owns it because I don't know anyone who was willing to dump the bundle of cash into it. I got mine at half MSRP, which is the only reason I shelled out for it in the first place. But I like the game enough to be interested in some of the other factions and apparently the only way I can try them out is to shell out even more money via Kickstarter in the hope that there are enough people like me to get them reprinted. So, I end up second-guessing that choice, which makes me look at the game and wonder if I like it enough to be throwing down that much money. And that's when I start thinking about the things that rub me the wrong way. In some respects, it may be true that you simply need the right group of people to really make it work, as with negotiation games or those that veer close to them, like Dune.

Obviously play styles differ, and I don't know yours, but man... the Wind Walker is cool. That's my go-to non-base faction. I found the Sleeper to be boring as hell. Tcho Tcho.... not a fan. I don't remember the others, really.

I mentioned Nexus Ops specifically because of the spell books being similar in my mind to the combat goal cards in NO.

Ah_Pook wrote: I mentioned Nexus Ops specifically because of the spell books being similar in my mind to the combat goal cards in NO.

Right. I find that comparison totally fair. It's not a complex game, like Nexus Ops isn't. It's also not a complicated game. I don't understand the criticism for using mechanics like the point system. It's not like Chaos in the Old World was the first game to use that and I haven't seen Eric Lang take any heat for using the exact, same mechanic and the exact, same implementation in Blood Rage.

Jackwraith wrote:

Ah_Pook wrote: I mentioned Nexus Ops specifically because of the spell books being similar in my mind to the combat goal cards in NO.

Right. I find that comparison totally fair. It's not a complex game, like Nexus Ops isn't. It's also not a complicated game. I don't understand the criticism for using mechanics like the point system. It's not like Chaos in the Old World was the first game to use that and I haven't seen Eric Lang take any heat for using the exact, same mechanic and the exact, same implementation in Blood Rage.

Right. And remember, Lang went to that point system well three times before the break away smash success of Blood Rage (Ragnorak predated CitOW).

CW - Great discussion everyone!
I'm the nut-job completist for CW.
I enjoy playing the game a lot. It scratches a lot of my DoaM itches, it doesn't overstay its welcome, and it's a lot of fun to see laid out on the table. I do not play it enough, only seeing table time 2-3 times a year.
I suspect I'll never play all of independents.
I bought the game because I very much enjoy the Cthulhu Mythos, and I expect to very much enjoy painting these critters.
That mentioned, here's the confession; In three years, I haven't painted one piece (I got other things in my queue.)

Looking past any hyper-critical frustrations I may have with Petersen & family with their KSers, here's my biggest problem with CW - The premise is dumb. These alien factions would never give a shit about our apocalyptic little rock enough to fight over it.

drewcula wrote: CW - Great discussion everyone!
I'm the nut-job completist for CW.
I enjoy playing the game a lot. It scratches a lot of my DoaM itches, it doesn't overstay its welcome, and it's a lot of fun to see laid out on the table. I do not play it enough, only seeing table time 2-3 times a year.
I suspect I'll never play all of independents.
I bought the game because I very much enjoy the Cthulhu Mythos, and I expect to very much enjoy painting these critters.
That mentioned, here's the confession; In three years, I haven't painted one piece (I got other things in my queue.)

Looking past any hyper-critical frustrations I may have with Petersen & family with their KSers, here's my biggest problem with CW - The premise is dumb. These alien factions would never give a shit about our apocalyptic little rock enough to fight over it.

I can't remember if this is canon per Lovecraft, pseudo-canon per Derleth, or non-canon per Petersen/Chaosium, but there was a violent conflict between the Elder Things and their Shoggoth slaves on Earth in primordial times. There was also some conflict in the Dreamlands between the Great Old Ones and a loose pantheon of Great Ones. Otherwise, yeah, the Great Old Ones never got into direct wrasslin' matches like Godzilla vs Rodan.

You're correct on your Earth History; The Shoggoths did have a slave revolt against their Elder One masters. Lovecraft penned that himself in At the Mountains of Madness. But eh. Shoggoths and Elder Things are only monsters in CW. They ain't Great Old Ones.