Board Game General

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8th page and no replies? Board gamers must be busy for Christmas.

>Get any games for people for Christmas?
Nope, I'm the only one in my group of friends/family with a board game collection.

>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
Hopefully Dead of Winter, which I asked my family for!

>Favorite theme-heavy game?
If you mean the game that has my favorite execution of theme, then War of the Ring, no question. It captures the grand scope of the conflict described in the books, with many aspects being surprisingly accurate. Like how the races of the Free Peoples are so reluctant to join the war, and how the elves are powerful but ultimately can't contribute much due to a lack of manpower.

>>44355790
>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?

I wish,
I have a family dinner tonight and I'd rather be here doing /tg/ with random people off the internet.
I mean you people can't be all that bad right?

>>44357262
Wanna play some games on TTS?

>>44357269
>TTS
I don't know what that is because it's my first week here

>>44357316
Tabletop Simulator. It's a "game" on steam that is a good way to simulate boardgames online
Also, welcome to our humble abode here over at /tg/. enjoy your stay

>>44357316
It's a simulator program where you flip the table and generally chuck things about.

>>44357340
Oh I know that game, don't have it.
Isn't vassal better for playing seriously tough?

>>44357394
I've never actually used vassal, I just like TTS because it's easy and has almost any game you want thanks to steam workshop

>>44349725
Thanks for the feedback! Hopefully you're around in this thread so that I can ask you some questions, if you don't mind:

Assuming a situation where you had units on a card owned by somebody else, why didn't you think a duel to reduce his units was worth it?

How was the "1 points of units minimum" rule? Was it confusing/hard to grasp at first? How about the unit type relationships?

Which rules confused you the most? Were you able to reach a satisfying interpretation of them? What were they?

How did you feel about the end game? Where you start claiming cards and the grid gets smaller and smaller.

I will try my best to play a few round with a few of my friends, I'm a bit hesitant since they're fairly new at board games and I wouldn't to scare them off with a game that has inadequate rules, but I will do what I can. How would you suggest getting them to play without telling them anything though? Or did you mean "explain rules, play" without unnecessary info like "I made this!"?

>Get any games for people for Christmas?
Getting my mother into games, so I picked her up Qwirkle Dice to replace her dying Qwirkle set.
Got my older nephew Smash Up. Got my younger nephew Libertalia.

>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
Isle of Skye, it should be here next week. And I asked for Among the Stars, if I get that... woo!

>Favorite theme-heavy game?
Tokaido? Although the theme is kind of abstracted there... Libertalia? I don't own that many theme-heavy games outside like... Relic. But I don't actually enjoy Relic that much

>>44355790
>>Get any games for people for Christmas?
Got one friend my kickstarter copy of Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. He got me a copy of the fresh meat expansion for cutthroat caverns. Which I already have, so he gets it back.
>>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
Got some really, really good games of Two rooms and a Boom last night at my Christmas LAN, hoping for some twilight imperium before the new years.
>>Favorite theme-heavy game
Unlicensed theme, twilight imperium. Licensed, Star Trek: Fleet Captains.

Unwrapped Memoir 44 airpack just came today, excited.

>>44358709
>Libertalia
How is it? I'm probably getting it for Christmas.

I already got Mice and Mystics and may also be getting Fury of Dracula. I love having a big family.

>>44355790
>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
This Christmas was close to being a neat complete bust for playing games.

I have four brothers, two of them share my interest in board games. And it being Christmas, I am visiting the parents for the break I have in work (work for a university) One is only coming by for about four hours total, two on Christmas Eve and two on Christmas. They're spending most of their time with his wife's family. And the other brother was planning on being here Christmas Eve for a few days, then decided not to come at all, then got convinced by my dad to at least come by for a day or two.

I've gotten my dad into a few lighter games which is a lot of fun, but I'm still craving a heavier game.

>>44359042
Libertalia is pretty fun, but until you git gud it's going to feel like "Nice Carefully Laid Plan You Have There, It Would Be A Shame If Something Were To Happen To It" Simulator 2015 Edition.

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>that feeling of getting Roll For the Galaxy one day and Castles of Burgundy the next day in the mail

what am I in for /bgg/?

>>44359410
Sounds cool. I just got it because I heard it was good and I like pirates.

Any other pirate-themed games you can recommend? I'd love something that's a little bit more toward the wargame/dudes on a map genre without being full-on historical wargaming.

>>44361253
Best pirate game in that vein would be Rum and Bones. It plays out a bit like a moba if that's an issue for you, otherwise it's pretty fun.

>>44361306
>if that's an issue for you
Not at all. I'm not a moba fanatic but I can see why people enjoy them, even if the only one I was ever all that into was Smite.

Thanks for the recommendation.

>>44361326
Downside to rum and bones is the typical Cool Mini or Not caveats - game's expensive and a load of the content produced for it was kickstartee-exclusive stuff that will cost several hundred to get at.
Also I hear the games rules for more than 1v1 players are kinda lackluster.
That said, a lot of people seem to be really enjoying it.

>>44362279
The team games are not as great as 1v1 but work well enough, with 3v3 working better usually than 2v2.

The first part is definitely true though. The copy I played was with all kickstarter stuff so I couldn't tell you what's available and what isn't.

>>44360278
Happiness, anon

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Daily reminder to avoid Legacy games like the plague if have any love for the hobby.

Remember to annoy Tom Vasel.
https://youtu.be/DPCoP1X2AUU?t=27m26s

What are the essential expansions to get for Eldritch Horror? I've pretty much exhausted every scenario on the sparse encounter decks, so i'm ready for an expansion.

Played Power Grid for the first time last night. It was actually cool, a lot different than I expected

>>44361253
Libertalia is actually really light on theme. They stretch the limits of what constitutes a pirate/who would be on a pirate ship because there are 30 different roles. Their abilities sort of match the roles themselves, but during play the theme fades. Not a bad game though. I agree with >>44359410 because somehow I always get fucked in that game

>>44360278
Roll is alright. People in my group like it a lot more than I do. If you can play it regularly with the same group, then you could probably get games down to 20 minutes or less, which is great for an engine-builder of this weight. Never played CoB. I saw some good prices over the last few months but never pulled the trigger.
>>44362718
I really want to play Pandemic: Legacy, but not enough to buy it. Someone in my group has it but I don't think enough of us are dedicated to playing it (smart move, my friends and I are still on Game 5 of Risk Legacy after a year)

>>44355790

>>Get any games for people for Christmas?
No, was looking for star wars risk original trilogy fire myself. Over €100 on Amazon & got sniped on a copy on eBay.
>>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
Would love to but no one is around /interested lately.
>>Favorite theme-heavy game?
Lotr the confrontation I guess.

>>44355790
>Get any games for people for Christmas?
No, my family isn't really big on board games unfortunately, and me and my friends collective board game collection doesn't really need anything new atm.

>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
Hm, might try Robinson Crusoe? Probably going to pull some kind of all-day affair at the local board game café, and then probably some boardgaming on new year's eve prior to increased alchohol consumption.

>Favorite theme-heavy game?
No idea 2bh.


>>44361253
>Any other pirate-themed games you can recommend?
I can't actually recommend these, becuase I haven't played them, but they might be worth looking in to:

Merchant and Marauders
Blackbeard (there's actually both an Avalon Hill version which is old and probably super out of print, and a newer GMT version)

legacy games are niche cancer

>>44363260
It's literally a yearly model called "seasons."

>>44357394
Vassal is fine, free but has java ui, the games are only as good as the modders, so most of the board games are shit.

The vassal priests who actually know what they're doing pretty much only wargame, so the best things on vassal are the wargames. The board games are hit and miss

>>44363325
>the best things on vassal are the wargames
Oh shit, might have to look into this vassal stuff, getting kind of interested in wargames lately. I mean, none of the ridiculously huge ones, but like between 4-8 hours or something.

Either I'm blind or the situation is really shitty.
I'd really like to get my hands on the Gears of War - Mission Pack 1, but it seems like its been sold out everywhere and its been a while since they were made.
Its a long shot but do any of you have some knowledge of a way of acquiring it? Or should I just search for pictures of the contents and make knock-offs to save myself the bother?

>>44364169
ebay and luck

>>44364169
boardgamegeek marketplace

Dos anyone know if the Academy store ships outside of the US?
Looking to get my hands on some Conflict of Heroes stuff.

>>44365531
Not familiar with Acadamy, but you might try miniaturemarket.com and/or coolstuffinc.com. Both have excellent reputations, prices, and solid customer service records.

>>44361253
Black Fleet and Merchants & Marauders are also both pirate themed games.

>>44365531
Last I checked, their shipping even inside the US is cost prohibitive. You should try to find it via another store

>>44366051
>>44365786
Thanks lads

I'm looking for good card games that work well for 3+ people. Using my usual
approach of going through reviews I came up with the following:

Nightfall > Race for the Galaxy = Cthulhu Realms > Glory to Rome = 7 wonders = Nations > Splendor > Mundus Novus > City of Iron > Citadels > Elysium

1. Am I missing anything else that's fun?
2. Have I made an error when assessing the games? Would you rearrange the games differently and why?

>>44366348
>2. Have I made an error when assessing the games?
I would say so, mostly because of the fact that the listed games play very differently from one another, with the exception of Nightfall and Cthulhu Realms and even that's debatable.

Are you simply looking for a card game, or is there a specific type of game you're looking for beyond that?

For example, Splendor and 7 Wonders are great beginner to get yourself and others into the hobby. Nations is a long and involved civ building game. Glory to Rome and City of Iron are economic engine building games. Nightfall and Cthulhu Realms are deckbuilders.

I will mention though that Nightfall and to a lesser extent Glory to Rome are out of print and thus hard to find and/or expensive.

I haven't played Mundus Novus before, but otherwise as a general rec every game listed is solid and worth getting.

>1. Am I missing anything else that's fun?
Yes, but that list could go on for a while with how many games there are. I could suggest something more specific if you give me a bit more info on what you might want or like.

>>44366723

I have no further requirement than "it should work well for 3+ people" and "be a card game". I understand that I have a lot of spread on this list but it was just "oh this looks cool", "this looks cool" and I've sorted them along my perceived coolness/fun factor.

Thanks for the heads up about Nightfall. I guess Cthulhu Realms or Race for the Galaxy are the top contenders.

> Yes, but that list could go on for a while with how many games there are. I could suggest something more specific if you give me a bit more info on what you might want or like.

The only card games I played was m:tg and Dominion.

So yeah having anything that works like m:tg and works for 3+ people would be fun, but I doubt there's anything similar that's not dumbed down to the point that it's watered down.

Re Dominion - Nightfall seemed to be a deckbuilder I'd like to play, also Cthulhu Realms. Other deckbuilders are either dead or not terribly interesting (Arctic Scavangers, Ascension)

>>44366854
>works like m:tg
Could grab two copies of Epic, one supposes.

>>44366854
Fair enough. As far as deckbuilders go, I would suggest Trains, Legendary (any of Marvel, Aliens, or Predator), or Core Worlds.

Nothing really functions like m:tg that works well with 3+ that I know of.

As far as non-deckbuilders, ones that fit in with what you mentioned are Among the Stars, Imperial Settlers, Seasons, San Juan, and Blood Bowl: Team Manager.

>>44362794
Just got the Under the Pyramids expansion for Xmas and own the rest of them as well.

Mountains of Madness isn't bad but you only use the board for the 'Rise of the Elder Things' Epic Monster which kinda sucks.

Expect to have one/two of you spend most of the game in the x pack board.

The pyramids x pack adds some pretty powerful abilities/relics but also adds detriment skills so -1/-2 to a skill is common.

And the Pyramids board is kinda nice as you can access it from multiple different spaces on the board unlike the Madness board.

Mountains of Madness = better atmosphere/story experience

Under the Pyramids = more loot/exploration

>>44362718
... I'll bite, why should we be avoiding legacy games?

Got given Ticket To Ride: Europe for christmas, any good?

>>44367989
Light-ish, but fun.

>>44368010
Neat

>>44367903
>Useless after a number of plays
>Sets precedent for a yearly model for people to buy every year

Look at it from a designer and publisher perspective and think of the laughter echoing from some room. When there's something successful it's replicated throughout. This is an exploiting of the cult of the new, literally discarding it when you're done.

Don't be surprised in the future if it's more common with new games over the next few years with the success of Pandemic Legacy. When there's big money potential it won't be ignored.

>>44369559
My only fear is that people will try to copy the format and do it in a shitty way.

In my opinion Pandemic Legacy is worth it as to how in depth it all is. But I can see how people who didn't care about quality could easily make a shitty cash in. However I think that would be the fast track to tanking your company.

>>44367700
any opinion on the smaller expansions?

>>44355790
>>Get any games for people for Christmas?
I got my brother Eldritch Horror but then just kept it and bought him a PS4.
>>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
Yeah, hopefully Galaxy Trucker and Castle of mad King Ludwig with the expansions.
The swan rooms fucking suck.
>>Favorite theme-heavy game?
TI3 I mean what do you think.

>>44355790
>>Get any games for people for Christmas?

I did not - I'm the main person who provides games for my gaming group. I didn't ask for any this year either.

>>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?

To many games to list. I'm just hoping to get in some good game time...

>>Favorite theme-heavy game?
Heroes of Normandie? Otherwise in most games the mechanics are largely independent of the theme. In fact I'd be hard pressed to name games with great mechanics that could not easily be re-skinned / re-themed into something else.

>>44373032
Just go away.

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>>44373032

Was pretending to be retarded a part of your plan?

>>44362794
You should get Forsaken Lore. The contents of the box is 90% encounter cards. I recommend that people buy that with the base game.

>>44366723

Oh my local shop has Nightfall at more-then-reasonable price, no expansions though.

>>44373106
He's just spamming it in multiple threads.

>>44369559
As a counter-argument, games like TIME Stories are much less valuable in terms of replayability / dollar, and it's getting very close to as much attention as P:L.

>>44373482
Sure, but when you're done you can still sell it instead having cardboard that you spent $60 on that has no value left (Unless TIME Stories uses something similar to legacy. Never played so I don't know) . Or you can pass it on in you're family along with the rest of your collection. I think it's really sad when people pull out math they've done to defend a product, none of it matters if it's useless after a number of plays compared to something that has a lifetime's worth of play, whether it's you or someone else.

Of course maybe I've just fallen for conspiracy. Another one is maybe youtube channels like Dice Tower and rahdo have been given some $ to push loving P:L and have people interested. I mean is it really the best selling game after only being out for so long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGBjy_5AkHk

There probably isn't much backlash right now, but I hope people do if it becomes more common.

>>44373679
Time Stories didn't look like fun to me. I watched the Dice Tower playthroughs and (acknowledging that watching is much worse than the experience of playing) I knew that my friends and I would find it stupid.

That said, ripping up cards and sticking stickers on the board looks fun to me. The act of destroying the game as you play is exciting.

>>44373032
You're really bad at trolling. No wonder your other bait threads are starving to death for lack of attention.

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TG related Christmas haul.

>>44373903
>The act of destroying the game as you play is exciting.

How so? It's like buying a nice car or a nice house and claiming that the act of destroying the car or house is 'exciting'. It truly comes off sounding like "I've got more money than I know what to do with, and I'm not very mature." There's a difference between 'Unique experiences' and destructive experiences under the guise that they're the 'one true and only' way to have a 'unique' experience. It's like artists that argue that an item created solely to be destroyed is of special value. It ignores the fact that all experiences are unique, and that all items change over time and are eventually destroyed.

>>44373965
More like compared to buying fireworks. "You mean we're just going to blow these things up? Where's the fun in that? What about resale value?"

I hope this didn't need saying, but Pandemic Legacy isn't nearly as nice as a house or car.

>>44373937

Blood Rage was on my TO-GET list until I learned about kick-starter exclusives. I still might get it but I hate that fucking tactic and I wish that companies that do them stop.

The game with pig on the box looks awesome, what's the skinny?

>>44374013
Not that guy, but fireworks only purpose is to be blown up, while a house or a board game have got another main function. While destruction is the only way to achieve the fireworks purpose, it is the only way to ultimately destroy the board games purpose, which is to be played.

>>44374127
>Blood Rage
From what I understand the exclusive content is mostly superficial, alt scuplts and the like.

>Pig game
Malifaux is a skirmish size miniature game, 6-10 models a side. The setting is a hodgepodge of wild west, horror, steampunk, and others. Objective focused games rather than just kill em all games. It and the batman miniature game are my favorite hobby mini games at the moment.

>>44375590
>reddit
well yeah, what do you expect.

I have about $200 to spend on board games right now and would like to add to my collection.

Right now, I own Carcassonne, Zombicide, Mice & Mystics, King of Tokyo, Settlers of Catan, Forbidden Island, Love Letter, Libertalia, Sheriff of Nottingham, and The Resistance. The Resistance is my favorite, followed by Sheriff of Nottingham, but I haven't played Libertalia or Mice and Mystics yet. My least favorite is Catan.

I would like a good deck builder, but not Arctic Scavengers because my sister already has it and I game with her a lot.

Beyond that, just help me broaden my horizons. Looking to move in the direction of slightly heavier for the Ameritrash, and maybe for more interesting Eurogames because Catan is kind of samey after a while and while I appreciate the elegance of Carcassonne, I don't really enjoy it.

>>44376490
You might look at 'Dark Moon' it's a social interaction game with a hidden traitor mechanic. It gives a lot of tension / paranoia without the long game play time of games like Dead of Winter or BattleStar Galatica.

As for a good deck-builder - check out 'Among The Stars'. I keep hearing a lot of good things about the game play and I'm looking to add it to my collection. I've also got L.E. Aliens which is a lot of fun and XenoShyft. I like Xenoshyft and it is very co-operative, but I routinely get my ass kicked by this game.

If you want a heavier 'Ameritrash' game without going all "Advanced Squad Leader" - check out Neroshima Hex. It has a number of expansions and is very well received, and is also on my 'buy soon' list.

In the Eurogame department - I was quite surprised by how much I've enjoyed games like Stone Age, Castles of Burgundy, and Five Tribes. (My first love is classic hex and chit war games.) None of these are as heavy as say Terra Mystica or Caverna, but still have a lot of strategic possibilities.

Now you might also look into 7 Wonders - it has elements of both a Eurogame - building a wonder, and a drafting mechanic as well.

>>44376490
Well if you're looking for a fun deck builder and enjoy sci fi, xenoshyft is loads of fun. It's essentially star ship troopers the game. While it works at lower player counts, 4 player is really what you want to aim for.

And if you enjoy king of tokyo, I wholeheartedly recommend king of new york. It a heavier version of tokyo, but it still sits firmly on the lighter scope of games. It's currently in my groups top 5 games.

>>44376490
>slightly heavier for the Ameritrash
Chaos in the Old World, Rex, maybe Kemet? I'm not too versed with ameritrash.


>more interesting Eurogames
Le Havre, Terra Mystica, Power Grid, Dominant Species. DS is a bit on the heavier side. Mare Nostrum, being reprinted soon, mix of wargame and euro.


>>44376731
>"Advanced Squad Leader"
2bh there's some less complex wargames that might be interesting, but they're probably all like 2-player.

>>44376490
Deck Building the Deckbuilding game is a nice small and quick 1v1 deckbuilder.

Legendary has TONS of content including superheroes and Aliens and Predator.

Core Worlds is a great deckbuilder but you really need the Galactic Orders expansion to really give the game good zazz.

Thunderstone Advance is also really good, but kinda hard to get a hold of currently as it went out of print not long ago.\


As for other games:

Caverna is a spectacular Euro worker placement game, however is is VERY heavy and pretty long especially past four players. I'd recommend getting started with Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small (A 2 player game) to see if you like that style of game. The Agricola base game is also good, but I like Caverna more.

Chaos in the Old World is one of my groups favorites, especially with the Horned Rat expansion.

Roll for the Galaxy is another favorite of mine though I don't get to play it enough with my group. It's a dice rolling and engine building game.

>>44374013
You're talking about something that is consumed by an inherently destructive chemical process, which is not a correct analogy. To put this in perspective - if one buys a gallon of gasoline, and expects to use all of it to power a vehicle, then one does not expect to have the gallon of gasoline when done. On the other hand, if one puts a gallon of gasoline in a vehicle to drive it from point A to point B - one still expects to have a fully functional vehicle after arriving at point B. And smashing up the vehicle along the way "simply because one can" doesn't really come across as terribly cleaver. Regardless of whether you smash up the vehicle or not 'the journey' to point B was still unique.

There's nothing about the components of a typical "Legacy Game" that require them to be destroyed by the process of playing the game - the designers simply 'want' you to destroy them. This comes across as 'gimmicky' to me. Particularly in light of the fact that plenty of games out there have a 'campaign' system where the out comes of previous games have a measurable effect on the probable out come of any future games played with that rule set, none of which require destroying the components / replay-ability of said games.

There's nothing inherently wrong with playing a legacy game and permanently altering it. It's simply my perspective that doing so only offers the illusion of something you already own. Each play through of a game / campaign game *already is a unique experience*. Replaying a 'legacy' game is only a matter of buying another copy - much to the financial delight of the author / publisher. In the face of that fact, the argument that it's a 'truly one time only' experience doesn't hold much weight.

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>>44355790
I'm excited to play some risk tonight nigga green troops 4 ever

What's a good light filler besides Love Letter?

What heavier (not TI3 tier, but not King of Tokyo either) thematic games take between one and two hours and play well with three?

>>44376840
>Chaos in the Old World, Rex, maybe Kemet? I'm not too versed with ameritrash.

CitOW would be good, but Rex is probably a bit heavier than it sounded like the original Anon wanted from the impression I got. I haven't played Kemet yet so I can't really comment there.

> Le Havre, Terra Mystica, Power Grid

TM seems like it would be a lot more heavy than an 'intro Euro Game' which is again the impress I got the other Anon was looking for. Power Grid seems like a good choice I didn't think of on the other hand.

>>"Advanced Squad Leader"
> 2bh there's some less complex wargames that might be interesting, but they're probably all like 2-player.

To be sure there are plenty of less complex war games / Ameri-trash games. (OGRE and Heroes of Normandie come to mind.) The point was to offer a suggestion for something less rules heavy as a means of testing the water. There's no point in buying TI3 and every pricey expansion only to discover that you hate 'Grand Strategy' games with long run times. :)

>>44376959
>Deck Building the Deckbuilding game is a nice small and quick 1v1 deckbuilder

I honestly thought it was a joke / meme image until I realized there really was a 'Deck Building' game. As for 'Core Worlds' - that's on my 'want list' too.

> Roll for the Galaxy is another favorite of mine though I don't get to play it enough...

Same here - I recently acquired the expansion and I'm super excited to try that out soon. RftG went over amazingly well with my group and we routinely have a tight race with even the last place player only a few points behind the winner.

>>44377201
SushiGO
Hanabi
Red7
Bang: The Dice Game

Eldritch Horror is a good medium/heavy game that can go about two hours so long as you're moving at a good clip.

>>44377201
Try Dark Moon - games typically run 45 min to 1 1/2 hours - if you like social interaction and tension based games. Particularly with 3 players.

Other light fillers:

Forbidden Island
Forbidden Desert
Lost Legacy Card system
Once Upon A Time
Funemployeed
Hanabi
Sushi Go
Illuminati
Saboteur 1 & 2
Bang (dice game & multiple variants)
The Grizzled (amazing - but you want 3 or more players)
Citadels (also excellent IMO.)

>>44377201
Coup is my groups other favourite light filler game besides love letter.

Small World is good at 3 players and should finish under 2 hours, but that might still be too light for you.

>>44377331
>Rex is probably a bit heavier than it sounded like the original Anon wanted
Ye could be, haven't played it (well, Dune actually) for quite a while now.

>The point was to offer a suggestion for something less rules heavy as a means of testing the water.
Oh, I was just bantzing you a bit for mentioning ASL in an Ameritrash context. I kind of see it like the old school posterboy for wargames.

>'Grand Strategy'
And on that note I suppose Quartermaster General should be mentioned!

>>44377681
>>Rex
It's great, but it can be tough to balance below max players. And it isn't exactly intro level, sadly. (Otherwise I'd get to play it more often.)

> Oh, I was just bantzing you a bit for mentioning ASL in an Ameritrash context. I kind of see it like the old school posterboy for wargames.

Heh! Indeed. ASL almost belongs in its own category. Any game with a Dictionary sized binder for the rules and space for more add-on rules is a bit WTF-ish.

> >'Grand Strategy'
> And on that note I suppose Quartermaster General should be mentioned!

OOOHHHH! I see /tg/ and ANON have been holding out on me! ;) I'm checking out the link now...

http://www.grigglinggames.com/shop/euro/quartermaster-general/

Cool, they have the rules and a strategy guide as free PDF downloads. Thanks Anon!

>Fury of Dracula 3e
>Cosmic Encounter
>Coup
>Kemet
Are these good for someone trying to go that next step beyond entry-level?

>>44378108
Coup is pretty entry level - adding the G54 expansion improves things somewhat.

Cosmic Encounter is a nice step up - after playing the base game there are a number of expansions for it.

Kemet is very well liked. (Hopefully STEEV or one of the other regs will give you more of a review.)

The Fury of Dracula reprint is also well liked by fans of that genera / play style.

Small World (abstract war game)
Stone Age (Euro-game)
Castles of Burgundy (Euro-game)
Nexus OP (Ameri-trash)
Neuroshima Hex (Ameri-trash)
Pandemic (coop - Ameri-trash) with various expansions
Netrunner (2 player LCG)
Gears of War or Level 7 Omega Protocol (coop Ameri-trash Scifi shooter)
Roll for the Galaxy (Scifi Euro-game)

>>44378271
>>44378108

Kemet is like your favorite turn based strategy game got moved to board game format. It is THE area control/victory point gaining/card driven strategy game out there.

The game main objective is to get VP points. While the game is ostentatiously about area control but it biases everything towards the attacker. One of the ways you get permanent victory points is by attacking and winning a battle. The victory points that you get through area control are only permanent (unless you control two key areas at the end of the turn).

A great mechanism in Kemet is buying upgrades. All players start with similar capabilities but throughout the game you will obtain several upgrades (power tiles). The power tiles come in three colors: red (attack), blue (defense) and white (resources).

The upgrades you get will in most part be unique to you making the game highly asymmetrical after a couple of rounds.

There's a *lot* of going on in the game but you can get the gist of it in just a couple of rounds. I love it.

Sister loves Clue the board game, I hate it so now I am on the hunt for a better version of the game any ideas?

Not all that into the Cthulhu mythos, but I like games where you go around rolling dice and killing monsters. Zombicide, Mice and Mystics, the Pathfinder card game, etc.

Any other cooperative games like this you can recommend?

>>44378626
Mystery of the Abbey if you don't mind Euros.

Fury of Dracula 3e if you want to play for two hours, be a magnificent bastard, and have brutal combat.

Both are very heavy on deduction.

>>44378637
There's Warhammer Quest the Adventure Card Game and Ghost Stories for that sort of thing.

>>44378637
DnD - Wrath of Ashardalon perhaps?

>>44378626
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a fantastic deduction game but doesn't really have a board.

>>44378637
Gears of war is Fully Co-Op and is a dungeon crawl like Mice and Mystics.

Galaxy Defenders is fully Co-Op and is basically the ground side of X-Com. The missions in this one can get looooong.

>>44378409
Not the original Anon that asked, but thanks for the review. Now I just need to win the lottery / rob a few banks in order to afford all the board games I want.

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Just got pic related.
Going to play it with family and friends later.
We like ridiculous and dumb shit. We in for a good or mediocre time?

>>44378974
I hear it's pretty good, and then up a bit more from that if you like super-jail sorts of stuff.

I got Fury of Dracula today. What a great game! I just did a quick run to test some game mechanics, but I could imagine some crazy stuff going down. What are some of your favorite things to do as Dracula?

>>44378974
My usual experience is that it's fun for the first 2 or 3 rounds, and then drags on until everyone is checking their phones every 2 minutes and I just pack it up and get out a new game.

>>44379527
Ding ding ding, sounds perfect.

>>44379704
Sounds like you play with an unimaginative lot. I am so sorry.

>>44379704

How do your games even last longer than 3 rounds? When I play with my friends, were lucky if there are two players alive with like 5 hp on round 4.

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>>44380002
Round as in someone got a Last Wizard Standing token.

>>44379795
How exactly does Battle Wizards benefit from imagination any more than than most board games? If it was a story game like Baron Munchausen or something I could understand.
Are we supposed to act out spell animations or something?

>>44371231
Forgotten Lore/Strange Remnants are both pretty solid. I guess if I had to pick I'd go Forgotten Lore.

>>44380179
At first bit, not me, a Round in ESW is every casts one spell.
One game is when you get a Wizard token.
A tournament is however long it takes for someone to get 2 tokens.
-from the rulebook I just read.

At the second part, me, Actually yes. As much as it hurts to suggest it, Will Wheaton does it right on his Tabletop Youtube show.

You mix stupidity into it and make it a party game more than a game for the sake of fun.

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>>44380275
Yup. Just found it in the rules, too.
"In your best Epic Wizard Voice, read the name of your spell in dramatic fashion"

Is yahtzee the worst game? It's a family holiday tradition and it's just... not a game. It's multiplayer solitaire with dice. Except, at least with solitaire, the cards are sorted at the end. Guess you don't need to sort five dice.

>>44382558
It's certainly pretty bad, but at least it doesn't last three hours. The hard cap on how horrible a game can be is the time it wastes.

>>44382650
>I once had a game of Mao last 3 weeks
Given, it wasn't straight, but it was about 4 hours a day for 3 weeks with roommates.
The first rule the faggot made was: You win the whole game by getting everyone else to admit defeat
>This rule mixed with four bull-headed dudes and a chick who never backs down meant we took 3 weeks of suffering and endless rule-stacking for 4 of us to admit defeat
Guess who won out of a Jew, an Asian, blond haired, blue eyed German, the cook (also white), and the chick.

>>44382804
nobody anon, nobody won.

So, I got Evolution from my parents, which I am pumped to play tomorrow with friends and family. I also got exploding kittens and cards against humanity from the in laws.

No, I won't immediately throw them in the trash and burn them.

They'll sit tight until I have a novice enough crowd and want some light silliness. My game group would never ask for them. That cuts into citow, ti3, sheriff, and Summoner Wars time.

Was supposed to get Spartacus from my brother. Saw it, on sale, at several stores right near my house. Told him the best stores visit. He goes to solely one other store, they don't have it, and suddenly, he " doesn't have the time to go to the stores that have it in stock". So I get a gift card for Tour de Jeux... The chain that does not carry it... Well, I'm broke so so much for spartacus.

What game(s) des one get for 35$? Canadian prices, so things are a bit more expensive. Im thinking maybe Epic or something 5-10$ over the card cap.

>>44382843
Never played Evolution, how is it?
Also, just looked up Exploding Kittens.
Now I know what to get in the coming months: Epic Spell Wars expansion and that.

>>44382966
No clue how it is. I've just heard great things about how the table really builds an ecosystem. You need to pay attention to what everyone is doing, and the environment shifts every turn as things change, species go extinct, bigger, or carnivorous.

>>44382558
There's nothing inherently wrong with multiplayer solitaire, especially for non-gamer families. It's just slow, and opponents aren't engaged during your turn. If you wanted a fast & painless version of that, get Zombie Dice. For my money though, I'd get Rolling America which is probably the best DIY Bingo-style dice game you can buy

>>44355790

Got Letters from Whitechapel, been itching to play it again so I'm glad to have my own copy.

I also recently got Forbidden Stars, and am looking forward to arranging a game with some friends since it's fairly time-heavy.

>>44378974
i picked it up with the expansion. first time playing it too.
had a blast the first time around.
some cards seem a bit wonky though on how they are worded. I gotta feeling its just a problem with our group and over thinking some of them though.

no board games for xmas but I got a good amount of money to buy some.
Kinda new to the whole board game thing though.
Only games I have is Catan and Eldritch Horror.

Anyone have a good recommendation on a territorial type game with good combat but thats not Risk?
I played small world a while back, it was kinda fun but combat was pretty lacking. Seems like there wasnt really much of any sort of risk or strategy.

>>44383781
Kemet is THE area control game these days.

>>44383781
Good area controls:
Chaos in the Old World (Dice)
Nexus Ops (Dice)
Smallworld (Deterministic)
Smash Up (Deterministic)
Khemet/Cyclades (Deterministic)

>>44384109
huh, I think youre right. That game might be exactly what im looking for. thanks!

>>44384135
I should add that in this context "deterministic" means entirely or almost entirely player-controlled.

>>44377085

>There's nothing about the components of a typical "Legacy Game" that require them to be destroyed by the process of playing the game - the designers simply 'want' you to destroy them.

I haven't played Pandemic Legacy but I have played Risk Legacy.

The game would not be nearly as fun to play if every time we had to remember exactly where we put the Scars, who had named/claimed what continent, where the cities had been founded, etc. etc. from previous games. It would be such a bother that such permanent mechanics would never have even been considered for implementation.

And if the idea of doling out 50 bucks for a game you're only going to play a limited number of times irks you, remember that you aren't playing these things by yourself - if it's a limited time experience, then the people sharing that experience should share the price of admission, and at that point you're only out ~$10 when all is said and done.

>>44375590
>implying this isn't the best way to hopefully get at least SOME fun from that copy of monopoly you've had since you were 8

>>44384519
Monopoly is kind of fun if you have people who aren't total abhorrent shits and/or impatient man children with you.

Adding weird rules to "spice" it up sounds ideal.

Like Mao but with Monopoly as a base instead of Uno.

I was excited for Pandemic Legacy, but decided to pass due to price (especially since I was going to buy it translated because of the people I mostly play Pandemic with, and that's another 20 bucks). I'm not a fan of altering games in general, but I was willing to make an exception with this, especially since I expect the game is still playable in its last iteration, unlike what one anon seemed to imply. If it's not, though, that's another story.

>>44373937
Had a good time with Blood Rage so far, enjoy!

>>44355790
>>Get any games for people for Christmas?
No, but I got Chaos in the Old World, which I first played last year and think will fill a nice spot for area control/battle in my collection. Also got Aye, Dark Overlord!, which will improve my non-strategy options since Dixit hasn't been a hit with everyone and Love Letter doesn't do large groups.

>>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
We usually have a few game nights at my uncle's where a couple people bring new games, so I have no idea what I'm in for but I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably contribute Dead of Winter, and maybe Pandemic since I don't think they've seen the latest expansions. Maybe Dogs of War if they feel like strategy, but we usually play lighter games than that.

>>Favorite theme-heavy game?
Dead of Winter is the most theme-heavy game I own, but I wouldn't say I play it for the theme, but rather for the duality in cooperation versus individual goals and the occasional traitor. CitOW might take that spot with time, although I can't say I care about Warhammer lore either.

>>44384651
The most fun we've had with Monopoly was the couple times we played it with over-the-top "contracts" made to keep people in the game, like "you don't have to pay me this time but I get 50% of your future income from this street" or "I'll fund your hotels but I can land on your properties for free until the end of the game." We had to write them down because there were so many and that was basically the fun factor in the game.

Then we found out about modern board gaming and never looked back. Bless Wil Wheaton.

>>44384835

I've played a similar version of Monopoly before.

One player basically made it his mission to stop the game from ending too quickly by loaning out money constantly in exchange for vague favors from the players who would otherwise have had to give me key properties allowing me to bankrupt everyone even faster.

Why is there no flavor text or anything for winning in Eldritch Horror? The narrative just.. stops.

>>44385542
I always thought that was weird too. I usually end up making up my own dumb ending like "cthulhu was defeated by a jazz musician". but yeah. they should have put in some sort of winning line.

Kinda wondering if arkham horror was the same way too.

Depths of board game hell bump.

>Inlaws ask to play sheriff of nottingham
>ok, go to set it up in dining room
>come back three minutes later
>We thought it would take longer to set up, we're going fishing first!
I've married into a pack of sandrakers.

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Does anybody here have a copy of the Archipelago Solo Expansion who is willing to scan it and / or write the rules and scenarios into a document? Or, does anybody know of the existence of such a file somewhere on the internet?

Just got Archipelago for Christmas and recently learned it has a solo expansion. I enjoy solo gaming, but the expansion is sold out everywhere except Amazon which is charging over MSRP (after shipping) and promises delivery in a month and a half. And the expansion itself is literally just a deck of 33 cards that doesn't even have to be cards; it's just the rules for solo play (on 6 cards) and then 27 scenario cards describing the setup, end game trigger, and end game scoring for 27 different scenarios.

I'm not one to normally want to pirate board games like this, but it can't be bought right now and that the expansion could just be a two page PDF and work just fine and I want to play with my new shit without waiting for my gaming group to come back from holiday travels.

>>44391596
Actually, I found this document which has 2/3rds of that information:
https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/86925/archipelago-solo-score-sheet

That has the end game trigger and end game scoring for the 27 scenarios. Now I just need the full rules writeup, which isn't posted anywhere (not even on the Asmodee site) and the setup rules for the 27 scenarios.

>>44390807
>sandrakers
V G S V G S V G S
G
S

V
G
S

V
G
S

>>44390807

Not as annoying as my friend who keeps bugging me to play a board game at the LGS and then halfway through asks the store owner or another friend of his if they want to takeover his spot in the game.

Internally i'm like "LISTEN HERE YOU SHIT, DON'T START A GAME AND BUG ME ABOUT IT AND THEN NOT WANT TO PLAY IT LATER WHEN I TELL YOU THAT PARTICULAR GAME IS GOING TO PLAY TOO LONG AND WE WON'T FINISH BEFORE CLOSING" but externally i'm just calling him a faggot for doing such a thing and to listen to me next time and not bring 14 board games into the car. He's a good guy and his heart is in the right place but his planning is awful.

Rolled 30, 35, 36, 38, 25 + 23 = 187 (5d42 + 23)

Fucking dice games.

>>44392195
Where the fuck do you get a D42?

Rolled 603 (1d1000)

>>44392225
Don't mind me, I just woke up.

>>44390807
>not going fishing with the family
Also, I got Sheriff of Nottingham for Christmas and played it last night for the first time. I won. It was awesome.

>>44391596
>>44391655
Unfortunately I don't have a scanner right now. But I snagged my copy of the solo expansion off of Ebay for a very reasonable price. You might also try the Board Game Geek 'Bazaar' as well - I've purchased several games or expansions through sellers there and had good experiences every time so far.

Now I just need to get the actual 'Archipelago' base game before Asmodee / FFG hose all the online discount retailers...

>>44392718
Honestly, no need to scan it; if you could just type out the rules and setup info for the scenarios that'd complete the set of information I've got.

fuck

I'm looking for something casual we can play on silvester. It should be lighthearted and simply fun.
I thought about mafia de cuba because it has no setup, is explained in a minute and is more an interesting conversation than a board game.
The only problem I might have with it is that people won't remember what was in the box when they got it

Has anyone here played anything by Backspindle? They made two games I know of for the Discworld IP, Guards Guards and Clacks. I'm just wondering if anyone has heard of them besides me.

>>44392829
Sheriff of Nottingham and Coup G54 work well for a casual group.

I want to start my own board game youtube channel. Here are things I've got planned out so far:
1. Black ikea shelfs in the background filled with board games
2. Camera thats almost always out of focus
3. cheap microphone

anything else im missing?

>>44394100
A bunch of retards you rotate in and out that spew god knows what from their mouths every few seconds.

>>44394100
>anything else im missing?
A script, but that's the idea I think.

>>44392396
There's nothing to be caught up here but three inch perch, and it's windy as hell. Even the diehards just went out for half an hour, gave up, and came back.

>>44392777
I'll try and get to it when I can, but no promises on time frame. I'm rebuilding this PC, and if it finally decides to run correctly, then I'll be able to get back to business.

Family holiday problems: How does one play pinochle without contemplating suicide?

>>44395898
It could be worse, you could be stuck on an infinite loop of tic-tac-toe...

Honestly, at least your family will potentially game with you. My son came to visit from out of state, and my wife is taking him to a movie. Where they can sit and stare at a screen without communicating with each other for a couple of hours. Go figure. I'd have loved to have sat down and played some board games and chatted with them, but my wife refuses to game. Unfortunate.

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>>44395402
Thanks man, I appreciate even the willingness to think about it.

>>44396043
>It could be worse, you could be stuck on an infinite loop of tic-tac-toe...
Playing with pic related to boot.

I attempted to get some family games to play King of New York on Christmas day, didn't go down too well but my Cousin was only too keen to play Risk, which he subsequently lost.

Spent today playing betrayal at House on the Hill with friends, very fun. I became a wax monster (or something) and someone else summoned a dragon in the next game. I think the game has a lot of potential but there seemed to be some very specific combinations of characters and items that made them nigh unstoppable.

>>44396173
>betrayal
Enjoy the high while it lasts, eventually you'll figure out that the game is a bunch of smoke and mirrors and nothing the players do has any significant impact.

>>44396523
Already discovered, but the different Curses or Haunts seem pretty fun, even if limited by the simplistic mechanics.

We spent five turns stabbing a kid with a spear in a Chasm while a Dragon chased us, was good fun.

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I'm thinking about getting a deck building game. Is Artic Scavengers good?. I like the the theme but I wanted to hear opinions.

>>44397639
It's pretty good, I lime it a lot. The smaller carpool relative to other Deckbuilders makes it easier for your meta to get stale or repetitive, and it can feel a little snowbally, but I think it's still one of the most interesting ones out there.

>>44397639
There are many who like Arctic Scavengers; I am not one of them. I owned it once, and traded it away after half a dozen plays. It looks good, at first, but I quickly realized that every single game plays out the same and there aren't actually any meaningful decisions to be made. I mean, sure, you make choices, there's just always an obvious right answer.

The worst part is the market, really. The highest strength cards are also the highest end game scoring cards; it'd be like in Dominion if Provinces and Gold Coins were the same card. You end up buying the most expensive card you can afford with your hand, every turn. A degenerately simple choice.

Brother gave me ZOMBIES!!! for christmas. We've had a few games so far but they all ended quite quickly. Anyone know of any good ways to lengthen games without adding in bullshitty rules?

>>44355790
Brother loves Eldritch Horror, just have the base game, what expansion should I get?

>>44398872
forgotten lore is the best to get if he just has the base game, adds in a lot more to all the encounter decks and feels like how the game should have shipped. After that, whichever you think looks coolest.

>>44399034
Forsaken Lore even, damn I really need some caffeine today.

>>44399052
Danke.

Are there any ways to make 1v1 King of Tokyo more exciting?

>>44355790
>Get any games for people for Christmas?

No, but my parents got a Star Wars trivia board game, and we played it a bit during Christmas.

I'm not a fan. It's got a mix of Star Wars trivia questions and arranging movie events in a timeline for points.

The timeline part is fun, but the trivia questions basically rely on people having an absurd amount of autism, the fact they are multiple choice doing it no favors.

For example, one question asked how tall Leia's father is in meters, with possible answers all being very small measurements off.

It was pretty boring desu, and trivia rounds basically devolved into guessing and hoping you got it right.

>>44355790
>>Get any games for people for Christmas?
Not this year no. Well.. Except for the refugees which we have visited and taught game sto and left a score of titles (almost forgot about that).

>>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
Yes! Been Blood Raging and Above and Belowing and stuffs!

>>Favorite theme-heavy game?
T.I.M.E. STORIES!!!

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What's the general opinion on Trains? I'm looking between it, Memoir 44, and Fury of Dracula 3rd Edition for my next purchase. It seems fun, but I'm slightly hesitant since my group doesn't look like they favor euro-ish games that much. It supports 2 and above players though, compared to Memoir 44 which only supports 2 players, and Fury of Dracula which would probably be more fun with atleast 3 players.

Okay, so I often play board games with my sister and her boyfriend. I also have other friends I play board games with.

They also have other friends they play board games with.

My sister's favorite board games are Zombicide (especially the new Black Plague expansion) and the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. Her boyriend also likes these two games, but is getting a bit sick of them and wants something in the same vein but meatier.

What can you recommend as far as fully cooperative dungeon crawls that won't get old quickly, and that doesn't have a story that loses the appeal after playing through it once like Mice & Mystics does?

He's willing to spend up to $100, and seems to enjoy characters leveling up and gaining new powers.

>>44401183
The reason I specified that we play games together and separately was to provide context for not wanting a game that has a story you play from beginning to end and then have to wait for an expansion to really fully enjoy after that. They'll want to play it with their friends and with me, and won't want to play something like Mice and Mystics, where you read all the fluff and everything every time, more than once in even close to quick succession.

>>44401071
It's Dominions rethemed with a board. I like deck-builders so I think it's a fine game.. Just.. Very much Dominionish.

Fury of Dracula is well talked about game but there's been some rumblings about this 3rd edition that I'm not to up on (check BBG). That and I don't like games all based on deduction that much.

FoD should probably suit your group the best, unless they end up liking deack builders (it's great fun after all).

>>44401183
>Zombicide
Got sick of that one after the first game of it, played t a couple of times more and yeah it really has nothing for me.

If you want a dungeon crawl with a campaign that don't have an overlord then wait for gloomhaven. Though I find the production quality a bit lacking it's not horrible and the system and campaign set up looks interesting.

Oh, though I'm super stokes about 7th Continent!

PS: Best "dungeon crawler" is probably Level 7 Omega Protocol, not so much fantasy as scifi though but still. Though it has an "overlord" player.

>>44380865
Oh christ, is that the actual rulebook? Does it use that font throughout? It's practically unreadable.

>>44401183
>seems to enjoy characters leveling up and gaining new powers
Tales of the Arabian Nights has a similar style function, it being a storytelling game makes story the focus with the mechanics to limit options and outcomes. It's not a coop, but competitive, but even so it's great fun.

That being said DON'T GET MARRIED DON'T GO ON A PILGRIMAGE MAYBE DON'T BECOME A VIZIER

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I played several games of crokinole with family around Christmas and we all had a good time. It had been years since we took it out of its box, and it's just so magnificently simple and compatible with everyone that I expect someone is likely to suggest it on every subsequent visit.

Tonight I played Mice & Mystics with newbies. Had a better time than I expected and went back and forth between "we're almost definitely losing" and "we got this" -- ended up losing because of a shitty Search draw (Abduction).

Also played a French game that nobody here has probably heard about (Donjon de Naheulbeuk). There's some more gaming to come and I may try out Mafia de Cuba and Lords of Waterdeep.

>Get any games for people for Christmas?
My family, friends, and housemates are largely uninterested in games so I didn't bother.
>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
Yes. Through the Ages, Trajan, The Gallerist, Chaos in the Old World, Tammany Hall, and Above and Below which I actually got to play tonight.
>Favorite theme-heavy game?
Eldritch Horror

How is the Xcom boardgame, it needing a tablet aside?

I don't suppose anyone has scans of all 8 new Investigators in Under the Pyramids, the new expansion for Eldritch Horror?
Google and Fantasy Flight's website only have 4 of the new investigators.

>>44355790
I didn't get games for anyone else, but I got some for myself. I got dominion, race for the galaxy, the cave, and sentinels of the multiverse.

>>44402450
pretty good, it's fairly tight especially on harder difficulties. After using the tablet app (which I was initially against) I can see why they did it that way and now wish there was an option to have a similar program for other card-heavy games like Eldritch Horror.

what should I get?

Champions of Midgard
or Lords of Waterdeep + expansion?

kinda leaning towards Waterdeep mainly because its up to 5 players which is usually how big my board game group is.
but champions of midgard kinda looks more fun...

>>44402936
Thanks! Going to be getting it soon-ish, then

Pleb here.
I received Peurto Rico this year, and I'm having trouble securing an early income stream, especially when playing with just 3. Is the best bet just to go for a small indigo/sugar plant asap, occupy them, produce their resources and then sell them?

>>44385714
Yes it is. Never thought about it cuz it's usually a tense game.

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>>44394288
>thinking you go fishing with the inlaws to actually fish

>>44401368
Yeah, it's very likely I'll get FoD along with one of the other titles, unless the store I'm buying from doesn't restock them soon. I'm still undecided on which of the three I want most though, mostly because of varying player counts during game days, and because I want a few more direct conflict games.

What about Trains is Dominionish and is that bad? Would the Rising Suns expansion be a better choice over vanilla Trains? Or maybe I should try getting a cheap deckbuilding game like the Realms titles first to see if the genre appeals to them?

Any opinions on Memoir 44? It looks like a safe choice for a 1v1 game, and I could probably houserule in additional players if needed.

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>>44404857
>Any opinions on Memoir 44? It looks like a safe choice for a 1v1 game, and I could probably houserule in additional players if needed.

Lots of luck involved, but it's fun as fuck, miniatures are cool, and you can play it with literally anyone. Pretty sure the base rules also include additional players, but you might need an extra board for that, can't really remember.
Also, loads of expansions if you feel the need for additional armies, terrain etc.
If you take a liking to it and start looking for a more "serious" WW2 game then Conflict of Heroes or Tide of Iron are pretty safe bets as well.

>>44403204
Champions of Midgard is a better game, but if you typically have 5 people on game nights I would go with Waterdeep.

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>>44405071
That looks like a fun game - nice pic. If the other Anon likes small unit action and semi-heroic game play - I'd recommend Heroes of Normandie too. It's a fun game, can be expanded to allow multi-player games (almost certainly team games i.e. 2v2 or 3v3, etc.)

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>>44401024
>Teaching games to refugees

I hope you taught them Kolejka.

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>>44406191
No Fun Allowed!

>>44401024
So Swede or German?

>>44403204
I got Waterdeep for xmas and we all loved the shit out of it, played it for 15 hours over boxing day.

>>44407051
Swede.
>>44406191
No. Easy languageless games (I'm all for more suggestions of good but simple to teach games with out much language exchange).

>>44407073
Friend finaly got the expansion, which suppose to make it a beter game. So that'll be fun to try out.

>>44407136
>No. Easy languageless games (I'm all for more suggestions of good but simple to teach games with out much language exchange).

Sushi Go might be good as it's a simple game.

>>44407136
Almost all dexterity games would work there, and a lot of abstract strategy games (some would be harder to teach than others).

Here are a couple lists that may help:
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/198443/games-teenagers-esl-class
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/191564/simple-language-independent-or-minimal-language-fa

The latter certainly has a few titles I'm familiar with that look like good suggestions (Hanabi, Hare and Tortoise, Qwirkle, Labyrinth, Tsuro...)

>>44407136
>Swede
Oh boy. Did you play twister this year with the refugees, but you had to go out to your shed and then they decided to play naked with your wife.

>>44408662
I thought about Hanabi, but you have to give clues to other players about card colors or card numbers in their hands, so I thought it might be an issue. But I suppose one could easily create a number / color cheat sheet in both languages.

>>44408920
Yeah it would probably be a good learning tool in that sense.

>Get any games for people for Christmas?
I got my little brother Love Letter: The Hobbit, and he seemed pretty excited to play it. We didn't get to play it together, but I think he'll break it out pretty soon (he's sweet on a girl who also loves Tolkien)
>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
We've got some friends of the family who love Monopoly (I know, I know...) and I think we might finally have an excuse to crack open Tropical Tycoon
>Favorite theme-heavy game?
Ankh Morpork

>>44378626
Kill Doctor Lucky is supposed to be pretty fun, if you find the idea of everyone playing "Inspector Clouseau, Axe Murderer" amusing.
>>44378974
It's okay. More style than substance, but that's not a bad thing in itself.
>>44390807
I know my family would hate Sheriff of Nottingham; my mum in particular would get ultra-salty
>>44392829
Ca$h & Gun$ might be good

>>44355790
>>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?

Son's home visiting and I got to play a couple of games of Carcassonne and Roll for the Galaxy too. Sweet! Might get to game some more if the wife doesn't rope us into watching a movie tonight. :)

>>44408662
>>44408920
>>44407820
Yeah I have Sushi Go.
Dexterity, indeed, thanks.
And thanks for the links.

>>44408893
I'm sorry but I don't quite get your point. Got any board game tips for me?

If you had to give up all games and submit yourself to an eternity of either Eurogames or Ameritrash, which would you choose?

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How the hell am I supposed to organize this game? There's no chart and the card counts don't seem to match up with the box and I just don't know.

>>44411509
>getting salty over Sheriff of Nottingham
How is this even a thing? There are games that make me salty, but Sheriff of fucking Nottingham? How?

>>44413671
My mum has gotten ultra-salty over losing at Scrabble. She got salty playing CV, to the point where I went "Uh, yeah, you totally won" just to cheer her up. She hates games that involve copious amounts of lying.

As much as I love the concept behind the game, I know that Sheriff of Nottingham would be the perfect storm that would unleash entire quarries of salt.

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Christmas haul

>>44413377
Ameritrash.

>>44413377
Ameritrash. I like aspects of both and avoid games that involve too much luck or too little theme, but if I had to choose I'd much rather have theme and immersion at the cost of super-tight mechanics and perfect information.

That said, fuck spending half of eternity fitting game pieces in a box and setting up boards.

>>44414277
Nice. Not familiar with 'Things', but Citadels is a blast, and I have FoD on my buy list.

>>44413652
Check the Board Game Geek site for the card count of the game with the recon edition. I usually create the starter decks, and then keep the rest sorted based on their use during the game - Tools, Resources, etc.

>>44413163
/pol/ is that way ----> you shit-stirring moron.

>>44414739
Kek, swedecuck getting mad at facts.

>>44414629
Got Things from a family game of white elephant. Its pretty fun. It's sort of like Apples to Apples but you make your own responses.

Are there any prison themed board games?

Perhaps one where that is based around the regime.

I got Ticket to Ride, the Europe edition, for Christmas, and I just got done playing it with my family.

The experience was tarnished slightly by the fact that my dad did a bit of a poor job shuffling the deck, and we ended up drawing a bunch of the same color in a row a lot, but overall, I had a great time. It's a really awesome game.

>>44414821
I'm not the original Anon, you mental midget. Obviously you cannot into 4 Chan or the Interwebz. Bravo!

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>>44415335
There's Level 7's semi-coop game 'Escape' - a sci-fi prison break. Unfortunately it's known for its less than fantastic rules. Their 'Omega Protocol' is much better. There was also the minis game "Sedition Wars - Battle for Alabaster" that was another Sci-fi shooter along the lines of Escape / Omega Protocol. Otherwise I can't think of any prison based games off the top of my head.

>>44415975
I think I'm gonna make a prison deckbuilding game where you trade cigarettes and shank people

The gameplay need to be based around the regime somehow. deckbuilding occurs during yard time. hmm

>>44416153
"Shanks & Smokes - the most Dangerous deck-builder around..." I like it.

>>44416302
I wonder if they're allowed to have/play board games in prison. I should make sure it stays within the restrictions of what prisoners are allowed to have.

What would you consider the best games that can be played solitaire but also handle up to at least three players?

Bonus points if it involves chucking dice and strategic use of abilities to kill monsters.

Pixel tactics came in this week and I'm bumbled threw it with a friend. Its fun but we took a lot longer than we should have on a single battle. Anyone else get it from the Kickstarter or already have a copy?

>>44417283
I tend to avoid games that get that many expansions and boosters.

>>44417159
Gears of War - great game, can be played solo or up to 4 players co-op. Highly underrated.

May be slightly off topic, but does anyone have the files for shadow over camelot for tabletop simulator?

>>44415336
I keep considering Ticket To Ride for my family... then I consider how salty my mum will get if she doesn't get the route she wants. Not ultra-salty, but still pretty salty.
>>44416153
12/10, would back you on Kickstarter
>>44416556
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/9686/popular-table-games-prison

Looks like they mostly play "dad games", which makes sense - dice are considered contraband in most prisons, and I doubt a game of Love Letter or Sheriff of Nottingham in the big house would end well...

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>>44355790
what are your thoughts on pic related guys?

>>44423091
Fun, but priced a bit high. Not many people can afford to be play it and x-wing and almost everyone who would play it already plays x-wing.

>>44423141
I've heard more than one person say that they like Armada over X-wing since it gives the full 'ships of the line' experience with fighter support.

>>44423334
Thing is, star wars isn't really a "ships of the line" setting. At least in my book. In star wars, capital ships have always mostly been interesting as terrain for fighters to fly around.

Maybe if armada had been a Trek game.

>>44423091
I like it more than X Wing, but it suffers from X Wing cannibalizing most of its audience.

The gameplay seems more balanced and less swingy thanks to the ability to mitigate damage. The movement gives a more deliberate feel to it rather than the (really cool but contrived) path mechanic from X Wing.

The biggest problem I hear about it is "it takes too long".

Late to the party, just got back from families, or in other words the place where fun goes to die.

>>Get any games for people for Christmas?
I got socks, a mitten with a build in ice scraper inside, and a 2 discs that fold out to be a waterproof bucket. I guess money too. My family is pretty shit about christmas.

>>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?

Not so much. My family doesn't do games in any way shape or form. However I played arena of the planeswalkers with my nephew (there's hope with the chirrin at least). Really didn't like it at all, but he did so it was all good.

>>Favorite theme-heavy game?

For a change of pace I'll go with dungeonquest. For a game about braving a nightmarish dungeon in hopes of getting treasure, it sure does reinforce the nightmare part when you draw a bottomless hole for your first tile, and your tough yet extremely non agile dwarf drops to his death on the first turn.

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>Get Any Games For Christmas
Looks like the final haul is
>Summoner Wars Master Set
Got in a couple games, really impressed. Where should I go as far as expansions? Alliances seems obvious.
>Battletech Introductory Box
Jesus there's a lot of stuff in this box.
Introductory rules seem way too simple, so I'm just jumping in headfirst with the rest.
>Sushi Go
Yay?
>Cutthroat Caverns expansion that I already owned.
Regifted back at the guy who gave it to me, who I have my kickstarter copy of Deception: Murder in Hong Kong to.

>>44401183
If you can find a copy, gears of war would be good.

>>44402450
Reasonably tense, but mechanically a little too simple. Still feel confused by the decision to recreate the relatively boring strategic layer instead of going for a squad-level skirmish game a la imperial assault / descent or Tannhauser.

>>44403204
this>>44405613

>>44404857
Memoir is good and really accessible, but may feel a little shallow if you're into much in the way of meatier material. I'll second the recommendation of Heroes of Normandie.

>>44417159
I suppose technically, Mage Knight.
Playing that with four is pretty soul-crushing, though.

Received a copy of Pandemic for my birthday yesterday. I've played the game once before at a small get-together at my local games store.

Got the Thunderbirds board game but it's missing a bunch of bits so I'm pretty bummed out.

I got sweaters for Christmas, which is exactly what I wanted. Also got a nice Cribbage board from my sister, which is something I'd probably never use but I guess it's nice to have in the collection.

>>44413377
Eurogames. I expect to lean more towards euros as I get older anyway, but what I really prefer are games that are now getting categorized as "hybrids," as in an Ameri-Euro hybrid. So if that was a choice I'd drop both purely Ameritrash and purely Euro for that.

>>44427521
Contact the publisher

>>44427854
>but wht I really prefer are games that are now getting categorized as "hybrids," as in an Ameri-Euro hybrid.

Yeah, I like both good eurotrash and good ameritrash. I think that in the next few years will get more "perfect" games, both in regards to theme and mechanic.

So /tg, what are the best hybrid games out there? I would classify chaos in the old world in there, but what else?

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>>44428350
>So /tg, what are the best hybrid games out there? I would classify chaos in the old world in there, but what else?
Blood Rage has no random element that comes to mind but is rife with theme and minis. It's only hit the table 2-3 times with my group so far, so it's too early to tell if I would consider it the best of anything, but we enjoy it so far.

>Get any games for people for Christmas?
Yup, bought quite a few board games for people in my family. Hanabi, Sushi Go, Dominion, Wits and Wagers, and Cash n' Guns.
>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
Well, for Christmas my girlfriend and I got Jaipur, Seasons, La Granja, Mysterium, and Tragedy Looper. We've played Jaipur and Seasons and think they're both really fun, just haven't got around to playing the others. We're kind of hoping that we can get our group together to play Mysterium and Tragedy Looper, but there's been some problems so we might end up playing them as 2 player games.
>Favorite theme-heavy game?
Space Alert, but only half of my group likes it so I never get to play it.

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>mfw didn't get to play a game with family friends today, because they wanted to complain about political correctness not letting them say "nigger" instead
I wish I was kidding.
>>44428350
Ankh Morpork, maybe A Study In Emerald

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Got this for Christmas from my sister. Haven't played it yet, is it any good?

>>44429167
Game is pretty solid, but WotC components are, as usual, total garbage.
Keeps the cost down, at least.

>>44428350
In many ways, Rex fits the bill, as does Kemet.

>>44428350
Rex, Kemet, Cyclades, Blood Rage, and Chaos in the Old World are the main ones right now.

I got Dead Of Winter from my brother in law. We've only played it once so far, but it's definitely my new favorite.

My mom also got me Exploding Kittens. It's addictively hilarious to watch people go insanely mad at each other for setting them up.

>>44428350
Blood Rage sure is a good pick though (havent played kemet or cyclades).

>>44428497
Twilight imperium 3rd edition. What with all the blatant cribbing of Puerto Rico and all. Chaos in the Old World also has a sweet spot combination of VP salad and ameritrash "kick you while your down" attitude.

For a deck builder, I'd go with nightfall. It took the solitaire combo build up of dominion and fused it to attacking and table politicking for the win conditions.

Come to think of it, what makes a good "fusion" of euro and American in the first place? A certain style of mechanics? The application of said mechanics to theme and social interaction? How chance and risk management are inserted or mitigated?

We need some better thought out parameters here.

>>44427204
I thought I told you a few weeks ago steev, you want alliances, the filth, mercenaries, and a bunch of second summoners: jungle elf, fallen kingdom, cloaks, vanguard, cave goblins.

Reinforcement packs just make deckbuilding more of a blast. I'd highly recommend the packs that boost sand goblins, shadow elves, benders, cloaks, and vanguard. Reinforcement packs boost two factions, so you'd get some additional goodies anyway.

There aren't any terrible decks really. The second Summoner tundra orcs and guild dwarves leave a lot to be desired, but that's about it.

>>44434688
>Come to think of it, what makes a good "fusion" of euro and American in the first place?

For me, it's a game that has enough theme that you don't feel like you're *only* doing math and pushing numbers on a fancy board (how Agricola feels to me), and enough predictable outcomes that you don't feel like you're playing a convoluted lottery or standing in for a random number generator (Zombie Dice IMO). You do need some amount of randomness and unpredictability, whether that comes from dice, cards and/or high-impact player interactions that completely change other players' options.

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Candy Land: Euro game or ameritrash?

>>44435960
Try "None of the above." It's a kids game and is primarily a teaching tool first and a game 2nd.

I think I'm in the minority but I own Dead of Winter and find it "ok" at best.
I really hate that literally EVERY crisis is "get stuff"
at least Battlestar Galactica had SOME variety.
Further, unless I have not been able to find in the rules, there seems to be no way to really hide as the betrayer, what I mean is the crisis contributions don't have any method of randomizing such as the Destiny Deck in BSG.

That being said the Crossroads mechanic is top, and I eagerly await the next installment.

>>44422971
The question is, should I make any attempt to make it kid friendly, or should I just throw caution to the wind? I could involve the race of inmates and have gang affiliations also be a mechanic.

Played Innovation for the first time tonight (3 player, welp). The other players picked it up surprisingly quickly, and thankfully it's exactly what I wanted out of that game. Got to 4 achievements very early, then had my entire score pile decimated 3 or 4 times. One player managed to score 52 points in a single turn before we had to quit due to it getting too late. So excited to introduce this to every single gamer in my life

>>44439697
>I think I'm in the minority but I own Dead of Winter and find it "ok" at best.
I feel similarly. I won't turn it down unless there's something else I really want to play, but it doesn't really excite me. I have a good time with it, but I don't crave it. I don't think it's a problem with design, but a matter of taste and who you play it with.

>Further, unless I have not been able to find in the rules, there seems to be no way to really hide as the betrayer, what I mean is the crisis contributions don't have any method of randomizing such as the Destiny Deck in BSG.
Crisis contributions are placed facedown, and shuffled before you check for crisis resolution. As a result you can't request (not sure about the English term) cards from other players to contribute to the crisis, since those must be played immediately and face up. That is done precisely so a traitor can remain hidden.

>>44397855
>We've had a few games so far but they all ended quite quickly.
How??
are you not trying to kill eachother with the zombies?

>>44428350

Nobody mentioned Dominant Species yet? The game is ostensibly Euro but it's area control/war-game hidden underneath with a pretty good chunk of randomness.

>>44440156
I'm not sure if this is what the other poster had in mind, but one problem I found in DoW is that each item card is clearly labeled which deck it belongs to (i.e. the location it was taken from). That means if all players are spread out, which is usually the case, you can figure out the betrayer by seeing where his items came from.

If he's clever, though, he could use his items from the "starting" deck which all players have; but even then looking at the locations of the other cards will show who is innocent.

It seems like a cheap (and too easy) way to locate the betrayer. Our solution is to discard the crisis contributions immediately, one at a time, and not allow people to look through the deck of discarded cards. Even then, it's a bit weird.

>>44440156
I'm glad you pointed out how the crisis cards are contributed because it does allow the traitor to remain hidden and cause paranoia within the group.

Finally got in a game of Blood Rage with a friend last night. Overall pretty impressed. Very surprised with how strong the drafting element was, people calling it a drafting game wearing the clothes of a wargame are not exaggerating by much. Definitely deserves to be categorized with Kemet and Rex as Ameri-Euro hybrid area control games, though so far I don't think I like it quite as well as the other two. Doesn't feel as elegant or responsive to player agency as Kemet, doesn't have any of Rex's intrigue. Does play about as fast as Kemet, though.

>>44434749
Thanks, wound up grabbing:
Cloaks
Guild Dwarves Vs Cave Goblins
Jungle Elvse
Mercs
Phoenix Elves Vs Tundra Orcs
Filth
Vanguards
Couldn't decide between getting the regular alliances box or the super deluxe mega jew hundred dollar giant box, so held off on that set for now.

>>44442805
Still doesn't do nearly as good as job as BSG or even Dark Moon of generating a paranoid atmosphere, but I like almost everything else about DoW better than those games.

>>44442650
Everything you just said is completely 100% intentional. The betrayer has to be super careful with what cards he put in just to prevent that kind of deduction. Also, the betrayer should try and contrive situations to double up on other people, or hold cards in hand gathered from place A on turn 2 and then use them on turn 3 when the betrayer is in place B and another player is now in place A. That's some devious shit right there it is.

>>44405071
>>44427204
Thanks for the response on Memoir, I think I'll get Memoir 44, Fury of Dracula and one of the three different Theater expansions as an extra, any opinions on those? I've seen somewhere that which Theater to buy depends on which part of the war you're most passionate about, but I am fairly uninitiated regarding WW2, so I'd rather go with the one that gives the most bang for your buck. Probably the Mediterranean Theater I guess since it has 75 new minis? Which one do you guys think bring the more interesting scenarios with it?

Alternatively I could get Jaipur instead, which might seem a tad too simple, but would probably get a good amount of plays due to being simple. I considered Star Realms, but due to having played atleast 50+ hours on the app version, I think I'll wait for Cthulhu Realms to come into stock instead.

>>44443080

Wasn't there a problem with DoW that the betrayer could just go full retard on the last round and win without repercussions?

>>44443225
>Which one do you guys think bring the more interesting scenarios with it?

Pacific and Eastern front are really good, Medi is kinda meh to be honest.
All the army pack expansions have new minis in them.
There's also a winter/desert board for the immersion.

>>44443354
If moral is low enough, that's generally how the betrayer wins, yeah. It's the primary problem with the game.

>>44442866
What is this super jew alliances box? I just got the regular one with all the dividers for every released and to be released faction, and the neoprene mat.

Which jungle elves and cloaks btw? Very different playstyles and power levels between them.

The original duel sets I find the least fun. They are the original races with very powerful events (come from behind I.e. I have less units on the board than you), and win by ignoring commons, bum rush really value heavy champions, and crushing you with event cards.

They Phoenix, tundra, and guild were considered the best races for a long time, warping the meta so much that it altered
Plaid hats design for the game ever since. Hence why future sets enhanced playing commons and mostly throwing away come from behind events.

They are still fun and all, but my buddy and I liken them to the L1Z1X: all power, no subtleties. Fun, but boring after a while.

Goblins though, they are some fun shit. Their second summoner: Frick is the only guy we've seen get turn 1/2 kills.

>>44442650
That's an excellent observation. I don't think anyone in my group has noticed that yet so I'll try to pretend it's not a thing and not break it. Although when that time comes, this >>44443080 is what I had in mind to counter it.

>>44442866
>Very surprised with how strong the drafting element was, people calling it a drafting game wearing the clothes of a wargame are not exaggerating by much.
I'm impressed by it too. I generally avoid drafting because I find it tedious and don't like having so little control over what I get when a game makes a point of letting me choose (if that makes sense). But with Blood Rage you can really make anything in the deck work for you, and there are so many great cards that even a fifth pick can feel awesome. Even quest cards you don't intend to go for are super useful as discards in combat to keep your other cards.

I'm kind of new to this whole board game thing. I've played risk and Catan but nothing much more complex than that. I'm really interested in Axis and Allies. Does anyone know a good place to start? Is it too overwhelming to dive right into 1942?

>>44443748
http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/222819
This is the bonkers box. On closer inspection it seems to just be alliances with everything but the master set and the original starters thrown in. Maybe should have gone for that.

>>44444024
Avoid A&A is the general advice here. Too long, not enough interesting choices, some parts like technology, are too random, and the early turns are super railroady.

Look into Memoir 44, Heroes of Normandie, Tide of Iron, and the like if you're looking for a meatier WW2 fix.

>>44444585
For 130$? ...yea, should have jumped that.

Weird though, I see nothing in the item description about the actual contents, just the normal blurb about alliances.

>>44444668
Hence why I didn't. Assumed that it must have just been a fancier box / playmat / alt art cards or something.
That's what I get for rushing an order in hopes of it getting here before friday.

>>44444668
Oh, and I just got the original decks for the J.Elves and Cloaks, figured I'd get the second summoner decks and reinforcements sometime later, presumably when I grab alliances.

>>44444937
Vlox and Abua Shi are 2 of the first four decks I got (along with vanguard and fallen kingdom). We used old sleeves and pennies for the game components as the master set wasn't out yet and starter sets were sold out everywhere. It was a blast and I have fond memories of those faction battles. Abua Shi still has some of the best tools for assassinating a Summoner cowering in the back line.

Enjoy them! You've taken your first step into a larger world.

>>44434688
Slightly off topic, but I picked up Nightfall and 2 expansions (shuffled in the core set) in a trade a number of months ago. Where do I even begin with sorting? The idea of having to sort everything as meticulous as it looks has kept me from bringing it to the table even once.

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>>44355790
Jesus christ /bgg/ you are the hardest thread to find. I thought this was some weird sokoban shit for like 4 days.

>Get any games for people for Christmas?
Someone in my community bought me 2 EPIC card game boxes to complete my collection! Now I'm having a ton of fun.
>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?
If Amazon ships my shit god dammit. My gf got tons of gift cards from her family so we bought $200 of games.

-Xia Legend of a Drift System
-Descent Labyrinth expansion
-Eminent Domain
-Kemet

My lament: GOD DAMMIT WHY THE FUCK WAS KEMET: TA-SETI OUT OF STOOOOOOOCK?!?

>Favorite theme-heavy game?
Twilight Imperium 3. Remains to be seen how Xia fares with this.

>>44446609
Sort starter decks to be ready at all times. My wife sorted action cards and minions alphabetically. We only have base set and martial law, and mixnall the time, so we didn't bother to organize based on sets. Draft cards were just kept together in the other column in the martial law box.

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Okay confession time. I gotta be honest guys, after owning Summoner Wars Alliances for quite some time, it's just boring me. It's not a bad game by any means, I'm just not feeling it after dozens of hours and months of owning it. Let me list why and see if anyone can echo this or if I need to give it another 60+ hours of play. Please be reminded that I come from a competitive TCG environment and Wargaming background (separately)

The good:
-Alliances has an amazingly high quality box and mats, to a degree I cannot adequately express here. This really is one of the single best qualities of the game and it keeps me from regretting the purchase.
-Jungle Shaows, Phoenix Fallen, Sand Cloaks and Swamp Mercs are all very cool and fun. I feel engaged and more challenged when using/facing these clans.
-Clutch moments where your tactics pay off

The bad:
-Cave Filth way too easy to win with and gimmicky feel
-Vargoth Vanguard, Tundra Guild, Deep Benders are THE MOST BORING THING IN ALL OF GAMING. Holy shit I'd just barely rather see them than Hogger-Logger.
-Ugly art on 80% of cards. Uglier and lazy backgrounds I can do in Photoshop myself. Just piss-poor graphic design
-Dice AND random decks. What the fuck were they thinking? Thought this wouln't influence the game but it slowly became a dealbreaker as both random decks clumped and dice gave players undue rolls over time. We tracked it and this was just a bad experience. Definitely the worst aspect of the whole game
-It couldn't seem to decide if it was a gimmicky tcg with tactical movement or a wargame (see above). I've played both types of game till my eyeballs bleed and have been competitive in them for over a decade. This game is neither in a non-innovative way.
-Ultimately feels limited in scope despite eight squillion clans. All of the boring clans (above) feel the same while the interesting clans feel like permutations of FAST, TRICKSY, or SYNERGY

Let me know in-depth what you think of this game /bgg/. Agree/no?

>>44446656
>Jesus christ /bgg/ you are the hardest thread to find. I thought this was some weird sokoban shit for like 4 days.

Don't look at me. I usually post the cheesy 'Generals' /bgg/ images and then idiots complain about it in spite of the fact that they all have the words 'Board Games General' in letters large enough to read right on the thumbnail image.

>>44446849
I'm only three plays in so nothing I can say can be called "in-depth", but I agree with most of your non-faction-specific complaints. But it's fast enough that it hasn't started bothering me yet.

Might be worth playing with player-stacked decks to alleviate some of the randomness, though that would strongly impact the appeal of the game's super-fast setup time.

>>44446849
60 hours? Maybe there's some superfans on boardgamegeek who will rap super deep with you, probably not here. I've personally played over 100 different board games this year. I've maybe played a single game for 60 hours and I'm probably never going to play another one that much.

>>44447127
Our games almost always go to the final card in the deck since we're so evenly matched and good at this game. Almost always. Our games take 20+ minutes and it takes ages to get at each others' summoners even when rushing.

We tried the following:

>Mass conversion to diceless keeping random decks
Way more tactical and fair. Much more boring. Weirdly, it actually worked out mathematically even with weird stuff like Tundra Guild

>Mass conversion Mage Wars style with dice combat but deckless
Yes including Master Rune. This was far more tactical and made it feel like armies rather than some weird card game. But here it just felt like the old Lionheart game but not as good. Or Mage Wars but not as good.

>Combined both conversions
TACTICALNESS to 100%. BOREDOM to 100%.

The problem wasn't the first plays with these conversions. We had 3 fun first plays with them. Unfortunately, that opponent can't be played against again or basically nothing changes. Due to the shitty nature of having 8 goddamn units that are the same etc.

We're still trying things out but I'm having to work so hard to make this game enjoyable for us and it's cutting my knees out at every turn.

>>44447234
Well, the thing is, it's not being very good at being a wargame. Here's the points she and I made while playing and after the changes:

-No terrain. This kills the wargame. Without mountains, streams, lakes or whatever tiles to give cover and all that, it just feels so vanilla and removes tactical positioning (leaving only the basics such as relational positioning to units and walls)

-Creep deny. What is this, a MOBA? Why am I able to attack my own dudes when they're at low health to deny magic? These units should not serve me ever again after that. This would destroy morale in a wargame

-No height modifiers to have high ground advantage on ranged units. Why bother calling them ranged? I mean the range in this game is spear-touch basically

-Extremely limited movement what the fuck. This is a board limitation but it's self-imposed since the cards are units and the board has to fit them. In fact this is so significant that +1 movement abilities either destroy opponents or do nothing depending on the situation.

-Cornering the summoner and hitting them feels more like acquiring repeated checks and finally mate in chess rather than a wargame. Using ranged units (AKA ROOKS) is basically the easiest way. Primarily melee clans have never won a game.

-No withering. Like how in MtG, hitting a dude with wither deals -1/-1 counters. In wargames, as units get hurt, they take real battle damage. For example in Battle Tech, your mech's heat goes haywire, you lose weapon systems, you explode your ammo etc. In this game, you take damage and act like nothing fucking happened to you. I know this game is more simplistic than BT, but if MtG can do it, so can Summoner Wars. People don't take sword stabs to the ovaries and not even flinch.

-Own units block line of movement. Pretty much all wargames allow your units to pass your own. Feels like chess without any knights.

-Phase order is incredibly limiting and reduces tactical complexity.

Are there any cooperative games about solving mysteries?

>>44447727
Fury of Dracula. The Bram Stoker heroes fight Dracula and use deduction to solve mysteries.

>>44447727
Mysterium, and I think one or more Sherlock Holmes games.

I find Mysterium really interesting although I have yet to play it. One player is a ghost that can only pass illustrated cards to the investigators to give them clues - the ghost can't speak or give any other hints. Using those, the investigators compare them to location cards and others on the table that could correspond to the crime scene, perpetrators, etc. They have a few rounds, each with additional clues given by the ghost, to figure out what the clues and center cards have in common and piece everything together.

rahdo has a runthrough of it.

>>44447727
Consulting Detective, TIME Stories, and the like. Tragedy Looper, kinda. Farther into deduction instead of mystery gets you into stuff like fury of dracula / specter ops / letters from whitechapel.

>>44447770
The only real mystery in FoD is "WHERE'D THE BASTARD GO", but it's often a really good puzzle. Map is fantastically laid out, barring a couple areas that are more favorable for the count.

>>44447852
Damn why didn't I think of TIME stories

>>44447902
Because it's ridiculously expensive and doesn't have much replayability once you solve it.

Hey guys, I just got my copy of Under the Pyramids.
Haven't played it yet but Rex Murphy intrigues me. Can anyone that's actually used him confirm whether or not he's a rock?
Sure he's more or less perma-cursed but he's a 7 health 7 sanity character where the rest of the characters health/sanity add up to 12. Also any time his curse falls (because of getting blessed or lucky roll during a reckoning) he gets a free stat raise and a clue and another curse (he also starts with a stat raise).
He seems like a good character but Curse tends to fuck over people that get it.

>>44447902
Because it's another of those "one and done" cash grabs that are better blanked from memory and left to rot.

Strategy cards turned out pretty good, now on to the 93 racial tech and racial objectives...

File: 20151229_154814.jpg (3MB, 3264x2448px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 3264x2448px

>>44449270
Pic replaced for criminal amounts of blur.

>>44446656
>My lament: GOD DAMMIT WHY THE FUCK WAS KEMET: TA-SETI OUT OF STOOOOOOOCK?!?

Psssstt! Looks like they just got a restock at CSI. Might still be some there...

>>44448083
Supposedly they're on schedule to come out with quarterly updates for it this year. Not sure about the cost, but 4 additional stories might make it a more worthy investment.

>>44449270
>>44449336
Are yo making your own TI3 cards or did I miss something here? (My dain-bramage is strong today.)

>>44450080
I've got a whole buttload of extra TI3 cardboard, so I'm making up a bunch of the stuff from the Shattered Ascention fan ruleset for this friday's game.
Trying to decide how much of it I really want to do.

>>44355790
I need $9 to round out my CSI order.
Anything around that much and worth it? I already have Love Letter and Hanabi.

>>44451804
Star realms?

>>44451804
Lost Legacy? Some Card Sleeves? A gift certificate for me? <Wink Wink!> :)

>>44451874
Played it, hate it.

>>44450184
Those do look good. How did you end up with 'extra' TI3 card stock?

>>44451804
One of the reasons I prefer mini market, as a miniature games player it's easy to fill <$15 gaps to free shipping.

>>44452012
CSI sells minis, I'm just not a mini player.

>>44452137
CSI has some 'miniatures' but practically no miniature war games besides FF products.

>>44452228
>>44452012
>>44451931
>>44451874
FUCK IT
CHAOSMOS HERE I COME

>>44452245
So...
Now I have everything at Maitland, how do I get them to ship it?

>>44452379
They gotta have a customer service email, I'd try that and ask them to ship your order; if you're not in Florida they'll prolly refund the tax local pickups get hit with.

>>44451977
Asked FFG for replacement embers of muaat components after some knucklehead lost mine, they sent me all the cardboard and cards from shattered empire, and all the cards from shards of the throne.

>>44452245
>Chaosmos
Excellent choice, in the running for my favorite release this year.

>>44454075
Damn, that's nice. I asked whoever makes Ascension for the two missing cards in my box, and so did my local store several times, and we never even got a reply.

>>44452245
Cool! You'll have to tell us how you like it once it arrives.

>>44447826
Mysterium is one of those games where the players make the game. It's a lot more fun for both psychics and ghosts if they talk about their choices throughout the game, especially if the psychics are REALLY confident and choose wrong.

Case in point, played this one a while back
>playing as psychics
>friends didn't really discuss much other than a few suggestions and ideas
>start throwing in 'what if' situations both to confuse them and make things funnier
>"This looks like it pretty obviously refers to this... But what if they're using the color to refer to this card? Or what if they're using this small thing to refer to this card?"
>after a while of this
>Friend: "You and you what ifs. I bet next you're going to say this picture of a gate is going to refer to the kitchen because the gate is steel like the utensils are."
>"Noooo, that would be silly."
>we didn't choose the kitchen
>game ends, ghost explaining his cards
>"...and you even guessed right that the gate referred to the kitchen, but you didn't pick it."
Both me and my friend gave a look to each other, then laughed pretty hard.

>>44428350
Mage Knight

>Get any games for people for Christmas?

Nah, they wouldn't go for that.

>Excited to play anything over Christmas/winter break/between now and the end of the year?

I was excited to play Cosmic Encounter with my family over the weekend, but I'm always excited to play Cosmic Encounter.

>Favorite theme-heavy game?

Android

Hey bgg, I've signed up for an online game of Diplomacy that should start in January. I've started one game of Dip before, but never came close to finishing. How fucked am I going to be? I've been reading strategy articles and openings and diplomatic tips like a motherfucker, even though I don't know what country I'm playing yet.

>>44428350
Ones I've played:
Chaos in the Old World, Kemet, Rex, and Twilight Struggle.
>twilight struggle
Is seamlessly integrated in its theme (ameritrash) and its mechanics (europoor).

>>44358679

- It might be less that dueling isn't incentivised but more that dueling requires both sides to lose units. Players aren't likely to duel if they're guaranteed a loss unless they have a surefire plan.

- Having one unit minimum was fine, but it seems unnecessary for the commander token to be excluded from this rule. It'd make sense for the commander to discover the square, and then to set units down to hold the square while they go off somewhere else.

- I'm not sure if it was a specific rule but the text seemed very complex. For the pdf it'd help if your text was spaced out a bit, and also if the rules were organized a bit better; there's a lot to take in but rather than digesting it bit by bit I felt like I had to read the entire thing to understand any of it.

- I mean not telling your friends any rules before they play--having them learn the rules by reading your pdf--and running a game and making note of what rules they understand, what they don't understand. Also sorry about the late replies, I rarely come to /tg/.