OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by coopasonic »

AWS260 wrote: Wed May 15, 2019 4:43 pm The player boards, on the other hand, are awfully chintzy -- particularly given how critical they are to the game play. The whole game, we were terrified that someone would accidentally bump the table or brush their sleeve over their player board, sending cubes scattering. The publisher needs to take a cue from Ninth Haven and upgrade to double-layer boards that can hold tracking cubes in place.
There are several third party solutions out there for this. If it is your game, get one of them.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/165689 ... n-overlays
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Zarathud »

Terraforming Mars is a great game. An organizer and game board helper is worthwhile.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

I backed the kickstarter expansion recently primarily for the new player boards. The broken token ones are better than the flimsy originals, but the lack of color always bugs me.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Zarathud »

Paint. You have miniature paints.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
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“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Yesterday was "Stone Age" Saturday in our household... no it doesn't mean we played Stone Age all day, it means electronics are off limits for the day. No video games, tablets, whatever... I mean TV was still on the table because come on. Anyway, with nothing better to do we played a few games. We started with Meteor, which I still can't believe is winnable when played by the rules. Then we played a few rounds of 5 Second Rule which is a very simple party game. We then played an actual game, Scotland Yard. It was the first time anyone in the family played, including me, and my older son caught me on about the 7th turn (out of 22 turns needed for a Mr. X win). Then I brought out Ticket to Ride, but nobody bit. Oh well, progress. They played something with me.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Skinypupy »

Picked up Aeon’s End Legacy last night. More details to come in the solo gamer thread, but I’ve been absolutely blown away by this game so far. I know I have little tabletop experience, but this is truly like nothing I’ve ever seen. Amazing stuff.

Also been playing a ton of Shards of Infinity on iPad. It’s a new deck builder from the Ascension folks that is fantastic.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

coopasonic wrote: Sun May 19, 2019 7:58 am Yesterday was "Stone Age" Saturday in our household... no it doesn't mean we played Stone Age all day, it means electronics are off limits for the day.
Coincidentally, I did actually play Stone Age yesterday.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

coopasonic wrote: Sun May 19, 2019 7:58 am Yesterday was "Stone Age" Saturday in our household... no it doesn't mean we played Stone Age all day, it means electronics are off limits for the day. No video games, tablets, whatever... I mean TV was still on the table because come on. Anyway, with nothing better to do we played a few games. We started with Meteor, which I still can't believe is winnable when played by the rules. Then we played a few rounds of 5 Second Rule which is a very simple party game. We then played an actual game, Scotland Yard. It was the first time anyone in the family played, including me, and my older son caught me on about the 7th turn (out of 22 turns needed for a Mr. X win). Then I brought out Ticket to Ride, but nobody bit. Oh well, progress. They played something with me.
If you're looking to hook your kids, mark my words, go with a decent dexterity game or two (e.g. Push It, Catacombs, Flick 'em Up, Cube Quest etc).

They're typically among the most intuitively easy games to learn, yet kids' nimble fingers almost invariably outperform the clumsy Bratwursts most grown-ups possess so they receive a natural advantage, and the games just become more amusing if and when players do bugger things up.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

On Sunday I taught my kid High Frontier. I wasn't planning to -- I was just laying out the board to refresh myself on the rules, in hopes of getting it to the table with some local folks over the summer. But he asked, so we went for it.

I have to say, it was really gratifying to see how quickly he picked up the basics of the fuel track and rocket movement, and how much he seemed to be enjoying it. At one point, I was trying to explain the nuances of a half-lander burn that my rocket was about to encounter, and he said, "I can't listen to you right now, I'm planning my next move." :)

When we wrapped up, he had a factory at the S site on the Moon and had produced his first two black cards. I, on the other hand, ignominiously failed to establish a factory on Ceres -- my rocket couldn't land because I had miscalculated and was a single fuel step short. He insisted that I take pictures of the board state so that we can pick up where we left off next time.

Enlarge Image

A couple of takeaways:
  • This is the first time I've played High Frontier against another human being. In the past, I've only played multiplayer solitaire against myself. It really makes the auction phase more interesting, and I have a better appreciation for when to auction vs. when to just collect income.
  • Jeez, this board is big. Even the small version is 2'x3', and then you need space for player boards, components, patent card stacks, glory cards, and the water bank. The table I play on is only 2'x4', so we had to use a TV tray for extra space, and even then we left the glory cards and water bank in the box on the floor.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Blackhawk »

We were finally able to break out Batman: Gotham City Chronicles and play the first mission. I really like the game. The mechanics are fairly straightforward, and have a decent amount of depth. Combat is all about resource management, as you're spending energy to act, but you only get back a certain amount per turn. Spend a turn resting and you get back considerably more. Do you go all out and make sure you pass a roll, but then find yourself useless for a round or two? Or do you do a little each round without needing a break? Wounds come from the same pool of energy, too, which makes it worthwhile for the villain to beat the heroes up just to slow them down.

Each mission in the core game is one-vs-all, with one player controller the henchmen and all the goons, and the other controlling one hero each. The one mission we played was really well balanced. I played the villain (Bane), the kids played Nightwing, Batman, and Catwoman (Caiden played two.) Each of us had a point at which we didn't think we could win, but we both came really, really close in the end. The game was decided by one die roll on the last action of the last hero's turn on the last round of the game. If Batman succeeded at the roll, the heroes won. If he failed, I won. He put everything he had into the roll, literally knocking himself unconscious in the process, and managed to disarm that last bomb. I can't wait to try out the next scenario.

This is famously huge game. It takes up a ton of space on the shelf. The thing is, though, most of the expansions that come with it are content, not rules. They're alternate characters, alternate maps, and alternate scenarios. Of the three regular expansions two only add one rule (how to use the elevator in the batcave.) The Batmobile expansion adds rules, but only about a pamphlet's worth. The only real new rules are in the Versus expansion, which is a completely separate 1v1 mode. So once you learn the rules, you don't have to keep fiddling with them every time you grab a box. You just have a much bigger selection of content. Add to that the fact that each scenario can be played with a different combination of heroes and there is enough content here to play for a long, long time without repeating the experience.

The components are top notch, and their use of theme is great, too. I really liked the fact that they made it interesting and self-contained, but still stayed true to the source material. The only real criticism I have is the manual. It is overly wordy and repeats way too much information. Their intent, they've said, was to ensure that each time you look up a process, you'll have everything you need in that one section without flipping back and forth. When learning that game, though, that means that every single subsection repeats the same information with just a few details different. I find that actually slows things down rather than speeding them up, as you can't just look up the tweaks to the 'action' rule that comprise a 'complex manipulation', but rather have to read through the entire rule looking for the differences. Still, the rules aren't that complex, and after a game or two you won't need the books much.

FWIW, this will be back on Kickstarter on the 4th of June. It'll be a reprint, plus new content. Since the game will never be released to retail, this will likely be the last chance. They've been dropping teases for a while now about the new maps, scenarios, and characters. Expect the Suicide Squad, including King Shark, Black Manta, Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, Joker's Daughter, Captain Boomerang, El Diablo, Bronze Tiger, and others. They've also shown the League of Assassins (ie - League of Shadows), Jim Gordon Batman, and Terry McGinnis (Batman Beyond.)

I was given this monstrosity as a gift, and the two who did so have already said that they're getting me any new content being released. Damn! :shock:
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

I REALLY want this one, but my gaming group will never go for a 1 vs many game. So without any kind of solo rules, I'd never get it to the table.

It's a damn shame, because I'm a huge Batman fan and just having the minis alone would be a thrill. But I could never justify the cost for something that would likely get no play time.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Smoove_B »

Thanks for the report. It'll need solo rules for me to consider, but from what I understand they just released a crazy set of tiles and compendium rules for the Conan game they made. Maybe the plan for this next KS reprint is to include solo rules? I'll certainly be watching. I love the idea of this game - I just know that without solo support it'll never get played.

----

Did manage to play an 8 person game of Fortune and Glory last night. Never played before and I liked it. Not sure about playing an 8 person version of it again, but it was lite enough that the hanging out and beer was more the event than the actual game itself. Not bad for an 8+ year old title,that's for sure.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Blackhawk »

I know BGG has some solo rules in their files section for it, but I have no idea how well they work. It's a pricey experiment, though.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hentzau »

Smoove_B wrote:Thanks for the report. It'll need solo rules for me to consider, but from what I understand they just released a crazy set of tiles and compendium rules for the Conan game they made. Maybe the plan for this next KS reprint is to include solo rules? I'll certainly be watching. I love the idea of this game - I just know that without solo support it'll never get played.

----

Did manage to play an 8 person game of Fortune and Glory last night. Never played before and I liked it. Not sure about playing an 8 person version of it again, but it was lite enough that the hanging out and beer was more the event than the actual game itself. Not bad for an 8+ year old title,that's for sure.
Man, I’ve so wanted to enjoy F&G. I’ve tried it a good half dozen times, and each time walked away with a definitive “Eh. “

But I can’t bring myself to sell it.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Smoove_B »

We only played the intro/basic version - fully adversarial and without any villains, temples or the zeppelin; I think it was a wise choice particularly given the mix of gamers and non-gamers. With that many people, I can see why you might be "meh" on it - the adventures were getting repetitive. At it's core, the game is really just a press your luck game with some screw-your-neighbor elements. Everything else is the theme and if you're not into that, I'm guessing it's boring as hell. I thought it was funny to laugh at the ridiculous stories coming from the cards, at least. I keep hearing rumors there are two more expansions coming for it, which is crazy.

Regardless, my desire to get it for solo play vaporized, so that's nice. I think it was fun for what it is.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Ænima »

Looking for some advice as I know there are some Aeons End players here. My wife and I just played the starter game in the base box. We liked it enough that I wouldn’t mind investing more in the system so things don’t get stale. We’d wouldn’t be opposed to trying the legacy version or just getting some of the small expansions. It will always be just the two of us playing. What are the recommendations for the best experience?
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

I would grab the rest of the regular Aeons End stuff first then go with legacy. Nothing against legacy, but I always feel like that type of game should come last for anyone who enjoys the basic game system.

Aeons End works great with 1 or 2 players so don’t let that be an issue.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

I also don't think you can go wrong with any of the expansions. From my experience (I think I'm only missing one), they're all great.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Skinypupy »

I have spent this entire long weekend with Gloomhaven. I was a bit skeptical, but this game is absolutely, 100% worthy of all the hype. Holy crap, this thing is amazing.

I've completed 8 missions with my Brute (Level 2) and Spellweaver (level 3), and will hopefully wrap up mission #9 tonight. I've started to finally piece together strategy and synergy for both classes, and the missions have gone from a bit overwhelming to very doable. I've been using both the Gloomhaven Helper and Campaign Tracker apps, both of which are absolute lifesavers. I can't imagine trying to battle and track progress without them.

My only gripe is that I really hate the Road Events. Coming into scenarios a couple cards down or with a nasty status effect can easily be the difference between success and failure, and no matter how good your strategy is, it's tough to account for pure RNG in those events. (and is it just me, or does that Critical Miss modifier card always show up at the worst possible times?)

Other than that, everything about this game is brilliant.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Ænima »

Thanks gents!
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

Fury of Dracula today! The hunters won in the third week, after Drac decided to roll the dice and take on two hunters at once. If he had defeated both, he would have won the game, but instead they whittled him down from 12 health to zero. An epic final battle, and frankly one we all welcomed, since we'd been playing for almost four hours at that point.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

I've played a couple of games of Welcome To over the last week. It's a pretty fun, easy to teach and quick to play (25 minutes?) roll & write but without the rolling. It's a bit hard to describe in a few sentences, but basically you use cards (from 1 - 15) and their associated actions to number houses in a neighborhood you're designing. One nice aspect of the game is that everyone plays at the same time and everyone has the same three options every turn, so whether you win or lose is completely due to your choices, your strategy, and what cards come up. It's also pretty cheap ($15 - $20) and can potentially be played with any number of players, since the only limitation is the number of sheets that come with the game (100). I definitely recommend it!
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Blackhawk »

We just played the third quest in Sword & Sorcery. This one looked really bad early on, but we actually ended up pulling it off with health and time to spare. Well, aside from me being dead when we finally took down the Big Bad, due to him being a hard-hitter who prioritizes magic-using heroes. I've just about got the hero miniatures for this group finished, too (the villains are getting speed-painted, but the heroes are getting the works.)
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

I have to relate this Gloomhaven adventure we played, because it felt like playing something straight out of a fantasy novel. Not due to the scenario itself, but for what happened to our 4-player group. I'll spoiler tag it since it does give away a certain scenario's end goal and the ability of one of the unlockable classes.
Spoiler:
We were playing The Shrine of Strength, which is just as ominous as it sounds. Filled with powerful enemies such as Stone Golems and various types of Demons, it's a brutal slog.

The biggest problem, however, is the end goal. To loot the treasure and win, you have to not only battle your way through a couple of heavily guarded rooms, you then have to step on three pressure plates simultaneously to open the treasure vault. While two of the pressure plates are in the same room, one is on the entirely opposite end of the dungeon. Oh, and did I mention they're all surrounded by traps and guarded by more monsters?

So should you survive the first two heavily guarded rooms and clear the enemies (some of which can summon more enemies), you then have to split your party in order to hit all three plates simultaneously.

We decided to focus on clearing one pressure plate room completely to grab 2, then have one of us make a possibly suicidal dash for the third plate. We managed to do this, but I was responsible for stepping on one plate and I literally only had 2 turns left. If I exhausted, we wouldn't fulfill the requirements of that plate and we'd almost certainly have no time for anyone else to step up.

So now we have a problem. We have 2 turns to step on the third plate which is on the complete opposite side of the dungeon. Then our Beast Tyrant remembers his handy dandy "swap two figures" card. That's right - he can swap two figures anywhere on the board. So he swaps our tank with an enemy on that opposite end of the dungeon.

Problem #2 - Our Tank has only 3 HP and no cards to heal himself. There are 4 damage traps surrounding the pressure plate. He has one Jump card to get over the trap, but he has no way to get back out. And he needs to get back out, because he's the only one with enough movement to get to the treasure once the vault is open.

So he jumps, hits the pressure plate, and opens the door. Now we see the treasure, but how do we get to it? Suddenly the tank remembers the Summon Skeleton ring he has on. He summons the skeleton right on top of the trap (the only adjacent space). BOOM! Dead skeleton and no more trap. :D

The remainder of the scenario was us dodging hordes of monsters to get the chest before we all exhausted. Finished the scenario victorious with 2 characters dead, one with 3 hp and no stamina, and the other with 1 hp. It was......glorious.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Skinypupy »

I was planning on that being my next scenario. Curious how differently it will play with two people.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by coopasonic »

Skinypupy wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 5:23 pm I was planning on that being my next scenario. Curious how differently it will play with two people.
Hmmm, that may be the last scenario we ever played. We failed miserably with two players. Good luck. :D
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Skinypupy »

I play on Easy Mode. I find it to be far more fun.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by EzeKieL »

Skinypupy wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 7:06 pm I play on Easy Mode. I find it to be far more fun.
Amen!
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Daveman »

Picked up Tiny Towns recently and have enjoyed it a lot. It's very easy to teach and plays quickly but is a lot of fun. You have a 4x4 grid and are trying to put resource cubes on those spaces in certain formations to then replace those cubes with a building. So wheat, brick and glass in a right angle (glass in the middle) builds a cottage. Different buildings are worth varying points and/or grant certain abilities. The catch is that each player, in turn, calls out the resource they want to put in their town and everyone has to do so as well. So if someone calls out brick I have to put a brick somewhere in my town too. I might not really want brick just then but early game there's plenty of room and I can likely put it somewhere I can use it in the future. Late game when boards are mostly filled, having to put a brick somewhere might completely screw up your final few moves so the tension gradually builds up as you fill in your grid. You're out when there are no more open spaces in your grid.

Plays for 1-6 people. We did one 6 player game on Memorial day with my in-laws and it was fun but kind of chaotic. Most of my games have been 2-3 player and you have a lot more control over what's going on and I've prefered that.

Replay value is high as there are 4 different versions for all but one of building types in each game. There are 4 food producing buildings and they all cost different resources and "feed" buildings in different ways. 4 different kinds of churches that award points in different ways, etc. Also, there's a deck of monuments and you deal two to each player. These are all player-unique, no one else can build them and they're all worth a large amount of points or grant powerful abilities so everyone will approach building their town differently.

Playing solo is very fun too. Instead of calling out resources there's a small deck of resource cards and you deal 3 face up, choose one you want and then deal out a replacement card. Goal is just to get the highest score you can.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Zarathud »

We played draw 2 from the deck, then the next player calls out a resource for #3. It's entertaining to see your plans fall apart at the end.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

I played Puerto Rico for the first time last night. I can see why it's a classic -- the mechanics mesh like a well-oiled machine. Just really elegant and smooth, with some very satisfying player interaction. Our game was close the whole way, and I ended up losing by just a couple of points.

The downside of Puerto Rico is that it's an old game that has defied the modern trend of upgraded "second editions." This means that the visual design is drab, many of the components are thin cardstock, and there is no quick reference sheet to let players easily look up key information. Not game-breakers by any means, but a classic like this deserves higher-quality production values.

Much worse, Puerto Rico is thematically cringe-inducing. Your plantations and factories must be staffed by slaves, whom you collect from a slave ship. The game tries to paper this over by calling them "colonists" arriving on a "colonist ship," but they are very obviously slaves. Represented in the game as little brown discs. The three of us playing (all first-timers) had an uncomfortable chuckle over this, and we all agreed that it could desperately use a thematic overhaul.

In sum, I thought the gameplay was fantastic, but the theme would make me reluctant to play it again.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Isgrimnur »

You can always go murder the "Wretched" in Letters from Whitechapel.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

AWS260 wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 12:51 pm
Much worse, Puerto Rico is thematically cringe-inducing. Your plantations and factories must be staffed by slaves, whom you collect from a slave ship. The game tries to paper this over by calling them "colonists" arriving on a "colonist ship," but they are very obviously slaves. Represented in the game as little brown discs. The three of us playing (all first-timers) had an uncomfortable chuckle over this, and we all agreed that it could desperately use a thematic overhaul.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

AWS260 wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 12:51 pm I played Puerto Rico for the first time last night. I can see why it's a classic -- the mechanics mesh like a well-oiled machine. Just really elegant and smooth, with some very satisfying player interaction. Our game was close the whole way, and I ended up losing by just a couple of points.

The downside of Puerto Rico is that it's an old game that has defied the modern trend of upgraded "second editions." This means that the visual design is drab, many of the components are thin cardstock, and there is no quick reference sheet to let players easily look up key information. Not game-breakers by any means, but a classic like this deserves higher-quality production values.

Much worse, Puerto Rico is thematically cringe-inducing. Your plantations and factories must be staffed by slaves, whom you collect from a slave ship. The game tries to paper this over by calling them "colonists" arriving on a "colonist ship," but they are very obviously slaves. Represented in the game as little brown discs. The three of us playing (all first-timers) had an uncomfortable chuckle over this, and we all agreed that it could desperately use a thematic overhaul.

In sum, I thought the gameplay was fantastic, but the theme would make me reluctant to play it again.
Indeed, I've long preferred the galactic civilization theme of Race for the Galaxy myself.

RftG shares many similar mechanics with Puerto Rico: role selection (though RftG specifically incorporates simultaneous role selection), cards as money, 'big building' cards, converting goods to VPs, multiple end conditions, reasons to get inferior goods vs. better ones, etc. Since it's a card game though, it's much easier to set up and plays quicker, too. Also, if you're any fan of science fiction, you'll notice that RftG cards are brimming over with subtle references to countless sci-fi classics. Alas, it does have a significant learning curve before one gets sufficiently comfortable to play effectively. But it's well worth making the effort to do so (especially since one can play a Windows/Linux/Mac version of the game completely free and gratis).
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

Oh, I think Race for the Galaxy is fantastic. I have the app and have been planning to buy a copy for a while now.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Skinypupy »

Wrapped up the Aeon’s End Legacy campaign this afternoon. Wasn’t crazy about the way it just kinda ends with no real resolution, but it was fun getting to that point. Will be interesting to see how much it hits the table now that the campaign is done.

For the first time ever, we’re at the halfway point of the year and I’ve finished more board games (Aeon’s End, Legend of Drizzt, and Imperial Assault) than video games (FF XIV Stormblood)
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

This weekend's boardgaming was spent trying out some games that I recently traded for:

The city-building, tile-laying Quadropolis went over very well. It's simple and clever: players take turns selecting tiles from a grid, with the restriction that you can't select from the same row or column as the previous player. This presents some interesting opportunities for blocking other players, since it's pretty easy to figure out which buildings they're gunning for. I think it's an excellent family game with some real strategic depth.

Dungeon Petz was a hit with me, but less so with the rest of my family. It's a fairly complicated game, with many different actions and elements to keep track of, so we were constantly referring back to the rulebook to make sure that we weren't missing anything. On the other hand, all of those different actions and elements mesh together neatly.

The theme is very strong throughout Dungeon Petz. For example, during one phase of the game you have to meet each pet's needs. If the pet needs to be fed, you have to pay a meat or veg token (depending on if it's a carnivore or herbivore) or else it gains suffering, which will decrease its value. If it needs to express its magical nature, you'd better have a cage with sufficient magical containment, or else it gains a mutation (the "tentacle growing out of its stomach" kind). If it needs to poop, there's no immediate negative consequence -- it just drops a poop token in its cage, which will make it more susceptible to disease in the future.

Those are just three of six types of needs, and fulfilling needs is just one phase in a seven-phase turn. So there's a lot going on. I think it will be a blast once everyone is familiar with the rules -- if I can get it to the table enough to make everyone familiar with the rules.

Finally we played Somnium: Rise of Laputa, a simple card game with a ridiculous name and really good art. You play cards to score points and take points away from your opponents. First to 20 wins. It's very breezy and very fast -- like 5-10 minutes. I'd recommend it as a "filler" game to kill time, but it's certainly not a main event.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

A couple of impressions from attending a board game night yesterday:

Quarto is an abstract game that's basically very advanced tic-tac-toe. On a 4x4 grid, players take turns placing one of 16 unique pieces. Each piece has 4 binary traits: light/dark, short/tall, square/round, hollow/filled. If, on your turn, you create a row of four pieces with a single shared trait (e.g., four dark pieces), you win. The twist is that you don't choose the piece to be placed -- your opponent chooses it for you. So you want to give your opponent a piece that doesn't give them the win, but could make it easier for you to win.

I watched two games of Quarto, and we all had a good time puzzling over the next move. But both games ended in a draw, and after some Googling this morning I found that, given perfect play, Quarto will always end in a draw, just like tic-tac-toe. Kind of disappointing, but it's still a fun mental exercise. Probably a great game for the library of a bar/pub, like Connect 4 (a game that I inexplicably love to pieces).

I also tried Age of War, a light dice-rolling game in a tiny box. It is entirely luck-driven with very little player interaction and drags on and on. On the plus side, the box art is OK, I guess?
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Blackhawk »

Batman: Gotham City Chronicles was last night. Caiden was playing the villain for the first time, so he picked the mission with the fewest special rules to keep track of (A Series of Mutations or something like that, starring Mr. Bloom.) It turns out that it is also becoming famous as the toughest mission for the heroes. We got totally stomped with Batman (Dark Knight), Signal (Duke), and Orphan. Orphan was fantastic, and Duke did pretty good, too, but Batman? You know how Batman beats everyone in a fight? Everyone got their payback last night, as everyone beat Batman. He knocked out one low-level thug during the entire game and couldn't land a single blow for the rest of it, save for doing one point of damage to Mr. Bloom, and blowing his entire inventory of bat-gadgets to do it. We got three of the five necessary objectives when time ran out, and the last two turns was spent with us disabled and forced into rest. It was brutal.


Sword & Sorcery. Just got done with quest IV. We tore the hell out of that thing. The last couple were down to the wire, but this time we beat it with barely half of the event deck (the timer) used up. It helps that we've found some very good items that have upped our abilities. Especially Caiden. He's playing Ecarus (the paladin tank), and manged to pull off a troll ring (regeneration) and the mirror shield (a soul weapon that reflects damage back on the attacker.) With that and his full plate, he was untouchable.

We'll be taking a break from it after the first box, before we start any of the expansion content. I'm looking for the replacement game now, likely something that's got a cooperative campaign. I really want a less heavy game, though. Between S&S and Batman, we're playing two long-session games with ~60 page rulebooks that involve a lot of looking up rules mid-game. I think we might try either Hero Realms: The Ruin of Thandar or the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (we have Rise of the Runelords, Wrath of the Righteous, Skull & Shackles, and Mummy's Mask, plus all the adventure packs for all four - a Christmas present from friends.) Then again, it might be more than what I want to mess with right now. I'm getting some serious mental fatigue after our 2-3 hour sessions lately.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by coopasonic »

Saturday was Stone Age Saturday for June. We played a number of games of Yinsh and X(13) actually beat me. We also played a couple 2 player games of Ticket to Ride and one four player game. X won 2 out of 3. The dream is for them to ask for a board game when devices aren't off limits. We all have dreams...
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