Octopus Overlords

Seal Team Flix is an interesting beast. I'm usually not a fan of flick games as I have the manual dexterity of a sea otter, but the planning and maneuvering makes the actual flicking less of the focus. Of course I took a sniper in our game last night...which was really, really dumb as the mission was set in an office building.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 1:20 am

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:16 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:13 am Seal Team Flix, a flicking game about police strategy. It was the easy mode introduction session, but I liked how firing turned into additional resources as a trap. We won as the bad guy reinforcements would have overwhelmed a few players. With my last action, I was able to shoot down three tangos with a rifle burst. Very interesting game.

Flicking game?

Huh, I had no idea that was a thing.

Is there one that’s fantasy or other genre? Military/law enforcement setting holds zero interest for me.

I believe there was an old west flick game that was well-liked.

The fantasy game is Catacombs. BGG link

The western game is Flick em Up!. BGG link

I liked how Seal Team added tactical movement to the flicking action.

A two-player game with my son. It was neck-and-neck the whole way. I got lucky at the very end, when a Breaking News card helped me get rid of a couple of scandal tokens that would have sunk my score.

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:33 pm The fantasy game is Catacombs. BGG link

The western game is Flick em Up!. BGG link

I liked how Seal Team added tactical movement to the flicking action.

And soon a Star Trek game.

hepcat wrote:

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:33 pm The fantasy game is Catacombs. BGG link

The western game is Flick em Up!. BGG link

I liked how Seal Team added tactical movement to the flicking action.

And soon a Star Trek game.

I have a fun one called “Ascending Empires” that I never get to play cause most of my game group won’t play flicky games with me.

Oh, and there’s a Dead of Winter flicky game too.

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:33 pm The fantasy game is Catacombs. BGG link

The western game is Flick em Up!. BGG link

The penguin game is Ice Cool.

hentzau wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2019 12:17 am I have a fun one called “Ascending Empires” that I never get to play cause most of my game group won’t play flicky games with me.

Oh, and there’s a Dead of Winter flicky game too.

At BGG Con, there's always a Pitch Car track set up in the main lobby area.

hepcat wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:35 pm

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:33 pm The fantasy game is Catacombs. BGG link

The western game is Flick em Up!. BGG link

I liked how Seal Team added tactical movement to the flicking action.

And soon a Star Trek game.

Klingons do not 'flick!'

No. They K'Flick!

Learned to play Kuub this weekend. In the snow, no less. It's not really a board game, even though it is called Viking Chess. But it was a lot of fun.

Got a surprise find at an older FLGS I've not been to in a long time. Work had me in the area and I know they have a lot of hard-to-find stuff. I recently thought about Nexus Ops, a game I've always wanted to try. I knew the original Avalon Hill release was long gone but that FFG had re-released it fairly recently. Seems their version wasn't quite so recent as I thought and it hasn't been reprinted so it's also becoming hard to find.

I did a quick search on the FLGS website and the only copy that comes up in stock is the original AH version. So I show up and ask and the response is essentially "that can't be right, it probably wasn't taken off inventory" so he goes looking. 15 minutes later he comes up from the basement and voila, there it is, still in shrinkwrap and as this store doesn't gouge prices, it's still selling for list price of $45.

I'm very happy with it. It has the distinct neon-glowing plastic figures and vibrant board compared to the more bland FFG components. Game sort of looks like an 80's videogame when it's all setup.

For those who play the D&D Adventure System games, are there user-made campaigns out there? If so, is there a repository for them?

I found a couple old threads over at BGG, but all of the supporting docs/links are dead.

I haven't looked in years, but I remember finding a few in the Files section at BGG:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/599 ... game/files

/edit - you got LoD. Try this link instead:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/918 ... game/files

And your kids might like the life-size statue Wizards of the Coast have of Drizzt:

https://www.google.com/search?safe=acti ... 8d-BOG2eo8

We played a really fun game of Sekigahara tonight. It included some epic clashes in the vicinity of the historical Sekigahara. Playing as Tokugawa, I lost the biggest battles, and by the end Ishida was rapidly pushing me back. But I had much more luck on the other end of Japan, annihilating Ishida's forces in their strongholds. In the end that was the difference, and Tokugawa won comfortably on points.

What a pretty game.

I have a couple of friends that never make it down (they live a couple of hours away), and another who comes down once a month. We all used to live relatively nearby and would hang out regularly, sometimes every few days, but it's been years since we were all in the same place at the same time. We managed to pull that off yesterday. We played a little Love Letter Batman and two games of Specter Ops, which has become a family favorite around the house. The Agent won each time. We played several rounds of King of Tokyo as well. Nothing new and shiny (I rarely have the new and shiny), but we played and jabbered for about ten hours, which was nice.

We ended the evening by setting up a monthly Pathfinder campaign down here (which I'm not going to be running, thank god.)

Had a group of friends over yesterday and we played Ra and, for the first time, Deep Sea Adventure. DSA is a small box game that plays up to six players and plays quickly (which is why I got it). Each player is a diver hoping to collect treasure and make it back to the ship before the air runs out. Each treasure token is worth some victory points at the end, but the exact amount on each token isn't known until the round is over. However, treasures generally are worth more the deeper along the path the diver goes. The trick is that the supply depletes faster as more treasure is picked up and all players rely on a shared air supply. So if one player starts picking up a lot of treasure, it's going to make the air supply run out faster for everyone. Also, you move by rolling two dice that go from 1 -3. For each treasure token you carry, you have to subtract one from your roll. So once you have two or more treasures, it is possible you won't be able to move on your turn if your roll is low. If you don't make it back to the ship before the air runs out, you lose all the treasure you've collected.

For the first two (of three) rounds yesterday, no one made it back to the ship before the air ran out. In the last round, only one other player and I made it back. We both had treasure tokens from the deepest part of the track, but his was worth 13 victory points while mine was worth 12.

In any case, a fun, quick, cheap game that requires a bit of strategy and paying attention to what everyone else is doing. I definitely think this will come out to the table fairly regularly.

Managed to get a 4 player game of Aliens Legendary Encounters in Friday night. I've played the Legendary games before, and I own (and like) the X-Files Legendary Encounters game. I think the mechanics work fantastic for the Aliens game as well and we introduced the hidden traitor element as part of the experience to keep things interesting. Very difficult game and I think our lack of complete understanding of the mechanics (and how important coordination is) hampered things a bit, but it was still enjoyable to have a story unfold. Would recommend if you're into the Alien franchise, no doubt.

One more round of Downtown, where my strikers had to go low through cloud layers. The target was completely destroyed. Unfortunately, we lost a Wild Weasel, a F-105 striker, and an EF-101.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Apr 01, 2019 11:21 am Managed to get a 4 player game of Aliens Legendary Encounters in Friday night. I've played the Legendary games before, and I own (and like) the X-Files Legendary Encounters game. I think the mechanics work fantastic for the Aliens game as well and we introduced the hidden traitor element as part of the experience to keep things interesting. Very difficult game and I think our lack of complete understanding of the mechanics (and how important coordination is) hampered things a bit, but it was still enjoyable to have a story unfold. Would recommend if you're into the Alien franchise, no doubt.

Funny. I pulled Firefly and Alien LE out of the closet last week for octocon and left alien out so I could try it with the expansion I picked up ages ago, but never used. However, I ended up playing Too Many Bones yesterday instead.

A decade late to the party, this weekend I played Cyclades for the first time ever. It was a two-player game, and while I enjoyed myself, I was left feeling that Cyclades probably really shines at three players or more. With two players, it was a bit too easy to turtle -- not quite enough friction along our borders. Hopefully I'll have a chance to try it at a higher player count someday.

Cyclades can get nasty at large player counts.

In one game it became a thing to outbid one player for the Mars army recruiting role. He ruled the seas with an iron fist and it would have been very bad if he could have used the fleet to project any army. So he was asking for it, really.

I just learned that we were playing one of the 2-player rules wrong, because it's written incorrectly in the rulebook: clarification of priests with two players in Cyclades. Ah well.

Zarathud wrote: ↑Mon Apr 01, 2019 1:25 pm Cyclades can get nasty at large player counts.

In one game it became a thing to outbid one player for the Mars army recruiting role. He ruled the seas with an iron fist and it would have been very bad if he could have used the fleet to project any army. So he was asking for it, really.

I wouldn't know, would I.

If anyone's in New York, there's now free gaming on weekday nights at the FLGS in Tribeca (where my wife works):



I'll try to go occasionally, since it's fairly convenient for me to get to after work. Also, my regular gaming night is on hold because the organizer got too busy, so I could use some dedicated game time that doesn't involve a folding table in my living room.

If you're in the area and want to schedule something, drop me a line.

There's a point in games you play a lot where you go from "knowing how to play the game" to "knowing how to play the game WELL." And that's a magical moment.

We hit that point in GLOOMHAVEN tonight. Everybody was just firing on all cylinders. No stumbling over rules, we had the helper app keeping things running smoothly. Everyone was playing with efficiency and teamwork, and we kicked the scenario's ass on standard difficulty.

Even after the first play I knew Gloomhaven was something special, but tonight really sealed the deal on just how incredible it can be when you start understanding how to play your character to their strengths. Utilizing card combos, manipulating the battlefield to your advantage, adjusting strategy on the fly, managing turns - it's just an immensely satisfying experience.

I bought a copy of the game for myself awhile back even though my group had a copy. However, I'll probably wind up selling it since I don't see myself going back to solo play after this.

Good lord, I am full-on board game'd out after this weekend. That's been literally the only thing the kids have wanted to do. So far we've played at least two rounds (more, on most) of the following:

- Temple of Elemental Evil (just me and Little B 10.0 playing, Wonder Twins helping)
- Legend of Drizzt (with all the kids playing)
- Lost Cities
- Sushi Go
- King of Tokyo
- Dungeon!
- Labyrinth
- Love Letter (too damn many rounds to count. Kids love this one.)
- Dragonwood
- Exploding Kittens

My brain is crying for mercy, but they're still sitting in the other room asking what we can all play next.

And because I didn't have quite enough games to play, I picked up the starter set for the Xwing miniatures game yesterday as well. Haven't had a chance to play it with Little B yet, but she seems pretty interested.

AWS260 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 01, 2019 12:51 pm A decade late to the party, this weekend I played Cyclades for the first time ever. It was a two-player game, and while I enjoyed myself, I was left feeling that Cyclades probably really shines at three players or more. With two players, it was a bit too easy to turtle -- not quite enough friction along our borders. Hopefully I'll have a chance to try it at a higher player count someday.

Tried a three-player game of Cyclades yesterday. It's definitely a tighter experience than with two, with more risk and tension.

On the other hand, it feels slower than it did with two, and that's not just because one more person is taking turns. In the two-player game, all of the gods are in play every round, so it always feels like some game-defining action is imminent. In the three-player game, only two gods are available each round, which means you'll sometimes have a round with only the strategically-valuable-but-boring gods (Zeus and Athena) instead of the exciting, fighty gods (Ares and Poseidon).

As gameplays go, it was pretty fun. I was on the verge of winning when a Pegasus card stole my undefended metropolis, so we churned on for a few more rounds. My wife ended up as kingmaker, and she chose to crown my 9-year-old instead of me.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:19 am And because I didn't have quite enough games to play, I picked up the starter set for the Xwing miniatures game yesterday as well. Haven't had a chance to play it with Little B yet, but she seems pretty interested.

Sounds like you're ready to start your next board-gaming adjacent hobby: finding a storage solution. We're here to help.

And because I like enabling: I've seen pretty solid reports that Start Wars Destiny is a great themed dice-chucking game for kids. Not sure if the two-player limit kills it for you, but it might offer a quick alternative.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:52 am

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:19 am And because I didn't have quite enough games to play, I picked up the starter set for the Xwing miniatures game yesterday as well. Haven't had a chance to play it with Little B yet, but she seems pretty interested.

Sounds like you're ready to start your next board-gaming adjacent hobby: finding a storage solution. We're here to help.

And because I like enabling: I've seen pretty solid reports that Start Wars Destiny is a great themed dice-chucking game for kids. Not sure if the two-player limit kills it for you, but it might offer a quick alternative.

Love me some Destiny. But I haven't played in forever.

hentzau wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:14 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:52 am

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:19 am And because I didn't have quite enough games to play, I picked up the starter set for the Xwing miniatures game yesterday as well. Haven't had a chance to play it with Little B yet, but she seems pretty interested.

Sounds like you're ready to start your next board-gaming adjacent hobby: finding a storage solution. We're here to help.

And because I like enabling: I've seen pretty solid reports that Start Wars Destiny is a great themed dice-chucking game for kids. Not sure if the two-player limit kills it for you, but it might offer a quick alternative.

Love me some Destiny. But I haven't played in forever.

Best Buy was clearing these out a couple months ago for $5. Kicking myself for not grabbing a set then.

Step away from the path of board game regret; that path is madness. My regret was over seeing HeroScape box sets in the discount bin at TRU. That was an expensive lesson to learn.

There's a Red Plano storage that works great for most X-Wing. That's why I'm filling #4.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:52 am

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:19 am And because I didn't have quite enough games to play, I picked up the starter set for the Xwing miniatures game yesterday as well. Haven't had a chance to play it with Little B yet, but she seems pretty interested.

Sounds like you're ready to start your next board-gaming adjacent hobby: finding a storage solution. We're here to help.

I've got a great tackle box for my X-Wing stuff and the bonus is that it is filled with X-Wing stuff. When you are ready to move past the starter set give me a shout. of course all my stuff is pre-conversion so I am not sure how it would mix with the newer starter.

It should be fine to back convert to 1.0 with the extra X-wing and TIE template/cards. To bring the old stuff to 2.0 will require upgrade kits. $45 per classic faction. $25 per new faction.

I finally put all of my X-Wing stuff (1.0) into storage a few months ago in order to free up space. I never could find people to play with at the time, and now it is out of date, too.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:17 pm - Temple of Elemental Evil (just me and Little B 10.0 playing, Wonder Twins helping)
- Legend of Drizzt (with all the kids playing)

[Snip]
My brain is crying for mercy, but they're still sitting in the other room asking what we can all play next.

Here you go.

/edit - although I'd find the non-premium edition myself.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:24 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:17 pm - Temple of Elemental Evil (just me and Little B 10.0 playing, Wonder Twins helping)
- Legend of Drizzt (with all the kids playing)

[Snip]
My brain is crying for mercy, but they're still sitting in the other room asking what we can all play next.

Here you go.

/edit - although I'd find the non-premium edition myself.

Any idea what race/class combos this one includes? I can't seem to find the info in the store page or on BGG.