Octopus Overlords

Is that sitting next to Cyclades?

Yep. I'm pretty sure games I put on that shelf are cursed.

I picked up the Ascension apprentice edition earlier this week for $5 from Amazon.

The wife and I have played this numerous times and love it. I'll probably look to pick up a full copy soon.

Instead of watching the Super Bowl last night, my wife, daughter and I tackled (heh) Book 5 in Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle. And got our asses handed to us. Man, once you hit book 4 with this game, the difficulty ramps up like crazy. I think one of the problems is that you keep adding tougher and tougher villains to the villain deck, and nastier and nastier dark arts cards, and you are still starting out with your basic spells and equipment and allies. So if you end up with a couple of tough villains coming out by random draw, and a few bad draws from the dark arts deck, you can lose your first location before your decks get to the point where you can take out your first villain (which is what happened to us last night.) Plus, there is no culling or wiping mechanic in the game, which makes it difficult to get a good engine going.

Still, a fun game. Wife and daughter were a bit demoralized by the crushing defeat, but I told them that was common in co-op games, and that we would get them the next time. I hope.

Sadly, I've had very few opportunities to play board games lately. The kids are in school, and homework is often heavy. When we do get a chance to play, it usually has to be very short games (Love Letter or Exploding Kittens are popular lately.) I had two friends I play boardgames with regularly. One moved away and got married last year, and the other hasn't been able to get free in a couple of months.

I'm itching to spend some time with some of my more involved games, but never get the chance.

I'm hoping to get Gloomhaven on the table tomorrow night...if I can get everything punched out tonight.

hentzau wrote:I'm hoping to get Gloomhaven on the table tomorrow night...if I can get everything punched out tonight.

Looking forward to your impressions. My copy arrived Monday and I've only punched out and organized maybe a third of the counter sheets. Haven't even touched the cards yet. My 9 yr old was quite impressed by the weight of the thing as she lifted it. Had to use reading glasses to read the character cards. Damn I'm getting old... : D

$iljanus wrote:

hentzau wrote:I'm hoping to get Gloomhaven on the table tomorrow night...if I can get everything punched out tonight.

Looking forward to your impressions. My copy arrived Monday and I've only punched out and organized maybe a third of the counter sheets. Haven't even touched the cards yet. My 9 yr old was quite impressed by the weight of the thing as she lifted it. Had to use reading glasses to read the character cards. Damn I'm getting old... : D

I'll have about 2 hours before game night tonight, and I haven't even started punching out. I'm going to try and do some selective punching and try and get out first game in.

That's one I've had my eye on. I didn't see the kickstarter in time, but I don't want to rush out and buy it until I hear what you folks think of it. So make with them reviews, boys!

hentzau wrote:

$iljanus wrote:

hentzau wrote:I'm hoping to get Gloomhaven on the table tomorrow night...if I can get everything punched out tonight.

Looking forward to your impressions. My copy arrived Monday and I've only punched out and organized maybe a third of the counter sheets. Haven't even touched the cards yet. My 9 yr old was quite impressed by the weight of the thing as she lifted it. Had to use reading glasses to read the character cards. Damn I'm getting old... : D

I'll have about 2 hours before game night tonight, and I haven't even started punching out. I'm going to try and do some selective punching and try and get out first game in.

Curious about the rat like Mindthief character if anyone uses him/her/it. Will be out of town but would love to get a solo game started when I come back. I love the whole RPG concept behind the game and that it's basically one long campaign.

Agreed. I'm also hoping that my gaming table will come in sooner rather than later. This seems like a game that I'll want to set up and leave out for a while.

So.

Gloomhaven.

Um.

Man, I don't know.

There's a lot, and I mean a lot, to love in this game. Production is top notch, there's a nice spin on the generic fantasy characters, and it really seems like it should be a ton of fun.

But...I don't know.

First impressions are always really important, and my first impression with this one isn't that great. Played with 3 players, had a Tinkerer, a Spellweaver, and a Cragheart. We were pretty blind as to what the characters were and what they did and how they worked, but based on the generic descriptions of them, we thought this would be a pretty solid group. Well, not so much.

The card system is pretty cool, using two cards from your hand to give you both initiative as well as two actions that your character will take. And you plan out your actions, and then the actions that come up from the monsters that you are facing will quite often make you have to rethink your actions. The fact that you have generic actions that you can always take (Move 2 Attack 2) on each card will ensure that you can always at least do something, regardless of what your enemies do.

I think our main issue with the game was that we truly didn't understand the discard/lose/rest mechanic well enough to be able to properly conserve our cards as well were moving forward. When you play your cards from your (pretty limited) hand, you have to at a minimum discard those cards. Some of the more powerful abilities that you have will cause you to lose one of your cards. As your hand gets lower, you will eventually be forced to rest. There are two types of of rest, short and long. Short happens at the end of the round, and you lose a random card, but get to return all of your discarded cards to your hand. Long takes an entire round to complete, you get to choose the card you lose, and you also heal 2 wounds. The big problem that we ran into was that there is not an inherent way for many characters to get cards out of your lost pile back into your hand. The Spellweaver had one card that allowed you to do this, and the Tinkerer had a card that allowed another character to recover his lost cards. Not knowing this early in the game we burned through too many cards too soon, and had no chance to recover. So we lost our Cragheart in the second room, and the Spellweaver and Tinkerer both were exhausted at the same time because they ran out of cards to recover. This is no doubt a key to being successful in this game, using the lower level generic hits and moves so that your keep your discard pile as large as possible and save the lose cards for the end of the scenario, for the boss. But I could see that another one of our players really didn't enjoy this aspect of the game, he got really annoyed by this.

The other part that we didn't enjoy was the drudgery of moving when you were out of combat. We cleared out the first room and the game is designed that even when you weren't beating on monsters, you were still burning through your cards and needing to eventually take rests. So it brings an urgency and fiddliness to the game that I'm not sure that I enjoy. I would like it if you could take some downtime and stop dealing with the cards once you had a room cleaned out. It was a lot of extra work. I think (thinking house rules already for the game) set it up so that you could just by default lose a card and allow you to fully explore a room without having to go through a lot of extra card manipulation.

Anyway. We were slightly disgruntled at how difficult we found the first scenario. I blame part of that on not knowing the rest/lost card mechanic well enough. But, we have said we're going to give the first scenario another try, now that we have a better idea about how to manage our hands.

I really hope we can get through this, I think there's the possibility of a great game here.

Sounds like they took some cues from the Mistfall games when it comes to handling cards.

Although Mistfall took its cues from the Pathfinder ACG, to be fair.

I started reading through the rules last night. I was hoping there was a way to handle moving when there were no monsters that didn't involve still playing cards. That kind of sucks. i.e. If you open the door early, you could end up fighting 2 rooms worth of monsters in the first room. But then you have to move all the way across the second room to get to the door to the third room? Using cards the entire way? Ouch.

TheMix wrote:I started reading through the rules last night. I was hoping there was a way to handle moving when there were no monsters that didn't involve still playing cards. That kind of sucks. i.e. If you open the door early, you could end up fighting 2 rooms worth of monsters in the first room. But then you have to move all the way across the second room to get to the door to the third room? Using cards the entire way? Ouch.

Yeah, I kept looking for a rule to not have to do that, but I couldn't find one. This game punishes you for being slow.

Maybe BGG will come up with something.

hentzau wrote:Played with 3 players, had a Tinkerer, a Spellweaver, and a Cragheart.

Your group sounds similar to the group I am in, except that we are playing with four, which added a scoundrel to your exact setup.

hentzau wrote:I think our main issue with the game was that we truly didn't understand the discard/lose/rest mechanic well enough to be able to properly conserve our cards as well were moving forward.

Card management is definitely the 'meat' of the game. We completed scenario one, but the spellweaver became exhausted due to lack of cards before he ever got to the last room, and the tinkerer became exhausted in the last room because of hit points reaching zero. Potions of stamina have come in handy for us, by allowing us to at least recover two cards, and knowing when to short/long rest will extend your longevity.

The abilities that go straight to your lost pile are typically your 'heavy hitters' and as the cragheart, I do not find myself often using them. Keep in mind that you can always use the top portion of any card as a generic 2pt attack, and the bottom of any card as a generic 2pt move. I have discovered that this also helps extend one's longevity, and allows one to save their better abilities for when absolutely necessary.

hentzau wrote:The other part that we didn't enjoy was the drudgery of moving when you were out of combat. We cleared out the first room and the game is designed that even when you weren't beating on monsters, you were still burning through your cards and needing to eventually take rests. So it brings an urgency and fiddliness to the game that I'm not sure that I enjoy. I would like it if you could take some downtime and stop dealing with the cards once you had a room cleaned out. It was a lot of extra work. I think (thinking house rules already for the game) set it up so that you could just by default lose a card and allow you to fully explore a room without having to go through a lot of extra card manipulation.

I look at this mechanic as a built in 'timer' of sorts. As you stated, this adds to the urgency of a scenario, and we ran into this a bit more profoundly in a side quest we played last night. I won't give anything away, but needless to say the group spent our last couple of rounds using our hand to move through a final room before exhausting ourselves. Three of us passed out, before the final player was able to complete the scenario.

hentzau wrote:Anyway. We were slightly disgruntled at how difficult we found the first scenario. I blame part of that on not knowing the rest/lost card mechanic well enough. But, we have said we're going to give the first scenario another try, now that we have a better idea about how to manage our hands.I really hope we can get through this, I think there's the possibility of a great game here.

All of us playing seem to really enjoy it. Mr. Wonderpug is one of the four I am playing with, so I won't presume to speak for him. I will say that after three scenarios, two or more members of the party have exhausted each time. The group does seem to be surviving longer each time though, with the spellweaver noticeably doing this by knowing when to utilize his persistent spells. In closing I like it quite a bit, and can't wait to get it back to the table to continue on!

I'm still having trouble wrapping my ahead around it. I get what you are saying, but it just feels ... contrived. Or something. When all the monsters are dead, that is traditionally when you can relax, look around, search the bodies, etc. It feels wrong to still have to race at that point.

TheMix wrote:I'm still having trouble wrapping my ahead around it. I get what you are saying, but it just feels ... contrived. Or something. When all the monsters are dead, that is traditionally when you can relax, look around, search the bodies, etc. It feels wrong to still have to race at that point.

To be clear, once all the monsters are dead, the adventure typically ends. Clearing a single room, does not constitute the end of the adventure, or allow for an opportunity to 'relax'. The maps so far have been small enough that having to spend cards for movement has not been a pressing issue. It does play into the exhaustion aspect of the game, as you cannot just hang out in the dungeon/scenario forever. More then likely there will be loot left behind, unless your sole focus is grabbing loot. I imagine it is possible to spend all of your focus grabbing every piece of gold, but it will affect your chances of successfully finishing a scenario.

luckily losing a scenario does not have much of an adverse effect other than having to repeat the scenario a second or third time. Any loot and experience gained during a failed scenario is kept, allowing you to retry with potentially better skills and items.

Having played Myth in the past, this thematic part of the game seems similar what Megacon tried to achieve with their 'loitering' system.

Follow up question: What about the last room? If the scenario ends, do you automatically get loot in the last room? Or is it gone forever? (Okay, "questions".)

I sometimes get this confused with Folklore. I backed them around the same time. In Folklore, I believe, if you don't actually pick stuff up during combat, you lose it. Personally that seems stupid to me. This feels a bit the same. So when the battle is over, and you have to walk back out the way you came, you miraculously "miss" seeing the loot lying around? I don't like having to decide whether to spend a turn picking up loot and potentially taking damage because if I don't then I won't get the loot.

I haven't finished reading the rules, but the initial scenario example had a chest in the back corner of the final room. Do I have to avoid killing the final monster in the last room so that I can move someone over to collect the treasure? That would seriously suck.

TheMix wrote:Follow up question: What about the last room? If the scenario ends, do you automatically get loot in the last room? Or is it gone forever? (Okay, "questions".)

I sometimes get this confused with Folklore. I backed them around the same time. In Folklore, I believe, if you don't actually pick stuff up during combat, you lose it. Personally that seems stupid to me. This feels a bit the same. So when the battle is over, and you have to walk back out the way you came, you miraculously "miss" seeing the loot lying around? I don't like having to decide whether to spend a turn picking up loot and potentially taking damage because if I don't then I won't get the loot.

I haven't finished reading the rules, but the initial scenario example had a chest in the back corner of the final room. Do I have to avoid killing the final monster in the last room so that I can move someone over to collect the treasure? That would seriously suck.

Mix,

You do not loot everything automatically at the end of your turn/round. There are two ways to get loot in the game; either finish your turn on the hex with the loot, or utilize a loot X ability on one of your cards. If you land on a hex with a gold token or static chest, you will automatically pick it up at the end of your turn, and just place it on your character sheet. The token will convert into a set amount of gold based on the scenario difficulty, and treasure is usually a unique item that can be found at the back of the scenario book.

The Loot ability allows you to pick up any loot that can be reached based on the X value of the skill. So if you played a LOOT 2 ability, you would pick up loot on any hex that you could reach via two movement.

After killing the last monster in a given scenario the game ends at the end of the ROUND. So a scenario could end if you were the last player in the round to go. If you were the 1st person to complete their turn in a round of 4 players, then the other three players would still have an opportunity to finish their turn.

Guess I'll have to try it some and see how I feel.

TheMix wrote:Guess I'll have to try it some and see how I feel.

Most definitely! So far I have enjoyed it, and for the most part the rules are straight forward. The classes are asymmetrical enough to provide for a unique experience, and the legacy aspect of the game keeps me wanting to see what is coming next.

Wrapped up another two scenarios of MECHS VS MINIONS tonight.

Mission 8 was a doozy, and took the three of us about two hours. While we beat it on the first try, there was some extreme luck involved. A few bad die rolls or decisions at several crucial points could have easily changed the outcome. However, we persevered and emerged triumphant.

Mission 9 was anti-climactic by comparison. So much so, in fact, that we were all kind of scratching our heads wondering if we had screwed up a rule or something. Turns out we just got good cards in the draft, and with some careful slotting just set ourselves up to be in a position to win quickly. It was one of the few missions we've played so far that actually did feel too easy when all was said and done. Of course, everything from cards to die rolls went our way, so when fate is dealing you a winning hand I guess it's going to feel simple.

We've had a blast with this one, and I've certainly got my $80 worth out of it. Hoping to finish it off next week and move to either MANSIONS OF MADNESS or take a quick side trip to knock out some probable one-offs we haven't played like X-COM or PANDEMIC:IBERIA/REIGN OF CTHULHU.

My youngest picked out Smallworld: Underworld for his birthday.

If you've played Smallworld, this is more or less an expansion, though it is also a stand alone game. They simply created a new map, new set of races and powers, then added one additional feature. The "lost tribes" have been replaced by "monsters." The only difference is that whoever conquers the monster territory first gets a relic with a special power. Of course there are a variety of ways to lose that power to the other players. You can also freely mix in Smallworld races and powers to whatever extent your heart desires.

So, if you like Smallword but have just gotten a little bored with it, definitely a worthwhile addition. At least WE had fun with it.

Yeah I like underworld quite a bit. I'm a big fan of small world. There only downside to underworld is no expansion races. So if you are playing at high player counts you end up recycling races in the same game. It needs a few more races.

Of course you can always play the tunnels mini expansion and use regular small world races as well but... It's not perfect.

We have played nothing but Ascension this past week.

Really enjoying it.

The starter set? I picked that up a while ago and we played a few times - also enjoyed it. I then picked up the core box...and haven't touched it since. But I'd like to.

yes, the starter set. I have the core set on order as well.

Probably going to use the starter set for camping trips and such.

I picked up one of these to put the starter set in and help with travel. It doesn't hold the play mat, but the cards and tokens (if you're not using your phone to keep track) all fit in it.

Smoove_B wrote:I picked up one of these to put the starter set in and help with travel. It doesn't hold the play mat, but the cards and tokens (if you're not using your phone to keep track) all fit in it.

Using my phone for what?

What's this you speak of?

I use an app to keep track of health or points - whatever you need in card based games. It's called Mutility.

I have recently discovered Roll for the Galaxy....love that game, so I have been pushing that one quite a bit.

The games we have been playing lately:

Roll for the Galaxy
Nothing Personal (so excited too! I bought The Young Turks expansion so hopefully that shows up later this week)
Mare Nostrum: Empires
Black Orchestra

We had friends over the other night, pulled out our stand-by game, Blood Rage.

I love some roll for the galaxy. I like it quite a bit. Just put together the broken token insert for it. Although it is unnecessary I am happy with it.

Chrisoc13 wrote:I love some roll for the galaxy. I like it quite a bit. Just put together the broken token insert for it. Although it is unnecessary I am happy with it.

Ditto, though Race for the Galaxy remains my firm favourite, as it was a hugely influential gateway game for me.

Roll for the Galaxy's unquestionably the more streamlined and newbie-friendly game of the two (particularly in terms of the iconography and being able to easily teach and introduce to new players), and plays quicker and more enjoyably with more players. Whereas Race for the Galaxy is more of a gamer's game, and is arguably best with two players (and remains one of my all-time favourites in that particular regard), and seems more cumbersome with higher player counts.

With Race for the Galaxy though, there's just more synergy between the cards, and much of the fun is derived from engine-building, and triggering and anticipating your and/or your opponent's bonuses and combos, and discovering how the tableau you constructed worked for your empire and whether it was sufficient to out-compete your opposing player(s). What's also enjoyable about Race for the Galaxy is that you're able to force opposing players to consume and produce, especially when they may not want to, such as when they're building towards a formidable combo (and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat like that is always exciting and thematically competitive). I find that more satisfying and rewarding than Roll for the Galaxy, where the gameplay is driven by the dice, and has more to do with selecting and allocating the right dice at the right time. Race for the Galaxy generally provides a much greater variety of strategic choices throughout the game too vs. Roll for the Galaxy, where your choices can be more limited at times by the credit marker, leaving one without as much to do.

Alas, Race for the Galaxy does have a steeper learning curve (though less so for anyone familiar with Roll for the Galaxy), but it's well worth the effort IMO. Still, Roll for the Galaxy is more likely to get to the table, and there's much to be said in favour of good ol' dice-chucking fun. So I think they're both fantastic games in their own right.

I've played race for the galaxy before and it's on my list of games I intend to buy eventually especially since it is so good for two players. I just haven't gotten around to ordering it. The iconography though is daunting.

Chrisoc13 wrote:I've played race for the galaxy before and it's on my list of games I intend to buy eventually especially since it is so good for two players. I just haven't gotten around to ordering it. The iconography though is daunting.

Rest assured, if you're at all familiar with Roll for the Galaxy, you already have a fairly significant leg up in that regard. With this player aid, you'll have the iconography down in no time at all. Fortunately, for all the Sturm und Drang over the game's iconography, it does become fairly pragmatic once you develop some familiarity with the basics, e.g. the symbology for developments (d for development = d for diamond) vs. worlds (circles), peaceful worlds (circle outlined in black) and hostile worlds (circle outlined in red), production and windfall worlds (production world = circle filled with a solid colour, windfall world = empty circle surrounded by a halo of colour), and so on.

BTW, you can download Keldon's Race for the Galaxy AI for free, which allows you to play the complete base game (as well as three expansions) on a Windows, Mac, or Linux PC against AI opponents without needing to own any physical version of the game at all. It works beautifully (I only wish mobile versions of it were available), and makes for a great way to learn and/or try before you buy the physical game. If you go that route, I suggest watching this Race for the Galaxy tutorial video to learn the ropes (or, if you prefer, Wei-Hwa Huang's tutorial videos), and then have at it. You'll probably get your ass handed to you on a fairly regular basis, as Keldon's AI can be an absolute beast compared to mere mortals, but that can also provide some tremendously useful insight into skillful strategic play.

I hated Race for the Galaxy, but love Roll. Not sure why, but the weird icons always seemed to fit a dice game better than the card game. Also, Roll is very streamlined, even if it is multiplayer solitaire to the extreme.

baelthazar wrote:I hated Race for the Galaxy, but love Roll. Not sure why, but the weird icons always seemed to fit a dice game better than the card game. Also, Roll is very streamlined, even if it is multiplayer solitaire to the extreme.

Whatever floats yer goat; it certainly can be an overwhelming game to many new players. What really helped it 'click' for me was when I read a tip that encouraged new players to imagine their tableau as a story, and that they should create a narrative in their minds as they play their cards. By constructing this narrative of what one is doing and why, telling themselves the story of the game as they play, the game becomes much more than just a set of seemingly-random actions.

Where the narrative makes sense, you're likely beginning to get the gist of sound strategy in the game. For example, you start with New Sparta, hire some Space Marines, then use them to conquer 2 Uplift worlds and some other small military worlds: you're an aggressive warlike culture that conquers lots of small worlds as fast as you can; inadvertently, you're discovering the basics of a fast-settling strategy under the guise of a thematic narrative. Where the narrative breaks down, then you know you're likely not working towards an ideal cohesive strategy (e.g. you begin with New Sparta, conquer 2 Uplift Worlds, develop the Mining Conglomerate and settle... an Artist Colony?).

Not only does this help in terms of learning and understanding the fundamentals, but it also injects some great thematic flavour into the game that further draws you in. By the time the game concludes, you have some fantastic visual storyboards that clearly depict the exploits and endeavours of the rival galactic civilizations; the game's superb artwork lends itself particularly well to this notion, e.g. I love the nifty artistic details that hint at the ferocity of the Space Marines below:


(Click to embiggen)

This weekend saw the Return of Ravens Silver Box for Magic!

We played against the two Horde decks, four player Commander decks with the caveat that we fight to the death after defeating the Horde, two games using Vanguard, and one game against Garruk using Vanguard and Theros Heroes.

Good fun had by the crew...