OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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

Post by Punisher »

Smoove_B wrote: Sun Jul 07, 2019 12:25 pm Yeah, it's like when you buy a vacuum or things you need to assemble from big-box stores. The instructions say "contact manufacturer for support - do not return to store". If I opened a sealed game box in a LFGS and it missing dice or meeples, how exactly would the store manager remedy that? Crack open another box and cannibalize the parts? What happens to that other box then, it's now their problem? Or is it like when you buy something at a big box store and it has two left sides or three wheels because the store accepted an open return and just restocked it? This is why we can't have nice things.
I worked in retail for a long time and the answer was take it back and either give them a new one (and have them check it before they left the store) or cannibalize the parts from another unit. Which ever the customer wanted. (Or take it back for a refund)
The store then has a contract with the vendor and the store handles the return to them (well not the store exactly, the store sends it to the returns warehouse and they process the RTV (Return to Vendor) we don't make the customer do that unless its out of our return policy window (30-90 days at the various places I've worked))
Its just a part of customer service and in many customers, pushing them to handle it will usually mean you lose that customer. Some may not mind but I would bet that the vast majority of those people will think twice before coming back.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Smoove_B »

Managed to hammer out a whole bunch of games this weekend at a local convention.

Deck Box Dungeons - tremendously fun and a ton of gaming in such a tiny box. The only downside is that you really need to print the most current rules, so the "deck box" size is then instantly lost. Some of the rules are a bit loose, but overall it's a pretty deep RPG-like dungeon crawl system that has surprisingly minimal components. There's an app you use to randomize tile/card layout as you explore and it also gives you some flavor text and setup/condition information, but I didn't find the use of the app to detract from the game at all.

Dice Throne an excellent mix of dice and card play. Feels a bit like Quarriors in that respect, but much faster. Has everything I like - die rolling, cards and push your luck. Components are excellent and it plays pretty quick.

Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago uses the core Frostgrave rules, but slightly modified for tropical theme. I'll have to get the photos I took. If you like Frostgrave, I think you'd like this. Really, it comes down to theme and scenery.

Heavy Gear Blitz this has been around for a while, but we were able to meet with the designer and get a demo game in. It's a 15mm scale tactical minis game that plays quick and reminded me of Battletech (or Mechwarrior) without all the overhead. Apparently it was much more complicated at one point, but it's been through numerous revisions and editions. I picked up a starter box (because I'm a sucker for starter sets) and I'm looking forward to assembling and painting little mechs. The publisher is from Canada but everything is printed / manufactured in the USA so we had an interesting discussion on costs (particularly in light of the tariffs). For them, the molds are machined in China but the actual creation of the minis happens in Indiana. The cost savings (for them) is astronomical, or at least it was until the tariff discussion started. Turns out steel molds were potentially looking at a 25% tax as they weren't "American Steel". I'll keep it lite to avoid the R&P but it was still an interesting insider discussion as to how things work.

Pandemic the Cure is the dice-chucking version of the Pandemic board game. I happen to like it more than the original (I like dice) so this is another fun experience.

Jaws was the surprise hit. I'd never heard of it, but my buddy had grabbed it a few weeks ago after hearing rave reviews. It's a lot of fun and it does a great job of re-creating the movie experience. The game is split into two parts. The first has the shark swimming around in secret, trying to eat as many swimmers as possible. While that's happening Brody, Quint and Hooper race around the island trying to save swimmers and simultaneous locate the shark. Everyone has special moves or powers and you're limited in the number of actions you can provide. The shark player moves around the board in secret, recording their moves and giving the players a chance to try and figure out where it was and where it's going. After the shark is hit with enough barrels -or- it eats enough swimmers, the second part of the game is the fight on the Orca. Depending on how round one unfolded, the players or shark might have an advantage in terms of bonus cards you get. In this second act, the players win by killing the shark; shark wins by destroying the boat or eating everyone. Once again, the shark is given options as to where it can emerge and the players have to guess, If they guess right, they get attacks in - otherwise the shark is free to destroy the boat.

It's quite thematic and big fun - definitely recommend it.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

Smoove_B wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 12:25 pm
Jaws was the surprise hit.
Did you continuously yell, "We're gonna need a bigger table!" while playing?

Some of the Chicago gang got together at Zarathud's place for Scythe, Pax Pamir, Dungeons of the Mad Mage and a closer of Shards of Infinity.

Scythe is always fun, but I do wish I'd brushed up on the rules before we played. I forgot a lot of stuff.

Pax Pamir I lost at...again. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the concept that I'm allying with a coalition and need to make them the dominant force during a victory check...but then I need to be the favored member of that coalition because there may be other players allied with them too. This was a problem for me in the first edition as well. You'd think by now I'd get it, but I always struggle with that. I'll need to play some solo games to get it straight in my head.

Dungeons of the Mad Mage is the latest entry in the Dungeons and Dragons series of dungeon crawls. They're light but fun. I enjoyed it. Turns out it was harder than I thought it would be though, which was actually a nice change of pace.

Shards of the Infinity is becoming our closer lately. It's fast, simple and fun. It's like a more thoughtful version of Ascension in many ways. I used the same strategy as the last game we played to help my team win. Go for the mastery, that's the ticket. Well...for me at least.

I'll post about Deck Box Dungeon, Unbroken and Set a Watch in the solo thread as I got all of those over the last few weeks and finally had a chance to play over the holiday.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Isgrimnur »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Apr 01, 2019 11:32 am 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.
This has become our regular game. I took over the defense of North Vietnam. A Navy strike came in to bomb the cement factory at Haiphong. I had upgraded all of the AAA around the city to heavy barrage fire. A cloud layer above the deck kept the strikers blind-lobbing through the mist. They managed to damage the target with one flight, while the rest were content to get out of Dodge.

One of my SAMs damaged a flight of A-4s. The supporting MIGs scared off the jammer and downed a EKA-3. The recon birds had to come in on the deck, and the AAA managed to down one of the two on their pass over the target.

All told, the PsTB at the Pentagon aren't going to be too happy with the result.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Smoove_B »

hepcat wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 12:37 pm Did you continuously yell, "We're gonna need a bigger table!" while playing?
We spent pretty much the entire game speaking like Quint and yelling quotes. It was a blast. As a bonus, by buddy picked up a $5 rubber shark that we added to the game play. You can see all the cards have quotes from the movie, so it's a real treat to play along.

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

Post by AWS260 »

I love that rubber shark!

This weekend saw a two-player game of Caverna with my son. The last time we played -- a four-player game about six months ago -- he kicked everyone's butt with an expedition-heavy strategy. This time around, we both had fairly balanced strategies. Mine was a little more weighted to mining, his to animal husbandry.

Near the end, he did a nice job of spotting and buying up the rooms that would have scored me the most points. But I was able to find other paths to scoring, and ended up winning 60-49.

I really enjoy the gently competitive, flexible vibe of Caverna. Hopefully I'll be able to get it back on the table more often than twice a year.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Last night I tried Endogenesis, a fighting card game, at my FLGS. We played the 2-player co-op game -- there's also a competitive ruleset for 3 or more players. We ended up losing pretty badly to an endless stream of monsters, but I could see areas where we could have made better choices and had a chance to win.

Endogenesis is pretty standard as these types of games go -- you play action cards into a tableau, and then spend energy points to activate actions. As you progress, you have the opportunity to upgrade actions to be more energy-efficient or hit harder.

The action cards offer a decent variety and seem well-balanced, with some interesting combos emerging as we played. And I really liked the visual design. But I'm not a big fan of this genre of games, and Endogenesis didn't do anything to change my mind.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

AWS260 wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 3:59 pm I love that rubber baby shark!
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

Anyone have any experience with HELLBOY: THE BOARD GAME?

It seems to get pretty good buzz on the solo forums. I'm not really in the market for another miniatures game, but saw that they're going to be at GenCon with that massive collector's edition so I figured I'd ask.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Smoove_B »

I played it solo and enjoyed it. The art work is fantastic. It's a little puzzle-y in that you're always trying to figure out best option given what's happening and what you expect to happen. Wish I could have held onto it, but I'm out of space. If that changes, I'd probably get it again. I did read that the retail set is way more limited than the collector's (KS) edition, in terms of content and potential replay. The miniatures are really good as well - a huge step up from the last Mantic game I owned.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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I finally broke out Pandemic Legacy Season 1. First the kiddo and I played a couple of games of regular Pandemic, one at intro difficulty and one at standard... then we dove into Legacy... It was a couple games in before we realized we were playing it wrong the whole time making it much easier than it should have been (treating cured diseases as eradicated). We straightened that out and my son switched roles.. and in the next game our brains didn't fully switch as we let his character use the capabilities of both roles (medic and researcher). With me as dispatcher it kind of trivialized the game again. I *think* we have played the last couple of games according to the rules, but I have been playing the last few back in introductory mode (4 epidemics) because I am a chicken. We did manage to lose our first game in May but it was a completely obnoxious initial setup. It would have been super heroic if we managed to win that one, even at intro difficulty. Including the games of standard Pandemic, we played 9 times between Saturday and Sunday.

Aeon's End Legacy was my first legacy game and now that I have played almost half of the "King" of Legacy games I think I can see why it's the king. It's not just that it is based on a much more popular game, the lingering effects of the campaign are much more impactful. I know it has been years and I may be the last person to play Pandemic Legacy Season 1, but I still don't want to spoil it in case anyone else is still thinking about it. The building a breach mage aspect of AE Legacy was cool, but there just wasn't the same feeling of risk. Both games handle failure similarly but Aeon's End just didn't have the same impact that Pandemic does... and I still have 7 months to go! I'm kind of terrified to see what comes next.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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I have not played a single legacy game ever. I have seen the Risk version in play, but that's about it.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Your expressed distaste for campaign style gameplay would make a legacy game an interesting choice.

I don't quite live for campaign style gameplay, but it is a big draw for me. On the one hand your decisions have lingering consequences. On the other hand your decisions have lingering consequences!
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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I really enjoy legacy games, but do find that they don't tend to have much replay value for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed Aeon's End Legacy, but it hasn't hit the table since I finished the campaign. Same with Imperial Assault. Same with ToEE (D&D Adventure series). There's always a new game to move on to, and I rarely end up going back to them once finished.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but often makes me re-consider the investment when looking at new legacy games. $80-100 for a 15 hour game that I likely won't play again is a pretty significant chunk of change to drop and gives me pause.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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My issue stems mainly from bookkeeping. Pathfinder Adventures seemed to me to rely on me taking too many notes to remember a +1 here and a -1 there. If the Legacy games make it so that you pull out and set up without having to refer to a page of my own notes, then I wouldn't mind. But I don't want all the book work of an RPG in my boardgames.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Our group absolutely loved Pandemic Legacy Seasons 1 & 2. I was fully expecting Season 2 to just be a bit of a rehash, but they changed it enough that it felt like a completely new and refreshing experience.

I'll pick up Aeon's End Legacy at some point, but I have way too many freaking games to play right now.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:06 am My issue stems mainly from bookkeeping. Pathfinder Adventures seemed to me to rely on me taking too many notes to remember a +1 here and a -1 there. If the Legacy games make it so that you pull out and set up without having to refer to a page of my own notes, then I wouldn't mind. But I don't want all the book work of an RPG in my boardgames.
Pandemic Legacy is the only legacy game I've played, and it's still one of the top gaming experiences I've ever had. In a standard 3 hour gaming night, you can get in two games, but we dialed it back so we didn't steamroll through the game.

Bookkeeping was simple stupid. Everything you needed was stickers on the cards, and each month gave you the new setup parameters and rules changes.

I never played season 2, because I had heard not great things about it.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:04 am I really enjoy legacy games, but do find that they don't tend to have much replay value for me.
To be fair, that's by design for the majority of them. It's tough to replay a game that often asks you to tear up integral components as you play. :wink:
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:06 am My issue stems mainly from bookkeeping. Pathfinder Adventures seemed to me to rely on me taking too many notes to remember a +1 here and a -1 there. If the Legacy games make it so that you pull out and set up without having to refer to a page of my own notes, then I wouldn't mind. But I don't want all the book work of an RPG in my boardgames.
Pathfinder was best managed with printed character sheets that you marked up with your upgrades/bonuses/etc. There was a pdf available for that. It wasn't really hard to manage, but yes, sometimes you would forget to reference the sheet and add +2 to your strength roll. Pandemic Legacy and Aeon's End Legacy change out cards and add stickers to put everything where you would expect it as if it were any other game.

On replayability, I bought the reset kit for Aeon's End Legacy because I wanted to play it both with my son and with the group from work, but the group from work broke up and after playing through it I am not really driven to play through it again, though it might be interesting to play with 4 after running through it with two. It was a fun experience but I don't need to revisit it and I'm ok with that. I played Aeon's End Legacy more times than like 70% of my collection.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Holy smokes, Tigris & Euphrates is a classic for a reason. There were three of us playing it tonight, two (including me) for the first time. As soon as the first game ended, even though it was getting late, we immediately agreed to play again. I loved the push-and-pull, the gradual evolution of the board state, the uncertainty of hidden information. Absolutely top marks.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

I grabbed SPACE CADETS: AWAY MISSIONS for $40 on Amazon today during their game sale. This is the third (I believe) in the standalone Space Cadets series of games.

Linky

Cheapest I've ever seen it and it looks like fun from the videos I watched. Biggest complaint seems to be setup time, but that's not something I'm overly concerned about. Anyone have any experience with the series? With 20 scenarios and 100 minis, it looks like a hell of a lot of game for the money.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Continued on with some more Gloomhaven Saturday. We're down to the last 2 or 3 scenarios in the "below 50" main storylines. Thankfully, we've started unlocking some new side scenarios, so hopefully we'll get some more out of that. Gloomhaven is just about to hit prosperity level 6, so we just have to get to 7 before we can open up the forgotten circles expansion.

After two scenarios of Gloomhaven, we gave Brook City a 3 player try.

I have to say, the more I play it, the more I like it. With just one caveat: it can become too easy if you're managing the criminal deck with any sort of regularity. I think I'll toss in the rivals option to increase the difficulty next time.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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3 more plays of Pandemic Legacy. We basically felt like we had the game completely under control... and then the game threw us a crazy curveball. The next game we play will not be so easy.

Also one game of Yinsh with the 9yo. I crushed him like a bug!

Oh, I also got a game of Evolution: Climate in with my 12yo... he obliterated me with an unstoppable wrecking ball of a carnivore. I just couldn't put together the right defenses to stop him.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Any thoughts on the Steam version of "Terraforming Mars".

$50 for the physical game isn't in my budget right now, but $10 for the digital version might be.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Smoove_B »

I'd thought I remembered reading that it was a mess when it was initially released and that playing MP was broken or difficult. I'm sure that's been fixed, though I don't know how the AI is for single player. I'm kinda in the same boat. I own a physical copy but was wondering if getting the digital version would help learn to solo play.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hentzau »

Taught a bunch of scouts to play crokinole over the week.

Plus lots of games of Kuub.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

Here’s my Gen Con rundown of everything actually played. To preface this, we spend a lot of time in the game library playing old stuff we’ve never had a chance to play before, so you will see a lot of older titles on this list.

THANOS RISING - The game library is a great way to play games you’ve always wanted to try but didn’t necessarily want to buy. We enjoyed THANOS RISING quite a bit, and were luckily
successful on our first attempt. It’s much lighter than what I usually play but I liked the theme. If I ever see it cheap I may pick it up.

HORRIFIED - This was the hit of the show for me, and it went over very well with gamers - they sold out all copies. I managed to snag one on Saturday. It’s roughly equivalent to base Pandemic in terms of complexity/difficulty, but it drips theme and has a ton of replayability given the large number of monsters and investigators. We won twice on easy, but once only barely. I’m very excited to try it with the standard three monsters. This one will be widely available for $35 and at that price I say it’s a must buy. Between trying to satisfy the very different goals for each monster, trying to protect hapless villagers, and collecting the various items you need for success, there’s a lot strategically going on in a very simple and quick-playing package. A total blast.

THE CAPTAIN IS DEAD - This is the third (I think) in the series, and since it was available for sale we decided to give it a whirl. It’s a co-op game in which you’re trying to collect artifacts before a nest of oncoming alien insects destroy your crippled shuttle. Unfortunately our group found this one really mediocre. Setup is a chore, and we just didn’t find it mechanically that fun. Glad we tried it, but this one was a hard pass.

DC DECK BUILDING GAME: REBIRTH - This one was made a lot of highly anticipated lists, and I was certainly interested given that it completely overhauls the DC deck building game with a co-op campaign and a new card layout/move mechanic. I nearly bought this one without playing, but I’m glad I held off as it just didn’t grab me. It’s not a bad game and I love the theme, but I found the whole move element annoying. There’s a lot of strategy around moving and blocking villains from moving that many people may find a welcome level of depth in a deck builder. However, I just didn’t find it fun enough to warrant a purchase. That’s just personal preference though - I’m sure many people will appreciate the changes.

LEGENDARY 007 - I’m a big LEGENDARY/LEGENDARY ENCOUNTERS fan, and 007 melds the two into the best of both worlds. While it retains the “play competitive or co/op” aspect and random villains of the Legendary series, it borrows Encounters elements such as an increasingly difficult stacked enemy deck. While I prefer Encounters games overall, 007 has enough story elements and theme that I would pick it up without hesitation. It covers four Bond eras with 4 different films, making it ripe for future expansions. My only gripe is that they included no counter for the danger track. I’m paying $60 for a game and the rulebook tells me to use a coin? Seriously? Just throw a cardboard chit in there you cheap bastards! Other than that, this one was a blast and possibly my favorite behind Aliens that I’ve played.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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I've been meaning to go to another run-through of Star Wars: Imperial Assault with different characters, and finally got around to starting that on Saturday. Playing with different skills wasn't nearly as interesting as I had hoped, and I found myself bored a couple missions in. Might mess around with the Raid battle option instead.

I'm still a little surprised that they haven't done any additional DLC-ish campaigns for the base game. While I haven't been able to justify the $40-50 for the physical expansions, I'd gladly pay $10-$15 to access another base game campaign to play through.

Also busted out Gloomhaven and ran through a couple more scenarios. I'm only one scenario away from retiring my Brute, and am looking forward to finally unlocking a new class to play.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Smoove_B »

YellowKing wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 5:51 pm HORRIFIED - This was the hit of the show for me, and it went over very well with gamers - they sold out all copies. I managed to snag one on Saturday. It’s roughly equivalent to base Pandemic in terms of complexity/difficulty, but it drips theme and has a ton of replayability given the large number of monsters and investigators. We won twice on easy, but once only barely. I’m very excited to try it with the standard three monsters. This one will be widely available for $35 and at that price I say it’s a must buy. Between trying to satisfy the very different goals for each monster, trying to protect hapless villagers, and collecting the various items you need for success, there’s a lot strategically going on in a very simple and quick-playing package. A total blast.
Have you played Jaws by Ravensburger? It's also quite fun and as soon as I saw this announced I was left with the same feeling (not game mechanics but that they figured out a way to turn movies into games). I still think I need to see it in action, but hearing your impressions and not some paid reviewer online does carry more weight...
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

I taught my better half Race for the Galaxy over the weekend, and squeaked out a one-point win. I honestly thought I was well ahead, but she made a well-timed sprint for VPs at the end. I also played a solo game of Pax Pamir and solo'd Hands in the Sea, playing both sides. (Rome won by a wide margin, due to Carthage starting multiple unwise battles.)

My family is now out of town for five days, so I'm lining up gaming plans. Tonight I'm learning Tribune, which according to BGG is from 2007 and out of print. I hadn't heard of it before, but it looks interesting -- worker placement and blind bidding, with a lot of high-friction player interaction.

Wednesday I'm planning to stay home and play Comancheria, picking up the game I started the last time my family was away (I took pictures so that I can re-create the game state where I left it).

On Thursday, if my work schedule permits, I'll bring Pax Pamir to a FLGS game night in Manhattan.

This is a lot more gaming than I usually do!
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Fishbelly
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Fishbelly »

Skinypupy wrote: Mon Aug 05, 2019 9:53 am Also busted out Gloomhaven and ran through a couple more scenarios. I'm only one scenario away from retiring my Brute, and am looking forward to finally unlocking a new class to play.
I completely understand. My goal this summer was retire my initial characters for Gloomhaven, as I've been playing my copy solo for 1.5 years. (Admittedly, Hurricane Harvey/rebuilding slowed my playtime down dramatically)

I was shocked how much retiring my Brute and Mind Thief reinvigorated Gloomhaven for me. Playing new characters with completely different skillsets was quite a treat. Of course the new school year is beginning, and I know I'll have to put the game down for a time, as whipping 7th graders into shape will take all my energy for the next month or two.

I'm already looking forward to the next long vacation, as my scoundrel has one mission left until she retires. :D
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

Smoove_B wrote:Have you played Jaws by Ravensburger? It's also quite fun and as soon as I saw this announced I was left with the same feeling (not game mechanics but that they figured out a way to turn movies into games). I still think I need to see it in action, but hearing your impressions and not some paid reviewer online does carry more weight...
Have not played JAWS but saw a LOT of people playing it at the con. It looks like a lot of fun.

One thing I liked most about HORRIFIED is that it's extremely easy to tweak the difficulty with virtually no change in setup time. The game scales harder with more players, so you can either reduce the number of monsters or pick weaker monsters. Conversely, playing with 2 you can add more monsters or choose harder monsters. It will be fun to play it several times to try to find the sweet spot.

I'm a little biased because I really love the theme, but most reviewers and everyone I talked to who played it seem to have really enjoyed it as well. I think it's an absolutely perfect gateway game into co-op gaming due to the appealing theme, straightforward rules, and ability to tweak that difficulty up and down the scale to fit anyone's skill level.
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AWS260
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

So last night was Tribune: Primus Inter Pares. It's by the same designer as Die Macher, the classic political game that is the first entry in BGG's database: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1 . I haven't played Die Macher, but I imagine it's a very different beast from Tribune, which is a fairly traditional eurogame.

In Tribune, the core mechanics are worker placement and set collection, with cards representing the favor of different Roman factions (senators, praetorians, etc). You place workers on action spaces, most of which grant you ability to purchase cards. Some action spaces are straight purchases (e.g., pay 3 denarii for 1 card), but many mix it up. For example, one area has three cards and two action spaces. If only one person places a worker there, they can buy all three cards for just one denari. But if a second person places a worker, then the two players have a blind-bidding mini-auction, with the winner taking the cards and paying the loser.

You then play sets of cards in order to win the favor of different factions, each of which grants a unique boon (generally money or progress toward a victory condition). In order to play cards for a faction's favor, you have to place a worker on that faction's space -- and there are two spaces for each faction, which again leads to bidding wars, this time with cards instead of money.

There are several more wrinkles, and it can be a lot to wrap your head around. It's a game that would definitely benefit from multiple plays. In our playthrough, the one experience player schooled the rest of us, and it wasn't close.

I think anyone who enjoys medium-weight eurogames would enjoy Tribune; I certainly did. Its complexity and interlocking systems are in line with a lot of today's eurogames, but it offers more tension and interaction between players than most. I'm surprised that it's been out of print for more than a decade.
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AWS260
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

I played a 5-player game of Pax Pamir. It was my first time at that player count, and I think it strains at the seams a bit compared to 3 or 4 players. The gameplay is as smooth as ever, but it's difficult to keep track of the tableaus and potential actions of so many opponents, leading to some suboptimal decision-making. I'd happily play again at 5, but I think 3 or 4 is the sweet spot.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by paulbaxter »

Just returned from a weeklong vacation with my boys to a remote boardgaming cabin, or at least that's what we made it. Probably got about 8 scenarios of Gloomhaven in. I think to me the fun is the different playstyles of the different characters. I retired my
Spoiler:
Berserker
just before the trip, which I thought was both super fun and scary to play. I spent most of the week playing as a
Spoiler:
Beast Tyrant
, which turns out to be a really odd but effective tank when you learn to play it right. I also tried out one scenario as a
Spoiler:
Soothsinger
, which is such a powerful support class that it can make some things just ridiculously easy. But my boys like it when they win handily.

Played Root for just the second time. I'm not sold on it so far, despite having laid out money to buy it. The boys seem up to keep trying it, so I'll see if it grows on me eventually.

Got in a couple of games of Tiny Epic Galaxies, which I LOVE. Such a rich game in a small package. Not super complex, but enough strategic choices and variety to keep it interesting.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by $iljanus »


YellowKing wrote:
LEGENDARY 007 - I’m a big LEGENDARY/LEGENDARY ENCOUNTERS fan, and 007 melds the two into the best of both worlds. While it retains the “play competitive or co/op” aspect and random villains of the Legendary series, it borrows Encounters elements such as an increasingly difficult stacked enemy deck. While I prefer Encounters games overall, 007 has enough story elements and theme that I would pick it up without hesitation. It covers four Bond eras with 4 different films, making it ripe for future expansions. My only gripe is that they included no counter for the danger track. I’m paying $60 for a game and the rulebook tells me to use a coin? Seriously? Just throw a cardboard chit in there you cheap bastards! Other than that, this one was a blast and possibly my favorite behind Aliens that I’ve played.
I have Legendary Alien and Firefly which I really enjoy and I didn't even know this was coming out. Being a big fan of most of the James Bond franchise and the Legendary game system I think this will be a definite purchase. How was the card art? Hope it's better than Firefly which is fun to play, but I always think that I'm playing with the ugly cousins of the Firefly crew.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

My better half and I spent Saturday night with Star Wars Rebellion, which continues to be one of my favorite games of all time. As always, I played the noble and good Rebellion while she played the wicked and corrupt Empire.

I took a chance early on, hiding the rebel base deep in Imperial territory on Alderaan and leaving it nearly undefended. After a couple of tense early turns, where the Empire could have easily stumbled upon and wiped out the base, it became clear that they were searching elsewhere.

I did eventually have to move the rebel base, late in the game. By then it housed a sizable garrison, which immediately jumped to Coruscant, taking the Imperial capital and securing two reputation points (that's a lot in Star Wars Rebellion) that won me the game.

Memorable moments: Obi-Wan sacrificing himself while being captured by Boba Fett; a lone x-wing squadron blowing up a Death Star under construction, which the empire had foolishly left undefended; and so, so many die rolls going against me. So many.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by coopasonic »

We finished up Pandemic Legacy this weekend. The last three months took us five plays so it was a little rough going, but we made it. I'm very happy I finally got to play it. I now understand how it is #2 on BGG. I'm not sure I can go back to playing vanilla Pandemic. I guess that's ok since I wasn't really a huge fan to begin with... Now where's Flash Point Fire Rescue Legacy? (just kidding -- kind of).

We also played 4-5 games of Zombicide: Invader, which just arrived last week. it's still very much Zombicide. The big thing this time is the sci fi setting which gets you two different environment, inside which works as usual and the outside setting where you need an oxygen tank equipped and ballistic weapons don't function.

They've also introduced "concentrated fire" which lets you focus an attack on a single enemy so you don't necessarily need anything special to take out abominations, just lots of hits.

My kids really like killing zombies xenos.

I tried to get the 12yo to try Journeys in Middle Earth, but no luck so far. He's too excited about Zombicide.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Isgrimnur »

The Speed of Heat

My two SU-22s against US F-14s in a recreation of the Gulf of Sidra incident. We're about halfway through, as I haven't fired a shot yet to clear the US ROE for them to splash me.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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