OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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

Post by Defiant »

Just catching up the thread. I would add that Eurogames and Ameritrash are somewhat vague in their definitions, and you can have games where people differ on whether it's a euro or not (or even games that combine aspects of both). To my mind, an important feature of Eurogames is having less randomness (there's usually still some randomness, just not very much) and/or the randomness is less critical to winning the game (rather, it might give you different options or might require that you change your strategy, but in a good eurogame, losing will usually be based less on luck and more on your decisions and the decisions/actions of others).
Last edited by Defiant on Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Defiant »

In terms of me, I haven't really been playing board games much. A few games of splendor and Small World is about all I've played recently. I miss playing games in person, and I miss playing long/deep/heavy games. (I have been playing point and click adventure games, though, so I'm still gaming).
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Defiant wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:22 pm In terms of me, I haven't really been playing board games much. A few games of splendor and Small World is about all I've played recently. I miss playing games in person, and I miss playing long/deep/heavy games. (I have been playing point and click adventure games, though, so I'm still gaming).
FWIW, the digital version of Through the Ages makes for a terrific way to remotely play a top-rated deep and heavy civ-building game. Especially because it provides asynchronous multiplayer with working, detailed system notifications. I'd go as far as saying it's one of the few digital adaptations of a modern tabletop game that significantly improves upon the much slower, more fiddly-to-play physical version of the game.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

Some two-player gaming yesterday:

I got to introduce my friend to Fugitive, always delightful. There are very few games that I think everyone should try, but this is one of them.

He taught me Tao Long, a semi-abstract game about dueling dragons. It's a beautiful production and, like the best abstracts, produces deep gameplay from fairly simple rules. I hadn't even heard of this before, so it was a very pleasant surprise.

We tried The Crossroads, a quick Japanese card game about collecting sets to score points and sticking your opponent with lousy cards that will score negative points. A solid little game, but I'm pretty sure that it will never be officially released here. The cards are covered in unlicensed reproductions of album art and famous photos of dead musicians like Jimi Hendrix. It has no entry on BGG, which is probably for the best given the rampant copyright infringement.

And finally Santa Monica, a new release that has gotten very positive reviews. You're building a card tableau (the Santa Monica boardwalk) and using actions to manipulate the cards and meeples (locals and tourists) to score the most points. It's fairly light, with a breezy art style and theme that disguise some challenging decision-making. We enjoyed it quite a bit.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Defiant »

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:37 pm
Defiant wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:22 pm In terms of me, I haven't really been playing board games much. A few games of splendor and Small World is about all I've played recently. I miss playing games in person, and I miss playing long/deep/heavy games. (I have been playing point and click adventure games, though, so I'm still gaming).
FWIW, the digital version of Through the Ages makes for a terrific way to remotely play a top-rated deep and heavy civ-building game. Especially because it provides asynchronous multiplayer with working, detailed system notifications. I'd go as far as saying it's one of the few digital adaptations of a modern tabletop game that significantly improves upon the much slower, more fiddly-to-play physical version of the game.
I've played it and it definitely improves on the physical version (which went on *way* too long for the gameplay it delivered from what I remember), but the time I had a hankering for a Civilization style game, I ended up playing the 90's version of Colonization. Also that game never quite gelled for me.

But a lot of it is that I'm not in the mood to play board games remotely (both because it's not in person and part of it is because some of the "magic" isn't there) - if I'm going to play on a computer I'd rather just play a computer game (although it may be my state of mind. I do remember playing somewhat more online boardgames before the current situation). And part of it is the lack of availability of specific games (I'd love to play Great Western Trail or Concordia or Battlestar Galactica or Feast For Odin or City of the Big Shoulders, but there aren't adaptations for them (I'm not looking to play through TTS)) and my friends.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

Defiant wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 2:05 pm City of the Big Shoulders
City of the Big Shoulders is on boardgamearena.com. Still in beta, but free to play.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by coopasonic »

AWS260 wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:44 pm I got to introduce my friend to Fugitive, always delightful. There are very few games that I think everyone should try, but this is one of them.
Yeah so cool for such a simple game. I think it is free to play on his website too (https://www.fowers.net/games/fugitive/).
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by LordMortis »

LordMortis wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 4:44 pm The main person I'd F2F game with is freshly retired and lives alone. I live alone. However, I am working in an office at least two days a week with others, some of which are very young, so I consider myself the big problem for now. There's no point in asking him "who you hanging out with? Are you seeing anyone? What are you doing with all that retirement time?" If I were 100% WFH still, I'd ask him about how much time he is around other people and debate maskless F2F gaming now.
Spoke to said friend by email today. He is already gaming sans mask with a mutual family man friend, so I'm out for now. I was worried I'd be a bigger exposure to him but as it turns out when you game with someone you game with with everyone they've ever gamed with.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

coopasonic wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 4:19 pm
AWS260 wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:44 pm I got to introduce my friend to Fugitive, always delightful. There are very few games that I think everyone should try, but this is one of them.
Yeah so cool for such a simple game. I think it is free to play on his website too (https://www.fowers.net/games/fugitive/).
Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. Also, if you enjoy Fugitive, you definitely ought to try Getaway Driver, too.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Defiant »

AWS260 wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 4:02 pm
Defiant wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 2:05 pm City of the Big Shoulders
City of the Big Shoulders is on boardgamearena.com. Still in beta, but free to play.
Ooh, thanks! Looks like they've added some other games since the last time I've used it, too.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

We picked up Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion on a whim, and after one scenario I'm optimistic.

It's been hard to get my 10-year-old to play board games lately -- he is rapidly approaching middle-school surliness and less eager to play with his folks than in the past. But Jaws seems to have captured his attention again. He really like his Hatchet, describing in detail how he's sliced and diced our vermling adversaries. He's been playing online D&D during lockdown, so imagining his hero's feats comes easily to him now.

Speaking for myself, I can see why Gloomhaven is so highly regarded. The basic mechanics that I've seen so far are super-solid, and peeking ahead at some of the more advanced cards shows some interesting twists. Good stuff.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

Was able to get my first game in of Atlantis Rising: 2nd Edition over Tabletop Simulator last night. My co-worker bought the physical game just before lock downs began so we never got a chance to try it out.

For those not familiar with it, it's a cooperative worker management game with some press your luck elements and dice rolling. As Atlanteans, you are attempting to build 10 technological components before your island sinks into the sea. The island is made up of tiled peninsulas, each of which grants a different resource needed to build these components, and every round they will start to flood, limiting your options and decreasing your odds of success in obtaining components.

Once you grasp the rules, the game has an amazingly smooth flow to it that I really enjoyed. And from a complexity level, I'd put it no higher than say, Pandemic. Strategically, you always have a LOT of options on where to place your workers and how best to mitigate the "wrath of the Gods" who will be flooding your tiles. It makes for a really dynamic and constantly shifting game that comes down to the wire.

Big thumbs up from me - it has a mix of game mechanics that makes it unique among most of the other cooperative games I've played, and the difficulty scaling along with the variety of components, artifacts, etc. that can be shuffled in gives it some insanely high replayability. Way ahead of its time as well - this 2nd edition is only a fairly minor reworking of the original game that came out in the 90s. I'm really impressed something even close to this existed back then.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Skinypupy »

Picked up “Bohnanza” today. That game is an absolute riot.

B and I got through the first 4 Gloomhaven JotL scenarios. I just cannot say enough how well this version eases you into a bazillion different mechanics. She could not get her head around regular Gloomhaven, but JotL Has made total sense. Not to mention the fact that setup takes about 5 minutes, which I love.

I also finished Legacy of Dragonholt. I excel at always finding a way to get the worst possible ending. :(
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

I played a game of Back to the Future: Back in Time on Tabletop Simulator with a couple of friends (for what its worth, two of us own the physical game, so I didn't feel bad about using TTS).

We were doing very well right up to the end when we drew a really bad Trouble card that made Biff move double. This decimated our Love Meter and it came down to the very last turn. My buddy Steve essentially had to roll a double heart before he rolled a Biff in order to win the game. He did not, and poor Marty McFly faded from existence forever.

That game is very challenging. I think I'm now 1-6. However, despite the heavy dependence on dice, I don't feel that it's unfair. The game punishes not prepping for the worst case die roll, so if you fail to do that then that's on you. The thing I like most about it is that every turn is filled with multiple strategic choices that will change depending on what the dice give you.

Every loss I've had, I've looked back and understood the mistakes I made that otherwise may have led to a successful outcome. And that's what keeps me coming back for more punishment. :D
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Fishbelly »

Skinypupy wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 6:06 pm
I also finished Legacy of Dragonholt. I excel at always finding a way to get the worst possible ending. :(

Agreed. I thought I had played the game fairly well--but the ending showed me just how wrong I could be.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

Over the weekend I played Stephenson's Rocket, which is not about a rocket.

This was the historical Stephenson's Rocket:

Image

and in the game you build rail lines across England for primitive choo-choos like this one.

There's a lot going on in Stephenson's Rocket. You earn shares in different railways, and then spend those shares in constant bidding wars to decide which direction the line will go in next. Imagine a gaggle of plutocrats standing around a map yelling at each other. "I bid two shares to go straight!" "I bid three shares to go left!"

You can also build stations on the map, which give bonuses if you have the most stations on a line. But weirdly, you don't build stations on existing track. Instead, you build a station out in the middle of nowhere and try to guide the growing rail line toward it (which is where the aforementioned bidding wars come into play).

There's also a side board where you invest in industries in different cities, and an important mechanism for merging two railways into a single company.

Overall, it was... pretty good? There's a lot to digest, and I don't think I started understanding the game until we were about 2/3 through. I like the huge amount of player interaction, but found the rules overhead a lot to process. I haven't played many train games, so the closest comparison in my head is Age of Steam, which I liked much more.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hentzau »

AWS260 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 9:38 am Over the weekend I played Stephenson's Rocket, which is not about a rocket.

This was the historical Stephenson's Rocket:

Image

and in the game you build rail lines across England for primitive choo-choos like this one.

There's a lot going on in Stephenson's Rocket. You earn shares in different railways, and then spend those shares in constant bidding wars to decide which direction the line will go in next. Imagine a gaggle of plutocrats standing around a map yelling at each other. "I bid two shares to go straight!" "I bid three shares to go left!"

You can also build stations on the map, which give bonuses if you have the most stations on a line. But weirdly, you don't build stations on existing track. Instead, you build a station out in the middle of nowhere and try to guide the growing rail line toward it (which is where the aforementioned bidding wars come into play).

There's also a side board where you invest in industries in different cities, and an important mechanism for merging two railways into a single company.

Overall, it was... pretty good? There's a lot to digest, and I don't think I started understanding the game until we were about 2/3 through. I like the huge amount of player interaction, but found the rules overhead a lot to process. I haven't played many train games, so the closest comparison in my head is Age of Steam, which I liked much more.
That's an older game, right?
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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hentzau wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:14 am That's an older game, right?
Yes, although the version we played was the recent reprint.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

Last night was Aeroplanes, a Martin Wallace game from ~8 years ago that no one talks about any more. I can see why -- it has more randomness than a some people like, and the board lacks the butter-smooth UX of good modern productions. But it's still interesting and distinctive, and we had a very good time.

In the game, it's the dawn of commercial aviation and you're competing to build the most successful airline, establishing airports and transporting passengers to their destinations. The tension comes from jostling for the limited space available for airports, taking a risk in trying to establish an airport in a far-flung city (dice will be rolled), and competing for the limited pool of passengers.

The weirdest element is definitely the starting player die. After each round, the starting player rolls the die and counts that number of players clockwise around the board. Whoever you end up on is the starting player for the next round. I understand the purpose -- randomizing the start player introduces a helpful element of chaos -- but rolling a die every time you go around the board gets very old, very fast.

Anyway, we had a fun, tight game, with lots of elbowing for space. I wouldn't go out of my way to play it again, but if wouldn't turn it down either.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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AWS260 wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 11:38 pm So: Cosmic Frog.

You're an enormous frog-like being powered by the fire of a collapsing star. Your mission is to devour the shattered terrain of a dying planet and then vomit the land back up in your master's vault, somewhere in the aether between worlds. Your greatest obstacle is other cosmic frogs, who will punch you in the face, reach down your gullet to steal precious terrain, and occasionally suplex you into the sixth dimension.
Now available for pre-order.

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

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I do. I just worry I won’t have anyone to play it with.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Skinypupy »

Anyone play Villainous, specifically with kids? I’ve heard good things about it, and just saw they released a Marvel version. That’s tempting.

It looks cool and the original has good feedback, just curious to get some feedback from y’all.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 7:37 pm Anyone play Villainous, specifically with kids? I’ve heard good things about it, and just saw they released a Marvel version. That’s tempting.

It looks cool and the original has good feedback, just curious to get some feedback from y’all.
Villainous is a ton of fun as long as you have a passing interest in the subject matter.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Daveman »

WARNING! BOARD GAMER OCD ALERT!

I found out today (presumably this is actually somewhat old news from earlier this year) that FFG has stopped making card sleeves. Supplies of certain sizes of sleeves are supposedly just now starting to run out. Another company in Asmodee's umbrella called Gamegenic has sort of taken over and they have sleeves in the same name/color convention that FFG used with their sleeves.

But the sleeves aren't the same size! FFG sleeves are known for being 2-3mm longer than they need to be. Some people liked them that way, some didn't. These new Gamegenic ones are "right-sized" and only extend 1mm beyond the card length. The catch of course is that the two will be uneven if you've got a collection of the old FFG sleeves alongside them. Also, while it's very subtle these sleeves don't seem to be as clear. Best way I can describe it is that when you look at the unopened stack of these sleeves, from the side, they have a very slight blue tint. On the plus side, they're selling for a little less and they come in 200 sleeve packs at a slight discount.

As someone who's recently taken to some of the larger card games (Marvel Champions, have started with some Arkham Horror) and has sleeved them in the old FFG sleeves I'm annoyed. I think I'll try to gradually phase out the FFG sleeves from the big expandable games and use them in standalone games.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Where can you buy the new version of the sleeves? And other than the size difference, do people seem to think they're the same level of quality as the FFG sleeves?
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Tao »

I definitely empathize, my OCD would be pinging at 10 if I had different sized sleeves for the same game. I actually had this happen with my collection of Sentinels of the Multiverse, I used the same sleeves for the first few sets then couldn't find them for subsequent sets and it drove me nuts so ultimately I bought enough sleeves to re-sleeve the entire collection so they were all uniform. I now try and maintain a stock of the KMC perfect fit sleeves as part of my game collection. In the past few months I picked up Thor, Black Widow and Doctor Strange for Marvel and it was nice to be able to immediately sleeve everything. The one thing about FFG games and sleeves was the game boxes had the correct sleeve designation marked on them which was nice but ultimately I prefer the perfect fit.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Isgrimnur »

wonderpug wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 5:43 pm Where can you buy the new version of the sleeves? And other than the size difference, do people seem to think they're the same level of quality as the FFG sleeves?
https://www.gamegenic.com/shopfinder/
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hentzau »

wonderpug wrote:
Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 7:37 pm Anyone play Villainous, specifically with kids? I’ve heard good things about it, and just saw they released a Marvel version. That’s tempting.

It looks cool and the original has good feedback, just curious to get some feedback from y’all.
Villainous is a ton of fun as long as you have a passing interest in the subject matter.
I’m a huge fan of Villainous. My game of the year the year in 2018. Depending on the age of the kids and their interest in the genre, they should be OK. Every single villain has a different game that they are playing, a different set of rules to victory, so there is a ton of variety. There may be some villains that are harder to win with than others (looking at you, Prince John) but I am happy to play this game anytime. Plus, the Disney version is absolutely gorgeous. The card art is exceptional, and the abstract playing pieces are wonderful.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by wonderpug »

hentzau wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:06 pm
wonderpug wrote:
Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 7:37 pm Anyone play Villainous, specifically with kids? I’ve heard good things about it, and just saw they released a Marvel version. That’s tempting.

It looks cool and the original has good feedback, just curious to get some feedback from y’all.
Villainous is a ton of fun as long as you have a passing interest in the subject matter.
I’m a huge fan of Villainous. My game of the year the year in 2018. Depending on the age of the kids and their interest in the genre, they should be OK. Every single villain has a different game that they are playing, a different set of rules to victory, so there is a ton of variety. There may be some villains that are harder to win with than others (looking at you, Prince John) but I am happy to play this game anytime. Plus, the Disney version is absolutely gorgeous. The card art is exceptional, and the abstract playing pieces are wonderful.
What I love is how good a job the game does at evoking in you the same mindset as the villain you're playing. One time as Prince John I started getting so 'angry' at Robin Hood's miscreants constantly stealing from my treasury. Can't they just leave me be and let me build my fortune?

And goddammit, Aladdin, stop stealing my lamp!
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Daveman »

wonderpug wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 5:43 pm Where can you buy the new version of the sleeves? And other than the size difference, do people seem to think they're the same level of quality as the FFG sleeves?
One of my area FLGS (one that specializes in card games) has them, but not the other that's a more general board game shop. They have a large section of wall devoted to sleeves and I noticed that in place of some of the FFG sleeves they had pegs for these new ones. They still had more unusual sized FFG sleeves like the tiny yellow and tarot orange ones. I just searched Amazon for the new ones and there are some there.

I just resleeved some of my Marvel Champions and the thickness/quality is the same. It's actually more striking now comparing a stack of these next to the FFG ones... they're much bluer, but there's not much difference looking at a single sleeved card. I'll post a photo later.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

Lorini wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2020 1:41 pm So I was asked to post here and here I am!!! Afro-Euro Princess!!! Instead of LoW though I highly recommend the new game Pan Am, exclusively at Target (for awhile at least) for your awesome middleweight Euro. This review is perfect, only 14 minute long on video.

https://youtu.be/QB6USV7hBr8 My roomate and I have really enjoyed our three plays of it, definitely Euro of the year so far for us. Check it out and let me know what you think.
I tried Pan Am for the first time tonight. It is the real deal; just great fun. I'm really looking forward to playing it again.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

I played a TTS game of BACKWOODS! last night. This is a solo/co-op game currently on Kickstarter by first-time designer/publisher Ryan K. Williams. He released it as a prototype on TTS so folks could try it out before backing.

Gameplay:
In the game, you play a party of pioneers trekking through a cursed wilderness, trying to meet two objectives (from a list of several) and uncover the location of a fort. Each round is a single day, consisting of several phases.

In the Exploration phase, you may attempt a scout check to see what lies before you or use a successful check to skip an upcoming event. (Skill checks are rolled on a d10, 8 or above being a success - attribute modifiers can help your roll). You then may move as a party and suffer the perils - but reap the rewards - of the area you entered.

In the Foraging phase, you may spend Opportunity to draw resource tokens from a bag or add resource tokens to the bag. However, there are dangers such as mosquitos and killer bees hiding in there, so there's always a risk.

In the Craft/Heal phase, you may use available Heal checks to attempt to cure ailments or give back life. You may also trade in resources to build items that will greatly help you on your quest.

In the Event/Battle phase you draw an Event card, typically make a choice, then potentially have to fight one of the wild animals lurking in the forest. While the damage you suffer may be great, animals drop resources that can ensure your survival another day.

In the Eat/Drink phase, every Pioneer must eat a food and drink a water or suffer damage.

In the Night phase, draw and resolve a Night card. Then you suffer hypothermia if you have not properly prepared. Skills reset, Opportunity is gained, the land you are on is "cleared," and you look forward to the next day.

Rounds are repeated until you've discovered the Fort location, and cleared two objectives and the Fort.

Thoughts:
This has a strong Robinson Crusoe vibe to it, particularly due to the very defined round phases, the ability to craft items, and the necessity for finding foot and water before nightfall. We did win our first game playing the easiest mode, but we got the feeling that the game could be VERY challenging - particularly early on when your Pioneer has not leveled up much.

The bag draw mechanic is a lot of fun. The bag starts with a mix of resources and dangers, but players can shift the odds in their favor by adding resources to the bag. In our game for instance, we really needed wood. So my partner used all of his Opportunity points to throw 5 Wood tokens in the bag, and I used my Opportunity to draw from the bag in hopes of gaining one. Of course, it's no guarantee which means there's always a sense of danger.

Leveling up your Pioneer also introduces a lot of strategic decision-making. Each one of your 4 or 5 attributes gives you valuable modifiers to your die roll and boosts other passive perks.

I had a lot of fun in our first game, despite feeling a little unpolished here and there.

Negatives - I do have some reservations. Number one, having only played one session, I didn't get a good feel for the game balance. Since Pioneers level up as they progress (and gain new items that also help), I couldn't quite figure out how the game maintains the challenge level. You're still drawing the same event cards, the same terrain, etc. as you did at the beginning of the game. So in my mind, the game should get easier and easier as you progress. Conversely, drawing bad cards right out of the gate could potentially wipe you out before you even get started.

I also had some slight concerns on the choice-making nature of the Event cards. There will be more events in the real game than there are in the TTS copy, but I still felt like once you knew the events and their choices, it could reduce the tension. Ex: "Oh we drew the mother bear event card, so obviously we should do this instead of that."

That aside, we had enough fun that we went in for a 2-pack, which saved us $5 each on the Deluxe Edition. The Deluxe Edition is really nice as it comes with a player board (instead of mat) with recessed cube slots, etc. Came out to about $40 which doesn't break the bank, and I really think this is going to work quite nicely as a solo game more than co-op. Doesn't ship until May of next year so there's still time for him to iron out a few things. We'll see how it pans out. I'm not usually big on backing first-timers, but the Crusoe-esque nature of the game combined with the low desluxe edition price and great solo-ability pushed me over the tipping point.
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Daveman
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Daveman »

Just watched the FFG In Flight Report... well, skimmed it. Big highlights for me:

1. Digital campaign and a villain miniature pack for LOTR:JIME by Oct. Vague tease that "war" is coming next year.

2. Official confirmation (was already spoiled online) that Ant-Man, Wasp, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are next heroes for Marvel Champions, starting in Nov. Mentioned there will be extra synergies for these pairs of heroes when playing together. Then announced a Guardians of the Galaxy big box expansion is coming with Rocket Racoon and Groot as heroes.

3. A new Marvel X-Men coop dice driven game.

4. Last second, "hidden" reveal of what's presumably Descent 3rd edition.

Other notable stuff, but not to me:

1. Clone Wars era coming to Armada

2. New campaign cycle for Arkham Horror card game.

3. Expansion for Twilight Imperium 4th edition

4. More Keyforge, L5R, etc.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

Note that the STREET MASTERS digital adaptation dropped today. $9.99 on iOS.

I played around with it at lunch, and it's really well done. Has a tutorial, though I would suggest newcomers read the rulebook first.The tutorial does a pretty good job of holding your hand through an entire game, but it doesn't do a great job of explaining why you're doing what you're doing. Street Masters is not a complex game, but there are a lot of moving parts to keep up with in terms of the turn order, etc. Also, some of the boss and stage activations require really careful reading to understand what's going on. The app automating this stuff is great for veterans who know the game, but it could prove confusing to newcomers.

That aside, it's a ton of fun and I'm really happy I'll be able to jump back into this on the go. One thing I'm looking forward to is playing some fighters I never got a chance to play in the real version. The app will be a great way to practice with new characters before playing them in the physical game.

As far as content goes, there are 12 Hero stories, 6 of which are locked until certain objectives are met. There are also 2 Team stories, also locked until you progress in the Hero stories. Arcade Mode and Quick Start are available from the beginning, and the app looks like it's ripe for future DLC.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Skinypupy »

I grabbed it as well, looks and plays really good so far.

I’d be interested to hear how that tutorial works for those not already familiar with the game. I imagine folks would come away from it entirely confused.

EDIT: I don’t know if this is a bug, or if I have always misunderstood the rule. If you block damage with defense tokens, aren’t you supposed to gain 1 Power for each Point of damage you block? Because that’s not happening here. I just used 4 defense tokens to block an attack, and ended the turn with the same power that I started with. :?
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hepcat
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

Yeah, if you successfully block you flip the token to its power side in the game and gain it. Sounds like a bug.

I bought it, but before I could play it, I got the urge to play the analog version again. So I’m setting that up now.
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AWS260
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by AWS260 »

RMC wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 11:54 am A small group, 4 of us, was able to get Eclipse V2 out.
I played the new edition of Eclipse for the first time today. None of us had played the original, so there was a modest learning curve, but we found the ruleset pretty straightforward overall. I really, really like how the influence discs make it harder to act the more your empire expands -- I over-extended myself early on and had to pull back in order to get anything done.

It took a while for us to start up some wars, but once someone took the first step, they came at a pretty satisfying clip. About 2/3 through, I threw everything I had at the leader and it wasn't quite enough to break through. That crippled me for the rest of the game, but I'm still confident that it was the right call. His ships were much more advanced than mine, and I had no path to catch up. It was either strike first or wait to get steamrolled.

At the end, I came in last. I would have been tied for last, but I ended the game with the traitor card. Which I guess I deserved, since I broke both of the alliances that I entered. Had a great time.

I should note that the production values of this game are amazing. Custom trays for everything, distinct ships for each factions... it's just really impressive (and apparently is priced accordingly).
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Skinypupy
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Skinypupy »

hepcat wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:37 pm Yeah, if you successfully block you flip the token to its power side in the game and gain it. Sounds like a bug.

I bought it, but before I could play it, I got the urge to play the analog version again. So I’m setting that up now.
That’s what I thought. Definitely a bug.

Also ran into another game-killing bug. You can pinch and drag go expand the gameboard and see it better. However, there’s no way to minimize after you do. Makes it impossible to continue playing because most of the cards are now hidden under the board, and it won’t go back to its original size. I had to simply restart the game.

Feels like this app isn’t quite ready for prime time yet.
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Zarathud
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Zarathud »

Eclipse encourages some combat, but all-out war mostly hurts. Sometimes you want to throw enough at your opponent so you can draw a VP for fighting. Drawing VP early game from combat out of the bag is theoretically better, because it is more likely you will get a higher number still in the bag. If you're all-in on combat, you probably need to flip and hold a bunch of territory after winning.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

I played a game of Obelisk last night with the designer in one of the GenCon TTS sessions. It's an abstract tower defense game that is best described as "an elegant little puzzle."

In the game, you play the Queen's advisors who have been tasked with protecting the kingdom while the Queen is on vacation. Unfortunately, a monster portal has opened up in the land, and monsters are pouring through. In order to win, players must capture all 36 monsters pouring out of the portal BEFORE a monster either wanders off the board (escapes into the kingdom) or enters a tile they've already been to (which thematically was explained as them triggering multiple portals to spawn and overwhelm the kingdom).

In setup 25 tiles are placed randomly in a 5x5 grid. Each tile has a direction arrow, and some have modifiers (-1, -2) that make it harder to capture monsters. One tile is the portal where monsters will spawn each night.

On your turn, you can choose one action from 4 possibilities: 1. Rotate 3 tiles to any direction (however, once a tile has been rotated in the game, it can never be rotated again). 2. Place an obelisk (tower) which is simply represented by a 6-sided die with the 1 facing up. 3. Upgrade an obelisk by spending an appropriate amount of resources (this moves the die face up by 1) or 4. Mine for resources (add a green cube to the resource pool).

There are green, yellow, and blue monsters represented by cubes, with green being the weakest (but fastest), and blue being the strongest (but slowest). After all players have performed one action (day phase), the night phase begins and all monsters on the board move (according to their speed rating and the directions of the tiles), then 6 new monsters spawn. During this phase, any tower which has an equal or higher strength than a monster adjacent to it (taking into account terrain modifiers) can capture that monster. However, each obelisk can only capture 1 monster per phase. After all monsters have moved and/or were captured, any monsters captured are converted into resources and the day phase begins again.

The tricky puzzle of the game is slowing monsters down enough (via rotation of tiles) to have time to upgrade your towers. Because each player has only one action, it gets incredibly difficult to decide the best course of action. Thinking several steps ahead is crucial as you determine what actions you can sacrifice this round in order to give yourself a chance in future rounds.

The game is 1-4 players, and there are variables (such as starting with bonus resources) that help balance difficulty for different player counts.

My only negative of the game is that I didn't really care for the art style. The game is highly abstract, with towers being normal 6-sided die and monsters cubes. However, the underlying game design is solid and the small footprint would make it an excellent little traveling game. Those who don't like puzzles will probably be turned off, as it's VERY much an efficiency puzzle of how to deal with the random monsters your draw. However, it does provide a very clean, minimalist version of tower defense that is light enough to easily grasp but challenging enough to be a brain burner.

I'm not sure of the longevity once you figure out the best strategies, but I'm assuming the randomness helps mitigate that a bit. At $20 on Amazon, I'll probably pick it up at some point just to have in my travel game arsenal. The minimalist nature of the design still giving a strong tower defense feel really intrigued me.
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