OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

All discussions regarding Board, Card, and RPG Gaming, including industry discussion, that don't belong in one of the other gaming forums.

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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

Starting to dig into the pile of games I bought this past week during the sales. First up, THE PRINCESS BRIDE ADVENTURE BOOK GAME!

I won't go into how the game is played, as you can watch Rodney's Watch It Played video. From a high level, however, you're essentially moving and positioning characters and playing cards to complete objectives in chapters based on scenes from the movie. The game consists of 6 chapters played in sequence, and failing to complete a chapter twice means you have to start the entire campaign over.

So let's get to my impressions - to take a page from the Solosaurus podcast, I'll list the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:

The Good:

- The minis are fantastic, and a primary reason I bought the game. I'm having a blast painting them and they are full of detail, closely resemble their movie counterparts, and even have the character names engraved in the base. Super cool.

- The game does a great job of making you feel like you are playing through the movie. For instance, to complete one objective in the boat sequence, you have to make sure Buttercup is in the water while Fezzik is at the railing trying to save her from the shrieking eels. And they cleverly made Chapter 3 Westley's journey in meeting Inigo, Fezzik, and Vezzini. While the overarching theme of positioning characters and playing cards is the same across the book, each scenario feels very different which keeps things refreshing.

- Like many of Ravensburger's games, it's a friendly introduction into cooperative games. I'd say this one is even more cooperative than most in that each player can control any character, and trading cards between players is a huge necessity. I would say this one tends to the lighter/easier side, but that's OK for the family theme they were going for.

The Bad:

- The game does not seem to scale well at all, even though it's listed for 1-4 players. I don't really see how one player could get all the available cards required for objectives, since there is no way to obtain new cards at the beginning of your turn when you can actually use them. A few bad draws in a row, and you could find yourself stuck and unable to do anything while the plot cards kill you. This even happened in my 2-player game where I essentially just got stuck because I could not draw a black card to save my life and lost. That said, I'm afraid 4 players might be on the easy side. I may try a 3 player game next to see if that's the sweet spot.

- The game is really heavy on luck of the cards you draw. Other than being able to trade one card per turn, there's really not a whole lot of ways to mitigate bad hands. This can get a bit frustrating. A bad run of plot cards can also really screw you over with little you can do about it.

The Ugly:

- Read the rulebook VERY CAREFULLY. There are lots of drive-by rules that are super easy to miss. For instance, the fact that each player starts with four cards is not listed in the setup, but instead in an introductory paragraph at the back of the book explaining specific scenarios. It's also easy to overlook/misread rules in the chapters themselves - I made a couple of chapters super hard on myself early on because I was overly restricting myself due to misreading the chapter specific rules.

All that said, it's a neat little game that fans of the movie should certainly enjoy. It will probably feel a bit light and lacking in strategic choices for experienced gamers, but I enjoy a good theme and IP tie-in even if the game itself is not super challenging. My initial hunch is that replayability is really low, so I'd say this is better just as a nice little family game to have in your collection rather than something you're going to pull out on the regular. However, someone on BGG also pointed out that the spine of the box has "Adventure Book Game 1" on it, hinting that we may see more games like this based on other IPs. If so, that would be really exciting and I think it would be quite cool to have a series of these on the shelf.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by $iljanus »

To all you Atomic Bonds (Fallout expansion for those not in the know) owners have you been soloing with two characters to play under co-op conditions or going true solo with one character? I don’t mind playing two characters if that makes things go smoothly. Sometimes the wasteland is best tackled with a friend. My copy just arrived today and I hope I can carve out some time to play. Hopefully....
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

Siljanus wrote:To all you Atomic Bonds (Fallout expansion for those not in the know) owners have you been soloing with two characters to play under co-op conditions or going true solo with one character?
I went with two characters. It's not that much more upkeep, and I liked the ability to play off of each other and split up when it made sense.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hepcat »

Ditto. Two characters allows me to flesh out my party a bit more. Plus, the game is stupid simple to play, which I love about it. The only thing that I sometimes struggle with is the codex as cards go in and out of play, and I sometimes forget about a quest line I should be following. But that’s my issue, not the games.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

Next game up: Back to the Future: Dice Through Time

Man, I'm sorry I kind of dismissed this game as the "inferior" Back to the Future game. I had that initial impression based off an early preview, the rather ugly game board, and the fact that it just didn't look nearly as thematic as Back in Time.

However, Dice Through Time is a TON of fun.

The gist of the game is that you are traveling through time resolving events, which will earn you items that have to be returned to their proper location and time. You win the game by returning every item to its correct place and time, and you lose the game by running out of time due to events and paradoxes stacking up. You accomplish your actions by rolling a dice pool and spending the rolled symbols on various actions.

I LOVE games with a "dice symbols determine your actions" mechanic. I like the puzzle nature of trying to figure out the most efficient use of what you have available, particularly when the game gives you mitigation mechanics for bad rolls. Dice Through Time does this with its "Mr. Fusion" mechanic which allows you to combine two like symbols into any other symbol, and it also has a wild symbol (wrench) that can be used as any symbol when resolving an event. Both of these serve to make the chance of a turn where you have no good options pretty rare, and even if you do have a turn where you just can't spend a die you can always leave it in your location for use by another player "in the future."

That's right, you can leave items in the past for players in the future at the same location to use. It's a neat little gimmick that really nails the time travel theme, and can help a player who couldn't be as efficient as he wanted at least try to help the next player a bit.

So having played both Back to the Future games, what's my verdict? I think they're both a blast and both deserve a spot in your collection. Back in Time is the better group game and is much more thematic. But Dice Through Time is the better solo game, sets up and plays fast, and has a much higher replayability due to its ability to scale difficulty for a greater challenge. Those who don't like efficiency puzzles may not get as much fun out of it as I did, but I know for a lot of solo players that's right up their alley.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by $iljanus »

YellowKing wrote: Sat Oct 17, 2020 10:42 am
Siljanus wrote:To all you Atomic Bonds (Fallout expansion for those not in the know) owners have you been soloing with two characters to play under co-op conditions or going true solo with one character?
I went with two characters. It's not that much more upkeep, and I liked the ability to play off of each other and split up when it made sense.
Sounds like a plan to start off with. I certainly can see myself wandering the Commonwealth with my faithful robotic friend or a misunderstood ghoul partnering up with a chatty super mutant.

Edit: I've at least set up the Commonwealth Map (expanded) and I'm reading through the Atomic Bonds expansion. Really liking how they deal with factions and looking forward to how the new modification and workshop upgrades play out. The assisting die is a nice addition and makes it worthwhile to play two characters.

I'm playing a disgruntled Enclave soldier, Max, who took off after the crowd he was running with was a bit too much in love with fascism. Occasionally he has a "Make America Great Again" attitude but he's evolving his views thanks to his companion who got him out of a nasty encounter with a Deathclaw, Oliver the Super Mutant. Oliver's prized possession are some old books that he's accumulated over the years.

Max: Hey Oliver, what's in that bag that you're always carrying around? Not human body parts I hope, ha ha!

Oliver: Heh, you're lucky I don't stuff you into it but you'd probably give me indigestion and that's pretty hard to get for a super mutant.

Max: Well, spill it. What's in the bag?

Oliver: (managing to look a little embarrassed for a super mutant) They're, ummmm....books.

Max: Oh, we had some of the classics in the Enclave! Hannity's Live Free or Die and Trump's Art of the Deal. Hey, are you okay? You're not looking too good...

Oliver: (takes a few deep calming breaths and reaches into his bag) Here try this, Max.

Max: Ooooh, I never read a book written by a woman before. The title is pretty cool sounding too. "Becoming". I'll give it a read!

Oliver: I think you'll like it. And there's more where that came from too if you're interested! (wisely decides not to tell Max about the smaller sack in the bag which has some, umm, delicacies when he feels munchy)
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Skinypupy »

“Hey, that new version of Descent looks really cool! Descent 2nd edition is easily in my top three games of all time, so I’ll definitely be all in on this!”

::Sees price tag of $175 for the base game::

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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hepcat »

Yeah, that’s just too much for a core game. I don’t know what they’re thinking, to be honest. Release a core at a hundred and then expand, expand, expand. It’s worked for them in the past. I guess they see what Kickstarter projects with minis are going for and want some of that sweet, sweet moolah.

Edit: also, I’m not sure I like the new art style of this version of Descent. Looks a little TOO stylized for my tastes.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

I guess you can't blame them. I'm guessing they're looking at $100-125 KS launches and thinking there's room for them to get in on the boutique board gaming crowd. CMON has been stealing their lunch for years now; this might be their response.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

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I'm not going to lie, I'm probably going to buy it anyway. But when I watched the preview and saw the 3D terrain was INCLUDED and card sleeves, I was prepared for sticker shock.

I must say I REALLY like what Freedom Five is doing with offering a standee version of the game for an affordable price, and a minis version for those who can spend a bit more. I love my minis, but ultimately it's just cosmetics and I think "minis inflation" is running wild. They're putting a lot of fun games out of reach of people because they insist on putting 50 miniatures in the box.

I will be the first to admit that I'm 100% guilty of contributing to the problem.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hepcat »

That's where I stand. I think more developers should offer a standee version for those who balk at the high prices on some of these minis-centric games.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Skinypupy »

YellowKing wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 8:23 am I'm not going to lie, I'm probably going to buy it anyway.
I'll admit there's a chance I may (very begrudgingly) do so as well. I think Descent is where board gaming really "clicked" for me, and I really love the game, the world, and the overall aesthetic.

Even if I do pick it up, I'll still think it's a completely ridiculous price.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

I impulse pre-ordered WARP'S EDGE after seeing it hyped in the solo gamer group on FB and watching a One Stop Co-Op Shop playthrough.

While the space theme doesn't really appeal to me much, the bag building mechanics really intrigued me. It looks like a nice blend of strategy, luck, and efficiency that I love. And the quick playing time is also a big plus.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by baelthazar »

YellowKing wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 8:23 am I'm not going to lie, I'm probably going to buy it anyway. But when I watched the preview and saw the 3D terrain was INCLUDED and card sleeves, I was prepared for sticker shock.
Wait, what? They are including card sleeves? That is a hefty price, and I am not overly enthusiastic about app-driven games, but that does look pretty cool!
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

I watched a short presentation / reaction to the new Descent and while I don't know that it changed much for me, the fact that they said they've changed the core game loop from being a race (or on a timer) to a more exploration-based feel definitely has me interested to learn more.

$175 is still a tough pill to swallow for something from Fantasy Flight. The minis (detail, quality) would need to be bonkers to justify that price, imho.

But in terms of solo play, not racing against an AI boss to complete [X] before a timer runs out is definitely more appealing to me. It's my biggest complaint about 99% of their games.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by raydude »

YellowKing wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 8:25 pm I impulse pre-ordered WARP'S EDGE after seeing it hyped in the solo gamer group on FB and watching a One Stop Co-Op Shop playthrough.

While the space theme doesn't really appeal to me much, the bag building mechanics really intrigued me. It looks like a nice blend of strategy, luck, and efficiency that I love. And the quick playing time is also a big plus.
I looked this up since I like space themes. I really like the chip holders and the trays to help organize the game. The premise and bag building mechanics are intriguing. And I like the included "choose-your-own-adventure" book that helps you determine the starting conditions for your game (as opposed to randomly or strategically choosing the starting conditions).

So yeah, I ordered this too.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Skinypupy »

Sanctum arrived yesterday, and I got my first couple games in last night. Initial thoughts:

What I Like:
- The components are fantastic. Player boards are weighty, the minis are big and beautiful, the tokens and gems all look and feel very nice, the instruction manual is large and easy to read. All around excellent presentation. The dice are a little lighter than I'd like, but are standard D6's, so I can replace those pretty easily if I want. From a tactile perspective, this is already one of my favorite games in my collection. There's also just the right amount of "stuff". Coming from Sword & Sorcery and Dungeon Alliance (both of which have a bazillion different cards, markers, bits, and bobs to manage), Sanctum feels just about right.
- The Diablo'ish theme is wonderfully executed. From the way the game is structured across 5 "Acts" with a big bad at the end, to the fantastic artwork, to the red/blue orbs, to the general flow of the game...it all perfectly captures the Diablo feel (without actually using the brand name)
- Like Diablo, it's simple enough to get the hang of quickly, but complex enough to be interesting. You move through each Act with three options: Move (which draws more mobs), Fight (fights those mobs), or Rest (regains resources/equip items). You can do these in any order, which becomes a balancing act. Do I move now and bring out more mobs at the risk of getting overwhelmed? Or do I move more slowly and fight the ones that I already have out?
- Gaining skills and achievements adds another interesting strategic layer, and mixes up the gameplay enough for multiple playthroughs.

What I Don't Like As Much:
- It feels highly dependent on "luck of the draw". If I'm playing a Slayer (who focuses primarily on red Stamina skills) but get a run of Blue and Green mobs, it becomes extremely difficult to advance my skills or gain useful gear.
- It seems a bit unbalanced. In both my games, I ran through the first three acts with very minimal damage, only to immediately get by ass handed to me by the boss. You go from having to block 2-3 damage at a time, to immediately needing to block 8-9 damage. I'm actually wondering if I was misunderstanding the rules somehow, as the difficulty spike for the boss was...extreme.
- The rulebook uses some really strange examples to demonstrate how the game is played. For example, it'll say "Player 1 does X then Y then Z as her move", then right below that it will say something like "This really isn't the best move. What she should have done was A then B then C". I get that they're trying to be conversational, but it comes across as really awkward. The solo rules are a bit confusing too, especially with regards to the final boss. I'm still not sure I did the boss battle correctly, which could be why it was so difficult.

Overall, I think this is going to be a fun game. While the base game is the same for solo players (move through Act I, then Act 3, then Act 5, then the boss), there's 4 different character classes, each of which has a very different style. My love of the Diablo series is perhaps bumping this up a notch, but my initial reaction is an 8/10 score for solo play.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by $iljanus »

So instead of the Kickstarter forum I’ll ask my Core Space questions here. I’ll be playing this solo and was wondering what expansions and extras if any have people been playing with? There’s some pretty cool stuff on the battle systems website.

Thanks for helping me spend some $$$.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

It's pretty easy to get overwhelmed. I'd personally just recommend getting the original core box set and seeing if you like it.

There's a brick and mortar vendor from VA (I think) that sells Core Space / Battle Systems stuff via an eBay store (Troll Hoard). I've used them numerous times and find them to be reasonably priced and (I think) they have free shipping over $35. So getting anything above and beyond the bare minimum from the publisher is fine (you're going to take a beating on shipping from the UK). If you need to get something to get free shipping, go for something like Rogue Purge or Shift Change.

I think Hentzau has played more than I have, so he can likely chime in, but the stuff you add in after the core box are going to roughly be:

(1) New crews (characters to play)
(2) New enemies
(3) New locations

There's like 10+ missions in the original core set plus the ability to customize your own crew (or use their pregenerated stats). I'd resist the urge to go whole-hog and just verify you like the completely acceptable core set. If you somehow blast through all that, you can upgrade to the advanced (hardback) rule book and start tossing in the various extra things to add variety.

I've never actually played against (or with) someone (thanks COVID-19!), but for solo? It's really good.

EDIT: Changed the name of the eBay store to the correct one
Last edited by Smoove_B on Thu Oct 29, 2020 9:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

I've heard that the supplemental book is good.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hentzau »

I agree with everything that Smoove mentioned above. I would recommend getting Core Space to start with, and start with a few games to make sure this meets your requirements.

As far as supplements to add onto the experience, for solo play the crews don't add a lot, but they can be used to add additional NPCs to your games. If I were playing just solo, the supplements that I would add (in this order:)

1. Galactic Corps - Adds cops basically. They are NPCs that will harass you when there are no Purge on the table, but will help thin out the purge when they show up. Six new figures, some new equipment, new event cards, new scenario and rules for the Corps
2. Shootout at Zed's - This one introduces Gangers. Another variant of NPCs that comes with a really sweet multi-level terrain piece (Zed's Bar.) Some new event cards, about 6 new minis, new equipment, and cards for all of the gangers.
3. Purge Outbreak - New, meaner purge that you can use as your crew gets stronger to give yourself more challenge

The deluxe rulebook is really nice, but not really necessary. The Dangerous Days book is great, it has a ton of new scenarios built into it. All of the Sci-Fi terrain packs are great, they can meld in really well with the existing terrain in the box. I really recommend med labs and shuttle.

I have everything that has been released for the game so far, so if you have a question about one of the supplements drop the question here and I'll try and answer it.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

Dangerous Days is what I was talking about.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by $iljanus »

Decided to download the rule book at least and get some light reading done. Funny thing is that I kinda prefer the "cyberpunk" setting of the first game vs the ancient tech ruins of the Kickstarter sequel.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hentzau »

$iljanus wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:39 am Decided to download the rule book at least and get some light reading done. Funny thing is that I kinda prefer the "cyberpunk" setting of the first game vs the ancient tech ruins of the Kickstarter sequel.
Yeah, you absolutely will not go wrong with the Core Box.

One thing, if you are playing Solo you might need to tweak the difficulty or the game may become a bit of a cakewalk. The core game is really built for a semi-co-op experience so they are assuming that at some point the person you are playing with may want to engage you for that really cool piece of shiny you may have just picked up. Adding Gangers and the Corps will increase that difficulty, or start the Purge track a little higher. It's very adjustable.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by $iljanus »

I didn’t go all in and buy all the Core Space I could find but I splurged on getting the starter set directly from the UK company and the Shootout at Zed’s from Amazon for the free shipping. I’ve been watching Cowboy Bebop again lately so it’s really getting me in the mood to play this game and Shootout at Zed’s seems to add some unsavory characters to increase my enjoyment of the game.

The 2X2 size should work okay with my 3X3 gaming table.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hentzau »

$iljanus wrote: Sun Nov 01, 2020 4:44 pm I didn’t go all in and buy all the Core Space I could find but I splurged on getting the starter set directly from the UK company and the Shootout at Zed’s from Amazon for the free shipping. I’ve been watching Cowboy Bebop again lately so it’s really getting me in the mood to play this game and Shootout at Zed’s seems to add some unsavory characters to increase my enjoyment of the game.

The 2X2 size should work okay with my 3X3 gaming table.
Good deal! Let me know how you like it after you get started.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

Just try not to get frustrated with the initial building of the first map. I'm not going to lie - it's going to suck. But it will get better.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by EzeKieL »

The shipping (to Hong Kong) killed it for me :( .

I'm going all in for Street Masters though :wub:
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

When the lockdowns started hitting I fell away from board gaming for a while. The kids were home full time and I didn't have the space, my non-kid gaming group collapsed, and then things just got... wonky. 2020 wonky. Well, a couple of months ago I finally got around to finding space. It involves a folding topper (which cost me about $30) on a card table in the bedroom. It gives me a 4'x4' gaming space that can be stored when not in use. When in use, though, you have to walk sideways through the bedroom.

I've got a few solo-friendly games sitting around (including 7th Continent!), but I wanted to get back into the swing of things with something I know well, so I brought out Temple of Elemental Evil, one of the D&D Adventures series (Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardolan, et al.) I played these quite a bit with my kids a few years back, although I'd barely scratched the surface of this one. But I know the mechanics well enough that I knew I wouldn't have to fiddle with the rules much. As a plus, I was only half a dozen miniatures away from having it full painted. I took a few weeks and finished the painting, and started playing a few days ago.

The thing that sets Temple apart from the earlier games is that it features a campaign with persistent character growth, while the earlier games were just standalone one-off missions. It completely changed how traps work, too. There are a lot more traps than before, and they're removed from the encounter deck. Instead, each tile has a number (or zero) trap locations on it, and when you reveal the tile every one of them gets a trap in the form of a face-down marker. You know where the traps are, and can choose to avoid them, disarm them, or simply walk through them and trigger them, taking a chance that it will be one of the 'dud' or 'empty' traps that do nothing. It adds a layer of decision making that I think benefits the game, especially when things are getting tense and you draw a tile that has a hallway completely blocked by traps. Do you charge through and risk hitting a 4-damage super trap, wait for the rogue (who can disarm one without wasting an action now), or spend your turn dealing with it yourself?

They also changed the way monster spawning works. Not every tile spawns a monster now, while a few spawn two.

Anyway, the first couple of missions were pretty straightforward dungeon crawls. We won. Not handily, but without being too worried about losing. The third mission was something new, and I didn't enjoy it much. It was a town mission, another first for the series. Dopplegangers (shape changers for you non-D&Ders) had infiltrated the town, posing as townsfolk. The town board was scattered with nine face-down NPC markers: three pairs and three singles. You had to figure out which NPCs were pairs, thus identifying the dopplegangers. In practice, it meant that you had to play a game of Memory, flipping one up, moving to another and flipping it up and another down, and so forth. When you managed to have a pair revealed at the same time it was removed from the board, and victory comes when you've removed all three. It also started out with a monster in play for each character, and an encounter was drawn every turn, which was an absolute killer. With no chance to avoid encounters, it quickly became clear that the only way to win was to ignore all of the monsters and just bum-rush the NPCs. And with no opportunity to kill the monsters, there was no XP to spend to buy off encounters. The board was soon choked with monsters, and while I did take a few characters' turns to use daily powers to remove a few, doing so just meant yet another encounter which either caused damage directly or spawned another monster.

I won, but just barely, and only by managing to get one character back on her feet in time to be knocked down again so that the the last healing surge could go to the character next to the last doppleganger match. It was frustrating, not fun. It didn't feel like I was trying to win so much as scrambling not to lose. There was also a bit more luck involved than I would have preferred. Blindly guessing the right villagers was pretty essential. Guess wrong and you're running in circles. It didn't help that I had the mage on the board along with two Gnoll archers. Their AI is to target to the creature with the least HP, and with two of them on the board, that meant four attacks against the mage before she even got to act (if two characters control identical enemies, both enemies go on each player's turn.)

Luckily, it seems to be the only mission like that in the game. Now it's back to a proper dungeon crawl. At this point I've leveled up all four of the characters I use regularly, which makes me look forward to the next mission.
Spoiler:
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Nov 04, 2020 3:43 pm I've got a few solo-friendly games sitting around (including 7th Continent!),
I look forward to reading your thoughts and experiences with The 7th Continent, because it ought to be right up your alley and plays terrifically as a solo game. Just remember that it's a survival-exploration game first and foremost. So always keep the core loop of gameplay (i.e. explore, hunt, explore) in mind, and you'll have a blast with it.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

I will be on it soon, although I really need to finish up Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords. It was a loaner. They're not asking for it back or anything, and haven't given me a deadline, but I've had it around two years and am feeling really guilty.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

I got my copy of WARP'S EDGE in, so that was my welcome escape from election coverage.

You play a spaceship pilot who gets blown up by an alien mothership and its minions. Fortunately your AI activated its warp safety feature and created a time loop that reset you back to shortly before you were destroyed. Your goal now is to repeatedly face off against the mothership, getting stronger and stronger with every reset of the time loop. However, your ship only has a limited number of warps, so if you don't defeat the mothership by the time you run out of warps you're dead permanently.

WARP'S EDGE is a bag builder, so you'll be drawing 5 tokens from a bag each turn to create your action pool. On your turn you can attack by spending laser tokens, evade by spending maneuver tokens, or purchase new tokens from the bank using energy tokens. There are also special Power tokens that provide advanced actions such as area damage, allowing you to draw more tokens, etc. Finally, you may activate a skill card which provide very powerful effects when assigned specific tokens.

Any ship that is attacked or maneuvered against each turn (even if they are not defeated through the attack or maneuver) are stunned and will not do damage at the end of the round. Otherwise they will attack you - first your shields and then your hull. However, defeating a ship rewards you with new tokens which go straight into your bag, strengthening you for future turns.

The first time you can't draw 5 tokens from the bag, your warp ends and all discarded tokens return to the bag, and all defeated enemies get shuffled and placed back on top of the deck. However, one benefit of warping is that you obtain a new skill that will help you in future battles.

That's it! Eventually you will (hopefully) grow powerful enough to run through all the minions and destroy the mothership itself.

The first thing that struck me was the great components - while the tokens are simple cardboard, they at least come with nice little plastic storage trays that provide a functional supply during the game. The game also comes with a nice embroidered draw bag.

This is a FANTASTIC little solo puzzler. I'm not really a fan of space themes, but I loved the mechanics of this one as you see yourself getting stronger and stronger over the course of the game. And player agency? Good Lord. If you are turned off by the draw bag mechanic because you think it's too luck dependent, think again. The number of strategic choices you need to make every round are insane.

Sure killing that minion may be easy now, but is it worth letting him survive and deal you a damage so you can save your lasers for a bigger foe later on? You have four tokens left in your bag (counting by touch is allowed). Better kill something to give yourself another reward so you get one more turn before you warp. Do you focus on firepower, maneuverability, or a mix of both? What do you buy? Are you clogging your bag up with too many low level tokens - if so it may be worth taking some hits to your shields in order to remove them from the game. Just tons and tons of little decisions you have to make.

I am REALLY impressed with the strategic complexity that arises out of this very simple ruleset. The game is quick to set up, quick to tear down and reset, and quick to play. While the box is ever-so-slightly larger than a great travel size, I can still see this being one I'd bring on trips for some quick fun gaming downtime. And at $30 and some change it won't break the bank either.

The game comes with 5 motherships of varying difficulty and 4 different starfighters. The starfighters all have different strengths and weaknesses and start with a different token pool, while the motherships all have different minion deck compositions and powers that make them play out very differently. Trying to kill all 5 motherships with each starfighter allows for a ton of replayability, and replay you will as the game is not easy! Highly recommended.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by $iljanus »

hentzau wrote: Sun Nov 01, 2020 6:06 pm
$iljanus wrote: Sun Nov 01, 2020 4:44 pm I didn’t go all in and buy all the Core Space I could find but I splurged on getting the starter set directly from the UK company and the Shootout at Zed’s from Amazon for the free shipping. I’ve been watching Cowboy Bebop again lately so it’s really getting me in the mood to play this game and Shootout at Zed’s seems to add some unsavory characters to increase my enjoyment of the game.

The 2X2 size should work okay with my 3X3 gaming table.
Good deal! Let me know how you like it after you get started.
So the Shootout at Zed’s expansion came in. Saw a tutorial about how to put it together and I really like the crows nest. The main game actually arrived earlier this week in a FL FedEx location but it seems to be taking its time traveling up the coast. In the meantime, the reading of the rules continues...

Edit: Slightly less exciting than PA flipping for Biden is that the starter set is here! Time to punch out pieces and organize stuff! In the dead of night when everyone is asleep! Yea!
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

Battle Systems just released a free solo stealth mission for Core Space, in case anyone is interested at talking a look.
This mission requires the Shootout and Zed’s and Galactic Corps expansions to play.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

Nice, thanks. Products aside, I've been really impressed with how Battle Systems runs their business.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

I 100% agree. They are highly active and really support what they sell.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by wonderpug »

Forum effect is getting stronger and stronger on Core Space for me.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by $iljanus »

Smoove_B wrote:Battle Systems just released a free solo stealth mission for Core Space, in case anyone is interested at talking a look.
This mission requires the Shootout and Zed’s and Galactic Corps expansions to play.
I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I ended up buying the Galactic Corps expansion (along with Dangerous Days). So much for sticking to just the starter set and Shootout at Zed's. Of course, now I have another scenario to play with!

In the meantime, the work of putting loot crates, lockers and furniture together continues! (in between puppy care)
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

Don't forget to edge them!

I bought a set of colored markers and ran them along all of the edges of all of the items (terrain, furniture, etc.) It looks much, much better. If you go that route, just make sure you get a set with lots of tans and grays rather then a bright 'rainbow' set.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by $iljanus »

Blackhawk wrote:Don't forget to edge them!

I bought a set of colored markers and ran them along all of the edges of all of the items (terrain, furniture, etc.) It looks much, much better. If you go that route, just make sure you get a set with lots of tans and grays rather then a bright 'rainbow' set.
My daughter has a great set of markers and tan and grey are among the choices. Some of the edges are a bit raggedy so touching them up isn't a bad idea.
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