Octopus Overlords

I beat Gloomhaven. Well, I assume beating it involves spending 3 hours punching and sorting all the materials into their appropriate places using the Broken Token trays. Note, the Broken Token trays were already assembled. It took me another three hours to punch all the cardboard and fill the trays.

This game is serious business.

I'm pretty certain beating Gloomhaven is playing without looking at the manual every five minutes.

That's why we have a hepcat. He'll look up the rules in advance.

It’s a surprisingly intuitive game design once you’ve got a few games under your belt. The only things I check these days are the pre and post game stuff for xp, etc..

Picked up Maximum Apocalypse and Dice Throne the other day. The first is a pretty dang good co op that’s easy to pick up, but offers quite a bit of gameplay. The second is a light, fast push your luck combat game that’s surprisingly deep. Two thumbs up for both.

It's a lot like Descent... Except for where it's really totally not like Descent...

We were going to play a short day this weekend. We ended up still playing 10 hours to play three dungeons. No failures this time. It's good though. I sure doesn't feel like each dungeon takes three hours to play. Of course, we're still confirming rules and finding FAQs here and there.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 9:50 am It's a lot like Descent... Except for where it's really totally not like Descent...

It's a lot like any dungeon crawler because it is a dungeon crawler. That's where the similarities end. It's a dungeon crawl with Euro mechanics, which makes it really unique. It has more in common with Mage Knight, in my opinion.

Finished my 10rh Gloomhaven scenario as the Tinkerer. The game host has been a little loose on the rules and has the all the initial demons setup from the start. This makes it a little easier, but I am ok with that. We have barely finished several scenarios with half our party exhausted.

Montag wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:00 am Finished my 10rh Gloomhaven scenario as the Tinkerer. The game host has been a little loose on the rules and has the all the initial demons setup from the start. This makes it a little easier, but I am ok with that. We have barely finished several scenarios with half our party exhausted.

We've lost several times. But the only punishment is you keep your gold and experience and try again. I'd say that's odd to me but so far the game is scaling pretty well to our leveling. In 11 scenarios, I'm at level 5, though I did experience hunt a lot early... Of course, we lost more early too.... I think we are currently Level 5, 4, and 4 after 11 dungeons and I don't know how many failures. 6? 8?

That seems like an awful lot of losses after that many games. Once you wrap your mind around hand management, it becomes significantly easier. Are you playing scenarios at higher levels than 1?

hepcat wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:12 am That seems like an awful lot of losses after that many games. Once you wrap your mind around hand management, it becomes significantly easier. Are you playing scenarios at higher levels than 1?

Most of our losses were in the first few scenarios and then in the first couple when we brought on a third player. We've beat five in a row (sometimes down to the last man) but lost at least once on 4 of the previous six. One of them 3 times in a row, even knowing what we were up against.

Started PANDEMIC LEGACY: SEASON 2 tonight. Just the prologue scenario which brings you up to speed on the mechanics and doesn't actually have any bearing on the campaign.

We lost once, and (barely) won once, although our victory was tainted by accidentally utilizing one of our character's abilities more than once per turn which was not allowed.

I won't be discussing it much since it's so spoiler-prone, but I think we're really going to like it. It would have been very easy for them to make a by-the-numbers sequel that was just more of the same, but instead they went in a radically different direction which is exciting.

Played a great new minis game last night.

Most of you (OK, some of you) know that I am big into wild west gaming, and that my preferred system is Dead Man's Hand. Well, last night I tried out the Greenhorn rule set of the upcoming Knuckleduster release, Gunfighter's Ball. This rule set a hoot.

Fairly rules light and fun heavy, the system recommends 2-3 figures per player. We played the most simple game, with 3 figures to a side, 2 players, and I was the judge. To be honest, there wasn't a whole lot new here that hasn't been done before. Card activation, fairly standard for most wild west rules. Characters have from 1-3 cards, so the better the character, the more cards he has. Wide range of weapons, each with subtle differences. This game you do keep track of ammo, and if you run out, well, you're out. So you do have to be someone careful and weigh your odds of hitting with the number of shots you're taking. This one also adds in a hit location chart...you hit someone, you roll on the chart and see what the effects are. Things from hand grazes (1 point of damage, plus you drop your gun if that's your gun hand) to leg shots (half movement for the figure) to head grazes (stunned) to head and heart shots (instantly dead). Randomized movement, you roll a d10 for you movement brings a nice bit of uncertainty to what is going to go on. But man, was this fun.

Couple of highlights from the game: Rifle armed figure shoots at pistol carrying figure. Rolls a hand graze, figure drops his weapon. Next turn, figure picks up his weapon, shoots and destroys the rifle with his first shot, and then shoots that figure 2 more times, knocking him prone. The good guys were on a roll in the beginning of the game, with most of their shots hitting true. Bad guy attempts to throw dynamite at the character that just shot the guy in the street. Bad guy flubs his roll, dynamite lands back at his feet after bouncing off a buildings. Good guy runs away, bad guy attempts to pick up the dynamite again and throw it away (25% chance.) Rolled a 26. Boom. No more bad guy.

New two activations, two good guys team up on a desperado, and shoot him twice, one being a gut shot, mortally wounding the desperado. That drops him to half movement and his hit chances are divided by 2. Takes his turn to hobble back into the relative cover of a building, Turns, and opens both barrels of his shotgun at the good guys. His first shot is wide, but they good guys are standing within 2" of each other, so there is a chance that he may hit the second guy. Rolls under a 30, then rolls a heart shot on the hit table. Dropped him dead. Next shot only has a 20% chance to hit, rolled a 19, and then rolled another heart shot. Blam blam, and the tables had turned to the bad guys favor.

Just a hell of a good time. Going to be using this at the next OctoCon for my Zenda game. Can't wait.

I have been trying and trying to get my kids into boardgames, but it’s an uphill battle.

My boys, 14 and 9 are just not into it. Only my daughter (12) seems to have any real interest, but she wants nothing to do with deep strategy games, and forget about any war games.

Still, we did have fun spending the last couple snow days playing Ticket to Ride and also Carcasonne, and I even got my wife (vehement non-gamer) to play those and enjoy them.

If I wanted to look for some more solid games along the lines of those two, any recommendations? What about something that might help them transition to something a little deeper without them even realizing?

What kind of themes do you think would interest them? Any big name IPs they would be into? And it looks like ideally you are looking for at least 3 players?

And are the kids into video games at all? What interests them on that front?

For the boys, they are very into video gaming, mostly on the XBONE. Mostly first person shooters. 14 yr old loved Destiny (less so Destiny 2), and the 9 yr old loves Assassin's Creed (I know, probably not age appropriate, but he's the third). They both had periods of extreme fixation with Minecraft, but that has passed. Neither seems all that interested in strategy games on the XBOX, unfortunately, but I got the younger one Risk (board game) for Christmas, and he loved that. The older one hated it and refuses to play.

My 12 yr old daughter is not into video games in the least, except for brief stint when she was also into Minecraft. She loves art and music and pop culture.

I think 3 to 5 players is ideal, but given how tough it is to get them all to agree on anything, two player games would be fine, too.

Thanks!!

I can say your struggles aren't unusual. My friend has tried to get his sons into board gaming and after about 30 minutes, they all lose interest in whatever it is that he's set up. He's tried a variety of things, but nothing seems to stick (card games, dice games, miniatures, etc...)

I haven't pressed the issue, but I've had similar luck. The problem on my end is that my daughter is a terrible, terrible loser and while I don't go out of my way to win, when it happens there's usually a meltdown.

There is a card game based on Minecraft, but if their fixation has ended that probably won't work. Have you considered blending their interests a bit and perhaps looking into something like the XCOM board game? I know it's not a FPS, but perhaps the tactical elements and the fact that it's being driven by an app might make them a bit more interested in playing? The board gaming community at large craps on the use of the app because it's sacrilegious to include any type of electronic device in a paper or plastic-based gaming universe, but when you cut through all that noise (from what I understand) this is actually a decent board game - particularly if you're into the theme.

So my first thought when you posted was maybe try out Pandemic. It's a co-op, and the rules are pretty easy to grasp, and the games are relatively short (say, an hour or so.) If they enjoy story-based video games, they may really enjoy Pandemic Legacy Season 1. (Can't speak to Season 2, haven't played it.)

Also, if they like Harry Potter, the Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle deck builder game is a lot of fun.

Whitehall Mystery

(it's totally not a quicker version of Letters from Whitechapel, I swear. )

X-wing miniatures game might catch their fancy if they have any interest in Star Wars. They get to fly around tiny spaceships and blow each other up with rolls of the dice.

Rampage might be fun since it involves actual physical destruction of the 3d buildings you set up.

King of Tokyo (or New York) maybe? Giant monster fights are easy to like.

Some kind of dungeon crawler maybe? Mice & Mystics has a kid-friendly theme and a storyline to follow.

If a zombie theme might appeal, maybe Last Night on Earth? I can't remember if it has too many overly mature themes, but it might be fun to have the kids be a team against the grownup(s) controlling the zombies. Zombicide also worth considering if you think they'd like the zombie genre.

Lords of Waterdeep worth considering.

Maybe Sheriff of Nottingham? The kids might get a kick out of lying and deceiving each other.

And maybe a general strategy: if your daughter is showing the most interest so far, perhaps follow the path of the game types that interest her the most and hope that the fun that you and she have with games is infections?

I have fond memories of playing Lords of Waterdeep with my kids about 4-5 years back. My daughters started punching each other every time one of them would play a mandatory quest on each other or take a building the other person wanted.

Have you thought about a dungeon crawler like one of the D&D boardgames?

Adrenaline is the FPS board game equivalent.

If they liked Carcassonne, Kingdomino is very similar and very cheap and from there you can step up to Queendomino that makes it a little bit deeper and is also pretty cheap.

hentzau wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2018 11:41 amAlso, if they like Harry Potter, the Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle deck builder game is a lot of fun.

Currently on sale for $36 shipped at Amazon via Prime.

Oh, and it's been a while since I've played Last Night on Earth, but besides some gore (it is a zombie game, after all) the only thing that could be possibly objective is the "This could be our last night" card that the zombie player can play when a male and female character are together in the same building, it causes the heroes to lose their turn.

This one could be a winner for you, now that I'm thinking of it. You against the kids, with them running heroes. Fairly simple rules, some luck swings, and a pretty great theme.

I want to +1 Zombiecide.. plus it's co-op which could be a plus in getting people into gaming. everyone wins or loses together.

I'll just agree with some suggestions already given. Star wars x-wing is awesome and of they like star wars could really catch their fancy. I agree. Also zombicide is a great coop where they can shoot up zombies. Very fun. I prefer the traditional setting not black plague but your mileage may vary. Imperial assault could be a good choice as well, but x-wing is better in my opinion.

I would stick to thematic games. Might capture their imagination more.

Kurth wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2018 2:21 am I have been trying and trying to get my kids into boardgames, but it’s an uphill battle.

My boys, 14 and 9 are just not into it. Only my daughter (12) seems to have any real interest, but she wants nothing to do with deep strategy games, and forget about any war games.

Still, we did have fun spending the last couple snow days playing Ticket to Ride and also Carcasonne, and I even got my wife (vehement non-gamer) to play those and enjoy them.

If I wanted to look for some more solid games along the lines of those two, any recommendations? What about something that might help them transition to something a little deeper without them even realizing?

I'd suggest keeping things light and sticking with gateway games before delving too deeply into highly-thematic titles; e.g. Pandemic may well be a safer choice than Zombicide if your wife is likely to be put off by a zombie-killing theme.

However, if your kids enjoy FPS video games, Flick 'em Up is fairly easy to learn and play, and makes for a light and enjoyable gateway game. It's basically a dexterity game with an outstanding western theme. It places you in the middle of a 3D wild west town with a variety of different scenarios to choose from. Players each control little wooden (or plastic) cowboy meeples who are either lawmen or outlaws. Cowboys can be moved around by flicking -- without using your thumb -- a disc around the table, and bullets are fired in a similar fashion. Various other items can also be collected and used as well (e.g. dynamite or a Winchester rifle, which shoots more accurately with the aid of a nifty cardboard template that improves your aim). Here's a photo that illustrates the components and such, which gives you the basic idea:



While it plays light-heartedly, you'd be surprised how tactical and tense it can become once players get the hang of it (duels in particular are great fun). With some Ennio Morricone background music, you'll have ';em hooked in no time.

That sounds awesome. Will definitely look into it!

Plus, sounds like it will help get me ready for Red Dead Resemption 2.

Played the first story of Stuffed Fables with my two boys. The 8 year old lost interest a little over half way through. In his defense, daddy spent quite a bit of time looking up various rules as they were encountered. It was pretty easy, though the final boss was a huge difficulty bump over everything else in the story and we nearly lost it there, but we managed to pull it together. I'm looking forward to the next story.

I have painted the stuffies and 2/3 of the minions for Stuffed Fables. I'm hoping to finish and get it to the table with my kids soon.

Those minions are kind of terrifying in gray... I hope you went with lots of pastels or your kids are older.

They don't like the doll head spiders, and there's nothing I can do to make them not-creepy. I picked up some slime and glowing blue to brighten up the Dark Hearts. The bronze/metal Mongrels are apparently cute. When I get the minions done, I'll post pictures to the miniatures thread.

I picked up THE GRIZZLED on Amazon for $12 yesterday. Have always heard good things, and for the price it was worth giving a shot.

Prepare to have your ass kicked.

Repeatedly, but you usually think there is a chance -- until it's too late.

My buddy picked up a $5 copy of the Magic the Gathering Arena of the Planeswalkers game a while back, but we finally managed to bring it to the table the last weekend. It really is HeroScape 2.0 - the basic rules and layout is nearly identical, with the only different being a tighter theme and the inclusion of a "spell deck" that allow you to actively change the flow of the game. Same dice, same hex shapes, same general feeling.

We enjoyed it (I think) and in terms of setup, it takes about 5 minutes -- a huge plus in comparison to HeroScape. I guess if you're opposed to pre-sorted decks and themed mages it might be problematic, but for something you can bust out and play in 90 minutes or so, I think it was a solid game. In theory you could lose your mind and start buying up all the expansions and creating point-based custom armies and decks...but then you're going down the insane path of HeroScape. The fact that they apparently over-produced the game and you get get copies for ~$10 is the bigger sell here.

Got in another game of Fallout last night. Well, a partial game, we called it at 11 because it's a school night. Played the most basic game again. One player had played Fallout New Vegas, but another had never played a Fallout game before. I had a good time, once again. The guy who had played FNV seemed to enjoy himself, but the non-player...I'm not so sure.

Because I had played this scenario before, I knew most of the events that came up, but I was going down a slightly different path, supporting the Institute vs the Railroad. I did botch a couple of rules early on, but nothing that had too much of an effect. It was kind of slow going because the other guys had some trouble grasping some of the rules, but we eventually got through it. They also had trouble keeping track of the narrative, as well as keeping track of what to do for the quests that were out on the table. When we finally called the game, I had 5 of the 9 needed influence to win.

Continue to find that weapons are so very necessary and so very hard to find. The Wasteland is a dangerous place, each of the other players died at least once.

If I can find some time this weekend, I would like to try another game, with a different scenario, maybe with my son.

Warhammer 40k: Conquest is on clearance at ThinkGeek for $25.

Got in two games tonight. Only two players tonight, as regular game night got cancelled.

We kicked things off by starting the PATH TO CARCOSA campaign for ARKHAM HORROR: THE LCG. Unlike the base campaign and THE DUNWICH LEGACY, we entered this campaign with a rich pool of high level cards to choose from. This enabled us to build some very strong decks right out of the gate, which I didn't mind doing since this game is difficult enough as it is.

As it turns out, those high-powered decks led to success but it was certainly no cakewalk. After a riveting 2-1/2 hour scenario, we came out victorious but challenged. I must say this campaign is off to a great start, and I hope the quality is sustained throughout.

Next up was THE GRIZZLED. We played with the 2-player rules, which introduces a dummy player whose only role is to provide randomized Support tokens to the other players. We were victorious in both our playthroughs (once on Rookie, once on Normal), but I suspect it was due to the low player count. With 2 players, we were able to "game" the support tokens a bit, and with only 2 players contributing to No Man's Land we never found ourselves in any real danger of losing.

Based on what we played, however, we both agreed that more players would definitely ramp up the difficulty a great deal. We're going to bring it as a quick add-on to our next Pandemic Legacy Season 2 night.

I also enjoyed it enough to pick up the expansion, which adds solitaire and new 2 player rules. I'm looking forward to giving that a whirl next week when it comes in.

My game group is planning on playing John company this Sunday. I normally learn games straight from the rulebook with 1 read no problem. But Sierra Madre games... They just don't like that I guess. I've spent hours wrapping my head around and and I think I'm still going to have to do a few dry runs before Sunday to be ready to teach it. It's dense. But it is really interesting so I'll post after how it goes.

Otherwise I tried the new expansion for fields of arle which allows for 3 players. I have to say I really enjoyed it as a three player game. It was very tight and competitive the entire time.