[PA Comic] Friday, October 11, 2013 - The Cylorg Menace

Geth

The Cylorg Menace
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/10/11

Molybdenum

oohhhhh nooooooo

In reality you would explain and shuffle and redeal but man

Quid

This is me and Arkham Horror.

Fucking Christ the setup for that game.

Albino Bunny

Basically anything Fantasy Flight makes requires a significant set up time and more table space than alot of people have.

On the other hand all their games are gorgeous, so I keep buying them.

PedroAsani

If you are unboxing from shrink wrap and setting up fresh, that's an hour. But the key is when you pack it away. I can have pretty much anything set up in a minute, because it is all packed away in order, separated by plastic bags, elastic bands, inlay tray compartments, etc.

Basically, start combat-loading your game boxes for rapid deployment. Four people playing Archipelago can be ready in seconds. "You grab the red stuff, you grab the blue stuff, you grab the yellow stuff. Put a boat here, take two of these and have this fistful of counters."

The longest set-up I have is Elder Sign, and that's only because I like to get the layout just so.

Rhesus Positive

We got a bunch of those coin bags from the bank to keep meeples in. They just about fit one player's Game of Thrones pieces.

I fantasize about having a massive cabinet like an old library card index to store all my board game pieces in.

Goatmon

Ahahah, you're not even trying Mike.

Vyolynce

Molybdenum wrote: »

In reality you would explain and shuffle and redeal but man

It happens every time. Whenever you're playing a game with a hidden traitor, some new player who clearly wasn't paying attention will look at their loyalty card and ask "how do I know if I'm <the saboteur>?" or some similar question. Every. Time.

zepherin

Ahh man that game is amazing. I think the setup is only rough the first time, afterwards it's 15 minutes or so. Arkham Horror on the other hand. I dream of a time when setting it up plus expansion takes under a half hour.

SwashbucklerXX

Ha ha ha, we played Battlestar Galactica at Snakes & Lattes* once. The game itself is all right, but we spent most of our time making our own fun, accusing each other liberally of being cylons and laughting when things got so dire that Starbuck ended up as President.

* Do you live in Toronto? Have you been to Snakes & Lattes? If not, what's wrong with you? It is a board game cafe that literally has multiple walls full of games to choose from and sells genuine French baguettes. Nothing about this concept is not awesome. Arrive early on weekends to get a table!

MikeN

Playing a game like BSG with a load of the expansions is a great way to make new players hate the game. I use the expansions in a 'pick & mix' fashion, adding specific elements rather than dumping everything into the game. Playing a game like BSG/Arkham with all the expansions comes across like a test of stamina rather than an enjoyable gaming session.

Chickeen

Thomas!

PMAvers

Sounds like someone is going to take a all-expenses paid trip to visit the beautiful and glorious airlock...

miaAusa

I miss Star Trek CCGs one of my favorite CCG games they should do one on that, one that is rarely played, lol but I love it, at least the Cylon make cute girls at least I think so didn't get to watch all of BSG, some of it. At least this is about tabletop games and such which are always fun : D

KalTorak

Cylon means Gabe's some sort of erotic pleasurebot, right?

admanb

KalTorak wrote: »

Cylon means Gabe's some sort of erotic pleasurebot, right?

What does Cylon have to do with Gabe being an erotic pleasurebot?

fightinfilipino

i actually think Arkham's easier to set up and play than Battlestar's weird gameplay dynamic.

does that make me strange?

zepherin

fightinfilipino wrote: »

i actually think Arkham's easier to set up and play than Battlestar's weird gameplay dynamic.

does that make me strange?

I would say that the play in Arkham is more straight forward, because the objective doesn't shift only the details, but I think the setup of it is more in depth..

Jacques L'Homme

Takes me back to my Axis & Allies days. An hour and a half of set up, just so we'd have to call it quits early because fucking giant cat attack oh shit!

Framling

I have something I need to say. Something that's been inside of me for a long time, and that needs to get out.

I don't like board games.

I've never really been attracted to them, as much as I've tried. Sure, I can appreciate a good board game aesthetically; I'll hear what the rules are, and think "oh, sure, that lends itself to some neat situations and scenarios." But whenever I'm faced with actually playing a board game, the prospect just holds no interest to me. And I've played a few. But every time, I'd find myself thinking "this just isn't for me." Usually, the only way I could get through it is by thinking about something else, and trying to get it over with as quickly as possible.

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. For years, there's been so many board game nights, so many Kickstarters my friends have paid into, so many colorful boxes staring at me from shelves in friends' living rooms. There's been so much pressure to try this system, or that expansion. So much time spent waiting my turn to play, when I'd rather be reading a book or watching a movie or drunkenly trying to explain how quantum mechanics can prove the equivalence of subatomic particles. I feel free.

I expect some of my friends to feel surprised, or maybe even betrayed by this. I want those people to know that this has nothing to do with them. Nothing they did turned me this way. It's not because they did a bad job of playing those games, or because they didn't make it fun enough for me. They are all good people, and I'm sure they will find someone wonderful who will love to play board games with them.

It just won't be me.

Because I don't like board games.

Kane Red Robe

This comic is spot on. My favorite BSG board game moment is probably when immediately after the sleeper phase deals out new loyalty cards our friend who had never played before asks, "So, if I have a 'Not a Cylon' card and a "You are a Cylon' card, which one am I?"

Thanatosia

Shame, if he'd actually watched the show I have a feeling his reaction to the Card would have been more along these lines.....

kemikos

My wife and I run a BSG game every couple of months for our FLGS. The third panel is exactly why I ALWAYS explain the special "secrecy rules" section of the manual immediately before distributing the Loyalty cards. Sorry, I don't have a solution for the first panel yet. Even with all the tokens and decks organized into their own individual baggies, there are just too many things that have to be manipulated before the game can start.

When you get a game going, though, and everyone's getting into it, and the accusations are flying, and the Raiders are attacking, and the water supplies are getting blown up and "GODSDAMMIT, guys, I'm NOT the Cylon! PLEASE let me out of the Brig so I can jump us away from the Basestars!" and...

It's all worth it.

Incidentally, we just got our pre-order of Firefly and tried it out yesterday, and while it won't take the title from BSG, it wants to be a contender. FOURTEEN separate decks of cards on the table. Not including the Monopoly-style piles of money in the "bank".

MikeN wrote: »

Playing a game like BSG with a load of the expansions is a great way to make new players hate the game. I use the expansions in a 'pick & mix' fashion, adding specific elements rather than dumping everything into the game. Playing a game like BSG/Arkham with all the expansions comes across like a test of stamina rather than an enjoyable gaming session.

That's actually how it's supposed to work, I think. Each of the expansions has a couple of different "modules" that you can use, or not. Some of them I don't think are compatible (such as the alternate endgame options from Exodus and Daybreak). Other parts are confusing and (I think) take away from the core experience of the game, without adding anything that improves on what was lost (which is unfortunate, because it's the core of BSG that is so great). The next time I run it, I think we'll use all of the new characters from the expansions ('cause more variety in character options is always better for experienced players), but without any of the optional add-ons.

Bartu

Do you guys played anytime to Talisman? Is not only a board game that takes a lot of time to prepare (specially if you're playing with newbies because you have to explain them ALL the rules), also the game itself takes you A LOT of time. If I remember correctly last time that I played a Talisman game with my friends it took us like 5 hours for end it, we started like at 23:00 and we finished at 4:00-4:30. It was devastating and was frustrating for me because I love epic fantasy games. I prefer by far board games like King of Tokyo, is very funny, easy to understand and very fast to play.

Echo2Omega

IF you are looking for an exceptional Battlestar Galactica game ....minus all the set up and Battlestar Galactica... you should really look at a game called The Resistance.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41114/the-resistance



King of Tokyo is a fantastic game.
Created by Richard Garfield who brought us:

Magic the Gathering!
Now celebrating 20 years of sucking wallets dry.

AND

Netrunner.
The current version is Android Netrunner published by FFG (Fantasy Flight Games) and probably one of the best games ever created.
OK that is an opinion but it should be a fact.

Bartu

Echo2Omega wrote: »

IF you are looking for an exceptional Battlestar Galactica game ....minus all the set up and Battlestar Galactica... you should really look at a game called The Resistance.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41114/the-resistance

Oh man! The Resistance is pretty dangerous, it almost destroyed my group of friends in only one game. I prefer instead this one: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9220/saboteur So similar to "The Resistance" and, in my opinion, more funny (and more safe for preserve your friendships).