[Board Games] Space Alert owns. Like, a lot.
scrivenerjones
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hello friends! This is your pal scrivenerjones and I am here to talk about board games.
This is a board game:
Looks like fun, right??? Of course not, Monopoly is a bad game. Fortunately there are also good games!
Here's a list I stole from Ryadic's old OP
~*~ Deck Building Games ~*~
Dominion
Oh my god this game is good. You use treasure cards (gold) to buy kingdom cards (white/blue) and victory cards (green). Victory cards dont do anything in your deck, but at the end of the game whoever has the most points wins. Sounds boring? Wrong!! There are dozens of different kingdom cards but you only play with 10 at a time, so every game will have its own strategy and counter-strategy. There are several expansions out, and they are all great (except for Alchemy. Sorry Alchemy!!). You can also play Dominion online for FREE at http://dominion.isotropic.org. In conclusion, Dominion Owns.
Also don't buy Village.
Puzzle Strike
It's a deck building game but with chips in a bag instead of cards in a deck! Pretty wacky. Also instead of Victory Points, you are trying to beat the other players at a Puzzle Fighter clone by stacking gems. Yeah I dunno either. People seem to like it though.
~*~ Worker Placement Games ~*~
Stone Age
Stone Age is my favorite game that I am terrible at. You have a collection of little guys--"meeples" if you will--that can be placed in different locations to perform different tasks. The theme is sort of based on hunter-gatherer society I guess?? Either way you have to feed your workers, get resources to buy huts and cards, and (this part is important) fuck over the other players as hard as you can by taking the cards and spaces that they need in order to win points. Great fun!!
Alien Frontiers
This game was some guy's Kickstarter project and it has gotten so much hype that he literally cannot keep the things in stock. The hype is deserved. It's a worker placement game where the dice are the workers?? And with a retro '50s space exploration theme??? I think you can still preorder as of this writing but they aren't coming out til March. Doesn't matter, buy it anyway.
~*~ Big Fuckoff Games That Won't Fit On Your Table But They Own Anyway ~*~
Android
Look at all of those bits, goddamn.
Android is a game about catching a murderer. But it's not like Clue, where the murderer is decided in advance and you are trying to figure out who it is--instead, you play as a detective who has a hunch, and you are trying to prove your man is innocent (or guilty). Does this mean you have a real hunch and are trying to find the truth? Or are you fixing up evidence to frame an innocent man/let the real killer go free? YOU CHOOSE! Count on 4-5 hours for this guy but the theme is great and you will probably have lots of fun.
~*~ Co-op Games That Own But Will Stress You The Fuck Out ~*~
See thread title.
Space Alert
Space Alert is a full cooperative, space-themed game where you and a crew of 4-5 (you can play with less, but you shouldn't) try to survive in space for ten minutes. Sounds easy? Figure you can just go full Pandemic/Forbidden Island and power-gamer every turn, making it trivial? Well, wrong, because those ten minutes take place in real time. Here is your ship, the Sitting Duck class space exploration vehicle:
You and your crewmates move about the ship, firing lasers and maintaining the reactors, as a CD soundtrack indicates when another terrifying space-being/enemy fighter/asteroid/deadly ship malfunction has appeared. In real time, you plan your ten-minute struggle to survive, then when it's all over there is a "resolution step" where you find out whether you survived (spoiler: you didn't). Each game doesn't take long--ten highly stressful minutes to actually play, then another fifteen or so to resolve what happened. However, the game is designed with a ramping difficulty, with gentle tutorials leading into tricky simulations leading into brutal full missions. So you'll want to commit a couple hours to this one. I played it for a solid sixteen hours over my birthday weekend and regret nothing.
EDIT: a post itt reminded me, there is a fanmade expansion called "Little Duckling" that shrinks the board and weakens the threats, making it playable with 1/2 players. I haven't tried it yet, but worth considering if you want to try SA but find it hard getting 4/5 people together.
EDIT2: here is a video review. watch it, then buy space alert, the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5fHzYtuHBA
~*~ Two Player Games ~*~
People always ask what is the best two player board game? There are many answers but only one correct one:
Twilight Struggle
The Cold War is our setting, with one player controlling the USSR and the other the USA. You can have influence over different countries of the globe (represented by the little numbered tokens) that goes up or down depending on what you do. A bunch of cards representing historical events/people/things (Cuban Missile Crisis, De-Stalinization, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) drive the action as the players react to them. It's asymmetrical but balanced, and how cool is that?? You can also play online for FREE, more on that later.
~-~
Got more games you like? Post about them! A post with resources and links and crap is next.
This is a board game:
Looks like fun, right??? Of course not, Monopoly is a bad game. Fortunately there are also good games!
Here's a list I stole from Ryadic's old OP
A pretty good list! Here are some other games that are fun to play.
If you like Risk, try looking into Twilight Imperium 3rd edition.
If you like Clue, try looking into Mystery Express.
If you like Monopoly, try looking into Acquire.
If you like Stratego, try looking into Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation: Deluxe Edition or the standard one.
If you're looking to have a pretty small collection, but one that covers a lot of ground, here's a good place to start:
- Worker placement. Stone Age
- 2 player game. Mr. Jack
- Light family game. Ticket to Ride: Europe
- Themed game. Battlestar Galactica
- Epic game. Twilight Imperium
- Filler game. For Sale
- Auction game. Ra
- Card game. Race for the Galaxy
~*~ Deck Building Games ~*~
Dominion
Oh my god this game is good. You use treasure cards (gold) to buy kingdom cards (white/blue) and victory cards (green). Victory cards dont do anything in your deck, but at the end of the game whoever has the most points wins. Sounds boring? Wrong!! There are dozens of different kingdom cards but you only play with 10 at a time, so every game will have its own strategy and counter-strategy. There are several expansions out, and they are all great (except for Alchemy. Sorry Alchemy!!). You can also play Dominion online for FREE at http://dominion.isotropic.org. In conclusion, Dominion Owns.
Also don't buy Village.
Puzzle Strike
It's a deck building game but with chips in a bag instead of cards in a deck! Pretty wacky. Also instead of Victory Points, you are trying to beat the other players at a Puzzle Fighter clone by stacking gems. Yeah I dunno either. People seem to like it though.
~*~ Worker Placement Games ~*~
Stone Age
Stone Age is my favorite game that I am terrible at. You have a collection of little guys--"meeples" if you will--that can be placed in different locations to perform different tasks. The theme is sort of based on hunter-gatherer society I guess?? Either way you have to feed your workers, get resources to buy huts and cards, and (this part is important) fuck over the other players as hard as you can by taking the cards and spaces that they need in order to win points. Great fun!!
Alien Frontiers
This game was some guy's Kickstarter project and it has gotten so much hype that he literally cannot keep the things in stock. The hype is deserved. It's a worker placement game where the dice are the workers?? And with a retro '50s space exploration theme??? I think you can still preorder as of this writing but they aren't coming out til March. Doesn't matter, buy it anyway.
~*~ Big Fuckoff Games That Won't Fit On Your Table But They Own Anyway ~*~
Android
Look at all of those bits, goddamn.
Android is a game about catching a murderer. But it's not like Clue, where the murderer is decided in advance and you are trying to figure out who it is--instead, you play as a detective who has a hunch, and you are trying to prove your man is innocent (or guilty). Does this mean you have a real hunch and are trying to find the truth? Or are you fixing up evidence to frame an innocent man/let the real killer go free? YOU CHOOSE! Count on 4-5 hours for this guy but the theme is great and you will probably have lots of fun.
~*~ Co-op Games That Own But Will Stress You The Fuck Out ~*~
See thread title.
Space Alert
Space Alert is a full cooperative, space-themed game where you and a crew of 4-5 (you can play with less, but you shouldn't) try to survive in space for ten minutes. Sounds easy? Figure you can just go full Pandemic/Forbidden Island and power-gamer every turn, making it trivial? Well, wrong, because those ten minutes take place in real time. Here is your ship, the Sitting Duck class space exploration vehicle:
You and your crewmates move about the ship, firing lasers and maintaining the reactors, as a CD soundtrack indicates when another terrifying space-being/enemy fighter/asteroid/deadly ship malfunction has appeared. In real time, you plan your ten-minute struggle to survive, then when it's all over there is a "resolution step" where you find out whether you survived (spoiler: you didn't). Each game doesn't take long--ten highly stressful minutes to actually play, then another fifteen or so to resolve what happened. However, the game is designed with a ramping difficulty, with gentle tutorials leading into tricky simulations leading into brutal full missions. So you'll want to commit a couple hours to this one. I played it for a solid sixteen hours over my birthday weekend and regret nothing.
EDIT: a post itt reminded me, there is a fanmade expansion called "Little Duckling" that shrinks the board and weakens the threats, making it playable with 1/2 players. I haven't tried it yet, but worth considering if you want to try SA but find it hard getting 4/5 people together.
EDIT2: here is a video review. watch it, then buy space alert, the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5fHzYtuHBA
~*~ Two Player Games ~*~
People always ask what is the best two player board game? There are many answers but only one correct one:
Twilight Struggle
The Cold War is our setting, with one player controlling the USSR and the other the USA. You can have influence over different countries of the globe (represented by the little numbered tokens) that goes up or down depending on what you do. A bunch of cards representing historical events/people/things (Cuban Missile Crisis, De-Stalinization, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) drive the action as the players react to them. It's asymmetrical but balanced, and how cool is that?? You can also play online for FREE, more on that later.
~-~
Got more games you like? Post about them! A post with resources and links and crap is next.
scrivenerjones on
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Posts
Stealing from Ryadic again:
~*~ Online play ~*~
Can't find anyone to sink seven hours into Arkham Horror with you? Your gaming group took one look at the BSG board and decided to play Fluxx instead? Now there's a solution--play online with strangers instead! Or internet friends, I guess. Here are some links.
Isotropic
Play Dominion online, with all the expansions, with a clean, useable UI, for free. What else do you need to know.
Brettspielwelt
This program is pretty obnoxious to use, but there are a lot of great Euro games available. Now you can get violated by Germans at Stone Age without having to buy a plane ticket!
VASSAL
VASSAL is a virtual tabletop program. There are hundreds (thousands?) of board games available--all you have to do is download a module for the game you want to play, load it up, and you are ready to go. Some of the modules are pretty barebones, so you have to do all the recordkeeping and piece-moving yourself, but others have automation built in that can really speed things along.
~*~ Space Alert Stuff ~*~
Mostly putting this stuff here so I can find it later.
Flash Player
Replaces the CDs that come with the game. Plays the mission tracks along with some helpful visuals, or randomize new ones.
Flash Turn Processor
Tell it the threats, tracks, and crew actions, and this flash app will run the resolution step for you. Very helpful, and watching the little dudes run around, hit buttons, and die horribly is chuckleworthy.
~*~ PA Board Game Pals ~*~
From the old OP. If you want to be included or something is out of date, post away!
True
True
False
I figured it was horribly out of date so I left it out. Going to grab it now though!
I've asked myself that tons of times before. I personally would love to get Twilight Imperium in the worst way, as I love MOO style games... but the time investment has made pretty much all my friends say no. When I say "Rails" game, it is something similar -- build rail networks, trade goods, basically either dominate the map or resources or whatever. Catan sort of has these qualities, but with single cities instead of networks.
And yeah, I meant Arabian Knights.
For reference, I own:
BSG+Pegasus
Arkham Horror + 7 expansions (Currently on hiatus until I perfect its carrying/organization scheme)
Chaos in the Old World
Citadels
Drakon
Wings of War (Dawn of WWII)
Most of these were bought on suggestion from this very thread, where I ask these questions every 6 months or so.
My play group also has:
Starcraft
Dominion (to the point of burnout, they love it at my office)
Carcasonne + a couple expansions
Settlers of Catan + 5-6 (including Seafarers and Knights & Citadels)
And a few others that are less played cuz I don't hang out with them as often, such as Horus Herasy.
(What does the OP mean by "Don't buy the village" for Dominion? Everyone always buys those out first to chain actions...)
Your group also should have Puerto Rico available.
Yes, which is why not buying villages is an easy way to be better than your friends almost instantly!
It's on the list. A bud of mine played it and loved it, so he'll be getting it when he gets a chance.
Power Grid intrigued me when I saw its box, but I wasn't sure how much economy there was to the game.
The plants are auctioned off each round; each player only can buy one, so the last to buy gets theirs at cost automatically. Then, there is a commodities market where each player in order (worst to first) can buy fuel for their plants. Next, you pay to connect new cities to your grid (with limitations on how many can provide power to a given city). Finally, power up your plants and get income based on the number of cities you provide power to. Finally, re-rank all players (by number of cities, then value of their most expensive plant), add some goods to the commodities market, clean up the auction group, and do it all over again the next round.
The value of a plant depends on how efficient it is and what fuel it uses; the cost of fuel can fluctuate significantly depending on how many players are using it at the time and how quickly its supply is replenished (which depends on the number of players and the board used).
BSG, Citadels, and Catan are the most frequently brought out. Starcraft requires the right mix, and Chaos is our "we can't find enough players" game. Arkham... well, I'm looking outside of my normal gaming group to play that, due to a lot of factors.
The biggest issue is that my gaming group isn't getting together as much as we used to, now that we are out of college and slightly drifting apart. It'd be easier if I had a car, because then I could go to the 2-3 local gaming clubs.
Honestly, at this point I'm trying to make up my mind between Civ and Twilight Imperium. I'm -really- in the mood for an empire building game... and frak my friends.
Then we took off the kids gloves and we were at each other throats at every crisis card resolution.
This game can, and will, destroy friendships.
Fucking amazing board game. A shame I don't really have a consistent gaming group.
Id like to, also, say dont get a huge empire building game without the friends to play it with you. Its going to be expensive and take up a large amount of room. And then you'll never get to play it. I've fallen into this trap many times and am just telling you what I wish people would have told me.
Don't get me wrong, I want to play. But I think it's one of those things where you have to look before you leap. I won't buy a game without seeing an action report here, and I love following along.
Also, on BSG: Exodus should help with that whole "revealed traitor" aspect. And I -have- destroyed friendships over BSG. I have an awesome friend who gets exceedingly competitive about games and takes it very hard when he loses.
Arkham Horror
Fight off Cthulhu and try not to go insane! This is the first game most people think of when they hear "Fantasy Flight", and for good reason. One of the most atmospheric games and polarizing due to its heavy dependence on luck. It is also GIGANTIC. So, the base game hardly even fits my living room table? And now you're telling me there are seven expansions?
Everyone who played Arkham have their own horror stories on how they never played the game correctly, but this is more a problem of "having over 2000 bits that interact with each other in ways you didn't think possible until you read them" instead of the main rules. Get someone to teach you and you'll be flying through the turns in no time. As a bonus it even plays solo very well.
Twilight Imperium is just a more in depth version of Starcraft I think. I personally prefer Starcraft because games last around 4 - 5 hours rather than 8 - 12.
I could recommend Power Grid, Puerto Rico, Race for the Galaxy, Agricola, Age of Empires III, Chicago Express, Steam/Age of Steam, and a bunch of other games that are amazing that you don't have.
This is true. There are some amazing rules summary sheets out there, and one I've become very fond of the modular reference sheet, which fits on 4 pages (5 with the annotations for where the ruling comes from). I'm also in the process of boxing and sorting my cards so that I can quickly insert or remove parts as we decide upon playing.
You know, I wrote off Android as just being some shallow copy of Shadowrun or something.
... It really appears that I was wrong. Damnit. And I really like Kevin Wilson's work, too!
Dammit, why did I only see this now. I spent my evening being stuck in a frustrating advanced map in Portal when I could have played TS. Anyway, I play the newest module, 3.05 for the deluxe version. We should play sometime.
One thing I'd like to touch on though, and ask for people's input, is the controversies of the two. Within Video Games, sexism seems to be the common problem. Many games exist with no or few female character options, always restricted to impossible proportions, trapped in armor that resembles lingerie more than protective clothing, etc. Flat female characters that are often weak and voiceless. This doesn't seem to be as much of a problem within board games. It's always fun to introduce new players to the female character options in Arkham Horror, listing off that they can play not just the beautiful socialite, but the psychologist, the college student, the author, the scientist, the researcher, and the nun in the base game alone.
On the other hand, I see complaints of racism come up more often in board games. While there are certainly examples within video games, they don't seem to get much attention. On the other hand, I've seen multiple comments on the racial implications of Puerto Rico, or complaints of racial stereotypes (from as vastly different places as characters in Arkham Horror to the theme of Wok Star).
Am I just noticing exceptions and coincidences, or does this seem to be the case? And if so, why?
video games are pretty racist too but other than that you have a point.
also here is a Good Post from another forum about village and why it is garbage
I mean, I mostly agree with you here, but there's a difference between describing a historical fact and simulating being a slaveowner.
Really, though, Puerto Rico's theme is so shallow that I don't think anyone should care what the little brown bits are supposed to be.
A friend of mine picked up a bunch of new boardgames the other day and we played through them. He got Carcassonne Hunters and Gatherers which blows the original clean out of the water as far as I'm concerned. It has better mechanics and the gameplay feels tighter, there's no reason to really touch the original anymore in my opinion.
He also picked up Forbidden Island which was surprised me, I was expecting it to just be a worse pandemic but it's actually decently fun. We started on the second hardest difficulty and got smoked our first game but we managed to eke out the win a second time. The roles do not seemed balanced at all however, and instead of randomizing them I'd say that people should pick which ones they want based on how hard they want the game to be.
He also grabbed 7 wonders, which was pretty fun. We only got one game in but I'm definitely looking forward to playing it more. None of us were really prepared for the cards that hit in the third age but now that we know what to expect I'm looking forward into seeing what strategies evolve.
He also got the german edition of Ticket to Ride, which seems better than the other version that I've played but was still not really my cup of tea.
In the end it's all a bit silly, as it's just board games. Even when I've explained the theme of Puerto Rico before a game for newcomers, and receive a few raised eye brows, I've never had anyone refuse to play or even remember the complaint once the game gets underway.
This is another good point: boardgames are much more abstract than, for instance, increasingly photo realistic video games. Not that I believe in the harmful effects of video games either.
About simulation:what about playing Germany in Axis & Allies? As I see it, it should be possible to separate the ethical questions from the strategic/tactical ones. Unless we're talking about something like "Auschwitz: the worker placement game". Then again, what about something like this: artwork/boardgame hybrid.
But really, most board games are perfectly fine with just being semi-complex problem generators that the players have to work through. Should board games eventually reach the point of being about "the experience" or "the story" things might change.
That said, I'm not sure I even recognize the picture of more racism controversies in board games than video games. It's just a much more niche market, and so it's less visible, and there are fewer people to get in silly flame wars about perceived racism.
The niche factor also explains why board game companies in general do more for their customers than the video game industry. Also, there are fewer people between the game designer and the gamer in board gaming.
don't do this
Heh. If it wasn't for the example in the rulebook, I would have thought this would mean the Soviets losing, as they caused DEFCON to drop. One of the weirder features of the rules.