The flavor text on some of the Waterdeep cards is great too.
Although my favorite bit of flavor smuggling is the "Tame Owlbears" quest, which gives you a warrior as part of its reward. It takes a while to realize that the warrior is the owlbear.
Isn't there also some "convert the unbelievers" type quest that returns a bunch of priests?
The flavor text on some of the Waterdeep cards is great too.
Although my favorite bit of flavor smuggling is the "Tame Owlbears" quest, which gives you a warrior as part of its reward. It takes a while to realize that the warrior is the owlbear.
Isn't there also some "convert the unbelievers" type quest that returns a bunch of priests?
Yeah, and something along the lines of "send aid to the templars" that returns you a small army of templars (warriors). Most of the time when you get cubes as a reward it can be justified by the quest's theme. But I find those to be pretty obvious, whereas I think the Owlbear one is fairly subtle.
<snip>
On the two-player thing, I may try Lost Cities sometime soon, as I have to admit that I've never played it, even though so many of my friends have and they all say it's the absolute classic two-player game.
I would put a caveat on that. It's the absolute classic two-player game to play with your wife. I would argue that Battle Line surpasses Lost Cities in every meaningful way.
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<snip>
On the two-player thing, I may try Lost Cities sometime soon, as I have to admit that I've never played it, even though so many of my friends have and they all say it's the absolute classic two-player game.
I would put a caveat on that. It's the absolute classic two-player game to play with your wife. I would argue that Battle Line surpasses Lost Cities in every meaningful way.
Babel is my preferred Two Player Lost Cities a like. It comes with genuine stone obelisks. How can you resist?
I can't explain it, and maybe it's irrational, but I've had the itch to play a nice Euro lately and Waterdeep is not capable of scratching that itch.
What is this I don't even.
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
I keep looking at Sedition Wars and thinking, "I should get on that."
But then I look at it a little longer and keep asking myself, "Why?"
I guess this is one positive aspect to having about as many games as I want to have: It really makes me seriously consider any further acquisitions.
Also, Luna arrived today. I will post details at the eventual juncture where I get to play it.
Custom SpecialI know I am, I'm sure I am,I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered Userregular
Honestly, for SW I'm not nearly so interested in the game as I am scoring a metric butt-ton of minis for a great price.
If the game is fun, I'll play it. If it's not, I can just use the minis with other rules.
Anyway, I have been watching the PBP of Lords of Waterdeep here and quite like the look of it. Do people here think this is a good buy, as everything I have seen makes me think that it will be good. I personally prefer more complex games than this but my gaming group prefer things like this so I think it fits well. Thoughts?
LoW doesn't quite have the depth of other worker placement games like Agricola or Pillars of the Earth, in part because of the randomness of the quests and buildings, but it plays relatively quickly (<90 minutes). It makes a great introduction to that genre of games.
I've played Shadow Hunters once and I wasn't quite sure what I thought of it because, well, I wasn't sure what I thought of it. I think the game didn't have enough of us talking directly to each other, though. We didn't spend as much time lying and pretending and trying to deduce who was who.
I've generally found Shadow Hunters to be more about watching what other players DO than what they say. When you pay attention to who's drawing the most green cards and who they're attacking, you can at least get an idea of who opposes whom, then it's a matter of waiting until you get pulled into a circle of trust. Either that, or somebody reveals their character card for a special ability and the teams become apparent pretty quickly.
Battlestar Galactica has never been high on my list and I'm afraid I keep hearing people saying how much they're not fans of it.
It's been one of my top games for the last 2 years or so. The first couple of games can be rough because you don't understand the context of your decisions (nor do you really have any idea how to play if you're a Cylon). It takes some time investment to really "get" how the game works, but once you do, there's really nothing else like it.
Have you tried the variation where the spies don't know who the other spies are, so that everyone's playing blind? That can help balance it a lot. And please let me know how The Target goes, as I've never played it and I'd love to hear from someone who has.
Can't say that I have tried that variation.
As for The Target, I've read the rules for it and they seemed a bit convoluted, but I still think it has promise. I know exactly the group to play it with too.
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TrynantManiac BrawlerRank 20.100 and full WildRegistered Userregular
Virgin Queen came into the mail yesterday, along with Napoleon's Triumph and The Ares Project. The latter two I haven't looked into much yet, but the first one? Holy shit wargame/euro/grand strategy wtf. Politics, intrigue, warfare, variable player powers, CDG mechnaics, tons of bits; I feel like I'm looking at a more Euro (or I guess wargame) version of TI3, except better. I am as impressed by Virgin Queen as I am stumped at how I'm going to get 6 players at the table for this crazy, in-depth game.
Virgin Queen came into the mail yesterday, along with Napoleon's Triumph and The Ares Project. The latter two I haven't looked into much yet, but the first one? Holy shit wargame/euro/grand strategy wtf. Politics, intrigue, warfare, variable player powers, CDG mechnaics, tons of bits; I feel like I'm looking at a more Euro (or I guess wargame) version of TI3, except better. I am as impressed by Virgin Queen as I am stumped at how I'm going to get 6 players at the table for this crazy, in-depth game.
Don't forget about the time you need to keep those players at the table for. <_<
Got to play my first game of Eclipse last night. $100 seemed a bit pricey o_O
Twas fun though. I was surprised how it managed to emulate a 4x computer game while keeping it manageable. I was expecting another Starcraft the board game.
Maybe the randomness is a taaaaaaaaad high in drawing high value systems and rewards. I think I stumbled on the brokeness of plasma missiles. Once I made some missile boats I managed to snag 4th place out of 6 despite being dead last for resources all game (like, one-third of the next poorest guy). Who needs hull or shields or power when you have 3 missiles and a +3 computer on a cruiser? My future goal will be a 5 missile +3 computer dreadnaught. If I could build a missile out of missiles I would!
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Got to play my first game of Eclipse last night. $100 seemed a bit pricey o_O
Twas fun though. I was surprised how it managed to emulate a 4x computer game while keeping it manageable. I was expecting another Starcraft the board game.
Maybe the randomness is a taaaaaaaaad high in drawing high value systems and rewards. I think I stumbled on the brokeness of plasma missiles. Once I made some missile boats I managed to snag 4th place out of 6 despite being dead last for resources all game (like, one-third of the next poorest guy). Who needs hull or shields or power when you have 3 missiles and a +3 computer on a cruiser? My future goal will be a 5 missile +3 computer dreadnaught. If I could build a missile out of missiles I would!
That seems ... dicey on the dreadnaughts. If anyone else puts missiles on a fighter, they're going to give you fits.
I'll be interested to see if the expansion addresses the 'problems' that missiles produce, since most people can't seem to agree on what exactly the 'problem' is. Heh ...
New Tabletop is up, featuring Gloom. It looks like the kind of game you'd have to play with the right people to really get the best out of it.
I haven't watched the video, but I've owned Gloom for 5 years or so. I'm not convinced that there are right people to get anything good out of that game. I mean, sure, you get the right set of friends and you could play with blank index cards and have a good time. Probably a better time than with Gloom. The see-through card thing doesn't actually work very well in practice and the whole game burns down into a relatively shitty matching game without any of the Addams-family-ish theme coming through at all.
Played some Dungeon Run and Cards Against Humanity.
The former is okay. It's a weird combination of a tad too simplistic and a tad too long-running. The second phase of the game (that's directly adversarial rather than tangentially adversarial) was basically non-existent for us. The first phase lasted for an hour and a half or so, then the second phase for maybe 30 minutes, most of which was two players going back in forth attrition-style. I'm not a big fan of any game with player elimination, but it does at least leave it toward the end of the game.
The latter is a great Apples to Apples replacement. I hate Apples to Apples with the fury of a thousand suns. Maybe I'm puerile and have too much appreciation for potty-humor, but Cards Against Humanity plays like the 'game' that Apples to Apples wanted to be. It's still not much of an actual game, per-se, but at least it's consistently funny.
I'll be interested to see if the expansion addresses the 'problems' that missiles produce, since most people can't seem to agree on what exactly the 'problem' is. Heh ...
Basically that they use up no power, beat any defensive tile 1 for 1, have first shot priority, and do the same amount of damage as (high power cost) anti-matter guns while allowing the damage to be more flexible (2 damage on two targets vs. 4 damage on one). Their only disadvantage is only firing once, but any battle where you're outmatched enough that you can't cripple the enemy with the missile volley, you were going to lose even worse in a beam weapon fight.
In the Gloom Tabletop episode they turn it into a storytelling game. Dunno if that's the intent of it originally.
Considering that the flavor text and the concept are the only redeemable things about the game, it might be. I own it and all the expansions (except Cthulhu... so far) and it's fine, but it's never anything I desperately want to play or anything.
I'll be interested to see if the expansion addresses the 'problems' that missiles produce, since most people can't seem to agree on what exactly the 'problem' is. Heh ...
Basically that they use up no power, beat any defensive tile 1 for 1, have first shot priority, and do the same amount of damage as (high power cost) anti-matter guns while allowing the damage to be more flexible (2 damage on two targets vs. 4 damage on one). Their only disadvantage is only firing once, but any battle where you're outmatched enough that you can't cripple the enemy with the missile volley, you were going to lose even worse in a beam weapon fight.
Oh, I know there is an assorted variety of 'issues'. But the game doesn't turn into 'missiles are the auto-win'. Yes, you'll do good in battles, but by no means are you guaranteed the game. I think the biggest 'problem' is that they create an all-in sort of blueprint, and require very specific all-in counter builds to suppress them. It's just, when that happens, people on the OTHER side of the galaxy have a lot of breathing room to kind of do whatever they like.
If it doesn't always win, how is it broken?
That said, it's not particularly fun to do or fight against. I think that's what needs to be 'fixed'.
Yeah, missiles are good on paper, but in practise they don't win you the game. Part of it is that they can be countered, another part is that other aspects of your ship (especially drives) can be very important but overlooked, but I think the main thing is that Eclipse isn't a wargame. I keep seeing people with good combat ships generally, whether missiles or guns, who get tempted into battles that they can win but which don't net them enough points to have made it worth it.
I disagree that they can be countered. You can try, but for every tile you devote to advanced hulls or shields, that's one more tile your opponent can just chuck another missile onto. Computers outpace shields and missile damage outpaces hulls. If you go for beam weapons, you have to also research and upgrade better power sources which puts you even further behind the pure missile guy.
Something doesn't have to be an auto-win to be overpowered (just take a look at the Bloodletter upgrade in Chaos in the Old World). Sure you can be bogged down in a sub-optimal war while others build up another way to win, but that's true with any battles regardless of what the ships are outfitted with. I'm saying that when battles do happen, pure missiles + computers outdo any other weapon/defense configuration. Engines are another issue entirely.
So I got my first play of Space Empires 4x in. It was definitely a learning game. We lost track of moving guys sometimes. We lost track of growing colonies sometimes. Jer accidentally colonized a barren world but we just swapped it for a different one because who cares first game? We also constantly found ourselves rechecking our attack rolls. So wait, it was 5 plus 2 for my technology plus 1 for fleet size bonus, but minus 1 for your defense and minus 1 for your technology? Did I remember the fleet size bonus? But overall it was a lot of fun. I mostly just built up and went straight for the kill, although there was a little back and forth as I drove off his initial defense fleet, he came back with more, I retreated, then I came back with more and went for the kill. It was actually rather funny because right as the end, when I attacked his homeworld, we realized for the first time that ship yards actually do have an attack strength! Holy shit! So I slowly whittled away at his shipyards then obliterated his homeworld. I found myself getting so caught up in the game I was making ship explody sounds. Then quickly stopped myself when I realized how irate that would probably make me if someone was rubbing their success in my face that much.
I have to admit, at least in the game we played, dice didn't seem to be insanely streaky and luck very quickly averaged back out. Often you have plenty of time to screen ships or retreat them. Unless you start out completely overwhelmed then you really do just have to pray. I suspect it has something to do with the combinatorics being more simplistic. In C&C:A you may roll every side of the dice perfectly evenly, but context is everything. In Space Empires 4X lower is better period.
Definitely excited to play it again. Our small learning game took about 2 hours? We could probably knock it out in about 90 minutes next time.
In the Gloom Tabletop episode they turn it into a storytelling game. Dunno if that's the intent of it originally.
Considering that the flavor text and the concept are the only redeemable things about the game, it might be. I own it and all the expansions (except Cthulhu... so far) and it's fine, but it's never anything I desperately want to play or anything.
I've had some good games of Gloom, and it's definitely a storytelling game. You also have to talk in funny voices.
I have an itch for a giant game, and have been considering Twilight Imperium, but all this talk of Descent 2nd ed. have caught my interest. And cool paintable miniatures is not helping me keep my wallet in my pocket 8->
Is it fun?
3DS - 2878-9572-9277
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Custom SpecialI know I am, I'm sure I am,I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered Userregular
Ugh, decided to go ahead and jump on the Sedition Wars bandwagon... (Going for Biohazard + the Calamity crew.)
...and Kickstarter seems to be having some problems with their website. Keeps on 404'ing when I try to add a pledge.
EDIT: A e-mail to the KS crew later, and it's fixed.
Yes! Welcome to the party.
I've got the same, plus a THI carapace.
And the pledges are still cruising in. This morning I was skeptical for the 920k stretch but we're getting up there.
Edit: Yup, topped OGRE and is now the largest Kickstarter board game to date.
I have an itch for a giant game, and have been considering Twilight Imperium, but all this talk of Descent 2nd ed. have caught my interest. And cool paintable miniatures is not helping me keep my wallet in my pocket 8->
Is it fun?
So apparently Tom Vasel has seen Descent 2nd ed, and he is excited about it. There are some significant changes to it; in particular, the game has been streamlined and simplified, and the "campaign" aspect has been strengthened. Here's the link. So the idea is that you can play a two-hour scenario, and it fits into an overarching campaign, which branches and has options available based on the results of past scenarios. So they claim that the "17 two-part encounters" and the campaign structure leads to "years of replayability". It's also supposed to be compatible with the older stuff with the "conversion kit", but do you think they include that in the base game? 'Cuz I can't tell from the description.
So this supposedly makes it better for a wider audience, and tries to keep the "fun" and excise the fiddly and frustrating bits. Sounds promising, but I guess these things always do.
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I got to play several three player games of Ticket to Ride, Citadels, and Waterdeep over the past week. Still enjoying them quite a bit. I'm about ready to trade Wiz-War, though. My reaction to it is lukewarm and everyone I've played it has ranged from "Ehh." to hating it. I had such high hopes for that game, too.
I also had my first non-solo game of Castle Ravenloft. It was balls hard, but we (barely) beat Adventure 2. I still need to play it several more times before making a decision, but I don't think it will be sticking around for long.
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Just ordered Indonesia.
Remember, it's not the quantity of my games, but the average individual value of them. ;P
Just ordered Indonesia.
Remember, it's not the quantity of my games, but the average individual value of them. ;P
I actually got the chance to play Indonesia. It's fairly intense Euro'ness, but definitely a game I'd play again. Also, it has pretty pebbles. How cool is that!
In the least topical Boardgame news ever, Agricola did arrive before our holiday, the wife and I got a two player game in and it turns out it went down rather well. I won due to getting stone house upgrade while she was still in wood, but nobody starved and she enjoyed it enough to suggest a second game so clearly a winner!
In even less topical news I turned down that second game to try out the original Games Workshop published copy of Dungeon Quest we recently found for £1 in a charity shop. Silly fun. First game I escaped with a piddling amount of randomly encountered treasure after Mrs Jam had made it to the Dragon but failed to work out her escape time and died at sunset. We decided to try out the other characters in a quick follow up game. Quick was the word as I got stuck in a dead end within the first couple of turns and in searching for an exit copped an unfortunate death by giant centipede shortly after, leaving Mrs. Jam to stroll back out the dungeon, empty handed but winner by virtue of not being dead. Silly fun indeed.
we got in another game of Indeonesia at board game week last week (it's been a favorite for the last couple years).
It was good times but I just got slaughtered. Came in 3rd of 4 people with a bit more than 1600. 2nd place had a bit more than 2100 and the winner had a bit more than 2300.
Dungeonquest is great, especially with kids, It's a relatively quick game, easy to understand, and since everyone will die all the time there's always something funny going on to someone else. The old GW heroes expansion improves things with a better range of dudes to take in.
I had a hellafun game of Battlestar Galatica (vanilla) this weekend.
I got the first cylon card, as the only military leader. so i was playing a pretty conservative game, but we had a crisis that was going to allow the looking of a loyalty card and the group likes to pick on me, so i tried to vote it down which suggested it was either me or one other person as the cylon, then another card came up with the same damn 'look at a loyalty card' thing that i couldnt stop and i was shown as a cylon. So before they could vote me into the brig, i revealed, shot the president, and went to the ressurection ship.
Our group was not having a good time up to this point, lots of ships appearing and little jump track movement, we already had taken some hits.
Once on the ship i was doing what i could and the ship was still having really bad luck with everything so it seemed like all it needed was a little push....we got to the second loyalty card handout and i got the second cylon card. I used the ressurection ship to cylon up my successor, and dispite them thinking he was a cylon, the moral must have taken a hit cause they tried to vote him out once but we kept it from happening and we eventually killed the last human population at 6 distance.
I got the newest expansion to Quarriors and added it to my base set and expansion. A few thoughts:
1. The new box IS a much better way to store things. Plus everything looks so pretty laid out in rows the way it is. My sparkly dice, prrrecious.
2. The new dice are pretty powerful, but change up some dynamics in a nice way. I'm a bit concerned about the puppetmaster, as it turns out to be an unkillable die under many conditions. Our winner used it for his win, despite the fact that it was killed on two subsequent attack turns AND took a "destroy target die" spell in the face. Pretty annoying.
3. The optional extra buy rule doesn't really improve the game that much. I'd thought it might, but all it really does is let you buy two dice when you have, say, 7 quiddity available and there's no 7 cost die. There was never a turn when it really made sense to buy two crappy dice instead of the best die, still. We didn't play with the second optional rule that requires you to cull a die to score. That seems like it could improve the decision making, but might make the game drag out longer than it has a right to. I'm still not satisfied that the core gameplay of Quarriors is good enough to rank this as a great game. It's a fun game when quick, but with the longest combination of rules and the fact that I've spent over $100 to get the base plus expansions, I'm not sure I can recommend it as a primary game, still.
I got the newest expansion to Quarriors and added it to my base set and expansion. A few thoughts:
1. The new box IS a much better way to store things. Plus everything looks so pretty laid out in rows the way it is. My sparkly dice, prrrecious.
2. The new dice are pretty powerful, but change up some dynamics in a nice way. I'm a bit concerned about the puppetmaster, as it turns out to be an unkillable die under many conditions. Our winner used it for his win, despite the fact that it was killed on two subsequent attack turns AND took a "destroy target die" spell in the face. Pretty annoying.
3. The optional extra buy rule doesn't really improve the game that much. I'd thought it might, but all it really does is let you buy two dice when you have, say, 7 quiddity available and there's no 7 cost die. There was never a turn when it really made sense to buy two crappy dice instead of the best die, still. We didn't play with the second optional rule that requires you to cull a die to score. That seems like it could improve the decision making, but might make the game drag out longer than it has a right to. I'm still not satisfied that the core gameplay of Quarriors is good enough to rank this as a great game. It's a fun game when quick, but with the longest combination of rules and the fact that I've spent over $100 to get the base plus expansions, I'm not sure I can recommend it as a primary game, still.
The box is actually pretty great. We liked the extra buy rule, it made it feel less like Yahtzee, and the Wizard is more attractive when you can quickly pick up spells to feed him. I suppose it depends on the table layout.
The second rule (only cull the die you scored with) is bad and they should feel bad. There aren't enough other ways to cull dice, so it makes the first expansion really mean. At some point I want to try the variant I saw on BGG where you can either score (in which case you have to cull that die) or cull any die, but not score.
I'm confused, antherem. That IS the rule they recommend in Quarmageddon. You can either cull the die that's scoring to score, or you can not cull it and just follow the normal rules.
I'm confused, antherem. That IS the rule they recommend in Quarmageddon. You can either cull the die that's scoring to score, or you can not cull it and just follow the normal rules.
Maybe I misread it, but it looks like you can only cull the die that just scored.
"When you score a die, you can only cull the die that scored and you can only score the glory for that die if you cull it. I.e, if you score with a Quake Dragon Die, THAT dragon is the only die you may cull and you only score the glory if you cull it!."
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EvilBadmanDO NOT TRUST THIS MANRegistered Userregular
edited July 2012
If you're a fan of the underground comic Penny Arcade, and its niche series Paint The Line, its card game is available to preorder.
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Isn't there also some "convert the unbelievers" type quest that returns a bunch of priests?
Yeah, and something along the lines of "send aid to the templars" that returns you a small army of templars (warriors). Most of the time when you get cubes as a reward it can be justified by the quest's theme. But I find those to be pretty obvious, whereas I think the Owlbear one is fairly subtle.
I would put a caveat on that. It's the absolute classic two-player game to play with your wife. I would argue that Battle Line surpasses Lost Cities in every meaningful way.
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Babel is my preferred Two Player Lost Cities a like. It comes with genuine stone obelisks. How can you resist?
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
But then I look at it a little longer and keep asking myself, "Why?"
I guess this is one positive aspect to having about as many games as I want to have: It really makes me seriously consider any further acquisitions.
Also, Luna arrived today.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
If the game is fun, I'll play it. If it's not, I can just use the minis with other rules.
LoW doesn't quite have the depth of other worker placement games like Agricola or Pillars of the Earth, in part because of the randomness of the quests and buildings, but it plays relatively quickly (<90 minutes). It makes a great introduction to that genre of games.
I've generally found Shadow Hunters to be more about watching what other players DO than what they say. When you pay attention to who's drawing the most green cards and who they're attacking, you can at least get an idea of who opposes whom, then it's a matter of waiting until you get pulled into a circle of trust. Either that, or somebody reveals their character card for a special ability and the teams become apparent pretty quickly.
It's been one of my top games for the last 2 years or so. The first couple of games can be rough because you don't understand the context of your decisions (nor do you really have any idea how to play if you're a Cylon). It takes some time investment to really "get" how the game works, but once you do, there's really nothing else like it.
Can't say that I have tried that variation.
As for The Target, I've read the rules for it and they seemed a bit convoluted, but I still think it has promise. I know exactly the group to play it with too.
Aces Wild is a pretty stellar game.
Blog, Playing Rules; Let's Play Demon's Souls; My Backlog
Don't forget about the time you need to keep those players at the table for. <_<
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Twas fun though. I was surprised how it managed to emulate a 4x computer game while keeping it manageable. I was expecting another Starcraft the board game.
Maybe the randomness is a taaaaaaaaad high in drawing high value systems and rewards. I think I stumbled on the brokeness of plasma missiles. Once I made some missile boats I managed to snag 4th place out of 6 despite being dead last for resources all game (like, one-third of the next poorest guy). Who needs hull or shields or power when you have 3 missiles and a +3 computer on a cruiser? My future goal will be a 5 missile +3 computer dreadnaught. If I could build a missile out of missiles I would!
That seems ... dicey on the dreadnaughts. If anyone else puts missiles on a fighter, they're going to give you fits.
I'll be interested to see if the expansion addresses the 'problems' that missiles produce, since most people can't seem to agree on what exactly the 'problem' is. Heh ...
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
I haven't watched the video, but I've owned Gloom for 5 years or so. I'm not convinced that there are right people to get anything good out of that game. I mean, sure, you get the right set of friends and you could play with blank index cards and have a good time. Probably a better time than with Gloom. The see-through card thing doesn't actually work very well in practice and the whole game burns down into a relatively shitty matching game without any of the Addams-family-ish theme coming through at all.
Played some Dungeon Run and Cards Against Humanity.
The former is okay. It's a weird combination of a tad too simplistic and a tad too long-running. The second phase of the game (that's directly adversarial rather than tangentially adversarial) was basically non-existent for us. The first phase lasted for an hour and a half or so, then the second phase for maybe 30 minutes, most of which was two players going back in forth attrition-style. I'm not a big fan of any game with player elimination, but it does at least leave it toward the end of the game.
The latter is a great Apples to Apples replacement. I hate Apples to Apples with the fury of a thousand suns. Maybe I'm puerile and have too much appreciation for potty-humor, but Cards Against Humanity plays like the 'game' that Apples to Apples wanted to be. It's still not much of an actual game, per-se, but at least it's consistently funny.
Basically that they use up no power, beat any defensive tile 1 for 1, have first shot priority, and do the same amount of damage as (high power cost) anti-matter guns while allowing the damage to be more flexible (2 damage on two targets vs. 4 damage on one). Their only disadvantage is only firing once, but any battle where you're outmatched enough that you can't cripple the enemy with the missile volley, you were going to lose even worse in a beam weapon fight.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Considering that the flavor text and the concept are the only redeemable things about the game, it might be. I own it and all the expansions (except Cthulhu... so far) and it's fine, but it's never anything I desperately want to play or anything.
Oh, I know there is an assorted variety of 'issues'. But the game doesn't turn into 'missiles are the auto-win'. Yes, you'll do good in battles, but by no means are you guaranteed the game. I think the biggest 'problem' is that they create an all-in sort of blueprint, and require very specific all-in counter builds to suppress them. It's just, when that happens, people on the OTHER side of the galaxy have a lot of breathing room to kind of do whatever they like.
If it doesn't always win, how is it broken?
That said, it's not particularly fun to do or fight against. I think that's what needs to be 'fixed'.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Something doesn't have to be an auto-win to be overpowered (just take a look at the Bloodletter upgrade in Chaos in the Old World). Sure you can be bogged down in a sub-optimal war while others build up another way to win, but that's true with any battles regardless of what the ships are outfitted with. I'm saying that when battles do happen, pure missiles + computers outdo any other weapon/defense configuration. Engines are another issue entirely.
I have to admit, at least in the game we played, dice didn't seem to be insanely streaky and luck very quickly averaged back out. Often you have plenty of time to screen ships or retreat them. Unless you start out completely overwhelmed then you really do just have to pray. I suspect it has something to do with the combinatorics being more simplistic. In C&C:A you may roll every side of the dice perfectly evenly, but context is everything. In Space Empires 4X lower is better period.
Definitely excited to play it again. Our small learning game took about 2 hours? We could probably knock it out in about 90 minutes next time.
...and Kickstarter seems to be having some problems with their website. Keeps on 404'ing when I try to add a pledge.
EDIT: A e-mail to the KS crew later, and it's fixed.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
I've had some good games of Gloom, and it's definitely a storytelling game. You also have to talk in funny voices.
I have an itch for a giant game, and have been considering Twilight Imperium, but all this talk of Descent 2nd ed. have caught my interest. And cool paintable miniatures is not helping me keep my wallet in my pocket 8->
Is it fun?
Yes! Welcome to the party.
I've got the same, plus a THI carapace.
And the pledges are still cruising in. This morning I was skeptical for the 920k stretch but we're getting up there.
Edit: Yup, topped OGRE and is now the largest Kickstarter board game to date.
So apparently Tom Vasel has seen Descent 2nd ed, and he is excited about it. There are some significant changes to it; in particular, the game has been streamlined and simplified, and the "campaign" aspect has been strengthened. Here's the link. So the idea is that you can play a two-hour scenario, and it fits into an overarching campaign, which branches and has options available based on the results of past scenarios. So they claim that the "17 two-part encounters" and the campaign structure leads to "years of replayability". It's also supposed to be compatible with the older stuff with the "conversion kit", but do you think they include that in the base game? 'Cuz I can't tell from the description.
So this supposedly makes it better for a wider audience, and tries to keep the "fun" and excise the fiddly and frustrating bits. Sounds promising, but I guess these things always do.
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Battle.net: TheGerm#1430 (Hearthstone, Destiny 2)
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
I also had my first non-solo game of Castle Ravenloft. It was balls hard, but we (barely) beat Adventure 2. I still need to play it several more times before making a decision, but I don't think it will be sticking around for long.
Remember, it's not the quantity of my games, but the average individual value of them. ;P
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
I actually got the chance to play Indonesia. It's fairly intense Euro'ness, but definitely a game I'd play again. Also, it has pretty pebbles. How cool is that!
(not very)
Aces Wild is a pretty stellar game.
Blog, Playing Rules; Let's Play Demon's Souls; My Backlog
In even less topical news I turned down that second game to try out the original Games Workshop published copy of Dungeon Quest we recently found for £1 in a charity shop. Silly fun. First game I escaped with a piddling amount of randomly encountered treasure after Mrs Jam had made it to the Dragon but failed to work out her escape time and died at sunset. We decided to try out the other characters in a quick follow up game. Quick was the word as I got stuck in a dead end within the first couple of turns and in searching for an exit copped an unfortunate death by giant centipede shortly after, leaving Mrs. Jam to stroll back out the dungeon, empty handed but winner by virtue of not being dead. Silly fun indeed.
First stupidly-hardcore house rule of Dungeonquest: You have to have treasure from the Dragon's Hoard for it to count.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
It was good times but I just got slaughtered. Came in 3rd of 4 people with a bit more than 1600. 2nd place had a bit more than 2100 and the winner had a bit more than 2300.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
I got the first cylon card, as the only military leader. so i was playing a pretty conservative game, but we had a crisis that was going to allow the looking of a loyalty card and the group likes to pick on me, so i tried to vote it down which suggested it was either me or one other person as the cylon, then another card came up with the same damn 'look at a loyalty card' thing that i couldnt stop and i was shown as a cylon. So before they could vote me into the brig, i revealed, shot the president, and went to the ressurection ship.
Our group was not having a good time up to this point, lots of ships appearing and little jump track movement, we already had taken some hits.
Once on the ship i was doing what i could and the ship was still having really bad luck with everything so it seemed like all it needed was a little push....we got to the second loyalty card handout and i got the second cylon card. I used the ressurection ship to cylon up my successor, and dispite them thinking he was a cylon, the moral must have taken a hit cause they tried to vote him out once but we kept it from happening and we eventually killed the last human population at 6 distance.
I love playing the cylon.
1. The new box IS a much better way to store things. Plus everything looks so pretty laid out in rows the way it is. My sparkly dice, prrrecious.
2. The new dice are pretty powerful, but change up some dynamics in a nice way. I'm a bit concerned about the puppetmaster, as it turns out to be an unkillable die under many conditions. Our winner used it for his win, despite the fact that it was killed on two subsequent attack turns AND took a "destroy target die" spell in the face. Pretty annoying.
3. The optional extra buy rule doesn't really improve the game that much. I'd thought it might, but all it really does is let you buy two dice when you have, say, 7 quiddity available and there's no 7 cost die. There was never a turn when it really made sense to buy two crappy dice instead of the best die, still. We didn't play with the second optional rule that requires you to cull a die to score. That seems like it could improve the decision making, but might make the game drag out longer than it has a right to. I'm still not satisfied that the core gameplay of Quarriors is good enough to rank this as a great game. It's a fun game when quick, but with the longest combination of rules and the fact that I've spent over $100 to get the base plus expansions, I'm not sure I can recommend it as a primary game, still.
The box is actually pretty great. We liked the extra buy rule, it made it feel less like Yahtzee, and the Wizard is more attractive when you can quickly pick up spells to feed him. I suppose it depends on the table layout.
The second rule (only cull the die you scored with) is bad and they should feel bad. There aren't enough other ways to cull dice, so it makes the first expansion really mean. At some point I want to try the variant I saw on BGG where you can either score (in which case you have to cull that die) or cull any die, but not score.
Maybe I misread it, but it looks like you can only cull the die that just scored.