I'm trying to decide on a new co-op game for my group, since those are always the most popular with them. Zombicide, after my first order got cancelled for lack of stock, Ghost Stories, or Defenders of the Realm. It's so hard to choose! The latest Last Night on Earth expansion is always an option too, since that's semi-cooperative and is pretty much the most popular game we've had since the group started. I'm hesitant to buy expansions, though - with so many great games coming out now, I usually prefer to buy something completely new. So I'm leaning towards... Ghost Stories. I think .
I've owned Ghost Stories + White Moon for a couple of years now, it gets played fairly often when we feel like a challenging co-op, and it's never less than great fun.
It is gruelling though. But if your group is up for a challenge, it's a no-brainer.
I've seen that bit on SU&SD about Defenders of the Realm, but I hear positive things everywhere else, and from a bunch of reviewers I normally agree with. I'm guessing you agree with Quinns and Paul?
As far as Ghost Stories go - would you say White Moon is a big improvement over the base game? Order both, or order the base and add the expansions later? Since my group likes Last Night on Earth so much, I'm probably going to get the Dark Secret expansion for sure, since that puts one person in charge of the baddies.
I wholeheartedly agree with Pinns' opinion on Defenders, yes. But if you go for it, I do hope you enjoy it.
I wouldn't say White Moon is an "improvement" on the base game, I'd say "it's the REST OF the base game". It adds so damn much you'd think it would feel like there's too much going on and things are overloaded, but I feel like it completes things, it makes the game feel perfect.
If you're getting Ghost Stories, get White Moon. Don't even try playing without it. Cannot overstate how vital it is that you buy it too!
I wholeheartedly agree with Pinns' opinion on Defenders, yes. But if you go for it, I do hope you enjoy it.
I wouldn't say White Moon is an "improvement" on the base game, I'd say "it's the REST OF the base game". It adds so damn much you'd think it would feel like there's too much going on and things are overloaded, but I feel like it completes things, it makes the game feel perfect.
If you're getting Ghost Stories, get White Moon. Don't even try playing without it. Cannot overstate how vital it is that you buy it too!
Awesome, Ghost Stories + White Moon are bought.
And Middle Earth Quest, because it was in that SU&SD episode you linked to, and it looked fantastic the first time I watched the episode - I'd forgotten about it until now. You jerk .
First game saw me play NBN against Noise... was a slow game as we both learnt the rules and generally experimented. I managed to get several tags off but couldn't really follow up in any big way other than trash resources. I hand a number of cheap ICE up early with End Run and this held him up enough to get 5 points of agendas under my belt to his 3. However once he was getting past these he managed to pull a 3 then a 2 the turn after to give him the win.
I was a little dissapointed that I couldn't do anything effective with the tags, but even this game made me want to deck build.
Lost 5-7
The second game saw me play as Gabriel against Jinteki... This was fast, he couldn't cover his HQ for the first few turns effectively and so I scored and was gaining 2 creds a turn. This gave me a huge advantage, and I used a code scanner and some inside jobs to avoid his traps and nasty ICE. Was brutally quick.
Won 7-0
The third game had me as Jinteki and him as Gabriel... He hit my R&D early with several runs and scored after breaking through Neural Karma. I layed done some ICE with a Snare and he took the bait, hurting him and slowing him down to let me defend. I then got cash, and put down some big ICE to protect a Dunebug which I advanced three times. he fought his way through to it and flatlined. I don't think that this play style would have worked against an experianced opponent as they would just ignore them as it is too big a risk.
Won - Flatlined him
The last game saw me as Mac against HB... I soon realised that their special ability is amazing, he was constantly flush with creds. he got a good defence up early and I couldnt really get at his R&D or HQ. I scored from a tinkered ICE protecting an Agenda twice in the mid game. I made a run when he had just spent a lot of credits and hit his R&D and got lucky by hitting an Agenda, felt bad as it was luck.
Won 7-4
So, learnt a lot and more importantly had a lot of fun. I really like the game, but really feel that deck building will make the game so much more than it is now. I don't know many people locally who are going to play which is pretty gutting.
I think that the initial factions I will try are going to be Criminal and HB, but I'm not sure yet, especially on the corp front.
I really enjoy watching SU&SD, but I don't find them at all useful as reviewers, because their tastes and mine seem to be at right-angles to each other. For example, they didn't like Defenders, Star Trek Fleet Captains and Fortune and Glory so much, but they loved MEQ. I enjoy all of those games.
Defenders is one of my games that is often requested and played by others at our game day. It's always a big hit, lots of noise and fun around the table. The last time I played myself was with six players (there are variant setup rules for 5-6p written by the designer) and the game came down to the final general, one space away from Monarch City, all our special cards exhausted, and we won on the last dice roll of the battle. People were shouting and high-fiving each other.
I play Ghost Stories too, and I get how much more challenging it is, and how much more tightly designed, but Defenders is fun as hell. The art is not great, but it's interestingly retro at least.
I wholeheartedly agree with Pinns' opinion on Defenders, yes. But if you go for it, I do hope you enjoy it.
I wouldn't say White Moon is an "improvement" on the base game, I'd say "it's the REST OF the base game". It adds so damn much you'd think it would feel like there's too much going on and things are overloaded, but I feel like it completes things, it makes the game feel perfect.
If you're getting Ghost Stories, get White Moon. Don't even try playing without it. Cannot overstate how vital it is that you buy it too!
Awesome, Ghost Stories + White Moon are bought.
And Middle Earth Quest, because it was in that SU&SD episode you linked to, and it looked fantastic the first time I watched the episode - I'd forgotten about it until now. You jerk .
I always end up championing less well-designed, less intellectual games here, and I rewatched the SU&SD about Defenders, and found at least some hint of why. They championed Pandemic, which is horribly prone to alpha-nerd domination, and on higher difficulties is hard as hell, and Ghost Stories, which is incredibly hard, and Space Alert, which is mad and stressful and argumentative. They want arguments, massive challenge, and stress from their co-ops.
Then they literally sneered slightly while saying you might play Defenders to have 'fun'. In a condescending voice.
I mean, I really like SU&SD, but I am very comfortable with having fun.
I enjoy intellectual challenge too. But I never enjoy arguments, and that was one of the things that started making me enjoy boardgames over RPGs. All those RPG arguments.
I really don't enjoy Pandemic any more.
I figure I could take a bear.
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ObiFettUse the ForceAs You WishRegistered Userregular
edited December 2012
14 people showed to the Kessel Run at the Game Depot in Mesa, AZ. Report below.
My list:
Biggs Darklighter
- R5-F4 (or whatever the droid is that gives +1 agility)
- Proton Torpedoes
Wedge
- Swarm Tactics
- Proton Torpedoes
Luke
- Proton Torpedoes
First game: Opponent had 5 TIE Fighters of various skills and 1 middle of the road TIE Advanced. I maneuvered into position and let loose all three torpedoes. I rolled HORRIBLY and barely did any damage with them. The rest of the game saw me take multiple 4 attack die v 2 defense die to no effect. I was shooting with each of my ships every round with the odds in my favor. He rarely got firing solutions. Time was called and no ships had been destroyed. TIED. I have never seen such bad luck rolling attack die (on my part) or such good luck rolling defense die (on my opponents part).
Second game: Opponent ran 2 TIE Advanced (Vader with Expert Handling and Cluster Missiles and Marek Steele with Marksmanship and Concussion Missiles) and 2 high-ish skill TIE Fighters. I saw him with his ships before the game and told myself that was the ONE list I didn't want to deal with. He would have the numbers advantage, Vader is better than Wedge, and has lethality in his missiles, plus his Expert Handling would hard counter my Proton Torpedoes. I managed to kill both TIE Fighters before he maneuvered to kill Biggs with the Concussion Missiles. Then I piloted Wedge poorly and left Luke in a bad position to get obliterated by Vader's Cluster Missiles. Time was called with Wedge at full strength v Vader and Mauler with no shields. LOSS.
My wife then called and said she needed me home to help with my sick daughter. I was kind of relieved because I had no chance at the top 4 at that point so, disappointed, I peaced out.
There were TWO players there who were beta testers for the game while it was in development. They, of course, had two major wins by round two and wow were they good at the game. It was fun to watch them. Basically, the competition was tougher and more numerous then I thought there would be for a FFG X-wing tournament. That's good for the game. Bad for Obi since I walked away prizeless.
Best combo of the day used against me was Marek Steele with Marksmanship and Concussion Missiles. He got a target lock and then sat on it till he got a firing solution and could use his Marksmanship. So firing his Concussion Missile he had the following effects in play:
- Can change all eyes to a hit and one to a Crit
- Can change one blank to a hit
- Look at top three cards and choose one on a Crit
The result of that attack was 2 crits and 2 hits after the effects went through. He got to choose the "direct hit" card out of the three he drew to guarantee the kill. I'm saving that combo for future use.
Overall I had fun. The tourney went fast, each round only took an hour (great for a miniature game), and it was a blast. Can't wait to get some more ships this February so it adds even more variety to an already great game.
I wouldn't say White Moon is an "improvement" on the base game, I'd say "it's the REST OF the base game". It adds so damn much you'd think it would feel like there's too much going on and things are overloaded, but I feel like it completes things, it makes the game feel perfect.
If you're getting Ghost Stories, get White Moon. Don't even try playing without it. Cannot overstate how vital it is that you buy it too!
I know the decision was already made, but this, so very much.
Ghost Stories veterans: what is your opinion on the second expansion, Black Shadows (IIRC)? You know, the one that puts Wu Feng in the hands of a sentient being who isn't trying to defeat him? I cannot for the life of me fathom any reason why I would want to own this.
I wouldn't say White Moon is an "improvement" on the base game, I'd say "it's the REST OF the base game". It adds so damn much you'd think it would feel like there's too much going on and things are overloaded, but I feel like it completes things, it makes the game feel perfect.
If you're getting Ghost Stories, get White Moon. Don't even try playing without it. Cannot overstate how vital it is that you buy it too!
Actually... change of plans . I added both games to my cart without checking prices. After seeing how much the out of print White Moon expansion is going for, I'm holding off on buying it. There are rumblings of a reprint on the BGG forum, so hopefully somethings comes of that.
So I had no real interest in Imperial lists prior to Wave 2, but I really want a squadron of as many TIE/In's as I can possibly fit in 100 points; those models are damn sexy. I'm tempted to go with Turr Phennir and then four of the cheapest Interceptors, the Alpha Squadron Pilot. This seems viable enough thanks to the strength of the Interceptor, but am I missing any key components here?
Went down to the FLGS to try out XWing today as they said they would be demoing it.
Turns out it was a 100 point tournament. My son and I (both having never played before) borrowed some ships and had a good time. I won 2nd place and took home Slave 1.
The guy we were borrowing ships from said he had "some xwings and tie fighters" so I made a list with 3 xwings (Luke, Wedge and some guy that wasn't Biggs and started with a "D", all with torpedos and wedge had an R2D2). Just seemed to fit in 100 points. I had no idea what most of the stuff was or whether it was good. My boy made a list with 7 TIEs.
Pretty much every game in the tournment (there were 6 of us in it) was played reasonably well on both sides and was entirely determined by who was rolling well. The game is incredibly random and swingy with skill playing almost no roll once you get past making obvious errors.
Still was a fun afternoon though. And the Slave 1 and Milenium Falcon model were really sweet.
edit: also the final round was Slave 1 + 2 interceptors vs the Falcon + 2 A-Wings
that was a craaazy match. I was getting tired and messed up my movement on turn 2 so he toasted the interceptors pretty fast. Honestly, those things seem a bit overpriced. I would take an Xwing over one any day and they cost about the same. Awings on the other hand are hell of nasty. Really fast, have the same shields as an x wing and trade 1 less firepower for 1 more defense.
The falcon is super wacky fun. It is just huge on the board. And it WILL be running into asteroids a lot. You just cannot move around the suckers most of the time. But on the other hand it has so many shields and HP it just doesn't care.
Throw chewie on that thing and you need to chew through something like 6 shields (after using chewies bonus) and 8 hull points. It can afford to just let everyone shoot at it and fire back with its 3 dice 360 degree gun.
did "D"'s ability come into play at all? find any worth from it? "Put a used focus token on someone else" thing?
never used once all day on my side
but that was in large part because he was on a team with Luke and Wedge. Since he had the lowest pilot skill by the time he had acted there was usually no point in handing a focus to them even if he could. I mean yes technicially luke or wedge (who was awesome with an R2D2) could use the focus if a lower skill opponent shot at them but overall it wasn't really useful.
The X-Wing miniatures game looks cool, but man pricewise I just cant justify it. When the MSRP for a single ship is 15 bucks and the base set only includes 3 ships, unless I misread that somewhere, but someone seemed to think launching the product with 2 TIEs vs. 1 X-Wing was compelling gameplay? Seems like it would get expensive fast once you start buying more ships you need.
Pretty much every game in the tournment (there were 6 of us in it) was played reasonably well on both sides and was entirely determined by who was rolling well. The game is incredibly random and swingy with skill playing almost no roll once you get past making obvious errors.
I'm sorry, but that's just not true. The game is only random and swingy when you don't know what you're doing. People who are experienced will out-fly you on a regular basis, and take the actions necessary to mitigate the dice. Can luck have an effect? Sure. But to completely dismiss a game like this that you've only played once (well, one session)?
And I know you weren't necessarily attacking the game on that point, but you felt the need to make the point, and I just don't want that to be seen as in any way accurate.
The fact that you didn't even use Garven Dreis ability, and don't think its useful, says a lot. That is an amazing ability, because of how highly skilled Wedge and Luke are, and how low in skill most Imp pilots are. A focus token is one of the major ways to counteract the luck of the dice, and you were apparently ignoring a source of it. And then complaining about the swingy nature of the dice.
The X-Wing miniatures game looks cool, but man pricewise I just cant justify it. When the MSRP for a single ship is 15 bucks and the base set only includes 3 ships, unless I misread that somewhere, but someone seemed to think launching the product with 2 TIEs vs. 1 X-Wing was compelling gameplay? Seems like it would get expensive fast once you start buying more ships you need.
In comparison to other miniature games, its dirt cheap. And why would you pay the MSRP? Right now (or last night, at least), Amazon was selling the expansions for $8.74 a piece. You can grab the starter for $25 from CSI.
Given the quality of the physical product, I'm not sure what you expect them to do with the starter though? The margins on their minis is fairly low to begin with, and the starter is a good deal considering the prices of the singles. Yes, they could have had more ships, but then the starter would be more expensive.
InkSplat on
Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
I wouldn't say White Moon is an "improvement" on the base game, I'd say "it's the REST OF the base game". It adds so damn much you'd think it would feel like there's too much going on and things are overloaded, but I feel like it completes things, it makes the game feel perfect.
If you're getting Ghost Stories, get White Moon. Don't even try playing without it. Cannot overstate how vital it is that you buy it too!
I know the decision was already made, but this, so very much.
Ghost Stories veterans: what is your opinion on the second expansion, Black Shadows (IIRC)? You know, the one that puts Wu Feng in the hands of a sentient being who isn't trying to defeat him? I cannot for the life of me fathom any reason why I would want to own this.
Because you have 5 people and want to play Ghost Stories.
I only got to play with both expansions twice (once as Wu Feng and once as a regular player) and I found it to be a lot of fun, personally. You get a lot of fun banter between the players and Wu Feng.
Through a series of unconnected incidents, Saturday's cancelled Game of Thrones night turned into an Article 27 game night. So, that was nice.
A friend of mine has described Article 27 to me as "Diplomacy in 20 minutes", and while I don't think I agree entirely, both games share a certain simplicity in game design to provide ample room for negotiation, bluffing and some backstabbing. For those who don't know, Article 27 (The UN Security Council Game) is a negotiation game, where you take on the roles of permanent members of the Security Council and try to pass UN resolutions by voting on them. At the beginning of a turn, each player draws 5 tokens and places them on his secret scoring mat. They determine how many points that player scores if the resolution passes and contains specific aspects. The six aspects are "peacekeeping" (blue), "trade sanctions" (green), "nuclear proliferation" (red), "diplomatic sanctions" (black) and "humanitarian concerns" (yellow). You place your tokens on your scoring mat from left to right, and the placement will tell you whether you get +5,+3,+1,-2 or -4 points respectively, if that specific aspect is part of the UN resolution. Often you will end up with two or more tokens of the same colour on two different scores, sometimes cancelling each other out (e.g. peacekeeping on both +5 and -4) or sometimes boosting each other (e.g. trade sanctions on both +5 and +3).
In order to convince your fellow players to vote in your favour, you can of course bribe them. One of the more elegant pieces of game design in Article 27 is the fact that you basically bribe each other with victory points. So you need to figure out just how much that vote is worth to you and how much your bribe will end up helping your opponent win the game. There's also the possibility of simply throwing in a veto and single-handedly stopping a resolution from passing (and anybody from scoring any points whatsoever). Vetos do not come cheap at a cost of 5 victory points.
In order to keep negotiations from dragging on and on and to keep playing time nicely low, the game comes with a sand glass of I think 10 minutes or so. The game lasts as many turns as there are players, so you can usually play a whole game in about an hour or so.
This would basically be enough for a fairly cute little negotiation game, but there's an addition to the rules, which makes the whole thing a little more interesting. At the beginning of the game every player draws a secret agenda. This agenda is basically a symbol that is featured on the coloured tokens. If a resolution passes, that includes tokens showing your secret agenda symbol, you score additional points at the end of the game. So now you have short-term goals (arguing for coloured tokens that gain you points according to your mat) and long-term goals (arguing for colours that show your secret agenda symbol). Since those things are determined randomly it can lead to some very powerful combos (e.g. your secret symbol is featured on the colour which scores +5 points for you this turn) but also to some very contradictory situations (e.g. your secret agenda symbol is shown on the colour that scores -4 points for you this turn). It takes a little getting used to the metagame in Article 27 to handle these situations instead of just sulking and complaining about how unfair and unbalanced the game is.
I was pleasantly surprised by the unanimous praise the game got from our group, which consisted of two non-gamers, two players who occasionally gamed and me. The components are of impressively high quality. The gavel especially drew a lot of attention. If there is one nit to pick, it's the fact that the icons on the yellow tokens are almost impossible to read, slowing down the game somewhat as you set up the next round. I'm thinking of tracing the outlines of the icons with a fine pencil or something. That should make things easier to read. Trying to explain the rules, I realised that the game can easily come across as much more convoluted and confusing than it really is. I highly recommend playing a practice turn without the timer first, to help players understand when to pay attention to the colours of the tokens and when to mind the symbols. Unfortunately it doesn't help that the colours come with symbols of their own (to help people with colour blindness, I guess), which have nothing to do with the secret agenda symbols. But these are all tiny blemishes on an otherwise very neat, elegant and fun game.
Our group also quickly took to referring to themselves as the nation that they represented, leading to table talk (and post-game talk for the rest of the night) with statements like "China approves of this change.", "Germany will veto any resolution that includes RED!" or "The United States is willing to hear 'arguments' in favour of supporting this new resolution." and so on.
I am not as blown away by the game yet, as some of the Essen-hype in my circle of friends suggested, but I am looking forward to playing it again. And I expect the metagame to grow more complex in time, which appeals to me a lot.
FairchildRabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?"Registered Userregular
At our monthly boardgame event at the Compleat Strategist gamestore in New York City yesterday we played Breitenfeld from GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS THE GREAT, part of GMT's Musket & Pike series. If you're not familiar with Breitenfeld, it was one of the momentous battles of world history, an important step along Europe's transition from shock-based to fire-based tactics in the 17th century; it was also significant as the first serious battlefield defeat suffered in over a century by the veteran Imperial/Catholic League army.
I played the Good Guys, and while my Swedes moved with their usual clockwork efficiency, what made the game such a quick Protestant victory was the surprisingly competent showing by my relucant Saxon allies, who actually stirred themselves in time to catch the Catholic right wing in motion. Against all probability, Saxon Elector John George scored two continuations to roll up the Catholic wing, and the rout was on.
that was a craaazy match. I was getting tired and messed up my movement on turn 2 so he toasted the interceptors pretty fast. Honestly, those things seem a bit overpriced. I would take an Xwing over one any day and they cost about the same. Awings on the other hand are hell of nasty. Really fast, have the same shields as an x wing and trade 1 less firepower for 1 more defense.
I think interceptors look fantastic, myself.
They've got the same attack as an X-Wing and, unlike an X-Wing which has to roll 3 attack dice against targets that have 3 defense die and Evade, the TIE/Int will be rolling 3 attack dice against targets that have 2 defense dice and Focus as their only defensive ability.
So I tried out Netrunner yesterday, with the suggested decks. I think the corp had a lot of trouble getting credits to do everything. Suggestions? Maybe it was a bad shuffle? My friend hacked away my two 3 clicks = 7 credits assets, and all my other cards that gave assests were on the bottom of the deck (checked after game). So I had a bunch of defense in play that I couldn't turn on since I had no money.
PikaPuff on
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FaranguI am a beardy manWith a beardy planRegistered Userregular
Finally found some more people to add to my group that wouldn't actually mind tackling some of the more complicated games like Android and Horus Heresy
Also they are fine with me not bearing the entire financial burden of buying them
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Sounds like bad luck. My HB deck is my money-stacking deck and it still only runs three PAD Campaign, three Adonis Campaign, and three Hedge Fund. With the default deck you should be pretty close to that.
The Jinteki starter really just needs to trick its opponent into dying to a trap, so stacking money may not be a big deal regardless...
Target has all their strategy board games on sale for 30% off, includes stuff like Ticket to Ride, Star Trek Catan, X-Wing Miniatures, etc.
I might grab the base set for X-wing after all just to see if I like the rules and gameplay enough to buy more ships. For 28 bucks +tax its cheaper than shipping would likely cost me through CSI. At least compared to other miniatures games, I don't have to paint anything and you don't need as many miniatures to play the game.
Yeah, my friends have Ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride: Europe. I pissed off my friend by taking that 8-train route across the top of Russia before he could. And man, Madrid to Pamplona, fuck those tunnels. They screw me over every game I have to use them. The train stations come in handy though.
Jinteki starter deck requires that you plan ahead a bit. You need to make runs very expensive for the runner, so that even if they do make it into a server they've likely spent a whole turn getting there (either by losing clicks or needing a bunch of credits to pay for the run). If you have the 3 clicks/7 credits in play, pay attention to the runner's resources - if you suspect a run is coming, spend a turn on credits first. Whatever you do, don't put anything on the board under the guise of "next turn" - deploying a server without defenses, or such. If you can't take care of it all this turn, then just do something else until next turn and you'll probably be better off for it.
I really enjoy watching SU&SD, but I don't find them at all useful as reviewers, because their tastes and mine seem to be at right-angles to each other.
I'm lucky enough that mine/our group's tastes match those of SU&SD perfectly.
The folks of SU&SD are all about having a fun conversation at the table which happens to have board games thrown in. Stabbin', lots of interaction. Whereas some other people I know and sometimes boardgame with approach it from a different angle: they come together specifically to play a puzzle game and favor eurogames. They always play games very diplomatically, which doesn't work as well for games that really become fun when you're being giant jerks out for blood.
I think that the SU&SD people do mention why they like a certain game: what experience they got from it with their boardgame group. It's not always just about what you like, it's what you and your group make of it.
I've been thinking of doing a forum thread Middle Earth Quest with vassel as the heavy lifter and just post images in the thread, but it seems that the vassel version is missing the beginning plot cards and instant win missions. Im guessing this is so you can't really play unless you own the game, but still... annoying not being able to find those cards in the module. I mean, the second google hit for searching for the rulesbook is a free pdf from fantasyflightgames
Got the chance to play a few more games of X-Wing fielding an Ion Cannon-equipped Y-Wing and I am convinced that bringing my own personal Gold Squadron to the table will be more than viable.
I am a bit worried that it won't be much fun to play against, given that I can't imagine having half or more of your ships ionized every turn would be very enjoyable, but I just can't see any other way to run Y-Wings and have them be viable. Unless I am missing something, they are complete garbage without the Ion Cannon; 2 attack dice, 1 agility, and an absolutely atrocious maneuver dial for 18 points does not seem like a usable ship. The new Interceptors get 3 attack, 3 agility, a great maneuver dial and evade + barrel roll for the same price, and granted the Y-Wing has 5 HP on the Interceptor, but more HP isn't going to do much good when your opponent is glued firmly to your rear end.
I only ask because I'd like to do a Gold Squadron build with Dutch, Horton, and two Gold Squadron pilots, but one ship would have to go without an Ion Cannon in order to bring the two named characters to the table and I am not sure if that craft will be anything more than dead weight.
Posts
I can understand perhaps the fans wanting a deckbuilding thread, if they're feeling restricted.
If you want to see more posts on something else, post away with that! That's always been the way PA does things.
What you been playing? Nothing for me, but I have a 13-hour game day next Sunday that I am excited about.
Hopefully some MEQ and the 1st ed Game of Thrones.
Flashpoint: Fire Rescue should be here tomorrow!
Here: 24:03, should explain why succinctly.
I've owned Ghost Stories + White Moon for a couple of years now, it gets played fairly often when we feel like a challenging co-op, and it's never less than great fun.
It is gruelling though. But if your group is up for a challenge, it's a no-brainer.
Enjoy!
I own netrunner, but I still haven't actually played a game. Watched two buddies play it, but no one really read the rules.
I've seen that bit on SU&SD about Defenders of the Realm, but I hear positive things everywhere else, and from a bunch of reviewers I normally agree with. I'm guessing you agree with Quinns and Paul?
As far as Ghost Stories go - would you say White Moon is a big improvement over the base game? Order both, or order the base and add the expansions later? Since my group likes Last Night on Earth so much, I'm probably going to get the Dark Secret expansion for sure, since that puts one person in charge of the baddies.
I wouldn't say White Moon is an "improvement" on the base game, I'd say "it's the REST OF the base game". It adds so damn much you'd think it would feel like there's too much going on and things are overloaded, but I feel like it completes things, it makes the game feel perfect.
If you're getting Ghost Stories, get White Moon. Don't even try playing without it. Cannot overstate how vital it is that you buy it too!
Awesome, Ghost Stories + White Moon are bought.
And Middle Earth Quest, because it was in that SU&SD episode you linked to, and it looked fantastic the first time I watched the episode - I'd forgotten about it until now. You jerk
First game saw me play NBN against Noise... was a slow game as we both learnt the rules and generally experimented. I managed to get several tags off but couldn't really follow up in any big way other than trash resources. I hand a number of cheap ICE up early with End Run and this held him up enough to get 5 points of agendas under my belt to his 3. However once he was getting past these he managed to pull a 3 then a 2 the turn after to give him the win.
I was a little dissapointed that I couldn't do anything effective with the tags, but even this game made me want to deck build.
Lost 5-7
The second game saw me play as Gabriel against Jinteki... This was fast, he couldn't cover his HQ for the first few turns effectively and so I scored and was gaining 2 creds a turn. This gave me a huge advantage, and I used a code scanner and some inside jobs to avoid his traps and nasty ICE. Was brutally quick.
Won 7-0
The third game had me as Jinteki and him as Gabriel... He hit my R&D early with several runs and scored after breaking through Neural Karma. I layed done some ICE with a Snare and he took the bait, hurting him and slowing him down to let me defend. I then got cash, and put down some big ICE to protect a Dunebug which I advanced three times. he fought his way through to it and flatlined. I don't think that this play style would have worked against an experianced opponent as they would just ignore them as it is too big a risk.
Won - Flatlined him
The last game saw me as Mac against HB... I soon realised that their special ability is amazing, he was constantly flush with creds. he got a good defence up early and I couldnt really get at his R&D or HQ. I scored from a tinkered ICE protecting an Agenda twice in the mid game. I made a run when he had just spent a lot of credits and hit his R&D and got lucky by hitting an Agenda, felt bad as it was luck.
Won 7-4
So, learnt a lot and more importantly had a lot of fun. I really like the game, but really feel that deck building will make the game so much more than it is now. I don't know many people locally who are going to play which is pretty gutting.
I think that the initial factions I will try are going to be Criminal and HB, but I'm not sure yet, especially on the corp front.
Defenders is one of my games that is often requested and played by others at our game day. It's always a big hit, lots of noise and fun around the table. The last time I played myself was with six players (there are variant setup rules for 5-6p written by the designer) and the game came down to the final general, one space away from Monarch City, all our special cards exhausted, and we won on the last dice roll of the battle. People were shouting and high-fiving each other.
I play Ghost Stories too, and I get how much more challenging it is, and how much more tightly designed, but Defenders is fun as hell. The art is not great, but it's interestingly retro at least.
It's cool, MEQ is also gorram fantastic.
Then they literally sneered slightly while saying you might play Defenders to have 'fun'. In a condescending voice.
I mean, I really like SU&SD, but I am very comfortable with having fun.
I enjoy intellectual challenge too. But I never enjoy arguments, and that was one of the things that started making me enjoy boardgames over RPGs. All those RPG arguments.
I really don't enjoy Pandemic any more.
My list:
- R5-F4 (or whatever the droid is that gives +1 agility)
- Proton Torpedoes
Wedge
- Swarm Tactics
- Proton Torpedoes
Luke
- Proton Torpedoes
First game: Opponent had 5 TIE Fighters of various skills and 1 middle of the road TIE Advanced. I maneuvered into position and let loose all three torpedoes. I rolled HORRIBLY and barely did any damage with them. The rest of the game saw me take multiple 4 attack die v 2 defense die to no effect. I was shooting with each of my ships every round with the odds in my favor. He rarely got firing solutions. Time was called and no ships had been destroyed. TIED.
Second game: Opponent ran 2 TIE Advanced (Vader with Expert Handling and Cluster Missiles and Marek Steele with Marksmanship and Concussion Missiles) and 2 high-ish skill TIE Fighters. I saw him with his ships before the game and told myself that was the ONE list I didn't want to deal with. He would have the numbers advantage, Vader is better than Wedge, and has lethality in his missiles, plus his Expert Handling would hard counter my Proton Torpedoes. I managed to kill both TIE Fighters before he maneuvered to kill Biggs with the Concussion Missiles. Then I piloted Wedge poorly and left Luke in a bad position to get obliterated by Vader's Cluster Missiles. Time was called with Wedge at full strength v Vader and Mauler with no shields. LOSS.
My wife then called and said she needed me home to help with my sick daughter. I was kind of relieved because I had no chance at the top 4 at that point so, disappointed, I peaced out.
There were TWO players there who were beta testers for the game while it was in development. They, of course, had two major wins by round two and wow were they good at the game. It was fun to watch them. Basically, the competition was tougher and more numerous then I thought there would be for a FFG X-wing tournament. That's good for the game. Bad for Obi since I walked away prizeless.
Best combo of the day used against me was Marek Steele with Marksmanship and Concussion Missiles. He got a target lock and then sat on it till he got a firing solution and could use his Marksmanship. So firing his Concussion Missile he had the following effects in play:
- Can change all eyes to a hit and one to a Crit
- Can change one blank to a hit
- Look at top three cards and choose one on a Crit
The result of that attack was 2 crits and 2 hits after the effects went through. He got to choose the "direct hit" card out of the three he drew to guarantee the kill. I'm saving that combo for future use.
Overall I had fun. The tourney went fast, each round only took an hour (great for a miniature game), and it was a blast. Can't wait to get some more ships this February so it adds even more variety to an already great game.
I know the decision was already made, but this, so very much.
Ghost Stories veterans: what is your opinion on the second expansion, Black Shadows (IIRC)? You know, the one that puts Wu Feng in the hands of a sentient being who isn't trying to defeat him? I cannot for the life of me fathom any reason why I would want to own this.
Actually... change of plans
Normally end up missing them because I usually work Saturdays, so it was totally off my radar.
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Turns out it was a 100 point tournament. My son and I (both having never played before) borrowed some ships and had a good time. I won 2nd place and took home Slave 1.
The guy we were borrowing ships from said he had "some xwings and tie fighters" so I made a list with 3 xwings (Luke, Wedge and some guy that wasn't Biggs and started with a "D", all with torpedos and wedge had an R2D2). Just seemed to fit in 100 points. I had no idea what most of the stuff was or whether it was good. My boy made a list with 7 TIEs.
Pretty much every game in the tournment (there were 6 of us in it) was played reasonably well on both sides and was entirely determined by who was rolling well. The game is incredibly random and swingy with skill playing almost no roll once you get past making obvious errors.
Still was a fun afternoon though. And the Slave 1 and Milenium Falcon model were really sweet.
the boy (he is 11) had a good time too.
edit: also the final round was Slave 1 + 2 interceptors vs the Falcon + 2 A-Wings
that was a craaazy match. I was getting tired and messed up my movement on turn 2 so he toasted the interceptors pretty fast. Honestly, those things seem a bit overpriced. I would take an Xwing over one any day and they cost about the same. Awings on the other hand are hell of nasty. Really fast, have the same shields as an x wing and trade 1 less firepower for 1 more defense.
The falcon is super wacky fun. It is just huge on the board. And it WILL be running into asteroids a lot. You just cannot move around the suckers most of the time. But on the other hand it has so many shields and HP it just doesn't care.
Throw chewie on that thing and you need to chew through something like 6 shields (after using chewies bonus) and 8 hull points. It can afford to just let everyone shoot at it and fire back with its 3 dice 360 degree gun.
never used once all day on my side
but that was in large part because he was on a team with Luke and Wedge. Since he had the lowest pilot skill by the time he had acted there was usually no point in handing a focus to them even if he could. I mean yes technicially luke or wedge (who was awesome with an R2D2) could use the focus if a lower skill opponent shot at them but overall it wasn't really useful.
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I'm sorry, but that's just not true. The game is only random and swingy when you don't know what you're doing. People who are experienced will out-fly you on a regular basis, and take the actions necessary to mitigate the dice. Can luck have an effect? Sure. But to completely dismiss a game like this that you've only played once (well, one session)?
And I know you weren't necessarily attacking the game on that point, but you felt the need to make the point, and I just don't want that to be seen as in any way accurate.
The fact that you didn't even use Garven Dreis ability, and don't think its useful, says a lot. That is an amazing ability, because of how highly skilled Wedge and Luke are, and how low in skill most Imp pilots are. A focus token is one of the major ways to counteract the luck of the dice, and you were apparently ignoring a source of it. And then complaining about the swingy nature of the dice.
In comparison to other miniature games, its dirt cheap. And why would you pay the MSRP? Right now (or last night, at least), Amazon was selling the expansions for $8.74 a piece. You can grab the starter for $25 from CSI.
Given the quality of the physical product, I'm not sure what you expect them to do with the starter though? The margins on their minis is fairly low to begin with, and the starter is a good deal considering the prices of the singles. Yes, they could have had more ships, but then the starter would be more expensive.
Because you have 5 people and want to play Ghost Stories.
I only got to play with both expansions twice (once as Wu Feng and once as a regular player) and I found it to be a lot of fun, personally. You get a lot of fun banter between the players and Wu Feng.
A friend of mine has described Article 27 to me as "Diplomacy in 20 minutes", and while I don't think I agree entirely, both games share a certain simplicity in game design to provide ample room for negotiation, bluffing and some backstabbing. For those who don't know, Article 27 (The UN Security Council Game) is a negotiation game, where you take on the roles of permanent members of the Security Council and try to pass UN resolutions by voting on them. At the beginning of a turn, each player draws 5 tokens and places them on his secret scoring mat. They determine how many points that player scores if the resolution passes and contains specific aspects. The six aspects are "peacekeeping" (blue), "trade sanctions" (green), "nuclear proliferation" (red), "diplomatic sanctions" (black) and "humanitarian concerns" (yellow). You place your tokens on your scoring mat from left to right, and the placement will tell you whether you get +5,+3,+1,-2 or -4 points respectively, if that specific aspect is part of the UN resolution. Often you will end up with two or more tokens of the same colour on two different scores, sometimes cancelling each other out (e.g. peacekeeping on both +5 and -4) or sometimes boosting each other (e.g. trade sanctions on both +5 and +3).
In order to convince your fellow players to vote in your favour, you can of course bribe them. One of the more elegant pieces of game design in Article 27 is the fact that you basically bribe each other with victory points. So you need to figure out just how much that vote is worth to you and how much your bribe will end up helping your opponent win the game. There's also the possibility of simply throwing in a veto and single-handedly stopping a resolution from passing (and anybody from scoring any points whatsoever). Vetos do not come cheap at a cost of 5 victory points.
In order to keep negotiations from dragging on and on and to keep playing time nicely low, the game comes with a sand glass of I think 10 minutes or so. The game lasts as many turns as there are players, so you can usually play a whole game in about an hour or so.
This would basically be enough for a fairly cute little negotiation game, but there's an addition to the rules, which makes the whole thing a little more interesting. At the beginning of the game every player draws a secret agenda. This agenda is basically a symbol that is featured on the coloured tokens. If a resolution passes, that includes tokens showing your secret agenda symbol, you score additional points at the end of the game. So now you have short-term goals (arguing for coloured tokens that gain you points according to your mat) and long-term goals (arguing for colours that show your secret agenda symbol). Since those things are determined randomly it can lead to some very powerful combos (e.g. your secret symbol is featured on the colour which scores +5 points for you this turn) but also to some very contradictory situations (e.g. your secret agenda symbol is shown on the colour that scores -4 points for you this turn). It takes a little getting used to the metagame in Article 27 to handle these situations instead of just sulking and complaining about how unfair and unbalanced the game is.
I was pleasantly surprised by the unanimous praise the game got from our group, which consisted of two non-gamers, two players who occasionally gamed and me. The components are of impressively high quality. The gavel especially drew a lot of attention. If there is one nit to pick, it's the fact that the icons on the yellow tokens are almost impossible to read, slowing down the game somewhat as you set up the next round. I'm thinking of tracing the outlines of the icons with a fine pencil or something. That should make things easier to read. Trying to explain the rules, I realised that the game can easily come across as much more convoluted and confusing than it really is. I highly recommend playing a practice turn without the timer first, to help players understand when to pay attention to the colours of the tokens and when to mind the symbols. Unfortunately it doesn't help that the colours come with symbols of their own (to help people with colour blindness, I guess), which have nothing to do with the secret agenda symbols. But these are all tiny blemishes on an otherwise very neat, elegant and fun game.
Our group also quickly took to referring to themselves as the nation that they represented, leading to table talk (and post-game talk for the rest of the night) with statements like "China approves of this change.", "Germany will veto any resolution that includes RED!" or "The United States is willing to hear 'arguments' in favour of supporting this new resolution." and so on.
I am not as blown away by the game yet, as some of the Essen-hype in my circle of friends suggested, but I am looking forward to playing it again. And I expect the metagame to grow more complex in time, which appeals to me a lot.
I played the Good Guys, and while my Swedes moved with their usual clockwork efficiency, what made the game such a quick Protestant victory was the surprisingly competent showing by my relucant Saxon allies, who actually stirred themselves in time to catch the Catholic right wing in motion. Against all probability, Saxon Elector John George scored two continuations to roll up the Catholic wing, and the rout was on.
I think interceptors look fantastic, myself.
They've got the same attack as an X-Wing and, unlike an X-Wing which has to roll 3 attack dice against targets that have 3 defense die and Evade, the TIE/Int will be rolling 3 attack dice against targets that have 2 defense dice and Focus as their only defensive ability.
Also they are fine with me not bearing the entire financial burden of buying them
Huzzah!
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
The Jinteki starter really just needs to trick its opponent into dying to a trap, so stacking money may not be a big deal regardless...
I might grab the base set for X-wing after all just to see if I like the rules and gameplay enough to buy more ships. For 28 bucks +tax its cheaper than shipping would likely cost me through CSI. At least compared to other miniatures games, I don't have to paint anything and you don't need as many miniatures to play the game.
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A list of things, should you be of the gifting persuasion
The folks of SU&SD are all about having a fun conversation at the table which happens to have board games thrown in. Stabbin', lots of interaction. Whereas some other people I know and sometimes boardgame with approach it from a different angle: they come together specifically to play a puzzle game and favor eurogames. They always play games very diplomatically, which doesn't work as well for games that really become fun when you're being giant jerks out for blood.
I think that the SU&SD people do mention why they like a certain game: what experience they got from it with their boardgame group. It's not always just about what you like, it's what you and your group make of it.
I'm so glad I read this. Just picked up the x-wing and y-wing expansions. Woohoo!
still, annoying
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I am a bit worried that it won't be much fun to play against, given that I can't imagine having half or more of your ships ionized every turn would be very enjoyable, but I just can't see any other way to run Y-Wings and have them be viable. Unless I am missing something, they are complete garbage without the Ion Cannon; 2 attack dice, 1 agility, and an absolutely atrocious maneuver dial for 18 points does not seem like a usable ship. The new Interceptors get 3 attack, 3 agility, a great maneuver dial and evade + barrel roll for the same price, and granted the Y-Wing has 5 HP on the Interceptor, but more HP isn't going to do much good when your opponent is glued firmly to your rear end.
I only ask because I'd like to do a Gold Squadron build with Dutch, Horton, and two Gold Squadron pilots, but one ship would have to go without an Ion Cannon in order to bring the two named characters to the table and I am not sure if that craft will be anything more than dead weight.