"So this is a game about farming where you're trying to get the most victory points. Here are the 3 phases of the turn. The middle one is the Action Phase so let me tell you about your 7 possible Actions. And then the game ends and we score. So, you get points for... <five minutes pass> ..and the person with the least blue cubes get a bonus based on how many grey cubes they have. Got it?"
No. Obviously not. Nobody's got it.
But you can't just play a turn or two for them to get it - you have to play an entire game because scoring is the point and nobody's going to remember all the things that give them points until they've actually scored at least once.
And at the end of the game 3 people are going to complain they didn't know a thing was worth points and each of them are going to be talking about a different thing.
"So this is a game about farming where you're trying to get the most victory points. Here are the 3 phases of the turn. The middle one is the Action Phase so let me tell you about your 7 possible Actions. And then the game ends and we score. So, you get points for... <five minutes pass> ..and the person with the least blue cubes get a bonus based on how many grey cubes they have. Got it?"
No. Obviously not. Nobody's got it.
But you can't just play a turn or two for them to get it - you have to play an entire game because scoring is the point and nobody's going to remember all the things that give them points until they've actually scored at least once.
And at the end of the game 3 people are going to complain they didn't know a thing was worth points and each of them are going to be talking about a different thing.
Absolutely. There are a number of games that need a full playthrough to grasp, or at least most of one, and you just have to accept that it doesn't "count."
"So this is a game about farming where you're trying to get the most victory points. Here are the 3 phases of the turn. The middle one is the Action Phase so let me tell you about your 7 possible Actions. And then the game ends and we score. So, you get points for... <five minutes pass> ..and the person with the least blue cubes get a bonus based on how many grey cubes they have. Got it?"
No. Obviously not. Nobody's got it.
But you can't just play a turn or two for them to get it - you have to play an entire game because scoring is the point and nobody's going to remember all the things that give them points until they've actually scored at least once.
And at the end of the game 3 people are going to complain they didn't know a thing was worth points and each of them are going to be talking about a different thing.
Yup. Every time my wife ends up with an edge case or "I didn't know that" during scoring. Or, I win and everyone complains and I just want to say that maybe when I'm explaining rules put your phone down and pay attention for 5 minutes. Family game time is wonderful, but it's always 5-10 min setup, 20 minutes waiting for everyone to finish getting snacks, drinks, posting on Facebook, talking, sit down, shut up, and listen to the rules, 5 min explaining game, then finally play the game and not have time for a second one.
So, I just played a partial solo game of Spirit Island. That game is not easy. But omg it's so good. It reminds me a lot of Gloomhaven, actually, with the "shit, I played that card a turn too soon and now I have to 'rest' to get it back" sort of thing, and all the drastically different characters working together.
My friends and I are 3-0 so far but we've been escalating very slowly so we're still very much in the shallow end of the pool.
I imagine solo did not do my any favors. I was playing as the river spirit, which while awesome, is kind of slow to be able to damage the Invaders. It was cool being able to shift the Dahan around and add more to the board though.
Yeah being able to add Dahan is both rare and useful, but River is sloooooow.
If I were playing solo I'd start with Shadows Flicker Like Flame. Easy Fear generation and the ability to control building by moving explorers around sounds like a good time.
All technology is barred from the table during board/card game time.
christ i wish
I definitely enforce that, barring emergency situations.
Generally explaining things backwards works well enough. What's your end goal? How do you get to that end goal? And playing a "learning game" in which advice is given and people don't care about winning and losing so much as learning is always recommended.
The Song of Ice and Fire Miniature Game kickstarter is up.
$150, which is steep. But comes with 103 preassembled (but unpainted) miniatures.
More than I wanted it to cost, to be perfectly honest, was hoping for something a little smaller scale, as I want to use this to try and get non wargaming friends into miniature wargaming. Hm.
The Song of Ice and Fire Miniature Game kickstarter is up.
$150, which is steep. But comes with 103 preassembled (but unpainted) miniatures.
More than I wanted it to cost, to be perfectly honest, was hoping for something a little smaller scale, as I want to use this to try and get non wargaming friends into miniature wargaming. Hm.
Urgh. Need to go check that out, it I really shouldn't, lol.
I'll keep an eye on the campaign but for $150 I think I'm better off just trying to get friends into 40k.
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Hi I'm Vee!Formerly VH; She/Her; Is an E X P E R I E N C ERegistered Userregular
It's the kind of thing I might invest in because I can get it without having to get friends into something like Warmachine or whatever. I suppose I could buy two Warmachine armies, maybe even for similar costs, but that seems lame for some reason, I dunno.
My question is whether the game is any good, and I don't know enough about miniature wargaming to make that kind of judgement just from the rulebook and some videos.
It's the kind of thing I might invest in because I can get it without having to get friends into something like Warmachine or whatever. I suppose I could buy two Warmachine armies, maybe even for similar costs, but that seems lame for some reason, I dunno.
My question is whether the game is any good, and I don't know enough about miniature wargaming to make that kind of judgement just from the rulebook and some videos.
It's got Eric M. Lang (Chaos in the old World, Blood Rage) and Michael Shinall (Xenoshyfy, Rum & Bones) behind the rules, which is a decent enough pedigree.
Watching some videos and reading the rules, it's definitely a rank and file miniatures wargame in the style of say, Warhammer Fantasy, just very streamlined. I'm just not sure if it's going to end up being elegant and fun to play streamlined, or mindless and boring streamlined.
It's the kind of thing I might invest in because I can get it without having to get friends into something like Warmachine or whatever. I suppose I could buy two Warmachine armies, maybe even for similar costs, but that seems lame for some reason, I dunno.
My question is whether the game is any good, and I don't know enough about miniature wargaming to make that kind of judgement just from the rulebook and some videos.
It's got Eric M. Lang (Chaos in the old World, Blood Rage) and Michael Shinall (Xenoshyft, Rum & Bones) behind the rules, which is a decent enough pedigree.
Watching some videos and reading the rules, it's definitely a rank and file miniatures wargame in the style of say, Warhammer Fantasy, just very streamlined. I'm just not sure if it's going to end up being elegant and fun to play streamlined, or mindless and boring streamlined.
I don't know if they fixed Xenoshyft enough for the subsequent releases, but the balance on the base game was pretty awful IMO. Some of the market cards were "do not buy ever" and some of the market cards were "if this is in the market, no need to play the game, you already won." I was involved a little in the playtesting for the Dreadmire set, and the balance swung around wildly with every update they made. No idea how the final product turned out.
There's also some pretty serious scaling issues (it's incredibly tough to win solo, and gets easier and easier with every player you add), but presumably that's not something they'd run into with a competitive game.
Has anyone played the TMNT Shadows of the Past game?
I've been tempted to pick it up, and it seems like it's gotten good reviews.
I really like it. It's fast and fluid, and really captures the feeling of the Ninja Turtles flipping around beating the hell out of thugs and foot. It also creates a good sense of cooperation with the dice and KO mechanics.
All technology is barred from the table during board/card game time.
christ i wish
Perhaps the gentleman in the top-hat would do better not to associate with riff-raff and hoi polloi of the proletariat.
Alternative solutions;
1. Faraday cage constructed around your gaming area.
2. Wireless/RF signal jammers. (These are a thing. And now I kind've want one as a sort've reverse-P.A.N.... too bad they are illegal.)
3. Retaliatory early-AM visits from board-game secret police
Cell phone jail. Everybody laughs and goes "okay, our phones are in the cage, how cute, give it back though" and you turn the very real key in the very real lock and smile.
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
It's the kind of thing I might invest in because I can get it without having to get friends into something like Warmachine or whatever. I suppose I could buy two Warmachine armies, maybe even for similar costs, but that seems lame for some reason, I dunno.
My question is whether the game is any good, and I don't know enough about miniature wargaming to make that kind of judgement just from the rulebook and some videos.
It's got Eric M. Lang (Chaos in the old World, Blood Rage) and Michael Shinall (Xenoshyfy, Rum & Bones) behind the rules, which is a decent enough pedigree.
Watching some videos and reading the rules, it's definitely a rank and file miniatures wargame in the style of say, Warhammer Fantasy, just very streamlined. I'm just not sure if it's going to end up being elegant and fun to play streamlined, or mindless and boring streamlined.
Eric Lang has more hits than misses but only just, Michael Shinall has more misses than hits. I don't know that I personally would call them decent. "Worth a shot" maybe.
Cell phone jail. Everybody laughs and goes "okay, our phones are in the cage, how cute, give it back though" and you turn the very real key in the very real lock and smile.
and then throw it in the river. excellent i like this plan
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
All technology is barred from the table during board/card game time.
christ i wish
Perhaps the gentleman in the top-hat would do better not to associate with riff-raff and hoi polloi of the proletariat.
Alternative solutions;
1. Faraday cage constructed around your gaming area.
2. Wireless/RF signal jammers. (These are a thing. And now I kind've want one as a sort've reverse-P.A.N.... too bad they are illegal.)
3. Retaliatory early-AM visits from board-game secret police
I... I wouldn't advise contacting the board-game secret police. Their methods tend to be overboard.
It's the kind of thing I might invest in because I can get it without having to get friends into something like Warmachine or whatever. I suppose I could buy two Warmachine armies, maybe even for similar costs, but that seems lame for some reason, I dunno.
My question is whether the game is any good, and I don't know enough about miniature wargaming to make that kind of judgement just from the rulebook and some videos.
It's got Eric M. Lang (Chaos in the old World, Blood Rage) and Michael Shinall (Xenoshyfy, Rum & Bones) behind the rules, which is a decent enough pedigree.
Watching some videos and reading the rules, it's definitely a rank and file miniatures wargame in the style of say, Warhammer Fantasy, just very streamlined. I'm just not sure if it's going to end up being elegant and fun to play streamlined, or mindless and boring streamlined.
Eric Lang has more hits than misses but only just, Michael Shinall has more misses than hits. I don't know that I personally would call them decent. "Worth a shot" maybe.
Hm, yeah, he did Chaos and Blood Rage pretty close together which were both real good but looking at the rest of his stuff... yeah, not that stellar.
I'm dating a sweet foreign girl but she's timid as shit. She's in love with Century but doesn't want to game with my group again because she's afraid of losing. She's still willing to go so I think I'll introduce her to Forbidden Desert.
3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
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CaptainPeacockBoard Game HoarderTop o' the LakeRegistered Userregular
It's the kind of thing I might invest in because I can get it without having to get friends into something like Warmachine or whatever. I suppose I could buy two Warmachine armies, maybe even for similar costs, but that seems lame for some reason, I dunno.
My question is whether the game is any good, and I don't know enough about miniature wargaming to make that kind of judgement just from the rulebook and some videos.
It's got Eric M. Lang (Chaos in the old World, Blood Rage) and Michael Shinall (Xenoshyfy, Rum & Bones) behind the rules, which is a decent enough pedigree.
Watching some videos and reading the rules, it's definitely a rank and file miniatures wargame in the style of say, Warhammer Fantasy, just very streamlined. I'm just not sure if it's going to end up being elegant and fun to play streamlined, or mindless and boring streamlined.
Eric Lang has more hits than misses but only just, Michael Shinall has more misses than hits. I don't know that I personally would call them decent. "Worth a shot" maybe.
Hm, yeah, he did Chaos and Blood Rage pretty close together which were both real good but looking at the rest of his stuff... yeah, not that stellar.
Bloodborne had some "what were they thinking" moments.
Played 3 games of Netrunner: Terminal Directive tonight. It was fun, and the story is interesting enough.
I am upset with FFG for providing suggested decks that require more than one core set. I think that's ridiculous and stupid and makes me upset. Ended up writing what the card should be on lined paper and inserting it into a sleeve with a different card. Works out just fine, but still something they should have avoided.
Story is a fun way to get you to engage with the same deck again and again and trying to think of something to allow for deck changes. I need to read the rules again.
Had some excellent games, going back and forth and silly mistakes. I (runner) won the first by running archives and pulling two agendas because he had a hand full of them. He (Corp) won second one when I risked a tag to gain an agenda and he immediately played two scorched earth to kill me. I won the third game with some smart runs despite being low on credits all game, but it was a close game where Corp was near winning for most of it. I won with a R&D run that turned up an agenda.
I've got 3 Core Netrunner sets but haven't kept up with the expansions in ages. Do you need anything else to play terminal directive or is that it?
That's it. They have 2 runner and 2 Corp recommended decks that use cards from core plus terminal directive, but otherwise can build whatever you want. Biggest thing is trying to make sure they're balanced at the start.
Played our first 4-player game of Spirit Island last night (previous games were 3, 3, and 2), and also our first with an actual Blight Card instead of the plain Invader Board space.
It... was intense. More area to cover, seemingly overwhelming spread of invaders every turn (you need to watch at least eight lands!), blight everywhere. Just a horror show. Having to generate sixteen Fear per earned card was a substantial hurdle, even with Shadows Flicker Like Flame (newcomer with power progression) doing its usual work; the rest of us were a player giving Vital Strength of the Earth his second play (this time without progression), a second play of A Spread of Rampant Green, and me giving Lightning's Swift Strike my first spin although without using power progression.
I did not like Lightning at all. Felt really hard to find a balance between its incredibly poor energy production with its ability to play a ton of cards each turn. I was constantly burning up all of my paltry energy every turn and struggling to get presence on the board. Complicating matters was the blight card forcing us to either forget a power or destroy a presence each turn, since Lightning only gains a power when it reclaims. I just chucked my expensive stuff and did what I could. Maybe I was just playing it wrong, but I won't be coming back to that spirit for a while. Mostly because I want to try others first; I've only repeated once so far to see the difference between power progression and standard play.
Despite all that, we somehow managed to pull off the win at Terror Level 3 at the end of Stage two (had the Invaders explored that turn it would have been their first stage 3 card) thanks to a Fear card letting us pick off the last two cities we needed. We had maybe half a dozen blight left on the card but had just barely managed to stabilize. Me picking up the Elemental Boon power along the way really gave us a nudge, allowing Shadows to use their innate power at full capacity while also enabling me to raze some buildings. My power to let someone use two slow powers as fast powers also helped us generate crucial Fear pre-Invader Phase. Earth eventually got its innate power online which is always handy although its natural defense was sadly a non-factor most of the game, and Green somehow acquired the major power to drop Tsunamis early on — which was especially fun as a fast power.
We also got in another game of Lazer Ryderz (because we're GTG fanboys and they arrived within a week of each other). This game is still goofy fun and I actually managed to turn this time but that treacherous die still cost me maneuverability when I most needed it.
Played 3 games of Netrunner: Terminal Directive tonight. It was fun, and the story is interesting enough.
I am upset with FFG for providing suggested decks that require more than one core set. I think that's ridiculous and stupid and makes me upset. Ended up writing what the card should be on lined paper and inserting it into a sleeve with a different card. Works out just fine, but still something they should have avoided.
Story is a fun way to get you to engage with the same deck again and again and trying to think of something to allow for deck changes. I need to read the rules again.
Had some excellent games, going back and forth and silly mistakes. I (runner) won the first by running archives and pulling two agendas because he had a hand full of them. He (Corp) won second one when I risked a tag to gain an agenda and he immediately played two scorched earth to kill me. I won the third game with some smart runs despite being low on credits all game, but it was a close game where Corp was near winning for most of it. I won with a R&D run that turned up an agenda.
Looking forward to the next game.
Check out the official errata for Terminal Directive, they have updated the suggested decklist so that it does not require multiple core sets.
There's also an official errata to an objective late in the campaign for the Corp. You'll know it when you see it - you'll read it and think "wtf this doesn't make sense" and that'll be the one. The fix is what you will probably assume it to be.
Not sure if this is what you meant, but I am pretty sure you're allowed to change your deck in between games as much as you want, so long as you keep the same identity and still follow the campaign rules for deckbuilding (card pool, and whatever cards are required to be in your deck). It would be pretty miserable if you forgot to include, say, a barrier breaker in your runner deck, and were forced to play the whole campaign with that mistake.
Posts
YOU TRY EXPLAINING IT THEN GOD DAMN IT
IT'S SUPER WEIRD
It's a nightmare to explain
he is also absolutely horrible at explaining games, despite being a teacher.
to be fair, explaining even a middleweight a board game is often like trying to untangle fifteen earbud wires.
"So this is a game about farming where you're trying to get the most victory points. Here are the 3 phases of the turn. The middle one is the Action Phase so let me tell you about your 7 possible Actions. And then the game ends and we score. So, you get points for... <five minutes pass> ..and the person with the least blue cubes get a bonus based on how many grey cubes they have. Got it?"
No. Obviously not. Nobody's got it.
But you can't just play a turn or two for them to get it - you have to play an entire game because scoring is the point and nobody's going to remember all the things that give them points until they've actually scored at least once.
And at the end of the game 3 people are going to complain they didn't know a thing was worth points and each of them are going to be talking about a different thing.
Absolutely. There are a number of games that need a full playthrough to grasp, or at least most of one, and you just have to accept that it doesn't "count."
Yup. Every time my wife ends up with an edge case or "I didn't know that" during scoring. Or, I win and everyone complains and I just want to say that maybe when I'm explaining rules put your phone down and pay attention for 5 minutes. Family game time is wonderful, but it's always 5-10 min setup, 20 minutes waiting for everyone to finish getting snacks, drinks, posting on Facebook, talking, sit down, shut up, and listen to the rules, 5 min explaining game, then finally play the game and not have time for a second one.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
christ i wish
Yeah being able to add Dahan is both rare and useful, but River is sloooooow.
If I were playing solo I'd start with Shadows Flicker Like Flame. Easy Fear generation and the ability to control building by moving explorers around sounds like a good time.
I definitely enforce that, barring emergency situations.
Generally explaining things backwards works well enough. What's your end goal? How do you get to that end goal? And playing a "learning game" in which advice is given and people don't care about winning and losing so much as learning is always recommended.
$150, which is steep. But comes with 103 preassembled (but unpainted) miniatures.
More than I wanted it to cost, to be perfectly honest, was hoping for something a little smaller scale, as I want to use this to try and get non wargaming friends into miniature wargaming. Hm.
Urgh. Need to go check that out, it I really shouldn't, lol.
My question is whether the game is any good, and I don't know enough about miniature wargaming to make that kind of judgement just from the rulebook and some videos.
It's got Eric M. Lang (Chaos in the old World, Blood Rage) and Michael Shinall (Xenoshyfy, Rum & Bones) behind the rules, which is a decent enough pedigree.
Watching some videos and reading the rules, it's definitely a rank and file miniatures wargame in the style of say, Warhammer Fantasy, just very streamlined. I'm just not sure if it's going to end up being elegant and fun to play streamlined, or mindless and boring streamlined.
You want to ship your cows.
On your turn, you move your cowboy and take the action on the building you move to.
Let's play!
I don't know if they fixed Xenoshyft enough for the subsequent releases, but the balance on the base game was pretty awful IMO. Some of the market cards were "do not buy ever" and some of the market cards were "if this is in the market, no need to play the game, you already won." I was involved a little in the playtesting for the Dreadmire set, and the balance swung around wildly with every update they made. No idea how the final product turned out.
There's also some pretty serious scaling issues (it's incredibly tough to win solo, and gets easier and easier with every player you add), but presumably that's not something they'd run into with a competitive game.
I've been tempted to pick it up, and it seems like it's gotten good reviews.
I really like it. It's fast and fluid, and really captures the feeling of the Ninja Turtles flipping around beating the hell out of thugs and foot. It also creates a good sense of cooperation with the dice and KO mechanics.
Perhaps the gentleman in the top-hat would do better not to associate with riff-raff and hoi polloi of the proletariat.
Alternative solutions;
1. Faraday cage constructed around your gaming area.
2. Wireless/RF signal jammers. (These are a thing. And now I kind've want one as a sort've reverse-P.A.N.... too bad they are illegal.)
3. Retaliatory early-AM visits from board-game secret police
https://www.amazon.com/Alderac-Entertainment-Group-5809-Istanbul/dp/B00IVF4UK2
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Eric Lang has more hits than misses but only just, Michael Shinall has more misses than hits. I don't know that I personally would call them decent. "Worth a shot" maybe.
and then throw it in the river. excellent i like this plan
I... I wouldn't advise contacting the board-game secret police. Their methods tend to be overboard.
Hm, yeah, he did Chaos and Blood Rage pretty close together which were both real good but looking at the rest of his stuff... yeah, not that stellar.
damn you I already bought one board game today
Istanbul is sweet.
Bloodborne had some "what were they thinking" moments.
I am upset with FFG for providing suggested decks that require more than one core set. I think that's ridiculous and stupid and makes me upset. Ended up writing what the card should be on lined paper and inserting it into a sleeve with a different card. Works out just fine, but still something they should have avoided.
Story is a fun way to get you to engage with the same deck again and again and trying to think of something to allow for deck changes. I need to read the rules again.
Had some excellent games, going back and forth and silly mistakes. I (runner) won the first by running archives and pulling two agendas because he had a hand full of them. He (Corp) won second one when I risked a tag to gain an agenda and he immediately played two scorched earth to kill me. I won the third game with some smart runs despite being low on credits all game, but it was a close game where Corp was near winning for most of it. I won with a R&D run that turned up an agenda.
Looking forward to the next game.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
That's it. They have 2 runner and 2 Corp recommended decks that use cards from core plus terminal directive, but otherwise can build whatever you want. Biggest thing is trying to make sure they're balanced at the start.
It... was intense. More area to cover, seemingly overwhelming spread of invaders every turn (you need to watch at least eight lands!), blight everywhere. Just a horror show. Having to generate sixteen Fear per earned card was a substantial hurdle, even with Shadows Flicker Like Flame (newcomer with power progression) doing its usual work; the rest of us were a player giving Vital Strength of the Earth his second play (this time without progression), a second play of A Spread of Rampant Green, and me giving Lightning's Swift Strike my first spin although without using power progression.
I did not like Lightning at all. Felt really hard to find a balance between its incredibly poor energy production with its ability to play a ton of cards each turn. I was constantly burning up all of my paltry energy every turn and struggling to get presence on the board. Complicating matters was the blight card forcing us to either forget a power or destroy a presence each turn, since Lightning only gains a power when it reclaims. I just chucked my expensive stuff and did what I could. Maybe I was just playing it wrong, but I won't be coming back to that spirit for a while. Mostly because I want to try others first; I've only repeated once so far to see the difference between power progression and standard play.
Despite all that, we somehow managed to pull off the win at Terror Level 3 at the end of Stage two (had the Invaders explored that turn it would have been their first stage 3 card) thanks to a Fear card letting us pick off the last two cities we needed. We had maybe half a dozen blight left on the card but had just barely managed to stabilize. Me picking up the Elemental Boon power along the way really gave us a nudge, allowing Shadows to use their innate power at full capacity while also enabling me to raze some buildings. My power to let someone use two slow powers as fast powers also helped us generate crucial Fear pre-Invader Phase. Earth eventually got its innate power online which is always handy although its natural defense was sadly a non-factor most of the game, and Green somehow acquired the major power to drop Tsunamis early on — which was especially fun as a fast power.
We also got in another game of Lazer Ryderz (because we're GTG fanboys and they arrived within a week of each other). This game is still goofy fun and I actually managed to turn this time but that treacherous die still cost me maneuverability when I most needed it.
The Division, Warframe (XB1)
GT: Tanith 6227
Check out the official errata for Terminal Directive, they have updated the suggested decklist so that it does not require multiple core sets.
There's also an official errata to an objective late in the campaign for the Corp. You'll know it when you see it - you'll read it and think "wtf this doesn't make sense" and that'll be the one. The fix is what you will probably assume it to be.
Not sure if this is what you meant, but I am pretty sure you're allowed to change your deck in between games as much as you want, so long as you keep the same identity and still follow the campaign rules for deckbuilding (card pool, and whatever cards are required to be in your deck). It would be pretty miserable if you forgot to include, say, a barrier breaker in your runner deck, and were forced to play the whole campaign with that mistake.
don't touch anyone
read the gencon thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/211794/gencon-turns-50-this-year#latest