My current table is 92" iirc and seats 10 comfortably. I want to keep that at minimum, so don't want a 8 seat that can kinda go to 10. Would rather have a 10-12.
My family is 7, and when we have holidays at our house it's 14+, so kinda want big main table. I don't need anything crazy like a 14+ seater though. I don't mind putting a 6' folding at the end.
Anyway, got Forgotten Waters to the (Discord) table last night and we had a blast. Highly recommended if you can find a copy (Plaid Hat isn't known for their availability) and the remote play assistant works a treat.
Anyway, got Forgotten Waters to the (Discord) table last night and we had a blast. Highly recommended if you can find a copy (Plaid Hat isn't known for their availability) and the remote play assistant works a treat.
This is great to hear! A few of us got a copy for our pirate-crazy friend for Christmas and I think we're going to play it online in the next week.
Any tips having tried it?
Anyway, got Forgotten Waters to the (Discord) table last night and we had a blast. Highly recommended if you can find a copy (Plaid Hat isn't known for their availability) and the remote play assistant works a treat.
This is great to hear! A few of us got a copy for our pirate-crazy friend for Christmas and I think we're going to play it online in the next week.
Any tips having tried it?
Strategic tips:
Pay attention to what skill upgrades earn you stars and which don't. Always be working toward a star whenever possible. I was ONE star short of my good ending last night because on several occasions I instinctively took the action I was best at (max level 7) despite not getting any credit for it after level 5.
Threat adds up fast. Don't dawdle.
Supplies are important. They count as food, ammo, and whatever they do to let you move your boat without spending hull points. When in doubt, get supplies.
Game management tips:
You might want to increase the action selection timer. We never ran afoul of the default 40 seconds since there was only four of us, but one misclick got us close.
On a related topic, more players = more actions taken = more entries. We missed a lot of entries because we didn't have the manpower to select them. There's not a lot of functional difference between 4 and 5 thanks to the Hungry Pirates modifier (when relevant), but 6 or 7 will give you additional coverage. You obviously have who you have; just something to keep in mind.
In lieu of printing out the constellation sheets, you can just mark up the relevant pages of the PDF if you'd prefer.
Even though they call it an "app," don't try to use the Remote Assistance App on a phone. It is not optimized for the small screen size (in either orientation) and you will screw something up. Browser tabs or GTFO. Even then I was running onto problems with my hand of cards and the bottom action option.
If you're convening in some sort of chat client, it would be great if there's a die-rolling functionality in the client (I grabbed a Discord bot) to keep everyone honest.
Speaking of being honest, the person with the location book (owner of the physical copy of the game) is going to be tempted to check results before choosing to re-roll or whatever; it's not really fair to the others, though, who can't see them. I managed to avoid it but it wasn't easy at times.
Relatedly, getting the map to others could be a chore depending on your set-up. I was logged in to Discord twice, one on my laptop and one on my phone. My phone was strictly* to take photos of the map (or at least the area immediately around our ship) and posting them in the chat. I think I took like a dozen pictures over the entire first scenario.
*Well ok it was also an emergency backup in case my router screwed me.
finally got games of wingspan and root in over the holidays and my stars they are both excellent EXCELLENT games
it really breaks my heart to be so cutthroat to adorable mouse meeples tho
There is a non-affiliated app for wingspan on Android that's called wingsong. The app plays the birds call when hovering over the image of said bird
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
I don't know how I didn't mention this during the holidays, but Under Falling Skies is excellent.
Strictly out-of-the-box it is a good puzzle with some minor means of tweaking the difficulty. I would recommend you play it a few times so you can figure out what your comfort level / baseline capabilities are as a player. Then you can start the campaign and be absolutely and thoroughly delighted by how well designed it is, and how much it gives such a simple game huge legs.
It is possibly the best solitaire game on the market, as long as you don't vehemently hate the core mechanisms for some reason. Big recommend if you play those at all.
BG Stats is very polished. You can certainly get the data you'd need from the base app, but there is also a dedicated Challenges module that would specifically track things like a 10x10.
BG Stats is very polished. You can certainly get the data you'd need from the base app, but there is also a dedicated Challenges module that would specifically track things like a 10x10.
Yeah BGStats is the right answer.
I got it at the beginning of 2020 based on someone posting their BGStats screenshot on this thread and its been great to use for the past year.
BG Stats is very polished. You can certainly get the data you'd need from the base app, but there is also a dedicated Challenges module that would specifically track things like a 10x10.
... Okay, that's a cool app. And it syncs with BGG, which is awesome. Thanks!
I finally got to play one of my ever-growing wall of unplayed kickstarter games the other day: Calico. Super cute game about making quilts so that cats will sleep on them. It's mostly solitaire but there are enough conflicting goals to make the 'which quilt piece should I place and where' question continually interesting.
I finally got to play one of my ever-growing wall of unplayed kickstarter games the other day: Calico. Super cute game about making quilts so that cats will sleep on them. It's mostly solitaire but there are enough conflicting goals to make the 'which quilt piece should I place and where' question continually interesting.
I got it at the beginning of 2020 based on someone posting their BGStats screenshot on this thread and its been great to use for the past year.
Might have been me!
In 2020, I logged 999 plays of 196 games, across 11 locations with 106 players. My H-index was 14. I don't log prototype plays, which would significantly inflate these numbers. I also don't log digital plays unless I have a video chat going with opponents I know (common this year).
New-to-me games that were standouts in 2020 include:
- The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
- It's a Wonderful World - eager to play this again once I can play in person.
- Finished! - in addition to logged plays, I had 291 plays on the app version.
- Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade - an amazing job simulating the real thing. The only downside is the length, but it's a fantastic game.
I had one of my existing games get a new edition with a snazzy graphic design, had a second game get published and shipped, a third got signed, and a fourth commissioned. Altogether my best year of game design work yet.
tzeentchlingDoctor of RocksOaklandRegistered Userregular
You have 7 Wonders very high in that list, which is a bit surprising given its age. Is that just the base game, or including some of the expansions? Which ones do you use most often?
Apparently DeckWorkerPlacementBuilding is all the rage this year. Does anyone know how Dune: Imperium, Vicounts of the West Kingdom and The Ruins of Arnak compare?
You have 7 Wonders very high in that list, which is a bit surprising given its age. Is that just the base game, or including some of the expansions? Which ones do you use most often?
When playing physically, it depends on whose copy. I have Leaders which I feel is almost mandatory. When playing at others' houses, Cities is often in the mix as well. I played Babel once and didn't like it at all. Armada is good but really changes the game.
It is so high on the list this year because 2020. The BGA implementation is slick, plays fast, and works with up to 7 players, which makes it a frequent choice during weekly game nights (especially in the "waiting for people to arrive" period). Games with experienced players take 10-15 minutes in that format.
You have 7 Wonders very high in that list, which is a bit surprising given its age. Is that just the base game, or including some of the expansions? Which ones do you use most often?
When playing physically, it depends on whose copy. I have Leaders which I feel is almost mandatory. When playing at others' houses, Cities is often in the mix as well. I played Babel once and didn't like it at all. Armada is good but really changes the game.
It is so high on the list this year because 2020. The BGA implementation is slick, plays fast, and works with up to 7 players, which makes it a frequent choice during weekly game nights (especially in the "waiting for people to arrive" period). Games with experienced players take 10-15 minutes in that format.
Thanks for explaining! It has a quite good Android implementation as well; picked it up on sale and have more than gotten my money's worth. Agreed that Leaders makes the game sing. I have the physical Babel expansion - I know it comes with two "modes" of play and I found the actual tower mode not that great but the Great Projects mode was fun and reminded me a bit of Euphoria.
I'm also a bit amused at how high Tichu is on your list as well. I had never heard of it until I went to a store's board game night here in the Bay Area and a bunch of the game designers would play it to start off the night. It feels more niche because I never see it in some cities but in a few others it's hard to go to a game night and not see people playing.
I finally got to play one of my ever-growing wall of unplayed kickstarter games the other day: Calico. Super cute game about making quilts so that cats will sleep on them. It's mostly solitaire but there are enough conflicting goals to make the 'which quilt piece should I place and where' question continually interesting.
Calico is an amazingly good game.
These component upgrades are getting out of hand.
Oh, come and shake me 'till I'm dry
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
AEG is releasing a micro expansion for Space Base. It's essentially a small promo set of ships that can be slotted in any dock position.
I am a sucker for everything about that. But because it is exclusive to their online store, I am strongly hoping it is cheap on shipping. I also need to check if I got the dreadnoughts promos. I think I did when I replaced my shy pluto cards, but I can't remember.
I played a couple of games of Windward with my parents this weekend. None of us had played before, and we made some mistakes in the first game, but that's to be expected. It was fun! Two games isn't enough to explore tactics much, though; also, with three players, and using the bigger board (as recommended), we had plenty to do while staying out of each other's way. It would be interesting to see what the game is like in a more crowded/cutthroat playthrough.
I had a few questions that weren't addressed in the rulebook, though:
If a ship loses a battle on its turn, but has at least 1 Morale remaining (i.e., is not Defeated), is the losing player's turn over, or can they use any remaining Speed and/or Actions they have left?
Does the False Flag card affect red cresters, or only other ships?
Do red cresters move even if they don't have line of sight to the active player's ship? Do they only move toward ships, or are they smart enough to go around obstacles?
No details as of now. But if they can capture the magic of the video game, it could be something special.
Anyone ever heard of the developer before? I haven't. It seems like it's going to be hard to capture the magic of StS in cardboard form and not just end up as a worse clunkier version of the digital game.
Yeah, I'm highly skeptical. When I think of what sets Slay the Spire apart from a typical deckbuilding game, most of the things that come to mind require a lot of bookkeeping and this are particularly suited for a digital game. It seems like a physical version will either have all the interesting bits stripped out, or will be a pain to actually play. "45 minutes per player" makes me suspect they are going the second route.
No details as of now. But if they can capture the magic of the video game, it could be something special.
Anyone ever heard of the developer before? I haven't. It seems like it's going to be hard to capture the magic of StS in cardboard form and not just end up as a worse clunkier version of the digital game.
All that shuffling.... Who thought that would be a great idea?
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CaptainPeacockBoard Game HoarderTop o' the LakeRegistered Userregular
Bummer. Just got word that Return to Dark Tower is going to be delayed from February until July. Not that I blame them, it's been a bit of a rough year. But I do appreciate that the very first sentence of the email update leads with the bad news before the few paragraphs of explanation.
Honestly, I'd rather it just be done right than rushed, since it's highly unlikely I'll be getting a group around the table before this summer, at best.
Posts
My family is 7, and when we have holidays at our house it's 14+, so kinda want big main table. I don't need anything crazy like a 14+ seater though. I don't mind putting a 6' folding at the end.
She really loves the game and is actually caring about not damaging the cards and pieces. I’d highly recommend Outfoxed if you got younger kids.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Anyway, got Forgotten Waters to the (Discord) table last night and we had a blast. Highly recommended if you can find a copy (Plaid Hat isn't known for their availability) and the remote play assistant works a treat.
This is great to hear! A few of us got a copy for our pirate-crazy friend for Christmas and I think we're going to play it online in the next week.
Any tips having tried it?
Strategic tips:
Threat adds up fast. Don't dawdle.
Supplies are important. They count as food, ammo, and whatever they do to let you move your boat without spending hull points. When in doubt, get supplies.
Game management tips:
On a related topic, more players = more actions taken = more entries. We missed a lot of entries because we didn't have the manpower to select them. There's not a lot of functional difference between 4 and 5 thanks to the Hungry Pirates modifier (when relevant), but 6 or 7 will give you additional coverage. You obviously have who you have; just something to keep in mind.
In lieu of printing out the constellation sheets, you can just mark up the relevant pages of the PDF if you'd prefer.
Even though they call it an "app," don't try to use the Remote Assistance App on a phone. It is not optimized for the small screen size (in either orientation) and you will screw something up. Browser tabs or GTFO. Even then I was running onto problems with my hand of cards and the bottom action option.
If you're convening in some sort of chat client, it would be great if there's a die-rolling functionality in the client (I grabbed a Discord bot) to keep everyone honest.
Speaking of being honest, the person with the location book (owner of the physical copy of the game) is going to be tempted to check results before choosing to re-roll or whatever; it's not really fair to the others, though, who can't see them. I managed to avoid it but it wasn't easy at times.
Relatedly, getting the map to others could be a chore depending on your set-up. I was logged in to Discord twice, one on my laptop and one on my phone. My phone was strictly* to take photos of the map (or at least the area immediately around our ship) and posting them in the chat. I think I took like a dozen pictures over the entire first scenario.
*Well ok it was also an emergency backup in case my router screwed me.
it really breaks my heart to be so cutthroat to adorable mouse meeples tho
There is a non-affiliated app for wingspan on Android that's called wingsong. The app plays the birds call when hovering over the image of said bird
Strictly out-of-the-box it is a good puzzle with some minor means of tweaking the difficulty. I would recommend you play it a few times so you can figure out what your comfort level / baseline capabilities are as a player. Then you can start the campaign and be absolutely and thoroughly delighted by how well designed it is, and how much it gives such a simple game huge legs.
It is possibly the best solitaire game on the market, as long as you don't vehemently hate the core mechanisms for some reason. Big recommend if you play those at all.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
i just got the digital version and play that now so it's covered.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Could always get the Clockwork expansion for Root and work together to topple the robotic regimes.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Yeah BGStats is the right answer.
I got it at the beginning of 2020 based on someone posting their BGStats screenshot on this thread and its been great to use for the past year.
i know, i have it all but it's best to learn to play going against each other
... Okay, that's a cool app. And it syncs with BGG, which is awesome. Thanks!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Calico is an amazingly good game.
In 2020, I logged 999 plays of 196 games, across 11 locations with 106 players. My H-index was 14. I don't log prototype plays, which would significantly inflate these numbers. I also don't log digital plays unless I have a video chat going with opponents I know (common this year).
New-to-me games that were standouts in 2020 include:
- The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
- It's a Wonderful World - eager to play this again once I can play in person.
- Finished! - in addition to logged plays, I had 291 plays on the app version.
- Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade - an amazing job simulating the real thing. The only downside is the length, but it's a fantastic game.
I had one of my existing games get a new edition with a snazzy graphic design, had a second game get published and shipped, a third got signed, and a fourth commissioned. Altogether my best year of game design work yet.
Lots more thoughts here: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/edit/112758
No details as of now. But if they can capture the magic of the video game, it could be something special.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Ffffffffff...
Hopefully this hits at a time when I can afford it.
Near as I can tell, it won't be dropping until 2022. Start saving now!
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
It is so high on the list this year because 2020. The BGA implementation is slick, plays fast, and works with up to 7 players, which makes it a frequent choice during weekly game nights (especially in the "waiting for people to arrive" period). Games with experienced players take 10-15 minutes in that format.
I meant the KS but sure.
Thanks for explaining! It has a quite good Android implementation as well; picked it up on sale and have more than gotten my money's worth. Agreed that Leaders makes the game sing. I have the physical Babel expansion - I know it comes with two "modes" of play and I found the actual tower mode not that great but the Great Projects mode was fun and reminded me a bit of Euphoria.
I'm also a bit amused at how high Tichu is on your list as well. I had never heard of it until I went to a store's board game night here in the Bay Area and a bunch of the game designers would play it to start off the night. It feels more niche because I never see it in some cities but in a few others it's hard to go to a game night and not see people playing.
Better than needing someone to Tichu how to Dougie.
I am a sucker for everything about that. But because it is exclusive to their online store, I am strongly hoping it is cheap on shipping. I also need to check if I got the dreadnoughts promos. I think I did when I replaced my shy pluto cards, but I can't remember.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
I had a few questions that weren't addressed in the rulebook, though:
i am vibrating with anticipation
Anyone ever heard of the developer before? I haven't. It seems like it's going to be hard to capture the magic of StS in cardboard form and not just end up as a worse clunkier version of the digital game.
All that shuffling.... Who thought that would be a great idea?
Wheeeeeeeere?
bgExpansions on Etsy
Honestly, I'd rather it just be done right than rushed, since it's highly unlikely I'll be getting a group around the table before this summer, at best.