Huh, just noticed Twilight Struggle is now #1 on BGG
What happened in like the last 6 months?
As I now am into longer games in general too, the game now interests me.
TS is a truly awesome game if you and your opposition are up for it, but it does surprise me it got to the n° 1 spot. Then again, the game ranks on the Geek are indicative at best. There are plenty of good threads on their forums about which game outside the top-100 forumites would move up, which games are considered most under-(or over-)valued, etc. And a lot of it has to do with hotness: often forumites rate a game when they just got it, rating it too high as a consequence, and never correct that rating afterwards (Dominion and Intrigue both in the top-10? Good games, sure, but not that good). Still, the latter effect shouldn't really apply to TS. The game got a serious boost last year, but I didn't notice anything special happening with it in 2010.
And a lot of it has to do with hotness: often forumites rate a game when they just got it, rating it too high as a consequence, and never correct that rating afterwards (Dominion and Intrigue both in the top-10? Good games, sure, but not that good).
:arrow:
dracil: TS is really good, I havent played in a while but id be down to hop on VASSAL sometime this weekend and do a game or two
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
I played my first game of Race to the Galaxy today. 2 player, starter rules, I knew the game and I was teaching the other player. I was planet 2, he was planet 1. He won, 28 to 22.
I really, REALLY love this game. Looking at the shit the expansions add make it sound completely insane, but it also sounds like some of that stuff should've been in from the beginning.
I also bought my first expansion, which is awesome too, but I feel cheated over its contents to buy it at $25. I won't be making that mistake again.
Looking for the experts thoughts here. My playgroup (aka the family which is two parents in their early 40s and two guys 17 & 20) have been looking at Game of Thrones card game.
The mechanics look fine, and we like games with a lot of expansions. Its the expansions that confuse me - they seem to be priced at 9.99 and focus on a single deck. With four players - would we need to buy each expansion 4 times? If so, I think this one is a pass.
Thanks!
As an aside - picked up Seven Wonders. Wow - that's a strong game.
And a lot of it has to do with hotness: often forumites rate a game when they just got it, rating it too high as a consequence, and never correct that rating afterwards (Dominion and Intrigue both in the top-10? Good games, sure, but not that good).
:arrow:
dracil: TS is really good, I havent played in a while but id be down to hop on VASSAL sometime this weekend and do a game or two
Hmm, I might be up for it later today, probably in the evening. If not today, maybe tomorrow evening. I still need to read the rules and learn how to use VASSAL.
Looking for the experts thoughts here. My playgroup (aka the family which is two parents in their early 40s and two guys 17 & 20) have been looking at Game of Thrones card game.
The mechanics look fine, and we like games with a lot of expansions. Its the expansions that confuse me - they seem to be priced at 9.99 and focus on a single deck. With four players - would we need to buy each expansion 4 times? If so, I think this one is a pass.
No; just make sure you are building balanced decks for each house/player, and you'll be fine with one copy of each of the expansions you pick up.
So I got Citadels for Christmas and that's a game I really like. Especially now that there's a core of people who know what everything does so role selection is a little faster. Played 8 or so games since I got it which is pretty heavy use. I like the amount of time it takes, the fair amount of strategic depth, and there's enough interactivity to keep things interesting.
My youngest cousin got a game called Hey! That's My Fish which is a shockingly deep strategic game about penguins working ice floes to get as many fish as possible. Definitely something I would recommend picking up for any younger kids you want to rope into your hobby or if you have kids of your own.
Whenever they get back to the game store they bought it, my aunt is returning Munchkin (I've already got a copy) and getting me either Race for the Galaxy, Dominion, or Traders of Genoa in that preference order. Which I'm excited about.
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Citadels is a nice game. It's a great little filler or more casual starting game before the heavy stuff, and it's just that one small box that's easy to sneak with you anywhere.
We actually play a fair bit of Hey! That's My Fish! in my group of early-30s gamers. :P It's also a great little filler while waiting for the other group to finish their game so we can make new groups and start on new games.
Head's up to people with a Borders bookstore near you. They're running a 50% off any one item coupon if you're a member of their Rewards club (which is free). Depending on individual stores, their board game stock will vary. I managed to score Small World for $25 today, but I also saw Dominion, Carcassone, Death Angel, Catan, and a few others on the shelves.
I played my first game of Race to the Galaxy today. ...
I also bought my first expansion, which is awesome too, but I feel cheated over its contents to buy it at $25. I won't be making that mistake again.
It's true that paying $25 for the physical contents is steep. However, there are some things to keep in mind.
If you go online, it's more like $15. I'm all for supporting the LFGS myself and I buy everything I can there, even at the surcharge, so I understand if you prefer not to use the online option. It's there though.
More importantly though, you don't just pay for the bits and pieces. You pay for the game. As in the gameplay. What did you pay for RftG itself - probably twice as much, and from your post I surmise you didn't feel cheated there. Just looking at the contents of that box, I wouldn't think that's a $50+ game either. With The Gathering Storm (I hope you didn't pick up one of the later expansions first) you get, aside from the extras that change the gameplay, also the possibility to play solo or with 5 players, instead of 2-4. For me, that's worth a lot - especially the increased max number of players. I don't play a lot of 5-player RftG games, but having the option sure comes in handy when that's the exact number of players present. It's in fact one of the first things I look at when picking up something new: if it's not at least 2-5, I'm going tp need some pretty good reasons not to put it back down again.
BTW, I mentioned Nightfall in the old thread. Might as well bring it up again as a reminder that the drawings for a free advance copy of it before it hits stores started today. One person will win one every day for the next 100 days.
There's been a few posts over on the official forums with previews, I'll copypasta for here.
This card is actually out there, so I can tell you all about it. This is old Ivan, terror of the south side. He is a "White" card, indicated by the white moon in the upper left. After he's played, a blue OR purple card can be played, but nothing else (indicated by the blue and purple smaller moons, this is called "chaining"). He has four hit points, the hash marks around the borders of the card - note there is a bit more black border than this image implies. As he takes damage his card is rotated to show how many HP are left. He has a strength (damage) of 4, the big red number, and costs 4 influence to add to your deck (the gold 4 beside his name).
When played and the chain is resolving, his Chain effect happens, targeting and putting a minion back on top of its owners deck (you or your opponents'), then he comes into play.
Down below the divider is a green moon. If the card before this one in the chain was Green (remember the way you have to link with the small moons? So it would have been a Green card with small moons of white and anything else), you also get the kicker effect. Exile is to remove from the game, so you can remove a Wound in your hand from the game, or any other card you want to to thin your deck.
So here's your lunar eclipse preview!
Charlotte Reyes. She's one of the starting deck cards. 12 cards for every player, 2 each of 6. Each of the 6 represents one of the colors in the game, and only links to its own color. You'll notice her "In Play" effect. It is shared by all of the starter cards, essentially if she comes into play, whenever she is destroyed or discarded she removes herself from the game. This way your deck automatically thins out your starter deck as you build up your functioning deck from the cards you buy.
You'll also note her zero Influence cost and that her name is in gold, these are just reminders that she's a starter deck card, and to not put her in your discard pile if she was in play.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I played my first game of Race to the Galaxy today. ...
I also bought my first expansion, which is awesome too, but I feel cheated over its contents to buy it at $25. I won't be making that mistake again.
It's true that paying $25 for the physical contents is steep. However, there are some things to keep in mind.
If you go online, it's more like $15. I'm all for supporting the LFGS myself and I buy everything I can there, even at the surcharge, so I understand if you prefer not to use the online option. It's there though.
More importantly though, you don't just pay for the bits and pieces. You pay for the game. As in the gameplay. What did you pay for RftG itself - probably twice as much, and from your post I surmise you didn't feel cheated there. Just looking at the contents of that box, I wouldn't think that's a $50+ game either. With The Gathering Storm (I hope you didn't pick up one of the later expansions first) you get, aside from the extras that change the gameplay, also the possibility to play solo or with 5 players, instead of 2-4. For me, that's worth a lot - especially the increased max number of players. I don't play a lot of 5-player RftG games, but having the option sure comes in handy when that's the exact number of players present. It's in fact one of the first things I look at when picking up something new: if it's not at least 2-5, I'm going tp need some pretty good reasons not to put it back down again.
Oh, I fully agree. As much as I ADORE Fantasy Flight, it bugs me that all of their expansions are stand-alone. The integration is a wonderful element of RftG that I like. And I will be buying the other expansions online, as I love the most/first goals and I want that 6 player option. Prestiege looks a bit more complex than I was expecting, being another resource to manage, but oh well...
It was just that initial shock of only getting 18-22 play cards or so and 19 blank cards. I don't think I'm going to de-integate this expansion though. It looks like the new worlds can be played without goals, so I can teach new players without them being any the wiser.
It was just that initial shock of only getting 18-22 play cards or so and 19 blank cards.
I do understand where you're coming from. Boardgames can seem stupidly expensive for the physical components you get (Zombie Dice is what, 15 bucks or so for 13 dice?), and that often goes double for expansions (Carcassonne and Alhambra, I'm looking at you). Look at it from another angle though: expansions are a publisher's way of cashing in on a successful game. They help pay for the other games that were in development but didn't make the cut or tanked in the stores. It's not ideal for us, the consumers, since I'm sure the publishers err on the side of more profit but that's really no different from any other type of business (and that's what it is: business - objectively seen, decent business even).
brain operator on
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
It was just that initial shock of only getting 18-22 play cards or so and 19 blank cards.
I do understand where you're coming from. Boardgames can seem stupidly expensive for the physical components you get (Zombie Dice is what, 15 bucks or so for 13 dice?), and that often goes double for expansions (Carcassonne and Alhambra, I'm looking at you). Look at it from another angle though: expansions are a publisher's way of cashing in on a successful game. They help pay for the other games that were in development but didn't make the cut or tanked in the stores. It's not ideal for us, the consumers, since I'm sure the publishers err on the side of more profit but that's really no different from any other type of business (and that's what it is: business - objectively seen, decent business even).
Yeah, I can see that. I guess I'm just miffed over how my hobby always seems to be getting more and more expensive. A decade ago, I could buy a roleplaying game book for $12-15 new, cheaper if it was used. Mainline books were $20-40. Today, the next RPG I want to buy is L5R, and that MSRP's for $60. Don't get me started on Fantasy Flight.
It just sucks because I know the demand has not grown to match the quality of supply, so the cost has to go up to make up the difference.
But hey. I trudge along willingly at this point. If my FLGS carried more RPG books I might suck it up more and pay for these things. ATM, nothing really goes on sale, he just eats the sales tax.
It was just that initial shock of only getting 18-22 play cards or so and 19 blank cards.
I do understand where you're coming from. Boardgames can seem stupidly expensive for the physical components you get (Zombie Dice is what, 15 bucks or so for 13 dice?) ...
Well hell I bought the Oogie Boogie Yahtzee and it was $20 for 5 dice and a plastic cup. And it's not like they are still paying development costs for Yahtzee.
Speaking of, at my local B&N I of course saw the Oogie Boogie Yahtzee on the 50% off rack after Christmas sale, but B&N only has a 14 day return policy so I get stuck paying full price. The dice are awesome though if anyone wants to pay $10 for 5 dice and a plastic cup.
Nightfall looks interesting. It's not a CCG, is it?
Right, it's a deck-building game. (I hate to say "ala Dominion", since it seems to have a vastly greater amount of murder involved, but... y'know.)
Another preview (from the Facebook page, copypasta'd...)
Enraged Wight is interestingly enough the only ghoul minion in the base set! There is an action that features ghouls, but as of yet ghoul activity isn't as widespread as that of the vampires and werewolves, but one might expect that to change as expansions release...
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A decade ago, I could buy a roleplaying game book for $12-15 new, cheaper if it was used. Mainline books were $20-40. Today, the next RPG I want to buy is L5R, and that MSRP's for $60.
Now you're really preaching to the choir. I've bought the core books for all three current Warhammer 40K RPGs knowing full well I'm rarely if ever going to get to play them - but boy are they beautiful. The same goes for L5R, my RPG of choice, which luckily I do get to play a bit more. I've ranted quite a lot against the current RPG business model, which is all about high production values, full color artwork throughout, glossy paper and whatnot - I know this justifies bigger profit margins and we all know RPGs (aside from D&D) don't make money on volume, but it still stings.
On the other hand, we tend to forget about basic economic laws like inflation. For most western economies, prices go up by about 50% over ten years solely due to that. A $30 book released in 2000 should cost about $45 now. Ideally our wages should follow, but I guarantee that's not the case for me. Fie!
The sun has retreated from the earth. It has been a little over a week since the last hint of light shone over the horizon, and the chaos has begun. People fear for their existence, while scientists struggle to explain the phenomenon.
Until they came.
The creatures of nightmare — vampires, werewolves, and ghouls — have begun to appear throughout the world, and they show no sign of hesitation in claiming the dark world as their own!
--
Nightfall is a new fast, furious and fun deck-building game from Alderac Entertainment Group. Featuring direct head-to-head combat, amazing art, a new AEG world, and unique mechanics by designer David Gregg, Nightfall will be the deck-building game to own.
Before the game begins, there is a draft to determine which cards are available for purchase, and by whom. During this draft players select two cards from the set for their personal archives, and they also select cards to put into the common area. The cards drafted into personal archives may only be purchased by the player who drafted them.
After the table has been set with the private and common cards, players begin play.
The meat of Nightfall is in the chaining mechanic, which was partially developed with the help of people right here on BoardGameGeek.
Each card has a main color and two linking colors. If you can match the main color of a card to one of the linking colors of a previous card, then you can chain those cards together. Once a chain is started, players all get an opportunity to link additional cards onto the chain during that turn.
Cards in the chain then resolve in reverse order: first in, last out. Instant effects fire off as cards come off the chain, doing damage to your opponents or bringing characters into play to defend you and attack your opponents.
The object of Nightfall is to put wounds into your opponents’ decks and end the game with the least amount of wounds in your deck. But beware: the more wounds a person has, the more enraged they become and the faster their deck works, which means more cards and bigger chains coming your way!
Nightfall's base set releases with starting decks of 12 cards for up to 5 players, and 24 distinct cards (7 copies of each) for drafting during play. The box contains card dividers, and is in the same format as the much heralded Wrath of the Elements box for Thunderstone.
For anyone that is enjoying citadels, it might be worth it to find a copy of the game Castle. It's another Faidutti game (Lots of chaos that masks decent strategy), but I actually like it more than citadels now. Main negative is that its four player max.
Game board is four cardboard walls that form a 4x4 square inside. The gameplay consists of playing character cards from your hand into the castle courtyard, walls, or outside the walls. Each card that is played has a token of your color placed on it to show that you win and counts for a point at the end of the game. When a character is played, its special effect is enacted. Some are simple (Play the assassin into the courtyard, kill an adjacent character) and some require planning and feints that have large effects on the game (You play catapults outside the walls. Once four catapults are facing one wall, every card played on that wall is sent back to its owner). There are other rules (like a card exchange that allows you to get rid of cards you don't want to play for something less offensive), but its all fairly simple.
Its a fun and fairly quick game that has a ton of interaction. When playing with multiple players, it is hard to "gang up" on since many cards are targeted against specific cards, not players.
Made some poor military decisions early on and was basically down on everything. He was getting like 15 trade per turn while I was getting like 7 or so. He had three cities, I had two with my second city in the mountains with no trade. He had more tech (I only had a bunch of level 1s plus he kept using Exchange of Ideas to steal tech as I couldn't steal his Level 2 starting tech), more figures on the board, and more units, and the oracle and hanging gardens (see opponent's cards and get a free figure every turn). He had a couple academies as well adding even more to his battle score.
Then instead of researching a 2nd level tech, I went ahead and built the Himeji Castle wonder by using up all my trade for production instead (yay American ability). With that +1 to all unit strength, I was back in business. He took Level 3 Artillery so I took Level 3 Cavalry and then I just focused on buying those, which gave me initiative in most fights. Eventually I took Monarchy and used that to wipe out his Oracle so he had no advantages left in battles and then weakened his military further. Blew up one academy with a culture card and then destroyed his closest city, which was probably game ending really. But as we were running out of time, we agreed if I took his second city, I'd be declared winner. I did by parking one of my armies on his last academy, then steamrolling his last city with 5 cavalry units on a 2 stack army with biology to heal my units against his 2 units. And since I stole his iron in an earlier victory, he couldn't use his battle abilities either.
Pretty different from my 4-player BGG.con game, where nobody really wanted to harvest resources. I think his mistake was focusing too much on culture instead of pressing his military advantage early on. He got comfortable and was expanding on tech, econ, and culture at the same time. Nobody researched any Level 4 techs this game, because we'd steal trade to block tech advancement when we won battles. In both games, I won by abandoning my initial strategy and going a completely different route. My 4-player game as Germans, I wanted to go military but ended up going econ/tech and won with econ. This game, I originally wanted econ/tech, but ended with military.
TimmyRank: MajorFloating in my tin can.Registered Userregular
edited January 2011
Our weekly board game night started with our first game of The Resistance and we had so much fun that we never switched to anything else. It was six players who knew each other very well. This game will definitely be played at least once every session from now on.
Highlight of the evening was a game where everyone was completely baffled as to who the two spies were. We all suspected one guy (despite his very trustworthy beard) but there was lots of shouting and accusations as to the second spy. Every interrogation was responded to with righteous indignation. The Resistance eventually squeaked out a win and we all flipped over our cards and the second spy had the :shock: face because, like an idiot, he hadn't paid close enough attention at the start of the game and truly and sincerely thought he was part of the Resistance. This was like eight games in so there was no excuse for it and it was utterly hilarious.
Players draft from personal cards? I hope that does not imply that each player is supposed to own the game, but that there's just some round-robin picking of two personal stacks from which to purchase?
Dominion isn't on my list anymore. When you play that game over and over and over and play it on BSW over and over and over, then you get tired of it. I could care less if I ever play it again, honestly.
Which sucks, because I really enjoyed it. I never thought it was possible to get burnt out on a game like that.
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TrynantManiac BrawlerRank 20.100 and full WildRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
I played Power Grid for the first time yesterday with two friends. We liked it so much we played two more games after the first.
First two games my friend ended up winning. He viewed the game almost as a math problem and highlight how much of an advantage being able to crunch numbers is in the game. Also, from reviews of the game and talk about it I gathered that being in first place can be really bad, but if you're far enough ahead of other players the money you accumulate outweighs the disadvantage of buying resources and building last.
Third game I won once I realized how important positioning can be. The other players picked areas in the side and I just went in the middle, cutting both of them off and snagging a lot of cities in the process (note: cities that have no connection cost between them usually are bad places to start out in because they always have expensive connection costs everywhere else). I won at the end because I managed to get one person to spend almost three times as much money as was originally needed to get the most expensive power plant in the game, costing him some very important cities and letting me take lead.
In short, awesome game. I don't think I've played a game where the people playing liked it enough to play twice in a row followed by a third time in the same day. I think it's right below Puerto Rico as far as my favorite eurogames go. Very little luck involved, though sometimes which power plant is drawn next suddenly changes the game a good deal.
Also, Dominion: Prosperity is very fun. The amount of gold in play makes for what is almost a completely different experience from the main game. The "biggest money" setup had us rolling in gold/platinum. Interestingly enough Prosperity cards make it more likely that you run out of three stacks before buying out Provinces (or Colonies).
About how long is an average game of Castle Ravenloft?
Your first game will probably take a couple hours, once you know how it all works it should play in an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the scenario. (The one where you have to find 12 non-instant-cast treasures takes FOREVER.)
About how long is an average game of Castle Ravenloft?
Your first game will probably take a couple hours, once you know how it all works it should play in an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the scenario. (The one where you have to find 12 non-instant-cast treasures takes FOREVER.)
that sounds about right. it might also depend on the number of players, and how much thought gets put into monster actions (i know on the kill the dracoliche scenario we spent a bit of time figuring out how to kite it properly). I also know that on some of the other scenarios you can really finish them fast (>1 hr) so i think it would be safe to set aside 2 hours for play
Dominion isn't on my list anymore. When you play that game over and over and over and play it on BSW over and over and over, then you get tired of it. I could care less if I ever play it again, honestly.
Which sucks, because I really enjoyed it. I never thought it was possible to get burnt out on a game like that.
no, you're wrong, but it's only because you are playing on BSW which is terrible. come play on isotropic and learn to love life again.
Actions, unlike minions, do not remain in play after the chain resolves. Their effects are usually quite powerful, yet leave you with no defense. The kicker on this one is also notable, as you can remove cards before the opponent even has a chance to add them to their deck.
For reference, a Archive is a stack of all copies of one card. From how I understand it, there's going to be two types of Archives you can buy cards from, Public and Private.
Brence wrote:
Whoa did he just say "end of the chain". Is that to imply that these chains can span multiple players? God I can see nasty politics develop in Multiplayer! "Gimme a Red Moon and I'll get that Ghoul of your back" kinda thing NICE!
Yes.
Active player starts his chain, plays as much as he wants. Play then passes to the left, who can play as much or as little as he wants, then next player, etc. until it goes to the player to the active player's right. Active player does NOT get a second chance to add. Then orders in the chain resolve in a last in-first out order. So even though the active player is the first one to play on the turn, his effects are the last to go off.
Should the active player not start a chain, no one gets to add, so there isn't one that turn.
And yes you can table talk, and bearing in mind the order that effects will occur as the chain resolves backwards is very important. Keeping track of which minions are in play and which haven't come into play yet, etc. If you're not careful you can end up in situations where the only targets for damage are your own minions.
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Dominion isn't on my list anymore. When you play that game over and over and over and play it on BSW over and over and over, then you get tired of it. I could care less if I ever play it again, honestly.
Which sucks, because I really enjoyed it. I never thought it was possible to get burnt out on a game like that.
no, you're wrong, but it's only because you are playing on BSW which is terrible. come play on isotropic and learn to love life again.
Isotropic has a great implementation of Dominion, fast and clean. Though sometimes the server does get crowded and games run the risk of disconnection, it is overall a great place just to play a game or two.
Just don't get burned out on it, play in moderation. I'll agree on that point. Give it time, and you'll get back into it.
(On a side note, I'm quite fond of the leaderboards that have recently been implemented. I'm a sucker for ranking systems. Doesn't hurt that I've got a good spot - though that's mostly from playing PA peoples I've introduced to the game.)
Posts
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dracil: TS is really good, I havent played in a while but id be down to hop on VASSAL sometime this weekend and do a game or two
I really, REALLY love this game. Looking at the shit the expansions add make it sound completely insane, but it also sounds like some of that stuff should've been in from the beginning.
I also bought my first expansion, which is awesome too, but I feel cheated over its contents to buy it at $25. I won't be making that mistake again.
The mechanics look fine, and we like games with a lot of expansions. Its the expansions that confuse me - they seem to be priced at 9.99 and focus on a single deck. With four players - would we need to buy each expansion 4 times? If so, I think this one is a pass.
Thanks!
As an aside - picked up Seven Wonders. Wow - that's a strong game.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006524737
Hmm, I might be up for it later today, probably in the evening. If not today, maybe tomorrow evening. I still need to read the rules and learn how to use VASSAL.
Switch: US 1651-2551-4335 JP 6310-4664-2624
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No; just make sure you are building balanced decks for each house/player, and you'll be fine with one copy of each of the expansions you pick up.
My youngest cousin got a game called Hey! That's My Fish which is a shockingly deep strategic game about penguins working ice floes to get as many fish as possible. Definitely something I would recommend picking up for any younger kids you want to rope into your hobby or if you have kids of your own.
Whenever they get back to the game store they bought it, my aunt is returning Munchkin (I've already got a copy) and getting me either Race for the Galaxy, Dominion, or Traders of Genoa in that preference order. Which I'm excited about.
We actually play a fair bit of Hey! That's My Fish! in my group of early-30s gamers. :P It's also a great little filler while waiting for the other group to finish their game so we can make new groups and start on new games.
Lasts today and tomorrow.
If you go online, it's more like $15. I'm all for supporting the LFGS myself and I buy everything I can there, even at the surcharge, so I understand if you prefer not to use the online option. It's there though.
More importantly though, you don't just pay for the bits and pieces. You pay for the game. As in the gameplay. What did you pay for RftG itself - probably twice as much, and from your post I surmise you didn't feel cheated there. Just looking at the contents of that box, I wouldn't think that's a $50+ game either. With The Gathering Storm (I hope you didn't pick up one of the later expansions first) you get, aside from the extras that change the gameplay, also the possibility to play solo or with 5 players, instead of 2-4. For me, that's worth a lot - especially the increased max number of players. I don't play a lot of 5-player RftG games, but having the option sure comes in handy when that's the exact number of players present. It's in fact one of the first things I look at when picking up something new: if it's not at least 2-5, I'm going tp need some pretty good reasons not to put it back down again.
There's been a few posts over on the official forums with previews, I'll copypasta for here.
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Oh, I fully agree. As much as I ADORE Fantasy Flight, it bugs me that all of their expansions are stand-alone. The integration is a wonderful element of RftG that I like. And I will be buying the other expansions online, as I love the most/first goals and I want that 6 player option. Prestiege looks a bit more complex than I was expecting, being another resource to manage, but oh well...
It was just that initial shock of only getting 18-22 play cards or so and 19 blank cards. I don't think I'm going to de-integate this expansion though. It looks like the new worlds can be played without goals, so I can teach new players without them being any the wiser.
But I still haven't played Warhammer Invasion. Need to nag at friends to try it.
Yeah, I can see that. I guess I'm just miffed over how my hobby always seems to be getting more and more expensive. A decade ago, I could buy a roleplaying game book for $12-15 new, cheaper if it was used. Mainline books were $20-40. Today, the next RPG I want to buy is L5R, and that MSRP's for $60. Don't get me started on Fantasy Flight.
It just sucks because I know the demand has not grown to match the quality of supply, so the cost has to go up to make up the difference.
But hey. I trudge along willingly at this point. If my FLGS carried more RPG books I might suck it up more and pay for these things. ATM, nothing really goes on sale, he just eats the sales tax.
.. but that's another rant.
Well hell I bought the Oogie Boogie Yahtzee and it was $20 for 5 dice and a plastic cup. And it's not like they are still paying development costs for Yahtzee.
Speaking of, at my local B&N I of course saw the Oogie Boogie Yahtzee on the 50% off rack after Christmas sale, but B&N only has a 14 day return policy so I get stuck paying full price. The dice are awesome though if anyone wants to pay $10 for 5 dice and a plastic cup.
Right, it's a deck-building game. (I hate to say "ala Dominion", since it seems to have a vastly greater amount of murder involved, but... y'know.)
Another preview (from the Facebook page, copypasta'd...)
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
On the other hand, we tend to forget about basic economic laws like inflation. For most western economies, prices go up by about 50% over ten years solely due to that. A $30 book released in 2000 should cost about $45 now. Ideally our wages should follow, but I guarantee that's not the case for me. Fie!
I still find myself occasionally grumbling over how "much" I paid for SNES games 15 years ago. :P
Game board is four cardboard walls that form a 4x4 square inside. The gameplay consists of playing character cards from your hand into the castle courtyard, walls, or outside the walls. Each card that is played has a token of your color placed on it to show that you win and counts for a point at the end of the game. When a character is played, its special effect is enacted. Some are simple (Play the assassin into the courtyard, kill an adjacent character) and some require planning and feints that have large effects on the game (You play catapults outside the walls. Once four catapults are facing one wall, every card played on that wall is sent back to its owner). There are other rules (like a card exchange that allows you to get rid of cards you don't want to play for something less offensive), but its all fairly simple.
Its a fun and fairly quick game that has a ton of interaction. When playing with multiple players, it is hard to "gang up" on since many cards are targeted against specific cards, not players.
Made some poor military decisions early on and was basically down on everything. He was getting like 15 trade per turn while I was getting like 7 or so. He had three cities, I had two with my second city in the mountains with no trade. He had more tech (I only had a bunch of level 1s plus he kept using Exchange of Ideas to steal tech as I couldn't steal his Level 2 starting tech), more figures on the board, and more units, and the oracle and hanging gardens (see opponent's cards and get a free figure every turn). He had a couple academies as well adding even more to his battle score.
Then instead of researching a 2nd level tech, I went ahead and built the Himeji Castle wonder by using up all my trade for production instead (yay American ability). With that +1 to all unit strength, I was back in business. He took Level 3 Artillery so I took Level 3 Cavalry and then I just focused on buying those, which gave me initiative in most fights. Eventually I took Monarchy and used that to wipe out his Oracle so he had no advantages left in battles and then weakened his military further. Blew up one academy with a culture card and then destroyed his closest city, which was probably game ending really. But as we were running out of time, we agreed if I took his second city, I'd be declared winner. I did by parking one of my armies on his last academy, then steamrolling his last city with 5 cavalry units on a 2 stack army with biology to heal my units against his 2 units. And since I stole his iron in an earlier victory, he couldn't use his battle abilities either.
Pretty different from my 4-player BGG.con game, where nobody really wanted to harvest resources. I think his mistake was focusing too much on culture instead of pressing his military advantage early on. He got comfortable and was expanding on tech, econ, and culture at the same time. Nobody researched any Level 4 techs this game, because we'd steal trade to block tech advancement when we won battles. In both games, I won by abandoning my initial strategy and going a completely different route. My 4-player game as Germans, I wanted to go military but ended up going econ/tech and won with econ. This game, I originally wanted econ/tech, but ended with military.
Switch: US 1651-2551-4335 JP 6310-4664-2624
MH3U Monster Cheat Sheet / MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
Pretty nice implementation of a fighting game's mind games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AlAQnz0wJw
You can play online at http://www.fantasystrike.com/dev/
Since Puzzle Strike is listed in the OP, you may be interested to know it's by the same creator, so the characters/setting/world is the same.
Switch: US 1651-2551-4335 JP 6310-4664-2624
MH3U Monster Cheat Sheet / MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
Highlight of the evening was a game where everyone was completely baffled as to who the two spies were. We all suspected one guy (despite his very trustworthy beard) but there was lots of shouting and accusations as to the second spy. Every interrogation was responded to with righteous indignation. The Resistance eventually squeaked out a win and we all flipped over our cards and the second spy had the :shock: face because, like an idiot, he hadn't paid close enough attention at the start of the game and truly and sincerely thought he was part of the Resistance. This was like eight games in so there was no excuse for it and it was utterly hilarious.
Players draft from personal cards? I hope that does not imply that each player is supposed to own the game, but that there's just some round-robin picking of two personal stacks from which to purchase?
Which sucks, because I really enjoyed it. I never thought it was possible to get burnt out on a game like that.
First two games my friend ended up winning. He viewed the game almost as a math problem and highlight how much of an advantage being able to crunch numbers is in the game. Also, from reviews of the game and talk about it I gathered that being in first place can be really bad, but if you're far enough ahead of other players the money you accumulate outweighs the disadvantage of buying resources and building last.
Third game I won once I realized how important positioning can be. The other players picked areas in the side and I just went in the middle, cutting both of them off and snagging a lot of cities in the process (note: cities that have no connection cost between them usually are bad places to start out in because they always have expensive connection costs everywhere else). I won at the end because I managed to get one person to spend almost three times as much money as was originally needed to get the most expensive power plant in the game, costing him some very important cities and letting me take lead.
In short, awesome game. I don't think I've played a game where the people playing liked it enough to play twice in a row followed by a third time in the same day. I think it's right below Puerto Rico as far as my favorite eurogames go. Very little luck involved, though sometimes which power plant is drawn next suddenly changes the game a good deal.
Also, Dominion: Prosperity is very fun. The amount of gold in play makes for what is almost a completely different experience from the main game. The "biggest money" setup had us rolling in gold/platinum. Interestingly enough Prosperity cards make it more likely that you run out of three stacks before buying out Provinces (or Colonies).
Aces Wild is a pretty stellar game.
Blog, Playing Rules; Let's Play Demon's Souls; My Backlog
Your first game will probably take a couple hours, once you know how it all works it should play in an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the scenario. (The one where you have to find 12 non-instant-cast treasures takes FOREVER.)
This looks pretty cool. Do you have any idea if it'll be available per character, or can it only be bought in the box set?
that sounds about right. it might also depend on the number of players, and how much thought gets put into monster actions (i know on the kill the dracoliche scenario we spent a bit of time figuring out how to kite it properly). I also know that on some of the other scenarios you can really finish them fast (>1 hr) so i think it would be safe to set aside 2 hours for play
no, you're wrong, but it's only because you are playing on BSW which is terrible. come play on isotropic and learn to love life again.
They come in 2-character sets as well for $25, but you pay more in the long run ($125 vs $100) and don't get the playmats and stuff.
You can also buy the print and play for $15 for all the cards.
Switch: US 1651-2551-4335 JP 6310-4664-2624
MH3U Monster Cheat Sheet / MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
For reference, a Archive is a stack of all copies of one card. From how I understand it, there's going to be two types of Archives you can buy cards from, Public and Private.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Isotropic has a great implementation of Dominion, fast and clean. Though sometimes the server does get crowded and games run the risk of disconnection, it is overall a great place just to play a game or two.
Just don't get burned out on it, play in moderation. I'll agree on that point. Give it time, and you'll get back into it.
(On a side note, I'm quite fond of the leaderboards that have recently been implemented. I'm a sucker for ranking systems. Doesn't hurt that I've got a good spot - though that's mostly from playing PA peoples I've introduced to the game.)