I just got an iPad as a very unexpected (but appreciated) gift. What are the good board game apps? Bonus points for being free.
These are the big games that are currently out. Your enjoyment of the originals may vary.
Caylus
Lords of Waterdeep
Agricola
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Stone Age
Eclipse
Phantom Leader (though it's an insane $15-$20 right now)
Twilight Struggle (coming in March)
A friend of mine is trying to develop a card game and I know someone here used a site to print their own cards with art they made. Anyone remember what site that was?
I use The Game Crafter, and have also used ArtsCow in the past. The Game Crafter is a bit more expensive, but it is more flexible in terms of quantities of cards, sizes of cards, and the option of custom boxes and other components.
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GuibsWeekend WarriorSomewhere up North.Registered Userregular
After a few more games under the belt with 2 or 3 players, I'm thinking Smaurai Spirits is for sure easier than Ghost Stories. I'm officially done with "normal" mode. It's too easy and I've never lost to the game yet. Next games are going to be on HARD minimum. Not sure if Bauza deliberately lowered the difficulty level on this game since Ghost Stories is insanely hard (but such an amazing game). Anyway, we seem to enjoy the mechanics on Smurai spirits but we didn't get to feel the tension yet because the game seems just too easier, which seems to contradict some of the things I've read online. My first reflex what that we may have some rules wrong, but after reading the manual again and watching a few youtube video, I'm pretty sure we are doing it ok.
The billed game time for Eldritch Horror is around three hours. Is that about accurate? Five players, with just the expansion that adds extra cards.
Bear in mind that Arkham Horror's gametime is billed at four hours, and that is often inaccurate enough to be legally actionable.
Much more accurate. Can't say exactly, but that sounds about right, and so far it's never sprawled into a Sisyphean slog.
I figure I could take a bear.
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
On the quick:
Played Robinson Crusoe last night for the first time. We had a blast, happened to win through some seriously good luck (and the owner having purchased the promo spyglass expansion which saved our necks), and generally wanted to play again. One player noted that he felt the game would snowball one way or the other and that was kind of unfortunate. I suggested that was what made it great - it's basically FTL: the board game, where you get a string of not-terrible things that allow you to keep going, or you abruptly and catastrophically explode. It's memorable either way, which is great for the kind of storytelling game that it is.
Definitely recommend anyone give this one a try when they get the chance. It's certainly susceptible to quarterbacking, but our group is less bad for that, and we had some really good discussions about what to do each round.
Dr_KeenbeanDumb as a buttPlanet Express ShipRegistered Userregular
edited January 2015
So there appears to be a Conan boardgame on the way currently on Kickstarter. It's crushed its goal already and there's all sorts of free stuff getting tacked on. It seems like Heroquest (my favoritest game ever) a bit at first glance but I'm pretty out of touch when it comes to boardgames since I lack a group to play them with.
All I know is Conan minis and set in Hyborea has me pretty excited.
I enjoy the Firefly game; it is dripping in the theme and setting. There are things I dislike about it. It's practically solitaire. Sure, you can scoop up crew and gear from planets (denying them to others), but building up the traits to really dig the Misbehave deck is difficult, and there are some that flat out just end your run (I think two of them flat out require a particular card or you can go fuck off). I believe one of the expansions that came out (or is coming out, I haven't kept up on it) is supposed to add more player interaction as well, since the base game has very little otherwise.
I picked up Breakin' atmo and Pirates & Bounty Hunters for Xmas. P&BH is the pack that's supposed to improve player interaction, I'll try to get a game going soon and let ya know.
So there appears to be a Conan boardgame on the way currently on Kickstarter. It's crushed its goal already and there's all sorts of free stuff getting tacked on. It seems like Heroquest (my favoritest game ever) a bit at first glance but I'm pretty out of touch when it comes to boardgames since I lack a group to play them with.
All I know is Conan minis and set in Hyborea has me pretty excited.
The concept of boardgames with very nice minis kind of confuses me from a marketing perspective. Something like this Conan game would make more sense to me if the game came with cheaper minis and then if later the game really took off with your group or maybe if you are in love with the Hyborea setting you could buy the nice minis to upgrade your game. Also they could then really go all out on the minis instead of needing them to be 1 piece and maybe a step below the quality of the minis you'd use for a miniature based game or for a RPG.
Basically I wonder how much value detailed but still unpainted minis bring to the average boardgamer and how much value the boardgame brings to the average mini collector.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
So there appears to be a Conan boardgame on the way currently on Kickstarter. It's crushed its goal already and there's all sorts of free stuff getting tacked on. It seems like Heroquest (my favoritest game ever) a bit at first glance but I'm pretty out of touch when it comes to boardgames since I lack a group to play them with.
All I know is Conan minis and set in Hyborea has me pretty excited.
The concept of boardgames with very nice minis kind of confuses me from a marketing perspective. Something like this Conan game would make more sense to me if the game came with cheaper minis and then if later the game really took off with your group or maybe if you are in love with the Hyborea setting you could buy the nice minis to upgrade your game. Also they could then really go all out on the minis instead of needing them to be 1 piece and maybe a step below the quality of the minis you'd use for a miniature based game or for a RPG.
Basically I wonder how much value detailed but still unpainted minis bring to the average boardgamer and how much value the boardgame brings to the average mini collector.
I think until minis Kickstarters stop being the boardgame Kickstarters that rake in millions of dollars you're going to keep seeing minis Kickstarters.
Personally I'm not buying into anything that expensive without playing it first, but apparently I'm in the minority on that one.
A friend of mine is trying to develop a card game and I know someone here used a site to print their own cards with art they made. Anyone remember what site that was?
I got to play it tonight and it was a fun little filler game. Looking forward to helping him flesh it out.
@ArcSyn I used Printer Studio when I did the Labyrinth reskin for my wife's Love Letter gift. They were super cheap ($8, couple bucks shipping) and quality was good enough. Only downside was that it took a couple of weeks to get here from China.
Printer Studio is who I looked into when I contemplated making a modern copy of Dune. There was another company as well, but damned if I could remember which one.
Also, yay! My copy of Fief came in today over lunch. Going through everything now, and with all the additional stuff there sure is a lot!
iguanacus on
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Picked up Trains: Rising Sun on a whim and played a couple games. It is way more "Dominion with a board" then I was expecting. I never read about the game in detail so I really only knew that it was deckbuilding+a board (which was what I wanted in my life) and did not realize how closely the card design paralleled Dominion. That said, it played really well and the board adds a really strong dimension to the deck building gameplay.
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
So for any of you would be foam core inserters, Michaels has a sale on 3/8ths inch 20x30 foam core in white. It's 2 bucks a pop which seems to be even cheaper than buying the stuff in bulk from Amazon. I went ahead and put 10 dollars down and purchased the rest of the materials from Amazon (knife, mat, ruler, etc). I will let you know how my adventures in foam core go.
My copy of Paperback came in, and I got a first play in over the weekend. I really like it. It's a hybrid deckbuilder and word game, which was intriguing enough for me to take a look. I hadn't expected it to be as solid as it is, though.
Since players' starting decks are half wild cards, it's very easy to make words at the beginning of the game... so much so that I was worried that the "word game" portion was simply pasted-on theme. It really doesn't take too long for that to pass, however. Unlike a traditional deck-builder, where it becomes easier and easier to have amazing turns as your deck gets better, in Paperback the game gets harder as your deck gets better, because the more powerful cards have rarer letters on them. I kept having the feeling that the hands I drew could be amazing plays, if only I could come up with a word that used all the letters. It was a good kind of frustration. Then the balance shifts back the other direction as you buy victory point cards, which are themselves wilds.
I also like the "bounty" mechanism, where you have the option to reveal your hand and accept suggestions from other players. If you accept a suggestion, then that player receives a bonus coin to spend on their turn. It is a very nice way to somewhat level the playing field for players who may not be as good at the word aspect, without entirely eliminating that as a factor in the game's outcome.
So there appears to be a Conan boardgame on the way currently on Kickstarter. It's crushed its goal already and there's all sorts of free stuff getting tacked on. It seems like Heroquest (my favoritest game ever) a bit at first glance but I'm pretty out of touch when it comes to boardgames since I lack a group to play them with.
All I know is Conan minis and set in Hyborea has me pretty excited.
kickstarter boardgames generally have really nice production values - quality minis, good printing etc... - and shittastic rules. The more minis in the box the more shitty the rules are likely to be.
Picked up Trains: Rising Sun on a whim and played a couple games. It is way more "Dominion with a board" then I was expecting. I never read about the game in detail so I really only knew that it was deckbuilding+a board (which was what I wanted in my life) and did not realize how closely the card design paralleled Dominion. That said, it played really well and the board adds a really strong dimension to the deck building gameplay.
There are cards that exactly copy Dominion cards, I think.
But for me it was 'Dominion, but with a board that changes everything' because there was so much interaction and so many more strategies to try even if you stick to the same cards. And tactics. Blessed tactics.
In other news, Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Lounge is slowly creeping towards $15K with 16-17 days left to reach its $33K goal. This one's going to be a nail-biter, I think.
In other news, Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Lounge is slowly creeping towards $15K with 16-17 days left to reach its $33K goal. This one's going to be a nail-biter, I think.
Maybe that's why I don't KS? Enough stress in my life already?
I figure I could take a bear.
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Picked up Trains: Rising Sun on a whim and played a couple games. It is way more "Dominion with a board" then I was expecting. I never read about the game in detail so I really only knew that it was deckbuilding+a board (which was what I wanted in my life) and did not realize how closely the card design paralleled Dominion. That said, it played really well and the board adds a really strong dimension to the deck building gameplay.
There are cards that exactly copy Dominion cards, I think.
But for me it was 'Dominion, but with a board that changes everything' because there was so much interaction and so many more strategies to try even if you stick to the same cards. And tactics. Blessed tactics.
For me it was looking at the train cards and seeing a 3-cost 2-money and a 6-cost 3-money that made me go, "oh I get it." The action cards are fundamentally different since there's no action economy.
But like you said, the interactions on the board make it a completely different game. It makes me want to pick up another hybrid deckbuilder/board game, and now I see that A Few Acres of Snow has a 2nd edition that seems to fix the broken balance and oh god I've made a huge mistake.
Picked up Trains: Rising Sun on a whim and played a couple games. It is way more "Dominion with a board" then I was expecting. I never read about the game in detail so I really only knew that it was deckbuilding+a board (which was what I wanted in my life) and did not realize how closely the card design paralleled Dominion. That said, it played really well and the board adds a really strong dimension to the deck building gameplay.
There are cards that exactly copy Dominion cards, I think.
But for me it was 'Dominion, but with a board that changes everything' because there was so much interaction and so many more strategies to try even if you stick to the same cards. And tactics. Blessed tactics.
For me it was looking at the train cards and seeing a 3-cost 2-money and a 6-cost 3-money that made me go, "oh I get it." The action cards are fundamentally different since there's no action economy.
But like you said, the interactions on the board make it a completely different game. It makes me want to pick up another hybrid deckbuilder/board game, and now I see that A Few Acres of Snow has a 2nd edition that seems to fix the broken balance and oh god I've made a huge mistake.
Study In Emerald!
I figure I could take a bear.
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Too many players for the optimal game and takes too long to play. :P I have no consistent board game group right now so that kind of game just isn't an option.
Speaking of dominion, my $14 Walmart copy arrived and we played a couple games. Shockingly it's pretty great! I've only ever played deckbuilders of the Ascension/Star Realms school, so it's a fun change to have all the cards available from the start so you can plan things out. I don't have anything original to say about it, but I can definitely see many plays in our future.
So for any of you would be foam core inserters, Michaels has a sale on 3/8ths inch 20x30 foam core in white. It's 2 bucks a pop which seems to be even cheaper than buying the stuff in bulk from Amazon. I went ahead and put 10 dollars down and purchased the rest of the materials from Amazon (knife, mat, ruler, etc). I will let you know how my adventures in foam core go.
Oh man, I need to go to Michaels tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up!
So for any of you would be foam core inserters, Michaels has a sale on 3/8ths inch 20x30 foam core in white. It's 2 bucks a pop which seems to be even cheaper than buying the stuff in bulk from Amazon. I went ahead and put 10 dollars down and purchased the rest of the materials from Amazon (knife, mat, ruler, etc). I will let you know how my adventures in foam core go.
Of course this would happen after I buy two sheets at full price.
Still, the results are awesome!
I'm going to do Race for the Galaxy and Pandemic next I think.
Played several games of Okko with an enthusiastic friend today.
The theme is pretty wonderful but mechanically...
The rules are like... the vague outline of a game.
it's about on the level of those movie tie-in games from the 1970's.
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AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
Got a crack at Tokaido, which I really enjoyed because it's excellent in its simplicity, mostly. Also got stomped by Ghost Stories yet again, but at least it made it on the table!
Speaking of dominion, my $14 Walmart copy arrived and we played a couple games. Shockingly it's pretty great! I've only ever played deckbuilders of the Ascension/Star Realms school, so it's a fun change to have all the cards available from the start so you can plan things out. I don't have anything original to say about it, but I can definitely see many plays in our future.
Once the addiction really kicks in there's playdominion.com for when you want to get your game count up into the thousands.
Whee, the webshop I use has Dead of Winter available. I got so exited I ordered 3 copies and had to call them and change the order :biggrin:
Apparently it is available on the Plaid Hat site.
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ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
So I started looking at some foamcore inserts to get some ideas of what games would be easy to do to start to cut my teeth on while I get used to the medium and techniques.
Posts
These are the big games that are currently out. Your enjoyment of the originals may vary.
Caylus
Lords of Waterdeep
Agricola
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Stone Age
Eclipse
Phantom Leader (though it's an insane $15-$20 right now)
Twilight Struggle (coming in March)
I wish I could just export my 'owned games' list from iOS.
PSN: Guibs25 | XboxLive: Guibs | Steam: Guibsx | Twitch: Guibsx
Bear in mind that Arkham Horror's gametime is billed at four hours, and that is often inaccurate enough to be legally actionable.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Much more accurate. Can't say exactly, but that sounds about right, and so far it's never sprawled into a Sisyphean slog.
Played Robinson Crusoe last night for the first time. We had a blast, happened to win through some seriously good luck (and the owner having purchased the promo spyglass expansion which saved our necks), and generally wanted to play again. One player noted that he felt the game would snowball one way or the other and that was kind of unfortunate. I suggested that was what made it great - it's basically FTL: the board game, where you get a string of not-terrible things that allow you to keep going, or you abruptly and catastrophically explode. It's memorable either way, which is great for the kind of storytelling game that it is.
Definitely recommend anyone give this one a try when they get the chance. It's certainly susceptible to quarterbacking, but our group is less bad for that, and we had some really good discussions about what to do each round.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
All I know is Conan minis and set in Hyborea has me pretty excited.
3DS: 1650-8480-6786
Switch: SW-0653-8208-4705
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Yaaaaaaay! Crazy what a dose of SU&SD can do.
The concept of boardgames with very nice minis kind of confuses me from a marketing perspective. Something like this Conan game would make more sense to me if the game came with cheaper minis and then if later the game really took off with your group or maybe if you are in love with the Hyborea setting you could buy the nice minis to upgrade your game. Also they could then really go all out on the minis instead of needing them to be 1 piece and maybe a step below the quality of the minis you'd use for a miniature based game or for a RPG.
Basically I wonder how much value detailed but still unpainted minis bring to the average boardgamer and how much value the boardgame brings to the average mini collector.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I think until minis Kickstarters stop being the boardgame Kickstarters that rake in millions of dollars you're going to keep seeing minis Kickstarters.
Personally I'm not buying into anything that expensive without playing it first, but apparently I'm in the minority on that one.
@ArcSyn I used Printer Studio when I did the Labyrinth reskin for my wife's Love Letter gift. They were super cheap ($8, couple bucks shipping) and quality was good enough. Only downside was that it took a couple of weeks to get here from China.
Also, yay! My copy of Fief came in today over lunch. Going through everything now, and with all the additional stuff there sure is a lot!
Since players' starting decks are half wild cards, it's very easy to make words at the beginning of the game... so much so that I was worried that the "word game" portion was simply pasted-on theme. It really doesn't take too long for that to pass, however. Unlike a traditional deck-builder, where it becomes easier and easier to have amazing turns as your deck gets better, in Paperback the game gets harder as your deck gets better, because the more powerful cards have rarer letters on them. I kept having the feeling that the hands I drew could be amazing plays, if only I could come up with a word that used all the letters. It was a good kind of frustration. Then the balance shifts back the other direction as you buy victory point cards, which are themselves wilds.
I also like the "bounty" mechanism, where you have the option to reveal your hand and accept suggestions from other players. If you accept a suggestion, then that player receives a bonus coin to spend on their turn. It is a very nice way to somewhat level the playing field for players who may not be as good at the word aspect, without entirely eliminating that as a factor in the game's outcome.
kickstarter boardgames generally have really nice production values - quality minis, good printing etc... - and shittastic rules. The more minis in the box the more shitty the rules are likely to be.
There are cards that exactly copy Dominion cards, I think.
But for me it was 'Dominion, but with a board that changes everything' because there was so much interaction and so many more strategies to try even if you stick to the same cards. And tactics. Blessed tactics.
Maybe that's why I don't KS? Enough stress in my life already?
For me it was looking at the train cards and seeing a 3-cost 2-money and a 6-cost 3-money that made me go, "oh I get it." The action cards are fundamentally different since there's no action economy.
But like you said, the interactions on the board make it a completely different game. It makes me want to pick up another hybrid deckbuilder/board game, and now I see that A Few Acres of Snow has a 2nd edition that seems to fix the broken balance and oh god I've made a huge mistake.
Study In Emerald!
Martin Wallace's attitude to rulebooks and elegance really made it seem worse than it is...
Oh man, I need to go to Michaels tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up!
Of course this would happen after I buy two sheets at full price.
Still, the results are awesome!
I'm going to do Race for the Galaxy and Pandemic next I think.
The theme is pretty wonderful but mechanically...
The rules are like... the vague outline of a game.
it's about on the level of those movie tie-in games from the 1970's.
Once the addiction really kicks in there's playdominion.com for when you want to get your game count up into the thousands.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Apparently it is available on the Plaid Hat site.
Screw this guy.
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/170273/cwhitpans-foam-core-inserts
He is clearly the Mozart of foamcore. I mean look at the Among the Stars or Spyrium ones.
How am I supposed to compete with THAT?
This is impressive though, he made movable dividers.