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[Board Games] aren't worth playing until you add at least five expansions

JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
edited January 2019 in Critical Failures
Welcome to the Board Games thread!

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Here we talk about the awesomeness that is face-to-face analog gaming with cards, tiles, dice, wooden and plastic bits, and sometimes just paper and pencil. This hobby promotes real-world friendships and shared memories, encourages sportsmanship, works out your brain, provides thrills and laughs, and will stand the test of time.

And it's not just Monopoly and Risk anymore.
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New designer games are great! There are short games and long games; high-conflict and peaceful games; games for the young and the old; games with lots of chance and with very little.

In the posts below you'll find forumer picks for games in a number of categories. Check them out and join the discussion!

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Posts

  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Filler Games
    Games that last 20 minutes or so, perfect for opening or closing a gaming session, or playing at lunch with friends. They are often (but not always) low on the complexity scale.

    Cockroach Poker
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    JustTee wrote:
    Cockroach Poker is a game that works for the group that usually plays Cards Against Humanity. It involves the same level of tactical depth (i.e. none), but all of the social deduction skills (i.e. learning people's taste in humor). It also feels much more like an actual game. And unlike CAH, it'll be over fast enough that people often want to play it again immediately.

    Codenames
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    Kasyn wrote:
    Also serves as an extremely good small party game. Very easy to learn and accessible, fun to play, challenging, plenty of replay value, and does not take long. One of the better value buys for any collection. Basically one of the best options for the sort of Scattergories/Pictionary type of creative thinking filler-party game that can easily be the highlight of the night.

    Kingdomino
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    Hahnsoo1 wrote:
    Winner of the 2017 Spiel Des Jahres, this is a light tile-placement game for 2-4 players with elegant mechanics that are easy to teach (teaching typically goes less than 5 minutes). Build a 5x5 tile kingdom out of domino-like tiles, making sure that at least one end of the domino matches its neighbor. The component quality is great, with a fun "tile tower" to hold and dispense the domino tiles.

    For a meatier game, you can get its sequel, Queendomino and even play with both sets combined.

    Qwixx
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    JonBob wrote:
    Arguably the turning point leading to the current crop of "roll and write" games, Qwixx sees you making difficult decisions from a simple set of rules about how dice can be used, and lets every player participate on every single turn.

    JonBob on
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  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Family Strategy Games
    These are often called "gateway games" because they are a frequent entry point into the hobby for people who are used to things like Risk and Monopoly. They are light-to-medium in complexity and often play in 45 to 90 minutes. They can be very interactive or not, but either way tend to avoid "take that" elements that can lead to hurt feelings.

    Carcassonne
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    Kasyn wrote:
    Pretty simple tile placement / city building game, I'm kind of shocked at how much play this has seen among my casual friends. A little random at times but definitely tolerable except for the strictest of serious business anti-RNG players. Highly replayable, and it is extremely seldom where someone feels like they're out of contention for much of the game.

    Century: Spice Road
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    Hahnsoo1 wrote:
    This game has replaced the equally-lauded and amazing "Splendor" in our group. Exchange spices for trade route cards (which give you endgame points). More valuable routes also give you coins, which add more to your endgame total. Each turn, you make a single decision (play a merchant to exchange/buy spices, buy a route with spices, rest to restore all cards to your hand, or buy a merchant to add more options to your hand), so rounds go fairly quick in this game. There is also an anime-themed "Golem" variant of this game with the same mechanics.

    Gizmos
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    JonBob wrote:
    This brand new game explores "engine building" in a thorough but approachable way. Players gradually piece together systems that cause huge chain reactions from a simple input, and yet it is so visually appealing and tactile with brightly-colored marbles and cards that new gamers won't feel overwhelmed by it.

    Istanbul: The Dice Game
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    Kasyn wrote:
    This is the latest that has been absolute hot fire for my semi-casual friends. A very slick little dicebuilding economic game, with enough depth behind it to mitigate the randomness. Feels very good to get things moving in this game. Unfortunately limited to 4 players at the most, but this game is also extremely quick once everyone has played through it once, and is a borderline filler game.

    Kingdom Builder
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    Kasyn wrote:
    A very well designed Euro-esque area control game with variable scoring conditions and terrain. Based on a few simple rules/restrictions, but offers a lot of variety in each playthrough. Has some solid expansions, too.

    Quantum
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    JustTee wrote:
    Quantum is a game with a depth that is not immediately apparent. Quick to teach, quick to grasp, and wonderful to look at or watch people play. Surprisingly deep, never over stays its welcome, and truly, a delight. It manages to capture a lot of the appeal of heavier strategy games like Eclipse, but to do so in a simplified and stream lined way.

    Ticket to Ride
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    Kasyn wrote:
    A very obvious one, the Europe expansion is probably strictly superior to the American one for a few reasons. Keeps everyone in the game the whole time, engaging, has a good mix of immediate concerns and longterm strategy, and can generate a few really good feeling moments for people throughout.

    JonBob on
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  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Medium to Heavy Games
    The next step up from "gateway games." This category includes things like thinkier 60-90 minute Eurogames, up to multi-hour epic affairs, with higher rules complexity. Most war games and deep economic games fit into this bucket.

    Caverna: The Cave Farmers
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    Kasyn wrote:
    Holy shit I love Caverna. An absolute beast of a game to set up and tear down, but it offers one of the best worker placement experiences out there, and is in my opinion strictly superior to its predecessor, Agricola. Just does every aspect of the genre well.

    Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar
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    JonBob wrote:
    A worker-placement game where you use your villagers to gather food and resources, and trade them to eventually earn points in a variety of ways. A big set of physical gears propels your workers around each track, and the game rewards thinking way ahead as you try to perfectly time when to place and remove them for maximum benefit.

    JonBob on
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  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Party Games
    Games that support 6+ players, are quick to teach, and often produce laugh-out-loud moments. Many of these games involve performative elements like drawing or giving clues.

    Once Upon a Time
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    Hahnsoo1 wrote:
    This game is a collaborative storytelling game with a deck of cards with words and concepts from Fairy Tales printed on it. You start out with a handful of cards, and you can only play a card if you say a sentence that matches a word on your card. The trick, though, is that other people can "steal" your story if you say a word that matches a card in their hand, playing that card and becoming the new storyteller (and giving you a new card as a penalty). You win the game if you can get rid of all of your cards AND steer the story toward your Happily Ever After ending, a secret objective. It requires the right kind of group who likes to improv stories and make up funny scenes, but if you like Drunk History, this might be right up your alley. You can play this competitively, but I find that it produces the best and most fun stories if you play it semi-cooperatively and try not to actually win the game in the fewest amount of sentences.

    Pictomania
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    JonBob wrote:
    Imagine Pictionary, but with all players drawing and guessing at the same time, scrambling to finish their drawings while peeking and what other people are doing, and choosing the right answer from a confusingly-similar list of options. Are they drawing a horse or a donkey?

    JonBob on
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  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Cooperative Games
    A comparatively young genre, these games have players working together for a common goal. Included in this group are games that may have a traitor working against the rest, and games you can play solo.

    Journal 29
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    Hahnsoo1 wrote:
    Very similar to the EXIT and Unlock series of Escape Room games (which I can also recommend), this book gives you a puzzle on each pair of pages, which is solved with a keyword solution. The solution has to be inputted into a website to verify (which spits out another word that is used in later puzzles), so an internet connection is required. The puzzles encourage out-of-the-box thinking (some will require you to look up knowledge on the Internet that you may not know off the top of your head), and the journal itself hints at a larger mystery involving conspiracies and aliens. You can play this alone or with a group of friends, and if you are careful not to damage any of the pages, you can even hand this off to another group to play it. There isn't much replay value for this game, unfortunately, but it will take you several hours to finally complete the all of the puzzles.

    Spirit Island
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    JustTee wrote:
    Spirit Island is my new go-to for ~medium~ weight co-op games. The first few turns are a bit hard for some newer people to grasp, but once the mechanics start to click, it's absolutely lovely.

    Witness
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    JonBob wrote:
    For exactly four players, Witness is a great mystery game that combines deduction with the classic game of Telephone. Expect some miscommunication, but even if all the clues are passed around the table perfectly, there are real puzzles to solve with all the information at hand.

    JonBob on
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  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Dexterity Games
    Games that involve flicking things, or balancing things, or doing something quickly, or that utilize the physical nature of analog games in an interesting way.

    Flick 'Em Up: Dead of Winter
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    JustTee wrote:
    Flick 'Em Up: Dead of Winter has been a wonderful game to bust out for friends who are nerd-adjacent, but not necessarily board gamers. It's co-op, so as a the leader you can explain rules / options as you go, but the players all have to actually make all the shots. Great fun, scales to different table sizes well, and all in all, a great time.
    Konexi
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    JonBob wrote:
    A word game that's also a balancing game. Yes, that's right! You get to use these big chunky plastic letter pieces that have notches and tabs in just the right places for you to build a dangling monstrosity on the table, then you find words hidden within the sculpture.

    JonBob on
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  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    Holy shit, Witness looks like fun. I'll have to try that out.

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  • Mr. GMr. G Registered User regular
    Witness is out of print though, right?

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  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    Point of order I think there should be "Medium Games" that are a step up from family games and then actually heavy games. I think both currently heavy games are actually pretty lower medium weight. Especially tzolk'in, I'd feel comfortable teaching someone that after Lords of Waterdeep and it's more of a 90 minute game in my experience.

    I just don't want to scare people off. I love tzolk'in.

  • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
    i super love tzolkin!

    i meant to write up blood rage and inis and risk legacy and seafall and core worlds and arboretum but i've been so busy :(

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  • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
    i think kingsburg is really good as a gateway game too hmmmmmm

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  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    Speaking of tzolkin I'm pretty excited about the new sorry if sequel that's coming out Teotihuacan (almost assuredly spelled that wrong). It looks real cool.

  • BursarBursar Hee Noooo! PDX areaRegistered User regular
    I played my first games of Kingdomino + Giant Expansions and Queendomino last night. The giants are an interesting addition, though it didn't change the game that much. Queendomino is much more cut-throat than its predecessor, and we were burning buildings left and right. I managed to pull off a 15-point swing on my last tile placement by grabbing a tower-producing building and stealing the Queen away from the player who'd been in the lead.

    GNU Terry Pratchett
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    Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
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  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    ChaosHat wrote: Β»
    Point of order I think there should be "Medium Games" that are a step up from family games and then actually heavy games. I think both currently heavy games are actually pretty lower medium weight. Especially tzolk'in, I'd feel comfortable teaching someone that after Lords of Waterdeep and it's more of a 90 minute game in my experience.

    I just don't want to scare people off. I love tzolk'in.
    That's fair. I renamed that category to be more inclusive.

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  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    Well placed game-icons in the OP, I see you!

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  • Lord_AsmodeusLord_Asmodeus goeticSobriquet: Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered User regular
    More like BOREDgames amirite ahahaha

    So I finally got to go to one of the events from the local meetup.com board game group and I really enjoyed it, played some Coup and Werewords before I got stuck in to an Eclipse game for four hours. It was fun but I had no long term strategy and I didn't really know how to build technology efficiently (got completely blasted by a dude who went all in on plasma missiles and targeting computers) and made a few blunders (like accidentally trapping that guys ships in my system by building ships there, instead of building them outside and moving them if he stayed) and eventually points wise I was 4th of 5, but it was a fun game and I think I'd do better next time if I get to play it again. I also would probably play an alien since even though they're more complicated they seemed a bit more fun.

    I also got my friends to play some Munchkin and they all really enjoyed it, so once I get my next paycheck I'm thinking of grabbing a couple of expansions for it for next time. I also refound my copy of Say Anything I thought I'd lost forever, so that's nice. Still looking for opportunities to play Tokaido, Alhambra, and Evolution the Beginning since I bought them, forgot to bring them to the big meetup thing, but next one that fits my schedule I'll see if anyone there is familiar and wants to play.

    I'm also definitely picking up Betrayal at Baldurs Gate sometime, I loved BHH when I got to play it a few times, and I loved Baldurs Gate, so obviously I'll love this.

    Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    I've only played Eclipse once, but I really hated the "exploration" aspect. You can be out of the game at the start of the game depending on what you get vs. what everyone else gets.

    38thDoE on steam
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  • FairchildFairchild Rabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?" Registered User regular
    Y'all noticed that THE FANTASY TRIP is on Kickstarter ? From way back in the day, Steve Jackson of OGRE and GURPS fame created MELEE and WIZARD as tactical combat games supporting their RPG, THE FANTASY TRIP. TOLLENKAR'S LAIR was the first published dungeon, and perhaps the only one ? The Kickstarter version includes TFT, MELEE and WIZARD, and TOLLENKAR'S LAIR.

  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    Can you give more information on those games? I only know Steve Jackson from Munchkin and Illuminati and that makes me want to stay away from him.

    38thDoE on steam
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  • FairchildFairchild Rabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?" Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Wikipedia history here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fantasy_Trip

    They are more "serious" games than MUNCHKIN and ILLUMINATI, from back when Steve Jackson was known as the OGRE and CAR WARS guy. And even these are considered "Light" wargames among us wargamers. I think they are a better fit for him. MELEE was quite good as a light, fast person to person combat game. WIZARD less so because it was all about the summonses, which turned the game into MELEE anyway...

    Fairchild on
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    38thDoe wrote: Β»
    Can you give more information on those games? I only know Steve Jackson from Munchkin and Illuminati and that makes me want to stay away from him.
    I first knew him from GURPS and from getting raided by the Secret Service.

  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    Am I the only one who feels like all these ALL CAPS game names are reading like a giant advertising billboard or popup ad?

    The guy has certainly made other games, but I would still suggest they're pretty much all an acquired taste in their own way. The reverence for OGRE frankly baffles me, and in turn makes all the reverence for Car Wars highly suspect. <_<

  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    I remember being fascinated by Car Wars (like version 1) as a kid. Never got too deep into the game, but the Car Creation system was amazing to me at the time. Wish I still owned it...although I could probably say that about most of my childhood games.

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  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Am I the only one who feels like all these ALL CAPS game names are reading like a giant advertising billboard or popup ad?

    The guy has certainly made other games, but I would still suggest they're pretty much all an acquired taste in their own way. The reverence for OGRE frankly baffles me, and in turn makes all the reverence for Car Wars highly suspect. <_<
    Ogre released in 1977. It was pretty cool at the time, as an asymmetric wargame that was relatively quick to resolve and setup. Wargames (and board games in general) have moved on since then.

    Car Wars is basically Battletech (except that it predates Battletech by several years), but with cars instead of 'Mechs. It's a pretty fun simulation of Car vs. Car combat. The main innovation is the "Turning Key", a game aid that gives you several common angles so you can easily plot out your turns and speed changes. If you like tabletop Battletech, you'd probably like tabletop Car Wars, as the gameplay is nearly identical. We used to play Car Wars with a bunch of Hot Wheels cars for minis.

    Hahnsoo1 on
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  • FairchildFairchild Rabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?" Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    CAR WARS was also the first game to have the Crash Effect Simulator of holding the car marker six inches over the map and dropping it so that wherever the marker landed, that's where your car moved after the crash, since the physics effects of cars crashing at high speed were so random. If your marker flipped over, that meant that your car flipped, too.

    A couple of wargames later used the same rule for parachute drops.

    Fairchild on
  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Root is available for pre-order.

    That is going to be... hard to resist.

  • FairchildFairchild Rabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?" Registered User regular
    admanb wrote: Β»
    Root is available for pre-order.

    That is going to be... hard to resist.

    I didn't even try. They say that it will ship once the Kickstarter orders are complete. Ironically, the RIVERFOLK expansion is available now ?

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    The expansion just says "Sold Out" for me.

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Oh hey, I haven't done one of these in a while... does anyone want to play out the American Revolution?

    I'm looking to run a PbP of Liberty or Death. It's a four-player COIN game. Quite complex (though only medium-weight relative to other COIN) with fully asymmetric factions. It has a fully-functional VASSAL module and all the rules are available online.

    @ me if you're interested. I'll want at least three players, but can take four. The game has no hidden information so there's no reason I can't play while running it. :P

  • A Half Eaten OreoA Half Eaten Oreo Registered User regular
    Root was really really fun. Still haven't tried playing with the expac factions, but even the main 4 are a lot of fun. We read a rule wrong that made Vagabon coalition victories too easy. Waiting for next time to see who comes out on top.

    I'm not sure if it makes sense to compare them, but I liked it a lot more than Vast.
    admanb wrote: Β»
    Oh hey, I haven't done one of these in a while... does anyone want to play out the American Revolution?

    I'm looking to run a PbP of Liberty or Death. It's a four-player COIN game. Quite complex (though only medium-weight relative to other COIN) with fully asymmetric factions. It has a fully-functional VASSAL module and all the rules are available online.

    @ me if you're interested. I'll want at least three players, but can take four. The game has no hidden information so there's no reason I can't play while running it. :P

    How much would we need to know about COIN to join? I GMT500'ed Cuba Libre, but I haven't actually played any of them.

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Root was really really fun. Still haven't tried playing with the expac factions, but even the main 4 are a lot of fun. We read a rule wrong that made Vagabon coalition victories too easy. Waiting for next time to see who comes out on top.

    I'm not sure if it makes sense to compare them, but I liked it a lot more than Vast.
    admanb wrote: Β»
    Oh hey, I haven't done one of these in a while... does anyone want to play out the American Revolution?

    I'm looking to run a PbP of Liberty or Death. It's a four-player COIN game. Quite complex (though only medium-weight relative to other COIN) with fully asymmetric factions. It has a fully-functional VASSAL module and all the rules are available online.

    @ me if you're interested. I'll want at least three players, but can take four. The game has no hidden information so there's no reason I can't play while running it. :P

    How much would we need to know about COIN to join? I GMT500'ed Cuba Libre, but I haven't actually played any of them.

    Having played a whole one game myself I don't expect experts, but everyone should have at least read the rules and have some vague idea of how it plays in practice.

  • Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    Hahnsoo1 wrote: Β»
    Am I the only one who feels like all these ALL CAPS game names are reading like a giant advertising billboard or popup ad?

    The guy has certainly made other games, but I would still suggest they're pretty much all an acquired taste in their own way. The reverence for OGRE frankly baffles me, and in turn makes all the reverence for Car Wars highly suspect. <_<
    Ogre released in 1977. It was pretty cool at the time, as an asymmetric wargame that was relatively quick to resolve and setup. Wargames (and board games in general) have moved on since then.

    Car Wars is basically Battletech (except that it predates Battletech by several years), but with .

    I dunno, Ogre is a kinda timeless design. It's not some kind of perfect touchstone of game mechanics or anything but it absolutely captures the desperate defence against a seemingly unstoppable force feeling pretty much perfectly. It has the roller-coaster ups and downs of joy and despair, the grim calculations as you sacrifice units, the amazing feeling of role reversal when the Ogre player suddenly feels outgunned and on the run. It is a real good game.

    Astra Titanus is a lovely solo play only evolution of Ogre.

    I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/

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  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    38thDoe wrote: Β»
    I've only played Eclipse once, but I really hated the "exploration" aspect. You can be out of the game at the start of the game depending on what you get vs. what everyone else gets.

    Yes. Eclipse has some good ideas but it is a bad game

  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    I got the game Heartland in the mail today and it's a real treat. It was very recently rereleased as Gunkimino with a way less amusing theme, but if you like a solid lighter tile laying game you should definitely check it out. Especially if you like a nasty streak in your friendly looking games. You lay tiles and score the areas that you make with the colors your tile matches, while also building barns that score you areas at the end of every turn. Lots of nasty carving up people's fields, plus you can play the tiles on top of reach other and they're super thick so you get a cool 3d aspect as well. Just a real solid game all around.

    Edit: a review of the new version
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcd0PIvOnNI

    Ah_Pook on
  • HedgethornHedgethorn Associate Professor of Historical Hobby Horses In the Lions' DenRegistered User regular
    admanb wrote: Β»
    Oh hey, I haven't done one of these in a while... does anyone want to play out the American Revolution?

    I'm looking to run a PbP of Liberty or Death. It's a four-player COIN game. Quite complex (though only medium-weight relative to other COIN) with fully asymmetric factions. It has a fully-functional VASSAL module and all the rules are available online.

    @ me if you're interested. I'll want at least three players, but can take four. The game has no hidden information so there's no reason I can't play while running it. :P

    @admanb I've played Fire in the Lake a couple times solo. Not great by any means, but I'd play Liberty or Death if you need players.

  • A Half Eaten OreoA Half Eaten Oreo Registered User regular
    admanb wrote: Β»
    Oh hey, I haven't done one of these in a while... does anyone want to play out the American Revolution?

    I'm looking to run a PbP of Liberty or Death. It's a four-player COIN game. Quite complex (though only medium-weight relative to other COIN) with fully asymmetric factions. It has a fully-functional VASSAL module and all the rules are available online.

    @ me if you're interested. I'll want at least three players, but can take four. The game has no hidden information so there's no reason I can't play while running it. :P

    @admanb I've played Fire in the Lake a couple times solo. Not great by any means, but I'd play Liberty or Death if you need players.

    I found the rules and player's aid. I'm down to play.

  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Yeah I never got the reverence for OGRE (or pretty much any Steve Jackson game for that matter...Paranoia was a cool pnp RPG I guess?). It is a crazy outdated design, hearkening from the "attacker vs defender odds table" days of hex wargaming.

    The strategy is just so cut & dry deterministic. It feels like you're just consulting a Blackjack index card telling you when to hit/stay/split. "Is there X number of GEVs behind you compared to X number of other units in front of you with no howitzers in range? If so, backtrack to take out GEVs." The only thing the defender will ever target is the OGRE's main turrets, then treads. At that point you're just playing out the die rolls to determine the winner.


    (I also never understood why anyone would still bother with Cosmic Encounter after the 00s board game renaissance.)

    MrBody on
  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    38thDoe wrote: Β»
    I've only played Eclipse once, but I really hated the "exploration" aspect. You can be out of the game at the start of the game depending on what you get vs. what everyone else gets.

    Yes. Eclipse has some good ideas but it is a bad game

    Supposedly a focus with the 2nd edition is to even out the exploration tiles.

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    I have @TheColonel @A Half Eaten Oreo and @Hedgethorn . I'll leave it open for a fourth signup until the end of the day, then it'll be me.

  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    edited August 2018
    So we played Hoard Dragoon at the last game night. 4 people are dragons and you have three actions to fly around, claim villages/cities and steal gold. You can also play cards for free. You play on a pretty cloth map, villages randomly spawn from die rolls but you spawn one more than the number of people playing per round so even if they all spawn in one area it eventually evens out. You can claim a village and then at the end of the turn you get a small amount of gold from each, or you burn them down and get an amount of gold instantly. The trick is the other dragons are doing the same so its very difficult at 4 players to hold a town for any set amount of time. Gold is VP at the game ends at 50. If one dragon gets way out ahead, you can get in their cave and spend an action to steal 1d6 gold from them. Works best with some cards to get extra actions and move without using an action. I managed to steal 20 coins to get them game to go a bit longer but we ended up losing because...

    We were playing with the Rogue expansion. One player is a puny human rogue who... is really better than dragons in every way possible. They have an equal chance of winning battles with a dragon, when they "claim" a city they get tribute from that city until the city is destroyed, even if a dragon claims it too. They have no cave to steal from, so if they get out ahead you just lost the game. They can move faster than a dragon, teleporting around the map. They have what the ability to "burn down" a city like a dragon, but they don't destroy the city, so they can just keep doing that one move.

    I guess if we knew that the Rogue was so powerful we could have made an effort to try and catch and kill him every turn but it wasn't very fun and it seemed really un-thematic. No one plays a dragon so they can fantasize about being a powerful thief.

    Also the game seems startlingly similar to a competitive version of that Trogdor game.

    38thDoe on
    38thDoE on steam
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