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

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Posts

  • CaptainPeacockCaptainPeacock Board Game Hoarder Top o' the LakeRegistered User regular
    Camel Up does great with 5. Xpac is almost a must just for extra leg bets and dice.

    Cluck cluck, gibber gibber, my old man's a mushroom, etc.
  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    I've been running into this a bit since our group started occasionally getting 5, with the new addition being really green in the hobby (smart guy, but doesn't have the experience with dozens-hundreds of titles like the rest of us). Ethnos is still a pretty great little package. Vitaculture can be alright. Core Worlds is best with 4 or 5. Mysterium is always fantastic.
    I could probably come up with more, but I'm very tired and it's bed time. Maybe in the morning. :P

  • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
    maybe kingsburg

    does five tribes play 5?

    core worlds can be pretty heavy and long

    i love it though

    sig.gif
  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    Five tribes plays five if you have the Whims of the Sultan expansion.

  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    Ooh modern art is great at five also.

    38thDoE on steam
    πŸ¦€πŸ¦‘πŸ¦€πŸ¦‘πŸ¦€πŸ¦‘πŸ¦€πŸ¦‘πŸ¦€πŸ¦‘πŸ¦€πŸ¦‘πŸ¦€
    
  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    If you want details:
    - Sushi Go - You pick cards from your hand and pass the rest to the person to your left, mimicking the way sushi moves around in a conveyor belt. Most points win!
    - Notre Dame - You are a noble squabbling for supremacy in Paris during the time with rat plagues. Play cards to spread your influence in the different areas of your borough to amass points. Avoid getting your constituents sick tho!
    - Century: Spice Road - You get spice cubes, you trade spice cubes for better spice cubes, you get points from contracts that need specific spice cubes. This is a game of efficiency. The spice must flow.
    - Ticket to Ride (preferably Europe) - Put down plastic trains in the map of Europe, connect the cities in your route cards to get more points, block other people from their routes and enjoy their salty tears.
    - Tokaido - Elbow your fellow tourists out of the way of the best tourist spots in the road from Kyoto to Edo. Buy the best souvenirs, paint vistas, meet friends, find monkeys bathing. The one with the best vacation wins!
    - Tsuro - It's kinda like Tron but you lay down tiles to move your dude. Last dude standing wins.
    - Lords of Waterdeep - basically a gateway worker placement. You're not a player in a D&D game but one of the hidden lords of the titular town, and your resources are adventurers. Most points win.
    - Concordia - It's as simple as "Play a card, do what it says"... But it's way more complicated than that.
    - Viticulture - Worker placement where you inherit the family business and make wine.
    - Evolution - It's prehistoric free for all where you control species that get evolutionary quirks to eat more food / avoid predators / become better predators.
    - Libertalia - You are pirates vying for the most wealth. Pick which crewmate to use at which time depending on the booty to be acquired, but interestingly, your opponents will have access to the same set of cards at the same time.
    - Big Book of Madness - Harry Potter / Cthulhu mashup deckbuilder. Your deck is made up of elemental resources that power your spells / defeat curses. Madness cards are trash cards that gunk up your deck and hand.
    - Elder Sign - Arkham Horror Yahtzee.
    - Pandemic: Iberia - It's Pandemic! But with cholera! Boats and Trains replace airplace movement, and clean water is an important resource.


  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    If you want details:
    - Sushi Go - You pick cards from your hand and pass the rest to the person to your left, mimicking the way sushi moves around in a conveyor belt. Most points win!
    - Notre Dame - You are a noble squabbling for supremacy in Paris during the time with rat plagues. Play cards to spread your influence in the different areas of your borough to amass points. Avoid getting your constituents sick tho!
    - Century: Spice Road - You get spice cubes, you trade spice cubes for better spice cubes, you get points from contracts that need specific spice cubes. This is a game of efficiency. The spice must flow.
    - Ticket to Ride (preferably Europe) - Put down plastic trains in the map of Europe, connect the cities in your route cards to get more points, block other people from their routes and enjoy their salty tears.
    - Tokaido - Elbow your fellow tourists out of the way of the best tourist spots in the road from Kyoto to Edo. Buy the best souvenirs, paint vistas, meet friends, find monkeys bathing. The one with the best vacation wins!
    - Tsuro - It's kinda like Tron but you lay down tiles to move your dude. Last dude standing wins.
    - Lords of Waterdeep - basically a gateway worker placement. You're not a player in a D&D game but one of the hidden lords of the titular town, and your resources are adventurers. Most points win.
    - Concordia - It's as simple as "Play a card, do what it says"... But it's way more complicated than that.
    - Viticulture - Worker placement where you inherit the family business and make wine.
    - Evolution - It's prehistoric free for all where you control species that get evolutionary quirks to eat more food / avoid predators / become better predators.
    - Libertalia - You are pirates vying for the most wealth. Pick which crewmate to use at which time depending on the booty to be acquired, but interestingly, your opponents will have access to the same set of cards at the same time.
    - Big Book of Madness - Harry Potter / Cthulhu mashup deckbuilder. Your deck is made up of elemental resources that power your spells / defeat curses. Madness cards are trash cards that gunk up your deck and hand.
    - Elder Sign - Arkham Horror Yahtzee.
    - Pandemic: Iberia - It's Pandemic! But with cholera! Boats and Trains replace airplace movement, and clean water is an important resource.


    I forgot I got Sushi Go during the last secret santa. Going to totally bring that. Between Century: Spice Road and Lords of waterdeep which would you recommend?

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    5p: Medici (auction), Ra (push your luck, auction), Wizard (trick taking), The Climbers (3d abstract), High Society (auction), Insider (social deduction kind of), Las Vegas (dice), Vegas Showdown (bidding, tile laying)

  • CaptainPeacockCaptainPeacock Board Game Hoarder Top o' the LakeRegistered User regular
    webguy20 wrote: Β»
    If you want details:
    - Sushi Go - You pick cards from your hand and pass the rest to the person to your left, mimicking the way sushi moves around in a conveyor belt. Most points win!
    - Notre Dame - You are a noble squabbling for supremacy in Paris during the time with rat plagues. Play cards to spread your influence in the different areas of your borough to amass points. Avoid getting your constituents sick tho!
    - Century: Spice Road - You get spice cubes, you trade spice cubes for better spice cubes, you get points from contracts that need specific spice cubes. This is a game of efficiency. The spice must flow.
    - Ticket to Ride (preferably Europe) - Put down plastic trains in the map of Europe, connect the cities in your route cards to get more points, block other people from their routes and enjoy their salty tears.
    - Tokaido - Elbow your fellow tourists out of the way of the best tourist spots in the road from Kyoto to Edo. Buy the best souvenirs, paint vistas, meet friends, find monkeys bathing. The one with the best vacation wins!
    - Tsuro - It's kinda like Tron but you lay down tiles to move your dude. Last dude standing wins.
    - Lords of Waterdeep - basically a gateway worker placement. You're not a player in a D&D game but one of the hidden lords of the titular town, and your resources are adventurers. Most points win.
    - Concordia - It's as simple as "Play a card, do what it says"... But it's way more complicated than that.
    - Viticulture - Worker placement where you inherit the family business and make wine.
    - Evolution - It's prehistoric free for all where you control species that get evolutionary quirks to eat more food / avoid predators / become better predators.
    - Libertalia - You are pirates vying for the most wealth. Pick which crewmate to use at which time depending on the booty to be acquired, but interestingly, your opponents will have access to the same set of cards at the same time.
    - Big Book of Madness - Harry Potter / Cthulhu mashup deckbuilder. Your deck is made up of elemental resources that power your spells / defeat curses. Madness cards are trash cards that gunk up your deck and hand.
    - Elder Sign - Arkham Horror Yahtzee.
    - Pandemic: Iberia - It's Pandemic! But with cholera! Boats and Trains replace airplace movement, and clean water is an important resource.


    I forgot I got Sushi Go during the last secret santa. Going to totally bring that. Between Century: Spice Road and Lords of waterdeep which would you recommend?

    Century: Spice Road

    Cluck cluck, gibber gibber, my old man's a mushroom, etc.
  • Raw ConcreteRaw Concrete Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Adding to the stack:

    Endeavor: Age of Sail
    The Estates
    Magic Maze
    Vast: The Crystal Caverns (maybe a stretch experience-wise).

    Raw Concrete on
    Oh, come and shake me 'till I'm dry
  • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
    Magic maze is great. Wonderfully weird little coop where you can't talk during play. Uses an unusual mental muscle. Endeavor has big problems with knowing you've lost hours before the game ends. Wizard may be a little light, I have played wizard variants with non gamers.

    sig.gif
  • LykouraghLykouragh Registered User regular
    I like Cosmic Encounters and Vast at 5 :)

  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    webguy20 wrote: Β»
    If you want details:
    - Sushi Go - You pick cards from your hand and pass the rest to the person to your left, mimicking the way sushi moves around in a conveyor belt. Most points win!
    - Notre Dame - You are a noble squabbling for supremacy in Paris during the time with rat plagues. Play cards to spread your influence in the different areas of your borough to amass points. Avoid getting your constituents sick tho!
    - Century: Spice Road - You get spice cubes, you trade spice cubes for better spice cubes, you get points from contracts that need specific spice cubes. This is a game of efficiency. The spice must flow.
    - Ticket to Ride (preferably Europe) - Put down plastic trains in the map of Europe, connect the cities in your route cards to get more points, block other people from their routes and enjoy their salty tears.
    - Tokaido - Elbow your fellow tourists out of the way of the best tourist spots in the road from Kyoto to Edo. Buy the best souvenirs, paint vistas, meet friends, find monkeys bathing. The one with the best vacation wins!
    - Tsuro - It's kinda like Tron but you lay down tiles to move your dude. Last dude standing wins.
    - Lords of Waterdeep - basically a gateway worker placement. You're not a player in a D&D game but one of the hidden lords of the titular town, and your resources are adventurers. Most points win.
    - Concordia - It's as simple as "Play a card, do what it says"... But it's way more complicated than that.
    - Viticulture - Worker placement where you inherit the family business and make wine.
    - Evolution - It's prehistoric free for all where you control species that get evolutionary quirks to eat more food / avoid predators / become better predators.
    - Libertalia - You are pirates vying for the most wealth. Pick which crewmate to use at which time depending on the booty to be acquired, but interestingly, your opponents will have access to the same set of cards at the same time.
    - Big Book of Madness - Harry Potter / Cthulhu mashup deckbuilder. Your deck is made up of elemental resources that power your spells / defeat curses. Madness cards are trash cards that gunk up your deck and hand.
    - Elder Sign - Arkham Horror Yahtzee.
    - Pandemic: Iberia - It's Pandemic! But with cholera! Boats and Trains replace airplace movement, and clean water is an important resource.


    I forgot I got Sushi Go during the last secret santa. Going to totally bring that. Between Century: Spice Road and Lords of waterdeep which would you recommend?

    Century: Spice Road

    Yeah. I like Waterdeep. It's fun, and if you're specifically looking for a basic worker placement game it's fine, but Spice Road is way quicker to set up, easier to teach, and finishes faster.

  • DirtmuncherDirtmuncher Registered User regular
    webguy20 wrote: Β»
    If you want details:
    - Sushi Go - You pick cards from your hand and pass the rest to the person to your left, mimicking the way sushi moves around in a conveyor belt. Most points win!
    - Notre Dame - You are a noble squabbling for supremacy in Paris during the time with rat plagues. Play cards to spread your influence in the different areas of your borough to amass points. Avoid getting your constituents sick tho!
    - Century: Spice Road - You get spice cubes, you trade spice cubes for better spice cubes, you get points from contracts that need specific spice cubes. This is a game of efficiency. The spice must flow.
    - Ticket to Ride (preferably Europe) - Put down plastic trains in the map of Europe, connect the cities in your route cards to get more points, block other people from their routes and enjoy their salty tears.
    - Tokaido - Elbow your fellow tourists out of the way of the best tourist spots in the road from Kyoto to Edo. Buy the best souvenirs, paint vistas, meet friends, find monkeys bathing. The one with the best vacation wins!
    - Tsuro - It's kinda like Tron but you lay down tiles to move your dude. Last dude standing wins.
    - Lords of Waterdeep - basically a gateway worker placement. You're not a player in a D&D game but one of the hidden lords of the titular town, and your resources are adventurers. Most points win.
    - Concordia - It's as simple as "Play a card, do what it says"... But it's way more complicated than that.
    - Viticulture - Worker placement where you inherit the family business and make wine.
    - Evolution - It's prehistoric free for all where you control species that get evolutionary quirks to eat more food / avoid predators / become better predators.
    - Libertalia - You are pirates vying for the most wealth. Pick which crewmate to use at which time depending on the booty to be acquired, but interestingly, your opponents will have access to the same set of cards at the same time.
    - Big Book of Madness - Harry Potter / Cthulhu mashup deckbuilder. Your deck is made up of elemental resources that power your spells / defeat curses. Madness cards are trash cards that gunk up your deck and hand.
    - Elder Sign - Arkham Horror Yahtzee.
    - Pandemic: Iberia - It's Pandemic! But with cholera! Boats and Trains replace airplace movement, and clean water is an important resource.


    I forgot I got Sushi Go during the last secret santa. Going to totally bring that. Between Century: Spice Road and Lords of waterdeep which would you recommend?

    Century: Spice Road

    Yeah. I like Waterdeep. It's fun, and if you're specifically looking for a basic worker placement game it's fine, but Spice Road is way quicker to set up, easier to teach, and finishes faster.

    Spice road doesn't feel as fast as I would like at 5.
    If you want a cube game maybe sidereal confluence is better at 5.

    Jamaica and Colt Express are also fun gateway games.
    Istanbul is a nice euro about route optimization.

    steam_sig.png
  • BursarBursar Hee Noooo! PDX areaRegistered User regular
    Vyolynce wrote: Β»
    Bursar wrote: Β»
    Our Pandemic Legacy S2 campaign is starting to wrap (and ramp) up.
    Spoilers for up to November!
    When November began, we had only one Red city on the grid (Jakarta), so the reveal of The Plan was an intense shock. The requirement of 5 red cards when we only had 3 available (Jakarta and two other cities we'd upgraded to wild) was going to be a problem.

    For Game 1 of November, we settled on the strategy that we'd probably lose this one, but we'd try to set up the game state for a win in the second half of the month. Our doughty sea captain, Admiral Crunch, was dispatched with the sole intention of adding sea lanes to connect as many Red cities to the grid as we could, while the rest of the team would set up radio towers throughout the globe in order to send cards to assist in the other recon requirements for The Plan.

    We managed to connect every red city to the grid, knocked out all three of the other card recon requirements, and discovered the lost city of Wellington. The newly recovered Haven of Mything Perthens off the coast of Australia is a foothold for our upcoming Asiatic adventures. Team Radio was able to herd most of the Hollow Men to areas under the protection of Shelters or Bases, minimizing their end-of-game damage.
    So, while we technically "lost" Game 1 because the plague overran the world, we still consider it a moral victory due to how successful we were in connecting cities and adding cards to the decks.

    In Game 2, we had 3 red (or red-equivalent) cards dealt out before the game even began, so we picked our character who required fewer cards to recon (one less due to a job trait, and another less in exchange for two cubes as an upgrade) and made plans to bum-rush Shanghai, hoping for a third card to appear quickly so it could be Radioed over. However, two Epidemics showed up before a third red card came in, and Hollow Men quickly started to overrun key areas in Europe. We did complete The Plan, though, and look forward to December with horror.

    At the end of November, our world is kind of a mess. Antananarivo, New Delhi, and Bogota remain unconnected, which, considering what's happened to the rest of the world, might be in their best interests. The west coast of North America is a wasteland, as we've essentially given up on San Fran, LA, and Mexico City (they're all at 0). The strongest cities in the world are those that we've established permanent bases on: Denver, London, Buenos Aires, and Lagos. We have one of the 10+ cube bonuses available, so we're going to hit December hard and fast and hopefully knock those Utopia jerks off the map.

    Dj-V-cTUcAAVqlj.jpg

    Let me spin you a tale of heroism.
    Big Honkin' Pandemic S2 spoilers. Be warned.
    The Great December Race for the Cure began with a promising start. We quickly connected Lake Baikal to the grid, discovering the real endgame goal: delivering the Cure to Johannesburg without flight/teleporting/any other quick movements, requiring discarding cards every step of the way to do so. The best path out of Lake Baikal was:

    Lake Baikal -> Utopia -> Shanghai -> Jakarta (a shorter journey across multiple sea areas created via an Event) -> Kolkata -> New Mumbai -> the Indian Ocean haven of Hudsonia -> Dar es Salaam -> Johannesburg

    This would require 3 red cards, 2 black cards, 1 yellow card, and 1 blue card, and a total of 8 Drive/Ferry actions. A sea lane was created between New Mumbai to Dar es Salaam, cutting out the Hudsonia step (though with both NM and DeS plagued with rats, having a safe space between them to potentially end a turn on was a convenience), and a Supply Center was quickly erected in Jo-burg for the delivery destination. A radio station was constructed in London for the purpose of funneling blue cards, and another in Lagos for the yellows (permanent stations were already present in Jakarta (red) and Tehran (black)), but we knew that it was unlikely that we'd have enough turns to get any runner from LB, as we only had 1 Plague left before the game ended and they wouldn't be able to get enough cards to get there. We let the game end, knowing that we had it in us to get the cure to the research station with proper team composition. The new Johannesburg Center was made permanent, and our potential Cure Runner was equipped with deeper pockets to hold more cards.

    Game 2 in December started with careful team member selection. The Sanitation Officer was the ideal choice for the Curebearer, as being able to regain any card they might need to move to the next stop as a free action was an incredible benefit. The Instructor would tag along close by, feeding the Sanitation Officer either the cards they would need if possible, or cards to use for their recovery ability. While these two made the vital journey, our Farmer/Courier would attempt to salt trouble spots with supply cubes to mitigate Infections, and the Scientist/Saboteur would clear the way by handling Hollow Men.

    The initial infection of Game 2 started by infecting two already-Forsaken cities. Damn.

    Our Runner started the game with a red card, and very quickly had one of every color. With the Instructor handing him extra cards along the way every turn, it was a sure bet that they'd be able to move along the path to the lab extremely quickly.

    After a few turns, we caught the first Epidemic, which shuffled a metric buttload of Hollow Men into the top of the Infection Deck, which would drastically reduce the threat of those Forsaken cities getting infected again.

    The next two turns brought those Forsaken cities back, raising them both to two cubes. No Hollow Men were placed. Damn.

    The turn after that brought the second Epidemic, putting the four drawn cards (now five as one was retrieved from Box 6) back on top, without any Hollow Man buffers. We knew that those problem cities were now on top, and we only had a 6/125 chance of not getting either of them again in the next turn. Sure enough, we got one of them before the Farmer/Courier had the chance to airdrop a cube from an adjacent city, and the next cube spelled the end of the game. Humanity was doomed.

    Total score: 406, with the cure undelivered, and that was after spending the last upgrade points of the game to bring three Forsaken cities back up to 1 population. That's... bad.

    Let's meet our would-have-been heroes!
    Εͺtube Sonder: The Instructor, never even exposed to the ravages of disease.

    Wikipedia Jones: A humble Farmer, later upgraded to Courier, he was a vital help in generating and throwing cubes across into Forsaken cities during the game. Unfortunately, the trouble just piled up too quickly for us to get to them at the end.

    Master Clean: The Sanitation Officer was never put into action until the last game, where he became the Carrier at great cost to himself.

    Bill Door: An instrumental worker in nearly all the games, Bill started out as a Laborer and upgraded to Architect, later picking up the Runner skill to be nearly anywhere he was needed. His ability to throw down a Supply Center with practically a wave of his hand was legendary.

    HernΓ‘n Blandesto: Our Radio Operator later became a Smuggler, but otherwise was completely undistinguished by his actions.

    Joe Manager Douglas: The team's Administrator, he was often in areas of strife and became both Weak and
    Xenophobic. It is to his credit that neither of these deficiencies affected his job performance in bossing other people around.

    Admiral Crunch: If anyone could be described as the champion of the Faded, it's this guy. The Captain became an Outrider and Scout, and the world's lead reconnaissance expert. He later learned how to Supply distant cities and Navigate to new harbors. He was instrumental in charting sea lanes to connect all of Asia to the grid, along with Australia.

    Enoch Ulation: The Immunologist was discovered in Buenos Aires, and was very helpful in times of trouble later in the year. The burdens of his job later made him an Insomniac.

    Lynn Fnodes: Our Scientist was found in the lab in Johannesburg, and became a one-woman army against the Hollow Men. She trained herself to become a Saboteur, hunting down Hollow Men across the globe using a network of remotely operated drones (or satellite laser cannons; she never revealed her secrets). If she was in the area, she'd personally burn out any possible sources of infection. Truly a terrifying presence.

    Charles Norris: The Vector Control Expert from New Zealand joined the team late in the year, but secured several key points in Asia to prevent possible exposure during the creation of The Plan and beyond.

    So, yeah. Not a satisfying ending to the season. Did I say "heroism"?
    i-lied.jpg

    GNU Terry Pratchett
    PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
    Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
    egc6gp2emz1v.png
  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    S2 December
    is a pile of BS that kind of soured the experience for me. It is SUCH a ridiculous needle to thread. You did your best!

    nedhf8b6a4rj.jpgsig.gif
    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • CaptainPeacockCaptainPeacock Board Game Hoarder Top o' the LakeRegistered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Bursar wrote: Β»
    Vyolynce wrote: Β»
    Bursar wrote: Β»
    Our Pandemic Legacy S2 campaign is starting to wrap (and ramp) up.
    Spoilers for up to November!
    When November began, we had only one Red city on the grid (Jakarta), so the reveal of The Plan was an intense shock. The requirement of 5 red cards when we only had 3 available (Jakarta and two other cities we'd upgraded to wild) was going to be a problem.

    For Game 1 of November, we settled on the strategy that we'd probably lose this one, but we'd try to set up the game state for a win in the second half of the month. Our doughty sea captain, Admiral Crunch, was dispatched with the sole intention of adding sea lanes to connect as many Red cities to the grid as we could, while the rest of the team would set up radio towers throughout the globe in order to send cards to assist in the other recon requirements for The Plan.

    We managed to connect every red city to the grid, knocked out all three of the other card recon requirements, and discovered the lost city of Wellington. The newly recovered Haven of Mything Perthens off the coast of Australia is a foothold for our upcoming Asiatic adventures. Team Radio was able to herd most of the Hollow Men to areas under the protection of Shelters or Bases, minimizing their end-of-game damage.
    So, while we technically "lost" Game 1 because the plague overran the world, we still consider it a moral victory due to how successful we were in connecting cities and adding cards to the decks.

    In Game 2, we had 3 red (or red-equivalent) cards dealt out before the game even began, so we picked our character who required fewer cards to recon (one less due to a job trait, and another less in exchange for two cubes as an upgrade) and made plans to bum-rush Shanghai, hoping for a third card to appear quickly so it could be Radioed over. However, two Epidemics showed up before a third red card came in, and Hollow Men quickly started to overrun key areas in Europe. We did complete The Plan, though, and look forward to December with horror.

    At the end of November, our world is kind of a mess. Antananarivo, New Delhi, and Bogota remain unconnected, which, considering what's happened to the rest of the world, might be in their best interests. The west coast of North America is a wasteland, as we've essentially given up on San Fran, LA, and Mexico City (they're all at 0). The strongest cities in the world are those that we've established permanent bases on: Denver, London, Buenos Aires, and Lagos. We have one of the 10+ cube bonuses available, so we're going to hit December hard and fast and hopefully knock those Utopia jerks off the map.

    Dj-V-cTUcAAVqlj.jpg

    Let me spin you a tale of heroism.
    Big Honkin' Pandemic S2 spoilers. Be warned.
    The Great December Race for the Cure began with a promising start. We quickly connected Lake Baikal to the grid, discovering the real endgame goal: delivering the Cure to Johannesburg without flight/teleporting/any other quick movements, requiring discarding cards every step of the way to do so. The best path out of Lake Baikal was:

    Lake Baikal -> Utopia -> Shanghai -> Jakarta (a shorter journey across multiple sea areas created via an Event) -> Kolkata -> New Mumbai -> the Indian Ocean haven of Hudsonia -> Dar es Salaam -> Johannesburg

    This would require 3 red cards, 2 black cards, 1 yellow card, and 1 blue card, and a total of 8 Drive/Ferry actions. A sea lane was created between New Mumbai to Dar es Salaam, cutting out the Hudsonia step (though with both NM and DeS plagued with rats, having a safe space between them to potentially end a turn on was a convenience), and a Supply Center was quickly erected in Jo-burg for the delivery destination. A radio station was constructed in London for the purpose of funneling blue cards, and another in Lagos for the yellows (permanent stations were already present in Jakarta (red) and Tehran (black)), but we knew that it was unlikely that we'd have enough turns to get any runner from LB, as we only had 1 Plague left before the game ended and they wouldn't be able to get enough cards to get there. We let the game end, knowing that we had it in us to get the cure to the research station with proper team composition. The new Johannesburg Center was made permanent, and our potential Cure Runner was equipped with deeper pockets to hold more cards.

    Game 2 in December started with careful team member selection. The Sanitation Officer was the ideal choice for the Curebearer, as being able to regain any card they might need to move to the next stop as a free action was an incredible benefit. The Instructor would tag along close by, feeding the Sanitation Officer either the cards they would need if possible, or cards to use for their recovery ability. While these two made the vital journey, our Farmer/Courier would attempt to salt trouble spots with supply cubes to mitigate Infections, and the Scientist/Saboteur would clear the way by handling Hollow Men.

    The initial infection of Game 2 started by infecting two already-Forsaken cities. Damn.

    Our Runner started the game with a red card, and very quickly had one of every color. With the Instructor handing him extra cards along the way every turn, it was a sure bet that they'd be able to move along the path to the lab extremely quickly.

    After a few turns, we caught the first Epidemic, which shuffled a metric buttload of Hollow Men into the top of the Infection Deck, which would drastically reduce the threat of those Forsaken cities getting infected again.

    The next two turns brought those Forsaken cities back, raising them both to two cubes. No Hollow Men were placed. Damn.

    The turn after that brought the second Epidemic, putting the four drawn cards (now five as one was retrieved from Box 6) back on top, without any Hollow Man buffers. We knew that those problem cities were now on top, and we only had a 6/125 chance of not getting either of them again in the next turn. Sure enough, we got one of them before the Farmer/Courier had the chance to airdrop a cube from an adjacent city, and the next cube spelled the end of the game. Humanity was doomed.

    Total score: 406, with the cure undelivered, and that was after spending the last upgrade points of the game to bring three Forsaken cities back up to 1 population. That's... bad.

    Let's meet our would-have-been heroes!
    Εͺtube Sonder: The Instructor, never even exposed to the ravages of disease.

    Wikipedia Jones: A humble Farmer, later upgraded to Courier, he was a vital help in generating and throwing cubes across into Forsaken cities during the game. Unfortunately, the trouble just piled up too quickly for us to get to them at the end.

    Master Clean: The Sanitation Officer was never put into action until the last game, where he became the Carrier at great cost to himself.

    Bill Door: An instrumental worker in nearly all the games, Bill started out as a Laborer and upgraded to Architect, later picking up the Runner skill to be nearly anywhere he was needed. His ability to throw down a Supply Center with practically a wave of his hand was legendary.

    HernΓ‘n Blandesto: Our Radio Operator later became a Smuggler, but otherwise was completely undistinguished by his actions.

    Joe Manager Douglas: The team's Administrator, he was often in areas of strife and became both Weak and
    Xenophobic. It is to his credit that neither of these deficiencies affected his job performance in bossing other people around.

    Admiral Crunch: If anyone could be described as the champion of the Faded, it's this guy. The Captain became an Outrider and Scout, and the world's lead reconnaissance expert. He later learned how to Supply distant cities and Navigate to new harbors. He was instrumental in charting sea lanes to connect all of Asia to the grid, along with Australia.

    Enoch Ulation: The Immunologist was discovered in Buenos Aires, and was very helpful in times of trouble later in the year. The burdens of his job later made him an Insomniac.

    Lynn Fnodes: Our Scientist was found in the lab in Johannesburg, and became a one-woman army against the Hollow Men. She trained herself to become a Saboteur, hunting down Hollow Men across the globe using a network of remotely operated drones (or satellite laser cannons; she never revealed her secrets). If she was in the area, she'd personally burn out any possible sources of infection. Truly a terrifying presence.

    Charles Norris: The Vector Control Expert from New Zealand joined the team late in the year, but secured several key points in Asia to prevent possible exposure during the creation of The Plan and beyond.

    So, yeah. Not a satisfying ending to the season. Did I say "heroism"?
    i-lied.jpg
    Point of order: aren't you supposed to skip forsaken cities when drawing them out of the infection deck, replacing them with a new card? There shouldn't be any way you're putting new plague cubes or hollow men into those cities.

    CaptainPeacock on
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  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    Vyolynce wrote: Β»
    S2 December
    is a pile of BS that kind of soured the experience for me. It is SUCH a ridiculous needle to thread. You did your best!

    Really? That wasn't our experience at all
    I think this game must have a lot more room for mistakes that couldn't be predicted (picking the wrong region to explore, etc) because some people seem to have had much worse difficulty spikes. Or maybe it's more vulnerable to RNG

    We weren't a crack Pandemic team or anything, but December was almost anticlimactic. Far from trivial, and we did a lot of prep work to get red options IIRC, but it wasn't really as hard as early games when resources were thin

  • BursarBursar Hee Noooo! PDX areaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Pendemic S2 Continued discussion
    Point of order: aren't you supposed to skip forsaken cities when drawing them out of the infection deck, replacing them with a new card? There shouldn't be any way you're putting new plague cubes or hollow men into those cities.

    Ah, that's simple.
    We're a bunch of fuckin' idiots who played the goddamn game wrong

    I'll call it super hard mode or something.

    Edit: Also, the name "Forsaken" is misleading. Of course they're hotbeds of disease and terrorist activity; we've given up on trying to save them!

    They should really be called "desolate" or "ghost towns" or something, because there's nobody living there to get sick anymore.
    Fuck.

    Bursar on
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  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    @Bursar 's spoilers above presumably relate to Pandemic Season 2.

    Hey, folks - could we retain labels on what our spoilers pertain to?

  • CampyCampy Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    I like Cosmic Encounters and Vast at 5 :)

    Vast is indeed excellent at 5, though might push your 2 hour limit, especially for the first playthrough.

    On a related note, I ended up buying Root and got our first game of it in the other day. Really, really liked how all the mechanics work together. Missed a couple of rules, a big one being that removing an opponents tokens gets your VPs! The Woodland Alliance ended up romping home, though they definitely benefited the most from said missed rule. No-one wanted to squash their sympathy tokens since all it did was give them cards. Can't wait for the next play now we all know how the factions work properly.

    Sorely tempted to buy the expansion already, since it would allow play with our usual five... Must... Resist.

    Campy on
  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    Counterpoint for Vast the rules are awful, and it is pretty difficult to teach. The game flows really slowly if everyone doesn't know everyone else's abilities. There is no full turn guide or aid as the different phases are on everyone's different pages. Ended up selling it after only two plays. If your group can play it again and again I'm sure it would work much better but it didn't work for my group.

    38thDoE on steam
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  • DarricDarric Santa MonicaRegistered User regular
    Vast completely fell flat with me and my group too.

  • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Certainly Root + expansion would seem more appropriate for a less experienced crew, however competent

    Powerpuppies on
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  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    It's unquestionably the more approachable game. But at that point why not go with something like Scythe?
    (I say this as someone who likes neither, but understands the mass-market appeal)

  • RiemannLivesRiemannLives Registered User regular
    Navegedor is a great one for 5 people in a medium-length timeslot

    Attacked by tweeeeeeees!
  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    Hmm I haven't played Scythe but I got the impression it was drastically different from Root.

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  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    38thDoe wrote: Β»
    Hmm I haven't played Scythe but I got the impression it was drastically different from Root.

    Scythe has asymmetrical faction abilities, not asymmetrical gameplay (Root, Netrunner, etc). It is a slow-burning area control game with baby's first economic engine mechanics. Its ability to do a little bit of everything lightly is what makes it unique. Its very strong theme doesn't hurt either.

    Do other games do what Scythe does without trimming down depth? Sure, but Scythe is a good gateway to those games. Play it, then find a game that goes deeper with the elements you crave the most. You wish Scythe was more fighty? Play Kemet. Do you like the tension of keeping Scythe's war cold? Play Inis. You want more economics tied with your actions? Play Great Western Trail or Hansa Teutonica. If you want absolutely everything without compromising anything, play Twilight Imperium, if you dare.

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  • DarricDarric Santa MonicaRegistered User regular
    I still think Scythe's specific balance of combat area control and euro resource puzzle is fairly unique in the space. Especially at its length.

  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    Yes, they're quite different, but I make the suggestion because I think there's just more there to explore with Scythe. Root rather quickly moves away from "really cutesy wargame" into "brutal optimization puzzle built on table-talk", which I don't think is a thing you want to do as quickly as it does. Scythe, while I don't personally feel like it actually does anything particularly well, at least gives you a little more leeway in exploring the game and how you play it each time. The asymmetrical factions merely add to the game rather than being the entire game (sorrynotsorry, Root).

  • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
    oh I thought you were linking them because both approached rules via "just play your first turn. Don't learn first. It's fine. "

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  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    Tabletop Simulator is half off on Steam right now for the Lunar sale, as is all the DLC.

  • EpimerEpimer Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    I mention this because it might not be on a lot of boardgamer's radars: Star Wars Destiny is about to undergo its first set rotation, which means that there are opportunities to buy complete playsets of earlier sets for around Β£60 on the second hand market.

    Maybe that's of interest to some people who are into the 1v1 card game thing but don't want to get involved in the whole CCG ecosystem.

    Epimer on
  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    Wizard may be a little light, I have played wizard variants with non gamers.

    One of Wizard's strengths is that it's close enough to traditional card games that it's easy to introduce to anyone who has ever played hearts or what have you. It's so good though . I'm hopefully going to play a few games of it this weekend with my aunt and uncle, who generally aren't into games but they both like traditional card games.

  • mysticjuicermysticjuicer [he/him] I'm a muscle wizard and I cast P U N C HRegistered User regular
    Wizard is fantastic for groups that want to play something like Jass or Hearts or Euchre. Huge hit with my parents; right up their alley.

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  • Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    Ah_Pook wrote: Β»
    Wizard may be a little light, I have played wizard variants with non gamers.

    One of Wizard's strengths is that it's close enough to traditional card games that it's easy to introduce to anyone who has ever played hearts or what have you. It's so good though . I'm hopefully going to play a few games of it this weekend with my aunt and uncle, who generally aren't into games but they both like traditional card games.

    Wizard is the trad card "Oh Hell" with a couple of pretty good knobs on.

    That said I enjoy the simpler and quicker playing Oh Hell. It's got the perfect sweet spot of bidding, forced play, planning and luck that makes a traditional card games good. And if you just play 10 to 1 then a game goes quickly and speeds up as the game progresses.

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

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  • jergarmarjergarmar hollow man crew goes pew pew pewRegistered User regular
    Little late to the party, but El Grande is absolutely my favorite 5-player game.

    When I was a child, I had a fever...
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  • jergarmarjergarmar hollow man crew goes pew pew pewRegistered User regular
    So I've played Food Chain Magnate a couple of more times, and I hold even stronger to my initial impression, that it's got a great learning curve. I just really enjoy showing it to new players, and after someone has played it once, there are just so few rules questions. And people ask for it again, even those who (like my wife) aren't normally into longer games. I do have a couple of caveats, that if anyone is new I really don't prefer to play it with 4 or 5, and I will always pre-pick the $100 Reserve cards on a first game. But it might be my favorite 3-player game, though I still quite like it with 2.

    Maybe I haven't played enough games, but I am hard-pressed to think of a similarly "heavy" game with such a simple ruleset. Or perhaps not that simple, but easy to grasp? Outside of abstract games, of course. Euro games sometimes have fairly simple rules, but their systems are often not very clear, favoring instead a kind of internal streamlined logic in the pursuit of abstract points, at the expense of intuitive play. Don't get me wrong, I love me some optimization puzzles, but FCM is highlighting a kind of gameplay that I want more of.

    So, any suggestions for heavier non-abstract games with really streamlined rulesets? I'm all ears.

    When I was a child, I had a fever...
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  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Inspired by the current forum game I've kicked off Kingdom Death campaign attempt number 3! Let's see if this one manages to go the distance.

    Our first session got us all to the way to just before our second real Lion fight and all players seemed pretty engaged so fingers crossed.

    Some brief highlights:
    Smashed the prologue lion in for no losses on our side, though this did involve being very lucky with the hit location rolls as my guy had like 3 locations where another hit would have invoked the serious injury table.

    Gained enough bits to craft a sword, a dagger and a smattering of hide armour bits.

    Headed off to the next fight in high spirits, but got the thing where the lion starts with Ground Fighting in play and will utterly muller anyone who stands by it and tries to attack. This cost us two thrown founding stones, but did give us the grace at the start of the fight to check out a debris pile and gain a second bone sword which was very helpful.

    Killed that lion, but did lose one survivor on the way due to an unfortunate series of grabbings.

    On return to the settlement two of our newly heroic survivors decide to start a feud that will come back year after year unless we clear the air with a duel, in which of course they mange to both get killed... Oh well, at least we just invented cannibalism so no body gone to waste.

    Headed out to hunt another lion having risked the tactic of putting the full hide armour set on one survivor and leaving the others pretty nude. Of course said survivor managed to become apathetic to the world during the hunt after a run in with some cancer pigeons (?!) and can now never spend or gain survival again which makes them a less than ideal tank and wastes all that lovely survival the hide armour gave them. Managed to hit the Ground Fighting card again but this time we have a bow to take advantage of it so still feeling pretty good about the upcoming fight.

    Another interesting moment from that hunt was someone being saved from the agonising decision of whether to investigate or consume the pile of monster faeces due to having a broken jaw.

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    So I've played Food Chain Magnate a couple of more times, and I hold even stronger to my initial impression, that it's got a great learning curve. I just really enjoy showing it to new players, and after someone has played it once, there are just so few rules questions. And people ask for it again, even those who (like my wife) aren't normally into longer games. I do have a couple of caveats, that if anyone is new I really don't prefer to play it with 4 or 5, and I will always pre-pick the $100 Reserve cards on a first game. But it might be my favorite 3-player game, though I still quite like it with 2.

    Maybe I haven't played enough games, but I am hard-pressed to think of a similarly "heavy" game with such a simple ruleset. Or perhaps not that simple, but easy to grasp? Outside of abstract games, of course. Euro games sometimes have fairly simple rules, but their systems are often not very clear, favoring instead a kind of internal streamlined logic in the pursuit of abstract points, at the expense of intuitive play. Don't get me wrong, I love me some optimization puzzles, but FCM is highlighting a kind of gameplay that I want more of.

    So, any suggestions for heavier non-abstract games with really streamlined rulesets? I'm all ears.

    I would look at other Splotter games. Even Antiquity, which looks like a massive fuckoff game, only has an 11-page rulebook.

This discussion has been closed.