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

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  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    My son is currently obsessed with War. I feel as though I can say, without objection from any adult, that it is a bad game. It is entirely flipping over a card, and repeat. There are no decisions. Does it even qualify as a game?

    It is bad. But you could use it as a gateway game to Speed. A similar concept with more decision making. Very addictive and a lot of fun for me when I was young.

    Here's an example of how it's played:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk1SYPCCFn4

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  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    .
    MNC Dover wrote: »
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    My son is currently obsessed with War. I feel as though I can say, without objection from any adult, that it is a bad game. It is entirely flipping over a card, and repeat. There are no decisions. Does it even qualify as a game?

    It is bad. But you could use it as a gateway game to Speed. A similar concept with more decision making. Very addictive and a lot of fun for me when I was young.

    Here's an example of how it's played:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk1SYPCCFn4
    At some point, you can even upgrade to Dutch Blitz, which is similar (and adds a pseudo Trick-taking mechanic).

    91YEk1Qx%2BxL._SY741_.jpg

    The aesthetic is hilarious, too.

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  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    I liked War when I was a kid. It’s systematic and the random nature of each showdown is dramatic and exciting. One step up from that might be SkipBo, which I also found to be the right mix of tense yet comfortingly predictable. Sometimes kids need things out of games besides complexity or tough choices.

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  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    Hahnsoo1 wrote: »
    Dutch Blitz, which is similar (and adds a pseudo Trick-taking mechanic).
    What about Dutch Blitz is similar to trick-taking, to you?

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  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    If they are old enough, Egyptian rat screw is a lot of fun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Ratscrew (plenty of variant and house rules out there too)

  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    What I liked about Gaia Project was that the theme was so much better and fit so well with the mechanics, making actions more intuitive, even in a euro.

    Terra Mystica feels like a weird, grasping attempt to do a fantasy version of Gaia Project even though it was the first game

    I still find that both of them have some serious euro problems -- soft player elimination, which is even worse than actual elimination; indirect interactivity that isn't very satisfying while also managing to be frustrating denial; fairly high barrier to entry due to abstraction/arbitrary rules

    But I enjoyed GP far more because it didn't make me feel miserable even when I lost

    Evil Multifarious on
  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    JonBob wrote: »
    Hahnsoo1 wrote: »
    Dutch Blitz, which is similar (and adds a pseudo Trick-taking mechanic).
    What about Dutch Blitz is similar to trick-taking, to you?
    Haha. Sorry, I mis-spoke. We have this house rule that whoever completes a Dutch pile needs to bus the pile to the side (to make room for other Dutch Piles), to the point where we yell "TAKE THE PILE" loudly at people when they complete it. It's not trick taking, other than forcing someone to grab the pile when they complete it. :D

    Really, the yelling "TAKE THE PILE" thing is the best part of playing, in our games. :D

    Hahnsoo1 on
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  • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
    Hahnsoo1 wrote: »
    JonBob wrote: »
    Hahnsoo1 wrote: »
    Dutch Blitz, which is similar (and adds a pseudo Trick-taking mechanic).
    What about Dutch Blitz is similar to trick-taking, to you?
    Haha. Sorry, I mis-spoke. We have this house rule that whoever completes a Dutch pile needs to bus the pile to the side (to make room for other Dutch Piles), to the point where we yell "TAKE THE PILE" loudly at people when they complete it. It's not trick taking, other than forcing someone to grab the pile when they complete it. :D

    Really, the yelling "TAKE THE PILE" thing is the best part of playing, in our games. :D

    this is very similar to my table

    best part of machi koro: holding your hand out for the roller's coins when they roll your red card

    best part of bohnanza: responding to lowball trade offers by making your counteroffer progressively worse, and eventually just planting shit beans the other player badly needs

    sig.gif
  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Kingdom Death session 2 update:
    Session 1 here.

    We take down the Lion we were about fight, sadly with a loss as someone got decapitated, mainly due to the pre-battering we'd taken on the hunt. We find a scrap sword with a 10 roll on a terrain piece which is nice.

    hvk8y395989k.png

    Get home, draw a relatively benign event, the lion seemed to be full of love juice and we miraculously manage a couple of children despite the Survival of the Fittest penalty. Innovate family. Make a few rawhide bits.

    Next hunt, we get an event that will blatter the lowest roller with 'frozen lightning', draws mean all the lowest get hit. Our 4 rolls? 9,9,9,10...

    We still manage to win the hunt despite three people heading in with multiple locations already in the critical zone, a stone face making archery very effective. The tank managed to survive a couple of body critical injury rolls, but did end up with permanent -1 speed from a broken rib which is probably a write off.

    Event just makes someone miss next hunt after running into the acid rain, which makes 3 of the 4 returners having a rest year. Innovate CLAN OF DEATH! We've head straight down a single branch of the tech tree and now, combined with survival of the fittest, all newborns have +2 strength, +2 evasion and +1 accuracy! Insane. We even mange to have two of these super babies via augury, only requiring a single once in a lifetime re-roll to avoid disaster. Make a few lion armour bits.

    c7mbcx2cqhco.png

    So now we face The Butcher. We've not made great weapons as the lion keeps refusing to drop cat bones, but we do have a few super strong survivors so maybe, just maybe, this time will be third time lucky and won't be a total party wipe.

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  • DissociaterDissociater Registered User regular
    I wish there was a version of Kingdom Death that used cardboard standees and cost like $100 or something because I'd really like to play it some day.

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    I "won" a game of sushi go this week by taking the third sashimi (the one that if you have 3 you get 10 points) that the guy after me needed to complete his set. I did this in the third round. After we finished scoring everything and doing the desserts he ended up getting 2nd and someone else won by a few points. He would have won if he got tgat sashimi.

    I might not have been in the running, but it felt pretty good to deny someone else the card they needed.

    (He was the strong points leader going into the third round, so it was calculated asshole, not random)

    webguy20 on
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  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    "Calculated asshole" are very valid plays in card drafting games.

    You can usually only gloat between rounds tho.

  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    Anyone play Arkham Horror LCG? Picked up the base game when it was on sale and found it pretty fun and immediately picked up a second copy to do deck building. It's pretty fun. The story is at it's best when it's unintentionally hilarious (where are all these people coming from in the study?) but the puzzle is pretty fun.

    I also think the fact that it's single playerable means it represents the best value proposition of any LCG I've played. I loved Netrunner and L5R but the amount of time I could put in was gated by how often I could get out to FLGS events. I can play as much or as little of Arkham as I want.

  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    ChaosHat wrote: »
    Anyone play Arkham Horror LCG? Picked up the base game when it was on sale and found it pretty fun and immediately picked up a second copy to do deck building. It's pretty fun. The story is at it's best when it's unintentionally hilarious (where are all these people coming from in the study?) but the puzzle is pretty fun.

    I also think the fact that it's single playerable means it represents the best value proposition of any LCG I've played. I loved Netrunner and L5R but the amount of time I could put in was gated by how often I could get out to FLGS events. I can play as much or as little of Arkham as I want.
    LotR LCG is also solo-able, if you are into that sort of thing. Although the strategies are often different when you play solo versus multiplayer (which is a bonus for me).

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  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    Hahnsoo1 wrote: »
    ChaosHat wrote: »
    Anyone play Arkham Horror LCG? Picked up the base game when it was on sale and found it pretty fun and immediately picked up a second copy to do deck building. It's pretty fun. The story is at it's best when it's unintentionally hilarious (where are all these people coming from in the study?) but the puzzle is pretty fun.

    I also think the fact that it's single playerable means it represents the best value proposition of any LCG I've played. I loved Netrunner and L5R but the amount of time I could put in was gated by how often I could get out to FLGS events. I can play as much or as little of Arkham as I want.
    LotR LCG is also solo-able, if you are into that sort of thing. Although the strategies are often different when you play solo versus multiplayer (which is a bonus for me).

    I can't be getting into two more LCGs at this point. Plus isn't that already/going to be an app game? I'd probably do that to have some on the go options.

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    "Calculated asshole" are very valid plays in card drafting games.

    You can usually only gloat between rounds tho.

    That's whats great about Sushi Go. It was late in the round and as soon as he saw me play it, a card I couldn't use, and realize it was the last one available, he was like "you son of a bitch!". It was instant gratification.

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  • TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    Arkham LCG is pretty great. There is a lot of variety in the challenges the game can throw at you, and I appreciate that losing doesn't mean you can't go to the next scenario. Usually.

    I like LotR but think the core set is absolutely awful as an introduction.

  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    Tomanta wrote: »
    Arkham LCG is pretty great. There is a lot of variety in the challenges the game can throw at you, and I appreciate that losing doesn't mean you can't go to the next scenario. Usually.

    I like LotR but think the core set is absolutely awful as an introduction.

    Yeah the second scenario really turned me around on it. The first scenario was like "Oh I could maybe get it the scenarios will be get clues advance thing do next scenario card" but the fact that they were already willing to not stick to a pattern or anything by mission two was really refreshing.

    I still haven't played the third one yet. Hopefully that too is good. What really has me interested is the cycles. Having to carry one investigator over 8 scenarios sounds difficult and rewarding. How you deal with trauma, what upgrades you make, etc.

  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    I really like Arkham LCG. My main issue with it is just how difficult it gets at lower player counts. Even when you’re playing with 2 players, you still often need more than two areas of effectiveness—clue-finding, damage dealing, and evasion are all key at that point, and building two decks to be really good at 3 or more things is tough. I think good party building kind of requires 3 or 4 players.

    But other than that it’s a pretty great game, especially if you find a good storage solution that helps you set up and break down the encounters deck quickly.

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  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    The "Revisited" boxes contain named card separators and can fit a whole campaign.

  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    Bogart wrote: »
    The "Revisited" boxes contain named card separators and can fit a whole campaign.

    This has been something that has tempted me to go that way for my first expansion but it feels like a poor way to go. I think I'm going to settle on white card boxes with ultimate guard dividers for the scenarios and binders for the investigator cards.

  • jergarmarjergarmar hollow man crew goes pew pew pewRegistered User regular
    Oh dang, Fog of War is on clearance at Walmart (and all the expansions), impulse purchase get.

    When I was a child, I had a fever...
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  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    The Arkham Horror LCG is a huge money sink. 2-4 core sets if you want full options for multiple players. $15 per one hour scenario in the expansions.

    The base campaign is the weakest. 1st scenario is just a straight short tutorial. 2nd scenario open ended and promising. 3rd scenario a letdown after the 2nd.

    If you're not super into deckbuilding, I couldn't see playing the scenarios more than twice. It was waaaaay too much money for the return it gave us and we bailed out after one expansion.

    If you want a cheaper option and the lack of deck building isn't a dealbreaker, I'd suggest Arkham Horror 3rd edition as an alternative. It's basically Arkhame LCG without the LCG. Same exact layout. Same exact combat. Same exact objective mechanic. The only other thing it's missing is a campaign aspect.

  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Tried the Sanctum of Twilight expansion scenarios for Mansions of Madness.

    Bleh. Our least favorite scenarios by far. One is ridiculously linear. The other lasts way too long and is one of those multi-parters where every part is just a setup for the final bit, like the base Innsmouth scenario where it's 3 hours just to reach the final part which is all that matters. Retrying it means sitting through those 2-3 hours of setup again.

    Both continue to follow the unfortunate trend of "you don't have anywhere near enough time to check out every clue, but you must check out every clue because a vital quest object is hidden in one of the indistinguishable search locations". It's just random if you happen to choose the search spot you need or not.

    One of the scenarios seems like it's mandatory to take the new martial artist investigator. You start with no weapons, don't really find any during the scenario, and the martial artists gets damage bonuses to unarmed combat. We still couldn't beat it with her, and I can't imagine it even being possible without her.

    Seems like they're trying to make the Influence stat more useful. We noticed an increase in combat skill checks using Influence.

    Definitely an overall "skip" rating though.

    MrBody on
  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    For ~1 day (sorry, I'm not going to look up the specific start/end times for this) the Suburbia app is free on iOS/Android. It's part of the Kickstarter reward to give the game to all backers, but because of the scale they just made it free for 24 hours for people to download. I already had it on an iPad, but I just picked it up on my Android phone too, so I can confirm it's live.

  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    MrBody wrote: »
    The Arkham Horror LCG is a huge money sink. 2-4 core sets if you want full options for multiple players. $15 per one hour scenario in the expansions.

    The base campaign is the weakest. 1st scenario is just a straight short tutorial. 2nd scenario open ended and promising. 3rd scenario a letdown after the 2nd.

    If you're not super into deckbuilding, I couldn't see playing the scenarios more than twice. It was waaaaay too much money for the return it gave us and we bailed out after one expansion.

    If you want a cheaper option and the lack of deck building isn't a dealbreaker, I'd suggest Arkham Horror 3rd edition as an alternative. It's basically Arkhame LCG without the LCG. Same exact layout. Same exact combat. Same exact objective mechanic. The only other thing it's missing is a campaign aspect.

    I've already enjoyed what exists and I think I would be down to play it multiple times. The thing is I would play a lot of games a lot more but I can't really solo them and I feel a lot of solo games don't scratch that theory crafting, deck building, and testing through iteration itch.

    This has made me more interested in the actual Arkham game but I really didn't like the length of Eldritch horror when I tried it. That game also seemed like it was mechanically thin and relied on the story which I wasn't super invested in. I'm not usually an Ameritrash player so it didn't do much for me. The lcg feels very euro-y to me.

    So I'm guessing the big box game is like 2+ hours and takes forever to set up and takes more room. I've enjoyed just busting the card game out for a quick play here and there.

  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    For ~1 day (sorry, I'm not going to look up the specific start/end times for this) the Suburbia app is free on iOS/Android. It's part of the Kickstarter reward to give the game to all backers, but because of the scale they just made it free for 24 hours for people to download. I already had it on an iPad, but I just picked it up on my Android phone too, so I can confirm it's live.

    Hmm, showing 6.99 for me on the Itunes app store.

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  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Android was free, but ios showing price still.

    Edit : It's based on time zone.
    The app is set for free for February 17th - The price will change at midnight (12:00:00 AM) February 17th to $0, then change back to the original price at 11:59:59 PM on February 17th.

    ArcSyn on
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  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    Hahah! Yes!

    On a whim, I decided to go check if the expansion for Villainous was announced. Turns out, it was! Just today, so it must've been at the New York Toy Fair.

    Villainous: Rotten to the Core. Interestingly, they are positioning it to be playable 2-3 player as well as being an expansion. Which makes sense, as everyone's boards are individual.

    But you all know what you are here for right? The villains!

    So what's in this pack?

    disney-villanous-movers.jpg


    Hades!

    Dr. Facilier!

    The Evil Queen!


    ... this doesn't surprise me, including these beating out Cruella De Ville. They weren't my personal choices, but the Shadow Man and Hades are adult favorites, and the Evil Queen is just too damned iconic to not be in the game.

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  • psyck0psyck0 Registered User regular
    For ~1 day (sorry, I'm not going to look up the specific start/end times for this) the Suburbia app is free on iOS/Android. It's part of the Kickstarter reward to give the game to all backers, but because of the scale they just made it free for 24 hours for people to download. I already had it on an iPad, but I just picked it up on my Android phone too, so I can confirm it's live.

    I'm pretty sure they really intended this to be a backer reward but had no way to give out keys and didn't want it publicized

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  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    I got to try Wingspan at a convention this weekend. It's a lovely game and I shall be seeking out a copy. Nothing revolutionary going on here, but the art and presentation just make it work. It feels a lot like Gizmos, mechanically. I love the thematic ties of the various birds to their actions/attributes.

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  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    Hades's pawn really looks like a blue dick on fire. :?

  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    Hades's pawn really looks like a blue dick on fire. :?

    Seems legit.

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  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    psyck0 wrote: »
    For ~1 day (sorry, I'm not going to look up the specific start/end times for this) the Suburbia app is free on iOS/Android. It's part of the Kickstarter reward to give the game to all backers, but because of the scale they just made it free for 24 hours for people to download. I already had it on an iPad, but I just picked it up on my Android phone too, so I can confirm it's live.

    I'm pretty sure they really intended this to be a backer reward but had no way to give out keys and didn't want it publicized
    I don't disagree with you. But given both the number of backers who will definitely not pay attention and miss it, and that I'm already seeing popup articles on facebook announcing it ... I might as well share it with a community that's at least typically decent.

  • I needed anime to post.I needed anime to post. boom Registered User regular
    Hades's pawn really looks like a blue dick on fire. :?

    oh i didn't know they modeled it based on james woods

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  • CalicaCalica Registered User regular
    Photosynthesis is a beautiful game about growing trees. I've had it on my shelf for the better part of a year and finally got to play it with friends yesterday. None of us had played before, so we were all kind of fumbling around in the dark, strategy-wise, for the first half of the game; but I enjoyed it a lot and can't wait to play again!

    I had some idea of what I was getting into, but no one else had heard of it. It was pretty funny to watch the rest of the group slowly realize that, despite the very tranquil theme and art, the game itself is cutthroat competitive - but, like, in slow motion, because trees :biggrin:

  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Calica wrote: »
    Photosynthesis is a beautiful game about growing trees. I've had it on my shelf for the better part of a year and finally got to play it with friends yesterday. None of us had played before, so we were all kind of fumbling around in the dark, strategy-wise, for the first half of the game; but I enjoyed it a lot and can't wait to play again!

    I had some idea of what I was getting into, but no one else had heard of it. It was pretty funny to watch the rest of the group slowly realize that, despite the very tranquil theme and art, the game itself is cutthroat competitive - but, like, in slow motion, because trees :biggrin:

    All tree games are the devil.
    Arboretum
    Photosynthesis
    Herbaceous

    Cantido on
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  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    Whaaaat? Arboretum is fantastic, just play it with more than 2~ Photosynthesis is a solid game design, but it's certainly a lot more cutthroat than the production values suggest.

  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    Cantido wrote: »
    Calica wrote: »
    Photosynthesis is a beautiful game about growing trees. I've had it on my shelf for the better part of a year and finally got to play it with friends yesterday. None of us had played before, so we were all kind of fumbling around in the dark, strategy-wise, for the first half of the game; but I enjoyed it a lot and can't wait to play again!

    I had some idea of what I was getting into, but no one else had heard of it. It was pretty funny to watch the rest of the group slowly realize that, despite the very tranquil theme and art, the game itself is cutthroat competitive - but, like, in slow motion, because trees :biggrin:

    All tree games are the devil.
    Arboretum
    Photosynthesis
    Herbaceous

    I'd add Topiary to that list.

    Kodama gets a pass though.

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  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    And don't forget Grow...assuming you've finally received your kickstarted copy.

    Speaking of KS, I got an email saying that Millennium Blades is getting a Burgle Bros mini-expansion set of cards. I've never played MB, but if it's your jam, find the KS and get that BB sweetness!

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