As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

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

18889919394100

Posts

  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    PMAvers wrote: »
    In regards to encounter sets, from what I've seen there's very rarely (if any) cross-over between cycles. Usually they're pretty well self-contained, and if it's going to pull from something it'll either be the cycle deluxe expansion or the core set.

    It *would* be interesting if they had options where if, say, you had access to a certain encounter set you could sub it in, but it'd probably be a balance nightmare.

    That's comforting and actually makes a lot of sense thinking about it. I assumed the later sets would build on and use the generic sets from dunwich and such, but I guess you wouldn't want someone buying into forgotten age and that cycle and then telling them "oh sorry you also need dunwich to play this." Core plus cycle big box seems correct.

  • BursarBursar Hee Noooo! PDX areaRegistered User regular
    I picked up Fox in the Forest in preparation for a long trip with my girlfriend, which may have been a mistake. We played an intro game, in which I got spanked 24-7.

    We may be a trifle competitive.

    GNU Terry Pratchett
    PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
    Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
    egc6gp2emz1v.png
  • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
    The vagabond took forever and the birds and WA were super bored. WA lost tons of sympathy constantly and rebuilt it cheaply. Almost certainly within range of 30 without the errata. Cats raced to ten and took bird dominance and made several credible threats at it, but was always easily stopped. Birds started slow and never went into turmoil. Vagabond won almost by default, with birds and WA not far out.

    We're actually probably done with the game due to downtime issues after only two plays. I think pretty tied to this group of players.

    sig.gif
  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    Finished the last two Dunwich scenarios last night. Thoughts:
    The scenario with the hill was fine. Starting off with a conglomeration of spheres was a pain in the ass and basically took up two of my first three turns. I mulliganed hard for a gun, finding nothing and basically dropped Leo De Luca and got ready on my first turn, then it moved over with hunter and fought me. I basically just punched the shit out of it for the next two turns. I pulled the flying thrall and I thought I might be in some severe trouble, but I ate the attack of opportunity to drop Jenny's Twin 45s and blasted it out of the sky.

    After that it wasn't too bad. A lot of the encounter cards trigger based on where you are and don't have surge if you're not at that spot so by luck of the draw I just dodged a lot of shit. The Lupine Thrall seems pointless. It was my last encounter card and it spawns at the farthest possible spot away so it was a super easy turn.

    The last one seemed appropriately climactic. When I set aside the Yog-Sothoth card I was like "Oh jesus." It never came up though. This was by far the closest I got to failing I was literally at one sanity remaining. The will checks in the sanity deck were really the only things that were bad for me the entire campaign and they bit me here. I pulled the one where you take sanity for every point you fail by and the check is equal to the number of extradimensional locations and pulled tentacles vs 5 strength. I ended up losing Leo along the way just to soak.

    I even got out the card where I could advance to the Edge of the Universe but in order to leave the space you had to pass a two will test or the space went away and I would eat a sanity so I kept digging for the other card that connected which I knew had to exist looking at the location symbols listed on the card. Eventually I pulled another one of the 5 strength sanity checks with zero boosters and was like "Well this was fun but I'm dead" but instead I pulled the one thing that would pass: the Elder Sign.

    After that I drew Zebulon and his four sanity buffer let me coast through the rest of it pretty easy.

    I think I'll play through again two handed. Probably a seeker and either a mystic/survivor.

  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    I did try to organize a Tabletop Simulator online campaign for Arkham Horror TCG. I liked the narrative and campaign aspect of the game, but said nuts to FFG's business model.

    It would easily work live on that platform.

  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    I've never loved TTS. I think I've played like two games on it? I love the idea but it does feel clunky. Would probably rather try to do a campaign over OCTGN or something if we did that route.

  • DashuiDashui Registered User regular
    Stone Age: Anniversary Edition is finally showing up in stores. My local store had one copy and I just had to snag it. It's so shiny!

    Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Screw making the rational decision to wait for full release, I'm indulging my emotional desire to back the 1001 Odysseys kickstarter at the last minute.

    It's been moderately successful but not enough for me to have faith in a plentiful distribution at the end or a second kickstarter. And I really love the idea of playing it with my wife and daughters.

    The inclusion of Jerry Holkins doing some expansion stuff may have been the final straw.

    Now just a year (plus inevitable KS delays) to wait...

    Jam Warrior on
    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    I backed the core, and I want Jerry's stuff, but I'm waiting on the expansion.

    4dm3dwuxq302.png
  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    I backed the core, and I want Jerry's stuff, but I'm waiting on the expansion.

    Yeah an extra $5 for the expansion a year+ down the road isn't going to break me nearly as much as an extra $30 today is. Hopefully.

    nedhf8b6a4rj.jpgsig.gif
    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    The vagabond took forever and the birds and WA were super bored. WA lost tons of sympathy constantly and rebuilt it cheaply. Almost certainly within range of 30 without the errata. Cats raced to ten and took bird dominance and made several credible threats at it, but was always easily stopped. Birds started slow and never went into turmoil. Vagabond won almost by default, with birds and WA not far out.

    We're actually probably done with the game due to downtime issues after only two plays. I think pretty tied to this group of players.

    Downtime issues for big heavy games are why I like simultaneous planning then resolution

    Sadly I strongly dislike the GoT game

    Evil Multifarious on
  • DarricDarric Santa MonicaRegistered User regular
    The vagabond took forever and the birds and WA were super bored. WA lost tons of sympathy constantly and rebuilt it cheaply. Almost certainly within range of 30 without the errata. Cats raced to ten and took bird dominance and made several credible threats at it, but was always easily stopped. Birds started slow and never went into turmoil. Vagabond won almost by default, with birds and WA not far out.

    We're actually probably done with the game due to downtime issues after only two plays. I think pretty tied to this group of players.

    Downtime issues for big heavy games are why I like simultaneous planning then resolution

    Sadly I strongly dislike the GoT game

    It might be worth trying Battle for Rokugan as a slicker, hugely pared down alternative?

  • AetherAether Registered User regular
    Chronicles of Crime turned up today. We completed the first case. It's quite good. The system seems robust, and the upcoming expansions look exciting. It's already got some DLC out, which is good, I really feel that Mansions of Madness 2E really fell over with the amount of DLC it put out.

    Also grabbed Viticulture EE earlier this week and have already got 3 plays in. I like worker placement, it's probably one of my favourite styles, and this hits all the right buttons for me. The cards seem a bit swingy sometime, but enough of them are that it evens out in the end.

  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    I'm taking the fact that people keep reacting to them as a blessing to continue posting these.

    Kingdom Death Campaign update 4:
    Last time...

    We set out to hunt our first Antelope, the hunt is pretty uneventful, the Antelope skips away beyond the Overwhelming Darkness which fills us with dread, but then a hunt event has us hitch a ride on the back of titanic monster and skip straight to the showdown before we have to face it. Crisis averted!

    Very little to report from the Antelope fight other than we utterly clobbered it due to our guys being well sprinkled with permanent stat boosts and the extreme choppiness of the Butcher's cleaver. Can't have lasted more than three rounds.

    On return to settlement we manage to pick up the Rivalry hunt event again (boo) but before we can resolve too much settlement stuff, the Armoured Strangers come marching into our camp. They take offence at our population level and we roll a one to have them cull 5 guys, unless we resist...

    Filled with bravado after our Antelope slaughter we throw caution to the wind and set up the Kingsman fight, foolishly throwing in our 4 best guys rather than 4 disposable mooks. It's a bloody tough fight, we have yet to innovate Dash so his sweeping attacks are really damn dangerous, but we managed to get a King's Stepper fairly early into the fight, use Surge to pound the crap out of him with extra attacks when we get an opening, and by a some miracle we killed him and nobody died! Two once-in-a-lifetime re-rolls used to avoid death, somebody lost an eye, and we were hanging on by the skin of our teeth at the end, but a final Surge hurled founding stone downed him.

    I tell you this settlement is blessed with some crazy luck. Though our Twilight Sword wielder has yet to land a hit to gain any proficiency levels and there are only 2 more fights before the Hooded Stranger is back for a duel so I doubt that's going to go well. Definitely time to move on to level 2 hunts.

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    So I got to play the race for the galaxy boardgame with 4 other players new to it, but who all had extensive race and Puerto Rico experience and were thus easy to teach.
    We all loved it, but all came away wondering if we'd play it again. Setup is bigger and fiddlier than race, but those resource cubes are greaaat!
    Role selection is fun, but this is literally Puerto Rico without boats and with more complicated plantations. On the plus side it's blue colonists in spaaace and not brown..."colonists ..that came on a boat....we promise"
    It's a super super good smash up of race and Puerto Rico. Two great tastes that do taste great together, but if you own either of them already I'm not sure this is worth it. Unless the theming is important to you. (And art is race for the galaxy level, which is to say, meh to bad).
    It felt weird to discuss this game we all enjoyed but came away not sure any of us would buy. Though this is way more of a table experience than either original game, we often play at the same pub and the tables just aren't that big. I think it also loses some easy parseability of opponents boards just because things will be further from each other, leading to more leaning over the table to see what other people have.
    We only played with the starter side of the tiles but if be excited to see some of the variety and combos with them randomized. Though some did just seem bad compared to others. Example, for a couple credits there is a development that gives you a credit each time you make a development (notably this matches the starting power my world had) vs another development that gives you one dollar during produce, only if you made the MOST brown cubes. The first just seems strong and the second is maybe ok at best. And the developments are a public market like Puerto Rico, so I'm not trying to compare their power level to the planets which are explored randomly.

  • CampyCampy Registered User regular
    So the subject of turn time and AP is frequently an issue in our lovely realm of board games.

    What do folks think of turn timers for games that don't have them? Almost since the inception of my little gaming group I've been pondering buying a chess timer or similar to force people along. I love the idea of finishing a game in the actual time estimated on the box, but part of me thinks that the added pressure will make people enjoy things less.

  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    Timers are going to be entirely group dependent. Some people would be fine with them, some people would never play games with you again.

  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    Turn timers are great if you feel they're warranted. My personal experience was with a timer-cube a friend had, which whenever it's turned to another face activates the timer for that colour and keeps a running total of each player's "active time." What's nice is that rather than putting a hard cap on things, it's more about presenting hard evidence of how much time some players take, and then sort of guilting them into playing faster so they don't make everyone else wait as much. YMMV based on how empathetic your players are, I guess. :P
    That particular product also had the benefit of making it really clear when someone was ending their turn and who was the current player, which can also be a constant source of wasted time. Two birds with one stone and all that~

  • TimFijiTimFiji Beast Lord Halfway2AnywhereRegistered User regular
    Turn timers are great if you feel they're warranted. My personal experience was with a timer-cube a friend had, which whenever it's turned to another face activates the timer for that colour and keeps a running total of each player's "active time." What's nice is that rather than putting a hard cap on things, it's more about presenting hard evidence of how much time some players take, and then sort of guilting them into playing faster so they don't make everyone else wait as much. YMMV based on how empathetic your players are, I guess. :P
    That particular product also had the benefit of making it really clear when someone was ending their turn and who was the current player, which can also be a constant source of wasted time. Two birds with one stone and all that~

    Our group has the "Steve-mod" named after our local AP expert Steve. We use the hour glass from Mechs and Minions to limit turns in other games. If it requires 2 runs through the glass then that's ok, but no more.

    Switch: SW-2322-2047-3148 Steam: Archpriest
      Selling Board Games for Medical Bills
    • CaptainPeacockCaptainPeacock Board Game Hoarder Top o' the LakeRegistered User regular
      Or you could play timed games like Meeple Circus :D

      Cluck cluck, gibber gibber, my old man's a mushroom, etc.
    • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
      Campy wrote: »
      So the subject of turn time and AP is frequently an issue in our lovely realm of board games.

      What do folks think of turn timers for games that don't have them? Almost since the inception of my little gaming group I've been pondering buying a chess timer or similar to force people along. I love the idea of finishing a game in the actual time estimated on the box, but part of me thinks that the added pressure will make people enjoy things less.

      you gotta use this thing that arcticlancer was talking about
      http://www.digitalgametechnology.com/index.php/products/clocks1/227-dgt-cube

      for us the best option is per-turn timer with a minor penalty, like losing a point in Root, if you go over it (and then it restarts so you can lose two on one turn)

      really improves some games that are fun but take too long if you allow the (admittedly effective AP)

      if you have a game-long timer that you lose if you go over it, that's not fun for the AP person

      if you have no penalty the AP person apologizes and then gets stuck in AP again immediately

      sig.gif
    • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
      I was wondering if that was the cube. Neat idea, but not sure my group would accept it.

      4dm3dwuxq302.png
    • jergarmarjergarmar hollow man crew goes pew pew pewRegistered User regular
      edited March 2019
      I bought 3 cheap Keyforge decks off of eBay, didn't really know what to expect, got in a couple games.

      The gameplay is engaging, easy to learn, fun enough. But something about the system is definitely infectious, and getting under my skin. It's hard not to have a personal relationship with my quirky unique snowflake deck.

      It actually reminds me a bit of Pokemon, because you can have this personal, individually-named set of them to battle against someone else, and each one has these "hidden stats" that make them somewhat unique. Each Keyforge deck has 3 houses, so you can have a basic understanding of how your opponent's deck works, similar to how you basically know what to expect from a given Pokemon on the opposing team.

      Pokemon games have some deep flaws in the essential battle system, maybe Keyforge does as well? But I'll tell you this: the "chain" concept, an official and deeply-ingrained way to handicap a particular deck (or even specific cards), has totally captured my imagination, and has cemented my initial interest in the game. The basic idea is simply that your hand size is smaller, but it "wears off" through game rounds, but playing certain powerful cards in-game also increase it.

      Just one of its many applications is to play a fair 3-game set, by playing one game normally, switching decks and playing another game, and if one deck won both times you bid chains on that deck and play a tiebreaker. Or you can "permanently" assign chains to a particularly strong deck. I don't think there's an "official" way for me to assign (or increase) chains on individual cards, but if a card is repeatedly making the game unfun for me, I feel like I can simply make a note on the deck list. It would certainly be easy for FFG to add chains to a card they deem too strong, which also feels good to me.

      Anyway, it's all delectably quirky.

      jergarmar on
      When I was a child, I had a fever...
      jswidget.php?username=jergarmar&numitems=7&text=none&images=small&show=hot10&imagesonly=1&imagepos=right&inline=1&domains%5B%5D=boardgame&imagewidget=1
      My BoardGameGeek profile
      Battle.net: TheGerm#1430 (Hearthstone, Destiny 2)
    • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
      Keyforge is great. There's a Keyforge thread too. I'm looking forward to the new set in a couple months.

    • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
      Campy wrote: »
      So the subject of turn time and AP is frequently an issue in our lovely realm of board games.

      What do folks think of turn timers for games that don't have them? Almost since the inception of my little gaming group I've been pondering buying a chess timer or similar to force people along. I love the idea of finishing a game in the actual time estimated on the box, but part of me thinks that the added pressure will make people enjoy things less.

      I really think that depending on the person, talking about it is fine. When we've needed to we've used the codenames timer rule (anyone can put a timer on anyone if need be, don't be a dick or the table will call you out/you will find yourself under some pretty tight timelimits in a hurry). But that's more for casual games.
      For other people just letting them know can be enough, I know I'll curtail my turn if I'm spinning wheels for too long. We do have one particular person who everyone knows is AP prone, and he knows it too, but he's a super smart and very likeable dude, so everyone basically goes into heavy euros etc. with him knowing it's going to happen. And as long as you are there to enjoy each others company and peoples schedules are respected it's fine. He knows what is up too, and will very honestly say to people that if they want a quick game, it shouldn't be game x or y because he'll probably drag the time out a bit.
      So to me, it's much less a problem for tech to solve, and much more just people talking to people. But that requires a certain amount of tact and maturity that not every member of every group is blessed with for sure.
      Jesus that was southern, I just did a "bless their heart" really. Oh well. Leaving it.

    • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
      Campy wrote: »
      So the subject of turn time and AP is frequently an issue in our lovely realm of board games.

      What do folks think of turn timers for games that don't have them? Almost since the inception of my little gaming group I've been pondering buying a chess timer or similar to force people along. I love the idea of finishing a game in the actual time estimated on the box, but part of me thinks that the added pressure will make people enjoy things less.

      you gotta use this thing that arcticlancer was talking about
      http://www.digitalgametechnology.com/index.php/products/clocks1/227-dgt-cube

      for us the best option is per-turn timer with a minor penalty, like losing a point in Root, if you go over it (and then it restarts so you can lose two on one turn)

      really improves some games that are fun but take too long if you allow the (admittedly effective AP)

      if you have a game-long timer that you lose if you go over it, that's not fun for the AP person

      if you have no penalty the AP person apologizes and then gets stuck in AP again immediately

      This is exactly the problem. 1v1 games are easy to clock because you can just have someone eliminated by clocking out, which ends the game. In games with no player elimination, clocking out doesn't have an easy penalty. You could have it force a pass, which could effectively ruin the game for them while forcing them to continue playing (or end up producing a kingmaking situation, with the next player making a big gain). Or you could impose an in-game penalty, which usually means imposing a new rule and now you've got a houseruled game that might alter balance.

    • PowerpuppiesPowerpuppies drinking coffee in the mountain cabinRegistered User regular
      Campy wrote: »
      So the subject of turn time and AP is frequently an issue in our lovely realm of board games.

      What do folks think of turn timers for games that don't have them? Almost since the inception of my little gaming group I've been pondering buying a chess timer or similar to force people along. I love the idea of finishing a game in the actual time estimated on the box, but part of me thinks that the added pressure will make people enjoy things less.

      you gotta use this thing that arcticlancer was talking about
      http://www.digitalgametechnology.com/index.php/products/clocks1/227-dgt-cube

      for us the best option is per-turn timer with a minor penalty, like losing a point in Root, if you go over it (and then it restarts so you can lose two on one turn)

      really improves some games that are fun but take too long if you allow the (admittedly effective AP)

      if you have a game-long timer that you lose if you go over it, that's not fun for the AP person

      if you have no penalty the AP person apologizes and then gets stuck in AP again immediately

      This is exactly the problem. 1v1 games are easy to clock because you can just have someone eliminated by clocking out, which ends the game. In games with no player elimination, clocking out doesn't have an easy penalty. You could have it force a pass, which could effectively ruin the game for them while forcing them to continue playing (or end up producing a kingmaking situation, with the next player making a big gain). Or you could impose an in-game penalty, which usually means imposing a new rule and now you've got a houseruled game that might alter balance.

      Yes, but friend dinosaur, have you considered that houserules are great and fun and should sometimes be proposed and accepted while still reading the rules, not even trying the designer version?

      sig.gif
    • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
      If you try that with me I will spit directly into your mouth I swear to god

    • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
      Played Apollo XIII for the first time tonight. Lost before we got halfway through, so played again and won. It was touch and go for a bit about 2/3 the way, but we realized the trick necessary to play the game.

      Basically, on your turn you get one action (of 4 choices), but if you discard a card, you can take a second (but different) action. This is essential, if only to cycle through the deck for useful cards. Ie. If you start with cards for phase G, you should discard them to try and find cards for A and B.

      This is also key for getting rid of old cards as you can't use cards that aren't part of the current phase.

      It's a neat puzzle that can be easier or more difficult depending on how many limitations you place on yourselves (open hand, timer, discussion, etc).

      4dm3dwuxq302.png
    • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
      edited March 2019
      I'm back from a six week leadership course.

      I'm aching to try what I learned from a negotiation module on Sidereal Confluence (okay, the module delivery was garbage but the content was brilliant.)

      The next time someone wants something, or doesn't want to trade with you, asking what they want could go miles.

      Cantido on
      3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
    • BedlamBedlam Registered User regular
      "I want all trades to be unfair in my favor" -my opponents, if they were being honest.

    • AetherAether Registered User regular
      So, for an upcoming games day we're going to set up two games, Viticulture EE, and Powergrid, and play them at the same time. With people flitting between the two tables, and yelling at people when it's there turn. I'm not sure if this is going to be brilliant or madness.

    • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
      Aether wrote: »
      So, for an upcoming games day we're going to set up two games, Viticulture EE, and Powergrid, and play them at the same time. With people flitting between the two tables, and yelling at people when it's there turn. I'm not sure if this is going to be brilliant or madness.

      I want a report later. This sounds terrible to me, And I sincerely want you to have a terrific time.

    • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
      Aether wrote: »
      So, for an upcoming games day we're going to set up two games, Viticulture EE, and Powergrid, and play them at the same time. With people flitting between the two tables, and yelling at people when it's there turn. I'm not sure if this is going to be brilliant or madness.

      I give you a 0.5% of successfully executing this plan

      Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
    • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
      I feel like that could work, but choosing Power Grid - a game with regular card auctions and fluctuating markets - and Vitaculture - a game with semi-frequent all-player-responses through the visitor cards - are maybe not ideal candidates? Something that's far more solitaire - like Great Western Trail (a game whose only interactions are the mostly annoying tax icons on buildings, which other players could easily do for anyone) - would probably work a lot better.
      But these are not insurmountable obstacles, so - tips hat - best of luck~

    • AetherAether Registered User regular
      I feel like that could work, but choosing Power Grid - a game with regular card auctions and fluctuating markets - and Vitaculture - a game with semi-frequent all-player-responses through the visitor cards - are maybe not ideal candidates? Something that's far more solitaire - like Great Western Trail (a game whose only interactions are the mostly annoying tax icons on buildings, which other players could easily do for anyone) - would probably work a lot better.
      But these are not insurmountable obstacles, so - tips hat - best of luck~

      We expect it to be a little crazy. The visitor card interactions are usually an easy choice so we'll just get people to take a quick timeout from Power Grid, if it's their turn. Our first idea was two parallel games of Power Grid, two different maps, different power plant decks, and starting turn order.


    • AetherAether Registered User regular
      Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
      Aether wrote: »
      So, for an upcoming games day we're going to set up two games, Viticulture EE, and Powergrid, and play them at the same time. With people flitting between the two tables, and yelling at people when it's there turn. I'm not sure if this is going to be brilliant or madness.

      I give you a 0.5% of successfully executing this plan

      Depends on your definition of success I suppose. It it turns out to not be much fun, we'll just finish the games one after the other.

    • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
      Ordered Concordia:Venus and 7 Wonders Armada online! Can't wait when they arrive (... in May, because shipping arrangements lol)

    • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
      Does anyone here have experience with Red Dragon Inn? I picked it up and read that it is a player elimination with 45 minute games. Do games take that long and if so, do players get knocked out early on or is it the type of game where everyone gets knocked out all at once at the end?

    This discussion has been closed.