HedgethornAssociate Professor of Historical Hobby HorsesIn the Lions' DenRegistered Userregular
I saw a copy of Root in the wild today. It's the first time I've ever seen it at a FLGS, and my will was weak. All that to say, I own Root now, and hope I can convince my game group to play it sometime soon!
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ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
So I finished the Carcosa campaign. I have thoughts (no spoilers)!
My thoughts are not favorable which is odd considering I've seen many people say it is the best campaign but much of that is potentially not it's fault necessarily.
I played Ashcan with a desperate card theme with the accessory that gives you -2 sanity from mystics, and also going Dark Horse. I think maybe the problem is that this method is extremely shitty at dealing with either hard monsters or many monsters. Like Duke is great but he can only attack once unless you discard a card, and then he has a hard limit of twice at all. So if you miss, uh oh. So like having two monsters with three health, or really any amount more than 4 health is difficult. I died to damage twice in that campaign. It's not like Ashcan is a phenomenal evader, some monsters can't be evaded well (very tough ones) and Hunter enemies really reduce the effectiveness of that as a whole. Like maybe I am just bad at survivor.
Also, the bag was a fucking asshole. I use an app to track the campaign and pull the bag since I find the actual bag cumbersome so maybe the app sucks but I'm willing to chalk it up to variance. Like drawing skulls three times in a row, or -3, -4, -3 on a monster with retaliate. Just gaaaarbage.
This campaign did feel a lot more difficult to true solo and I think I'll attempt it again two handed with like, Jenny and Mark Harrigan or something. It asks you to cover a shitton of ground and be very good at a lot of things. I kind of don't want to go back to Jenny since I did that but fuck it I liked how she played and now I have more cards to do interesting shit with her. I like the idea of Sleight of Handing out Luparas and Chicago Typewriters. Although if she's going to be dropping that kind of firepower maybe Mark isn't the best pairing for her.
I didn't even get to play the last scenario since I lost on damage. I would have considered replaying the second to last one to get to the final one but I was pretty over it at that point.
So I finished the Carcosa campaign. I have thoughts (no spoilers)!
My thoughts are not favorable which is odd considering I've seen many people say it is the best campaign but much of that is potentially not it's fault necessarily.
I played Ashcan with a desperate card theme with the accessory that gives you -2 sanity from mystics, and also going Dark Horse. I think maybe the problem is that this method is extremely shitty at dealing with either hard monsters or many monsters. Like Duke is great but he can only attack once unless you discard a card, and then he has a hard limit of twice at all. So if you miss, uh oh. So like having two monsters with three health, or really any amount more than 4 health is difficult. I died to damage twice in that campaign. It's not like Ashcan is a phenomenal evader, some monsters can't be evaded well (very tough ones) and Hunter enemies really reduce the effectiveness of that as a whole. Like maybe I am just bad at survivor.
Also, the bag was a fucking asshole. I use an app to track the campaign and pull the bag since I find the actual bag cumbersome so maybe the app sucks but I'm willing to chalk it up to variance. Like drawing skulls three times in a row, or -3, -4, -3 on a monster with retaliate. Just gaaaarbage.
This campaign did feel a lot more difficult to true solo and I think I'll attempt it again two handed with like, Jenny and Mark Harrigan or something. It asks you to cover a shitton of ground and be very good at a lot of things. I kind of don't want to go back to Jenny since I did that but fuck it I liked how she played and now I have more cards to do interesting shit with her. I like the idea of Sleight of Handing out Luparas and Chicago Typewriters. Although if she's going to be dropping that kind of firepower maybe Mark isn't the best pairing for her.
I didn't even get to play the last scenario since I lost on damage. I would have considered replaying the second to last one to get to the final one but I was pretty over it at that point.
I finished Carcosa two player, Carolyne (from the book) and Yorick. They worked so well together, it was probably the best paring and decks we've built.
Overall I really enjoyed Carcosa, I felt some of the scenarios were very clever and I was really into the story.
Forgotten Age I liked a lot less and might be my least favorite. Some of the individual scenarios are very cool and clever, but the arbitrariness of the resource system and some story choices soured me on the overall experience. It's still ok, but I preferred Dunwich, Carcosa, and all the stand alones I've played.
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ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
I think it might be the investigator or something. I chose Ashcan because he's supposed to be so good at solo, which I don't doubt, maybe his playstyle is just orthogonal to my preference or something. I just felt the build was really good at being pretty okay at everything but didn't really have room to get to a higher gear when you needed something. Like "Oh I have 5 with Duke attacking + Dark Horse benefit against a 3 that should be decent odds" without any way to really get into the "Only the auto fail kills me here" range if I need to.
I also played a Wendy solo in the base game and hated it. I think I just need to play things that kill monsters reliably in solo, or play things that can't kill stuff in a group. Evading sounds like a way to deal with monsters and many times it can be if you can follow that up with reliable damage while the exhausted thing can't hurt you. Otherwise like, okay great but I still need to be at this location or it's a hunter it's just a bandaid.
I think it might be the investigator or something. I chose Ashcan because he's supposed to be so good at solo, which I don't doubt, maybe his playstyle is just orthogonal to my preference or something. I just felt the build was really good at being pretty okay at everything but didn't really have room to get to a higher gear when you needed something. Like "Oh I have 5 with Duke attacking + Dark Horse benefit against a 3 that should be decent odds" without any way to really get into the "Only the auto fail kills me here" range if I need to.
I also played a Wendy solo in the base game and hated it. I think I just need to play things that kill monsters reliably in solo, or play things that can't kill stuff in a group. Evading sounds like a way to deal with monsters and many times it can be if you can follow that up with reliable damage while the exhausted thing can't hurt you. Otherwise like, okay great but I still need to be at this location or it's a hunter it's just a bandaid.
I think the reason people like Carcosa is the general theme of madness and the way a lot of the campaign and scenario mechanics play into that theme, some of which rely on multiplayer interactions. I can definitely see it being less fun playing solo on a hard difficulty.
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ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
I really enjoyed a lot of the themes of it and I could really get into it, especially with Ashcan. The dog being in all these situations would definitely lend to it and I could imagine the character waking up the next day and being like "Yeah I was there, and so was Duke...wait a minute, am I fucking crazy?"
The maps felt much bigger than in Dunwich which really made it hard for one person to cover it.
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Custom SpecialI know I am, I'm sure I am,I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered Userregular
Tonight is finally Root night! I need to watch some stuff and try to get a feel for as much of it as I can before everyone comes over tonight.
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
edited March 2019
Played 3P Root for the first time last night with a couple players that aren't part of my regular group but have played a few games before. I had Riverfolk and they had Cats and Lizards, which was a really solid combo of factions.
The Lizards got off to a slow start, as they are mechanically inclined to do, while the Cats and I both got off to solid starts. However, rather than turn it into a pure race I decided to use some of my hard-earned (read: paid for by the Lizards and Cats) resources to knock down some of the Cat's power base. This had two advantages: first, I kept the Lizards firmly in the game which gave me more political opportunities later; second, I preserved my resources since I have to commit funds (use for the turn) to fight, while I have to spend funds (remove entirely) to build. I also made sure that while I slowed down the Cat's scoring I didn't cripple their ability to generate troops, because I knew we would need to punch some Lizards.
This paid off exactly as I hoped as the Lizard player jumped up in VPs in the next turn, which required a reaction from both the Cat and I to keep him from just winning next turn. Our scores ended up being something like me-26 Lizard-24 Cat-21 going into the final round. The Cat had the first shot, but after emptying a very good hand of cards managed to make it to 29(!) points. And because I had saved my Trading Posts for the late game it was nearly impossible for them to stop me from building two for my last four points.
(A key factor to the Cat's final turn nearly getting them the win was buying my Riverboats and using them to establish a supply line. The Riverfolk can set their prices high, but they can't stop someone from buying a service!)
Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
It's so pretty
and the faction design for the birds is real cool
you're tyrants! you're in charge!
just everybody follow the plan or the government will fall...
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
edited March 2019
I could write a lot of words about Root. I have a hard time actually posting about it because every time I think about it it's like, I want to talk about this, and this, and also this, oh but this.
It's easy to extoll the virtues of the faction mechanics. I will never stop gushing over the theme, design, and play experience of the Riverfolk. It is pure joy to try to sell wares to someone whose buildings you've just burned to the ground, and watch them pay because they know they'll fall further behind if they don't.
SU&SD is right when they say that one of the things that will keep bringing you back to the game is wanting to play every faction, and they're also right that when you get down to it each faction isn't that different. But the genius is that that doesn't matter. Each faction is trying to execute a similar plan using a similar set of moves, but they do so with a different tempo, different vulnerabilities, and different threats and advantages to offer to the other players. Where the differences shine isn't in the Eurogame-style depth of figuring out complex sequences of optimized moves, but in how they relate to and interact with the other factions on the board and in the conversation between players.
And that conversation is really where a lot of the game takes place once everyone has the rules under their belt. I haven't talked about my Root games here because, to be honest, most of them were complete clusterfucks! My group is fundamentally not suited to playing Root. We have a player who is newer to gaming and isn't used to direct conflict, a player who loves playing the social metagame, and a player who is incapable of it, and then myself as either the perfectly neutral teacher or the manipulator depending entirely on who and when you ask. We've had a few super tight games, but a lot of them go off the rails at some point and end ugly and brutal.
But I fuckin' love it. I like a deep Euro for eating up my brain with an optimization puzzle, but Root has me thinking about the ways we communicate with each other in and out of game and how it affects our play. It's optimization except I'm trying to optimize damaging a player's point generation just enough to slow them down, but not enough to remove them from the game (because if I do that of course they'll kingmake one of my opponents -- that's my fault!) while also trying to shift them into a position where it's easier for them to attack another player than attack me.
My friend the social metagamer jokes about how he figured out how to break the game (socially, of course) and will win every game we play now. But I already knew his metagame, and I'm playing my own game of trying to teach the other players how to respond to his game without calling it out...
Root sounds like a great game that I never want to play.
I feel like a large part of having fun at board games is people figuring out which games meet this classification. For me, The Mind is solidly in this category.
Root sounds like a great game that I never want to play.
It’s super not for everyone and it’s one of those games where I think the hype cycle and FOMO did more than universal appeal to sell it. The backlash that followed the initial wave of rave reviews doesn’t surprise me, though I do wish people had better vocabulary than “good game”/“bad game.”
AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
My only problem with Root is that there seems to be very little actual player interaction during turns. Unless somebody is playing an Ambush card or using a crafted power during a fight, you can pretty much ignore what anybody else is doing and just look at the game state when it gets back to your turn. And since turns are all optimization puzzles this can lead to five minutes per other player that you’re just twiddling your thumbs.
In other news I played a partial game of Arkham Horror 3rd Edition tonight and wow, it’s such a vast improvement from the old AH. I really like the variable town, the way the story develops (a significant improvement over the Eldritch Horror quests), the visuals... It’s good shit. I like the flow, too—it captures the feel of “as soon as you tamp down one crisis, another one develops” well without feeling overwhelming either.
My only real quibble so far is that even in one partial game I think we’ve run into three separate rules that weren’t clear in some small way (do magical curios or whatever count as curios? How exactly does monster engagement work? What happens to anomaly encounter cards once they’re used? were I think the three, maybe there was another one too). Which is kind of annoying, usually FFG is better with rules than that.
But generally it is a handsome, polished game, and another fine addition to the always enjoyable FFG Lovecraft pile.
My only problem with Root is that there seems to be very little actual player interaction during turns. Unless somebody is playing an Ambush card or using a crafted power during a fight, you can pretty much ignore what anybody else is doing and just look at the game state when it gets back to your turn. And since turns are all optimization puzzles this can lead to five minutes per other player that you’re just twiddling your thumbs.
In other news I played a partial game of Arkham Horror 3rd Edition tonight and wow, it’s such a vast improvement from the old AH. I really like the variable town, the way the story develops (a significant improvement over the Eldritch Horror quests), the visuals... It’s good shit. I like the flow, too—it captures the feel of “as soon as you tamp down one crisis, another one develops” well without feeling overwhelming either.
My only real quibble so far is that even in one partial game I think we’ve run into three separate rules that weren’t clear in some small way (do magical curios or whatever count as curios? How exactly does monster engagement work? What happens to anomaly encounter cards once they’re used? were I think the three, maybe there was another one too). Which is kind of annoying, usually FFG is better with rules than that.
But generally it is a handsome, polished game, and another fine addition to the always enjoyable FFG Lovecraft pile.
Do you think is worth owning both Mansions of Madness 2e and Arkham Horror 3e?
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
I find the conversation usually keeps me focused on Root during other players’ turns, but it can definitely drag when someone goes into the tank on a tricky turn.
My only problem with Root is that there seems to be very little actual player interaction during turns. Unless somebody is playing an Ambush card or using a crafted power during a fight, you can pretty much ignore what anybody else is doing and just look at the game state when it gets back to your turn. And since turns are all optimization puzzles this can lead to five minutes per other player that you’re just twiddling your thumbs.
In other news I played a partial game of Arkham Horror 3rd Edition tonight and wow, it’s such a vast improvement from the old AH. I really like the variable town, the way the story develops (a significant improvement over the Eldritch Horror quests), the visuals... It’s good shit. I like the flow, too—it captures the feel of “as soon as you tamp down one crisis, another one develops” well without feeling overwhelming either.
My only real quibble so far is that even in one partial game I think we’ve run into three separate rules that weren’t clear in some small way (do magical curios or whatever count as curios? How exactly does monster engagement work? What happens to anomaly encounter cards once they’re used? were I think the three, maybe there was another one too). Which is kind of annoying, usually FFG is better with rules than that.
But generally it is a handsome, polished game, and another fine addition to the always enjoyable FFG Lovecraft pile.
Do you think is worth owning both Mansions of Madness 2e and Arkham Horror 3e?
I feel like they’re very different experiences. Mansions is like playing an adventure game on the computer together; you’re wandering around exploring and sometimes a monster jumps out of the trash can. AH 3E is a lot more arcade-y, you’re running back and forth trying to balance rolling against doom, fighting monsters, and positioning yourself to hopefully get clues in the encounters. Even with the new story cards AH feels a lot less directed as a narrative experience—I still remember the coolness of actually conversing with an NPC in Mansions whose reactions changed as events got weirder, there’s nothing like that in AH.
So yeah there’s definitely enough differences between them to make both worthwhile, assuming you want what both of those have to offer.
If anything, I think AH 3E does a lot to cannibalize my interest in both Eldritch Horror (slightly more cerebral/strategic but also slightly clunkier, but generally similar in game type) and Arkham Horror LCG (where the main value add is the deckbuilding but that’s personally less exciting for me). Mansions (and in a very different way, Elder Sign) still stands far enough apart for me that it and AH 3E can peacefully co-exist.
Finally got Charterstone to the table for the second game. I did worse this time, placing third, with no way that I could see where I could have made up those points. Missed out on a grandstand due to time running out, but that was it. Took first in reputation, and built a new building. Planning to open a crate next game. Only keeping so much from one game to the next is brutal.
I'm really enjoying it, though most of us at the table still aren't sure what the best strategy is to follow. Most are just trying to build buildings and open crates. I tried to go after the goals, which were reputation and the zeppelin port thing. Used a lot of influence that way so I ran out by the end.
Opened up a lot of optional stuff, which I won't spoil, so game 3 is gonna be nuts.
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Sagrada question: what's the best way to resolve a situation where you find out a round later that one of the players did an illegal move?
Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
yes last game of root the birds were incredibly bored as their turns they just obeyed their mandate and then they waited ten years for cats and vagabond. Going to be real hard to get it to the table ever again
Custom SpecialI know I am, I'm sure I am,I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered Userregular
Root was fun! Our fourth ended up not making it, so we played three with Cats, Birds (me), and Lizardfolk.
It seemed to me from our factions that you definitely have to pay attention on other players' turns, and while there is less direct "player interaction" it's still very important to see what other factions are doing and how you can throw a wrench in their works. So I had a few turns where I needed to go aggro on the Cats to keep them in check, or tear down some Lizardfolk gardens. Conversely, there were turns where one or both other players could do just enough to force me into turmoil on my turn because of my Decree.
I'm excited to get it to the table again, and can definitely see how there's a lot going on to really pull you into additional plays, both with other faction combinations and playing as each faction to see how they run.
Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
Seeing a lot of people talk about their root games and it seems like there's a strong pattern of bad experiences with the vagabond and good experiences without them? They're the least interesting to try to stymie, right?
Seeing a lot of people talk about their root games and it seems like there's a strong pattern of bad experiences with the vagabond and good experiences without them? They're the least interesting to try to stymie, right?
Vagabond is arguably the least interactive faction. They can sometimes do weird/interesting stuff but most of the time they're a timer on the game where they reach maximum swords and murder everyone.
You prevent this by hitting the vagabond to slow him down earlier on but there's no incentives to do so organically.
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CaptainPeacockBoard Game HoarderTop o' the LakeRegistered Userregular
I forget, can other factions attack the vagabond even if she/he isn't at war with them?
Cluck cluck, gibber gibber, my old man's a mushroom, etc.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
My LGS called and said that the Roll for the Galaxy expansion is waiting for me.
Which is like... Damn! This week was already killer thanks to X-wing releases and L5R releases...
So... I'm getting the impression that I'm one of the first people in the country to pick this up. Even Rio Grande Games is surprised. It only shipped from the warehouse on Monday, hit distributors, and basically everything lined up perfectly.
I cannot fucking wait to play. Roll for the galaxy is in my top 5 board games, and maybe even top 3. The Rivalry expansion adds a new dice type and a lot of interesting new planets/developments. It also replicates some of the things that Ambition came with.
but I'm most excited for the Deal game and orb game expansions.
The deal game lets you swap around your resources for bonuses. Every turn you roll a set of dice. If it is your turn to make deals, you choose two of the dice. One represents something you give, and one represents something you take. So you can throw out a deal, and swap around your resources as needed. Then, other players may jump on the deal, either for the same type or for the reverse. If the deal closes, everyone gets a bonus. If it doesn't, the deal matures - you can't access your dice, but the benefits get better. I probably am not explaining it well.
On the other end, there's the Orb game, which basically represents technology upgrades. Every turn, you publicly roll your alien orb dice. You get the bonus it represents. And from there, you can upgrade the dice - upgrades give you VPs near the end, other than the upgrade that lets you redirect a roll to another face. You have to follow an upgrade path, at least in terms of strength. Because of how powerful the orb can get, you do play the game longer - 15 vp per player and 15 in your tableau instead of 12.
You can combine them, which is even better. Like, if you just want all the wackiness.
I cannot gush about it well enough. The game is a favorite of mine to play over lunch, and I want to introduce more people to it.
In fact if they've managed to make you an ally you should punch them to stop that points stream. They turn hostile if they kill any of your warriors, even if you start the fight.
I’ve begun some preliminary work on card design layouts for my game. There will be three types; ships, buildings, and research. Starting with ships, I’ve whipped up a pair of designs that borrow heavily from Hearthstone and MTG. Will post photos later.
Any thoughts or recommendations on card designs or layouts you’ve really liked?
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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My thoughts are not favorable which is odd considering I've seen many people say it is the best campaign but much of that is potentially not it's fault necessarily.
I played Ashcan with a desperate card theme with the accessory that gives you -2 sanity from mystics, and also going Dark Horse. I think maybe the problem is that this method is extremely shitty at dealing with either hard monsters or many monsters. Like Duke is great but he can only attack once unless you discard a card, and then he has a hard limit of twice at all. So if you miss, uh oh. So like having two monsters with three health, or really any amount more than 4 health is difficult. I died to damage twice in that campaign. It's not like Ashcan is a phenomenal evader, some monsters can't be evaded well (very tough ones) and Hunter enemies really reduce the effectiveness of that as a whole. Like maybe I am just bad at survivor.
Also, the bag was a fucking asshole. I use an app to track the campaign and pull the bag since I find the actual bag cumbersome so maybe the app sucks but I'm willing to chalk it up to variance. Like drawing skulls three times in a row, or -3, -4, -3 on a monster with retaliate. Just gaaaarbage.
This campaign did feel a lot more difficult to true solo and I think I'll attempt it again two handed with like, Jenny and Mark Harrigan or something. It asks you to cover a shitton of ground and be very good at a lot of things. I kind of don't want to go back to Jenny since I did that but fuck it I liked how she played and now I have more cards to do interesting shit with her. I like the idea of Sleight of Handing out Luparas and Chicago Typewriters. Although if she's going to be dropping that kind of firepower maybe Mark isn't the best pairing for her.
I didn't even get to play the last scenario since I lost on damage. I would have considered replaying the second to last one to get to the final one but I was pretty over it at that point.
I finished Carcosa two player, Carolyne (from the book) and Yorick. They worked so well together, it was probably the best paring and decks we've built.
Overall I really enjoyed Carcosa, I felt some of the scenarios were very clever and I was really into the story.
Forgotten Age I liked a lot less and might be my least favorite. Some of the individual scenarios are very cool and clever, but the arbitrariness of the resource system and some story choices soured me on the overall experience. It's still ok, but I preferred Dunwich, Carcosa, and all the stand alones I've played.
I also played a Wendy solo in the base game and hated it. I think I just need to play things that kill monsters reliably in solo, or play things that can't kill stuff in a group. Evading sounds like a way to deal with monsters and many times it can be if you can follow that up with reliable damage while the exhausted thing can't hurt you. Otherwise like, okay great but I still need to be at this location or it's a hunter it's just a bandaid.
I think the reason people like Carcosa is the general theme of madness and the way a lot of the campaign and scenario mechanics play into that theme, some of which rely on multiplayer interactions. I can definitely see it being less fun playing solo on a hard difficulty.
The maps felt much bigger than in Dunwich which really made it hard for one person to cover it.
The Lizards got off to a slow start, as they are mechanically inclined to do, while the Cats and I both got off to solid starts. However, rather than turn it into a pure race I decided to use some of my hard-earned (read: paid for by the Lizards and Cats) resources to knock down some of the Cat's power base. This had two advantages: first, I kept the Lizards firmly in the game which gave me more political opportunities later; second, I preserved my resources since I have to commit funds (use for the turn) to fight, while I have to spend funds (remove entirely) to build. I also made sure that while I slowed down the Cat's scoring I didn't cripple their ability to generate troops, because I knew we would need to punch some Lizards.
This paid off exactly as I hoped as the Lizard player jumped up in VPs in the next turn, which required a reaction from both the Cat and I to keep him from just winning next turn. Our scores ended up being something like me-26 Lizard-24 Cat-21 going into the final round. The Cat had the first shot, but after emptying a very good hand of cards managed to make it to 29(!) points. And because I had saved my Trading Posts for the late game it was nearly impossible for them to stop me from building two for my last four points.
(A key factor to the Cat's final turn nearly getting them the win was buying my Riverboats and using them to establish a supply line. The Riverfolk can set their prices high, but they can't stop someone from buying a service!)
Map at game end:
I haven't played very much Arkham (since I haven't bought in), but my dream is to A) get a chance to play and Sleight of Hand out a Lightning Gun.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Which is like... Damn! This week was already killer thanks to X-wing releases and L5R releases...
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Battle.net: TheGerm#1430 (Hearthstone, Destiny 2)
and the faction design for the birds is real cool
you're tyrants! you're in charge!
just everybody follow the plan or the government will fall...
It's easy to extoll the virtues of the faction mechanics. I will never stop gushing over the theme, design, and play experience of the Riverfolk. It is pure joy to try to sell wares to someone whose buildings you've just burned to the ground, and watch them pay because they know they'll fall further behind if they don't.
SU&SD is right when they say that one of the things that will keep bringing you back to the game is wanting to play every faction, and they're also right that when you get down to it each faction isn't that different. But the genius is that that doesn't matter. Each faction is trying to execute a similar plan using a similar set of moves, but they do so with a different tempo, different vulnerabilities, and different threats and advantages to offer to the other players. Where the differences shine isn't in the Eurogame-style depth of figuring out complex sequences of optimized moves, but in how they relate to and interact with the other factions on the board and in the conversation between players.
And that conversation is really where a lot of the game takes place once everyone has the rules under their belt. I haven't talked about my Root games here because, to be honest, most of them were complete clusterfucks! My group is fundamentally not suited to playing Root. We have a player who is newer to gaming and isn't used to direct conflict, a player who loves playing the social metagame, and a player who is incapable of it, and then myself as either the perfectly neutral teacher or the manipulator depending entirely on who and when you ask. We've had a few super tight games, but a lot of them go off the rails at some point and end ugly and brutal.
But I fuckin' love it. I like a deep Euro for eating up my brain with an optimization puzzle, but Root has me thinking about the ways we communicate with each other in and out of game and how it affects our play. It's optimization except I'm trying to optimize damaging a player's point generation just enough to slow them down, but not enough to remove them from the game (because if I do that of course they'll kingmake one of my opponents -- that's my fault!) while also trying to shift them into a position where it's easier for them to attack another player than attack me.
My friend the social metagamer jokes about how he figured out how to break the game (socially, of course) and will win every game we play now. But I already knew his metagame, and I'm playing my own game of trying to teach the other players how to respond to his game without calling it out...
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
It’s super not for everyone and it’s one of those games where I think the hype cycle and FOMO did more than universal appeal to sell it. The backlash that followed the initial wave of rave reviews doesn’t surprise me, though I do wish people had better vocabulary than “good game”/“bad game.”
In other news I played a partial game of Arkham Horror 3rd Edition tonight and wow, it’s such a vast improvement from the old AH. I really like the variable town, the way the story develops (a significant improvement over the Eldritch Horror quests), the visuals... It’s good shit. I like the flow, too—it captures the feel of “as soon as you tamp down one crisis, another one develops” well without feeling overwhelming either.
My only real quibble so far is that even in one partial game I think we’ve run into three separate rules that weren’t clear in some small way (do magical curios or whatever count as curios? How exactly does monster engagement work? What happens to anomaly encounter cards once they’re used? were I think the three, maybe there was another one too). Which is kind of annoying, usually FFG is better with rules than that.
But generally it is a handsome, polished game, and another fine addition to the always enjoyable FFG Lovecraft pile.
Do you think is worth owning both Mansions of Madness 2e and Arkham Horror 3e?
I feel like they’re very different experiences. Mansions is like playing an adventure game on the computer together; you’re wandering around exploring and sometimes a monster jumps out of the trash can. AH 3E is a lot more arcade-y, you’re running back and forth trying to balance rolling against doom, fighting monsters, and positioning yourself to hopefully get clues in the encounters. Even with the new story cards AH feels a lot less directed as a narrative experience—I still remember the coolness of actually conversing with an NPC in Mansions whose reactions changed as events got weirder, there’s nothing like that in AH.
So yeah there’s definitely enough differences between them to make both worthwhile, assuming you want what both of those have to offer.
If anything, I think AH 3E does a lot to cannibalize my interest in both Eldritch Horror (slightly more cerebral/strategic but also slightly clunkier, but generally similar in game type) and Arkham Horror LCG (where the main value add is the deckbuilding but that’s personally less exciting for me). Mansions (and in a very different way, Elder Sign) still stands far enough apart for me that it and AH 3E can peacefully co-exist.
I'm really enjoying it, though most of us at the table still aren't sure what the best strategy is to follow. Most are just trying to build buildings and open crates. I tried to go after the goals, which were reputation and the zeppelin port thing. Used a lot of influence that way so I ran out by the end.
Opened up a lot of optional stuff, which I won't spoil, so game 3 is gonna be nuts.
Place the body in a hole in the wall, plaster over it, and then construct a lovely mosaic over the plaster.
It seemed to me from our factions that you definitely have to pay attention on other players' turns, and while there is less direct "player interaction" it's still very important to see what other factions are doing and how you can throw a wrench in their works. So I had a few turns where I needed to go aggro on the Cats to keep them in check, or tear down some Lizardfolk gardens. Conversely, there were turns where one or both other players could do just enough to force me into turmoil on my turn because of my Decree.
I'm excited to get it to the table again, and can definitely see how there's a lot going on to really pull you into additional plays, both with other faction combinations and playing as each faction to see how they run.
Vagabond is arguably the least interactive faction. They can sometimes do weird/interesting stuff but most of the time they're a timer on the game where they reach maximum swords and murder everyone.
You prevent this by hitting the vagabond to slow him down earlier on but there's no incentives to do so organically.
So... I'm getting the impression that I'm one of the first people in the country to pick this up. Even Rio Grande Games is surprised. It only shipped from the warehouse on Monday, hit distributors, and basically everything lined up perfectly.
I cannot fucking wait to play. Roll for the galaxy is in my top 5 board games, and maybe even top 3. The Rivalry expansion adds a new dice type and a lot of interesting new planets/developments. It also replicates some of the things that Ambition came with.
but I'm most excited for the Deal game and orb game expansions.
The deal game lets you swap around your resources for bonuses. Every turn you roll a set of dice. If it is your turn to make deals, you choose two of the dice. One represents something you give, and one represents something you take. So you can throw out a deal, and swap around your resources as needed. Then, other players may jump on the deal, either for the same type or for the reverse. If the deal closes, everyone gets a bonus. If it doesn't, the deal matures - you can't access your dice, but the benefits get better. I probably am not explaining it well.
On the other end, there's the Orb game, which basically represents technology upgrades. Every turn, you publicly roll your alien orb dice. You get the bonus it represents. And from there, you can upgrade the dice - upgrades give you VPs near the end, other than the upgrade that lets you redirect a roll to another face. You have to follow an upgrade path, at least in terms of strength. Because of how powerful the orb can get, you do play the game longer - 15 vp per player and 15 in your tableau instead of 12.
You can combine them, which is even better. Like, if you just want all the wackiness.
I cannot gush about it well enough. The game is a favorite of mine to play over lunch, and I want to introduce more people to it.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
In fact if they've managed to make you an ally you should punch them to stop that points stream. They turn hostile if they kill any of your warriors, even if you start the fight.
Any thoughts or recommendations on card designs or layouts you’ve really liked?
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
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Form follows function for the most part.
I personally dont like wordy cards. I like a small amount of symbols but too much is worse than none.
I strongly dislike the MtG style.