It's pretty much Arkham Horror meets Zombicide, with a player controlling the bad guys instead of a fully co-op experience.
Pros
-You get different scenarios, with some being more combat heavy, or more objective heavy.
-The evil player's victory condition is only ever one straight forward goal: killing the heroes. The good team gets a pool of reserve heroes, and switches to one of them every time their current one dies. If you run out and cannot replace a loss, the evil player wins. There is no hard time limit other than the evil player getting stronger with infinitely respawning monsters. I thought this was a refreshing a simple victory condition.
-A push your luck mechanic where you can choose to take "corruption", which functions a bit like sanity in Arkham. The higher up on the corruption track you go, the more bonuses you get, but once you're maxed you start taking damage and can be instantly killed more easy. You basically decide how much of a glass cannon you want to turn yourself into.
Cons
-The balance. Woo boy, the balance. This game makes the hero and item balance of Arkham look downright egalitarian. You get a pool of available item upgrade cards just like Arkham 3/Eldritch, but they all have the same "cost" (you get one if you stop at a location with an upgrade icon). Some of them are flat out better (+1 damage +1 armor vs. +1 armor). Some of them break the entire balance of the game (raise or lower your corruption every turn, throwing out the concept of a carefully rationed and risky resource and turning it into no-risk god mode). The werewolf hero has two forms and can freely change between a specialized combat monster every turn or a specialized cleansing monster every turn. He's so much better than any other character and I can't imagine why you wouldn't take him every single game. Imagine being able to switch freely between a 5 strength or 5 lore Arkham investigator every turn.
-The art. It's supposed to be some "always night" gothic cyberpunk setting, but it looks indistinguishable from Zombicide's cities, which was supposed to be an empty apocalypse setting. It doesn't feel like a living city, and nothing about the look says "dark".
-The whole "cleansing" mechanic feels tacked on and incomplete. Feels like they were trying to include something to make it not completely about combat, so they took a stab at the doom token aspect of Arkham but it never connects. It's mostly inconsequential: each token has a 1/5 chance of doing damage whenever you move on or off them, and some scenarios you have to cleanse 3 of them. That's...pretty much it. You can usually ignore them and it's way more important to have combat characters than cleansing. Their unimportance is compounded by there being no "doom" loss condition, only the heroes dying.
All in all, I wouldn't mind playing it again to try out different hero pools. But I wouldn't want to buy it. Especially for the $100 retail price.
(as a side note, this game feels like what The Reckonersshould have been)
big spoiler for the 1st Reckoners book:
That the more a super powered person uses their powers, the more violently psychotic they become.
Funny, I was just sorting through my World of Warcraft box (to sell it most likely ), and man, there is something about the corners of that box lid that wants to tear itself apart. Mine's a mess.
@Darric Any chance you have the burning crusade expansion? If so I'm interested
Also the corners of the one I traded for are destroyed for sure. Taped them back up and it's fine but yea, structural integrity was not that boxes strong point.
Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
We had a huge problem in Root with fun management. We never played without Vagabond but Birds seemed to have very short turns compared to everyone else and it was hard to fault their player for pulling out his phone until his turn came around again. It seemed a shame, it was beautiful and the tutorial was finely crafted and we wanted to like it.
Root is definitely not a 'for everyone' game, and I think some people bounce hard off the difference between the art and the game play in addition to the fact it's sure not perfect. That said, it's definitely for me, and I think anyone who loves strongly asymmetric design should take a chance to play it even if they don't end up loving it as a game.
I've never played Root and I'm afraid I never will.
*looks at location*
I mean...
*looks at 2 kids*
I mean....
Seriously though, how you been? Where's your local spot now that Gizmo closed their doors?
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Ow my wallet.
What all came in today that I paid for and am going to pick up tomorrow?
Oh... just the Onager, the Starhawk (Armada), The First Order TIE Interceptor, the Fireball, and all the card pack expansions (X-Wing), An organizer for Roll for the Galaxy (Folded Space), a Starfinder book....
Yeah, just ow.
Also a really cool "Yellow King" RPG thing based on Gumshoe was taunting me, but it was a $100 set. ... and I may still get it.
Plus Root's expansions showed up. 3 boxes! An upgrade kit for game balance, a clockwork expansion, and the underworld expansion with the box propped open because there's so much stuff in there.
I have two copies of the WoW adventure game. One is a mess of the base game. The other one now that I took them down and looked at it has all the character expansions. I don't have the burning crusade expansion.
The first one was basically the wow card game thrown in with it as when I fished them out looked like at least 5+ decks . The one with the characters is neatly put together and whomever had it used a straight fishing kit for all the counters!
In all I know now why I bought them
I just walked into the LGS and got a copy of OG Agricola Farmers of the Moors for half-price.
Apparently the previous owner had it in the back and didn't have it on the shelf because "we don't have a copy of the base game, who would ever buy it?"
Anyway now I've got an expansion I thought I would never get, and for less money than I would have been willing to pay for it!
it was so tense and so fun, the decision space is a really enjoyable little brain teaser, I was the Chancellor and was posed with multiple fronts of threat to my rule that I sure was having a lot of trouble dealing with, so I had to figure out how I could battle those threats while also weighing which of the other players to potentially enfranchise into becoming Citizens and when to do so
I ended up winning, but I was saved by the end of round die in the back half of the rounds that can end the game and it completely saved my ass, the following round both other players were gonna overtake me and I had plenty of ways to fight back, but it was gonna be tough
just a really, really lovely time, and I think probably more accessible than Root, cause one of the people we were playing with does not really get into heavy games and she got the hang of it pretty well and was staying competitive, which is not the case when we've played Root with her
Root has been a mainstay of this group and when we finished everyone at the table agreed that they liked it even more than Root
I'm not there with it yet, Root is my personal favorite board game, but even in this unfinished state I am really enjoying Oath
Sure, but if you read BGG you can find plenty of people who believe their precious game should be for everyone. Perfect 11/10! Or the opposite, people who start by asserting 'critical darling' X is objectively overrated trash, but of course they're in the know.
I like to assert that I accept differing opinions
Oh, come and shake me 'till I'm dry
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
Sure, but if you read BGG you can find plenty of people who believe their precious game should be for everyone. Perfect 11/10! Or the opposite, people who start by asserting 'critical darling' X is objectively overrated trash, but of course they're in the know.
I like to assert that I accept differing opinions
If we're being honest, each side of this is probably 95-99% of people all the time. I know I openly embrace both sides while simultaneously trying to let people have their fun, at least. ;P
it was so tense and so fun, the decision space is a really enjoyable little brain teaser, I was the Chancellor and was posed with multiple fronts of threat to my rule that I sure was having a lot of trouble dealing with, so I had to figure out how I could battle those threats while also weighing which of the other players to potentially enfranchise into becoming Citizens and when to do so
I ended up winning, but I was saved by the end of round die in the back half of the rounds that can end the game and it completely saved my ass, the following round both other players were gonna overtake me and I had plenty of ways to fight back, but it was gonna be tough
just a really, really lovely time, and I think probably more accessible than Root, cause one of the people we were playing with does not really get into heavy games and she got the hang of it pretty well and was staying competitive, which is not the case when we've played Root with her
Root has been a mainstay of this group and when we finished everyone at the table agreed that they liked it even more than Root
I'm not there with it yet, Root is my personal favorite board game, but even in this unfinished state I am really enjoying Oath
This may have sold me to go ahead and back it. I've been back and forth on whether I should since it hit, and we're nearing it being done. I knew I wanted it, but couldn't decide if it would be good for the group or not. But what you're saying here makes me think it'll be worth it and it won't just sit on a shelf. Or at least it'll be more worth the risk anyways.
Actually, I'd disagree with that 95-99% anecdotally -- certainly for my gang it's not that high of a percentage. Out of my larger board game group of around 7 only two of us are that strongly opinionated-- although I agree we do have fun with those that have the strong opinions. I've observed it being about the same small minority for a board game discord I'm on.
But we've talked a lot about games, and while there are certainly games we like and dislike those 5 of us take the position that 'it must be a good game if you're having fun' and 'I like it, but here are the flaws'. I even enjoy talking about why games I really dislike work, take Wingspan or Munchkin for example.
Oh, come and shake me 'till I'm dry
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Yeah, you're certainly right. I shouldn't have said "all people", because that's patently wrong. I think it's more appropriate if we're talking about the community in this thread, but it was also hyperbole so big shrug.
I agree the discourse is usually great when people feel this way though.
Weirdly, the one game I've pulled out that's appealed to everyone so far is Arkham Horror 2nd ed.
Which is definitely NOT for everyone.
There's just something about the Arkham Files games. The game in my collection that I can get anyone I know to play is Mansions of Madness 2e. My mom likes that game. And yet you wouldn't think it if you just described the theme or setting to someone.
Edit: Ooh! And Evolution. I imagine that will extend to Oceans as well, but historically Evolution is a game I can get to the table with literally any audience. There's an innate appeal to quickly designing your own little critter and trying to eat snacks with it.
BloodySloth on
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jergarmarhollow man crewgoes pew pew pewRegistered Userregular
Sure, but if you read BGG you can find plenty of people who believe their precious game should be for everyone. Perfect 11/10! Or the opposite, people who start by asserting 'critical darling' X is objectively overrated trash, but of course they're in the know.
I like to assert that I accept differing opinions
The context around Root specifically is pretty interesting, though. For many people, even (or especially?) reviewers like SU&SD, it felt like you get the "idea" of Root after playing a couple of times. This "idea" is that the asymmetric factions are tricky at first, then interesting, but after you work out their primary winning strategy then the game kind of bogs down while everybody smacks the obvious leader. Nothing essentially original enough to break out of the pack.
However, with the passage of time, the game has shown itself to be way more than that. People that know it well put it in high or even highest echelons of "asymmetric faction games". In this very thread I myself talked down the game, in the manner of the above paragraph, that it was overhyped and fiddly and short-lived. I had to be convinced that the game was a lot richer than that. The expansions have just fine-tuned and fleshed it out, and with the occasional exceptions like the Vagabond, it's not like people avoid the original factions.
So anyway, my point is that Root is still dealing with lingering suspicions that the game is overhyped and ultimately shallow. To be clear, it's not one of my favorite games at all, but I have friends in my gaming group who have played and talked about it pretty regularly since it came out. It "has legs".
"Not for everyone" has a double meaning: sometimes it's used like, "It's really good at these things but you have to like these things specifically." That's fair, people respect stuff like Twilight Imperium even if they don't play it. But something the phrase means, "It's an okay game, if your collection is big enough you might include it." It's a quiet way to score down a game. I think the general consensus is that Root is the former, a premier game in its genre.
jergarmar on
When I was a child, I had a fever... My BoardGameGeek profile
Battle.net: TheGerm#1430 (Hearthstone, Destiny 2)
Weirdly, the one game I've pulled out that's appealed to everyone so far is Arkham Horror 2nd ed.
Which is definitely NOT for everyone.
There's just something about the Arkham Files games. The game in my collection that I can get anyone I know to play is Mansions of Madness 2e. My mom likes that game. And yet you wouldn't think it if you just described the theme or setting to someone.
Edit: Ooh! And Evolution. I imagine that will extend to Oceans as well, but historically Evolution is a game I can get to the table with literally any audience. There's an innate appeal to quickly designing your own little critter and trying to eat snacks with it.
I only had one person hate MoM and they're the same person that hates anything they don't win the first time but everyone else loves it do death.
Weirdly, the one game I've pulled out that's appealed to everyone so far is Arkham Horror 2nd ed.
Which is definitely NOT for everyone.
There's just something about the Arkham Files games. The game in my collection that I can get anyone I know to play is Mansions of Madness 2e. My mom likes that game. And yet you wouldn't think it if you just described the theme or setting to someone.
Edit: Ooh! And Evolution. I imagine that will extend to Oceans as well, but historically Evolution is a game I can get to the table with literally any audience. There's an innate appeal to quickly designing your own little critter and trying to eat snacks with it.
I only had one person hate MoM and they're the same person that hates anything they don't win the first time but everyone else loves it do death.
My problem with Arkham games is that I own all of the LCG, and I would always rather play that. It’s similar to what SU&SD concluded on the Marvel Champions review, “it’s fine, but I’d rather be playing Arkham LCG”.
Weirdly, the one game I've pulled out that's appealed to everyone so far is Arkham Horror 2nd ed.
Which is definitely NOT for everyone.
There's just something about the Arkham Files games. The game in my collection that I can get anyone I know to play is Mansions of Madness 2e. My mom likes that game. And yet you wouldn't think it if you just described the theme or setting to someone.
Edit: Ooh! And Evolution. I imagine that will extend to Oceans as well, but historically Evolution is a game I can get to the table with literally any audience. There's an innate appeal to quickly designing your own little critter and trying to eat snacks with it.
I only had one person hate MoM and they're the same person that hates anything they don't win the first time but everyone else loves it do death.
My problem with Arkham games is that I own all of the LCG, and I would always rather play that. It’s similar to what SU&SD concluded on the Marvel Champions review, “it’s fine, but I’d rather be playing Arkham LCG”.
See, while I do love me the card game... I think it really depends on the audience. It really shines when you’re playing a long campaign, which is not really ideal when you are having people over and feel like playing a one-shot board game.
Heck, I’d say Marvel is better at that than Arkham is. You don’t have to worry about building good decks, what it comes with is good enough.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
What all came in today that I paid for and am going to pick up tomorrow?
Oh... just the Onager, the Starhawk (Armada), The First Order TIE Interceptor, the Fireball, and all the card pack expansions (X-Wing), An organizer for Roll for the Galaxy (Folded Space), a Starfinder book....
Yeah, just ow.
Also a really cool "Yellow King" RPG thing based on Gumshoe was taunting me, but it was a $100 set. ... and I may still get it.
Plus Root's expansions showed up. 3 boxes! An upgrade kit for game balance, a clockwork expansion, and the underworld expansion with the box propped open because there's so much stuff in there.
Yeah, so... about that May, and my inability to save money...
What all came in today that I paid for and am going to pick up tomorrow?
Oh... just the Onager, the Starhawk (Armada), The First Order TIE Interceptor, the Fireball, and all the card pack expansions (X-Wing), An organizer for Roll for the Galaxy (Folded Space), a Starfinder book....
Yeah, just ow.
Also a really cool "Yellow King" RPG thing based on Gumshoe was taunting me, but it was a $100 set. ... and I may still get it.
Plus Root's expansions showed up. 3 boxes! An upgrade kit for game balance, a clockwork expansion, and the underworld expansion with the box propped open because there's so much stuff in there.
Yeah, so... about that May, and my inability to save money...
I missed out on the KS, can I purchase it now?
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
We had a huge problem in Root with fun management. We never played without Vagabond but Birds seemed to have very short turns compared to everyone else and it was hard to fault their player for pulling out his phone until his turn came around again. It seemed a shame, it was beautiful and the tutorial was finely crafted and we wanted to like it.
This Eyrie comment never fails to amaze me
The Eyrie has to make huge decisions right from the start, with where they'll place new cards in their tableau, and carefully plan out their actions to avoid collapse and help ensure the potential for a strong turn afterward. Bird turns can go extremely long because the stakes are high and early decisions restrict their options for multiple turns, but the actions are limited so it's calculable.
Hi friends. Quick question. My 9 year old is really into Risk after seeing his 19 year old nephew play it on his phone. I got him Switch version so he can play by himself, but I really, really, really, really want to get an analog version to play with him when I can.
Is there a version of Risk, or another "Risk-like" game that we can enjoy together, apart from the traditional Risk? Especially something that can be played in less than an hour. I'm also interested if there's anything out there that shares the same spirit, but that we can potentially play cooperatively.
Hi friends. Quick question. My 9 year old is really into Risk after seeing his 19 year old nephew play it on his phone. I got him Switch version so he can play by himself, but I really, really, really, really want to get an analog version to play with him when I can.
Is there a version of Risk, or another "Risk-like" game that we can enjoy together, apart from the traditional Risk? Especially something that can be played in less than an hour. I'm also interested if there's anything out there that shares the same spirit, but that we can potentially play cooperatively.
A Brief History of the World is a somewhat streamlined reversioning of my personal favorite Risk-like, History of the World. I haven't personally played the Brief version but my understanding is that it has been streamlined for both quicker play and more methods to plan around/avoid lots of dice rolls. Like the original, it also has a number of balancing mechanics that make playing the game more competitive even if someone does really well for a round or two, unlike in Risk where once someone gains momentum it can be another couple of hours watching them inevitably steamrolling the competition. However, the game does play better the more people are participating, IMO. BBG puts the playtime at 90-180 minutes, obviously if you're just playing with two players it'll be towards the short end.
What is probably a better option though would be Small World. It explicitly is designed with different maps depending on the number of people playing, and the fact that the races and special powers get shuffled every game will lend itself to more replay value. Dice rolling does exist but is kept to a minimum, which means most of the gameplay is simple addition/subtraction of units while taking into account abilities granted to try and maximize points. There's also the fact that victory points are also spent to draft new race/power combos, so there's another angle for basic addition/subtraction that could work for you. With just two players a game of Small World can definitely just take about an hour, plus or minus game set-up, although the game does have a very nice sorting tray. There's also a copious amounts of expansions and even a whole 'nother stand-alone game that are all cross-compatible if it really takes of with your son.
Hi friends. Quick question. My 9 year old is really into Risk after seeing his 19 year old nephew play it on his phone. I got him Switch version so he can play by himself, but I really, really, really, really want to get an analog version to play with him when I can.
Is there a version of Risk, or another "Risk-like" game that we can enjoy together, apart from the traditional Risk? Especially something that can be played in less than an hour. I'm also interested if there's anything out there that shares the same spirit, but that we can potentially play cooperatively.
Pandemic: Fall of Rome has armies and dice based combat. Spirit Island could be considered a map painter if you look at it the right way.
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
Hi friends. Quick question. My 9 year old is really into Risk after seeing his 19 year old nephew play it on his phone. I got him Switch version so he can play by himself, but I really, really, really, really want to get an analog version to play with him when I can.
Is there a version of Risk, or another "Risk-like" game that we can enjoy together, apart from the traditional Risk? Especially something that can be played in less than an hour. I'm also interested if there's anything out there that shares the same spirit, but that we can potentially play cooperatively.
A Brief History of the World is a somewhat streamlined reversioning of my personal favorite Risk-like, History of the World. I haven't personally played the Brief version but my understanding is that it has been streamlined for both quicker play and more methods to plan around/avoid lots of dice rolls. Like the original, it also has a number of balancing mechanics that make playing the game more competitive even if someone does really well for a round or two, unlike in Risk where once someone gains momentum it can be another couple of hours watching them inevitably steamrolling the competition. However, the game does play better the more people are participating, IMO. BBG puts the playtime at 90-180 minutes, obviously if you're just playing with two players it'll be towards the short end.
What is probably a better option though would be Small World. It explicitly is designed with different maps depending on the number of people playing, and the fact that the races and special powers get shuffled every game will lend itself to more replay value. Dice rolling does exist but is kept to a minimum, which means most of the gameplay is simple addition/subtraction of units while taking into account abilities granted to try and maximize points. There's also the fact that victory points are also spent to draft new race/power combos, so there's another angle for basic addition/subtraction that could work for you. With just two players a game of Small World can definitely just take about an hour, plus or minus game set-up, although the game does have a very nice sorting tray. There's also a copious amounts of expansions and even a whole 'nother stand-alone game that are all cross-compatible if it really takes of with your son.
Neither of these would be good 2p i think.
For that I'd recommend Risk Star Wars, a 2p game only loosely related to Risk. Basically it's got dice combat and little dudes. It sounds like exactly what you're looking for @ironzerg . In not sure of a coop dudes on a map game tbh.
We had a huge problem in Root with fun management. We never played without Vagabond but Birds seemed to have very short turns compared to everyone else and it was hard to fault their player for pulling out his phone until his turn came around again. It seemed a shame, it was beautiful and the tutorial was finely crafted and we wanted to like it.
This Eyrie comment never fails to amaze me
The Eyrie has to make huge decisions right from the start, with where they'll place new cards in their tableau, and carefully plan out their actions to avoid collapse and help ensure the potential for a strong turn afterward. Bird turns can go extremely long because the stakes are high and early decisions restrict their options for multiple turns, but the actions are limited so it's calculable.
I mean we only played for like ten hours before the vetoes came out, and i was never the birds. The argument was that too often you have no choices because there's only one way to avoid collapse. I'd be totally willing to play with a different group, though i do think i would insist on no vagabond.
I've only played root once, it was as the birds, and I kind of hated it. Anecdotal for sure but I don't want to play Root again so take that as you will.
We had a huge problem in Root with fun management. We never played without Vagabond but Birds seemed to have very short turns compared to everyone else and it was hard to fault their player for pulling out his phone until his turn came around again. It seemed a shame, it was beautiful and the tutorial was finely crafted and we wanted to like it.
This Eyrie comment never fails to amaze me
The Eyrie has to make huge decisions right from the start, with where they'll place new cards in their tableau, and carefully plan out their actions to avoid collapse and help ensure the potential for a strong turn afterward. Bird turns can go extremely long because the stakes are high and early decisions restrict their options for multiple turns, but the actions are limited so it's calculable.
I mean we only played for like ten hours before the vetoes came out, and i was never the birds. The argument was that too often you have no choices because there's only one way to avoid collapse. I'd be totally willing to play with a different group, though i do think i would insist on no vagabond.
How many games was that?
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Hi friends. Quick question. My 9 year old is really into Risk after seeing his 19 year old nephew play it on his phone. I got him Switch version so he can play by himself, but I really, really, really, really want to get an analog version to play with him when I can.
Is there a version of Risk, or another "Risk-like" game that we can enjoy together, apart from the traditional Risk? Especially something that can be played in less than an hour. I'm also interested if there's anything out there that shares the same spirit, but that we can potentially play cooperatively.
Seconding Small World (for competitive) and Pandemic: Fall of Rome (for cooperative).
Also maybe look into Risk Legacy. I haven't played it myself so I don't know how well it works for just two players, but your son might really enjoy the legacy aspect, and I've heard it tweaks the Risk rules to make the games shorter.
Maybe also look into Kemet, which has a lot of Risk feel but is a lot more elegant.
Risk Legacy is definitely intended for more than two players. A player winning a lot is literally only counterable by all the other players working together against them.
Oh, there are definitely times that there's only one way to avoid collapse — but you should be playing to minimize those, and they shouldn't be many turns of the game
Also you should sometimes consider allowing collapse when you're not vulnerable, I think
In other news, played Nemesis again last night. Really had a ton of fun despite it taking nearly four hours.
My objective was to send the signal and drag the original body into an escape pod or the hibernation chamber. I was the only one who didn't get their objective done — because the Queen had burst through the locked doors we'd sealed her in, and stalked into the hibernation chamber. We had three turns left, and everyone was sprinting to get there, and the soldier had just emptied his rifle into her, but she was still standing.
So I ran into the room, avoiding the alien I'd been fighting, and triumphantly smashed the Queen in the face with a risky melee attack, just barely doing enough damage to kill her. Everyone got into the cryo chambers, but I was badly infected, so I ran for the surgery chamber, and on the way I was dragged down and killed.
A heavily random game, one where you don't have many tools to manipulate the randomness sometimes, but one that builds really fun stories in a way that Ameritrashy stuff often fails to do.
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
We had a huge problem in Root with fun management. We never played without Vagabond but Birds seemed to have very short turns compared to everyone else and it was hard to fault their player for pulling out his phone until his turn came around again. It seemed a shame, it was beautiful and the tutorial was finely crafted and we wanted to like it.
This Eyrie comment never fails to amaze me
The Eyrie has to make huge decisions right from the start, with where they'll place new cards in their tableau, and carefully plan out their actions to avoid collapse and help ensure the potential for a strong turn afterward. Bird turns can go extremely long because the stakes are high and early decisions restrict their options for multiple turns, but the actions are limited so it's calculable.
I mean we only played for like ten hours before the vetoes came out, and i was never the birds. The argument was that too often you have no choices because there's only one way to avoid collapse. I'd be totally willing to play with a different group, though i do think i would insist on no vagabond.
How many games was that?
That's why i said it in hours, I'm not sure. Gotta be between four and seven inclusive?
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Custom SpecialI know I am, I'm sure I am,I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered Userregular
Spent several hours yesterday putting together the Daedalus insert that came with my trade copy of Kemet. Happy to have that done and get it all boxed up later today, but also very glad that I didn't have any major problems since apparently Daedalus went out of business in December!
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(Also it's totally overrated - you're fine, Dover)
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
It's pretty much Arkham Horror meets Zombicide, with a player controlling the bad guys instead of a fully co-op experience.
Pros
-You get different scenarios, with some being more combat heavy, or more objective heavy.
-The evil player's victory condition is only ever one straight forward goal: killing the heroes. The good team gets a pool of reserve heroes, and switches to one of them every time their current one dies. If you run out and cannot replace a loss, the evil player wins. There is no hard time limit other than the evil player getting stronger with infinitely respawning monsters. I thought this was a refreshing a simple victory condition.
-A push your luck mechanic where you can choose to take "corruption", which functions a bit like sanity in Arkham. The higher up on the corruption track you go, the more bonuses you get, but once you're maxed you start taking damage and can be instantly killed more easy. You basically decide how much of a glass cannon you want to turn yourself into.
Cons
-The balance. Woo boy, the balance. This game makes the hero and item balance of Arkham look downright egalitarian. You get a pool of available item upgrade cards just like Arkham 3/Eldritch, but they all have the same "cost" (you get one if you stop at a location with an upgrade icon). Some of them are flat out better (+1 damage +1 armor vs. +1 armor). Some of them break the entire balance of the game (raise or lower your corruption every turn, throwing out the concept of a carefully rationed and risky resource and turning it into no-risk god mode). The werewolf hero has two forms and can freely change between a specialized combat monster every turn or a specialized cleansing monster every turn. He's so much better than any other character and I can't imagine why you wouldn't take him every single game. Imagine being able to switch freely between a 5 strength or 5 lore Arkham investigator every turn.
-The art. It's supposed to be some "always night" gothic cyberpunk setting, but it looks indistinguishable from Zombicide's cities, which was supposed to be an empty apocalypse setting. It doesn't feel like a living city, and nothing about the look says "dark".
-The whole "cleansing" mechanic feels tacked on and incomplete. Feels like they were trying to include something to make it not completely about combat, so they took a stab at the doom token aspect of Arkham but it never connects. It's mostly inconsequential: each token has a 1/5 chance of doing damage whenever you move on or off them, and some scenarios you have to cleanse 3 of them. That's...pretty much it. You can usually ignore them and it's way more important to have combat characters than cleansing. Their unimportance is compounded by there being no "doom" loss condition, only the heroes dying.
All in all, I wouldn't mind playing it again to try out different hero pools. But I wouldn't want to buy it. Especially for the $100 retail price.
(as a side note, this game feels like what The Reckoners should have been)
big spoiler for the 1st Reckoners book:
I don't, just the base game.
*looks at 2 kids*
I mean....
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What all came in today that I paid for and am going to pick up tomorrow?
Oh... just the Onager, the Starhawk (Armada), The First Order TIE Interceptor, the Fireball, and all the card pack expansions (X-Wing), An organizer for Roll for the Galaxy (Folded Space), a Starfinder book....
Yeah, just ow.
Also a really cool "Yellow King" RPG thing based on Gumshoe was taunting me, but it was a $100 set. ... and I may still get it.
Plus Root's expansions showed up. 3 boxes! An upgrade kit for game balance, a clockwork expansion, and the underworld expansion with the box propped open because there's so much stuff in there.
The first one was basically the wow card game thrown in with it as when I fished them out looked like at least 5+ decks . The one with the characters is neatly put together and whomever had it used a straight fishing kit for all the counters!
In all I know now why I bought them
Apparently the previous owner had it in the back and didn't have it on the shelf because "we don't have a copy of the base game, who would ever buy it?"
Anyway now I've got an expansion I thought I would never get, and for less money than I would have been willing to pay for it!
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
it was so tense and so fun, the decision space is a really enjoyable little brain teaser, I was the Chancellor and was posed with multiple fronts of threat to my rule that I sure was having a lot of trouble dealing with, so I had to figure out how I could battle those threats while also weighing which of the other players to potentially enfranchise into becoming Citizens and when to do so
I ended up winning, but I was saved by the end of round die in the back half of the rounds that can end the game and it completely saved my ass, the following round both other players were gonna overtake me and I had plenty of ways to fight back, but it was gonna be tough
just a really, really lovely time, and I think probably more accessible than Root, cause one of the people we were playing with does not really get into heavy games and she got the hang of it pretty well and was staying competitive, which is not the case when we've played Root with her
Root has been a mainstay of this group and when we finished everyone at the table agreed that they liked it even more than Root
I'm not there with it yet, Root is my personal favorite board game, but even in this unfinished state I am really enjoying Oath
isn't this literally every game tho
I like to assert that I accept differing opinions
Not Alone and For Sale are pretty accessible. Even if it is, there's a matter of degree
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
This may have sold me to go ahead and back it. I've been back and forth on whether I should since it hit, and we're nearing it being done. I knew I wanted it, but couldn't decide if it would be good for the group or not. But what you're saying here makes me think it'll be worth it and it won't just sit on a shelf. Or at least it'll be more worth the risk anyways.
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But we've talked a lot about games, and while there are certainly games we like and dislike those 5 of us take the position that 'it must be a good game if you're having fun' and 'I like it, but here are the flaws'. I even enjoy talking about why games I really dislike work, take Wingspan or Munchkin for example.
I agree the discourse is usually great when people feel this way though.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Yeah but the theme turns me off 100% so Not For Me.
notice me im special
but i'm not really talking about accessibility
Which is definitely NOT for everyone.
There's just something about the Arkham Files games. The game in my collection that I can get anyone I know to play is Mansions of Madness 2e. My mom likes that game. And yet you wouldn't think it if you just described the theme or setting to someone.
Edit: Ooh! And Evolution. I imagine that will extend to Oceans as well, but historically Evolution is a game I can get to the table with literally any audience. There's an innate appeal to quickly designing your own little critter and trying to eat snacks with it.
The context around Root specifically is pretty interesting, though. For many people, even (or especially?) reviewers like SU&SD, it felt like you get the "idea" of Root after playing a couple of times. This "idea" is that the asymmetric factions are tricky at first, then interesting, but after you work out their primary winning strategy then the game kind of bogs down while everybody smacks the obvious leader. Nothing essentially original enough to break out of the pack.
However, with the passage of time, the game has shown itself to be way more than that. People that know it well put it in high or even highest echelons of "asymmetric faction games". In this very thread I myself talked down the game, in the manner of the above paragraph, that it was overhyped and fiddly and short-lived. I had to be convinced that the game was a lot richer than that. The expansions have just fine-tuned and fleshed it out, and with the occasional exceptions like the Vagabond, it's not like people avoid the original factions.
So anyway, my point is that Root is still dealing with lingering suspicions that the game is overhyped and ultimately shallow. To be clear, it's not one of my favorite games at all, but I have friends in my gaming group who have played and talked about it pretty regularly since it came out. It "has legs".
"Not for everyone" has a double meaning: sometimes it's used like, "It's really good at these things but you have to like these things specifically." That's fair, people respect stuff like Twilight Imperium even if they don't play it. But something the phrase means, "It's an okay game, if your collection is big enough you might include it." It's a quiet way to score down a game. I think the general consensus is that Root is the former, a premier game in its genre.
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I only had one person hate MoM and they're the same person that hates anything they don't win the first time but everyone else loves it do death.
My problem with Arkham games is that I own all of the LCG, and I would always rather play that. It’s similar to what SU&SD concluded on the Marvel Champions review, “it’s fine, but I’d rather be playing Arkham LCG”.
See, while I do love me the card game... I think it really depends on the audience. It really shines when you’re playing a long campaign, which is not really ideal when you are having people over and feel like playing a one-shot board game.
Heck, I’d say Marvel is better at that than Arkham is. You don’t have to worry about building good decks, what it comes with is good enough.
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Yeah, so... about that May, and my inability to save money...
I missed out on the KS, can I purchase it now?
I'm almost tempted
This Eyrie comment never fails to amaze me
The Eyrie has to make huge decisions right from the start, with where they'll place new cards in their tableau, and carefully plan out their actions to avoid collapse and help ensure the potential for a strong turn afterward. Bird turns can go extremely long because the stakes are high and early decisions restrict their options for multiple turns, but the actions are limited so it's calculable.
Is there a version of Risk, or another "Risk-like" game that we can enjoy together, apart from the traditional Risk? Especially something that can be played in less than an hour. I'm also interested if there's anything out there that shares the same spirit, but that we can potentially play cooperatively.
A Brief History of the World is a somewhat streamlined reversioning of my personal favorite Risk-like, History of the World. I haven't personally played the Brief version but my understanding is that it has been streamlined for both quicker play and more methods to plan around/avoid lots of dice rolls. Like the original, it also has a number of balancing mechanics that make playing the game more competitive even if someone does really well for a round or two, unlike in Risk where once someone gains momentum it can be another couple of hours watching them inevitably steamrolling the competition. However, the game does play better the more people are participating, IMO. BBG puts the playtime at 90-180 minutes, obviously if you're just playing with two players it'll be towards the short end.
What is probably a better option though would be Small World. It explicitly is designed with different maps depending on the number of people playing, and the fact that the races and special powers get shuffled every game will lend itself to more replay value. Dice rolling does exist but is kept to a minimum, which means most of the gameplay is simple addition/subtraction of units while taking into account abilities granted to try and maximize points. There's also the fact that victory points are also spent to draft new race/power combos, so there's another angle for basic addition/subtraction that could work for you. With just two players a game of Small World can definitely just take about an hour, plus or minus game set-up, although the game does have a very nice sorting tray. There's also a copious amounts of expansions and even a whole 'nother stand-alone game that are all cross-compatible if it really takes of with your son.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Pandemic: Fall of Rome has armies and dice based combat. Spirit Island could be considered a map painter if you look at it the right way.
Neither of these would be good 2p i think.
For that I'd recommend Risk Star Wars, a 2p game only loosely related to Risk. Basically it's got dice combat and little dudes. It sounds like exactly what you're looking for @ironzerg . In not sure of a coop dudes on a map game tbh.
I mean we only played for like ten hours before the vetoes came out, and i was never the birds. The argument was that too often you have no choices because there's only one way to avoid collapse. I'd be totally willing to play with a different group, though i do think i would insist on no vagabond.
Seconding Small World (for competitive) and Pandemic: Fall of Rome (for cooperative).
Also maybe look into Risk Legacy. I haven't played it myself so I don't know how well it works for just two players, but your son might really enjoy the legacy aspect, and I've heard it tweaks the Risk rules to make the games shorter.
Maybe also look into Kemet, which has a lot of Risk feel but is a lot more elegant.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Also you should sometimes consider allowing collapse when you're not vulnerable, I think
In other news, played Nemesis again last night. Really had a ton of fun despite it taking nearly four hours.
My objective was to send the signal and drag the original body into an escape pod or the hibernation chamber. I was the only one who didn't get their objective done — because the Queen had burst through the locked doors we'd sealed her in, and stalked into the hibernation chamber. We had three turns left, and everyone was sprinting to get there, and the soldier had just emptied his rifle into her, but she was still standing.
So I ran into the room, avoiding the alien I'd been fighting, and triumphantly smashed the Queen in the face with a risky melee attack, just barely doing enough damage to kill her. Everyone got into the cryo chambers, but I was badly infected, so I ran for the surgery chamber, and on the way I was dragged down and killed.
A heavily random game, one where you don't have many tools to manipulate the randomness sometimes, but one that builds really fun stories in a way that Ameritrashy stuff often fails to do.
That's why i said it in hours, I'm not sure. Gotta be between four and seven inclusive?