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[Board Games] Pandemic in a Pandemic

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Posts

  • BloodySlothBloodySloth Registered User regular
    edited April 2021
    Thank god we're not alone. My group hasn't finished Volcanic Island, it's been a few weeks, and honestly, I'm not sure we're going to get back to it. At the end of the first chapter I was like "I may risk sounding stupid here but, like... what are we doing? Why are we doing any of these things?" and no one really knew.

    BloodySloth on
  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    Thank god we're not alone. My group hasn't finished Volcanic Island, it's been a few weeks, and honestly, I'm not sure we're going to get back to it. At the end of the first chapter I was like "I may risk sounding stupid here but, like... what are we doing? Why are we doing any of these things?" and no one really knew.

    Oh god, it gets so much worse after the first chapter. All logic and coherent narrative start going out the window, to the point that we started thinking we were inside the Matrix. But no, it really was just atrocious storytelling.

    First chapter spoilers
    The first chapter ends when the storm hits I think?

    I think by that point you run into several "Choose one of your characters and read the following entry." And then you read what sounds like a flashback where that character started using some weird superpower(?) based on their element affiliation (you know, that trait on each card you had no clue what the point was?). But they're all repressed memories? You find a note or two talking about the professor and "the experiment" and current batches and test runs and weird notes showing up and sentient animals??? So wait, we're X-men? Wizards? Did the professor experiment on us to give us powers? Are we inside a Matrix simulation to keep running it until we succeed? Is that why there's totally out of context magic mutant powers? Wtf is going on??? Weren't we just grad students looking for smuggling activity? For some reason?

    None of those things are really explained. One of the two branches doesn't even try. I could spoil the rest, but honestly there's not much to spoil because nothing of logic or coherence happens.

    Just terrible. I can't believe it's from the same people as Monochrome and Dungeon. It feels like 3 different story outlines that they decided to cram together into one game.

  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    er mah gerd Cursed City has push to fit models.

    i am in heaven

  • AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    er mah gerd Cursed City has push to fit models.

    i am in heaven

    Yeah, the Underworlds models have been banner-bearing push fit in the standalone games for years now. GW has gotten pretty good at them.

    With a couple exceptions, Blackstone assembly was the easiest time I've ever had building that many mans.

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  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    Wooo! Marvel Champions is getting Guardians of the Galaxy Venom!

    https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2021/4/5/venomous-sting/

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    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    damn for some reason i guess i've just been out of the loop since leaving the game store and i never considered that they were releasing those packs at a similar clip to their other LCGs. there's already a lot for that game (i say having just bought a 4 row bcw box for my arkham crap)

  • FryFry Registered User regular
    edited April 2021
    Funny, I was looking at the ffg store just yesterday for Champions and thinking "that's all that has come out so far? Hasn't that game been out forever?" I guess that's pandemic time for you

    I'm not really up on my Marvel lore, I didn't know that Venom was a guardian of the galaxy :0

    Fry on
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    edited April 2021
    yeah he had a cool story arc where he ends up on the home planet of the symbiotes and they're like "wtf something in you is broken," so they "fix" Venom and the suit in those pictures is like a perfected symbiote and then he runs around doing space comics for a while.

    Edit: I mixed it up a little. The agent venom look which is what I think all those cards show is just the normal flash thompson venom. The cured symbiote look is super sleek and form fitting if I remember right

    initiatefailure on
  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    The game's entering its 3rd cycle.

    Cycle 1 - Ms. Marvel, Captain America (released on the same day IIRC), Thor, Black Widow, Dr. Strange, and Hulk. Also had 2 scenario packs - Green Goblin and Wrecking Crew.

    Cycle 2 - Rise of Red Skull deluxe (Spider-Woman and Hawkeye), then Ant-Man, Wasp, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch. Also had 1 scenario pack - Kang the Conqueror.

    Cycle 3 - Galaxy's Most Wanted deluxe (Rocket and Groot), with Star Lord, Gamora, Drax, and Venom announced - and Nebula leaked. If any Scenario packs have been announced or rumored I haven't heard them.



    Interesting turn of events today! Galaxy's Most wanted wasn't at the store due to Asmodee fucking up again, but they did have a copy of Prophecy of Kings set aside for me. Except.. I already had the Twilight Imperium expansion! Turns out, back when word got out about the misprinted/miscolored components, the store put in for replacement orders on all the pre-orders they sold. Which was... 2 folks. Me and another. So... yeah. We'll see if I have anything special to do, and I haven't checked if the second printing fixed the color errors, but... hmm!

    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    started the Galaxy's Most Wanted campaign tonight and my god, the second scenario stonewalled me harder than anything else in this game has. just savage. going to have to go back to the drawing board with my decks for this one in a way that nothing else in the game has required.

  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Does losing a scenario mean you have to do it again, or can you "fail forward"?

  • TertieeTertiee Registered User regular
    Bursar wrote: »
    Tertiee wrote: »
    Bursar wrote: »
    You know what? I'm gonna talk about Flaming Pyramids.

    We were looking for a filler game on BGA for our weekly online sessions (we usually start out with a try or two at The Crew, then move on to something heavier, then end with two or three runs of Incan Gold as a traditional mind-cleanser). Last week we tried out Res Arcana for the first time, and while browsing the 5+ player games available FP was suggested.

    Let me tell you: it's a simple game, but it's not mindless. And when you've maneuvered your piece placements to engineer a situation in which you absolutely screw over the person following you, and they manage to pull off successful piece placement anyway, you cheer for them for getting out of your trap. And then there's the Jenga-like rush of watching the pyramid collapse, only to start building it again.

    You only have the opportunity to directly affect two other players: the one who played before you if they were sloppy and you have a piece to line up a Curse situation, and the one after you who has to deal with what you just played. Because you're cooperatively building a pyramid, the opportunity to lay a new base tile, and thus play nearly anything without worrying, cycles among all the players regularly and no one gets an unfair benefit.

    It's fun, quick, and looks like a bad flash game, but give it a spin.

    Going to give this a shot after reading your recommendation. Any suggestions on which gameplay options are worthwhile in BGA (Fire, Curse, Fire Dice)?

    Fire is a must, Curse is one extra thing to watch out for, so you may as well have it, and the Fire Die is a little confusing and random, but the game is fun when it's being random so you might as well throw it in.

    Finally got this to the digital table. The game is decently fun for its playtime. Felt like Uno but with a bit more strategy involved though it felt like once you were forced to take cards even once you were out of the running.

  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    Fry wrote: »
    Does losing a scenario mean you have to do it again, or can you "fail forward"?

    You do it again, if you're playing a campaign.

  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    So who else played King's Dilemma? We finished our game last night and I have a few thoughts ...
    The end game was certainly more involved than we were expecting, and that was nice. However as an overall experience it felt a little too loose for us. The beginning of the game you have no real reason to do anything besides your secret goals, and those aren't exactly amazing because there's no indication of what the long-game looks like. As the board developed a bit with some cards and conditions it got better, but then things stagnated again towards the end (we literally had to play our campaign to the last card for the last sticker). Once the capstone events happen for stories you've solidified rules so your game just gets more and more samey, and the agendas don't have many chances to change hands either. It also doesn't help that the slow reveal of the narrative is often vague or misleading to boot, making the overall arc of the story really weak and feel detached from the mechanical gameplay.
    I know I'm ragging on it, but it's a system that I think has promise and I don't regret playing it. Indeed, it's a novel enough legacy game, and I don't think the problems aren't unsolvable with the experience they've made. I'm just wondering if others felt similar or if their stories came together better than ours did, I guess?

  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    edited April 2021
    Yay! Twilight Imperium 4's 2nd Codex is out!

    https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/fc/c2/fcc2f4d3-8817-4936-a371-1417327fa5fa/ti_codex_2_rules_compressed.pdf

    Edit:

    Oooh, the teaser for how the Genesys sourcebook is gonna work in the universe is great. I like that there are only a few small tweaks to relics in terms of new components - still letting the community feel out PoK. The reference cards are great - took me a bit to realize that the Naz-Rohka Alliance one wasn't misprinted.

    However, the reference cards being standard size means that there likely won't be a good home for them in my Folded Space storage unit. Ah well. :(

    Athenor on
    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
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  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    Seems like less rules stuff than the first one

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    edited April 2021
    Unexpected pre-order came in! This wasn't kickstarter... but it was essentially 2020: The Game.

    It's called Happy Little Dinosaurs.

    And as usual for TeeTurtle / Unstable Games, the production values are quite high.

    I did cut the box a little trying to get in, which sucks, but eh... boxes are there to protect games, after all!


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    Edit:
    Okay, having read through the rules, it's a fairly simple bidding game. You have a hand of cards with point values, and some instants sprinkled in.

    Each turn, a disaster is revealed - natural, predator, or emotional. (There's also wild Meteors).

    Your goal is to play a high enough value point card to survive. The highest # gets those points to try and reach 50. The lowest # gets the disaster card.

    If you get 3 of the same kind of disaster, or 1 of each kind, you are out!

    A lot of the cards have special effects though, including flipping around point values, stealing values, and otherwise adjusting the playing field. Plus you only draw new cards when you can't play any point cards, so you have to be careful when and where you use things.

    All in all, pretty simple but I can see some deeper strategy in there. The exclusive edition adds 5-6 player support.

    Athenor on
    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    The wife overheard some coworkers talking about a board game called Spirit Island. They seemed pretty hyped about it as a game that scales based on the number of players involved. Anyone here heard of it? Sorry if it's a big deal and I'm just out of the loop. :)

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
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  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    It's a pretty big deal when it came out (probably still is?) I have one and like it, personally.

    Avoids quarterbacking to some extent, has a lot of replayability (the Spirit you play as varies wildly in mechanics, prompting effective cooperation), gameplay feels good and tactical, but common complaints include it having an anticlimactic ending.

  • A Half Eaten OreoA Half Eaten Oreo Registered User regular
    I love Spirit Island and it's expansions. IMO it gets a bit long with 4+, tho I've played with 4 an enjoyed it. The expansions add a lot of re-playability. The difficulty is definitely higher in the first few turns, tho the adversary cards are a good way to add difficulty to the game as the colonizers escalate.

  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    as long as it lets me kill a bunch of colonizers

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Spirit Island is not a light game though, to the point where the main reason it avoids the quarterbacking problem is that there is no way one player can process every option that 2-4 players have to the point where they can play them effectively.

  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    edited April 2021
    Spirit Island is deffo one of the heaviest games I own but it is absolutely loverly. They also have a digital version on Steam that is very well done.

    Magic Pink on
  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    The digital Game of Thrones is getting the Dance of Dragons expansion as DLC!! which is probably going to make me buy it. I had avoided the base game because of the glaring balance issues that always turned it into a Stark vs Greyjoy (sometimes Baratheon) contest (with Lannister resigned to being a quickly eliminated punching bag). Dance of Dragons breaths new life into the game with reworked leaders (no more Balon) and Daenerys’ extremely mobile invasion force adding a new importance on dynamic diplomacy.

    Only downside to the expansion was thematic. Much rather be playing with the season 1-3 factions/characters than s4+.

    But I am totally down to start a digital game with folks here!

  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    Ah crap, my mistake. It's just the alternate leaders and starts. No extra Daenerys faction or any of the other Mother of Dragons add-ons.

    Oh well, the original leaders and setup were always the biggest balance issue. Still be down for a PA online game.

  • KorrorKorror Registered User regular
    MNC Dover wrote: »
    The wife overheard some coworkers talking about a board game called Spirit Island. They seemed pretty hyped about it as a game that scales based on the number of players involved. Anyone here heard of it? Sorry if it's a big deal and I'm just out of the loop. :)

    Spirit Island is mechanics heavy game which is great for me as I like games that cause your head to explode as you try to consider all your options. One downside is that your individual options are complex enough that we've occasionally forgotten to do the invader's phases and had to roll back a turn so it's helpful if one more experience player can focus on keeping track of the game state while other people consider their individual actions.

    Battlenet ID: NullPointer
  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    .Another kickstarter just arrived!

    Gladius!

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    Basically a betting game, where you have a deck that lets you influence the outcome to help your bets work.

    I fell in love with the art and to support a smaller company.

    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • Virgil_Leads_YouVirgil_Leads_You Proud Father House GardenerRegistered User regular
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    Nidavellr on Board Game arena is a lot of fun.
    It's a bidding game on collecting dwarves for your competing dwarf army. Lots of fun set collection and combos. The Thingvellr expansion is a nice addition as well. Makes the bidding a bit more cutthroat by having extra options for the winning bid on any of the taverns.
    Board Game arena's digital version is really well done even if it's still in beta.

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  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    edited April 2021
    Zombicide 2nd Edition and Solomon Kane and Warhammer Quest Cursed City all show up tomorrow.

    Bless me father for i have sinned and i liked it

    Magic Pink on
  • HedgethornHedgethorn Associate Professor of Historical Hobby Horses In the Lions' DenRegistered User regular
    edited April 2021
    My board game group is now all fully vaccinated, so tonight was our first in-person game night in 13 months. It was glorious to sit around a table again drinking beers while moving little wooden pieces around a board.

    Kind of funny story: I bought Bus in late February 2020, and at our last meetup (in March 2020) we all agreed we'd try it out at our next game night. I didn't expect I'd have to wait over a year to make them all fulfill that promise!

    Hedgethorn on
  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    The prophecy has been fulfilled! It has come!

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    COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    Yay! now time to resell every single deck to you

  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    Yay! now time to resell every single deck to you

    I mean, that’s the point of the upgrade kit? I had already owned all of the old decks, and had to go through and pull all the old cards out and replace with the new ones, and I’m good to go now. At least until the new big expansion later in the month with Jehrico’s upgraded deck with the Time dice.

    persona4celestia.jpg
    COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    oh! i didn't actually notice it was an upgrade kit. just thought that was just the whole new game.

    I reverse my snark and think it's awesome that they have an upgrade option for people who already have bought in

  • SaurfangSaurfang Registered User regular
    I'm a little late to the conversation but I LOVE Spirit Island. As has been previously discussed, it's not a light game, so know that going into it. The difficulty curve kind of reminds me of the modern XCOM games, in that it's at its tightest in the early game, but if you play well there the late game gets much more manageable. I'd argue Spirit Island does a better job of creating late game difficulty, but only when you start playing the higher difficulty level adversaries.

    It scales really well with player count and is an excellent 2p. The number of options in the game (different spirits, adversaries with different difficulty levels, scenarios, not to mention the expansions) mean that you can calibrate the difficulty to a comfortable level and give the game a ton of replay value.

    The theme is off the charts. The power fantasy of crushing colonizers with elemental might is such a breath of fresh air in a medium that often simulates imperialism, and the individual spirits beautifully capture their individual themes. For instance, the lightning spirit is fast and destructive, but tends to operate in bursts of activity. The river spirit has strong movement abilities and can nourish both the native people of the isle and other spirits. Even the metaphor of the game pieces is effective (white plastic for the invaders, brown wooden tokens for the native people). It's my favorite coop.

  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    Unfortunately, my wife loses interest in any game that can't be explained in 30 seconds, so Spirit Island would be a solo experience for me. :(

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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  • SaurfangSaurfang Registered User regular
    If it's any consolation, it's good solo! There's a steam port of it that's really good and can be played on tablets as well.

  • CptHamiltonCptHamilton Registered User regular
    My wife and I are moving later in the month. Today's packing adventures were the library and the board games. We have...a lot of board games.

    I really appreciate how most game companies/designers seem to at least try to stick to the standardized cross-section with varying heights. We have some old games for which I had to bust out a larger box to fit. The one exception being HATE, which is just goddamned massive. Even bigger than the old Milton Bradley games from the mid-80's.

    PSN,Steam,Live | CptHamiltonian
  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    got Cursed City yesterday and put all the models together my own self.

    yes you may praise me.

    everything else is lost in the mail :I

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