P4: Gritty Reboot

Alright I have cut off the signups and should be sending your targets by the end of the weekend here. We ended up with 23, which if I'm counting right is the same as last year, so that's nice. Some people have asked if the deadline can be pushed back, and that's fine by me. The first year, I had expected everyone to kind of shop around and buy at the last minute, so I had the deadline pretty early, but the first day of the Steam sale 90% of people had gifted already. Why don't we have the deadline coincide with the last day of the Steam sale?

At 21 now, only 2 down from last year. One more day of signups and then it will be time for generosity and frivolity.

We are at 18 participants, down 5 from last year. Pester your PXOD buddies to sign up! I will keep sign-up sheet online through Friday night, Pacific time.

Sign-ups are live here. Also linked to in original post. Sign-ups should run through Friday.

I should have signup sheet ready today or tomorrow and will close them and have targets assigned by the end of the week. Sorry for the delay, been away for Thanksgiving.

We are sitting around 17 people if I'm counting right. I will get an official sign-up sheet going shortly and probably leave it up for a week or so.

I think it can get a little tricky in that the gifter has to have iOS or at least just an iTunes account. The alternative is you could request an iTunes gift card. I'm okay with that if everyone else is.

It's that time of year again. Please sound off below if you're interested in participating, and I'll get a sign up sheet up later this week. Rules: Digital gifts only, typically Steam since it's the easiest to mess around with wishlists and gifting on. Other services/gift cards are fine though. Make sure your Steam wishlist/other wishlists are up to date. Suggested price of $10, though under or over is not against the rules. What this means is, don't expect a $60 gift--if your Santa gets you a $5 gift that's on your wishlist, that's all he's required to do. But if you're feeling ultra-rich or ultra-generous, we won't thumb our noses at higher priced presents. Multiple gifts are fine. Gifting period will officially commence alongside the Steam Winter Sale, typically the middle of December. You can gift earlier though if you find a killer deal. Gifting deadline will be on or around the end of the Steam sale. If you don't get your gift by then, message me. No brand new members (signing up after this message) unless I or another mod approves you. Looking forward to it! --- Sign ups are now done and targets have been assigned. Please add the following Steam IDs to your Steam friends list: FLD baconrath FredEffinChopin http://steamcommunity.com/id/elvenampersands/ MrGoh toomanyluftwaffles p4warrior TheMightyEthan SkyGriever Yesshua CrowKnow Reverse Apache Master Stark Winter Lager vechathepirate Dapper Jack half_swing VictorAnalogy Chronixal deanbmmv/dean [PXOD] Doomkrieg bigdanhero jayc4life MaliciousH

Been playing Battlefield 3's campaign. It's pretty cheeseball but has its moments. I want to play some of the online multi when I'm done, but I'll probably never beat it realistically speaking.

Cool concept. I usually wait with Kickstarters to see what the early response is.

Bought for my son to surprise him when he got home from his first day of school. It's actually pretty rad.

This exists apparently. I am going to have to rustle up a copy.

I'd really like to play Power Grid, but the length is a turn-off. If I'm going to play that long I might as well play Battlestar Galactica, a massive wargame, or War of the Ring.

Should have posted this weekend that I played Here I Stand, a 6-player card-driven wargame based on the Protestant Reformation. Long and short of it is that it was brilliantly designed and a real treat to see history unfold before us. Took us 5-6 hours to play only 2 turns, but I'm itching for an all-day full game. My longer writeup is here.

Interesting. I do tend to win games I own and constantly teach, but I try give a broad strategy overview at the beginning, and to notify players when they're making an odd move or when there's an objectively better move on the board. I don't think it's helpful for me to play sub-optimally in an attempt to keep them interested, but I agree it's lame to just blow people out of the water every time.

The "Big Money" strategy is very beatable.

I have Dominion. It is pleasant; not earth-shattering, but pleasant for sure.

Bummer they didn't like it. I don't agree with them all the time, but at least they're entertaining. SOTM is ranked in BGG's top 100, so rest assured it's very well regarded.

So happy you're all getting your cardboard on. Soon this site will be called "Roll 6 or Die". Well I'm learning Twilight Struggle. I own the physical copy but my wargaming buddy lives in LA so we're playing via VASSAL. It's actually very simple. There is one shared deck, and each card has a value at the top-left corner. About half the events are US's, and about half are the USSR's. If you play an opponents' event, you get to use the value as normal to do stuff, but he then gets to "play" the card for its event. So the game is all about evaluating your hand, playing to its strengths, and mitigating the effects of your opponents' events. It's all very thematic as it follows the showdown of the Cold War.

Ha, I actually bought Love Letter... but I still haven't convinced anyone to play. "Let's all get a love letter to the princess" isn't the best sales pitch for the usual gaming crowd.

Great stuff. Yeah I hear the tracking can be a pain if you have a lot of stacking effects in play (but if you've played MTG it's probably not an issue).