Boardgames

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

CAH is also free for print-n-play off their site.

 

Risk Legacy is not limited to the 15 campaign plays either. The board will only change, the rules will only evolve, the factions will only gain new powers for the first 15 games. After that the rules etc. are static, but it's still a fully playable (and totally unique) copy of Risk.

 

I will say that I'm not a huge fan of Risk's underlying mechanic (3 attack/ 2 defend dice, repeat ad nauseam), but I feel that's more a function of how darn long the game takes. ESPECIALLY when a player can be eliminated before his turn even comes up. With Legacy, games are supposed to take 45 minutes to 2 hours maximum, so I'm hopeful that the battle system is more suitable to that length. You play to 4 Victory Points, achieved in a variety of ways, rather than total global domination.

 

I'll post some thoughts after I get my first game in, hopefully next week or the week after.

 

I should also mention that in my board game collection, only 7 games have over 15 recorded plays--and I play a lot of board games. So $50 or so for 15 plays wouldn't be that bad of a deal (how many times do we pay $50 for a video game with a 15 hour campaign?).

[TheMightyEthan]

Not strictly a board game, but it's tabletop so I figure close enough: Mobile Frame Zero. Saw it on Penny-Arcade. It's basically like a tactical strategy game played with collectible miniatures, but instead of having to buy the miniatures you build your own out of Legos or whatever the fuck you want, so it doesn't cost your entire life savings to get into. I may have to try it if my wife has any interest whatsoever. My sister and her boyfriend might be good too.

[TheMightyEthan]

So after playing the game with my sister and her boyfriend, I decided I would like it a lot if it were a computer game. I really love the mechanics, and the way battles play out and building your own units and everything, but calculating the results of combat and everything just takes so long. It would be nice to have it on the computer where the computer could handle all that tedious stuff. Potentially even better would be a Wii U one since I'd be more likely to get my family and people to play it.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Interesting. For us board gamers, the transparency of the mechanics is one of the draws. I love seeing the different ways designers solve design problems. For instance, in a game of Forbidden Island, a certain number of cards from the "Flood Deck" are drawn each turn, which partially flood a tile on the island. If that same card is drawn again, the tile is removed completely. The trouble is that players would have way too much time to just grab everything they need and leave--EXCEPT the designer added 3 "Waters Rise" cards to the Treasure deck. Now, the Flood cards that have already been drawn are immediately shuffled ON TOP of the remaining flood cards--meaning tiles that are already underwater will be the very first to be drawn!

 

That being said, I've not played that game, and certain games can be really rules-"fiddly" or too "mathy" and that can suck up some of the fun.

[TheMightyEthan]

Well like I said, I absolutely love the mechanics, and I love being able to see exactly how they work. It's just the process of actually going through a turn that starts to drag. I played with my sister and her boyfriend and we were playing a "skirmish" (the small size battle) with the recommended number of units each (4-5 per team), and we played for 2 hours and got through 2 rounds (a "round" being a full turn for every unit on the table). I love the way the systems interact and watching it happen, but it was just so slow.

 

Although we were playing with a dice rolling app rather than actually rolling physical dice, maybe that would have made it more fun.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Ah, so the game had a lot of downtime and lag. That can absolutely kill a game experience, no matter how well-designed the game is otherwise. My absolute favorite board games/tabletop games play in under an hour, preferably 30-40 minutes. I will play longer games, but hopefully there's always something for me to do and the gameplay is worth it. Glad to hear you liked the mechanics. I will have to keep an eye on that, hadn't heard of it before.

[Nexus]

My lady and I have been playing a few board games recently - culminating in us buying Arkham Horror from Waterstones. It's a lot of fun, even if it was a slog to get through the first couple of games whilst we were learning the mechanics. She's also just bought Gloom and Ticket To Ride: Europe, neither of which I've played, and both of which I'm looking forward to playing when I next see her.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Still haven't played Arkham Horror, only its little brother Elder Sign. It is something I do want to try someday. You'll love Ticket to Ride; it's grand.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

By the by if anyone wants me to teach them a board game, I can run Carcassonne, Hive, LOTR The Card Game, and several others across the VASSAL board game engine online.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Had a great night of board gaming last night. Here's Dragon Quest Slime Race:

 

 

And here's the carnage of Risk Legacy:

 

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Why are there so few pieces on that board?

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Early games play in 30-40 minutes, so you never have a chance to amass huge armies. It's very quick, cutthroat, and confrontational. Turtling to save up armies loses you the game fast. Also, it's more like an RTS in that you have a "spawn point" where all your initial armies and HQ start, rather than spreading out across the world as in traditional Risk.

[TheMightyEthan]

Fast games? You may have just sold that for me. I love Risk but I can almost never get anyone else to take the time to actually play it with me.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Yes, it's a ton of fun and I usually hate Risk. You need 4 victory points to win instead of taking over the whole world. It works like this (at least before any bizarre rule changes in future packets we haven't opened yet):

 

• Haven't won a game before? (you sign when you win, so if you haven't signed the board yet): Start with 1 VP
• Your starting HQ is worth 1 VP
• Occupying an opponent's HQ is worth 1 VP
• Turning in any 4 resource cards (1 gained every turn that you carry out at least one successful attack): 1 VP
• If small resource deck runs out, player with most territory gets 1 VP at that point.

So in the first few games you actually only need 2 VP, which is pretty easily accomplished without feeling too short. If you can't get anyone together for a full Legacy campaign, most of the core gameplay is integrated into Revised Risk, the currently on sale version with the arrows on the front. That game plays in an hour or so.

[deanb]

We played Catan last night (and then some Munchkin n Munchkin booty but done those before). Pretty good fun, fairly simple to get the hang of, obviously a case of getting a good spot and camping out. We had a surprisingly large number of 7's rolled. I got longest road, but as I'd not gotten any cities I came last

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Catan is good. It's a little bland due to the theme, but there's a lot of depth and strategy there.

[deanb]

http://www.tabletopday.com/

 

30th March for Tabletop Day.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Current favorite is Gears of War the board game. The game is very very well done, though setup can be a chore. I've beaten the first two missions and gotten utterly crushed on the third (I think there are 8 or 9 including Horde Mode).

 

[deanb]

 

We're doing well with the collection so far. Printed off Cards Against Humanity earlier so going to be cutting those up in a bit. Also have guests bringing games, so far looking at between 10-12 people which is a respectable amount.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

That is an awesome motley pile of board games. I started my collection by buying at thrift shops, so mine didn't look too different from that at first.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Not much of a "tabletop day" for me. Easter weekend means a busy family. I did squeeze in a solo run of Talisman, a solo play of Lost Cities, and a quick 1 v. 1 Ace of Aces duel.

[deanb]

We started late (housemate suggested next time I say to start at 10AM, she's kind of bummed because it meant we missed out on some games, and didn't get to swap around as originally planned)

 

Started the day with Rapidough, not quite strictly a boardgame but one of the few we had where many people could be involved at once. It's basically pictionary with play dough. Our team won even with our scoring handicap (had it halved, due to having three people on our team instead of 2)

 

Moved onto a pirate game thingy, it's another "not quite in the spirit, but it's fun". Aim is to move around the board carrying a coin (first to get 5 coins wins) but after each turn the pirate skeleton pops out and randomly grabs a coin, if yours is taken you go back to the start. We did it first to two because Doctor Who was coming up.

 

After Doctor Who we got into it proper. One group playing Lord of the Rings Risk (that'd be the one I played) and the other Ticket to Ride. My first time playing Risk, it takes a fair while to set-up and we also think we may have gotten some of the rules messed up a fair bit (the rulebook is a bit shitty and unclear on things, especially those related to the LotRs rules). Bonus is with LotR rules the game ends when the ring moves into Gondor (off the board, end of Fellowship of the Ring), so didn't drag on too long. Lewis left it (and Doom: The Boardgame) here so me n Erin might have another spin with it and divine the true rules.

 

Then onto Cards Against Humanity. Due to it costing £28 as sold by them in the UK and not finding it in the local board game store opted to print our own, was relatively cheap to do, £4.50 of card/heavy paper but only needed half the pack. Was pretty fun, definitely a game that's better with a bit of alcohol we think. Some question/answers fall a bit flat, and we've decided in future might be best to remove some of the more american centric stuff (especially brands) from the pack. Probably replace with UK equivalents. Many times results are pretty damn hilarious though to balance out the "wut" moments. Shame on the last answers almost always universally sucking.

 

Scooby Doo and the Phantom Chase was the next one. Aim is to get to the end of the game before the (motorised) phantom gets you, so it's rather rapid rolls and moves, gets a bit hectic. I opted to move out the way at this point.

 

Cthulhu Fluxx: Wish we'd had this earlier on, we only ended up playing it because I spotted it on our table. Exceedingly simple to play given the rules are "draw one, play one". Of course until new rules and goals are added. I think I'd want to play it more to work out the gameplay to it though. As in beyond the obvious, so tactics on how to play things in right order or to your favour than just playing whatever and praying.

 

My housemate and I technically won the day, even removing our "supplied munchies" points (bummed only one other brought food), but opted to let others be in the running for the prizes. Which consisted of three cheapo Easter eggs we'd randomly picked up in the morning.

 

Was a good day, I think we'll be doing similar in the future. But more the case of "few of us have a free evening, let's play Risk/TTR/whatever" than many people and a full day of doing it. Mainly on those occasions it's Munchkin, so good to know we've variety. Definitely gonna see on doing it next year.

 

edit: Forgot Zombie Dice, just noticed it on the scoreboard.

Pretty neat game, and also highly scalable. Basically the aim is to get 13 brains. You have a selection of dice in varying colours which have Brain, Footsteps, and Shotgun markers on them. Depending on colour of dice gives the ratio of these on the dice (greens have more brains, red has more shotguns, amber is middling). You take three dice from the tumbler at a time and roll them, aiming to get brains. You continue drawing and rolling the dice until you have 13 brains, you've "banked" your current brains, or gotten three shotguns and thus lose all the brains that round. It's pretty fast and small game.

[Hot Heart]

Had a very busy weekend. Definitely managed to take advantage of the bank holiday weekend.

 

My friends have been pretty big on tabletop stuff at the moment, given that it seems to be so hot right now, and decided to have a day for it. As far as I'm aware, a lot of these were purchased after seeing them on Wil Wheaton's Tabletop series so you could always seek those out if you want to get an idea of how they play. However, THESE ARE MY IN-DEPTH THOUGHTS ON THEM.

 

Small World

I arrived while this game was in progress, with four players. I had no idea what was going on and doubt I would've been able to grasp it anyway. I was content to look at the pretty pictures and point and laugh at the weird combinations of adjectives (attributes) with races: marauding sorcerors, were-leprechauns (they turn into men during a full moon?!), flying trolls. I SUPPOSE IT COULD BE FUN.

 

Ticket To Ride (before you ask, OF COURSE, I sang the song)

I thought I was at an advantage with this game, given that I have both been on a train and know where a few North American cities are; how wrong I was! The idea is to try and build connections between different cities to fulfill specific routes with varying values, depending on difficulty (risk/reward is that points for incomplete routes are deducted from your total).

 

This was now five players, and began with a surprising amount of people not dicking each other over...or we were just keeping very quiet about it. I managed to play pretty well (I thought!) as a lot of my routes occupied the same area, and I even gambled on some extra routes (you can get 3 new ones but must keep at least 1) which paid off. Turns out I must have played it too safe as while I completed all my routes for fairly high values, it wasn't enough to keep me from third place (with an extra ten points for the longest uninterrupted route jumping someone into first place by 1 point). Still, it was enjoyable enough, and I do regret not dicking over the guy who came waaay last anyway.

 

Fluxx (basic)

I'd played this one before and really enjoyed it. A card game where the rules and goal are constantly in...a state of constant change. Games can be incredibly short or incredibly long due to these shifts. The best games come from when you can spot someone attempting some sort of scheme, which is completely upended by someone else moments later. In our little circle it has become an injoke to make sure one person (who can take things a bit too seriously) never wins, even if it means handing victory to another player (as happened on one memorable occasion).

 

Unfortunately, this was one of those games where the random nature handed one player two consecutive victories very easily. In the first game, the goal had been changed to the one card they already had by the time it got round to their first turn (which was still highly amusing), and the second game lasted about three goes around the table before virtually the same thing happened again. The winner then declared it a boring game (three of the guys share a house and had played it a lot before) and that was that.

 

King of Tokyo

As of Fluxx, we already had 6 people, which limited some of the gaming options and meant we gave this a go despite some of the others not being too keen. Based on what I tried to watch of the Tabletop episode, I can see why. Not much to say except having 6 players makes it fairly short, and there's not much going for it outside of the 'cool' theme.

 

Munchkin (Deluxe? There was a board too. I don't know...)

This seemed a little more interesting, even if my friends made it sound more complex than it is. It has some recognisable RPG elements with races, classes and gear which combine to create levels for tackling monsters in order to level up (first to 10 wins) along with other little modifiers (half-breed options, curses, buffs). I recognised artwork by Gabe of Penny Arcade (I forget his real name) and the actual items and enemies were generally quite funny (I fought a Telemarketer).

 

Some shrewd playing (along with some luck, of course) meant that I was winning for a long time without the need to sabotage other people's efforts (because I'm a nice guy!). There was a moment where someone chose to be a total dick and buff a monster (also adding a second one) so it was unbeatable solo only for me to switch it so they had to fight...only for them to get help from someone else who I didn't want to dick over by then adding a +10 to a monster's level. Following that, I played no holds barred and had victory in my grasp, seeing the final monster I had to defeat was a level 1...only to discover it would refuse to fight me because of one item of gear I was wearing which someone almost stole on the previous turn (FFFFUUUUU-), which meant my turn was a waste. After that it was just a clusterfuck of people trying to defeat one final monster to earn victory, with everyone trying to sabotage the other until they were out of useful stuff and someone got lucky.

 

Smash Up

By this point, my head was about to burst with trying to take in all these new rulesets and game mechanics, and this one was hella confusing. A base capture sort of game involving lots of numbers and various modifiers, played with 6 people in charge of 2 races each, with nearly every card carrying some sort of effect. Essentially, there are different bases that hand out victory points to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place depending on your minion score when the base's total is reached (generally 1st place is best but not always). Problem is that certain races alter point values depending on other factors (such as whether it's their turn) or can trigger other things at the same time. Trying to keep track of everything was NOT FUN. Anyway, it has a pretty cool concept in that the various races make for different combinations that drastically alters the required tactics. Someone had aliens and undead, another had pirates and ghosts while I had ninja and bears (FUCK YEAH!) after picking at random because I had no fucking clue what any of it meant.

 

Soon enough, I got a feel for what I needed to do, and I don't think ninja and bears make for a great combination (gonna need to see some real world testing) seeing as the bears are about throwing in lots of minions to hold bases (with abilities that mean they can't be touched at all) whereas the ninja lack the manpower, instead using lots of actions to fuck with people. Anyway, I had found a decent approach, although it did mean having to wait out a few rounds and be careful about going over the hand limit while keeping future moves in mind. On a few occasions, I managed some pretty nifty moves where a shinobi is allowed to sneak in as a base is captured, and pick up some points that way (taking 2nd on one occasion where that point value was actually higher than 1st). I was about one turn away from victory when someone else managed a decent round of moves and stole it. Oh, well, actually quite enjoyed that game and could see a lot of potential if attempted earlier in the day and with a few more combinations.

 

Elder Sign

I HATE THIS FUCKING GAME ALMOST AS MUCH AS IT HATES ME. All joking aside, this game sucks. It's based on Lovecraft mythology and I suppose it succeeds in that it is just an overwhelming amount of inescapable doom. I thought I would enjoy a cooperative game, but a greater number of players seems to work against you in this instance. I'd try and explain it to you, but it is needlessly complex for what is essentially a series of dice rolls followed by the game giving you the finger. I think I had the worst character with no useful abilities and it's one of those games that kicks you when you're down, so much that I wound up just sitting out the last few turns, partly to heal but mainly so as not to fuck up everyone else's game (seriously, they might as well have put my dude's picture next to the main villain's). Somehow, 'we' managed to win though...

 

Power Grid

It had gone 11pm by the time we started even looking at this (it has so many pieces that need setting up!) and my brain had been giving up about two games ago. We decided to sort of learn it as we went, and I managed to pick it up rather quickly. It involves buying power stations on auction (where players can compete) that rely on certain resources (whose values change depending on how many have already been purchased each round) and these power a certain number of cities where you buy a...I DON'T KNOW WHAT BUT YOU GET THE RIGHTS TO PUT A LITTLE WOODEN HOUSE THERE OK, which then give you money each turn, depending on how many you are able to power. I put my first little wooden house in Fargo (Oh, ja!). There's an element of advantages quickly becoming disadvantages as turn order is constantly altered to favour those who may be falling behind (for example, stragglers get first pick on resources, potentially raising prices for everyone after).

 

Things were going well, and I was sitting pretty to win (wind power stations, hell yeah!), although the unofficial alteration to the rules (halving the total number of power plants owned by one player before the game ends and totals are added up) made in order to shorten things actually wound up screwing me over when they had to be further altered a few goes after mine. And I would've been guaranteed victory under those rules as well. Either way, I found myself enjoying this game more than I would have expected, and I think a full game could've been fairly topsy-turvy...though it would've taken a few hours, I think.

 

And that was that. Overall, it was quite fun. I would definitely recommend Fluxx and Smash Up, though I think Munchkin, Ticket To Ride and Power Grid are worth a look, too.

[Nexus]

Hello gents.

 

Since I last posted, my (and my gf's) game collection has increased dramatically.

 

We now own:

 

Munchkin Cthulu. I purchased this a long time ago, probably my Second Year at uni, because I played the original Munchkin and loved it so much. Cthulu Munchkin is fine, but adds unnecessarily complex rules, and I don't like it as much as the original. Plus, the fact it requires more than 2 people to play properly means it rarely gets an airing.

 

Arkham Horror. Possibly the most cuntish of games we own. It's needlessly complicated (it takes roughly 15-30 minutes to actually set up), and there is a distinct possibility you'll lose within the first two or three turns. Despite this, if you're willing to stick with it (our longest game was six hours!), it's a lot of fun, and finally winning is very satisfying. It's a co-op game too.

 

Pirate Fluxx. Fluxx, but with Pirates. Fun and fast paced.

 

Gloom. Depressing storytelling card game, where the object is to make your family as miserable as possible and then kill them all off. The best part of the game is using the prompts on the cards to lovingly craft a story which will make your characters feel as bad as possible. I cannot recommend this enough.

 

A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. Only played this once, and was left incredibly disappointed by it. Could be because we only played it with two players, but it just didn't feel fun. 

 

Ticket to Ride: Europe. Ticket to Ride, just set in Europe, with tunnels and ferries for added fun. I really enjoy playing Ticket to Ride, so this is a fun little game to play. 

 

Discworld: Ankh-Morpork. I'm sure I'd enjoy this more if I got the references, but it's a fun game where you all have your own agenda, and are trying to use the cards and board to further the agenda. Plus games where you dick over your friends are always fun.

 

Braggart. A card game where you are essentially trying to outboast your friends' stories. Ridiculous amounts of fun and really hilarious. I highly recommend.

 

Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin. A deck building game where you are trying to defeat monsters in a dungeon. Slow to get started, a pain in the arse to get set up, but a lot of fun when you're actually playing it. Reminds me of Dominion, but I find this more fun.

 

Bodgermania. Goblin wrestling crossed with Trumps. A lot of fun, and very fast paced and easy to pick up.

 

Carcassonne. A classic, and a nice calm, soothing game. Most recent purchase.

 

We have this problem where we go into a games shop to browse and end up spending ridiculous amounts of money. The worrying thing is, we rarely have more than just the two of us to play, so it limits the fun you can have .

[deanb]

There's the Discworld game in our local Travelling Man and it currently has "my first paycheque" written all over it. Gloom sounds interesting.

 

Also..what is the Ticket to Ride song?