Boardgames

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, I want that Firefly game so bad too, but I can't imagine having anyone to play it with.  

[Hot Heart]

Not really a big selling point, but it can actually be played solo. There are 'story cards' that give you different goals, with a solo play one that has you choose one of the three (earn 15,000, become solid with all contacts or proceed through 20 misbehave cards) and has its own mechanic (20 turns) and special setup (pick your crew up to a certain value, etc.) Would probably get boring after a while though.

 

The big complaints I've seen are playtime (story cards have estimates, but seem to be for more familiar players), especially when playing with 4 or even 5 (with the extra promo ship that I got) and a general lack of player interaction. On the plus side, things should go quicker once you get the hang of it (or you enjoy the theme enough that you don't mind 3+ hour games) and there is an expansion due next year called Pirates and Bounty Hunters, which seems to promise a lot more player interaction. You can play as lawmen or even Jubal Early and hunt wanted characters or possibly even set bounties/warrants on other players' crew. Sounds pretty interesting.

[deanb]

"You're shown the latest viral cat video. It contains a subliminal message. Kill your crew, go back to Go, do not collect 200 credits"

[Hot Heart]

One of my friends picked up Quirkle yesterday and we had a quick game between cinema visits. It was alright. I can see it being more fun once you get the hang of it...or actually get to read the rules rather than hear them (I'm either more of a visual or kinesthetic learner, I think) so you're not constantly having to go, "Is this a legal move?" I think my friends had watched a TableTop episode on it, so were already one-up on me anyway.

 

Of course, everytime we scored a quirkle we declared, "Alhambra!"

 

I also picked up Fluxx to try and play with the family over Christmas. Had a little demonstration game with a couple of my sisters, and I think they should enjoy it. I think, like me, they're amused when the really silly things come out like 'Play All' or the one with the person on your left randomly picking your first play. I might do the 'No Creepers' variation to begin with though...

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Not really a big selling point, but it can actually be played solo. 

 

That's pretty much THE selling point that gets me to buy most games nowadays. 

[Hot Heart]

 

Not really a big selling point, but it can actually be played solo. 

 

That's pretty much THE selling point that gets me to buy most games nowadays. 

 

 

Heh, well, that is something I check before purchasing games (particularly expensive ones). So, even though my friends have gone off Sentinels of the Multiverse (co-op goes against their instincts for being jerks), I can still run that solo.

 

The cool thing with Firefly is that the designers have made it 'sandbox-y', so that players can tweak the mechanics to represent different things or create new stories. I see people have altered the competitive 'stories' (including the new, improved learning example one) to make them a solo campaign. Or someone made a pretty cool-sounding co-op game where you go up against Niska. With the pirate and bounty hunter stuff coming in (along with another 5-6 expansions) I see a lot more potential too.

[deanb]

Well housemates boyfriend is getting Firefly so I'm gonna pick up Discworld when I'm back.

 

Picked up Oz Fluxx for Christmas period. Played with my sisters, youngest rather enjoys it and second youngest is unexpectedly devious.

 

Also got first Xmas pressie other day from housemate, the explorers expansion for Gloom. She chose it since it's a bit like Dungeons for Munchkin. And it does play a bit like that, adds an extra element though sometimes we forget to change/enact current rules added by Explorer card.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Discworld: Ankh-Morpork or a different one?

[TheMightyEthan]

I've been playing Settlers of Catan with my wife, my sister and her boyfriend.  I have reason to suspect I might be getting the Cities and Knights expansion tomorrow...

[deanb]

Yeah the Ankh-Morpork one. I did notice a Witches game other day, though I'm not much of a Witches fan.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

A very kind Christmas present from my parents this year was the original 1987 printing of Arkham Horror, a Call of Cthulhu board game. The game was reprinted in 2005 with a massive board, hundreds of cards and tokens, and really it was just a big, bloated mess in my book. So I was happy to rediscover the original, and I really think the old-school art is much more attractive and the play is more streamlined. Solo 2005 AH took me nearly 3 hours, not to mention 15-20 minutes of setup and teardown, while this one has taken about 5 minutes to get going and under an hour to play (and lose).

 

[WhitePawn]

I've actually been looking for a copy of Arkham Horror, don't really care which one. Apparently out of print and a little out of my price range atm on Amazon. May have to bite the bullet soon and pick it up anyways.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

The 2005 one is in print and readily available for under $50 on Amazon and eBay.

[Hot Heart]

Epic post incoming...

 

Got to play Firefly: The Game with a friend yesterday and it was gooooood.

 

It really does take up a lot of table space because you've got a big board; people's own ship boards with accompanying crew, gear, upgrades, cash and active jobs; 5 piles of cash denominations; 5 job contacts who could start having their own discard piles (didn't need it in ours); 5 supply planets that start having their own discard piles right away; 2 movement event piles for different areas of space, and their own discard piles; and 1 misbehave pile with another discard.

 

And it took a little while to explain all the various concepts to my friend, but it's actually really simple once you get into it. Plus, I was explaining various aspects and subtleties to him (like 'making work' for $200 if you're at a planet with a spare action) as we went along. We went with the new, improved learner scenario posted online: First Time in the Captain's Chair: Become Solid with 2 Contacts (complete a Job for each), earn $6000 and then race to a planet to pay it off.

 

We started by randomly selecting leaders. He got Corbin (i.e. unnamed and since-deceased guy with the 'net' from Our Mrs. Reynolds) who counts as a Mechanic and, fortunately for him, has no qualms about working Immoral jobs and gets ship upgrades at half price. I got Monty, old war buddy of Mal's and former husband of YoSaffBridge ("I shaved my beard for you, devil woman!"), who counts as both Soldier and Mechanic, and gets extra cash from Smuggling Jobs. We then randomly selected ships, with my friend getting the Artful Dodger (bonus promo ship with increased travel range and extra crew capacity but slightly less cargo space) and me the Bonanza (standard Firefly-class). In the new starter scenario, you automatically get a job each from a couple of the 'starter' Contacts. I would later discover that this, along with crew and ship choices, was already a whole heap of luck against me...

 

Things started well though, as my friend tried to beat me to the Space Bazaar and recruit Wash (increases your travel range by a further 1 space, plus crews with a Pilot and Mechanic can pull a Crazy Ivan, which is most useful should the Reavers come knocking) but got stopped short by the Alliance Cruiser. After having bought a Cortex Uplink (expensive, but allows you to get new Jobs without having to fly over to each Contact's planet), I was close enough to swoop in and nab him myself, and then start making my way for the first simple job. This was one of the expansion jobs with skill-related pay-offs, but a Legal and low-paying one. For my 3 Tech skills, I was rewarded with a paltry $800 and 1 part (that job's special extra Mechanic Bonus). I could've saved the Job for when I had more Tech items and crew, but it still wouldn't have been a great earner, and I needed the money. With this shorter scenario, goal amounts and such have been reduced, so time really is of the essence.

 

I discover that my friend had a similar Job from the other Contact, except his included 1 Misbehave (a really simple one of no concern), some Contraband smuggling (almost caught him with the Alliance Cruiser...) and it paid a base rate of $1000 + $400 for every Tech skill on the job, and an extra bonus for a role his first crew gave him (Soldier, I think). This netted him something like $2700 right away.

 

After that, we had some fun and games with me blocking him off with the Alliance Cruiser a few times, me having to Mosey (move only 1 space, but no risk of drawing movement event cards and chancing the Alliance catching you) on a couple of turns because I was doing an Illegal job near to the Alliance and really didn't need them seizing the Contraband, and him having the damn thing chase me for a few turns. All the while, he was building up a decent crew, got lucky in earning ludicrous amounts from selling some Cargo and Contraband he discovered while travelling, and was generally easing towards victory. Meanwhile I was sitting at about $3400, with both starter jobs done and no new work lined up...

 

One thing was clear: I needed to start taking some risks to get ahead, so I used my Cortex Uplink to consider a Job from Patience on the other side of the 'Verse (since she paid more and was right by the goal planet). As luck would have it, the job was one-stop, literally 1 sector away and paid a whopping $2800. This is it! However, it was both Illegal (requiring 2 Misbehaves) and Immoral. The problem with an Immoral Job is that, should you complete it, it makes any Moral crew disgruntled. If those people then earn a second Disgruntled token, they leave the ship and go back to the associated discard pile (meaning someone else can nab them); but in the case of your captain, if they earn a second one, they fire ALL crew (only had 2 anyway, to keep down the overheads on basic jobs). So, it was a big risk, since I was running a light crew (with a fair bit of gear, however) and would Disgruntle both the captain and Wash, but should I complete it, I just needed to get to the goal planet to win. I was probably going to lose if I didn't do something drastic, so I went with it.

 

First Misbehave I draw is 'Locals in Need', which gives me 2 options to proceed. Either help out by discarding 1 cargo and getting the opportunity to remove any Disgruntled tokens from crew, or ignore their cry for help and Disgruntle all Moral crew. Since I had no cargo to give, I had to do the second options. So, already I know, that should I complete this Job, Monty is going to fire everyone.

 

It gets better... next card I draw involves either Negotiating your way through with a Skill Test (roll a die + crew and gear bonuses) or Fight your way through but risk killing crew and earning a warrant (automatic job failure). The Negotiate one means I have to roll a 6 in order to get an automatic bonus roll, whereas the Fight one requires 3+. I choose Fight...and roll a 2. So, not only do I have to kill someone, but the Job is gone forever, I'm now an outlaw ship and my Captain is still Disgruntled. I opt to kill Wash because NOTHING MATTERS ANYMORE and my friend manages to win a few turns later (wisely deciding not to pay some crew after his last job in order to get the $6k) without much I could do.

 

Either way, despite losing horribly, it was a lot of fun. The thematic element is very strong, and there's actually a fair amount of depth and strategy in there. You're limited to 2 actions a turn, so you're always looking at how best to go about your business, you have to keep an eye on your fuel supply as well as carefully picking routes to minimise travel distance but avoid either/both the Alliance and Reavers, and you're trying to run a decent crew without saddling yourself with a lot of nasty overheads. Not to mention, the need to consider which Jobs you can complete, and which you need to works towards or ignore completely.

 

I actually haven't played a game where the mechanics and theme blended so well. And, all told, that scenario only lasted roughly an hour and twenty minutes; which is actually forty minutes less than the 'hour per player estimate'. Obviously, it helped that my friend had a ship more suited to his needs, got lucky with his leader and first job as well as a salvage op (free contraband and cargo), but I don't think it would've taken him an extra forty minutes to reach victory. Might've taken me that long to get back in the game though...

 

I imagine more players will really add to the shenanigans with moving about the Alliance and Reavers, which probably does hold up progress a bit more. But that's all part of the fun!

 

After that, since there was time to spare, my friend wanted to have a quick go of Them's Fightin' Words, which he'd finally received from the guys after the successful Kickstarter. It's a fun little memory game that involves hurling insults (back and forth in two-player, obviously) built up of three parts (You [adjective] [noun]) based on what cards are drawn, with each player's turn adding either a new western/cowboy-themed adjective (lily-livered, cross-eyed, yellow-bellied) or occasionally a new finishing noun (cur, liar).

 

So, if 'You Baby-Faced Cur' is down on the table, you start (with best Texan or similar accent) by declaring, "You baby-faced..." then play your card, which in this case will be 'Namby Pamby', so you continue, "...namby pamby cur!" and so on until someone messes up the order. Of course, if it's a new finishing noun, that goes down instead. It had us laughing quite a bit, especially when you get odd combinations like "You baby-faced, namby pamby, baby-faced..." or "You dirty, son of a, dirty..."

 

Then we had a go of his other new purchase Castle Panic, which I'd seen on TableTop. A co-operative tower defence game that's easy to pick up (and tricky to win). Things started horribly as we drew some big boss creatures early on, but we held out pretty well until goddamn boulders tore us apart...

[TheMightyEthan]

Man, I want that Firefly game so bad, but one hour per player... I'd never get anyone to play with me.  

[Hot Heart]

Well, it does depend on the scenario, how much people manage to grasp the rules and subtleties, and how you organise play (have people looking through discards during other people's turns, one person moves a ship while the other does the movement cards, etc.) We did play the quickest one, and I studied the crap out of the rules, though.

 

But, yeah, I'd still say it's definitely something for which you need to set aside an evening or lazy Sunday. If they like the theme and get a taste with that initial scenario, they should want to play and discover more.

[Hot Heart]

D'oh! Just realised, while sorting out the cards, that I could've avoided completely failing the Job that did me in because the second card contained the 'Bribes' keyword for the Negotiate test. Which meant I could've added extra points to my test score by paying $100 per point. Which actually means that game would've been really close.

[Hot Heart]

Completed and won a solo game of Firefly. Went for the 'solid with 5 contacts' goal and did it with 5 turns to spare.

 

It was pretty fun, though I must admit luck played a fairly large part in proceedings.

 

For one, I managed to grab River after putting Simon on my crew during setup (solo allows you to pick up to 4 crew members from any deck up to the value of $1k, so I was Mal and took Kaylee, Zoe, Wash and Simon). River is useful if you're lucky with a die roll and she contributes the skills you need (doesn't always happen) and I rolled a natural 6 on two occasions which really saved my hide (otherwise, Simon gets to add 2 to the roll meaning a 4+ would've sufficed). Plus, I stumbled across a better engine right away as well as the Cortex Uplink from the first expansion which let me take some different jobs without having to revisit the contacts (as I didn't like a few Niska had given me). It was extra helpful because a single-player turn ends when you've taken each of the available actions or every time you fly, so I was able to get a new job while on the other side of the board.

 

However, a lot of my turns were wasted moving slowly through Alliance Space so they didn't come for my illegal goods or wanted crew. At one point I drew the Reaver Cutter card while in border space, but was able to pull a Crazy Ivan and escape.

 

EDIT: This is my thread now!

Edited January 2, 2014 by Hot Heart

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Hot Heart is talking to himself again...

[Hot Heart]

Who said that?

[Hot Heart]

Back for what's mine!

 

My friends had another 'Game Day' yesterday and though I had stuff to take care of before I could join them, I took part in a good few games.

 

First up, we had a go at Firefly with five players. Which requires a lot of table space. They were all prepared for it to take a while, but I assured them that once the first goal of the scenario was completed (become solid with 4 specific contacts) that the other two would go very quickly. It took a while to explain everything (as it does), but overall it took a bit over 4 hours. Fortunately, everyone likes the theme, and they enjoyed all the funny little oddities and whenever they get to set the Alliance or Reavers on one another. We played fairly ruthlessly when it came to screwing one another over, though one guy missed the opportunity to steal a few crewmates of his closest rival and leave him twisting without a well-needed pilot at critical moments (when Reavers attack, or so he could get a Keyword from a card that requires a Pilot).

 

I made a few poor decisions with regards to which jobs to work earlier on (plus, forgot my leader's key ability for buying a sweet new drive core at half price), and then got royally screwed thanks to an unlucky card draw with Reavers. Meanwhile, I think some of the other guys were quite fortunate with their starter jobs and made good bank early on. Overall, though, it was good fun and future games should go quicker. Plus, it was pretty much neck-and-neck for two guys, right at the end. If one hadn't succeeded at the final goal attempt, the other (who got unlucky with Misbehaves) could've spitefully hired any of his disgruntled crew (of which he had 5), even if just to immediately fire them and set him back a bunch of skill points.

 

I would say that if you're using the Artful Dodger promo ship (which you have to for 5 players), there needs to be somewhat of a handicap for that player. It gets 2 less cargo slots, but that isn't adequate recompense for the whole extra crew space and increased fly range it gets by default. The value of the ship is written as $700 more than the standard Firefly-class, though that never figures into the game, and the better drive core you have to pull from one of the supply decks has a value of $1200 or so (standard ones aren't given a value as you don't buy them though), so I'd suggest taking something between $700-1000 from their starting money of $3000. Or have a look at how much extra crew space is and get an idea of how much better that drive core is, to work out what to deduct.

 

After that, we went for something lighter and simpler...Cards Against Humanity! Hadn't had a chance to play this before, so that was a lot of fun. One of friend's cracked up at some of our 'haikus' where we just went for the funniest three-card order we could find (The Honey Monster. Touching David Beckham's Hair, A Little Bit. Giving 110%) while I got an 'In a world...' task and just had to do it film trailer man voice, but with the comic twist of the Honest Trailers guy's voice, obviously. Though, I could barely get through that either ("In a world ravaged by Ethnic cleansing, our only solace is...A pretty cool hat"). What was odd is that the game was another close rivalry between two guys, and none of us had a look-in; even though it's not exactly something you can really aim to win. Anyway, great fun.

 

Then we had another quick go of Quirkle, and that just seems boring by comparison. I'm no genius, sure, but I just find the mechanics too (unnecessarily) convoluted/complicated. Basically, if I were looking for a game in that vein, I'd much rather play Scrabble or Rummikub.

 

Then, the legendary Carcassonne. I had no damn clue how to play this game, even when it was explained, and I sort of stumbled through, finally understanding in maybe my penultimate turn, having looked at the instructions along the way. I made a fairly decent move with placing a farm early on, but then the two more experienced players went and messed that up. Then I just got screwed over with a massive city that I didn't get to build onto, while the ultimate winner did, and he just ran away with the game. On the plus side, I didn't come dead last...

 

After that, it had gotten pretty late and the three dudes who share a house buggered off home, so I played a game of Pandemic with the other remaining guy. We randomly selected our characters (scientist and construction worker) and did a game of 4/6 difficulty, i.e. 4 of the 6 infection cards shuffled in. Maybe there was a little luck with the initial cards, or maybe I managed to coordinate the thing so damn well, but we had two diseases cured in the first few turns and then the other two a little after that. And only two outbreaks overall. We absolutely beasted it. Though my friend claims those 4/6 games can go much worse. Pfft, I say!

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Nice. Just picked up Pandemic (again) at the thrift shop so maybe I will return to it. Lots of fun there--other games in that same vein are Flash Point Fire Rescue, Forbidden Island/Desert, and Defenders of the Realm.

[TheMightyEthan]

I've been thinking about forbidden island/desert.  Any recommendations on which one I should get?

[Hot Heart]

I've looked at a fair few co-op or competitive co-op games, but it seems like a waste buying most of them because I'd only potentially have one other person to play with; and those things ain't cheap. It's become clear that most of my friends have drastically different tastes to me, and certainly don't have the knack or desire to play co-op. They'll happily play stuff that is only appealing on a purely abstract mechanical level, while I tend to prefer something that feels like it successfully blends its theme with the mechanics or can just be good casual fun. Though, that's not to say I particularly enjoy Power Grid or Ticket to Ride... I guess I prefer 'AmeriTrash' to 'EuroGames'?

 

I thought I'd really like something with a Lovecraftian theme but Elder Sign feels so divorced from it that it just isn't fun. You are literally just looking at dice probabilities and occasionally where to place a new row of 'dice roll requirements'; you are paranormal investigator/risk assessor. Nor does it ever feel particularly co-op and, since there's a countdown, you never get a chance to really do much of what the game shows you. There are so many bits and things for such a bland game. And I have no clue how Love Letter's cards relate to its theme; am I passing a letter around or something? I can appreciate the clever design, but it doesn't engage me or entertain me in a meaningful way.

 

So I've looked at Flash Point or Police Precinct, Space Cadets or Space Alert, Conquest of Planet Earth, Ghost Stories, etc. but decided against them. Particularly when I test the water and get "It sounds dumb/looks rubs."

 

I watched the latest TableTop and Tsuro of the Seas looked quite fun, but then for that one I get, "Regular Tsuro is terrible. I don't think of the seas has changed much." So fuck it, I'll stick to stuff that I can at least manageably play solo.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

You and I would get along playing games just fine. When the mechanics are divorced from the theme I'm left high and dry, most of the time. I gave away Love Letter and traded away Elder Sign. Try Eldritch Horror or Arkham Horror (though I actually hate the latter; I only really enjoy the 1987 printing which is hard to come by now). But they're both very thematic.

 

Ethan, it is hard to say. I think Desert's theme comes through a little better, and it has about one more dimension gameplay-wise. But you can't really argue with Forbidden Island's price point and 30-minute play time. I think if you haven't played similar co-op games before, Island is a good introduction (and a good game in its own right), where if you've played out these "put the fire out" emergent co-ops, Desert offers something a little different.