OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:54 pm

6 hours later and I have only 2 packs of units left to assemble for Samurai Battles. Good lord that was a lengthy process. Now to get someone to play the tutorial scenario with me...

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 10:06 pm

Just finished first Quarriors/mageddon. My mom won with Lord of the Quarry and pawns... Sick. Son tried the Imps that generate quiddity, but Lord attack too strong (+2/2 to level 1 guys).

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:14 pm

And Mom wins again, with the Voodoo Dolls. I tried the Trolls (wrecking the used piles), my son tried Deathdealers and Deathspells, but we couldn't stop her.

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:17 pm

I hope to have time to play Quarmageddon tomorrow. Except for one die that's missing some paint on one sides level number I have no real issues with the quality of the dice I got, although 2 cards are a little bent on the corner but that's not really an issue for me or this game either.

At a quick glance at the rules and creatures/spells, one thing I like is how they've changed up certain creatures special powers. Creatures, when rolled, usually come in 2-3 different levels. The higher the level, the stronger the attack/defense values but in addition, the higher levels thus far also often include special abilities as well. Looking at some of the new creatures added in this expansion, the highest-level versions have the best attack/defense, but it's the lower levels that usually get the special powers. I just like that idea... makes rolling the creatures a little more interesting. Do I want to roll a tough creature or one that's going to let me do something otherwise useful? Before it was almost always a no-brainer, I want to roll the level 3 versions that hit like trucks AND do something useful. The only time that might work against you is if you roll a bunch of high-level creatures and not enough Quiddity to summon them all.

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:35 am

With the new spell that summons Level 1 creatures for free that Ability on the new guys is wicked. I was using that spell and Trolls (the one we had put all Basic Quiddity back in opponents bags when summoned), and Cull Dice worth 1 or more to gain a Die worth less. My Mom had the Voodoo Dolls that roll all Voodoo Dice in your Used/Spent Piles... So she could SPEND Voodoo Quiddity rolled to put in the Voodoo Doll Creature rolled, and reroll the spent one... pretty cool.

So yeah, expensive expansion (6 Creatures, 2 Spells) but the box does hold everything.

My son and I are hoping they start putting out Mini expansions with new versions of the 26 Spells/Creatures.

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:16 pm

Game One of Cosmic... Son and I changed powers, then colors... Hahaha. Then the game ended as the Entropy Beast (hazard deck) ate my planets, EVERYONE LOSES.

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:43 pm

Game Two with Moons moved powers twice, and reincarnated five powers. Game ended with two of us sharing the win. Now on to Quarmageddon!

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:38 pm

The Gnomes were unable to stop my Dragon from winning the first game, as the Trolls kept the other Dargon player from the win and my Oblation spell ate his Dragon.. Second game went to the Wiazrd pulling ahead of the Imps. Love the new spells!

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:01 pm

Chaosraven wrote:Game One of Cosmic... Son and I changed powers, then colors... Hahaha. Then the game ended as the Entropy Beast (hazard deck) ate my planets, EVERYONE LOSES.

Cosmic? You mean Cosmic Encounter? You play it 2 player?

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:59 pm

baelthazar wrote:
Chaosraven wrote:Game One of Cosmic... Son and I changed powers, then colors... Hahaha. Then the game ended as the Entropy Beast (hazard deck) ate my planets, EVERYONE LOSES.
Cosmic? You mean Cosmic Encounter? You play it 2 player?

i do mean Cosmic Encounter, but no, we played 4 player. Just noting the funny parts of the game. The other players were unaffected by the effects that hit my son and me. Well, they did have ships where the planets got eaten by Entropy Beast, but it was funny as my son had my TickTock power (down to one token left) and I had his 3 bases.

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:53 am

Cosmic Encounter has always been a game I have been just on the edge of buying, but never jumped.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:35 am

Taught Nightfall to the GF last night, as the theme is right up her alley, what with her love of supernatural romance, True Blood, and things zombie.

About half way through the game, she started griping about how she felt she was playing dead, which can be a problem. We reviewed the wound piles, and I showed her that, despite her feelings, she was actually ahead by one wound at the time. Shortly thereafter she "Leave Me!"d, with kicker, my opening chain card of "Death Grip", netting me six wounds in the exchange. She didn't complain about feeling like she was losing any more.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:00 pm

So I have a gaming group that grows and shrinks between 4-8 guys(and a few GF's/wives sometimes)

And we play D&D(Pathfinder now, actually) and then board games when we can't get a group.

I have tons of games, but they are all time consuming.. I.E. - Runewars, Battlestar galactica, Rune bound, Talisman, Game of Thrones

Then I have a few 'quicker' games - Small World, Lords of Waterdeep, Zombies

But I don't have any quick games to play while waiting for people prior to D&D sessions.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I have seen some people hyping Quarriors?

I am looking for quick, not a lot of pieces, and something people can jump into(not a ton of rules to explain).

Anyway..Any ideas?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:02 pm

Quarriors is great, but depending on how many people, the game can be 45+ minutes. Definitely check out Lords of Waterdeep -- not only does it still stay within a "D&D" roleplaying theme for your gaming night, it's on a timer so there's a definitive end point. I've played ~4 times now with 2 and 4 people and all of our games took about 35 minutes. There are a lot of pieces, but I haven't found that to be an issue (and I'm really not big on games with a lot of pieces).

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:07 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:Taught Nightfall to the GF last night, as the theme is right up her alley, what with her love of supernatural romance, True Blood, and things zombie.

About half way through the game, she started griping about how she felt she was playing dead, which can be a problem. We reviewed the wound piles, and I showed her that, despite her feelings, she was actually ahead by one wound at the time.

Considering how you brutalized hepcat and me during your second game of Nightfall, this girl's a keeper Izzy. Don't get too rough with the combos and keep letting her win.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:18 pm

She is a keeper. At one point, after I chained my three cards to start, she says, "Can I do this?" and proceeds to chain her entire hand off the end of mine.

There ain't no "letting" to her winning.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:18 pm

Smoove_B wrote:Quarriors is great, but depending on how many people, the game can be 45+ minutes. Definitely check out Lords of Waterdeep -- not only does it still stay within a "D&D" roleplaying theme for your gaming night, it's on a timer so there's a definitive end point. I've played ~4 times now with 2 and 4 people and all of our games took about 35 minutes. There are a lot of pieces, but I haven't found that to be an issue (and I'm really not big on games with a lot of pieces).

I own Lords of Waterdeep, and the same experience that you outline above. In fact, we played the game like 3 times in one night, which is a record for my gaming group.

I guess I am looking for something quick and quirky that only takes 25 minutes in total.

You never know how long it is going to be before late person A shows up...

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:23 pm

--- damn, read it too fast. The fastest game we own is Zombie Dice. There's no set up and it plays very fast.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:26 pm

Smoove_B wrote: --- damn, read it too fast. The fastest game we own is Zombie Dice. There's no set up and it plays very fast.

That sounds like something to look into. Thanks!

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:30 pm

I'd point you to Tsuro. Great quick and easy game. Everyone I've taught (and I use the term loosely, it takes like all of 30 seconds to teach) really enjoyed it.

If it was still available, I would say that Risk Express also really fits your bill. I love this game as a 10-15 minute time filler.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:31 pm

I'd definitely second Tsuro. I'll also throw in Coloretto and Incan Gold as really quick filler games.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:33 pm

Chaosraven wrote:The Gnomes were unable to stop my Dragon from winning the first game, as the Trolls kept the other Dargon player from the win and my Oblation spell ate his Dragon.. Second game went to the Wiazrd pulling ahead of the Imps. Love the new spells!

If you aren't playing with the epic rules that force you to cull the die you score with during the scoring phase of your turn, do so sometime. I actually don't think I can go back to vanilla quarriors after playing it that way.

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 3:18 pm

Played a few games of Mage Knight this weekend. Friday with LM, redun, and I played a game I ran away with as LM got really bogged down early and I managed to not reveal tiles in such a fashion that I couldn't easily take advantage of them (unlike redrun). Played a couple other games with redrun later and won them all but the last one was extremely close. The final night I took the #1 tactic card to be certain of going first as he had conquered one city and I had killed 2/3 of the other so knew there would only be 2 turns for me in the round and wanted to limit him to 1. Took the city on my first turn then killed a dragon on my second. Killing the dragon proved to be the winning edge.

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 6:12 pm

hepcat wrote:
Chaosraven wrote:The Gnomes were unable to stop my Dragon from winning the first game, as the Trolls kept the other Dargon player from the win and my Oblation spell ate his Dragon.. Second game went to the Wiazrd pulling ahead of the Imps. Love the new spells!
If you aren't playing with the epic rules that force you to cull the die you score with during the scoring phase of your turn, do so sometime. I actually don't think I can go back to vanilla quarriors after playing it that way.

As 3 of the players this weekend were brand new to the game, we went with just the standard

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 6:13 pm

RMC wrote:So I have a gaming group that grows and shrinks between 4-8 guys(and a few GF's/wives sometimes)

And we play D&D(Pathfinder now, actually) and then board games when we can't get a group.

I have tons of games, but they are all time consuming.. I.E. - Runewars, Battlestar galactica, Rune bound, Talisman, Game of Thrones

Then I have a few 'quicker' games - Small World, Lords of Waterdeep, Zombies

But I don't have any quick games to play while waiting for people prior to D&D sessions.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I have seen some people hyping Quarriors?

I am looking for quick, not a lot of pieces, and something people can jump into(not a ton of rules to explain).

Anyway..Any ideas?

LOST WORLDS combat

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 6:47 pm

Crossfire

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 6:50 pm

So here are the suggestions:

Crossfire
LOST WORLDS combat
Tsuro
Risk Express
Zombie Dice

Now off to research each of these..Or just say screw it, and buy Mage Knight, which seems to be the new hot thing...

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:05 pm

No love for Coloretto or Incan Gold? :'(

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:39 pm

You don't have to research Risk Express too hard. It was never released here in the US, and is pretty hard to come by. If you're feeling crafty, you can find some print and play variants on BGG (but you need seven blank dice for it...)

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:11 pm

Chaz wrote:No love for Coloretto or Incan Gold? :'(

Oops added those two the list as well... Sorry missed it..

And boy I went and looked at some of the reviews and play throughs of Mage Knight on you tube, and really think I and my game group would love it..

But umm..100 bucks on Amazon is a little steep for the game... So yeah.. My quest for the simpler games is on going..

How is pandemic? I read some pretty positive reviews of that as well.. And most on here seem to like it a lot.

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:41 pm

Anyone here heard anything about the new Fortress America FFG just released?

My group was looking for another big box game with more direct battle between more involved games. Unfortunately, the response has been slow for this game.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:46 pm

Pandemic is excellent. Plays fast, and requires a good amount of cooperation to win. Since it's smaller, I took it on a recent week-long trip with the gf and her folks. We wound up playing it four times the night they learned it, and her mom's requested it twice more since then. I'm planning on getting the expansion at some point soon.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:36 am

The original Fortress America put players at each other's throats, so I'm very hesitant about the Fantasy Flight re-release.

Pandemic is good, but if you want a quicker, lighter game then try Forbidden Island.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:37 am

Turtle wrote:Anyone here heard anything about the new Fortress America FFG just released?

My group was looking for another big box game with more direct battle between more involved games. Unfortunately, the response has been slow for this game.

I'll have it soon, so I will let you know.

It is the very essence of Ameritrash (in fact that is where the word originated). So it is a combat game. I don't know if it is more "at each other's throats" than Risk or the like - 3 players are sort of allied against the 4th. Sort of.

Boudreaux · Post by **Boudreaux** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:50 am

RMC wrote:
Chaz wrote:How is pandemic? I read some pretty positive reviews of that as well.. And most on here seem to like it a lot.

Pandemic got old for me very quickly. It seems to suffer very easily from the "one player telling everyone else what to do" problem that some co-op games have. It's almost like a puzzle game, trying to figure out the exact sequence to take when fighting the diseases across the map.

I'm enjoying the new Flash Point: Fire Rescue a lot more than I ever did Pandemic. It's very similar in mechanics and feel, but adds a little more variability and randomness into the game. Rather than fighting disease across the globe, you're a co-op team of firefighters attempting to rescue victims from a burning building. Instead of a spreading plague, you fight smoke and fire and the occasional explosion. Maybe it's the theme, I don't know, but it's one of the best games I've played this year. Every game has been tense and exciting, and it's almost eery how well it mimics the spread of a fire throughout a building.

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:14 am

Got crushed by redrun in MageKnight last night. First game I had tried (and not intentionally) to get by without spells. It doesn't work so well.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:59 am

Boudreaux wrote:
RMC wrote:
Chaz wrote:How is pandemic? I read some pretty positive reviews of that as well.. And most on here seem to like it a lot.
Pandemic got old for me very quickly. It seems to suffer very easily from the "one player telling everyone else what to do" problem that some co-op games have. It's almost like a puzzle game, trying to figure out the exact sequence to take when fighting the diseases across the map.

I'm enjoying the new Flash Point: Fire Rescue a lot more than I ever did Pandemic. It's very similar in mechanics and feel, but adds a little more variability and randomness into the game. Rather than fighting disease across the globe, you're a co-op team of firefighters attempting to rescue victims from a burning building. Instead of a spreading plague, you fight smoke and fire and the occasional explosion. Maybe it's the theme, I don't know, but it's one of the best games I've played this year. Every game has been tense and exciting, and it's almost eery how well it mimics the spread of a fire throughout a building.

And I LOVE Defenders of the Realm, which is a bit of a re-theme of the Pandemic mechanic.

We just did a 3 player game of Defenders, and suffered a crushing defeat. We were running chapter 3 of the summer league that the game's creator, Richard Launius, put up on BGG last summer. We did great in the first two chapters, and because of that, apparently we were being punished. There was a new character added, a Necromancer, that would spawn extra undead every time you would kill 3 minions in one location on a turn. It was brutal, and we were constantly walking that fine edge of losing to taint and losing to minion overrun. We took down the demon general early, but had to burn several re-roll cards to prevent the Necromancer from raising him as an undead demon general. In the end, we lost to running out of blue undead minions, shorty after defeating Varkolak the undead general to only have the Necromancer turn around and raise him again. That was the final crushing demoralizing blow, realizing we would have to do it all over again, and looking at the sea of minions all keyed to cause overrun and taint.

This was a really tough scenario, and despite some bad luck with our rolls, I'm not sure what the best strategy is going to be to get through this one. We were running around like crazy people, trying to keep the spawns and taint under control, and couldn't set aside the needed actions to gather favor from the Silver Dragon to defeat the Necromancer. I'm thinking the only way to get around this one is that every player HAS to spend at least one of their actions each turn trying to get favor. Otherwise, you have no chance. The resurrection of generals and the extra minion spawns is just devastating.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:02 am

Turtle wrote:Anyone here heard anything about the new Fortress America FFG just released?

My group was looking for another big box game with more direct battle between more involved games. Unfortunately, the response has been slow for this game.

If you want direct battle, I'd recommend Conquest of Nerath. The game is designed to throw you right in each other's faces, and get into lots of combat from the get-go. And it has multiple levels of victory points, so you can tailor the game length to what you want.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:29 am

Boudreaux wrote:I'm enjoying the new Flash Point: Fire Rescue a lot more than I ever did Pandemic. It's very similar in mechanics and feel, but adds a little more variability and randomness into the game. Rather than fighting disease across the globe, you're a co-op team of firefighters attempting to rescue victims from a burning building. Instead of a spreading plague, you fight smoke and fire and the occasional explosion. Maybe it's the theme, I don't know, but it's one of the best games I've played this year. Every game has been tense and exciting, and it's almost eery how well it mimics the spread of a fire throughout a building.

Ordered. I don't really know why. I don't have room for any more games and I rarely make it to the meetups any more. Maybe I can convince my wife to play it once.

Boudreaux · Post by **Boudreaux** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:39 am

coopasonic wrote:Ordered. I don't really know why. I don't have room for any more games and I rarely make it to the meetups any more. Maybe I can convince my wife to play it once.

Interestingly, I heard about Flash Point from a friend of mine who played it with his wife. She is not a gamer and does not tend to enjoy games, but she loved Flash Point.