OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:27 am

hepcat wrote:Got in two games of Star Trek Attack Wing...both of which I lost. Then a game of Warhammer Conquest LCG...which I lost. After that, a game of Doctor Who: The Twelve Doctors...which I lost. Finally, Seppe humored me and let me put Pax Porfiriana on the table...which I then lost.

The only thing that could make this better would be a video montage and a soundtrack provided by the Little River Band.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:29 am

My gaming group keeps canceling at the last minute. <sigh> We were all set-up to play Firefly this past Sunday, but one of the guys had wife aggro so he canceled. The worst was that he hates certain people so they can't be invited if he is coming, and well since he was coming they were not invited. So..game day over.

I hate when you have to manage other peoples expectations of others. Just come and play, and if you don't want to play with certain people then don't. But <shrug> oh well, I pretty much get along with everyone so I don't have those issues. I mean, I don't like playing with people 20+ years younger than me, but it's not usually that bad. But this one friend refuses to play with younger people. It's not like we are old, just in our 40's, I prefer to not play with teens, but that is mostly because teens are close to my kids ages, and I tend to act a little more 'grown-up' around them instead of being more relaxed.

<shrug> Now back to talking about having fun.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:49 am

RMC wrote:It's not like we are old, just in our 40's

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 10:04 am

Smoove_B wrote:
hepcat wrote:Got in two games of Star Trek Attack Wing...both of which I lost. Then a game of Warhammer Conquest LCG...which I lost. After that, a game of Doctor Who: The Twelve Doctors...which I lost. Finally, Seppe humored me and let me put Pax Porfiriana on the table...which I then lost.
The only thing that could make this better would be a video montage and a soundtrack provided by the Little River Band.

Hit Play on this after every ellipses.

I'm still loving Star Trek Attack Wing. The story based scenarios really do make it so much better for an old Star Trek fan. I need to be careful though as I'm starting to fall into the same money pit that Zarathud is in with X-Wing. So many ships...

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 10:26 am

coopasonic wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:Played Ninjato and Splendor at the boardgame event.
I think I am regressing. A couple years ago I was afraid to walk into a board gaming event without knowing anyone. I resolved that by knowing Isgrimnur. Now I am afraid to ask my wife if she is ok with me attending a board gaming event. I really ought to be comfortable talking to my wife, right?

Played 2 player, full-coop Dead of Winter with X(8). In full co-op there are no secret personal objectives and I suspect that takes a lot of the fun out of the game. At least now I know the basic mechanics of the game in case I ever manage to find way out of my home for a gaming event. I already know April and May are out with a legitimate conflicts. Soccer season will be over by June, so it's totally possibly I can game in June!

Print out the schedule and negotiate it all at once. The year's dates are set. If you play it right, you should be able to negotiate 3-4 of the back half events in addition to BGGCon.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 10:54 am

Played a few more games of The Ancient World this weekend. Now that I've played it a few times and have started to get a feel for the strategy, I really like it. I do wish, however, that there was a bit more variety in some of the cards.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:27 am

Smoove_B wrote:
hepcat wrote:Got in two games of Star Trek Attack Wing...both of which I lost. Then a game of Warhammer Conquest LCG...which I lost. After that, a game of Doctor Who: The Twelve Doctors...which I lost. Finally, Seppe humored me and let me put Pax Porfiriana on the table...which I then lost.
The only thing that could make this better would be a video montage and a soundtrack provided by the Little River Band.

That would be awesome. I'm picturing hep's head in his hands with his hair flowing around like a mane.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 12:08 pm

Seppe's 15 year old son is the one that beat me at the Warhammer Conquest game. Then he tried to be nice about it by trying to make the old man feel better about it. "Ah, it was just a learning game." and "You didn't know about one of the rules, that's all!".

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 3:39 pm

Played 2 games of Yggdrasil with my two boys...and lost. Badly. Man, that game is tough...

Right now, set up on the table? Fallen. Oh Yeah!!! Love that game. This evening, I will be the DL and my son will be the Hero. Vanek the Thief steps into the Forge Master's dungeon. We will be continuing our Dark Tower saga.

We haven't played Fallen for a few weeks or so, so I am ready to get back to it.

Have you guys seen the previews for the expansions coming out this summer? On the Watchtower Games' website (in their forums), there are previews up for the new hero (a Necromancer), a new DL (a Mummy that has a curse mechanic) and some of the other stuff being added in.

They all look good...the Necro does not get treasure, but he does have undead minions. The Mummy looks very difficult to beat. Good stuff, and coming pretty soon.

Chris

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 7:33 pm

Home with the family for a week in Montana, and I brought Sheriff of Nottingham with to play, and I have to say that it has been a huge hit. I thought it would be, since it is right up my family's alley, but everyone has wanted to play it a lot.

The first couple of game I played we didn't have all the promo contraband and the game was heavily skewed towards being honest, but I picked up the contraband promos after hearing they really balance the game out to make it more important to lie. And it worked! Last night the game was loaded with contraband and tons of deception, bribes were flowing around the table like crazy. It was a good time. Everyone is asking to play again so I would call that a pretty big success.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:31 am

Finished up a game of Britannia last night via Vassal (along with Chaz and NickAragua). I love that game, long though it is. Does anyone else here play Britannia? I don't think I've seen it discussed here.

Importantly, I won! Go me.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:47 am

You won by 6 points, and the first and second place scores were 208 to 202. When you factor in the margin of error, we pretty much tied.

Hey everyone, tell them that we should play Cuba Libre next. They won't listen to me.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:58 am

Chaz wrote:You won

I sure did! Good point.

I'm on board with Cuba Libre. My guess is mostly likely that comes next after Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 10:51 am

The real winners were the Scots, who had so much territory they actually hit physical component limitations.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 10:58 am

But all of it was in Scotland, and as we all know, Scotland naturally inhibits procreation, and you can't be king of it.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:11 am

Chaz wrote:But all of it was in Scotland, and as we all know, Scotland naturally inhibits procreation, and you can't be king of it.

I did post on BGG asking why there's no Scottish King title in the game, seeing as how it's a defined nation and supposedly the first Scottish King was supposedly crowned sometime around the 9th century.

The FFG Britannia game designer responded. Apparently the answer is that the assorted Scottish clans weren't big on "writing things down" for some reason, so what went on in Scotland during the game period is mostly a giant question mark beyond "there were Scots, Picts, and Vikings there" and "the Scots won at some point."

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:47 am

El Guapo wrote:
Chaz wrote:You won
I sure did! Good point.

I'm on board with Cuba Libre. My guess is mostly likely that comes next after Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill.

I would skip straight to Cuba Libre. I owned Betrayal at one point and just found it tough to enjoy because there's little point to exploration in the game beyond triggering the end game.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:50 am

I knew I could count on you guys.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 2:54 pm

Chrisoc13 wrote:Home with the family for a week in Montana, and I brought Sheriff of Nottingham with to play, and I have to say that it has been a huge hit. I thought it would be, since it is right up my family's alley, but everyone has wanted to play it a lot.

The first couple of game I played we didn't have all the promo contraband and the game was heavily skewed towards being honest, but I picked up the contraband promos after hearing they really balance the game out to make it more important to lie. And it worked! Last night the game was loaded with contraband and tons of deception, bribes were flowing around the table like crazy. It was a good time. Everyone is asking to play again so I would call that a pretty big success.

Where'd you buy your promo cards from?

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Sat Apr 04, 2015 6:22 pm

Forced myself out of the house last month and forgot to post. I'm posting now because I forced myself out again this month. Being social once a month is way better than 0 times a month. I might also make it out for a special gathering for International board game day next week.

Last month
Played
Love Letter: quick and alright. Draw one. Play one. Until you are eliminated. Rounds can be played in minutes.
Splendor: Collect Gems to grab Gem Mines. Seems to big hit there. There are always two or three games playing.

Watched:
Age of Empires: Collect plastic millitary pawns and deploy them to explore, convert, and conquer. Looked like a good enough dynamic to play
Hollywood: build movies a la 7 Wonders. Not sure I'd ever play.

This month
Played
Evolution: Use cards build species to either be at the top of food chain or not at the bottom. I really enjoyed it.
Cheeky Monkey: Grab poker chips with animals on them out of stuffed monkeys ass. Something to play "in between" other games.
Another game I thought was mildly interesting at the time but now I can't remember. Dammit!!!

Watched:
Red7: A card game with the flux dynamic of changing rules. Only there are 7 possible rule changes. I can't hang with Flux. I could enjoy Red7
Istanbul: Lots and lot of fiddly bits. You move a cart around a randomly built city collecting resourced to collect rubies. I would like to try it. Not something I think I'd to the well a lot for though.
Lords of Xidt: Competitive Defenders of the Realm meets Robo Rally. I could love this game. The scoring dynamic at the end is truly awesome. You score only once in three different assessments that assessed in a random order established at the beginning of the game. One assessment is entirely visible. One assessment if partially visible. One assessment is entirely invisible. Each assessment knocks players out of the game. So in a five player game you must score in the top three on the first assessment. If you do not, then nothing else you did matters. You then must score on the top on the second assessment. To win you must be the highest scoring on the final assessment.

It's really really hard getting myself out of the house and it's exhausting, but I'm glad I do. Now if only I could remember any of the names of the people I play with. There inevitably largely such good people and I can't even do them the courtesy of remembering their names.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Sat Apr 04, 2015 6:47 pm

wonderpug wrote:
Chrisoc13 wrote:Home with the family for a week in Montana, and I brought Sheriff of Nottingham with to play, and I have to say that it has been a huge hit. I thought it would be, since it is right up my family's alley, but everyone has wanted to play it a lot.

The first couple of game I played we didn't have all the promo contraband and the game was heavily skewed towards being honest, but I picked up the contraband promos after hearing they really balance the game out to make it more important to lie. And it worked! Last night the game was loaded with contraband and tons of deception, bribes were flowing around the table like crazy. It was a good time. Everyone is asking to play again so I would call that a pretty big success.
Where'd you buy your promo cards from?

There are a lot out there, but I picked some up on the arcane wonders website, and then I had one due to a gtm magazine. They aren't cheap, but they did improve the game for me because they made contraband far more worthwhile to collect.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 12:16 pm

I kinda hate the idea that the balance of the game is drastically improved by the promo cards, and the only way to get them is to hunt around. Hopefully they bundle them into some kind of lower-priced expansion. Not that l love "patch" expansions, but I'd get it. The base game is definitely skewed toward being honest, which kind of defeats the purpose.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:17 pm

Played a game of Dead of Winter yesterday. I have to say, I’m pretty impressed. I’m generally not much of a fan of Co-Op games, but the individual secrecy and possibility of a traitor really enhanced the experience for me. We technically didn’t have a traitor but one player needed to have two characters die in order to win. Unfortunately for him, he was the only person who didn’t complete his objective and share in the victory.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:19 pm

Chaz wrote:I kinda hate the idea that the balance of the game is drastically improved by the promo cards, and the only way to get them is to hunt around. Hopefully they bundle them into some kind of lower-priced expansion. Not that l love "patch" expansions, but I'd get it. The base game is definitely skewed toward being honest, which kind of defeats the purpose.

I agree. I originally bought Sheriff of Nottingham because I knew my family would enjoy it after watching the tabletop episode where they played it. After a few plays though it became apparent that simply telling the truth and being unwilling to pay bribes was a very strong strategy, one strong enough that if one person did it they seemed to always win. So I did some digging and found that this was a common complaint about the game, truth be told the bonuses for the goods are simply too high to make it worth smuggling contraband too often. Since I already owned the game, and really liked the idea of it already I decided it was worth the hunt to "patch" the game.

Here is where I bought the gen con promos, which are the ones that really fixed the game. They gave bonuses for collecting types of contraband much the same as you get bonuses for collecting legal goods. They are expensive ($5 for 6 cards) which normally I would have scoffed at but since I already sunk $30 into owning the game and it didn't work as I wanted it to without them I decided it was worth the price.

Then I had a couple promos around from magazines I had been given at game stores for the Caverna mini expansion etc so I threw those in, and I was given the dice tower promos as well. In the end I think I now have most of the promos for the game.

Adding in all the promos did a few things:

1. It increased the amount of contraband to the point where it simply is more likely people will have large amounts of contraband in their hands and thus less legal goods.
2. It increased the rewards for smuggling contraband, making it more worthwhile.

In my experience I have a brother who discovered the "play it straight" technique and after adding the promos he started playing the game a bit more. It vastly improved the game.

It's a shame that they didn't figure this out more in play testing because it really is a great game, but I think a lot of people are going to be turned off by realizing that a game who's entire point is messing with everyone's heads can be won by not doing that at all. But I agree I normally don't like to go promo hunting, and I don't like that the game really needs the promos to fix the issues.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 7:04 pm

Managed to get a few rounds of Dungeons & Dragons Dice Masters: Battle for Faerûn in last week and I enjoyed it tremendously. I do have the Uncanny Xmen version of the game, but the D&D version is actually the first DiceMasters theme I've tried. I'm not usually good with games that require 37 steps, but this one has a flow that makes sense to me. Plus, dice. I purchased an entire gravity feed and went on a bag-tearing binge a few weeks ago and now I have more dice and cards than I'll ever need. I've been reading around to try and figure out the best way to set up random games and thankfully there are lots of ideas. I have no interest in building a themed deck or creating an unstoppable team of cards. I just like getting assigned random dice and cards and dealing with whatever happens.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 9:25 am

Smoove_B wrote:I've been reading around to try and figure out the best way to set up random games and thankfully there are lots of ideas. I have no interest in building a themed deck or creating an unstoppable team of cards. I just like getting assigned random dice and cards and dealing with whatever happens.

That's both terrifying and interesting. I'll have to look into it.

I believe I have opened 304 boosters in total, plus 3 different starters (avengers vs xmen, uncanny xmen and battle for faerun) and the Uncanny setup box. Which puts me at approximately infinity cards to choose from and 2x infinity dice to go with them.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 9:33 am

I should be getting my copy of Steam Torpedo: First Contact today. I love tile games and I love games in which you build your ship (a la Galaxy Trucker), so this seems like a natural. I'll report in after Octocon as I'm planning on forcing either Seppe or Chrisoc13 to play it with me.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 10:55 am

hepcat wrote:I should be getting my copy of Steam Torpedo: First Contact today. I love tile games and I love games in which you build your ship (a la Galaxy Trucker), so this seems like a natural. I'll report in after Octocon as I'm planning on forcing either Seppe or Chrisoc13 to play it with me.

That looks really interesting... wouldn't be too hard to force me. Octocon always ends up costing me money with all the new games I end up wanting to buy.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 12:51 pm

I'm probably going to leave Shadows of Brimstone home as that one is a component nightmare. So that's about 150 bucks or more that won't be lifted out of your pocket after you play it.

...unless Hentzau brings his copy.

I need to start sifting through my game collection to figure out what I'm bringing, as well as start reviewing rulebooks. I'm hoping to get in a game of Archipelago too as I miss playing that.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 12:58 pm

hepcat wrote:I'm probably going to leave Shadows of Brimstone home as that one is a component nightmare. So that's about 150 bucks or more that won't be lifted out of your pocket after you play it.

...unless Hentzau brings his copy.

I need to start sifting through my game collection to figure out what I'm bringing, as well as start reviewing rulebooks. I'm hoping to get in a game of Archipelago too as I miss playing that.

Yeah, that is still on my must have list. Thanks HepcatBama!

It really is a great game!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 1:09 pm

I wish we'd had more time at Christmas to play Archipelago. Redwarlord and his wife really love that one and we always play it at least once when they visit.

p.s. SoB is still getting a lot of community love and the amount of extra material out there is staggering. It really can be a full fledged RPG if you want it to be.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 1:12 pm

hepcat wrote:I wish we'd had more time at Christmas to play Archipelago. Redwarlord and his wife really love that one and we always play it at least once when they visit.

p.s. SoB is still getting a lot of community love and the amount of extra material out there is staggering. It really can be a full fledged RPG if you want it to be.

Yeah, as soon as I have disposable cash again, I am picking this up.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 1:57 pm

I'm going to be bringing SoB. My buddy Dave wanted to try it out, so I'll be breaking that one out on Friday afternoon (only day he can be there.) I need to go through and write down what everyone has, though, so we can continue our campaign afterwards.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 2:49 pm

I would, but the sheer number of cards, figures, tiles, etc. makes it a nightmare for one person to drag around. Plus, I don't think there's a need for two if you're bringing a copy.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 6:06 pm

Is that GTM magazine worth getting a subscription to? I love magazines and I also love promos, so that sounds cool, but $40 a year could go both ways really.

I agree with SoB, great game but a nightmare to organize. I need some way to manage all those cards!

The update to Super Dungeon Explore (Forgotten King) is coming this week to KS backers. I'm pretty excited to try out arcade mode!

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 6:16 pm

baelthazar wrote:Is that GTM magazine worth getting a subscription to? I love magazines and I also love promos, so that sounds cool, but $40 a year could go both ways really.

I agree with SoB, great game but a nightmare to organize. I need some way to manage all those cards!

The update to Super Dungeon Explore (Forgotten King) is coming this week to KS backers. I'm pretty excited to try out arcade mode!

I doubt it honestly. I haven't ever bought one, I was given a couple copies of the one with the caverna mini-expansion which also came with the promo for sheriff of nottingham. Flipping through the magazine it looks mostly like it is really aimed at game stores, I didn't find it to be a very good read at all. And if individual promos come in it that you actually care about you can get the magazine online for almost nothing, or a nice game store might just give you a copy. Spielbox is a better gaming magazine and I have looked at it and decided it isn't worth it either even though in the two or so I have seen from them they have better articles and better promos (though carcassonne heavy).

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 10:11 am

coopasonic wrote:That's both terrifying and interesting. I'll have to look into it.

As someone that never played M:TG, the terms/ideas are all alien to me, but I guess there's something called a Solomon draft? We just lined up all my cards in rows and column and rolled a die to randomly pick three each. The only bad thing about it was we didn't have any sorting by cost so it was possible to get three cards that were 5,5,7 to purchase where the other guy could pull a 4,4,4 grouping. If someone developed a randomizer app, I'd be all over it. I enjoy a complete random draw the most and it makes the game way more casual.

I believe I have opened 304 boosters in total, plus 3 different starters (avengers vs xmen, uncanny xmen and battle for faerun) and the Uncanny setup box. Which puts me at approximately infinity cards to choose from and 2x infinity dice to go with them.

That's...crazy. I feel overwhelmed with what I had from a single D&D gravity feed. I ended up giving ~20 or so dice and cards to my buddy because I had so many duplicates. I really don't need 8 owlbear dice. It's just not necessary.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 10:19 am

2x AvX gravity feeds (those were 60 pack feeds)
1x Uncanny gravity feed
1x Faerun gravity feed

Each individual purchase was reasonable. It's only overwhelming in total. I think for Faerun you never need more than 4 of any die (I think YuGiOh is the same). AvX has cards that allow more die. I am not sure about Uncanny.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 11:13 pm

I ended up with a free copy of X-COM and we played our first game.

After one game, I give it thumbs up. We lost horribly but it still managed to be very fun. The timed nature of the game ensures that players stick to their defined roles and there isn’t a lot of opportunity for leader mentality or power gaming. Between this and Dead of Winter I now have TWO co-op games I like, which is shocking.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:10 am

Played the tutorial and first campaign mission of Imperial Assault with my wife last night. Lots of fun and not too fiddly.

She won, playing four rebel heroes. It wasn't even close -- I barely managed to wound one hero, and all of my trooper' shots at the wookie just seemed to make him mad. I'm kind of worried about the viability of the Imperial side over the long term -- the heroes are just overwhelmingly stronger.