OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Pyperkub »

coopasonic wrote:A board game coffee shop opened today in Frisco. If only I liked coffee.

It's a project of Randy Pitchford(Gearbox Software)'s wife and is in the bottom floor of the building Gearbox is based in.

I may check it out if I ever get out to play games again.
Pretty cool. Gamescape in San Rafael has what looks like a pretty good gaming schedule in store.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hentzau »

Pyperkub wrote:Finally opened the copy of Pandemic I bought awhile back and played a game with Mrs. Kub and her mom. Didn't get all the rules right on first play through, and we lost (due to running out of player cards),but we did cure 3 diseases and had a fun time.
Play this about 4 times, then buy a copy of Pandemic: Legacy. You will not be disappointed.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

hentzau wrote:
Pyperkub wrote:Finally opened the copy of Pandemic I bought awhile back and played a game with Mrs. Kub and her mom. Didn't get all the rules right on first play through, and we lost (due to running out of player cards),but we did cure 3 diseases and had a fun time.
Play this about 4 times, then buy a copy of Pandemic: Legacy. You will not be disappointed.
Absolutely. Pandemic: Legacy makes for a fantastic gaming experience.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Chrisoc13 »

Anonymous Bosch wrote:
Chrisoc13 wrote:I've played one game of time stories and it just didn't suck me in. I was hoping it would the way pandemic legacy did but in the end I'm not sure time stories has enough actual game in it for me. It felt far more like a puzzle than sitting down to play a game. I'll probably try to get through the base game at least but honestly it feels a bit like a chore to even think about it at this point.
Interesting. Horses for courses, I suppose. From what I gather, it's definitely designed to play out as less of a game in the traditional sense, and more of a collaborative puzzle-solving 'mystery theatre'-esque experience. Speaking as someone that grew up on Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and old school Infocom IF games though, it's right up my alley.

BTW, how many people did you play it with? Because I've heard from multiple sources that, despite what it says on the box, it's worthless as a two-player game, since the two-player version ruins the immersive roleplaying narrative of each player paraphrasing, and informing the party of what their particular individual character encountered in the story.
4 people. It's probably a great experience for most people, just not for me. It just felt like less of a game and more of a narrative for me. For some people that's probably what they want, it just wasn't for me.

Managed to get ahold of a new copy of Glory to Rome for $30 at a brick and mortar store. Looking forward to giving it a try, it's been on my list of games to try for a long time.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

Did you the newer, Art Deco version of Glory to Rome, or the original version with the silly art? I have both, but I have to admit I prefer the silly art.

It's one of my favorite games. The best description I've ever heard of the game is that every card is just broken...and that's by intent. While I don't think that's entirely true, I do love instances when someone builds an engine that suddenly allows them to take 8 turns in a row (we had it happen), or they wipe out all the resources suddenly. You need to have a sense of humor about the game. I don't think I've ever played a game of it without laughing my butt off over some weird game play that arose.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by baelthazar »

I love Glory to Rome, particularly because the official rule is "if there is a question about gameplay, then the option that seems more broken is the correct option."

Got Zeds 3rd and Defenders of the Last Stand. These similar games could not be more different in their QA. Zeds is immaculate, and Defenders is rife with typos, card errata, and poor editing. I also have to agree that the minis are terrible. That doesn't bother me, because that is not what Defenders is about, but it is a stark contrast to CMON.

I look forward to Nemo and Darkest Night, having seen what they did with Zeds.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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I have the I.v. Version with the silly art. Which I'm happy about. Feels more distinctive and less bland.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

baelthazar wrote: I also have to agree that the minis are terrible. That doesn't bother me, because that is not what Defenders is about, but it is a stark contrast to CMON.
I'm still surprised by this complaint when I hear it. This is not a CMON game at a CMON price. I never expected the minis in this game to look as good as its higher priced peers. :?

As for the typos and such, I didn't think there was that many. 8th Summit is a fairly small, fairly new company still. So I cut them a little slack in this area. Plus, I'm still not a fan of how the rules are presented in the 3rd edition of Dawn of the Zeds. I love that game, don't get me wrong, and I'm very pleased with it so far. But they almost force you into playing it as if you're new to the system in the way they structured the rules.

We played Defenders of the Last Stand with 4 on Saturday. It was partially ruined by my old neighbor who I invited over after being confronted by his mate at a store the week before and getting guilted into it. He spent the entire time calling all the pieces "bitches" and describing his actions as "raping" everyone. I was ready to throw him through the window after an hour of this....

But I digress. I think with 4 there can be some annoying downtime with this game, but that's just common to co ops I believe. I enjoyed it, and I hope Seppe and Zarathud did too. We won, but there was some tough moments during a few overruns where I feared for the outcome.

Then Zarathud whipped out Blood Rage and I fell in love with it after 1 turn. Such a fantastic game. It achieves something I never thought possible: I look forward to fighting in the game. Forbidden Stars kind of does this too with its combat mini game, but Blood Rage simplifies and streamlines the similar mechanic. I really look forward to playing this again.

Then we played a quick game of Epic after Seppe left, after which my neighbor finally skedaddled. To end the evening, Zarathud and I played A Game of Thrones LCG. I'm trying my hand at deck building with this one and I didn't do so well. However, I have an idea of where I need to trim/add now so I look forward to turning my Lannister deck into a killing machine.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Chrisoc13 »

All of this blood rage talk everywhere I look lately... I need to try it.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

Once you have the rules down, I believe you could actually play a 4 player game of Blood Rage in 90 minutes. It's that quick. Something else I appreciate immensely.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

I got another attempt at Legendary: Alien again this weekend. We were three of us this time and tried the beginning scenario again. We made it further than we did on my first attempt, but we all got wiped on consecutive turns during the third objective. Things might have been different if we had only managed to save Jonsey!
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hentzau »

hepcat wrote:
baelthazar wrote: I also have to agree that the minis are terrible. That doesn't bother me, because that is not what Defenders is about, but it is a stark contrast to CMON.
I'm still surprised by this complaint when I hear it. This is not a CMON game at a CMON price. I never expected the minis in this game to look as good as its higher priced peers. :?

As for the typos and such, I didn't think there was that many. 8th Summit is a fairly small, fairly new company still. So I cut them a little slack in this area. Plus, I'm still not a fan of how the rules are presented in the 3rd edition of Dawn of the Zeds. I love that game, don't get me wrong, and I'm very pleased with it so far. But they almost force you into playing it as if you're new to the system in the way they structured the rules.

We played Defenders of the Last Stand with 4 on Saturday. It was partially ruined by my old neighbor who I invited over after being confronted by his mate at a store the week before and getting guilted into it. He spent the entire time calling all the pieces "bitches" and describing his actions as "raping" everyone. I was ready to throw him through the window after an hour of this....

But I digress. I think with 4 there can be some annoying downtime with this game, but that's just common to co ops I believe. I enjoyed it, and I hope Seppe and Zarathud did too. We won, but there was some tough moments during a few overruns where I feared for the outcome.

Then Zarathud whipped out Blood Rage and I fell in love with it after 1 turn. Such a fantastic game. It achieves something I never thought possible: I look forward to fighting in the game. Forbidden Stars kind of does this too with its combat mini game, but Blood Rage simplifies and streamlines the similar mechanic. I really look forward to playing this again.

Then we played a quick game of Epic after Seppe left, after which my neighbor finally skedaddled. To end the evening, Zarathud and I played A Game of Thrones LCG. I'm trying my hand at deck building with this one and I didn't do so well. However, I have an idea of where I need to trim/add now so I look forward to turning my Lannister deck into a killing machine.
Really sorry now that I couldn't make it over. Blood Rage sounds fun.

Well, mostly sorry now. That ex-neighbor sounds like hell. If you ever invite him to Octocon, you're banned.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Yeah, I won't be doing that again. I think he's become worse since he moved. I don't remember him being quite that annoying before. I'm guessing he feels comfortable now around us to be his real self...but the problem is, his real self is just annoying as hell.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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hepcat wrote: Plus, I'm still not a fan of how the rules are presented in the 3rd edition of Dawn of the Zeds. I love that game, don't get me wrong, and I'm very pleased with it so far. But they almost force you into playing it as if you're new to the system in the way they structured the rules.
I was able to sort through everything and read through the basic game rules over the weekend - I understand it all based on what I've read; it just seems I need to keep the movement and retreat rules clear. I'm going to skim through the higher level rules, but I'm not seeing anything so far that makes it seem crazy - quite the opposite. It almost feels like a non-Euro version of Robinson Crusoe with all the things going on and having to juggle various decisions each turn. I really like what I'm seeing so far and I'm going to try and get a solo basic game in this week. I picked up one of the DVG "deep dish" trays and it fits the box perfectly for storage.

Over the weekend I was involved in a ~6 hour BattleTech: Alpha Strike game which was quite fun. I haven't played a tabletop MechWarrior style game since high school, so this was a real treat - particularly in having a GM present to help with rules and die rolling. What was unfortunate is that it was all team based -- 5 players vs 6 and my team had a few guys that were total jerks. I don't think they liked the fact that they had no idea on the rules so whenever the other team would do something they'd cry unfair and make a production out of it. I know these types of gamers exist, I've just been lucky to not deal with them - particularly in public at a gaming convention. Anyway, if anyone is looking for relatively simple BattleTech miniatures gaming, I'd definitely recommend the rules - they really are quick to play as everything is based off the roll of 2D6.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Ralph-Wiggum wrote:I got another attempt at Legendary: Alien again this weekend. We were three of us this time and tried the beginning scenario again. We made it further than we did on my first attempt, but we all got wiped on consecutive turns during the third objective. Things might have been different if we had only managed to save Jonsey!
We finally beat it after some "tweaking" in our favor. I think that I'll probably still tweak a bit until I get a lot more comfortable with it.

1) We started with a sergeant. Which is sort of a free turn. More importantly, though, it meant we had one less of the starting buyers. The biggest problem that I've found is that there really isn't any reliable way to get rid of the low level cards - which was killing us in the end game.

2) We used more of the filler cards in the second and third phase. The game does tell you to add them to make it easier. Getting a 4 health alien in phase three gives you a nice little breather. :)

3) Lastly, we gave up on the four recommended characters. There are a couple of characters from the later movies that are much more useful. We subbed in two of those - I think the one that allows you to use buying power as attack power, and the one that allows attack power to be used for buying power.

Now that I've managed at least one win, I'll probably starting edging back on some of the tweaks. Hard to say. I enjoy a challenge, but I also enjoy winning. If I always lose, I'll probably stop playing.

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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

We will probably make some tweaks the next time we play. It also seems like the game should be easier with more people? More filler cards + more chances to coordinate seems like it could go a long way to making the game easier.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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I'm not sure that holds. Because the aliens progress on every turn. More players will also mean that it takes longer to build up hands with better cards. So you are more likely in the late game to end up with a hand that has nothing useful in it when you need a good hand.

Of course, we found out that we were using the coordinate ability wrong, so... you might be right.

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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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TheMix wrote:I'm not sure that holds. Because the aliens progress on every turn. More players will also mean that it takes longer to build up hands with better cards. So you are more likely in the late game to end up with a hand that has nothing useful in it when you need a good hand.
Yup, that's how it worked in Marvel Legendary at least. More players = more difficult.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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hepcat wrote: I'm still surprised by this complaint when I hear it. This is not a CMON game at a CMON price. I never expected the minis in this game to look as good as its higher priced peers. :?
Defenders of the Last Stand is actually equal to or more expensive than most CMON games at retail. Like I said, the minis do not bother me because you get 100s of them and this game is not about looking at each detailed monster like Arcadia Quest or Zombicide. The cards seem study, which is more what matters to me about DotLS.

That neighbor sounds terrible. Does he think he is Jessie Pinkman or something? Also... rape them? Yikes.

I really like Blood Rage as well, but rarely get three players and haven't tried the 2-player game (not sure it would hold up). It also does most of the same things as Cthulhu Wars, so my Lovecraft obsessed friends will likely choose CW over BR. BR has way better combat though, and I love all the options and trickery. BR is likely one of the best designed games I have ever seen.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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I paid 65 dollars for the Defenders of the Last Stand kickstarter. I'm paying 120 dollars for Massive Darkness. Zombicide: Black Plague was 100. I think CMON is a fair bit more expensive. :wink:
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

coopasonic wrote:
TheMix wrote:I'm not sure that holds. Because the aliens progress on every turn. More players will also mean that it takes longer to build up hands with better cards. So you are more likely in the late game to end up with a hand that has nothing useful in it when you need a good hand.
Yup, that's how it worked in Marvel Legendary at least. More players = more difficult.
Huh, interesting. We ran into the problem that we could usually clear out the enemies in the combat zone (until the 3rd objectives hard-hitting guys started showing up), but we could rarely scan rooms ahead of time. And then completing the 2nd objective of the first scenario results in one fewer rooms the enemies have to pass through before the combat zone, so it all just snowballed.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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hepcat wrote:I paid 65 dollars for the Defenders of the Last Stand kickstarter. I'm paying 120 dollars for Massive Darkness. Zombicide: Black Plague was 100. I think CMON is a fair bit more expensive. :wink:
I said "at retail!" :P Also, I got all these too... both of us may have a problem... :D
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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I will admit that during my game of Blood Rage, I couldn't stop fawning over the minis though.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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You missed all the stories about his friends almost getting busted for cocaine and pot at the Guns N Roses show the night before, and instead ended up passing out and losing everything in their pockets. Good times.

I had a good time despite the foolery. Blood Rage will be painted now that I have the organizer and it received a great reception. The brilliance in Blood Rage is that combat and death is not only thematic but often rewarded. A determined battle value plus a bonus combat card means you know the result quickly, and the winner-takes-all resolution means there can be only glorious victory or death. But Clan bonuses often make dying in battle worth points or tactically beneficial. It's over very quickly, especially now we know all battles/contests over pillaging are resolved simultaneously.

Defenders was shameless co-op Ameritrash. It ran long, but that just allowed you time to decide how to spend all those actions efficiently. A good party mix helps, and there are definitely some tricks to learn in controlling the board/searches.

Game of Thrones demands a rematch. My Steward Rangers were like the white weenie deck against the slow monster Lannister elites. The expensive Lannisters couldn't avoid being overwhelmed by the massed Rangers and Stewards. Sure Gregor could kill any one in battle, but they were made to stand together.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by baelthazar »

hepcat wrote:I will admit that during my game of Blood Rage, I couldn't stop fawning over the minis though.

They are some of the best I have ever seen and I love the art direction. Sort of like a better Boris Vallejo.
zarathud wrote:Blood Rage will be painted now that I have the organizer and it received a great reception.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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hepcat wrote:
baelthazar wrote: I also have to agree that the minis are terrible. That doesn't bother me, because that is not what Defenders is about, but it is a stark contrast to CMON.

We played Defenders of the Last Stand with 4 on Saturday. It was partially ruined by my old neighbor who I invited over after being confronted by his mate at a store the week before and getting guilted into it. He spent the entire time calling all the pieces "bitches" and describing his actions as "raping" everyone. I was ready to throw him through the window after an hour of this....
Yikes that rapey business is kind of screwed up. I hope the Earthers gutted him.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Actually, the git played the Atomic Man but still became the Friend to the Earthers. It meant that he shifted to nuking the motorcyclists instead.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Completed my first foam core insert. Managed to get everything from the KS of B-Sieged into the box. Barely. But it fits. Well... not quite everything. I have the tokens, dice, cards, etc. in a plastic container (along with my Zombicide stuff). But I still managed to get rid of one box of extras.

Next up will be Zombicide. Hopefully I'll be able to find some plans online instead of having to come up with my own.

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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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The biggest key I've found in the Leg:Encounters success is good use of teamwork and coordination. Any cards that can be used to buff your teammates are crucial. It does get harder with more people, but you also have more opportunity to coordinate and buff which can tip it in your favor overall.

If you're finding you are having trouble thinning the deck, just make sure you play with one of the characters that can do so. If you know they aren't in the game, you just have to be much more selective in your buying.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Got a campaign mission of Imperial Assault done this weekend 'Homecoming.' As the imperial player I'm continuing my stellar streak of losing--I think this is 3 in a row after initially winning 'Aftermath.' I will say that this last mission literally came down to the last turn, even the last couple of activations before the outcome was resolved--very rewarding even in defeat.

Started 'Imperial Hospitality' last night and hope to finish later this week. I'm playing over a webcam connection with a friend in Dallas. We basically each have a copy of the game and set our webcams on our boards. It works remarkably well.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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My copy of Star Trek Frontiers just arrived. It's just a reskin of Mage Knight, but I don't care. I love Mage Knight and I love Star Trek. I look forward to getting this on the table this weekend for a solo outing.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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hepcat wrote:My copy of Star Trek Frontiers just arrived. It's just a reskin of Mage Knight, but I don't care. I love Mage Knight and I love Star Trek. I look forward to getting this on the table this weekend for a solo outing.
I'm looking forward to and dreading your impressions because I've been following the development of this game and if you like it much woe will come upon my wallet...

Also I just received my Lord of the Rings card game base set and the Khazad-Dum expansion so I don't have time to be playing Mage Knight in space as cool as it sounds.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

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Save some powder for the 4X Star Trek Ascendancy. hepcat and I received a press preview at Origins and it looked amazing. Gorgeous bits, and easy to expand in interesting ways.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by $iljanus »

Zarathud wrote:Save some powder for the 4X Star Trek Ascendancy. hepcat and I received a press preview at Origins and it looked amazing. Gorgeous bits, and easy to expand in interesting ways.
That's another Star Trek game I was following but I didn't think it had any solo play which makes it easier to resist its charms.
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hepcat
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

I was going through the cards and it really is just Mage Knight renamed and with photos from Star Trek instead of fantasy illustrations. The only thing I can see that's different is the away team missions, but I haven't played yet so I'm not sure how different that will make the game feel.

Offhand, I'd say this is a game for you only if you're a huge Mage Knight fan (I am) and a Star Trek geek (I am). I'm seeing a lot of complaints on BGG about this, and many folks are choosing one over the other then selling what they didn't go with. But I knew that going in, so I'm fine with having both. Sometimes you feel like a Klingon, sometimes you feel like a Knight.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by Zarathud »

Sometimes you have a gaming addiction, and the space to store it. Sometimes you don't.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by YellowKing »

Capped off our epic "Castle Panic" run tonight with our final entry, DEAD PANIC.

I will say, I didn't have super-high expectations for this game. The Boardgamegeek reviews were a little "meh," and I envisioned it would just be a zombie re-skin of Castle Panic with a few features borrowed from the expansions.

Well, I'm happy to say I was "dead" wrong. The game is actually a really fun alternative to Castle Panic, and plays much more differently than I expected.

There are some carryovers from Castle Panic. You have a central hub (cabin) with walls that can be brought down. You're still drawing enemy tokens from a bag and having them attack you on a circular board tower defense style. You're still drawing cards to use against enemies in an attempt to survive wave after wave.

There are some key differences, however. Cards mostly represent weapons that can be used multiple times, so you don't have the card turnover of Castle Panic. The deck doesn't reshuffle, so you'll be using the cards on the table over and over. Turn phases are completely different, with players getting two actions per turn and all players making their moves before the zombies get a turn. The goal of the game is also very different - to win, you must gather three pieces of a radio, call for a van, and get everyone to the van to escape. Easier said than done. Combat is no longer automatic except with ranged weapons; melee fights require dice rolls adding a significant luck element. One of the biggest changes, however, is that the monster draw is not finite - once you run out of zombies, you put all the dead ones back in the bag and start over. The game doesn't end until all players escape or all players die.

We thought we were total goners very early in the game when we drew an event card (another new wrinkle) that placed a second wave of zombies directly on top of our starting wave. We managed to persevere, however, and what followed was a nearly three-hour game of close calls and zombie carnage.

Probably the most interesting aspect of the game is the fact that zombies have detailed movement rules. They react according to line of sight, closest player, and whoever is "Bait" for the round. This means unlike the typical Castle Panic monster movement of forward until you hit a wall, the zombies in this game move like moths to a flame depending on the most alluring target. We exploited this feature heavily, drawing hordes away from radio parts so that another team member could grab them safely. It's a fun mechanic, though I need to play a couple more times to determine whether it's *too* easily exploitable.

Don't get me wrong - this is still very much a lighter entry in the zombie game genre. It feels like a simplified version of Last Night on Earth, and may seem a little too dumbed down for those who are experienced with some of the more hardcore strategy games. On the other hand, it's significantly deeper than plain vanilla Castle Panic, and in some ways quite a bit deeper than some aspects of the expansions considering players have different roles, different special abilities, etc.

I'd have to play some more to really make a final call, but my first impressions were very positive. It's different enough that I wouldn't feel bad owning this right along side Castle Panic.

We'll be setting the "Panic" stuff aside for awhile, however, in favor of Robinson Crusoe. That one should keep us busy for awhile.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

And the early birthday swag has started to roll in. One copy of Shadows Over Normandie is now mine, thanks to my mommy and her ability to use my Amazon wish list. :D

How can you not swoon for Lovecraft mythos in a WWII tactical squad game?
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hentzau »

I'm a big fan of Heroes of Normandie, but it doesn't make it to the table often. I say that a lot these days.
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Re: OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Post by hepcat »

I've been over the top so far this year. Buying a couple of games a month almost. Although some of that is because a few kickstarters have shipped very close to each other.

But I think I'll sell off a bunch of games at Gencon again this year. I was looking around at my collection last night and there's at least a half dozen I haven't played in years...nor do I find any desire to do so now.

As for Shadows Over Normandie, it's right up my alley. Weird War II is one of my favorite settings in a game. I also like that there are 3 factions in the game. U.S. Rangers, Black Sun (German cultists) and The Deep Ones (monsters). It feels like you're playing the opening of Hellboy, to be honest. And since that's one of my favorite movies, I'm excited about that.

Wanna set up a Shadows Over Normandie night soon, hentz? Since you already know Heroes, it should be a snap.
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