OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 10:41 am

Flick 'em Up! is a truly underrated gem of a game, IMO.

BTW, Lucasarts' Outlaws soundtrack also makes for some terrific background music while playing this game. The Melodice playlist is great fun, too.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 12:11 pm

hepcat wrote:Okay fine. I just called a store that says they're expecting Roll Player today and told them to hold a copy for me.

I bought CivVI but I can't back out now and turtle at home with coffee and my new video game this weekend all because you bought that game.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 12:14 pm

I think you'll like it. I was having some buyer's remorse at first, but after I got a couple of games under my belt, I realized it has a lot more going on behind the scenes than I realized at first. Having to actually time the placement of dice on your attribute sheet was something I glossed over on my first play, but on my second one I realized it's absolutely essential.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 12:24 pm

hepcat wrote:I think you'll like it. I was having some buyer's remorse at first, but after I got a couple of games under my belt, I realized it has a lot more going on behind the scenes than I realized at first. Having to actually time the placement of dice on your attribute sheet was something I glossed over on my first play, but on my second one I realized it's absolutely essential.

From the walk though, it looked like there was a lot going on, because every time you place dice after the initial placement, you change dice. So now you have to choose dice that change dice the way you want to then. And then you have to worry about how equipment changes dice. All the while trying to pursue victory points. It's the most intriguing game of Yahtzee I've ever seen (from the walk through)

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 12:52 pm

You select a race which sets your attribute bonuses (if any, humans are once again the baseline), then a class to determine what target numbers you need for each attribute, an alignment to give you some bonus points if you end on or near an alignment that is apropos for your class, and finally you get a backstory which I don't think does anything other than add fluff and a quick guide to points.

Each turn the first player rolls a number of dice equal to the number of players plus one, then places those dice in ascending order on initiative cards going from number 1 to the number of players plus one. You select the initiative card with the die you want on it, and that determines your order during the market phase (which comes next allows you to buy armor, weapons, traits and skills...all point earners). When you place the die you just got on your attribute sheet, you can choose to use the corresponding power for that attribute (for example: strength allows you to turn one die to its opposite side).

The game ends when everyone has their attribute sheets filled. Since you all get one die to use each turn, it should be the same round for everyone.

If you managed to get your attribute target numbers for your class, you get vp based on how many you got on your sheet. Then you score for dice colors that correspond to your class (for example: cleric and paladins are white dice) that are on your sheet. You score for your alignment position on your alignment card (buying traits and skills, then using skills, moves the alignment cube one space in the listed direction on those cards), and finally you score for your traits, weapons and armor. The latter is purely set collection.

It is really simple to teach, but it is a brain burner when you're trying to figure out how to get gold and set your dice. Skills and weapons add even more complexity as they allow you to add even more ways to manipulate your dice. And of course, you want to block others from getting to their goals at the same time.

For a point salad game, I never once thought I was playing a purely mathematical game. The theme was there, that's for sure.

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 11:27 pm

LordMortis wrote:
hepcat wrote:Okay fine. I just called a store that says they're expecting Roll Player today and told them to hold a copy for me.
I bought CivVI but I can't back out now and turtle at home with coffee and my new video game this weekend all because you bought that game.

Woot! Thanks Hep, now I just have to drive to his house and hitch a ride!

Roll Player sounds cool too. Time to play (after you learn how) somewhat equivalent to a game of Yahtzee too?

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 11:38 pm

Zenn7 wrote:
hepcat wrote:
Zenn7 wrote:
Talon looks kinda cool from what I read on BGG. Good bit less detailed than SFB (which is probably good). Hope to find out someday.
Octocon in April. I'll bring my copy.
Yeah, anniversary's that weekend. While coming the first time would probably result me being much freer to come in the future, the financial impact of the divorce would probably prevent it then.

But, I did talk to the spousal unit and she has agreed me coming sometime is not an unreasonable request. If I'm not on call for work when the fall one comes around and financial situation doesn't get any majorly huge setbacks, will shoot for that one this year. Shall keep an eye out for that.

Hep - any chance of bringing Talon to Octocon this time out? I'll be there (bearing work going to hell, not high likely, but not impossible) and would definitely play if you bring it. If not, I understand.

I will be disappointed and forever after consider you scum of the earth, but, I will understand.

Kidding - happy to play if you bring it but I love just playing all these different games, so I'll be happy with whatever is there to play - except deduction games, those for some reason usually drain me, or maybe I'm drained when I try those and it's too much? Either way, have not found those to be particularly enjoyable the 3-4 I've played.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Oct 25, 2016 6:44 am

Sure thing. But I warn you, two player games are really tough to get going at these events. Ususally folks get sucked into the larger games.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:56 am

hepcat wrote:Sure thing. But I warn you, two player games are really tough to get going at these events. Ususally folks get sucked into the larger games.

I like to go back and forth. Play a few small games and then play a biggish one. That leaves me with 2-3 biggish games depending on if we do one on Friday.

I like to play all of the new candy you bring and then replay one of them if it is particularly good.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:50 pm

We could play with teams of two. Each person could get their own ship.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Oct 27, 2016 8:48 am

We wrapped up our (pre-expansion) adventures on Robinson Crusoe's Cursed Island last night by going through the Kong Island downloadable (but official) scenario.

In this scenario, you play members of a film crew who set out to film King Kong on his island and escape with their lives. To win, you must build three traps on three different totem island tiles, then perform a hunting action against Kong at a weapon level 5 (1 if you built the tranquilizer first). Your actress and director, at a minimum, must survive.

However, there are dangers. Every totem you uncover adds a beast die to the weather space, and revealing a book icon on an event card kills one of your crew. Going under a 0 level palisade also kills a crew member. You only have 10 crew, and if your actress is due to be "killed," she is captured instead and must be tracked down and rescued.

I love this scenario. It's very well-balanced, challenging but not frustratingly so, and the theme fits remarkably well. Our group of 3 beat it on the first try, but it took us all 10 rounds and still got very close. Lots of fun and a great way to wrap up the core game.

Then it was on to LEGENDARY ENCOUNTERS: ALIEN, one of my favorites. This was Terry's first time playing, and he wound up really enjoying it.

First game (playing through ALIEN) we just got completely destroyed. The Barracks was overrun with high cost cards, which meant our decks were way too slow to get built and we got overrun before finding even one part of the first objective.

The second game we were more aggressive with our recruiting and wound up stabilizing. It still got close, as I got slammed with strikes and at one point was 1 HP from death. Fortunately we got lucky with some heals, got me out of the danger zone, and wound up winning quite handily with some really strong combat decks. Tons of fun, and we're looking forward to playing through ALIENS next week.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Thu Oct 27, 2016 9:45 am

Love hearing about your Robinson Crusoe games. I really think it's a great game but I had to get rid of it because nobody wanted to play through it with me and I got bored of playing it solo. Thanks for the write-ups. Nice to see.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:16 am

Did none of you GenCon people see Captain Sonar? I did quick search of the forum that turned up nothing... maybe you can't spell sonar?

For some reason yesterday was the first time I heard of it. It was mentioned in a "hidden gems of 2016" thread on BGG and everyone said "Hidden? LOL." Apparently it was hidden from me. I watched theSUSD review and a playthrough and... wow. That is amazing. Obviously it has the negative of requiring 8 players to play it at its best, but wow. Not only would the 8 players be a problem for me, but all the cross-talk would as well. I don't know if it's that spectrum thing, but multiple simultaneous conversations shuts me down and this game is just chaos. Regardless I have to try it. Given how fast it plays I have to imagine I will see it around at BGG.CON and get an opportunity and I am pretty sure I can override my social anxiety for this one.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:01 am

I've heard about it a lot and I want to try it but... Requiring eight players is a serious deal killer. I never have more than five. I know theoretically you can play with less but... The experience sounds disappointing with less.

It was played at octocon and I was jealous I wasn't able to be there to play it.

We've continued playing seafall. Being close the the end now. Twelve games in. The game... Is good. It is. But the fun part is the legacy aspect. The actual gameplay is not spectacular in and of itself. The mechanics are just ok, but nothing that genius about it. Without the legacy aspect it would just be a middle of the road euro with heavy reliance on dice. But the legacy aspect is really fun.

So... What does that mean? Is the legacy aspect enough to carry the game. Yes! I actually think it is. But because the base gameplay isn't really that great in and of itself it will never hit the level pandemic legacy hit. But I'm enjoying the ride and still enjoying playing so I would still recommend it. I would give it a seven right now.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:06 am

I was shoehorned into being the captain during a game of Captain Sonar last Saturday at Octocon, along with Zarathud, Seppe, Lord Mortis and Archinerd.

I failed. Miserably. Why there wasn't a mutiny at any point is beyond me.

It's got a lot of great ideas, and it seems like it would be great fun for the right crowd. Unfortunately, at the very least, I believe that Lord Mortis and I are not in that crowd.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:09 am

hepcat wrote:I was shoehorned into being the captain during a game of Captain Sonar last Saturday at Octocon, along with Zarathud, Seppe, Lord Mortis and Archinerd.

I failed. Miserably. Why there wasn't a mutiny at any point is beyond me.

It's got a lot of great ideas, and it seems like it would be great fun for the right crowd. Unfortunately, at the very least, I believe that Lord Mortis and I are not in that crowd.

I enjoyed it enough. It was just too intense and stressful and I'm too old to have intense and stressful in my leisure time. I might play it again under the right circumstance but I'd never want to be a in a long dragged out game and I'd never play it back to back. It's just overload for me and my TBS approach to gaming nowadays. It has a high capacity to make me go all Bobcat Goldt.... and freak out under the pressure.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:16 am

LordMortis wrote:
hepcat wrote:I was shoehorned into being the captain during a game of Captain Sonar last Saturday at Octocon, along with Zarathud, Seppe, Lord Mortis and Archinerd.

I failed. Miserably. Why there wasn't a mutiny at any point is beyond me.

It's got a lot of great ideas, and it seems like it would be great fun for the right crowd. Unfortunately, at the very least, I believe that Lord Mortis and I are not in that crowd.
I enjoyed it enough. It was just too intense and stressful and I'm too old to have intense and stressful in my leisure time. I might play it again under the right circumstance but I'd never want to be a in a long dragged out game and I'd never play it back to back. It's just overload for me and my TBS approach to gaming nowadays. It has a high capacity to make me go all Bobcat Goldt.... and freak out under the pressure.

It seems like First Mate is the role for the guy that doesn't like the pressure. Engineer and Radio Operator are for the puzzle guys. Captain is for the glutton for punishment.. I mean the alpha. Watching the videos, I just want to be the Radio guy, but I'd be ok with anything but Captain.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:23 am

There was a second, slightly more successful game of it played on Saturday. Not to say that your game wasn't successful, Hep. At least for the other side.

I think one of the things we did wrong on Friday was that we dove right into the real time version without at least playing a couple of turns in turn based so everyone could get a better handle on the game.

I bought it because it looked like a blast to play, and it did seem that way, but yeah, not sure I would ever want to be the captain.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:58 am

Yeah, I figured that being forced into the Captain role was going to end in tears for me. But Archinerd grabbed radio guy right off the bat, then seppe and zen went for the other two (comparatively) low stress roles. That left me standing there with the captain sheet.

I think it has the potential to be a fun variant to Artemis though.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 11:21 am

I liked being captain! My brother-in-law decided it was more fun to use sonar (get 1 piece of True info and 1 piece of False info) instead of Drone (locate a sector), and that was a terrible mistake for a captain. He only got off one decent torpedo shot.

The other trick seems to be not to maneuver to trap yourself. That's how we found hepcat on Friday, and what my brother-in-law ended up doing on Saturday. The captain NEEDS to move in certain combinations but that can lead to getting caught in a circle.

A good engineer is critical. On Saturday our engineer had a knack of crossing off the system he was asked to repair. At one point, I had every broken system ready.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 11:25 am

Zarathud wrote:I liked being captain! My brother-in-law decided it was more fun to use sonar (get 1 piece of True info and 1 piece of False info) instead of Drone (locate a sector), and that was a terrible mistake for a captain. He only got off one decent torpedo shot.

The other trick seems to be not to maneuver to trap yourself. That's how we found hepcat on Friday, and what my brother-in-law ended up doing on Saturday. The captain NEEDS to move in certain combinations but that can lead to getting caught in a circle.

A good engineer is critical. On Saturday our engineer had a knack of crossing off the system he was asked to repair. At one point, I had every broken system ready.

Yeah, I can see you being the captain, and Hep in the role of scullery maid.

Love ya Hep!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 11:32 am

I should have been peeling potatoes in the galley...

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:35 pm

hepcat wrote:I failed. Miserably. Why there wasn't a mutiny at any point is beyond me.

Let's see... watch Hepcat get us sunk and take the blame or mutiny, get us sunk and get the blame myself... it was a tough call

(wait, I think the tough call was whether to go down with the ship or see if I could sneak on to the other sub).

It was fun but very intense, and I agree a couple turns to get the hang of it might have been helpful. But at least this way, Hepcat's tenure at the helm of the Titanic was brief. Skipped straight to that iceberg, none of that love story crap like the movie.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 11:08 am

Well, have the weekend with no wife, only my three kids to watch(and they are old enough to fend for themselves as long as I am home), so it is board game weekend!

Saturday starting around noon, we start and usually finish at some crazy time at night(or Sunday morning).

A few new games to our group, that will most likely hit the table:
Fortune and Glory
Evolution with the bird expansion
The newest Smash Up Expansion, with Jedi's,Trekers, Transformers, and Game of thrones. Of course not called any of those names, and the expansion is called: Cease and Desist. The lawyers should love that name.

Sunday is scheduled for one game and that is:
Twilight Imperium 3
There are a few of us that like to kill each other with this game, and we play about once a quarter.

So we shall see what actually hits the table and how many people show up. I think we might get about 10-12 to come over for Saturday, and then just the crazy few on Sunday.

With that said, if anyone is around Elyria Ohio on Saturday or Sunday, shoot me a PM, and i'll get you the info for where I live.

The Chicago and Detroit crew have met me, so they can vouch that I am in fact a real human being.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 11:21 am

RMC wrote: Fame and Glory

Fortune and Glory? Interested to see what you think. I have tried to love this game, but it just seems so...random.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 11:23 am

hentzau wrote:
RMC wrote: Fame and Glory
Fortune and Glory? Interested to see what you think. I have tried to love this game, but it just seems so...random.

Oops. Yup Fortune and Glory. The concept seems so cool, and I found it for less than MSRP, so I grabbed it. Have not even opened the box yet, I am guessing I should do that tonight.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 12:53 pm

Played a couple of good rounds of LEGENDARY ENCOUNTERS: ALIENS last night.

Since we had finished ALIEN last week, we moved forward with ALIENS as our first scenario.

We knocked out the first objective fairly handily, which was both a good and bad thing. Good because we managed it well, but bad in that we knocked it out so quickly our decks were a little underdeveloped for Objective 2. Midway in, we get in trouble. Jay gets hit with a Facehugger, and we had no way to kill it. It turns into a Chestburster, and we now know we are playing with borrowed time (we were not playing the optional Alien Players rule, so Jay knew he only had a few more turns before he would be dead).

Jay valiantly did as much as he could to advance the objective, but eventually his time ran out and he was out of the game. It was now up to Terry and I to save the day, but we were both still sitting on mediocre decks. We managed to scrape by, however, taking strikes but managing to heal them often enough to keep us going.

At last we hit Objective 3 and draw the Queen. In one brilliant move, Terry (who was playing the Mercenary whose card allows him to use Recruit as Combat) moved the Queen into a Sentry Gun and had enough combat left to kill her. Game over, man, game over! We celebrated our victory and prepared to move to ALIEN 3.

Unfortunately at this point Jay had to run, so instead of moving forward with a new scenario, Terry and I decided to just replay ALIEN and experiment with some roles. We decided to play the Yin and Yang of each other - Terry would stick with the Mercenary who can spend Recruit as Combat, and I played the Priest who could spend Combat as Recruit. This proved to be an excellent combo. Terry kept the alien hordes at bay, while I build a really souped up deck with all the recruit. We were also very careful not to clutter our decks unnecessarily with a bunch of low cost cards.

End result? Not only did we win, we only drew one strike the entire game - and that was on purpose. Even though it wasn't much of a challenge, the satisfaction we got from making a plan and executing it to perfection was totally worth it.

I'll have to say I've had so much fun delving back into this game, that I'm highly considering picking up another LE game as my next purchase. It's one of the few games I have that I have as much fun playing solo as I do with a group.

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Sun Nov 06, 2016 9:09 pm

My son and I played our first game of Star Trek Fleet Captains. I got the base game and both expansions, but only played Klingons (me) vs Federation (Christian) to 10 points.

Very close game actually. Federation won 10-9. I had only to do 1 point of damage to one of his smaller ships. He played a card (All Power to Shields) and beat my weapons attack by 1. So....was not able to complete the mission. The very next turn, he completes a "Dilpomatic Mission" (level 15 Sensors Test on one of my ships), giving him the game winning VP.

So much fun.

I was very concerned, though, when I bought the games, hoping the ships would not be damaged. Lots of reports that many ships were broken/damaged back a few years ago. But every ship (all 48 of them) were perfectly fine. This time around, though, I am keeping Fleet Captains.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Nov 06, 2016 9:30 pm

i love Fleet Captains, although I also agree with folks who say it's a bit unbalanced. A Fed player can just sit at their end of the map and win without interacting with anyone else. But it's still the most thematic Trek game ever made, imho. In spite of its warts, I will never part with my copy...and I have every expansion to boot.

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Sun Nov 06, 2016 9:45 pm

I used to have the base game back when it first released, but never got it to the table. But now my boys are old enough to play these types of games, and Christian really likes exploration type games. So, I rebought it and was able to get the Romulan expansion. That is now available again at coolstuffinc.com

Glad I rebought it, as Christian said he really liked it.

Tomorrow I get Mare Nostrum. Can't wait!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Nov 06, 2016 10:16 pm

I already consider Mare Nostrum a classic. The accolades it has received since release are numerous and passionate.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Nov 07, 2016 1:13 pm

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle hit the table a couple of times this past week.

For those of you uninformed, HP:HB is a fairly standard Co-op deck builder, but with a lot of HP theme built into it. You play Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Neville, and you have a starter deck of cards cards to gain influence and do damage. You use influence to buy things from Hogwarts...spells, items, and allies. You use damage cards to damage enemies.

The game is divided into "books", and each new book can add new rules, new cards, new villains, and and new abilities for our heroes to use. Gameplay is fairly basic: There is a location deck (usually just a couple of cards), a dark arts deck (make bad things happen to you), a villain deck (the do bad things to you too) and the Hogwarts deck (to give you stuff to buy.) Game starts by turning over a dark arts card, and applying the effects. Then you look at the villain(s) and see if any of their effects kick off. You are trying to defeat all of the villains before they can exert control over all of the locations in your location deck. You play 5 cards, get influence, buy stuff, damage the bad guy(s) and try and win the game. Villains do damage to you, if you take too much damage, you are stunned, but never eliminated.

So, not a lot new under the sun here. The theme is carried over nicely because of the familiarity of the spells and items and characters and villains. It's fun going from book to book and seeing what new things show up from one book to the next. Note that they do take some liberties with this, such as Hermione starts the game with the time turner (which showed up in book 3) and Ron starts with Pigwigeon (who showed up in book 4, I believe.) The artwork is all very nice, but the cards are not the best in the world. One really nice thing was that everything came pre-sorted into little packets, which makes set up much easier when you get started. Oh, and the rule book has nice little pockets to store the new updated rules sheets in.

Did I like it? Yeah, I did. But I think the biggest reason I liked it was that I could get my daughter and wife to play it with me, which is very rare. And they both seemed to enjoy it as well. I've played up through book 3 so far...if you're an experienced deck builder you can skip right ahead to Book 3 and not really miss out on everything. So far the game has been pretty easy. We won book 3 without losing a single location. I'm hoping it gets a bit more challenging as it goes forward. And I'm not sure how much replay value you will get out of the game, once you go through the whole story.

Fans of HP and deck builders will probably enjoy this one, just for the experience. Others can take a pass on it. Gameplay alone isn't enough for me to recommend it.

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Mon Nov 07, 2016 2:51 pm

Got to play Mageknight this weekend with redrun. We play it a little different building a much bigger board and upping the level of the cities considerably then extending the game another day and night. I got lucky by being able to use flight, underground travel, and song of wind to travel half the board and take out 4/5th the defenders in the blue city and secure the victory even when he managed to finish taking that city and two others (I already had the red city and he had the white).

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Mon Nov 07, 2016 8:03 pm

The final end of our 1st game of Mare Nostrum....Carthage takes the win, thanks to Perseus (allowed me to interrupt the order of the build phase so I could recruit/build my 5th hero/wonder and immediately score the win condition).

This was a fun game. Really enjoyed it, as the swing of power went back and forth several times. My empire was beginning to crumble, but I managed to squeeze out the recruitment of that last wonder to win the game!

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 12:44 pm

And in the upcoming expansion to Legendary Encounters: Alien you have flying xenomorphs. Yeah, flying xenomorphs. We are so screwed. Game over man, game over.

Article appropriately titled "Death From Above"

This Hive introduces the Flying mechanic to Legendary® Encounters. It works like this:

There are now five Air Spaces, one above each room of the Complex. When an enemy with Flying is revealed in the Complex, slide it up off the playmat so that it’s “in the air” above that space of the Complex.

At the start of each Hive phase, before you add a new Hive card to the Complex, each enemy in the air simultaneously moves one air space to the left. If an enemy is above the Airlock when it moves, it drops down into the Combat Zone. (The Flying keyword doesn’t do anything once in the Combat Zone.)

Unless otherwise noted, you can fight an Enemy in the air the same way you fight any other enemy.

And of course some enemies have additional powers while they’re in the air...

This will be a fun expansion I think adding even more ways for you to die!

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 4:49 pm

I played a couple of games last weekend. Dead of winter, which we lost badly. And Mafia de Cuba. It was the first time I played it, but it's a new take on the fun secret-roles (sort of) type game. One person is the godfather with a box that consists of diamonds and chips marked with roles. the box goes to everyone in turn and they either take diamonds or a role, unless they're last or there's nothing left (in which they become a street urchin). The godfather wants to get all his diamonds back by correctly identifying who stole the dimaonds and emptying their pockets. They can ask questions like "what was in the box when you got it?". There's some other stuff, but thats the basic idea. Was fun (as these types of social deduction games usually are when I first play them - will see if it stands the test of time)

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Fri Nov 11, 2016 10:35 pm

We have played two games now of Mare Nostrum. Both were 3 player, and both games i played as Carthage. We really like this one.

But now? 3 player Fleet Captains is set up. Federation (my son Jacob) vs Klingons (my son Christian) vs Romulans (me).

Tomorrow, Liberty or Death arrives (trade). What should I expect from that one?

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Fri Nov 18, 2016 9:40 am

Two of our group were out last night, so Terry and I tackled the Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection scenarios of LEGENDARY ENCOUNTERS: ALIEN. This was the first time playing these scenarios for both of us.

Let me start off with the (in our opinion) weaker of the two scenarios, Alien: Resurrection. Terry and I used our tried and true Priest/Mercenary combo, so he could focus on combat and I could focus on deck building. As it turns out we wound up doing the exact opposite - through luck of the draw I wound up being the combat beast and he had all the high level cards. However, aside from a little bit of a bumpy start due to the heavy combat intensity at the start of the game, we won it quite handily. Neither of us were overly impressed with this scenario for the simple fact that much of the Barracks just....sucks. With a few exceptions, the cards just aren't that interesting or require sacrifices that we weren't willing to take. The objectives (aside from the last one), are also rather pointless.

On the other hand, Alien 3 introduced some mechanics we really loved like a flooding complex and things that limited your ability to recruit from HQ. This scenario was a SLOG (but in a good way). We got really unlucky in that the targets for our last objective happened to be in the last three cards of the Hive, so we basically had to fight our way through the entire deck. At one point we thought we were doomed. Terry drew a Facehugger, we couldn't kill it, and it became a Chestburster. We decided to just play it out and see if I could somehow win before he died.

However, through a brilliant stroke of luck/strategerie I drew a card that allowed me to kill a *card* (not just character) from another player's discard pile. I play him and kill the Chestburster, basically ripping it out of Terry's chest while saving his life. He survived, and we wound up triumphantly winning the game after many more hard-fought battles. I believe the game took us 2 1/2 hours (which is insane for a round of LE with two people), but it just goes to show what a battle it was. It may very well be my favorite scenario in the box.

We'll be taking a break over Thanksgiving, but will be back the following week. Not sure what we're going to take up next. Terry is eager to get into the Beagle expansion for Crusoe, but I think the rest of the group is still a little too burned out on it. So we may switch gears and do some competitive stuff since at this point we've almost exhausted our co-op options. MECHS VS MINIONS will be mine in December though, so I'm sure we'll dive heavily into that when the time comes.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Nov 18, 2016 9:45 am

Redwarlord (who used to post here ages ago, albeit for a brief time) is coming back from China for a few weeks. Over Thanksgiving I'm planning on getting in a LOT of gaming. Mistfall, Arkham Horror LCG, Mansions of Madness 2nd edition....I'm hopin' to burn out on gaming.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Fri Nov 18, 2016 11:19 am

Got in a game of Champions of Midgard last night. Highly recommend. Great worker placement that feels a lot like Lords of Waterdeep with a ton more theme thrown in. Plus dice chucking and resource management. And quick. Got in a 3 player game, including teaching how to play, in right around 2 hours. I managed to eek out a victory by having a couple of fate cards that I was able to fulfill. But it was a close thing.

And yes, the latest episode of Tabletop is what forced me to get it. That will give you a good feel of how the game plays.