OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:39 pm

YellowKing wrote:THE GAME OF LIFE:
...
In the end, this is just a pure luck-based slog, and the addition of a bunch of cards doesn't heighten the excitement since they all basically do the same thing. Total bore. Unfortunately my daughter absolutely LOVES it (I think the idea of getting married and having babies is funny to her), so I've played this more than any other game they got this Christmas.

Don't fool yourself. It was a terrible game then too. We just didn't know any better. I have the same problem with my 7yo. He thinks it is the greatest game. I suspect he likes it because he won the first time we played.

On the other hand his second favorite game is Powerboats (excellent racing game but seemingly always out of print), so I give him a little slack.

Dr. Eureka is a game targeted at kids that I like. It's really just a min-puzzle game. you have different colored balls in three vials and you draw a card and have to pour the balls back and forth in the vials to match the pattern on the card. Sort of a simplified, modified Towers of Hanoi.

Hey, That's My Fish! is another good one that works with the kids.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Dec 28, 2016 1:24 am

Played Telestrations with my mom and dad and family tonight. I was concerned my dad was going to pass out from laughing so hard.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Wed Dec 28, 2016 12:28 pm

Another round of Dead of Winter and still can't win.

My son loves it and we have a great time, but man, we can't beat it.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Wed Dec 28, 2016 12:36 pm

It took me until the 5th or 6th game until anyone actually won (that is, beat the scenario and met their personal winning conditions). That was with one of the easier scenarios, and we still would have lost if the game had gone one more round. It definitely isn't the gentlest game...

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Wed Dec 28, 2016 1:03 pm

My copy of Black Orchestra arrived yesterday, so I set up my first (solo) game. Pretty good game, with lots of tension. Tonight, my two boys and I will try it multiplayer.

A tough, thematic game, you play as one of the historical figures conspiring to assassinate Hitler. Time constantly is ticking, and what was almost the perfect chance on the last turn might now be near impossible to try now....then the Gestapo shows up....

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Wed Dec 28, 2016 1:09 pm

MythicalMino wrote: A tough, thematic game, you play as one of the historical figures conspiring to assassinate Hitler. Time constantly is ticking, and what was almost the perfect chance on the last turn might now be near impossible to try now....then the Gestapo shows up....

That sounds like a really depressing game...

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Dec 28, 2016 1:24 pm

At the end of the game, if you fail, the Allies show up and Hitler ends up in a ditch covered in petrol.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Wed Dec 28, 2016 1:38 pm

MythicalMino wrote:My copy of Black Orchestra arrived yesterday, so I set up my first (solo) game. Pretty good game, with lots of tension. Tonight, my two boys and I will try it multiplayer.

A tough, thematic game, you play as one of the historical figures conspiring to assassinate Hitler. Time constantly is ticking, and what was almost the perfect chance on the last turn might now be near impossible to try now....then the Gestapo shows up....

Just watched a YouTube last night on this game.

Interested in seeing your comments.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Wed Dec 28, 2016 11:41 pm

So.. The family ended up playing a few games of Zombicide over the weekend and the other night. First time playing for us. We beat the tutorial and just barely beat the mission where you have to escape the map with your survivors (we are still not quite sure if we truly won because we are not sure if the mission was for all of us to escape or just one of us.

Spoiler:

) We then tried 2 other missions and failed miserably.... However, it turns out that due to a misunderstanding of the rules, we inadvertently were playing in hardcore mode.
For those that don't know the game, there are red spawn zones that spawn zombies every turn. There are also manholes that will sometimes spawn zombies. Well, we didn't read the rules too well and ended up spawning zombies at the manholes for every round instead of only when you got a special card.. big oops... For those of you that do know the game, I'm sure that you can imagine the complete cluster that turned into.. We did have fun playing, but really thought the game was broken as there was absolutely no way to win under those conditions... Towards the end of the game we went into easy mode since we knew it was lost and stopped rolling dice. we tried it with assuming that every combat action was successful.. This was fun for a bit, but even doing this we all died. There were just too many zombies coming including an Abomination that we couldn't kill with our current equipment.
My son ended up finding out today that we were playing wrong the whole time.
Will be fun to play again with the correct rules.
Have a decent stack of unplayed games, so it was good to get back into it, but since our recent sessions ran past midnight, gonna have to pull back and do it when we are off the next day or try to start earlier....

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 12:00 am

We ran through the tutorial and first scenario of MECHS VS MINIONS. I've been dying to get this one to the table ever since it arrived a couple of weeks ago, and we finally got three players together so we decided to give it a go. I'd have loved to have four, but beggars can't be choosers during the busy holiday season.

The tutorial we of course beat handily. First scenario was touch and go until we gout our mechs upgraded, and then we finished it off pretty easily. Great fun though; everyone loved the game and we really started figuring the programming strategy out towards the end. Can't wait to move on to the rest of the campaign.

I also got in a game of KING OF TOKYO with my daughter (7). This is one of those classic games that I've just never owned or had a chance to play, so I picked it up cheap over Christmas thinking it would be a good one for the family. While my daughter didn't grasp a lot of the strategy, she still had a lot of fun rolling those big chunky dice and figuring out what she wanted to keep and what she wanted to re-roll. I really liked it - simple, fast, fun.

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 7:07 am

We came so close this last game of Black Orchestra ....it was a rough ride, Hitler's military support was over 5 most of the game, even up to 7 quite a bit. Then, suddenly, it dropped to 3. Christian was in place to strike with the Sniper plot on his next turn...

My turn moves Hitler's military support to 4....but Christian (with high suspicion) goes for it....he has 7 dice he can use....needs 4 successes....has a reroll....he chooses to use 5 dice (hoping to succeed without being discovered). Rolls 3 successes, an eagle and a number. Rerolls the eagle....it is a number. He fails the plot attempt.

I was waiting in the wings with a coup de tat plot....but my motivation was at positive....but still....we could still take Hitler out if we had just a couole more turns. Time is ticking as we are well into the 7th stage of the war....but the documents were found....which led to our final photo at the firing squad.

Here are some of my thoughts on Black Orchestra.

I really enjoy the game. My first game was solo, and though I mangled a couple of rules, I could see the game is well done. My son said he really liked it, and was really getting into it.

The theme is dark, as you see the rise of Hitler and some of the things he did....but you are playing as one of the true historical heroes of the war.

There is tension because time is ticking. The game is divided into 7 stages of the war. Each stage depicted in a deck of cards. In the 7th stage, there is a "Everyone Loses" card. Normally, those types of cards are very anticlimactic. But here, it feels like it fits. Plus, you have 6 other stages to prepare for this....and....2 cards are discarded out of every stage. That card (Documents Discovered) could be one of those two stage 7 cards discarded. The problem is...you do not know if it is or not. This leads to very tense moments in the 7th stage, as that card you know could be in there somewhere.

The art is good. The board is great. As the war goes on, locations open up, and then eventually are no longer accessible.

There are times you may be just about ready to strike with a plot, but then Hitler moves....or his Military Support goes up. The feelings and emotional ride as you are seeing this perfect plan fall into place....but then disaster strikes, moving Hitler and all his Leutenants to a fortified location....and now he is too far away and too well guarded. But maybe the opportunity falls into your lap....but things are not quite perfect....but you still should go for it! Right? Maybe not....

Just a well done game, that treats the theme respectfully.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:27 am

Got in a fun couple of games of Firefly yesterday. A relearning/learning game for me and my buddy Joe, and then a full bore game. I really like this game, but never get a chance to break it out.

Lost both games, but still had fun.

Played some more Telestrations with the family too. Mom and Dad love it so much they are planning on buying a copy for themselves.

I haven't seen anyone here talk about Star Wars Destiny yet. I have the two starter packs and really enjoy the game. Just placed a reservation for a box of boosters when they come back in stock.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:44 am

After Lexx at the Dice Dojo raved about Star Wars Destiny around Thanksgiving, I apparently indicated I wanted him to order me both starters by either blinking or yawning. I have yet to figure out what the code is.

Anyway, I picked them up a few weeks ago after the store called me and told me they were in. I played one game of it so far, but I like what they're doing with it. It's definitely inspired by Dice Masters, but the mechanics don't make buying a bunch of boosters a requirement. It doesn't punish casual players, which is a plus.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 8:20 pm

Well it was another great year of gaming. I managed to play over 100 individual games with over 300 total plays, which is the most I've ever had since starting to record my plays (I know I'm a super nerd to even record my plays).

I've been thinking a lot about my favorite games of the year. I've managed to play a lot of the hot games for 2016 and I've generally enjoyed them. I think of the games I have played released this year my favorite is...

Pyramid Arcade

I've played a number of the games included so far and I've really enjoyed all of them. Some are quick abstracts for two players, some are a little bit longer with deeper strategy, some are good deduction games. I don't usually like boxes like this, but this is a fantastic game, or rather collection of games. The possibilities are near endless.

Honorable mention goes to Mare Nostrum: Empires for me. It manages to break down a nice epic feeling war game into a reasonable 2 hour game. I like it enough I picked up the resource chips that cost almost as much as the game itself. Well worth it. The only downside I have is that it doesn't scale quite as well as I would like. I've played it at 2 and 4 player counts, and I think it is an amazing 4 player game, but just a good 2 player game.

Biggest overall disappointment for me for the year easily goes to Seafall. I've posted enough about that here. Nothing more to say on the matter. 20 games played total.

Biggest personal disappointment goes to... Scythe. I actually like the game, I do. I find it to be really good, but I just want it to be... more. I don't know it just leaves me feeling slightly empty at the end for some reason. I'm keeping it for now, I want to give it another go because I so badly want to love this game where right now I just... like it.

I haven't played a couple of big games from this year that I think I will really love... including Star Wars Rebellion and Mechs vs. Minions (both of which I bought at launch but just have not gotten around to playing) as well as Great Western Trail and Terraforming Mars, both of which I really would like to try and I think I will love them.

Perhaps more important than games this year... is my favorite game I played for the first time this year despite not being a new release. For me...that easily goes to:
Food Chain Magnate
It was released last year but I played it for the first time this year. What a game. I've talked about it a lot in this thread but it is easily my favorite game I played for the first time this year.

There are a couple of other great honorable mentions I played for the first time this year though including a couple of oldies- Acquire and Cosmic Encounter. 2 fantastic games that easily stand the test of time.

How was everyone else's gaming year overall?

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:07 pm

What do you use to track your played games?

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:20 am

So....my boys and I played a 3 player game of Black Orchestra. The Perfect Storm. All the pieces came together and a suitcase bomb in the 2nd stage kills Hitler.

2nd game didn't end so well. Stage 7....Hitler finally returns to Berlin....both my boys are in position, I just need to get to Berlin (but I have airplane access, so easy for me). The Coup D'Etat plot is ready to go....but, sadly, we are all at extreme suspicion...the event drawn? Gestapo Raid. We all are arrested, game over....

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:19 am

Xmann wrote:What do you use to track your played games?

Board game geek. Once you create an account you can easily log plays. Initially I did it just out of curiosity but now it's nice to see how much I actually play some games.

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:17 am

Two games tonight....

Nothing Personal (3 players) was first. Very close for the first 4 Years, then the stretch in the last year and final scoring put distance between all of us. The winner wasn't me or my son, but rather our guest! Good game that said the Family nearly cleared out for 2 rounds.

The second game was Black Orchestra (4 players). I had attempted a kidnapping plot, but failed, sometime in the 3rd or 4th stage. A little bit into stage 6, and our guest attempted a Derail Train plot. Very risky...but he went for it! Not only a failure, but three Eagles...he is detected and arrested. With us other three conspirators already at Extreme suspicion, the game just took a very tense turn. The next Event Card? Gestapo Raid...we all are now arrested, game over!

Out of 5 games total for Black Orchestra, we have won only 1 game so far....

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:49 am

MythicalMino wrote:Two games tonight....

Nothing Personal (3 players) was first. Very close for the first 4 Years, then the stretch in the last year and final scoring put distance between all of us. The winner wasn't me or my son, but rather our guest! Good game that said the Family nearly cleared out for 2 rounds.

The second game was Black Orchestra (4 players). I had attempted a kidnapping plot, but failed, sometime in the 3rd or 4th stage. A little bit into stage 6, and our guest attempted a Derail Train plot. Very risky...but he went for it! Not only a failure, but three Eagles...he is detected and arrested. With us other three conspirators already at Extreme suspicion, the game just took a very tense turn. The next Event Card? Gestapo Raid...we all are now arrested, game over!

Out of 5 games total for Black Orchestra, we have won only 1 game so far....

Black Orchestra sounds awesome

Montag · Post by **Montag** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 7:22 pm

Still loving Terraforming Mars. I got the GameTrayz player mats and finally figured out the storage.

Edit: The bits

The 20 player cubes fit exactly in the containers. I was given these and I was told they were obtained at Harbor Freight in a bulk pack - maybe 20 or 25 of them.

The blue tinted containers were $0.88 each from Walmart in the office organization area. This was between the crafting and camera stuff at my store. I empty out 2 blue containers at the start and then split the copper and then the silver / gold cubes across two blue containers each.

The ugly pink containers are 3 x 5 index card cases from Staples at $1.99 each. Other colors are available, but not at my store. These are pretty low profile and hold 2 stacks of standard cards. I will find other uses for these as well.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 9:07 pm

Montag wrote:Still loving Terraforming Mars. I got the GameTrayz player mats and finally figured out the storage.

I need this game.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:00 pm

I was too distracted by the abomination on the table next to the box. Cherry Jubilee? </shudder>

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:14 pm

Chrisoc13 wrote:
Montag wrote:Still loving Terraforming Mars. I got the GameTrayz player mats and finally figured out the storage.

I need this game.

It's on my very long list of games too

Montag · Post by **Montag** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:41 pm

TheMix wrote:I was too distracted by the abomination on the table next to the box. Cherry Jubilee? </shudder>

Unopened box. It will be dumped off at the office when work resumes.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 12:50 pm

Looks like Joann craft stores are having a storage sale. Might be worth checking out for all your plastic bucket needs.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 12:57 pm

Montag wrote:
TheMix wrote:I was too distracted by the abomination on the table next to the box. Cherry Jubilee? </shudder>
Unopened box. It will be dumped off at the office when work resumes.

Whew. Crisis averted.

I could easily eat an entire box of Andes Mints. But I don't think I'd be willing to try even one of those.

As for the storage, are all those little plastic boxes relatively cheap? I'm generally cautious of spending as much for storage options as I do on the games. I've made several foam core inserts. Thankfully, though, I haven't had to worry about the little stuff. I have a couple of bigger plastic containers that I use for storing dice, counters, etc. from multiple games.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 1:03 pm

The sale is 50% off, but still require an outlay. I'm not into the boxes, but others are.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 1:27 pm

Also looks like there may be another coupon you can print for 20% off the order. I'm not sure I need more of those boxes (I still have an unused one), but having some variation in size and shape would be nice.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 2:47 pm

I just bought some boxes from Harbor Freight to try and organize all of my Shadows of Brimstone stuff. I should check out what Joanns has too.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 3:33 pm

Link, now that I'm not on my phone.

Montag · Post by **Montag** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 5:10 pm

TheMix wrote:
Montag wrote:
TheMix wrote:I was too distracted by the abomination on the table next to the box. Cherry Jubilee? </shudder>
Unopened box. It will be dumped off at the office when work resumes.
Whew. Crisis averted. I could easily eat an entire box of Andes Mints. But I don't think I'd be willing to try even one of those.

As for the storage, are all those little plastic boxes relatively cheap? I'm generally cautious of spending as much for storage options as I do on the games. I've made several foam core inserts. Thankfully, though, I haven't had to worry about the little stuff. I have a couple of bigger plastic containers that I use for storing dice, counters, etc. from multiple games.

I edited my post to include the pricing and specifics for the ones I knew. They are all cheap.

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 9:32 pm

So....I found out I have been playing one rule wrong in Black Orchestra, which would/should make things harder. So, our two wins are tainted.

But, this afternoons game was played with the right rules...and it was a game to be remembered!

A tough game from start to finish, as we could not hardly get anyone motivated past "positive" (3rd level). I had a plot early on (Lone Gunman), but needed to be Zealous motivation (highest, level 5). I gathered my supplies I needed for the plot (weapon and a badge), but still could only have 3 dice. Three dice needing to roll 3 successes is tough to do (think successes being 5 & 6 on a 6 sided die roll)...

So, I have a plot ready to go (other than Hitler's Military Support is too high for me to try. But Sabrina also has a plot she can possibly pull off, and she too is finally at Zealous motivation.

The game moves on toward the end, as we are now getting deeper into the final stage of the war. 2 of the conspirators are at timid motivation, but the two who has the chance to pull off the plots are at extreme suspicion. I play a card that lets me look at the top 2 cards in the stage deck, Intelligence Briefing, (we are in stage 7 now) and remove one from the game, or put both back in any order. Fortunately for us, one of the 2 cards is the Documents Discovered (game ending card). Hitler's motivation drops to 3, and now I am ready to make my Lone Gunman move...but stopped in my tracks as there is a Gestapo Raid, arresting the two of us able to attempt a plot (we are both at Extreme suspicion).

Nathan manages to release Sabrina from jail....he draws the last event card of the game (this was tense, as the Key Event of the stage had also been played earlier, meaning that certain cards are ignored and a new card is drawn. So if the last card of the game is one of those certain cards, we lose [one of the loss conditions is to need to draw an event card but there are no more cards to draw]). The card drawn is NOT one of those cards! Sabrina is our last chance.

Hitler's Military Support is at 3, and he is in Berlin (at the Chancellory). Her motivation is still at Zealous (needed for her Sniper plot), and she will have 4 dice to use (she will pick up the other optional item at Hitler's location giving her her 4th die). We also have 2 cards that allow her to reroll a die (Quick Reaction). But with no more event cards in the deck, this is our last shot. She goes to Hitler's location, picks up the weapon item, rolls the four dice....two successes. The two cards that will allow her to reroll dice are played...the two dice are rerolled.....1 more success!

Hitler is killed by a sniper at the Chancellory at the midnight hour. Couldn't get much closer than that!

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:59 am

MythicalMino wrote:So....I found out I have been playing one rule wrong in Black Orchestra, which would/should make things harder. So, our two wins are tainted.

But, this afternoons game was played with the right rules...and it was a game to be remembered!

A tough game from start to finish, as we could not hardly get anyone motivated past "positive" (3rd level). I had a plot early on (Lone Gunman), but needed to be Zealous motivation (highest, level 5). I gathered my supplies I needed for the plot (weapon and a badge), but still could only have 3 dice. Three dice needing to roll 3 successes is tough to do (think successes being 5 & 6 on a 6 sided die roll)...

So, I have a plot ready to go (other than Hitler's Military Support is too high for me to try. But Sabrina also has a plot she can possibly pull off, and she too is finally at Zealous motivation.

The game moves on toward the end, as we are now getting deeper into the final stage of the war. 2 of the conspirators are at timid motivation, but the two who has the chance to pull off the plots are at extreme suspicion. I play a card that lets me look at the top 2 cards in the stage deck, Intelligence Briefing, (we are in stage 7 now) and remove one from the game, or put both back in any order. Fortunately for us, one of the 2 cards is the Documents Discovered (game ending card). Hitler's motivation drops to 3, and now I am ready to make my Lone Gunman move...but stopped in my tracks as there is a Gestapo Raid, arresting the two of us able to attempt a plot (we are both at Extreme suspicion).

Nathan manages to release Sabrina from jail....he draws the last event card of the game (this was tense, as the Key Event of the stage had also been played earlier, meaning that certain cards are ignored and a new card is drawn. So if the last card of the game is one of those certain cards, we lose [one of the loss conditions is to need to draw an event card but there are no more cards to draw]). The card drawn is NOT one of those cards! Sabrina is our last chance.

Hitler's Military Support is at 3, and he is in Berlin (at the Chancellory). Her motivation is still at Zealous (needed for her Sniper plot), and she will have 4 dice to use (she will pick up the other optional item at Hitler's location giving her her 4th die). We also have 2 cards that allow her to reroll a die (Quick Reaction). But with no more event cards in the deck, this is our last shot. She goes to Hitler's location, picks up the weapon item, rolls the four dice....two successes. The two cards that will allow her to reroll dice are played...the two dice are rerolled.....1 more success!

Hitler is killed by a sniper at the Chancellory at the midnight hour. Couldn't get much closer than that!

You playing this with 3 people? How do you think it would play with 2?

And did you buy online or at your local store? Cheapest I can find it online is $75 and I don't know if that's MSRP or not.

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:45 am

I have played 4 player, 3 player, 2 player, and solo (same really as 2 player, as you controlb2 conspirators).

I have enjoyed it with every player count so far.

I bought it online, direct from Game Salute. I believe when you buy from them you also get the "Classified" promo pack which adds 3 more conspirators. It was $73.95 total (It was 73 dollars and some odd cents anyways).

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 10:48 am

Xmann wrote:And did you buy online or at your local store? Cheapest I can find it online is $75 and I don't know if that's MSRP or not.

MSRP is $60 but I can't find anyone that isn't marking it up.

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:06 am

Game Salute still has it, for 60.00, and it still comes with the 3 Conspirators Promo

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:58 am

Think I'll order it from them.

How's it play solo? Haven't considered solo, but I would now that you mention it.

It would be primarily my wife and I and occasionally our son.

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:24 pm

I have played solo only once, but it was fine. You play as 2 conspirators.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:58 pm

MythicalMino wrote:Game Salute still has it, for 60.00, and it still comes with the 3 Conspirators Promo

Thanks. Hadn't made it there yet, the main page still had a 'pre-order' button that just throws up a 404 error. Could have gotten it from Amazon for $75 with free shipping but I'm fine with $73.95 with the extra promo stuff to boot.

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 4:09 pm

Just played our first game of Pandemic Legacy.

Cruising along, one disease cured, one about to be cured, then BAM. Outbreak cascade. Game over.

I love it so far, love the mystery, love ripping up cards, but this game really scares me.