OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I played Quacks of Quedlinberg for the first time this weekend. It's a light, draw-from-a-bag, press-your-luck game about creating the best potions. Each round you draw ingredients from your own bag to add to your potion until you either stop or the cauldron explodes (happens when you draw too many cherry bombs). At the end of each round, you get victory points and gold based on how many ingredients you added to the potion (and how far along the track those ingredients got you). That gold can then be used to purchase more ingredients for your bag. Each ingredient has its own effects when drawn from your bag. I played it with 3 people and it was super fast to set up and took 5 minutes to explain. I think we all enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to playing it with some of the more complicated ingredients.

[AWS260]

On Saturday we played Lords of Vegas for the first time. This was actually my son's idea; he saw the Shut Up & Sit Down review and wanted to give it a try. I was a little surprised, since he doesn't like games with too much luck, and Lords has a fair amount of dice-rolling.

By mid-game, he was absolutely crushing both me and my wife. I decided it was time to go big or go home, so I visited his biggest casino and bet every penny I had. With one lucky roll of the dice, I was suddenly flush with cash and could make some game-changing moves. He and I ended up tied on the scoring track, and I won the tiebreaker with more money on hand.

Overall, Lords of Vegas was a bit too dicey for our tastes. Dice rolls can be really swingy, especially in the late game when they matter most. My son also disliked the gated scoring track, where advancing requires more and more points (and thus bigger and bigger casinos) the further you go. I thought it was an interesting mechanic to prevent runaway leaders and encourage players to build big.

[YellowKing]

However, I must stress that this is essentially a puzzle game. It's not really an RPG or a dungeon crawl.

That's fine by me, since this will probably be a solo-only purchase.

I'm also leaning towards it since I decided against picking up MAGE KNIGHT: UE. Nothing against Mage Knight, but I already own Star Trek Frontiers so it would be more of the same game mechanics. I have a general rule of thumb on new game purchases in that it must fill a niche in my collection and not replicate something I already own.

[wonderpug]

If I want to jump into City of Kings, do I want to get all this stuff?


Or is there some crossover between like the hero pack contents and the character packs?

Are these packs something that I'd add to the game right from the start, or things that wouldn't be utilized until after I've played the base game a bunch?

[hepcat]

Honestly, the core is all you really need. I have the two allies expansions (they each come with 2 new characters), but have yet to play with them in over a half dozen games (not that I won't, just that I haven't had a desire to add new stuff yet); and the quest add on takes you from "huge amount of quests" to "ungodly huge amount of quests". I also picked up the miniatures pack, but only because the thought of the allies expansions having miniatures and the base game characters using standees was too much for my OCD lite approach to gaming.

[YellowKing]

I think I'm just going to grab the core heros minis pack. The expansions can wait if/when I beat the core game, and I doubt I'd get around to using the alt characters.

I've been watching Ricky Royal's playthrough and he has the uncanny knack of making me obsessively want any game I watch him play.

[hepcat]

You'll have more than enough to work with having just the core box, trust me. Although the minis are really nice. They're definitely screaming out for a paint job.

Puzzle games like this remind me of tower defense games on the computer. And since I put in well over 200 hours into Defense Grid (I believe more, actually ), I think it's clear I love me some tower defense.

Both have a few optimal ways of doing things that you have to experiment to find. And for some weird reason, I get obsessed with that.

[Smoove_B]

I'm glad to read you're liking it. I feel like I owe you a few.

What's strange is that I don't really get a "puzzle vibe" from it. I know that it technically is, but for me I like the story that's being told either with the cards or as the monsters come out and you randomly pull tokens for them. I also like the hidden semi-random tile exploration. It just hits all the right elements for me at just the right levels. That might change over time, but for now it feels like there's plenty of room to try thing or explore various character combinations in the core set.

[hepcat]

The theme and story definitely overrides the sense that you’re just trying to find the solution to the goal in the allotted amount of time. I was worried about the game after the Dice Tower review savaged it, but the issues that Vassal had simply aren’t there for me. I can understand his complaints, but I just don’t see them as anything more than the result of viewing the game in parts and not as a whole.

[MonkeyFinger]

I played Quacks of Quedlinberg for the first time this weekend.

I really enjoyed the Shut Up & Sit Down review of the game.

[Zarathud]

I think Vassal is getting jaded. I really don't agree with his thoughts in reviews most times.

City of Kings felt like any other dungeon crawl to me -- but overland. There is definitely an increasing difficulty where it is BAD to pull another creature. The XP gain is outweighed by the loss of time and lost resources. Our group of 2 glass cannons, a healer and gatherer did really well.but I can see some layouts getting insolvable.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I played Quacks of Quedlinberg for the first time this weekend.

I really enjoyed the Shut Up & Sit Down review of the game.

That’s what got my interested in the game. I’ve found that I generally agree with the SU&SD reviews and they’ve certainly made me interested in games I otherwise would’ve overlooked.

[RMC]

I think Vassal is getting jaded. I really don't agree with his thoughts in reviews most times.

City of Kings felt like any other dungeon crawl to me -- but overland. There is definitely an increasing difficulty where it is BAD to pull another creature. The XP gain is outweighed by the loss of time and lost resources. Our group of 2 glass cannons, a healer and gatherer did really well.but I can see some layouts getting insolvable.

I am so telling Tom you said that at Origins.

[YellowKing]

We (finally) started our Gloomhaven campaign last night. We've been putting this one off for awhile because we knew once we started it would be a long-term commitment.

We lost the first scenario by a hair, primarily due to poor card management on behalf of myself and our Spellweaver. However, we'd planned it as a learning experience so we were actually quite pleased we got as close as we did on our first try.

Had a blast and everyone can't wait to get back to it. While the initial setup can be a bit overwhelming, it really is a very streamlined and smooth game system once you get going. By the end of the night we were firing on all cylinders and rounds were flying by.

In my brief solo experiences with the game, I saw glimmers of its greatness. Playing last night with a full group really made it shine, however. It took me right back to the good old days of playing D&D with my childhood friends and having the hours just melt away.

[hepcat]

We're about 60 or so games into ours and nearing the end of the main story options. Then we'll switch over to bonus scenarios and the new stuff from the upcoming expansion. I've definitely got my money's worth with Gloomhaven.

[AWS260]

This weekend we played a three-player game of Freedom: The Underground Railroad, a birthday present from my sister. We lost thoroughly, barely reaching the final historic era before we lost too many enslaved people.

I love the production of Freedom, from the historical cards to the cubes representing people trying to escape from slavery. Those cubes are one of my favorite game components ever: unpainted, natural wood with subtle variations in shade and grain. They are the perfect choice to represent human beings in this setting.

I kind of wish the game were more simulation-ist and less gamey. As it stands, the most important part of the game is navigating the slave-catchers, who travel on arbitrary paths that have nothing to do with history. You're manipulating a mechanic, not experiencing the real challenges of conductors in the Underground Railroad.

My other critique is that Freedom gives agency to the Underground Railroad agents, controlled by the players, and the slave catchers, controlled by a dice roll. But it doesn't give any agency to the slaves themselves: they flee the plantations only when the players decide to send them on their way. I would have liked an additional mechanic that let cubes occasionally move on their own, outside of the players' control. This would make things a little more chaotic and, I think, historically accurate.

Still, it's a great game overall, challenging and evocative. I think the rest of my family found the theme a bit too somber, so I suspect I'll be playing it mainly solo in the future.

[hepcat]

I owned it and played it quite a bit, but sold it off eventually at a Gencon auction after many, many games. I even got to play it with the designer at a convention one year. He was really passionate about the history of the game and we learned quite a few things.

[Skinypupy]

I played "Clank" for the first time last weekend, and really enjoyed it. Thinking I might pick it up for Little B 10.0 and I to play together.

I've also been working on how best to introduce them to tabletop RPG's. B is 10 and the Wonder Twins are 5.7, and I need something we can all do together. The littles don't quite have the math or strategy skills they'd need to play something like D&D, so I'm thinking about using the old "Dungeon!" board game as an introduction. It's simple enough that they can all understand it, and they've been asking me to play every single day. I'm going to try and start playing as a GM of sorts, narrating the very simple combat encounters (i.e. "you swing your club at the goblin, and it knocks him across the room" as opposed to "you rolled a 5 and killed it") and exploration aspects.

I mostly just want to get them used to the idea of using their imagination to delve into a setting, rather than just playing a simple board game. We'll see how it goes...they're either going to absolutely love it, or they're going to wonder what the hell dad is doing.

[Isgrimnur]

There's always the Lone Wolf book series.

[Blackhawk]

With my kids, I went with the D&D Adventure board games (Castle Ravenloft, Legend of Drizzt, Wrath of Ashardalon, etc.) The math was never more than basic addition (roll a d20 and add a single digit number), but it had all the D&D elements, like leveling up, classes, exploring, and the classic monsters.

[Skinypupy]

With my kids, I went with the D&D Adventure board games (Castle Ravenloft, Legend of Drizzt, Wrath of Ashardalon, etc.) The math was never more than basic addition (roll a d20 and add a single digit number), but it had all the D&D elements, like leveling up, classes, exploring, and the classic monsters.

Thanks, I wasn't familiar with those. Just watched this review of Ravenloft, and I think B will really like it. Probably still too advanced for the Wonder Twins (the reading is probably above their level), but I'm sure we can make up a version that will fit.

[wonderpug]

I've also been working on how best to introduce them to tabletop RPG's. B is 10 and the Wonder Twins are 5.7, and I need something we can all do together. The littles don't quite have the math or strategy skills they'd need to play something like D&D,
...
I mostly just want to get them used to the idea of using their imagination to delve into a setting, rather than just playing a simple board game. We'll see how it goes...they're either going to absolutely love it, or they're going to wonder what the hell dad is doing.

Check out Stuffed Fables! You cooperatively play as stuffed animals venturing into strange new worlds to defend the beloved little girl who owns you. You flip through a spiral bound storybook and use one side of a book page as your playing surface for a scenario.

It’s got dice-based combat that’s pretty easy to grasp and lots of story-based decisionmaking. “Lumpy is scared about those noises. Do you guys set up an ambush to be ready, or do you press on to make sure you get home before the girl wakes up?”

The game mechanics are set up to make it easy for you to boost up the kid players and set them up to make them the ones to have the big moments. You can use your turn to heal them or give them extra dice to make it more likely they can do something grand on their turn. The game has its challenging moments but even running out of health isn’t the end of the world.

It’s gone over well with my kids at 5 & 7 and more recently at 6.5 and 8.5.

Mice & Mystics is another good one to look into if you want something a bit more challenging and with a bigger combat focus, but with a theme that appeals to kids.

[Blackhawk]

Thanks, I wasn't familiar with those. Just watched this review of Ravenloft, and I think B will really like it. Probably still too advanced for the Wonder Twins (the reading is probably above their level), but I'm sure we can make up a version that will fit.

Just be aware that it isn't a 'guaranteed win' type game. It requires teamwork to have a chance, and bad cards/dice can still lose a game. It was a minor issue for my kids early on when they were very young. I added a rule that helped:

Whenever you're supposed to draw an encounter card, draw a hazard marker instead. If you have a hazard marker, discard it and draw an encounter card normally.

It eased the pressure to push, push, push quite a bit. I just used red glass marker stones for the hazard markers.

[YellowKing]

We tried scenario 1 of Gloomhaven again last night and this time it all really clicked. I've started to learn how to effectively play my Mindthief, and the others in the group really got into their characters as well. It's a big hit - while our group is usually enthusiastic about game night, I've never seen them all quite *this* enthusiastic.

The building we play in has a lockable unused storage room that one of our group has key card access to, so instead of lugging it back and forth to the house every week we've just been locking it up there. We got little tupperware containers to throw all of our character stuff in, and organized all of our commonly used components in one box. End result is we can get that bad boy on the table and set up in 5-10 minutes, and tore down in about the same time.

[Skinypupy]

Picked up "Legend of Drizzt" on the way home today, and B and I played our first game tonight. To say it was a huge hit would be putting it mildly. She absolutely LOVED it.

We actually ended up winning the scenario (although I may have forgotten to put out a monster a couple times) on the very last turn, with a ton of drama. If I rolled a 9 or higher, I hit the villain for his last two HP and we win. If I miss, he will attack me with his vampiric dagger during the Villain phase, kill me, and heal himself. She was so into it, she literally got down on her knees and started mock praying for me to make my roll, and did a screaming victory lap around the house when I rolled a 10.

Her reaction was exactly what I had hoped for, and then some. It was really pretty awesome to watch. As we were cleaning up, she said she couldn't wait for tomorrow night so we could try the next scenario.

Thanks, I wasn't familiar with those. Just watched this review of Ravenloft, and I think B will really like it. Probably still too advanced for the Wonder Twins (the reading is probably above their level), but I'm sure we can make up a version that will fit.

Just be aware that it isn't a 'guaranteed win' type game. It requires teamwork to have a chance, and bad cards/dice can still lose a game. It was a minor issue for my kids early on when they were very young. I added a rule that helped:

Whenever you're supposed to draw an encounter card, draw a hazard marker instead. If you have a hazard marker, discard it and draw an encounter card normally.

It eased the pressure to push, push, push quite a bit. I just used red glass marker stones for the hazard markers.

Thanks for this recommendation, I think it saved the day. Doing an encounter on (nearly) every turn would have gotten overwhelming pretty quickly. Cutting those in half made it much more manageable.

[Blackhawk]

I was just getting ready to paint a bunch of the Legend of Drizzt figures to use in a tabletop RPG (side benefit when you start playing D&D - all the figures in these games are actually unpainted WizKids D&D miniatures. You can have a big collection on hand when you switch to regular RPGs!)

Oh, and in case you haven't read RA Salvatore, and in order to prevent a new generation from butchering them:

Catty-Bree
Drizzt is one syllable
Guenhwyvar is pronounced the same as 'Guinevere', as in King Arthur's main squeeze. It's actually an older spelling of her name.

[Isgrimnur]

The Welsh and the Germans just like throwing in random letters for the fun of it.

[Blackhawk]

The Welsh and the Germans just like throwing in random letters for the fun of it.

I don't know what yywwyyou'renngch talking about.

[hepcat]

At least they have vowels.

Before an emergency joint session of Congress yesterday, President Clinton announced US plans to deploy over 75,000 vowels to the war-torn region of Bosnia. The deployment, the largest of its kind in American history, will provide the region with the critically needed letters A, E, I, O and U, and is hoped to render countless Bosnian names more pronounceable.

-courtesy of the international news desk at The Onion back in '95.

[AWS260]

I was very happy to discover this evening that Conquest of Planet Earth really holds up. Goofy, super-interactive, great theme. I should take it off the shelf more often.

[hepcat]

Any game that includes Teleportation Pants is a winner.

[paulbaxter]

We tried scenario 1 of Gloomhaven again last night and this time it all really clicked. I've started to learn how to effectively play my Mindthief, and the others in the group really got into their characters as well. It's a big hit - while our group is usually enthusiastic about game night, I've never seen them all quite *this* enthusiastic.

The building we play in has a lockable unused storage room that one of our group has key card access to, so instead of lugging it back and forth to the house every week we've just been locking it up there. We got little tupperware containers to throw all of our character stuff in, and organized all of our commonly used components in one box. End result is we can get that bad boy on the table and set up in 5-10 minutes, and tore down in about the same time.

I VERY HIGHLY recommend the Gloomhaven DM app alongside the game. It tracks all the monster hp, attack deck, and conditions as well as the various magic types. You just pick the scenario you are doing, and your character levels, then it pulls up the mob types you will be using. Eliminates the need to use quite so much room. I run it on my laptop during our games, but a tablet would be perfect.

[paulbaxter]

Also, I'll put in a plug for a little tiny games I've played several times, but only purchased recently. Deep Sea Adventure. It's a press your luck game where you and your friends are trying to recover artifacts while diving from a submarine. The air supply dwindles faster the more you carry, so the big decision is when to turn around and head back so that you don't die along with all your treasures. I've found it to be fun with a wide variety of people, and its SUPER small. I carried it easily in my pocket earlier this week.

[TheMix]

I VERY HIGHLY recommend the Gloomhaven DM app alongside the game. It tracks all the monster hp, attack deck, and conditions as well as the various magic types. You just pick the scenario you are doing, and your character levels, then it pulls up the mob types you will be using. Eliminates the need to use quite so much room. I run it on my laptop during our games, but a tablet would be perfect.

Seconded. We have a chromecast on the tv and use a tablet to cast it. It's a bit disconcerting for me because I sit with my back to the tv. So I periodically find myself wondering why everyone else is looking over my shoulder. Creeps me out a bit until I remember.

[hepcat]

We always use Gloomy Companion.

And I also love chromecasting Mansions of Madness games to my 65" TV. Crank up the creepy sounds and away you go.

[Skinypupy]

We ended up grabbing Temple of Elemental Evil today as well (an early b-day present for when she turns 10 on Monday). It's the Same basic gameplay as the others, but this one actually takes you through a modified version of the ToEE campaign. You use the same character thoughout, and advance them (by spending gold) after each chapter. She and I played through the first two chapters today, and it's super awesome.

I can't thank BH enough for the D&D Adventure recommendation.

[Zarathud]

A good day to break out the gaming table.

Burning Suns, a space conquest game with a very interesting action selection mechanic. Every turn, the actions are in a different order which can completely shatter an otherwise available strategy. My species had the ability to prevent space combat, and ground combat depends on not having a potential space combat. I could effectively prevent an attack on any planet I controlled -- so long as my fleets weren't any real threat. Another player flew in his capital ship to prevent me from landing an army the world I convinced to rebel against hepcat, which would have set me up for winning the game by landing a single troop. But another player turned my own strategy against me -- because I couldn't get a fleet together without becoming a target and losing my "can't attack me in space battles" power. There was a decent amount of player interaction without just ganging up on the VP leader. There were plenty of ways to gain VP at the end, and everyone had a chance to win within the next 2 rounds.

Architects of the West Kingdom, a worker placement game. Played the black marketer who kept being unvirtuous and ended up with lots of debt that I could convert into resources. I started turning those resources into virtue too late to get myself out of the VP penalty, as I expected to buy virtue with the resources all in one turn. Saw quite a few ways to play in the process, and ended up riding that particular trick too far. Looking forward to my next game.

Seal Team Flix, a flicking game about police strategy. It was the easy mode introduction session, but I liked how firing turned into additional resources as a trap. We won as the bad guy reinforcements would have overwhelmed a few players. With my last action, I was able to shoot down three tangos with a rifle burst. Very interesting game.

[Skinypupy]

Seal Team Flix, a flicking game about police strategy. It was the easy mode introduction session, but I liked how firing turned into additional resources as a trap. We won as the bad guy reinforcements would have overwhelmed a few players. With my last action, I was able to shoot down three tangos with a rifle burst. Very interesting game.

Flicking game?

[AWS260]

I played Barenpark for the first time today. It's a nice beer-and-pretzels game: plays quickly, requires a bit of thinking but not too much, little-to-no friction between players. Satisfying and fun, but not amazing. My son loves it.

Then we played Little Circuses, a potentially interesting game let down by a horrible manual. Each player controls a circus, expanding it by laying lay down tiles that represent different acts. Each round you activate one of your acts, which triggers an action. Some acts bring in new visitors, some make your visitors more valuable, and some let you cash out visitors for "fame" (VPs).

I couldn't tell you whether or not it's any good, because the manual is so bad. It's inexplicable -- Little Circuses isn't a complicated game, and it's put out by a major publisher. There are major errata: one section confuses left and right, and the table explaining the game's symbology accidentally swaps two of the symbols. And critical omissions: the section on "star performers," the most powerful game element, tells you how to draw them, but doesn't tell you how or when to play them. Disappointing.

[Isgrimnur]

Seal Team Flix, a flicking game about police strategy. It was the easy mode introduction session, but I liked how firing turned into additional resources as a trap. We won as the bad guy reinforcements would have overwhelmed a few players. With my last action, I was able to shoot down three tangos with a rifle burst. Very interesting game.

Flicking game?