OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

[Blackhawk]

That's one of the reasons I don't play digital boardgames often. It's nice, every now and then, to interact with real object.

[YellowKing]

I'll be getting it, but primarily as a way to have it available on the go or in instances where I have another game set up and just want a quick fix. It's not my preferred way of playing board games, but it's nice to have the option.

[Tao]

I own both the digital and physical versions of a couple of board games. Given my druthers I prefer to play table top games, you know, on the table but having the option to fire up a game on the computer is nice at times. Gloomhaven can be a PIA to setup, same with Pathfinder ACG, so being able to instantly start and save games is a nice option. If Street Masters shows up on Steam I will most likely buy, even just being able to see how certain rules are played out "officially" would be nice but at a glance it looks like this will be a mobile app in which case I would pass.

[baelthazar]

Yeah, same here. I don’t find digital ports offensive or wrong. I just prefer having some aspects of my recreational time not based around a computer screen.

Most of the ports also produce boardgame/video game hybrids that are worse than just playing a dedicated video game of the same genre. For example, why would I boot up the Eclipse port when I could play one of the myriad of 4X games out there?

There are notable exceptions, like Twilight Struggle, Agricola, or Sagrada. But I mostly end up playing board game ports on my phone, when a full video game is not available.

That said, I saw Blood Rage just got a port on Steam. There isn't much like it out in the video game market, so that might be worth a look.

[Skinypupy]

Two things:

1. FFG currently has a dedicated solo mode for X-Wing in Alpha testing. This definitely has my interest.

The starfighter battles of Star Wars™: X-Wing can range from small skirmishes between a few ships to epic battles involving multiple squadrons and capital ships. In all these battles, at least two players come together to play out these tense engagements with iconic ships from across the Star Wars™ saga.

Now, we’re working on an entirely new way to play out the space battles of the Star Wars galaxy, and we need your help! Fantasy Flight Games is happy to announce an open alpha for X-Wing Solo Play!

This new game mode gives you the chance to test your skills against a dynamic and unpredictable automated opponent whose behavior is dictated by simple rules using components found in the X-Wing Core Set. As these rules are still being developed, we need your help to test them. Throughout the development process, we’ll ask for your feedback using Google Forms.

2. Ordered Street Masters yesterday, it will be here tomorrow.

[Blackhawk]

Two things:

1. FFG currently has a dedicated solo mode for X-Wing in Alpha testing. This definitely has my interest.

I wonder if that will work with original, non-updated sets. I put mine in storage as I couldn't find anyone to play against, even if I'd upgraded.

[hepcat]

2. Ordered Street Masters yesterday, it will be here tomorrow.

You won’t regret it. If you have any questions, there’s quite a few us with a lot of playtime under our belts. Just ask away.

I’m about 4 days into my TMB Slice and Dice playthrough and I just lost my first battle. Surprisingly, Dart is turning out to be a stronger character than expected. She’s a support character, true. But those agents she can throw onto baddies rock.

I also stopped by one of our local gaming stores and picked up a copy of Hoplomachus Lost Cities for almost half off. Now I own all the big box entries in the series, as well as a few smaller ones.

[$iljanus]

Two things:

1. FFG currently has a dedicated solo mode for X-Wing in Alpha testing. This definitely has my interest.

I wonder if that will work with original, non-updated sets. I put mine in storage as I couldn't find anyone to play against, even if I'd upgraded.

I’m not willing to invest in conversion kits since that would be expensive but I’m betting on some enterprising person on BGG adapting the system to 1.0 rules.

Bummer you don’t live in my neck of the woods. I would have been happy to play with you. My collection is in nicely organized Plano boxes waiting for someone to play with it.

[Blackhawk]

Yeah, I had mine carefully stored in Plano boxes for years. It was just a year or so ago that I realized that they hadn't been touched in six or seven years. I have a stack of two-player games in my closet that I picked up to play with a friend of mine. He then went and got married on me and moved to the other side of the state. How ungrateful! None of the two-player games are really playable anymore.

[Skinypupy]

Trying to set up my first Street Masters game. Using the Gone Ballistic stage with The Brotherhood enemy deck.

The stage setup card says “Reveal cards from the stage deck until 1P Objective cards are revealed. Put the revealed objective cards into play and shuffle all other revealed cards back into the stage deck”

Two questions:

1. What the hell does “1P” mean?
2. I assume this means that I only put the first Objective card I draw into play, and everything else goes back in the deck, right? The fact it keeps saying “Objective cards” (plural) is throwing me.

[Smoove_B]

(1) "1P" is their shorthand for "1 for every player", meaning you need to find a number of cards equal to the number of fighter characters (not humans) playing. If you're playing true solo then (just using one fighter), you're looking for your first revealed objective card. This is one of the ways the game scales for a variable number of fighters. Note this is also how you'll likely calculate the boss's health. For Dimitri he has 20P health - or 20 life points (in true solo). If you're using two fighters, he has 40 health, and so on.

(2) This means when you're setting up you're going to drawing stage cards until you pull a single objective card and then place it. This is how you get a random objective to focus on. If you had another fighter, you keep drawing until you get the second objective.

This is a really good intro/tutorial video if you have tolerance for that kind of thing.

[Skinypupy]

I was 10 minutes into this exact video when I switched tabs and read your post.

[Smoove_B]

Well, glad to help.

[Skinypupy]

It's a great video. There were quite a few things that were really unclear from the manual that I understood by watching it played.

But now I'm too tired to actually start a game. Will need to try tomorrow instead.

[Skinypupy]

Decided to try a couple rounds. Some quick clarifying questions:

1. Are “ability” cards instant, single-use cards? I.E. If I play Kyoryu’s “Drawn From the Sky” during my card step, I do that single ability then discard it, right?. Or can I keep it in my play area and use it later?

2. The manual says “Exhaust” cards can be used at any time during my turn. So if I have a tactic card in my play area that says “Exhaust: Attack (red die)”, would exhausting it count as my Card Action for the turn? Or can I exhaust it in addition to taking my Card Action?

3. Drew the “Proximity Mine” enemy gear, which says “when a fighter moves within two spaces of the attached enemy, deal that fighter 5 damage”. Does that still trigger if the enemy moves to me?

[Smoove_B]

(1) Attack and ability cards are single use, discard - you play one of as your "Play Card Step" in the Act phase.

(2) Cards that are in your play area (like Tactics) remain there and using the Exhaust abilities on those cards is not part of your "Play Card Step" but indeed something you're doing for "free" as part of the "Action" step of your turn.

With those cards you play in front of you (Tactics) you just want to make sure you're laying them out in the order they were played - so the first Tactic you play is closest to the character card and then moving away to the right.

This is really where the game play is because you're basically playing a card in the Act step and then juggling all the exhaust or other abilities you might have to add additional damage or get extra/bonus attacks and moves.

(3) The card is a bit confusing but the designers have said they try to make cards clear and they shouldn't be interpreted. Here, the cards says "When a fighter moves..." so no if the enemy moves the mine doesn't go off. Basically their advice for everything is just to do exactly what the cards say.

[Tao]

Ability card are instant use and you discard after you resolve the card unless otherwise specified in the card text. This counts against your turn action. So yes, play Drawn From the Sky then discard it.

Tactics cards (are awesome) are played in your Fighter area and stay in play until some action removes them. Some Tactics cards have additional text that say perform this action and then discard the Tactic card, also enemy cards can remove cards in the Fighters play area, but otherwise they stay in play.

Most Tactics cards can be exhausted/tapped for an affect, my understanding of the rules is you can exhaust any number of Tactics cards at any time during that Fighters turn and this does NOT count against your set Turn actions, again Tactics cards are pretty awesome. So yes, You could exhaust a Tactic card that adds more red dice to your attacks THEN play an Ability card as an attack and use the extra dice from the Tactic card or cards.

RE: Proximity Mine - a response from Brady Sadler, one of the designers. "This is correct. The card should be read exactly as written. The fighter has to be the one that moves within 2 spaces. It would not trigger if the enemy moved within 2 spaces of the fighter".

A few posts up thread I included a link to a really helpful thread about some of the rules. Also lots of clarifications on BGG and the developers participate.

[Skinypupy]

Super helpful, thanks for the clarification.

A few posts up thread I included a link to a really helpful thread about some of the rules. Also lots of clarifications on BGG and the developers participate.

I've already learned things from that thread I completely missed in the manual (and that weren't in that playthrough video I watched), such as:

- Your fighter gains a loot card for every minion your fighter (or an ally he/she controls) defeats.

I had no idea!

[YellowKing]

I finally got my gaming table and stuff unpacked at the new house, so I think I'm going to tackle FOLKLORE: THE AFFLICTION as my next project. I messed around with it briefly after receiving it as a Christmas present, but never got very far. Primarily because I didn't have a good way to track monster health. I wound up buying some little knitting row counters to use that should work out quite well.

I'm trying to knock out some campaign games before jumping back into Street Masters. After Folklore I'd like to hit up the LOTR: Journeys in Middle Earth expansion/DLC.

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, those loot cards are key. Extra movement, extra damage, healing, free ranged attacks - all helpful.

[Zarathud]

I remember the loot cards as setting up a pretty powerful combo.

[hepcat]

Loot cards can make all the difference in the world during a tight game.

[Skinypupy]

With those cards you play in front of you (Tactics) you just want to make sure you're laying them out in the order they were played - so the first Tactic you play is closest to the character card and then moving away to the right.

I'm not quite sure I understand this. Thought I could play the tactics cards in my play area in any order? Or do I have to play them sequentially left to right?

[Tao]

I believe the order they are initially played becomes important for when there is a negative affect that requires card removal. It's been a while but I think the instructions mention keeping track of the order in which you play a card from hand or a deck for this reason. (I might be confusing this with a different game) Once the cards are out you can "activate" them in any order you wish.

[Smoove_B]

Right - you can use them in any order, but keeping them in play (lined up next to your character card) in the specific order you originally played them is important.

[Skinypupy]

Eked out a victory in my first game, mainly due to luck. Was down to 2 HP, and was about to get surrounded by two full-health Dragos plus Dmitri with 12 HP on my next turn.

Decided to go for an all out attack on Dmitri (including the butterfly knife I picked up) so I was rolling all four attack dice. Ended up getting multiple crits, landing a total of 13 damage. Dmitri didn't have any punch defense tokens, so I knocked him out by 1 HP.

Fun game, although far more complex and strategic than it appears at first glace. Can't wait to try out some different fighters and enemy combos. This poll is super helpful as I start to pick through which characters and stages to use while I learn.

[Smoove_B]

I think you'll find so many games are going to be nail-biters - which is part of the big fun element (for me). But yes, I think the greatest thing about the game is how quickly you can reset everything and then decide to change a single option (new boss, new stage, different fighter) and see what happens. I still think my favorite character is Brandon because of the insane card juggling you do, but in truth they're all so much fun to play and learn. I haven't spent any time playing the bosses in Redemption mode, nor have I touched a single thing from the old or recently shipped expansions. I've barely scratched the surface of that core box you have because it has so much great stuff in it.

[hepcat]

I thought I might be the odd man out thinking that Brandon is a powerhouse. He can generate insane damage under the right conditions. He’s hard to figure out for new players, but I suspect he may be a bit overpowered for those who figure out his combos.

[Skinypupy]

Natalia’s Crippling Strike tells you to “exhaust a minion targeted by the attack”.

I assume an exhausted minion does not activate during the React phase, correct?

[Tao]

Correct, an exhausted minion will "ready" during the react phase rather than activate.

From the manual;

"If an enemy is exhausted, that enemy cannot activate. When it would activate, it instead readies and does not resolve its “Activate” keyword".

From the designer;

"When a minion is exhausted, it still functions as a minion with the only exception being that when it would "Activate" it does not".

[hepcat]

If I’m not mistaken its action is to UNexhaust it.

[Skinypupy]

Last Street Masters question (for now). Dmitri's Modified RPG-7 says:

"Dmitri chooses the nearest fighter and discards 1 power from this card to attack each figure within 4 spaces of that fighter"

Does he also attack the fighter he "chose"? Or does he only attack other figures around that fighter? I would assume it attacks all of them, but I've been told in a couple places now that I should read the cards very literally. (and yes, I know he can blow himself up too)

Depending on how you interpret it, that card feels either really overpowered (he gets two 4-dice attacks every other turn) or really underpowered (he doesn't actually attack the chosen target, but rather everyone around him/her...which are often himself or other minions) for a solo game.

I'm now 4-0, but each game has come down to just one or two HP. It's definitely a tense game. I've played Kyoryu, Megan, and Natalia on the Gone Ballistic and Sudden Death stages against The Brotherhood. I think Kyoryu is my favorite so far, but realize I'm still playing on Easy mode.

[Tao]

I play it that yes the original target also takes damage. Basically the target is always a "Fighter" (player controlled) so Dimitri won't purposely target himself or one of his minions but he attacks each "Figure" which is any unit meeting the criteria; fighters and enemies. To take it one step further the original "Fighter" target is also a "Figure" within the 4 space of itself.
When I know I can't avoid the attack and am going to take the hit I try and maneuver my closet fighter into a pack of minions or get close enough to Dimitri, as you pointed out.

Right now Natalia is probably my favorite fighter and I have to purposely not pick her for every game . She is incredibly versatile with heals, defense, crowd control (recon and disarm are awesome) and being able to dish incredible amounts of damage. Her powered up state Incursion is overpowered in my opinion as it affords her a passive bonus of plus 2 moves and +1 dice...forever, as long as you don't resolve the charged attack. Try using her Rush B. attack while powered up and combo'd with a + die loot card.

One of the other fighters I am really intrigued by is Leeza. She is from one of the expansions, I have not played her yet but her whole schtick is getting tons of loot cards and as mentioned, loot is really good.

[YellowKing]

Ha, that stupid rocket launcher caused me no end of grief. I went through all the phases of not understanding it and playing it incorrectly. I'll probably have to dive back into the controversy again when I resume playing Street Masters.

[Skinypupy]

Talk me into/out of Sword & Sorcery. Been really enjoying Descent over the past couple weeks, and looking to maybe switch it up a bit. S&S looks very cool, and Miniature Market has the base game on sale for $64.

Mostly solo, most likely, with the possibility of Little B 11.4 joining on occasion.

[hepcat]

It’s fun, but be prepared for a bit of a learning curve in comparison to Descent. I love how they handle the “fog of war” aspect while playing, essentially putting blips on the board that you reveal as you come into range. The combat is fun and quick, and the exploration is a hoot. I do wish the level up mechanic was a little deeper, but you do get some fun choices nonetheless.

Also, since it’s story based, the replay value is a little low.

But for 64 bucks, you’ll get hours and hours of playtime.

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, it's definitely a notch up on the complexity scale from Descent but I really liked the AI and that "fog of war" / blip thing Hepcat mentioned. It was just too much for my brain to handle when we were trying to move so sadly I had to get rid of it. Kinda wish I didn't because it's impossible to find now (no idea how MM has a copy). I think it's solid but definitely something you're going to need to devote time and space to learn.

[Blackhawk]

I would echo what they've said. It's a fun story, and while it's fairly complex, the rules have the kind of logic that makes them flow fairly well so they don't feel as complex after a couple of sessions. It does a great job with theming, too. I've got most of the stuff for it (the base game, the expansions, most of the characters, accessories, etc.) I decided a couple of years ago that I would pick a few favorite games and try to get complete sets rather than getting more different games in my collection, and S&S was my first choice.

The standalone full sequel (Ancient Chronicles) is in production now.

[Tao]

I have the base game for S&S. I have played through the first three quests twice, once solo and once with a friend. At the time I bought it I was looking for something with a progression and this definitely fills the niche. As stated it would be nice if leveling up had a deeper mechanic, since it can take awhile in the higher levels but overall the game is fun. On the pro side; decent story, nice miniatures, easy to solo, each session can be played in about an hour or two, base game has a decent amount of play-ability and even some replay-ability if you switch up characters, there's already several expansion available if you like the game. Con's; it's a tile game so you need a decent footprint to play, it's a tile game so setup can take awhile, it's a tile game so if you don't complete a session it sort of needs to stay setup, base characters are a little generic, items and loot can be really cool but also very RNG and you can get skunked repeatedly, while there are a couple of expansions available the base game has a limited number of quests, my biggest complaint is the additional hero packs seem really cool and are really hard to come by at a reasonable price.

[Skinypupy]

Thanks all for the feedback. Not that I need yet another game right now, but this one sounds like it will be right up my alley.

MM only had one copy left, so I went ahead and grabbed it. It seems to be somewhat hard to find, so I figured I'd better get it while I can