OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

[YellowKing]

There's no round limitation unless explicitly defined by the scenario. So if you managed to pull that one off in 12 rounds, my hat's off to you!

From rulebook pg. 33 - Some scenarios may require players to keep track of what round it is. A round track can be found at the top of the elemental infusion table for this purpose. At the end of every round, simply move the tracker token forward one space. Note that it is not necessary to keep track of the rounds for most scenarios.

[paulbaxter]

Some folks had pulled out a game at the Monday night game group called Deep Sea Adventures.

Deep Sea Adventures is a type of press your luck game where all the players are diving to try to pick up treasures down below a ship. All of you share the same air hose, and as each player picks up treasures, the amount of air they require continues to grow and their movement speed slows down, making it increasingly difficult to get back to the ship and possibly killing all the other players if the air runs out.

The game is terribly fun and VERY well balanced. Really one of the best designed little games I've seen. AND it fits into a box roughly the size of a deck of cards, making it the most from I've had from a game on a per cubic inch measurement. Highly recommended, particularly for people with a feisty or competitive streak.

[Zarathud]

The deck mechanic is a built in timer. Hanging back will hurt. Going in to smash then turning invisible is a great choice.

[YellowKing]

I wound up dialing back the solo rules and won (fairly) handily. Spellweaver still got exhausted, but I ol' Craggy had enough stamina left to finish the job.

It's amazing what a single drop in monster level will do. From the stats it doesn't seem like that significant a change. A hit point here and there, an attack level here and there. But it definitely adds up. I went from 6 failures in a row to a first-try win.

I'll probably just continue the solo campaign this way, as I'm just interested in the story and exploration, something I know I probably won't get a chance to fully embrace during our group campaign. Plus the likelihood of them ever finishing that is very slim.

[baelthazar]

We played Aeon’s End War Eternal yesterday and were very impressed (3 player starter game against Umbral Titan). It came down to us defeating the titan with one last draw to go (had he gone one more time, we were toast). I am not sure we played it 100% correctly, as it takes a while to wrap your brain around the lack of shuffling, the card destroying mechanic, variable turn order, and the nemesis unleash and cards. But at any rate, it was amazing fun!

I am tempted to get the Broken Token organizer for my two core boxes, but I hear it raises the box lid 3/4 an inch. I am also not sure it is needed for a card-base game. I also want the other small expansions, so that might be the better route to go.

[YellowKing]

I am tempted to get the Broken Token organizer for my two core boxes, but I hear it raises the box lid 3/4 an inch. I am also not sure it is needed for a card-base game. I also want the other small expansions, so that might be the better route to go.

I decided against the Broken Token insert for the exact same reason.

Right now I have War Eternal and all the small expansions in the War Eternal box with room to spare. I just used a small Plano box to hold all the components, and the included dividers to organize the cards. I'd be willing to wager I can get the core set in there as well with some trial and error.

Also I upgraded the Nemesis tokens, power tokens, and charge tokens with green, yellow, and blue versions of these, respectively: Fantasy Flight Game Tokens. They are a tiny bit oversized for the charge area, but not by much. And the size doesn't matter in terms of Nemesis and Power tokens. I just hated all those little pieces of cardboard. At some point I'll probably upgrade the health as well, I just need to find different-sized red tokens.

[coopasonic]

I am tempted to get the Broken Token organizer for my two core boxes, but I hear it raises the box lid 3/4 an inch. I am also not sure it is needed for a card-base game. I also want the other small expansions, so that might be the better route to go.

It is pretty nice from an organizational standpoint, as long as you also have the promo dividers. Broken Token includes a box band to keep the box closed with the lift. I am terrified to see what happens when I get the Legacy stuff later this year and try to put it all together. So much stuff!

[YellowKing]

One of our game group was out tonight so we actually broke out some AE: War Eternal with our 3-man group.

Whipped up on the Hollow Crown, finally scoring a victory against his army of acolytes. Not an easy victory, however. We finished with Gravehold at only 2 life, despite our healer's best efforts.

Next up we thought the Gate Witch would be a pushover after all our experience playing expansion bosses. WRONG! The ugly hag made short work of us, and we limped back from game night with our tails between our legs.

[YellowKing]

Spent yesterday afternoon making a custom foam core insert for AEON'S END: WAR ETERNAL.

Bottom tray - this holds all the mage and boss cards, as well as the health dials and some miscellaneous extras for one of the bosses. (Ignore the Plano box, it shall be replaced in the next step)



Top tray - everything else. I've got all the old cardboard components in one spot, as I replaced them with the Fantasy Flight tokens pictured. I decided to create a top tray and ditch the Plano to give myself a little room for expansion. I may not be able to get the core AEON'S END in here, but I've got plenty of room for future small expansions.



It's nothing fancy and it's a bit slapped together, but since it was my first custom foam core construction I was pretty pleased with it. It ain't pretty but it's functional. And no lid lift!

[Smoove_B]

Managed to get a whole bunch of gaming in during my annual visit to a local gaming convention over the holiday weekend. I'm not sure if we're going back next year though, it seems to have...shifted and attendance was way down (at least from what we could see). The war gaming group that we typically end up hanging out with was rather thin and after discussing it with a few of the old timers, I think many of them have moved on to other conventions. So now we're looking into attending some other ones they told us about that are smaller and much more focused on miniature and war gaming.

Anyway, we managed to get in a game of Maximum Apocalypse to start the gaming weekend, and it's one I still enjoy. i do understand why the updated rules are going to limit the scavenging rules, but for our map layout, we likely woudn't have won if not for the ability to repeatedly scavenge from tiles - we were constantly surrounded by monsters and moving back to the van had tiles that spawned more.

We managed to get in on a 5 player game of Wasteland Express Delivery Service and my buddy immediately purchased it. I liked it, but felt that it was probably better with 3, possibly 4 players at most. There was a lot of downtime between turns (probably also because it was a learning game), and one of the guys playing never really picked up the point - he was just randomly moving around and doing his best to move the raiders to harass other players.

We also managed to get in a four player game of Xia with some of the elements of the Embers expansion added. I really enjoyed this experience, much more than the Wasteland Express game, I think, because it had more of an emerging story. However, the interactions between players was definitely more limited as we all were flying around doing our own thing. However, one player eventually picked up a mission to kill another player so things took an unexpected turn late in the game. Full disclosure - I've owned the game and expansion as a KS backer and have never played. My copies are all punched and sorted, but untouched. Now that I know how to play and can see that I enjoyed it, I'm definitely excited to get it to the table. I also added the upcoming card expansion to my list of post-KS purchases (thankfully the pledge manager is still open), so it was a victory all around.

Next, we played a 7 person game of Gaslands. I enjoyed the game, but unfortunately the group of random people we were playing with was rather mixed. Most of the people were ok, but a few of them were clearly more interested in their phones or whatever it was they purchased at the convention and their inability to pay attention disrupted the flow of the game. In addition, because they couldn't be bothered to watch things unfold, the guy running the game had to repeat basics. A few times he even allowed them to do things out of turn because they didn't realize or remember they could take additional actions during their turn. This is probably why I'd be a terrible con GM as that kind of stuff drives me nuts. I have no problem with people learning games. But when you walk away from the table or speed through your turn to get back on your phone, don't expect me to let you make up what you missed. Anyway, despite the mixed group, I still liked the game, enough to buy the rules and a set of plastic templates for measurement. Since it's designed to use what most people already have or can get cheap (matchbox cars, weapon sprues, random terrain), it shouldn't be difficult to bust out and just play.

Last, we spent some time trying to figure out the Lock and Load Starter kit, really just moving through the basic combat elements and how it's all calculated. My buddy has really been looking for a chit-based war game that he can play solo (and with me), and I think this might be it. With the new 5.0 rule update and the solo kit that uses a modified version of the Conflict of Heroes solo card system, I think we found a winner. The game rules have enough depth to keep it interesting, but they're not ASL level of complexity as to make it impossible to play. The rules also make logical sense and they're rather similar to many other wargames we've tried.

In total, it was a great holiday weekend for gaming. Not so great for my wallet, but playing game is always fun.

[YellowKing]

Just a heads up I should have some impressions of Ignacy's new game DETECTIVE: A MODERN CRIME STORY after Tuesday. Our group has it in hand and plan on starting it immediately with only a one week break for GenCon.

[baelthazar]

Off topic:

Does anyone with a copy of Defenders of the Last Stand remember it smelling? I recently sold mine and the guy who bought it dinged me because he said it "smelled like pot." Not to knock those that partake, but I have never smoked weed or had it in my house. So I wonder what the explanation could be? I vaguely remember the plastic minis being pretty stinky. Anyone remember?

[Blackhawk]

No, but a quick search for it turns up lots of complaints, and even reviews mentioning the smell.

[baelthazar]

No, but a quick search for it turns up lots of complaints, and even reviews mentioning the smell.

I looked and only came up with a few. What search terms did you use? This guy ended up putting "pot smell" in my feedback on ebay, which really irritates the hell out of me.

[hepcat]

Off topic:

Does anyone with a copy of Defenders of the Last Stand remember it smelling? I recently sold mine and the guy who bought it dinged me because he said it "smelled like pot." Not to knock those that partake, but I have never smoked weed or had it in my house. So I wonder what the explanation could be? I vaguely remember the plastic minis being pretty stinky. Anyone remember?

Oddly enough, we played it yesterday for 5 hours (2 games) and not once did I detect any out of the ordinary odor.

[baelthazar]

I suspect the buyer was trying to extort a partial refund from me. Either that, or the fact that I had unpunched the game and then directly put it into baggies and then never opened them once to play meant that the smell did not dissipate. When I took pictures and checked the game before the sale, I detected no odor. Probably a bad buyer...

[Skinypupy]

We spent nearly the entire weekend playing “Bob Ross: The Art of Chill”. Stop judging me, it was really fun.

I’ll admit to being somewhat fascinated by the idea of a bunch of people sitting around going, “you know what would be cool? Turning Bob Ross into a board game!”...and then actually making it happen.

[MonkeyFinger]

We spent nearly the entire weekend playing “Bob Ross: The Art of Chill”. Stop judging me, it was really fun.

I’ll admit to being somewhat fascinated by the idea of a bunch of people sitting around going, “you know what would be cool? Turning Bob Ross into a board game!”...and then actually making it happen.

Wow... had no idea there was such a thing.

[Skinypupy]

We bought it for my brother for Christmas, mostly as a gag gift. It was surprisingly fun to play.

[baelthazar]

A co-worker of mine has this in the office. I keep meaning to ask if she has played it and what it is like!

[YellowKing]

Just got back from our first case of DETECTIVE: A MODERN CRIME STORY! Obviously no spoilers.

I may have mentioned before that our game group meets in one of our conference rooms at work after hours, so we have access to a large table, whiteboard, and big monitor. Which, as it turns out, is perfectly thematic for this game.

For those that haven't read about it, DETECTIVE is not a board game per se in that interactions with the actual board are pretty minimal (it's only used to track time of day and location of your team). The bulk of the game involves chasing down leads, researching clues in the Antares database (an online app), and deciding as a team how best to spend your limited amount of time, abilities, and resources to get as much information as possible to help solve the mystery.

The story is told through an opening case file (which will provide your first leads). These leads take the form of cards which in turn may lead to new leads, interrogation opportunities, physical evidence, etc. Some leads require you to be at a certain location, which takes travel time, or time to just process the information (such as having something analyzed at the lab). Because your time is limited to working hours, and the case has a hard day limit, you're always under pressure from the clock. This leads to fascinating discussion and debate among the team as to how best to prioritize your time and figure out which leads could lead to useful information and which are probably just red herrings.

During the game you are encouraged (and I'd say it's almost mandatory) to take notes on everything, and draw mind maps of the relationships of all people involved. One nifty pre-order bonus was a set of "Polaroid" snapshots of the major players, which we taped up on the whiteboard and drew lines between just like a real detective-room bulletin board.

The Antares database app is really cool and worked very well, something I was a little hesitant about after the poor app implementation of Ignacy's FIRST MARTIANS. Up on the big monitor it really did feel like we were entering things into a crime database, and as you find physical evidence (input as 10-digit codes), the database is even smart enough to cross-reference and make matches for you which contributes to points at the end of the game. You also get to pull up case files on different suspects, look at interrogation transcripts, etc. One other neat bonus is that leads will occasionally have keywords that you are allowed to look up on the real internet to get more information. As a made up example, you may hear of some cult that exists in real life that is part of the case, and the game lets you know when you're allowed to Google that cult for more information. This part of the game isn't strictly mandatory, but it does add a lot of flavor and helps tie the game experience into real world events.

At the end of the case (when you run out of time), you're asked to log into the database and fill out a final report which consists of questions about the case that you must answer. How well you do on this final test determines your point total, and each case has a minimum total that must be reached to "win." Let me tell you, this game is tough. We thought we had done pretty darn well and had exhausted a number of leads, but we still got destroyed at the end. Part of this was just learning curve and not really knowing how to best manage our resources. Unless you're a veritable Sherlock Holmes, however, don't expect to come anywhere close to acing these case files. You can replay cases to try to get a win, but we decided as a group just to take our licks and continue the campaign to see how it all plays out.

I really had a blast with this game, and it's come closest to anything I've ever played in terms of making me feel like a real detective trying to solve a mystery. With very little board interaction, you truly are spending the bulk of your time in discussion with your teammates, using brain power to link clues and talk about what you've found and what it might mean. That said, I think it does require the right group. Each case takes 3-3 1/2 hours, so you need folks that are patient and don't mind spending that amount of time dedicated to talking through a puzzle. It also helps if everyone is on board with a bit of role-playing - not so much as in being in character, but in terms of trying to think like a detective and taking the game seriously. We decided early on as a group to not try to "outsmart" the game by doing what we guessed the game wanted us to do. Instead we always tried to act as we thought we would logically do if we were real detectives on the case.

There are some who are going to balk at spending $50 on what amounts to a one-time experience, but considering you're going to get a good 15-20 hours out of it if you go through all 5 cases (+1 downloadable one), I think it's a fair deal. You'd spend more than that just to do an escape room with some friends that lasts an hour. This is essentially a slow-paced escape room, albeit one in which the puzzles have been replaced with people and clues and evidence ripped from real life. Great fun and highly recommended.

[hepcat]

Games, games and more games. Redwarlord and his wife were visiting from China (where she teaches art at the Chinese branch of an American university) for 10 days and we played games on at least 7 of those.

Stuff that hit the table:

Terraforming Mars - Still a great, great game. But 5 people makes for a pretty long game. Especially when folks ignore the end game stuff in favor of tableau building for the sake of a non-victory point economy. You really need to set your sights on VPs (or TRs, as they call it) and then work towards that, ending the game when you feel you're sufficiently ahead.

Hexplore It - Still torn on this one. We lost pretty quickly in a 3 player game after going for one of the level 3 bosses right off the bat. But that aside, it never felt like we had any real choices during the combat, which is my main complaint with this game. I'm hoping the expansion/sequel I backed will address this, but I have to admit to being a bit disappointed the more I play it. I want to like it, but it just turns into a slog as you rarely do anything in combat than one or two things at the very most.

Too Many Bones - I'm hoping the expansion for this one addresses my only real complaint about TMB: you can easily get one shot killed early in a fight. I think it needs some type of ramp up when it comes to damage so that folks have a chance to do something about the massive damage of some later game enemies that often see a character hit the mat before they even get one turn.

Aeon's End - A crowd pleaser. We lost both games, but got progressively better as we went on. I don't think I've ever been disappointed in a game of this one.

Defenders of the Last Stand - Another game that folks seem to really enjoy. It's pure Ameritrash...but sometimes that's all you want. We played two games and lost both, but it never felt unfair or forced.

Eldritch Horror - 5 players with multiple expansions just drags on too long. Especially if the person who says they know the rules for said expansions doesn't really. Still, it's Lovecraft. So I enjoyed it. I just got cranky at the end.

Mansions of Madness 2nd edition - Easily my favorite game of the last two years. Every time I play it, I love it. As does everyone I play it with. We played it on Friday the 13th and tried to watch the Joe Bob Briggs marathon on Shudder while doing so, but Shudder's servers couldn't handle the load and crapped out shortly after the marathon started.

Maximum Apocalypse - We played a starter mutant scenario and it was close. But it was definitely something my guests enjoyed. I died, but they managed to ride a motorcycle to victory at the end. It's just a fun, fun game.

Sadly, I'm now sans game players again. So no gaming extravaganzas until Gencon.

[GreenGoo]

What's the word on Betrayal at House on the Hill?

Son picked it up as impulse buy for his birthday.

edit: Watched a Wheaton show where they played this as well as a 5 minute "learn to play" and I'm pretty excited. Looks like fun.

[gbasden]

What's the word on Betrayal at House on the Hill?

Son picked it up as impulse buy for his birthday.

edit: Watched a Wheaton show where they played this as well as a 5 minute "learn to play" and I'm pretty excited. Looks like fun.

I enjoy it a lot. It frequently gets pulled out with our group.

[Daveman]

I think Betrayal is an OK/fun experience but not much of a game. It's practically just roll and move, random good/bad things happen until the "betrayal" is triggered and then generally it becomes one player vs. the others. If the others had mostly bad things happen they'll likely lose, but it can be interesting trying to figure out how to win.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

What Daveman said. I’ve played it twice but that was enough for me. I know many people that love it, though.

[GreenGoo]

I realize it's a game where stuff happens to you, and that came be good or bad based on random dice rolls or card pulls, but it's still fun for the family. We're not looking for a competitive game where skillful play determines the winner. The kids' range from elementary school to early high school and having a good time is the most important thing.

There are some minor cooperative aspects that can make things a little less random.

We ran a trial run with just 3 of us and it went ok. I'm going to play some mood music for the next one and my wife will be able to help me set the tone of scary/funny. My kids tend to bicker over the smallest things and I'll need my wife's help to keep them focused on the appropriate aspects.

It feels like Cabin in the Woods in board game form, and that's pretty cool.

[Chrisoc13]

Never tried it, but it has been fairly popular so I'm sure there's a reason. The complaints I've heard about it is mostly that it's wildly uneven but that it can really strike a fun balance sometimes. I just wanted to mention that the legacy version has been announced, so that interests me a fair amount. I love some legacy.

[Smoove_B]

I think Betrayal is one of those games I've always wanted to play, but never have because (I think) it shines with 4+ players; that's not an option for me.

Managed to play a tutorial game of Lock and Load Tactical on Friday night, using the new 5.0 rules. We're doing our best to really learn these rules and commit to a war gaming system; I've spent the last few years more or less not really trying to get into any number of games or styles. This one feels right though - it's a good blend of logical rules and tactical game play - two things I need in order to be able to understand it all. We muddled our way through some basic infantry rules and screwed up a few things, but I think I more or less understand the basics now. It's definitely a system that is seemingly using common, accepted conventions in other chit-based war games I've played, but they also seem to address some of the problems. Line of sight and spotting in particular seem to have been created in a way that not only makes sense but add some strategic considerations (spotting in particular). It's a bit of an adjustment based on what I've more or less learned from other systems, but the rules do make sense so I'm motivated to keep playing.

[paulbaxter]

Spent a goodly amount on some new games for this past weekend. Got Cutthroat Caverns, which is always fun with the right people, Dominion: Prosperity, and the biggie-------Gloomhaven.

The kids and I went through the first two scenarios. It was fun, but I've established a new rule: only one scenario per day.

[Blackhawk]

FWIW, Betrayal has been a favorite with my kids (14, 16 now) and adult friends alike. It is strongly thematic and does a great job of conveying that theme. The only caveat is that the dark bits do tend to be dark (murder, cannibalism, etc.) If that's a concern for you with younger kids, you may want to take it into account.

[hepcat]

It was fun, but I've established a new rule: only one scenario per day.

Don't be cruel, man!

[paulbaxter]

It was fun, but I've established a new rule: only one scenario per day.

Don't be cruel, man!

We don't have a big enough table for it at my place, so we were playing on the floor. Now I understand why my parents wouldn't play games on the floor with me when I was a kid. My knees were in full rebellion by the end of the second session.

[GreenGoo]

FWIW, Betrayal has been a favorite with my kids (14, 16 now) and adult friends alike. It is strongly thematic and does a great job of conveying that theme. The only caveat is that the dark bits do tend to be dark (murder, cannibalism, etc.) If that's a concern for you with younger kids, you may want to take it into account.

Yep, I did notice that but my youngest is a pro at simply ignoring stuff she doesn't like and for the rest of us the writing is a plus.

Definitely dark bits which is great, but the game is mostly about fun/funny/oh noes, so the dark bits are a bit too dark for the rest of the tone of the game, imo.

[Zarathud]

How many people have set the place on fire?

How about EVERY TIME you play? At this point, they give me a fire extinguisher. For when it happens AGAIN.

[hepcat]

That was Mansions of Madness. And you had a knack for setting mobile things on fire. Things that would then chase the rest of us and set us on fire too.

[YellowKing]

Just got back from our second case of DETECTIVE: A MODERN CRIME STORY and wow - that rivaled some of our Pandemic Legacy nights for some of the best gaming I've ever done.

Absolutely no spoilers, but I can tell you our group solved the case. The feeling of victory was incredible, because we felt like we had done some honest-to-God detective work to arrive at our conclusions.

While I greatly enjoyed the first case (which we lost), this was the night where things finally started to click. Knowing what to expect, we quickly settled into our roles. By the end of the four-hour session, our whiteboard looked like it was ripped out of police HQ, with mugshots plastered everywhere, rows of leads, and copious notes.

We were also able to see how cases tie into one another, and I was really pleased to see how tightly integrated everything was. Everything we did in Case 1 was absolutely critical for Case 2, and we frequently referred to notes and incidents from the previous case. This only added to the immersion, as we felt like real detectives building on actual experience to make connections.

One thing that particularly impresses me about the game is how it all comes together. You'll run around following leads, at times becoming discouraged as you think you may be chasing your tail. But slowly a bigger picture starts to emerge, and before you know it you'll be excitedly drawing conclusions and racing the game clock to put together as much evidence as possible before your final report.

Believe the hype - if you have the right group that really takes the game seriously and goes all in, you're going to have a blast.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Miniature Market was having a massive ding & dent sale at their B&M store in St. Louis yesterday. I couldn't make it out but a friend got there just as they opened. Unfortunately, the games I was hoping she could get for me (Viticulture, Feast for Odin) got grabbed before she could make it to them.

[YellowKing]

As noted in the solo thread, I impulse-bought BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA this weekend after seeing one lone (retail) copy on the shelf. The solo board game group on Facebook has been going pretty nuts over this one, so I got sucked into the hype. It didn't hurt that I've always been a big fan of the movie.

I finally got around to playing a complete solo session with 2 characters and thought I'd share my thoughts.

COMPONENTS - Really liked the components in this game. The minis as a whole won't blow you out of the water, but they're good enough and should be a fun paint. Some of them (like Lightning and the Guardians) are pretty fantastic. Gameboard is easily the largest one I own, and I loved how closely it ties to the film. Spaces are clearly delineated, and I seldom had any trouble figuring out pathways or line of sight. Character cards are sturdy and hold their dice and pegs well. Dice feel good.

THEME - As noted, I'm a big fan of the movie so that was a big draw for me. I even watched the film again in preparation for the game and it was really fascinating to watch how the game system naturally forces you into replaying the movie. The quest flavor text is often ripped straight out of the movie, and the stuff that isn't lifted from the movie still feels authentic to the movie's universe. This strength can also be a weakness. Naturally those who haven't seen the film may be a little lost as to who all these characters are. The other downside is that at times, the game almost feels *too* dedicated to replicating the film experience. I'll get to that in the CONS.

GAMEPLAY - The game is divided into two distinct Acts. Act 1 has players in the role of one of the characters from the film running around Chinatown fighting ever-spawning minions and trying to complete quests. Combat serves the role of providing XP (or Chi) for characters which enables them to level up and increase their power. Quests offer Chi and other rewards, primarily Audacity which is used to move the Audacity track. Act 2 is triggered when the players fill the Audacity track, but Lo Pan has a Big Trouble track of his own that increases every round. If it should fill up first, Act 2 is triggered with more negative effects.

In Act 2, players band together to collect keys that allow them to access Lo Pan's inner sanctum and eventually put an end to his reign of terror. The game board is reversible and flips to reveal Lo Pan's lair. In terms of gameplay, Act 2 is more combat-intensive as you're fighting through minions and bosses to get to Lo Pan just as in the movie. You also have a shorter Big Trouble track, so you're under a time limitation to get to Lo Pan and take him down.

Everything in the game (movement, combat, skill tests, etc.) is done through an Action Dice pool. At the start of your turn you roll all your action dice, then spend those to take actions. The twist is that slotting your die into an "epic" slot unlocks a greater version of that action. For instance, move 3 spaces instead of 2. Or add an Epic die to your combat pool instead of a regular die. There are (simple) rules in how die are slotted, but it unlocks an enormous amount of strategy. Do you chance using only some of your die for combat in the hopes you can kill the enemy and have dice left over for other actions? Or do you go all in to make it an almost sure thing? Do you spend that Epic slot on an extra move, or an extra heal? This die-slotting mechanic is truly the heart of the game and probably its biggest strength. It has a nice "press your luck" feel that jibes well with the uphill odds the heroes faced in the movie.

One thing that took me a little time to wrap my head around, and that only really clicked after watching a couple of playthroughs, is that this game has a very odd pace to it. We're all used to games in which our characters get stronger over time, and we slowly and steadily progress until we face off with the big bad guy at the end. In BTILC, that pacing is vastly accelerated. The developers intentionally wanted a game you could play in a couple of hours, so Act 1 will see you (likely) go from Level 1 to Level 5 in about an hour. Depending on how much combat you do, it could be faster than that. At times I felt myself wishing Act 1 would go a little longer so I could finish another quest or two to enjoy the story. But alas, Lo Pan's evil waits for no one!

Alongside that (relatively) quick pace is that combat is meant to simulate waves of enemies coming at you that are easily dispatched (as in the movie). So all minions just take one hit to kill. This is super fun when you find yourself surrounded but with careful dice play are able to knock them all out and gain tons of Chi. On the other hand, it means combat is really light compared to your standard dungeon crawl. That could be a strength or weakness depending on your point of view.

The other odd thing that took some getting used to is that there really is no way to lose the game other than to run out of time. Dying ticks the Big Trouble marker one step forward, accelerating your losing condition, but it's not *that* bad. You gain a Hell card which has some detrimental effect, but some are no big deal and they can all be cured for a price. Again this is supposed to simulate the invincibility of movie heroes, but coming from a standard dungeon crawler background it took some getting used to.

So on the pro side, the game is a lot of fun, does a terrific job of making you feel like you're in the movie, and the die spending element is a blast. Particularly when you get higher levels and can really start pouring dice into your combat pool. Another thing I also love is that your achievements in Act 1 directly affect the starting conditions of Act 2. You can really make the final showdown harder or easier depending on how well you did in the first half of the game. But it's nice to know that even if you failed Act 1 miserably, you still have a fighting chance.

On the neutral side, one thing I love (and hate) about the game is that things can shift RADICALLY every round with the Big Trouble cards. Sometimes this is awesome - monsters may poof off the board and help you out of a jam. Other times it can be torture - just as you had planned to heal up, the game spawns 3 things on top of your head. The randomness of that deck can make things very swingy. Fantastic for replayability, but it's a double edged sword.

On the con side, I can think of two major ones.

First, the Act 1/Act 2 mechanic, while certainly thematic, can also be a bit jarring. Here you are having fun running around trying to get quests done and then BOOM - either you or Lo Pan triggers Act 2 and it's time to flip the board. Not only that, but the gameplay itself changes rather significantly. Quests are no longer in play, only Showdown events which grant the keys necessary to reach Lo Pan. So you go from exploration/quest solving mode to "fight through these minions as quickly as possible" mode. It's still fun, but it's a bit of an abrupt transition.

The second major con is game balance. From reading the boards (and my own experience), 1-2 players seems too easy. The game gives some significant advantages to fewer players to help them out including companions that add extra action dice and starting characters at higher levels. While this is probably necessary to give fewer players a better chance, it also makes you feel a little overpowered from the get-go. I've read that 4 players seems too hard since you get NO bonuses whatsoever, and the early game can be a struggle because of this. 3 players seems to be the sweet spot in terms of difficulty, so my next solo game I may try that. Fortunately the game is not so fiddly that playing 3 solo would pose much of a problem. Full disclosure - I did lose my first 2-player game, so I'm not totally on board that the game is too easy just yet.

The good news is that there are plenty of variables that can be tweaked to adjust difficulty. While none of these are official, a lot of BGG folks have written house rules to make things slightly harder for fewer players or slightly easier with the full set. We know expansions are coming down the road, so who knows - the developers may revisit balance with future content.

Final conclusion - love the game solo but I really want to try it with a full group to see how it shines. It does come with some caveats in terms of the unusual Act structure and balance, but if you want a movie game that actually makes you feel like you're playing a movie, then this is pretty stellar. As noted, that adherence to the film makes it a unique beast compared to most other mini-RPGs you've played, however. That could be a good thing or a total turn-off depending on your tastes.

[AWS260]

A good weekend for gaming:

We finally convinced my son to try Gloom. It's one of the first "modern" tabletop games that my wife and I discovered, so we've been trying to get it on the table with him for a while. It took him a while to get the hang of the storytelling aspect of the game, but he grasped the numbers and strategy right away and won by the tried-and-true strategy of killing his family members faster than anyone else. Hopefully he didn't take any life lessons from this one.

He also pulled Once Upon a Time off the shelf. I know this is highly regarded, but I don't love it. The storytelling mechanics are impressive; I just don't particularly enjoy fairy tales. Still, we managed to weave an entertaining little tale about a kid dragon trying to lift a curse that made him extremely ugly.

On the (slightly) heavier end, we played a few games of Sagrada, a game about building stained-glass windows for la Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's landmark basilica in Barcelona. It's very clever: you create a unique window by arranging dice of different colors and shades (shade is indicated by the number of pips on the die) on a grid. Each player is working against a different template that restricts dice placement -- e.g., this location must be red; this location must be a five. Scoring is based on a handful of objectives that award points for different combinations, such as having no repeated colors in a column.

The idea of creating a multi-hued masterpiece is appealing, but the reality falls a bit flat. This is very "multiplayer solitaire," with few options for interfering with or influencing your opponent. And the final creations are pretty random, due to the restrictions on dice placement. I'm glad I tried it, but won't be going out of my way to play it again.