Octopus Overlords

Chaz wrote:Nick, you should know that the copy you have is the first edition (ie first printing) of the base game. Like several other games lately, they slightly changed the size of some components for the second printing, and then based the expansion's components on that second printing. So basically, if you want the expansion, you also have to get the compatibility pack or whatever they call it that has replacement components for the base game. I don't know how you get one of those. I seem to remember looking into it a while ago and being really annoyed because it was going to cost me like $10 in shipping for it. Seemed wrong to have to pay $10 just to be able to buy something else for $40. I'm sure BGG has info about it.

Yeah, I read about that, and came to the conclusion that even if I can't get a hold of the compatibility pack, I don't particularly care that the backs of the parts are different. The only source I've been able to find for the compatibility pack is a three year old blog post that tells me to send 10 bucks via pay pal to an aol address, which is just not going to happen without confirmation - I sent an email to the Rio Grande guys, maybe they'll tell me something useful.

NickAragua wrote:

Chaz wrote:Nick, you should know that the copy you have is the first edition (ie first printing) of the base game. Like several other games lately, they slightly changed the size of some components for the second printing, and then based the expansion's components on that second printing. So basically, if you want the expansion, you also have to get the compatibility pack or whatever they call it that has replacement components for the base game. I don't know how you get one of those. I seem to remember looking into it a while ago and being really annoyed because it was going to cost me like $10 in shipping for it. Seemed wrong to have to pay $10 just to be able to buy something else for $40. I'm sure BGG has info about it.

Yeah, I read about that, and came to the conclusion that even if I can't get a hold of the compatibility pack, I don't particularly care that the backs of the parts are different. The only source I've been able to find for the compatibility pack is a three year old blog post that tells me to send 10 bucks via pay pal to an aol address, which is just not going to happen without confirmation - I sent an email to the Rio Grande guys, maybe they'll tell me something useful.

If you can't trust random aol addresses on the internet, who can you trust?

That is out of date, though. What you want to do is send $100 via Paypal to ElGuapo@aol.com.

I was in my local game shop and decided to pick up the Memoir 44 Air Pack. It doesn't change the game as much as I thought it would, simply adds rules for having actual air units moving around on the board, but still in a fairly limited way. Plus at a quick glance it looks like they did tweak a lot of the existing scenarios so that might be interesting as well. Haven't played a game with it yet but I like what I see. As for where to put it in the expansion hierarchy... many of the scenarios included with it are East/Med/Pac ones, so I'd say go with:

Memoir 44
Eastern Front
Mediterranean Front
(At this point, unless you don't mind playing winter/desert maps on grass, grab the Winter/Desert map pack)
Pacific Front
Air Pack

I've gotten along just fine without the Terrain Pack but I suppose that might be the logical next step. The Breakthrough and Winter Wars stuff is meant for a "deeper" board and has a new command deck to go with it and at that point you're altering the game a fair amount more from what I've seen. I mean, the game is still the same but it's a larger board, more movement and I gather there's more back-and-forth with it. The Overlord expansion is for when you want >2 player games.

I think I'm going to get a Tackle box to hold my Descent game. Anybody have any suggestions for ones big enough for tiles, cards, monsters, etc.?

this one might work: http://www.luggageonline.com/product.cf ... ct_ID=3836" target="_blank

It is even on sale right now!!

MythicalMino wrote:this one might work: http://www.luggageonline.com/product.cf ... ct_ID=3836" target="_blank

It is even on sale right now!!

Touche!

It's a gorgeous day out today, but all I really want to do is to play a game of Defenders of the Realm...

take it to the picnic table!!

Had I willing partners, I would!

that is one of the very good things about Defenders....you can play it solo.

ALERT ALERT, I played a boardgame this weekend!

My son came to me yesterday and said he wanted to play the Quicksand game. Being the loving father I am, of course, I obliged. I completely forgot I owned this game. This should probably be over in the games to play with kids thread, but he's finally starting to understand deception games (for reference he turned 5 last week). He blew the winning concept but he kept his cards and identity hidden from me the whole time.

In the end he moved my piece to the finish, knowing full well that was my piece. He thought if he moved it to the finish he would win. I guess next time he'll know better.

One of my sisters* came back from a trip to Estonia and brought me an authentic Euro card game -- Danse Macabre -- after seeing the last medieval work in Tallinn. Basically, it's a 2 player card game where God and the Devil try to claim mortal souls.

* Not the youngest sister who made it to the last 2 Octocons and baked the cookies.

Played a game of Ascending Empires tonight, has anyone else had a chance to try this? It's part strategy game, part dexterity game and is quite interesting. We had a lot of rules questions that the rulebook didn't do a good job of answering, but overall I thought it was pretty good. Definitely unlike any other game I've seen before. Once players get in the flow there's very little downtime and game time seems pretty reasonable.

Boudreaux wrote:Played a game of Ascending Empires tonight, has anyone else had a chance to try this? It's part strategy game, part dexterity game and is quite interesting. We had a lot of rules questions that the rulebook didn't do a good job of answering, but overall I thought it was pretty good. Definitely unlike any other game I've seen before. Once players get in the flow there's very little downtime and game time seems pretty reasonable.

Never heard of it. And how is it dexterity based? The crokinole player in me wants to know...

hentzau wrote:Never heard of it. And how is it dexterity based? The crokinole player in me wants to know...

The basic idea is you're a space empire, trying to expand and colonize other planets. The board is a square map of space with planets randomly scattered around it, and the planets are thick wooden pucks that sit in holes cut in the board. Each turn you get one action, which can be recruiting troops, building colonies, cities, or research stations, advancing your tech tree, or launching starships and navigating through space.

This is where the dexterity aspect comes in. You start on your Homeworld in the corner of the board, and all expansion to other planets is done by moving your starships to them. Starship movement is done by flicking the starship pieces (they're small wooden discs, about 3/4-inch in diameter) across the map. You can attack enemy starships by getting them within attack range, or you can land on other planets by flicking the starships close enough to another planet to be "in orbit". The trick is, if any of your starships collide with another starship (including your own), they're both destroyed. So it's a bit like crokinole, except there's a lot of trying to get just close enough, but not actually hit anything. The pieces are also much more top-heavy than crokinole pieces, so it's very difficult to be shooting starships across the map. You're lucky to make it more than 6-8 inches without your starship toppling over and rolling somewhere completely unintended (or even off the board, in which case it's lost).

It's a neat mix of strategy and dexterity - a really great shot can have a big impact, and poor shots can force you to waste turns trying to get somewhere. Certain actions grant you victory points, and there's a fixed pool of VP, so it's a race to the end.

Boudreaux wrote:

hentzau wrote:Never heard of it. And how is it dexterity based? The crokinole player in me wants to know...

The basic idea is you're a space empire, trying to expand and colonize other planets. The board is a square map of space with planets randomly scattered around it, and the planets are thick wooden pucks that sit in holes cut in the board. Each turn you get one action, which can be recruiting troops, building colonies, cities, or research stations, advancing your tech tree, or launching starships and navigating through space.

This is where the dexterity aspect comes in. You start on your Homeworld in the corner of the board, and all expansion to other planets is done by moving your starships to them. Starship movement is done by flicking the starship pieces (they're small wooden discs, about 3/4-inch in diameter) across the map. You can attack enemy starships by getting them within attack range, or you can land on other planets by flicking the starships close enough to another planet to be "in orbit". The trick is, if any of your starships collide with another starship (including your own), they're both destroyed. So it's a bit like crokinole, except there's a lot of trying to get just close enough, but not actually hit anything. The pieces are also much more top-heavy than crokinole pieces, so it's very difficult to be shooting starships across the map. You're lucky to make it more than 6-8 inches without your starship toppling over and rolling somewhere completely unintended (or even off the board, in which case it's lost).

It's a neat mix of strategy and dexterity - a really great shot can have a big impact, and poor shots can force you to waste turns trying to get somewhere. Certain actions grant you victory points, and there's a fixed pool of VP, so it's a race to the end.

Wow. Sounds like a must-have game for me!

I was trying to avoid buying anything new until GenCon...but now I find out about this, and the stuff I've been seeing from the Conquest of Nerath game has me wanting to snag a copy of that too...

Boudreaux wrote:Played a game of Ascending Empires tonight, has anyone else had a chance to try this? It's part strategy game, part dexterity game and is quite interesting. We had a lot of rules questions that the rulebook didn't do a good job of answering, but overall I thought it was pretty good. Definitely unlike any other game I've seen before. Once players get in the flow there's very little downtime and game time seems pretty reasonable.

Intriguing.

Is it just me or does it seem there are more Space type games out at the same time we seem to be backing more and more away from actually trying to expand into space?

I was interested when I first read about Ascending Empires the other day. Can you comment on two complaints that seem to have come up?

- The modular board isn't as flat as it should be, some corner pieces in particular.

- The regular-sized starship pieces are kind of small and prone to flip on their sides and roll instead of gliding when flicked.

Daveman wrote:I was interested when I first read about Ascending Empires the other day. Can you comment on two complaints that seem to have come up?

- The modular board isn't as flat as it should be, some corner pieces in particular.

- The regular-sized starship pieces are kind of small and prone to flip on their sides and roll instead of gliding when flicked.

#1 - This is sort of true, and is my only complaint with the game. The board is made up of 9 "puzzle" pieces that fit together to form the board. Where the pieces fit together, it's possible to have a tiny ridge where one piece is slightly above or below the other. In this case, it makes it difficult to smoothly flick your piece across that line. However, it was never so bad as to detract from gameplay. You just had to be cognizant of it. I am hearing of some people using the old wargame "flat sheet of plexiglass" trick to combat this. I don't think it's really necessary.

#2 - This is also true, but I like this aspect. It makes your regular starship pieces more "short-range", and discourages trying to send them on long shots. It's possible, just risky. Even if they tip over and roll, it's entirely possible for them to roll to a stop in a valid location, it's just usually nowhere near where you intended. Players also have a much larger battleship token, which can be unlocked via tech upgrades. This ship is about the same size as a crokinole disc, and it's much more stable. Makes sense that the larger battleship is able to reliably go further on a shot than the smaller fighter-size ships.

I don't buy many new games these days, but this one might have to join my collection. Granted I've only played the once, but it seems to have a great mix of strategy, variable player powers (via tech upgrades), dexterity gameplay, and just a smidgen of luck.

I have played 2 games of Yggdrasil ( http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71671/yggdrasil" target="_blank )

I am really liking this game (both games were played solo). The first game was a learning game, getting the mechanics down and understood. But the second one? That was pretty intense (played as Thor and Tyr)....Was crazy with several Frost Giants coming into play (Thor managed to kill 4 of them, though...but in the end, there was still 6 or 7 in play, and more in the draw pile). The game ended when Jormundgan (spelling?) made it to Odin's residence, and Thor was not able to defeat him and push him back. Only had 5 more enemy cards left to draw and I would have won.

Pretty good, pretty neat....

Placed an order at my FLGS for Ascending Empires. Hopefully will be on on Friday! Thanks for the heads up on this one, Boudreaux!

hentzau wrote:Placed an order at my FLGS for Ascending Empires. Hopefully will be on on Friday! Thanks for the heads up on this one, Boudreaux!

So when is the next Octocon again?

Remus West wrote:

hentzau wrote:Placed an order at my FLGS for Ascending Empires. Hopefully will be on on Friday! Thanks for the heads up on this one, Boudreaux!

So when is the next Octocon again?

October. Just four and a half months away.

Four and a half long months away...

hentzau wrote:

Remus West wrote:So when is the next Octocon again?

October. Just four and a half months away.

Four and a half long months away...

On the other hand, Origins is in 2 weeks!

Got a friend's birthday coming up. He likes all games I have (twilight imperium, doom, chaos in the old world, pandemic, battlestar galactica, magic, lord of the rings the cardgame...) but also simpler stuff like munchkin. I'm thinking of buying him a game, but it should be a relatively short and simple "filler" game, for when a longer game has finished but it's not too late to start a quick new one. I'm thinking of DungeonQuest, sounds good? I think it would make a nice replacement for Munchkin, which I don't care that much for (because it tends to drag with 4 players).

I have heard very mixed things about DungeonQuest. I have heard it is very similar to Talisman due to the absolute randomness (which can go for quite some time a lot of the time). I have MunchkinQuest (the baordgame), and I didn't care a whole lot for it. It just seemed to take up a lot of space, without much to it.

Let me also say that I have never played DungeonQuest, but the above is one of the things that I have heard/read about it.

The filler game I would recommend would be 7 Wonders. Once all the players know what they are doing, you can knock a game off in about half an hour. Not a whole lot of AP that can occur, because you are limited to actions by the cards you currently are holding. Small amount of "screw your neighbor factor". No downtime, everyone is playing at once.

DungeonQuest is awesome, and I'd heartily recommend it - it is indeed a great short "filler" game. It does have a lot of randomness, but it's not like Talisman or Munchkin (I can't speak to MunchkinQuest, having not played it, though I'm not nuts about regular Munchkin).

It's basically a boardgame version of a brutal dungeon crawl (think Temple of Elemental Evil from the 80s). You're each an adventurer trying to reach the dragon's hoard and get out before the dragon wakes up in the morning. You advance one random tile at a time and see what encounter you come up with, and the encounters are hilariously tortorous for the players. There is literally one encounter which is "make an armor check. If you fail, you die." (If you die, you get to control the monsters from then on).

Basically, it's a board game that's a fair amount of party game - as long as you have a sense of humor (and ideally are drinking as well) it's a complete blast. And doesn't take long, maybe an hour as I recall.

hentzau wrote:The filler game I would recommend would be 7 Wonders. Once all the players know what they are doing, you can knock a game off in about half an hour. Not a whole lot of AP that can occur, because you are limited to actions by the cards you currently are holding. Small amount of "screw your neighbor factor". No downtime, everyone is playing at once.

7 Wonders is great. The game is great filler game for gamers but the 2nd Edition has horrible QA though . I find that card games make the best filler games. Always quick and down and dirty. I haven't bought any in a while, older stand bys include things like San Juan, Who Stole Frank's Hat, Earthquake, and any of the Rummy games like Wyatt Earp. With the exception of San Juan all of the games have a Parlor Game feel to them, go quick, and are easy to teach.

wasn't a big fan of DungeonQuest due to the randomness. For me it basically felt like the equivalent of drawing a card from a deck and doing what it said... over and over. I don't need to spend 50 bucks for nice components, a box, and a rulebook to accomplish that. Besides, there are MUCH better party games (Time's Up).

woo hoo!! It may have taken me 5 games, but I finally won a (basic) game of Yggdrasil solo. Was playing as Frey and Odin, and put a royally divine stomping on Loki and his co-horts!!

I am really liking this one, for some reason.

Also going to be ordering the two expansions for Twilight Imperium tonight, get the 2-day shipping, and hopefully have it saturday or monday....if Saturday, it will be just in time for our big game monday.

Zarathud wrote:

hentzau wrote:

Remus West wrote:So when is the next Octocon again?

October. Just four and a half months away.

Four and a half long months away...

On the other hand, Origins is in 2 weeks!

Crap. I still haven't made a call on attending. Is the invite still open or has the room filled?

Remus West wrote:

Zarathud wrote:

hentzau wrote:

Remus West wrote:So when is the next Octocon again?

October. Just four and a half months away.

Four and a half long months away...

On the other hand, Origins is in 2 weeks!

Crap. I still haven't made a call on attending. Is the invite still open or has the room filled?

Make the call soon if you can, because if you need to cancel Sea of Blood then I can make arrangements to head downtown that weekend and we can also let redrun, chaosraven, and bb2112 that gaming is off... and it won't be my fault. You may also find that bb2112 and/or redrun interested in Origins. I've actually been there with both of them before.

The real hang up is my folks being in town most likely.

Jow wrote:wasn't a big fan of DungeonQuest due to the randomness. For me it basically felt like the equivalent of drawing a card from a deck and doing what it said... over and over. I don't need to spend 50 bucks for nice components, a box, and a rulebook to accomplish that. Besides, there are MUCH better party games (Time's Up).

Normally randomness in a game doesn't immediately turn me off, but the way it was done in Dungeonquest kind of gave me the same feeling. Illuminati and Cutthroat Caverns fills the bill for me if I want a party game with similar amounts of randomness.

Remus West wrote: Crap. I still haven't made a call on attending. Is the invite still open or has the room filled?

you have a PM.

how is Illuminati? I have came close to buying that a number of times....

MythicalMino wrote:how is Illuminati? I have came close to buying that a number of times....

Simply put: it is required of all gamers to have at least one copy in any gaming group. That is all.

Also, playing with alcohol makes the game even more fun. games can sometimes end in fistfights (same with Cutthroat Caverns, to be fair). rules are made to be broken. cheating is encouraged.

hepcat wrote:

MythicalMino wrote:how is Illuminati? I have came close to buying that a number of times....

Simply put: it is required of all gamers to have at least one copy in any gaming group. That is all.

Also, playing with alcohol makes the game even more fun. games can sometimes end in fistfights (same with Cutthroat Caverns, to be fair). rules are made to be broken. cheating is encouraged.

It used to be excellent beer and pretzels. I'm not sure how well it survived all of the edition changes. The big problem with the game was more with the style of games the people I play with tend to play. The game gets too much thought, gets too king makerish, and because of analysis driven mechanics ultimately the B&P experience is ruined. That's more our fault than it is the game's fault but similar gamers would likely end up with a similar, not so much experience and that's too bad because the dynamic is a lot of fun.

hepcat wrote:

MythicalMino wrote:how is Illuminati? I have came close to buying that a number of times....

Simply put: it is required of all gamers to have at least one copy in any gaming group. That is all.

Also, playing with alcohol makes the game even more fun. games can sometimes end in fistfights (same with Cutthroat Caverns, to be fair). rules are made to be broken. cheating is encouraged.

uh, Illuminati? I hardly think of that as a party game. For one, it takes 3+ hours, which I think alone tends to disqualify it. And maybe it's just the way that I've played it, but it involves actual strategy.

Great game, though.

El Guapo wrote:

hepcat wrote:

MythicalMino wrote:how is Illuminati? I have came close to buying that a number of times....

Simply put: it is required of all gamers to have at least one copy in any gaming group. That is all.

Also, playing with alcohol makes the game even more fun. games can sometimes end in fistfights (same with Cutthroat Caverns, to be fair). rules are made to be broken. cheating is encouraged.

uh, Illuminati? I hardly think of that as a party game. For one, it takes 3+ hours, which I think alone tends to disqualify it. And maybe it's just the way that I've played it, but it involves actual strategy.

Great game, though.

i consider it a party game. i guess we just have different definitions for that genre.